Chapter 7: Two days

"H-He is the child of light, we finally found him! After all this time" One of the acolytes said, vigorously shaking the other whose eyes were still glued on Elias' frame in excitement

The other acolyte slapped his and shook his hands off, "You fool, what are you excited about? We just talked to the child of light without respect.

I hope he forgives us and most importantly, I hope he doesn't report us to the church…I can't imagine what the High Luminary would do to us" he shuddered as he spoke of the High Luminary.

"Then you know what we must do brother Nigel"

"Yes, I do brother Dickson"

"We must shamelessly suck up to him and try not to displease him in any way," they said and nodded in unison.

As quickly as the unreal display began, it ended. The sun, reversing its ascent, resumed its descent beyond the horizon, while the moon gracefully receded to its rightful place in the evening sky.

The lightning ceased, leaving only faint echoes of thunder in the distance. The sky, now a serene gradient of twilight, gradually deepened into the calm of night. Nature exhaled, the air settling into a peaceful stillness.

The world, momentarily disrupted, returned to its familiar rhythm as if the extraordinary scene had been nothing but a fleeting dream.

It was only then that Priest Mathias was able to collect himself, "I wasn't wrong…finally, we have found the child of light"

"W-what? Big brother is the child of light? How?!" Nina's words snapped both Eleanor and Godfrey out of their trance

Eleanor turned to face her husband, "Darling…this…it's impossible right?" she said, grabbing his arm tightly.

Godfrey remained silent and looked around, his gaze focused on Elias who still gleamed brightly even under the dim evening light, their gaze met and for a few seconds, they locked eyes as if they were speaking to each other with just their looks.

Godfrey closed his eyes and "We are the only ones on our knees, Eleanor. And you can feel it too I'm sure…the way the mana is concentrated around him"

"You must come with us to Eldoria at once! We need to take you to the High Luminary as soon as possible" Said Mathias as he helped himself off his knees, everyone followed suit except the acolytes

Elias turned to Mathias, "So sudden! Why do I have to go all the way to Eldoria?" He asked, feigning ignorance when he very much knew that Mathias was going to say what he said

"I cannot disclose that, not here but trust me it is for your good and for the good of Elaris too. Just know that we must leave immediately"

A knowing smile curved into place on Elias' face 'Your turn Dad' he thought

Godfrey stepped forward, "I know what it means to be the child of light, but certainly you can give us some time before you take him to the church. Perhaps a week?" He proposed

"A week? Ha" Mathias scoffed, "The Nether king's army would have torn your son before the end of the third day"

"But, he's our son. You can't just take him away" Eleanor piped in, a worried look on her face

"Yes, you can't" Nina added, frowning at the priest

Godfrey raised a hand, motioning for Eleanor and Nina to keep quiet, "As I said earlier, I understand the implications of being the child of light but it's unreasonable for us to hand our son to you just like that"

Elias smirked, Godfrey was already one of his favorite characters in Arcane Days because of the way he was always rational and calm in his decision-making, it reminded him of his own father but now that Godfrey had the face of his actual father, his affection for the man grew.

Mathias narrowed his gaze, "What are you suggesting?" He asked

"Since you can not give us a week, then at least give us two days with him to say our farewell"

Mathias relaxed a bit and his shoulders dropped, "Hmm, two days…okay, but nothing more"

Godfrey offered Mathias a handshake, "Thank you for being reasonable Priest"

Mathias accepted Godfrey's hand, "As I said before, I have a child of my own. I understand your plight"

"I see, you are welcome to stay until it is time for you to leave. My wife makes the best porridge stew"

"As tempting as that sounds, we will find an Inn around. We wouldn't want to impose ourselves on you" Godfrey declined politely

"I see, be safe"

"We will"

Mathias turned around to leave when he spotted the two acolytes still on their knees, "And why in the name of all that is bright are you two still on your knees?

"The glorious child of light, the chosen one has not ordered us to" They answered in unison

Anias' eyes slowly opened, he rubbed his swollen face," Where the hell is that soil-eating, dung-scooping farm boy, I promise you'll pay a hundred folds, you won't be able to hold a spade by the time I'm done with you!" He spat, as he staggered to his feet

"And why are you two on your knees? Did that grass-cutting brat do something to you too? I swear I'll ki–"

The two acolytes didn't let Anias complete his words before they plastered his mouth with their hands with incredible speed.

Priest Mathias planted his face into his palm, sighed, and continued to walk forward, leaving Anias and the two other acolytes to their doings.

Anias pried off their fingers from his mouth, "First of all, your hand tastes weird, what have you been touching?"

"Oh remember that time when we stopped at that town and he dared me to stick my finger up—"

"Shhh" Dickson immediately shushed Nigel

"Up where?! For your sake, I hope it's not what I'm thinking. Putting that aside, why did you stop me from giving that farmboy a piece of my mind"

Nigel and Dickson cleared their throats simultaneously, "That farmboy as you call him, is our perfect and magnificent child of light, the one chosen by the Goddess of Light" Nigel said

"Go ahead, feel free to beg for his forgiveness" Dickson urged

The trio exchanged glances, "Child of light, don't make me laugh. That's impossible, if he is the child of the light, then I'm an Archbishop" he sneered mockingly

"We're serious, we saw it for ourselves"

"And what exactly did your deranged selves see?"

"Day and Night, standing together as one, all light rising up to bless our precious child of light" Dickson explained

"Day and Night as one? Are you sure he didn't hit you too?" Anias asked, inspecting Dickson and Nigel

"Tch, let's leave. He won't believe us" Nigel said

"Yeah, we should" Dickson agreed, they turned around

"The mosquitos outside are terrible, let's go inside Mom," Nina said to Eleanor

"Yeah, we should" Elias added

Anias watched as the family of four made their way into their house, and Elias shut the door aggressively, causing Anias to jump up and the loud bang it made

"Pair of fools, a farmboy, the child of light? What a joke" Anias said to himself, "He isn't the child of light, right Priest Mathias?"

"Priest Mathias?" Anias looked around and found he was the only one left

"Damn it," He muttered, "Wait for me!" He shouted, running toward the direction Nigel and Dickson went