The main temple within Red Oak bhe entire area with dozens of various buildings, though it was not quite as huge as the main temple in Jaghi. The temple plex held the highest tration of red oak withiire town, the purple haze of twilight shimmering across the wood. ‘Damn, I should e here more often around this time.’

  A dozen statues watched over the people who arrived at the temple in the evening. Adam estimated the number of people to be in the hundreds, if not a thousand, each making their way across to the meals being served for a pittance, while some of the oners, those who most tried to ignore in their alleyways, where only the cold embrace of darkness would embrace them, were shuffled to one side where they could be fed without disturbing the other, donating, citizens.

  Adam eyed up the statue in one er, almost hidden away to one side, the elven form of Lady Aesof, a Champion of Mother Soza.

  “Last time we were here, there was a Champion walking around the nd, doing the Lord of Order’s bidding,” Adam said, his eyes falling across the sight of the various statues, each made of marble, though with a clear gem’s dust settled atop or within each. “Now that he’s dead, when’s the Champion going to ride?”

  “I do not know,” Vonda admitted, her eyes also taking in the sight of the statues, paying most of her attention to the statue of Lady Aesof. “It may be you.”

  “Me?”

  Vonda’s eyes fell to Adam’s amulet, raising her brow knowingly towards the half elf.

  “I doubt it. I don’t think Lord Sozain wants a guy who is so…” Adam wondered if he could truly call himself hesitant after hoeople he had killed with his Fireball iher world. “I’m not sure I want to be a Champion.”

  “If it is your calling, you refuse?”

  “Yeah,” Adam replied, as though it were truly that simple.

  “To refuse such a calling would be unwise,” Vonda replied, letting slip her arm before she quickly gathered herself.

  Adam shrugged his shoulders.

  “If you refuse the call, you may find your prayers falling on deaf ears.”

  “If Lord Sozai want to answer my prayers, someone else may, Divine or otherwise,” Adam replied.

  Vonda’s eyes grew wide, her brows shooting up. Adam’s words being a surprise were a sho and of itself, the young woman realising she could still be surprised by her panion. “You would call for darker powers?”

  “If the Divine want to abandohat’s fine, but there are sequences for such a choice.”

  “You must live by the sequeoo.”

  “I’m prepared to do that, Sir Vonda,” Adam replied, smiling casually while speaking of such deep bsphemy. “I hope the Divine are too.”

  Vonda csped her hands together, quietly muttering a prayer to herself, trying to calm herself. “We should visit the temple to pay our respects, Adam.”

  “Of course, Sir Vonda.” Adam let out a light chuckle as he followed her in.

  Vonda greeted the various acolytes about, before making her way to the se reserved for Mother Soza, one of the rgest ses withiire temple. There were quite a few worshippers eating meals within the open faced se outside of the temple proper. The meals were quite simple, bowls of pe and baked bread, and if one was lucky, grilled vegetables.

  An acolyte walked up to Sir Vonda, though upon noting the amulet at her neck, they quickly smiled. The acolyte was an older woman, in her fifties or so, wearing a garb which covered her head to toe, including her hair, though her graceful smile and warm eyes were bare.

  “Ah, Sir Vonda,” the older woman said, seeing the young woman more clearly now they were closer. “Mother’s blessings upon you.”

  “And you to as well, Sister,” Vonda replied, her hands almost like a noblewoman would for a kiss, though the older woman took them within her own, with the affe of a mother priest.

  “I will inform Mother Priest of your arrival,” the acolyte said, bowing her head lightly, before her eyes fell to Adam. She smiled, before her eyes fell to the young man’s amulet. For a moment, her smile faltered, and though her eyes grew with shock, they fshed with inquisitiveness, before the return of a practised warmth. “Mother’s blessings to you, young man.”

  “To you as well, Sister,” Adam replied, bowing his head towards the woman.

  “Have you e to pay respects to the Good Mother?”

  Adam gnced around, fshing a smile. He was about to speak up when he saw Vonda’s warning gre, before he cleared his throat. “Of course. I have much to be thankful for, for many of the Divine, but Mother Soza? For the children she has blessed me with, I thank her perhaps the most.”

  The woman’s eyes beamed a little harder towards him, and her smile grew less practised and menuine. “Of course! Childreher Soza’s greatest gift to us!”

  “Amen to that,” Adam replied, letting out a chuckle.

  “Amen?” the acolyte replied.

  “Oh? You don’t say that here?” Adam asked.

  “No,” Vonda replied. “What does it mean?”

  “Oh. It just means I agree, but in a religious way.”

  “Ah, dima.”

  “Dima? Is that the word?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ah. Dima to that, Sister.” Adam smiled wider.

  The acolyte led them them into the temple building, where they walked into a small se desigo take off one’s shoes before entering the temple proper. A set of open doors revealed the rge prayer room, with an altar at least a hueps in. The se to the left seemed to be ao oneself, while the se to the right held a set of stairs, which led upwards. The acolyte tio lead them, heading towards the stairs, then behind it, revealing another small area where they could remove their boots and slip on some slippers provided by the temple.

  “It’s always a pleasure to see you, Sir Vonda,” the priestess said, sing her slippers for a differehose which were beside a box she slipped her outside slippers within. “A member of Life’s Rose visiting is always a joyous occasion.”

  “It is always a pleasure to visit the temple, which puts my heart at ease.”

  “The warmth of The Mother is eternal, though she may not speak directly to our minds, she answers within our hearts,” the acolyte stated.

  ‘Now that I think about it, when I met the Divine, I didn’t meet Mahtu, did I?’ Adam though, slipping into a pair of visitor’s slippers, before following the women.

  The acolyte reached for a rod which, at her prayer, glowed lightly before turning into several small balls of light, three which floated forward and one which floated behind them, coating them in a gentle light.

  Adam could hear the gentle cries of newborn children through the corridor, which led out and around for what felt like ay, the corridrowing dark some mihrough. Meanwhile, the women chatted between themselves of their own matters, while Adam’s thoughts wandered.

  ‘How much money should I doo you, Baktu? Do you even want gold? No, I’m sure you want gold. I know i Port yuys feed people for free, so you probably do he gold. Would you like dead bodies instead? Or maybe you want animals I’ve hunted or something? That makes sense, doesn’t it?’

  Adam jolted up, almost walking into Vonda, while the acolyte prayed quietly, before knog on a door, seemingly at random. Adam gnced oher side, seeing through the darkness beyond the glowing orbs, but found the corridor was the the still seemingly endless both ways.

  “e in,” called a disembodied voice.

  The acolyte stepped within the room, which seemed so tiny, before Adam stepped within it, and watched as everything expanded outwards. ‘Whoa.’ Adam reached out to the door frame, brag himself as he blinked furiously.

  Vonda’s eyes smiled towards the half elf, uanding what he felt since she had felt the same many years ago when she first stepped withiher Priest’s chambers. The chamber was made of thick stohough they had certainly been walking within a wooden building, and though the room was bare, there were still a number of items Adam had never seen before.

  To one side was a tiny statue, of a kneeling woman, adorned head to toe in pte mail, wielding a rge staff that was more like a greatclub. To the other side was another small statue, that of a dragon made of diamond, its features uhe dragons had yet to see, her as slender as a silver dragon, nor as brutish as a blue dragon.

  Then there was the club, which hung on the wall with a pair of red oak hooks which g to it. The club was made out of diamond, catg the light in such a way that it covered the area in a rainbow. Even from where Adam stood, he could sehe electricity of the light emanating from the club, which coated his body with a straingle.

  ‘Damn, I wonder how powerful that club is,’ Adam thought.

  “Good evening,” called the disembodied voice, before Adam realised that the woman had been sitting right beh the club the eime, but he had been too distracted by the three items within.

  Though, one couldn’t bme him, since where else would he find three artefacts which were sidered to be Legendary all in a single room.

  Other than the Iyr, of course.

  I'm sure Adam won't get into trouble with Mother Priest.