Hours after resting within the Faerie Court, Soren reerged back inside his room. His avatar ticulously reconstructed itself from the swarm of golden butterflies that escaped from within the Rift.
He straightened his collar, looking directly at the tikeeper orb in the process. A familiar voice reached him from behind.
“You’re back.”
Soren turned to see Myrin standing by the door with his arms folded at his chest. The Elven Songster smiled mischievously.
“So this is how you leave and enter this world, huh? How fascinating.”
Soren shook his head and tipped his cone hat back slightly. “You really don’t know the aning of privacy…”
Myrin looked away sheepishly. “Its not like I expected to see what I saw… I ca here to escort you to Solyara's room on Her behalf. Didn’t you request Her assistance?”
“Ah… That.” Soren rubbed his temples. “It seems I had forgotten the second goal I had today…”
The Elven Songster squinted his eyes. “These past two days… You did seem very exhausted. Have you been overworking yourself again?”
Soren didn’t answer. He simply redirected the conversation.
“By the way, have you discovered the Materials of Influence you require for the ritual?”
Rolling his eyes, the Soothing Bard answered with a sigh. “Yes. I prayed to the Maiden and received a suitable answer.”
“You can do that?!” Soren’s eyes widened.
He chuckled, “Of course I can… Praise the Blossoms, the goddess still favors a bit, it seems.”
But the Goddess is dead though… Soren thought inwardly while maintaining his poker face.
For the longest ti, he had struggled with this truth… The Flower Maiden was dead. At least, according to Hurion.
Soren considered telling Myrin about this nurous tis, but he always hesitated… After all, the Elven Songster valued his faith just as much as he valued his family.
Perhaps it was simply a reflection of what he had gone through. Being told at a young age that he was an ‘unblessed’ might have emotionally scarred him… To the point where he obsesses over his faith—trying everything he could to not be abandoned by the Maiden.
Soren understood this perfectly, and for that reason, he couldn’t really bring himself to reveal the truth. There was no way of knowing how it would affect him or their relationship. And more then that, it seed as if Myrin himself was aware of these feelings—they were exposed to him rather deeply during the Mirror Ga.
However, it did also make him wonder… If the Flower Maiden had perished, who exactly was responding to the Elve’s prayers? How was Yasini’s Paradise still active? And what of the countless spirits that serve Her? Does the Blossom Sword Flower even know?..
Soren shook his head. “It’s good that you know what you need… I do as well now.
“In fact, I have already figured out the ritual required for my advancent.”
“What?” Myrin leaned back. “How…”
Soren smiled proudly. “Abstract Rune Synchronization. The process was a lot simpler.”
The handso elf looked at him in bewildernt. “I should have expected it… After that divination result, it was clear Cantor’s Crown was sohow related to your situation. I am glad… A part of was worried that your gamble wouldn’t succeed.
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“Since you now have the necessary ritual, are you confident about your chances?”
Soren stood in silence for a while, contemplating over his question. Eventually, he sighed. “I don’t know.”
He walked past Myrin and into the brick-layered hallway. “I’ll figure it out eventually… But for now, we have an experint to try, don’t we?”
Reaching Solyara’s room didn’t take that long. After crossing the ancient cliffside bridge, the pair of magi made it back to the Second Temple, and with a few twists and turns, they firmly returned to the sa place he had visited two days prior.
Soren and Myrin both bowed their heads as they stood at the center of the dim hallway.
“Please grant us entrance, Mistress Solyara.”
After a few seconds, Soren watched as the first few bricks underneath their feet shifted on their own. They rose like waves in an ocean, distorting the shape, size, and volu of the corridor they stood in. Soon, a door ford before their very eyes.
Soren and Myrin looked at each other and nodded. Soren took the first step and pushed open the door.
The two of them entered inside. This ti, Soren didn’t see a simple office. Instead, a sprawling secret chamber unfolded before their very eyes. Shelves filled with endless grimoires, so magically levitating on their own. Beakers and glass instrunts organized across many tables with strange liquids boiling inside. There were even chanical objects that he could not fully comprehend.
But what drew his attention the most was what levitated at the center of the room.
A colossal globe magically spinning on its own, showcasing the planet they were on—Yarian. Despite being larger than most of the tables in the room, the details on its surface were never lost.
In fact, Soren felt it was far too detailed to simply be a clay model. Yarian’s supercontinent was spread open before his very eyes… From the ethereal Spirit Blossom Willow standing tall above a sea of crimson trees, to the ancient desert of dark sand to its west… It was as if he was looking at a realistic miniature replica of this realm.
Even Mount Tolarion could be seen, piercing through the life-like clouds like a needle. The oceans rose and fell, influenced by a replica of the Silver Eyed Moon that followed its usual orbits, and the wind spun endlessly from the blazing heat of the sun in the far distance…
It was then that Soren realized that this was not just a recreation of Yarian. It was a recreation of the entire solar system. The planets were all arranged in their usual places, just as he had read about them. Though, strangely, there were a few more he couldn’t recognize.
“The modern interpretation is this: Luga, Ulster, Yarian, Astrea, Kerejin, Cernanis, Yadria, Yasini, and finally, Sirona.”
Soren and Myrin turned around to see Solyara holding Her (usual) wine glass as She levitated in the air next to a tall bookshelf. Books were open all around Her, awaiting Her gaze. It was as if She too was a celestial body that needed to be orbited.
Soren’s frown deepened. “Are those the nas of the planets in order? But that doesn’t make sense—there’s supposed to only be six…”
She glanced at him briefly then back at her book, “This is the unsanitized version. The one the Orthodox Churches don’t want you to see.”
Myrin’s frown deepened. “I see… The planets represent the Gods. This model includes the Old Gods too…”
Soren glanced back up at the celestial bodies, watching them all orbit around the sun. Indeed, just as Myrin had stated, the other three he had not seen before were all… damaged? It was hard to really describe, but it felt as if those worlds had been struck by horrible calamities.
The first was Luga, which was the closest to the sun. It was covered in endless volcanos and lava lakes that seed to form certain shapes and patterns across its surface. Most surprising of all—its shape wasn’t at all spherical. A portion of the planet was missing, as if a giant creature had taken a bite from it.
The second was Cernanis, a planet marked by its significant asteroid rings. Storms could be seen raging upon its gassy surface, as if an endless cycle of destruction had ravished everything on it. And yet, it continued to spin gracefully.
Finally, there was the most distant planet of them all… Out in the furthest reaches of the solar system—Sirona. Its surface seed almost reflective… if not for the endless cracks and blemishes. But strangely, these deformities seed to move on their own, as if they weren’t real.
These three planets represented the Tower of Runes, the Heavenly Loop, and the Serpent of Untruths respectively.
The other planets, like Yarian itself which represented the Greenfather, Ulster which represented the Gold-Giver, Astrea which represented the Mother of Silver, Kerejin which represented the Beast of Knowledge, Yasini which represented the Flower Maiden, and Yadria which represented the Slumbering One, all seed strange but unblemished in their natures.
Soren looked back at Solyara, disappointnt written on his face. “To think the churches would hide even this… Must they go that far?” Interesting knowledge like this being hidden from everyone annoyed him a bit.
Solyara shook her head. “Not far enough. If it were up to , I would have plucked them right out of the Endless Night.”
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