Chapter 21: Hiddenaus
He was walking, alone, with his wings wrapped around him, creating an armor. It was mainly white, with black joint parts at the knees, his shoulders, and his elbows, with black gauntlets, "I wonder if my horns can make a helmet."
"They can, Vidian."
"Lord Inventaariy, I almost forgot that I allowed you to look through my mind."
"I'll give you the knowledge, to make your horns create that last piece of armor that your body can make."
"Thank you once more," His horns expanded then bent around his head forming a helmet that covered everything but a space in the center of his face, with a protection over his nose, "How can you communicate with me like this?"
"The potion Justicearinaian gave you gave me this possibility, that is how."
"And I assume you thought of everything beforehand, along with the possibility to get research using me."
"Yes, indeed."
"You didn't ask for it when you gave me the knowledge of swimming."
"It would've given me away, well," As he walked in a small forest that lead through to the Forest of the Uncanny, four bandits appeared out of nowhere, two Darkkins, and two humans, holding swords and surrounding him.
"Knight, had over your money, and you'll live."
"Money, money, and more money, get something less obvious," Vidian said as his helmet returned to a horned state and his armor changed back to the pair of wings, "I am no knight, but I could become your last sight, so how about you leave and let me pass."
"Don't threaten us," His arms began to mutate, "Demon! Scram!" The men ran back into the forest. He laughed and his armor reformed.
"You were saying, Lord Inventaariy?"
"It would be crazy to ask more of you, knowing that you could say no, and just after my work, I would be a madman, even more than you are thinking."
"Now I am thinking that, well, what can you tell me about this Lord Tardunus and Lady Temprania?"
"The Gods of the seasons, brother and sister, closely related beings," He begun, "They have three sub-gods, the Goddess of Animals, the Goddess of plants and the Goddess of the Forest, Lady Leyitan, Lady Fuanila and Lady Flora, respectively, they live within a Natura community that doesn't live in a live golem, but in the remains of a dead Golem, at the heart of the forest, guarded by unknown creatures with aggressive attitude towards strangers and with guards that have extreme magical powers, Syl and Silvia's powers are jokes compared to their power."
"So how do I get in?"
"That is up to you, I only give you the information you will soon see, not the way to get in, you still need to test yourself, not be guided, for the Death of the World probably doesn't fight like it did thousands of years ago."
"Well that is good enough for me, thank you, Lord Inventaariy," His wings spread out and slowly lifted him from the ground, "I'll bypass this."
"If you want, I have a few books full already, but, I didn't know you met Aniya already, when was that?"
"Lady Aniya? I never met her."
"I must have something wrong then, well, whatever, Tardunus and Temprania know of you, maybe their Natura's don't," Vidian flew above the forest and slowly moved towards its center. There was a massive tree in the middle, totally still as the sun began setting. He began to fly towards it, slowly descending at the same time.
He landed near the dead tree golem, looking around. He sighed as he saw three beasts surround him, with a Natura woman standing next to one of them. She walked towards him and scanned him as he stood still. She had hair magic like Syl had, "Who are you?" She took a step back.
"I am Vidian, you were judged recently, I recognize that voice."
"What? H-H-How?" She took another step back, "How would a human know, did he spare you? Were you that man next to me?"
"No, but, I did the judgement, you killing your partner didn't disgust me, you killed, you probably saw it as the last resort, so there you have it, that is what I heard, and understood, I am not lying to you, I don't like lying about stuff that simple."
"You, you, you are Justicearinaian's hand," She had wide eyes, she seemed even scared, "You are Eternum's Trusted? You must be lying."
"No, I am not, I am not a demon, nor a liar, I am the one who judged you and I mean no harm to you, your creatures, nor your brothers and sisters, you can trust me, as the gods above have trusted me," He knelt in front of her, "I need your help, I need you to convince your leader or your people that I am harmless, please, can you do that for me?"
"You didn't kill me, maybe I can, sho!" Her beasts stopped their aggressive stances and stood near her, "Gilka, Yutiko and Hevry, stay here, I need to do something, just remember what we practiced, okay?" They nodded and left them. She sighed and turned around. She wore similar clothes, similar to Syl, "What is your name?"
"Vidian."
"Just Vidian?"
"Just Vidian."
"I am Amaranth Winter, this is Hiddenaus," A massive tree stood in front of them, "Inside, is the city, I'll walk in front of you, I don't know how my brother will react," She went to pull herself up before telling him to go first.
"Okay, then tell me where to go."
He pulled himself on to a ledge and found himself looking over the Natura city. Houses were carved into the dead golem's body, going from the center to nearly the top of the ledges. A stream of water, directed by small paths cut in the golem's body ran to all the houses and then down towards the middle into a fountain that then returned to the earth. Amaranth stood next to him. His wings bent around him and created his armor as his horns did the same. He followed her as she walked down one of the streets that lead to a large hanging platform in the middle of the golem.
"Amaranth, how are you doing? You are back earl-" The large Natura stopped as he noticed Vidian, "What is that? Did you bring a human into our city?" A hammer formed from roots and wood in his hand, "Are you trying to doom us?" He swung it towards her, not Vidian. Vidian broke his armor back into his wings and shielded Amaranth from the attack. He turned to face the Natura, standing face to face with him. His helmet remained as his wings hung behind him. His arm created a staff with a blade at the end of it that he held in his hands in front of him, "You are a demon, did Lord Fendian let you lose?"
"Natura, if you were to remember one event, Amaranth was judged," He blocked the swing with his spear and hopped back, "For killing her partner, a man that beat her," He fended off another swing, "I judged her," He froze mid swing, "I am not a demon despite my appearance, I am, what many people call, Eternum's Trusted," He withdrew the spear and his helmet returned to simple horns, "I mean no harm here, I just wish to talk to your gods."
"Is that true, sister?"
"Yes, brother, he judged me, he remembered the events better than I did, he recognized my voice and everything," The Natura placed his hand on Vidian's shoulder as the hammer disappeared, he was laughing.
"Well, sorry about that, human, our gods, Lord Tardunus and Lady Temprania don't live within our city, to allow everyone to praise them, they live further in the forest, but come with me, I have to announce your presence."
"Are you, like, the leader?"
"Me and my sister are the leaders, I just happen to have the biggest voice in the pair, we work like our gods, I wanted deal with the city, and she wanted to deal with the defense, so we do each part."
"What is your name?"
"Grissel Winter, follow me."
"Everyone, listen here!" The people had been called to the main square in the city, "A human will be staying with us, this guy right here," Vidian realized how much taller Grissel was than him, he had only met a few people taller than he was, "So don't be alarmed by his presences, he is here to converse with our gods."
"How can we trust him?" Someone shouted from the crowd.
"First, because I am telling you that you can, second, he is the one who judged your leader, the Hand of Justice himself," The crowd fell silent, "Enough talking, you can go back to your business," As the crowd began to break apart, he turned to Vidian, "I'll have someone bring you to our gods, Flora!" A small figure stopped in the crowd and walked back to them, "Bring Vidian to the Altar, will you?"
"O-O-Okay."
"Don't be shy, he probably doesn't bite."
"I don't," Grissel laughed, "Thank you, Grissel."
"No problem, she will bring you there, but," He grabbed Vidian by the throat, "I warn you about one thing," Vidian nodded as he understood what the warning was, "Good, now you can go, thank you, Flora."
He walked behind Flora as they walked together in the forest. She hadn't said anything until that point, "Who are you exactly?"
"I am a mortal who was given a task by Lord Eternum himself, why?"
"What is that task?"
"Do you want a lie or reality?"
"Um, why did you ask me that?" She squinted her eyes, "Reality."
"I have to gather the blessings of the gods on this earth, then I have to get rid of one of the most feared creatures, even among some gods, the Death of the World, that is why I judged your leader, why I look like this and so on."
"What do you mean, kill?"
"Face it and kill it," He smiled at her, "I guess it won't be easy but nothing ever is."
"You don't seem fazed by it."
"Well, I have already tossed and turned in a bed before I slept thinking of it," He joked, "I have already seen myself die in dreams fighting 'it' however it might look like, but yes, I think that it is something that I seem to take to lightly."
"Why were you fighting with Grissel?"
"He thought his sister was going to doom you by bringing me to your city."
"Oh, okay then."
"You are shy, aren't you?" She began blushing and turned away, "Sorry."
"N-N-Not at all."
"You are Flora, you were born in the summer?"
"How did you know?"
"Wild guess," He smiled at her as they continued to walk, "How are your gods?"
"Close, lover close."
"Like in the stories then."
"Mhm, but how do you collect blessings?"
"I complete works, the works of the gods I talk to, from Lord Orn to Lord Boros, passing though everyone else."
"That sounds like a lot of work."
"What do you do in the city?"
"Huh?"
"Like, your role?"
"I am a breeder, I take care of the small creatures that then grow into the beasts that defend us, nothing else, I just do that."
"That sounds like a lot of work, but what do these creatures do exactly?"
"I take care of them for a winter cycle, or more if it is necessary, and then once that is done, I give them to guardians who can implement them in our defending, I really like it."
"That sounds pretty fun," She moved her hand closer to him and revealed hundreds of small scars, "Well scars are scars, look at my version of that," He slightly turned his back and she gasped in shock, "Humans can be cruel to each other, but I haven't seen that in a while."
"That must hurt."
"It did, but yeah," He turned to look at her and got a clear look at her. She was smaller than him, with short blue hair, slightly tanned skin and a leaf skirt with a small leaf top and a bag that was held together with vines, "How far is the altar?"
"A little longer."
"Do you go there often?"
"Yes, the creatures I raise are Lady Fuanila's creations, she makes them and I raise them, I go there every few days, she probably has something else for me."
"She makes them?"
"Mhm, like Lady Naturania, she makes creatures, like testing, apparently, like the Seakin God, Lord Piciniarus."
"Lord Piciniarus does do that, but with aquatic creatures."
"You met him?"
"I have, I collected Lord Aquariusinarium's blessing."
"Wow, that is impressive," She seemed less shy and was more open than he thought Naturas would be.
"What power do you have?"
"I don't know how to explain it."
"You'll show me later, I mean, another day."
The altar was under a shelter of twisting trees that created a sort of dome. Flora walked in front of him and then bowed as she saw to gods.
"Hello Flora, how are you today?"
"Good, Lady Temprania, I brought someone to see you, his name is Vidian."
"We were expecting him," The male god that Temprania was using his lap as a seat, "Come forwards," Flora got up and let him pass, "So you are the famous Vidian of the Great Desert?"
"Yes, um, Lord Tardunus."
"So you want to do our work and collect our blessing?"
"Yes, I need to."
"Flora, you can leave or stay, but he will be working alone."
"I will wait, Lady Temprania."
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