"Uh, we aren't going to be talking to the guardian of the temple of light?" Zack asked in a surprised tone as Joshua narrowed his eyes.
"You will be meeting the guardian and the goddess. Now follow me." The priest didn't ask how Zack knew about the guardian and just asked them to follow him.
Joshua walked up to the statue of the goddess and muttered a few words. A small door opened at the feet of the goddess as Joshua entered it.
Zack and the group followed him inside as well and the door closed behind them. They appeared inside a brightly lit hallway as Joshua started walking towards the end of the hallway.
All of them remained silent the entire time and the only audible sound was of their feet banging against the floor.
It didn't take them long to reach the end of the hallway which led to another door. This time, Joshua pulled out a small knife and cut a small wound on his thumb.
He then dripped the blood on the knob of the door and opened it. A bright flash of light hit all of them and blinded them. Even Zack's eyes were not able to protect him from this as Joshua grabbed their hands and pulled them inside.
Zack and Emma did the same with the two eagles and grabbed their wings tightly. They felt as though they had just jumped across to a different world as the ground beneath their feet vanished and was replaced just as soon.
"Open your eyes." The same voice Zack and Emma had heard the statue talk in resounded inside their heads.
Their eyes slowly opened up as they found themselves sitting on top of water near a beautiful waterfall. A rainbow was visible in the sky alongside a brightly shining sun.
The entire thing made the duo subconsciously relax as they finally saw the real speaker of the voice.
"Uh…" Zack started speaking but shut his mouth when he saw how the goddess of light actually looked.
She was barely ten years old and was wearing a knee length dress that seemed too big for her. Her hair were arranged on top of her head to prevent them from obstructing her while her eyes were shining golden.
"Just so you know, this isn't my true form. This here is one of the three guardians of light on the southern continent. I am just using her body as a vessel to talk to her." The little girl said in a calm tone as Zack and Emma nodded.
"What about Daedalus and Icarus?" Emma asked as she realized that the two eagles weren't there with them.
"They are fine. Joshua is teaching them a few things that will help you in the future. In the meantime, I would like to talk to you both about what you should do from here onwards."
Zack narrowed his eyes as he looked at the ten year old goddess. He knew that the goddess was trying to help them but for some reason, he felt that there was something wrong with her.
"You called us in your real domain and yet you can't show us your true form?" Zack slowly asked as he stared directly into the goddess's eyes.
"So?" she asked back nonchalantly as Zack continued to talk.
"That means that your true form has taken a hit and your domain is the only place where your powers are still intact." Zack finished as he remembered how Kai's powers had taken a huge boost when he was at the place where the past, present and the future met.
He know understood that it had been the god's domain. Kai was a god with two domains due to what he became after and before having Gugnir.
"Looks like he shared too much with you." The kid goddess muttered as she flew forward until she was directly in front of Zack. "So what are you going to do about that?"
"I am just wondering how much you will be affected if the last temple on the continent was also taken by the dark cult. Your domain might shrink and your rank will fall to that of a demi-god."
"I know and that's why you both are here to make sure that the continent doesn't get overrun by the invading forces."
"Great." Zack replied before waiting for the goddess to explain.
In reality, he didn't want to help the goddess since he already knew that meddling in gods' affairs was not a good idea. However, he had no other choice and if he was able to reach his past power level with the help of the goddess, he would gladly help her.
"Then if you agree, I will give you this." The little goddess snapped her fingers as a window opened in front of the duo.
[ Tale of Day and Night (Divine): There was once a person who was put under the night's and the day's curse yet he managed to make both the night and the day embrace him and bless him.
- Visit the Fairy king's forest and touch the world tree (1/3 part of the quest.
Time limit: 15 days ]
[ Tale of Day and Night (Divine): There was once a princess whose family hated her and wanted her to die. She wanted the same but her bloodline didn't allow her to do so. Instead, she forsake the bloodline and her family and ran away.
- Visit the halls of moon and touch the Moon (1/3 part of the quest.
Time limit: 15 days ]
Both Zack and Emma received different quests, the first belonging to Zack and the second to Emma.
Both of them understood the contents of the quest despite hearing many terms for the first time. They knew that it was connected to them in some way or more specifically, connected to their past.
The only question they currently had was simple.
"How are we supposed to get to these places?" Zack asked after he and Emma had read each others quest.
"Leave that on me. I will send you both to as far as I can and you will be on your own from their onwards. But remember, the land of fairies or the palace of moon is not under the gods control.
Anything can happen there and you might even see other gods there who might try to put your lives in danger. Escape the moment you meet such god and try to get your powers back. Once that is done, everything would be fine."
Zack and Emma nodded as they understood the dangers of going into unknown places. They then prepared themselves for a bit before contacting the team.
"No, don't do that!" the goddess of light suddenly shouted as the duo stopped the connection from establishing. "If you contact anyone here or from any other place, many gods will be aware about you both and your chances of survival will drop to point one."
Zack and Emma exchanged a look before they shrugged. They decided to trust the goddess's words on these since she genuinely looked afraid.
They knew that something which made a goddess afraid was not a good thing.
"Then please send us to the other side." Zack requested as the goddess of light nodded and snapped her fingers.
Two pillars of light descended on the duo's body as their bodies slowly started vanishing. But before disappearing completely, Zack decided to ask one last question.
"Is it back and devouring the gods alongside their domains?" He asked in a low tone as the goddess suddenly flinched.
Her eyes showed pure terror as she slowly nodded her head. She knew that there was no point in trying to hide the fact from someone who needed to know it the most.
"I see. That's why your domain no longer has a divinity." Zack said with a sigh as his body vanished alongside Emma's.
He once again felt as though he was stepping through one place to another yet the feeling lasted for much longer.
In the meantime, he went over whatever he remembered about the domains of gods and their divinities.
'A god's domain is like an expansion or physical representation of their power and contains their real divinity. A divinity is something that holds a significant meaning in a god's life whether from when they were mortal or simply anywhere in between.
A divinity can be given out as well to others but only if they sign a contract with the god and become their follower. The smaller divinities can be made from the real one without affecting its power. That's all I need to remember for now.'
He then remembered that people of Earth had no idea about all this except a few of them who he didn't know of.
Thinking about it from another perspective, Zack was sure that there had been no more followers of gods ever since Night's wrath.
'Ugh, my brain hurts from all of this. I shouldn't care about this anyways.' He thought with a sigh before relaxing his mind.
Though the information was useless, Zack knew that it would help him in the fairy king's forest. He knew that he had visited it once before but didn't remembered the details of his visit.
In the end, he could do the same thing again and get the quest completed in time. He would then return and help his teammates with his newfound powers.
'Wait, I will help them but how? I forgot to ask what the reward for completing this quest would be…'
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