Chapter 151: Statue
The statue was large — larger than anything else inside the temple by far. But not so massive that it dwarfed the rest of the room in scale. It didn’t need size for that, which even Rohan himself could vouch for after seeing it in person. It dominated the room through its sheer presence.
The figure depicted was a female, robed in flowing garments carved so delicately into the marble that they looked almost soft and pale in the light filtering into the temple. Her face was so serene and composed, not to mention terrifyingly beautiful. This statue was beyond anything any human sculptor should be able to make — which was odd considering the figure woman depicted on the statue was the spitting image of a human; the most breathtaking one he’d ever seen — but a human nonetheless. Not even some of the greatest in history could match up to this.
’Though, from the description, there’s no doubt that this woman is no human...’ If the word "Goddess" wasn’t enough to reveal some of the origins behind this temple, and statue, then nothing could.
The statue alone was intimidating to Rohan, but not in the same sense as he’d felt before from Awakened of a superior rank and tier to himself. It was more like... an instinctive feeling of reverence developed inside him while looking upon this grand statue.
After staring at it for a while, he started to become mesmerised. Thankfully, he still remained rational enough to catch himself in this, and dropped his gaze back to the words on the bottom of the statue.
It was his second time reading it, but this time he frowned.
"Our Beloved Goddess."
’Why can I understand this?’
He had never seen these symbols in his life. Not once. They looked ancient, more like the languages the human race used to use before even reaching the middle ages, but far more elegant.
To Rohan, they looked more alien than human, which wasn’t very consoling, and yet their meaning came to him naturally as if he’d known the language his whole life.
He didn’t even know the name of this language, and yet he could read it fluently! ’What kind of mind-trickery is going on in this place?’
He was starting to wonder whether he should even be there. Rohan had no idea how he was able to read this language, but the fact he could unsettled him. Something about this place was able to manipulate his mind in a way that allowed him to understand these words’ meaning.
The fact that this happened and he’d only deduced it after the fact was frightening. If this place could do this without him knowing, what else was it capable of?
Rohan felt hesitant to remain even a second longer in this place, but something deep inside him resisted that temptation.
He stepped closer to the small plaque where the symbols lay, and upon closer inspection, realised that there was actually more text beside it.
"Depiction of the Goddess in her last visit to our humble realm."
Rohan’s breath caught.
’Is this Goddess actually real?’ He thought it ridiculous to even consider this. Modern humans in the Federation had already moved past the idea of religion — mostly thanks to the Origin Realm.
A good chunk of people considered the Origin Realm or the entity behind it — if there is one — to be the closest thing to god.
No one was mad enough to think that it not only had a physical incarnation as humans once did in the past, but to still be so arrogant as to view them in the spitting image of a human as well...
’But this reads as if the sculptor actually witnessed this Goddess in person before crafting this masterpiece of a statue...’ Rohan gave the statue another quick once over. ’Though it would explain why it gives me this... feeling just looking at it.’
His original thought was that it could also be an exceptionally powerful Awakened that a primitive civilisation saw as a godly figure because of their powers. But he threw that idea aside. In a world where every person had a chance to become an Awakened, the people who created this temple should know better than to believe that.
"I must be misinterpreting things... Yes! That has to be it! This isn’t even a language I recognise, so it could all be a mistranslation!" Rohan whispered to himself.
Even the Origin Realm had never done anything like this before. It communicated through notifications and prompts on one’s status, but those were presented in ways that felt system-like, not... not like this. This felt much more intimate, much more unnatural.
The look on the statue’s face was one of serenity — the Origin Realm would never show emotion like this.
A cold shiver ran down Rohan’s back.
"What even is this place..."
His voice came out quiet, yet still echoed all throughout the temple.
However, as if that question had broken some sort of fragile tension in the realm, Rohan suddenly became aware of a very terrifying fact.
He’d been feeling off ever since entering this temple — like he was being watched.
His whole body had tensed as he looked past the statue for the first time.
There, on the opposite side of the chamber, partially obscured until now by the broad pedestal and the angle of the room, a woman was kneeling.
Rohan didn’t know how he hadn’t noticed it until now, but she had been there the whole time. ’Why do I also know this?’
She knelt at the end of the hall in absolute stillness, and her head was bowed as if in prayer. She wore robes of pale white and silver that spilled around her over the temple floor, almost like it was made of liquid.
Her hair was long and impeccably smooth, falling down her back and glistening from the reflections of light around her.
Rohan spent a long time just staring at her.
The woman, as if oblivious of Rohan’s presence, did not move like she was startled by an intruder. In fact, she remained completely still until it looked like she was done with her prayer, then moved in perfect calmness, unfolding from her kneeling position.
The moment she turned, Rohan stopped breathing.
His eyes locked in place on her face, refusing to accept what they were seeing, even though it was clear as day. His mind kept trying to come up with all sorts of lies to reason with himself, but all of them fell flat.
She was the exact, spitting image of the statue depicted in marble right in front of him. The same face that no human sculptor could ever recreate. The same soft, supple features. The same poised, impossible beauty that made even Rohan feel crude and inferior by merely looking at her.
Even the fall of her robes matched the statue’s, though the real version moved with a fluidity that simple marble could not capture.
Right now, Rohan looked like he was turning to stone himself — his body was that stiff.
’No. This is impossible. It’s just—’
Just what?
An illusion?
A hallucination?
Another trick of the temple?
Those would all be much easier truths to swallow — still very unpleasant, but this was all ruined by one detail.
Her reaction.
The woman looked surprised by his presence there.
Her pale golden eyes widened just slightly, and her lips parted in a way that made it clear she had not been expecting any visitors today.
That single expression rocked Rohan to the core. She was real, not some illusion.
The woman rose completely from her kneeling position and stood in complete stillness for a few breaths, simply returning Rohan’s gaze. She didn’t look hostile, which Rohan couldn’t even be relieved about due to the overwhelming emotions he was experiencing.
Her expression shifted. Curiosity, perhaps.
"You are not one of mine."
When she finally spoke, all the mental shackles and stiffness locking Rohan in place released.
He almost backed away, turned tail and ran straight out the temple on the spot, but something about the woman’s curious gaze kept him there.
The language she spoke was not one Rohan recognised either, which wasn’t really a surprise at this point.
Rohan swallowed. "You’re..." He spoke, shifting his gaze between the statue and the woman.
The woman’s eyes flicked to the statue, and a gentle smile arose from her. "Yes." Was all she said.
Just one word, but it dispelled every rationalisation Rohan tried to create, to justify everything he was witnessing right now.
The woman didn’t look like the statue, it was the other way around.
The statue depicted her... she is the Goddess.
Rohan’s mind immediately tried one last escape route.
’Maybe "Goddess" is just a title here. Like Monarch, Saint, Guardian...’
At the same time, it was like the woman had read his mind, as he swore he saw her smile switch from gentle, to teasing, and back to gentle in that split second.
"What do you mean, not one of yours?" He finally responded.
