CHAPTER 177: THE FEAST

They did not in fact have a lot of time.

When they reached the fortress Alison, already dressed in her festive clothes, informed them that they had twenty minutes to prepare for the feast, which would take place in the main hall of the fortress – a place they didn’t even know existed, but the capitan assured them they would have no problem finding it.

That last part was debatable.

After saying a quick thanks to Alison they almost ran to their room to get ready.

The biggest issue with the time limit was the size of the fortress – while it wasn’t as big as the Order’s castle, it was much much older and built as a the first line of defence of an independent city. The corridors here weren’t stupid for shits and giggles, they were intentionally built to be confusing.

"You two will probably be ready before us, so don’t run away." Isara warned Calen and Cassian. "We have a better chance of finding the main hall together."

"We wouldn’t dare to leave you two alone, I swear." Calen chuckled.

"Let’s keep it that way – see you in a bit."

***

It turns out the were great at working under pressure they all got dressed and ready in less than five minutes – which gave them more time to get lost in the labyrinthine corridors of the fortress.

Fortunately for them a few minutes into their search one of the guards spotted them and offered to take them to the feast.

"Too bad I can’t go." The guard grumbled.

"Why not? I thought it was a public event." Isara asked.

"There’s a public one in the main market, but the one you’re going to attend is a more exclusive one – they invite the representatives of all the big businesses and government higher-ups. Only a few people from the Watch get an invite and a rookie like me certainly isn’t one of them."

"Oh." Isara paused. "I guess you can still go to the public one?"

"I would’ve but I lost the shift lottery and I’m stuck guarding these empty corridors – at least they pay me double for today..."

The Guard continued to bemoan his fate for the rest of the way and none of them dared to stop him, he did help them to find the main hall after all – the least they could do was to listen to his woes.

"Here we are." The guard stopped in front of a massive pair of doors. "It starts in two minutes, have fun."

"Thanks, I hope your salary is worth all of this."

"It’s really not."

***

The Guard was right about the feast, even though there were significantly more people here than at the mini banquet yesterday the atmosphere felt more exclusive.

Calen sort of expected a ballroom set up, with buffet tables to the side and dance floor in the middle, but it seemed like Sylara took the word feast pretty literally.

A giant dining table was the centerpiece of the chamber – it had at least a hundred seats, each of them signed.

They found their own names very close to the head of the table, and therefore Sylara – the only people between them and the Guardian were Alison and Maya.

Calen was particularly surprised that the delegation from the Order wasn’t actually sitting next to or even near Sylara, but was actually put next to Cassian, who was the furthest from the Guardian in their group.

There was no speech or official opening, everyone knew why they were here so they immediately started eating the appetizers brought by the kitchen staff and talking amongst themselves.

"I love your outfits." Sylara smiled. "Especially yours Isara – are you a fan of the Moon’s daughter?"

"You could say that – and more importantly the way you phrased that question suggests you know a lot about her."

The Guardian laughed.

"Guilty as charged – I considered Maleen to be one of my closest friends, although I never knew if she thought the same of me. She was kinda difficult to read."

"Are the stories about her true?"

"Depends which ones, but most of them are at least based on facts."

"What about her being the daughter of the Moon Goddess, it’s that part true?"

"I’m afraid I cannot speak of this matter – but I can tell you that her heritage was almost as fantastical as her life."

"That’s the most convoluted way of saying yes I’ve ever heard."

"Her origin is also not as simple as you think."

"What do you mean by that?" Isara cocked her head.

"I reckon she’s referencing her father." Calen reasoned. "He was never mentioned in any of her stories directly but it’s not like a Goddes would lay with just any random dude, he must have been pretty notable himself."

"Who do you think it was? An archmage? A knight? Or maybe a spirit?"

"I don’t think it’s as simple as that – as a Moon Goddess she represents the aspects of her own domain, so having an affair with someone she met during the age of the old gods would be weird. I believe it was someone she knew longer – it could’ve been a spirit I suppose, but then again I don’t even know if they can reproduce the way humans can."

"They can." Sylara confirmed. "At least the incarcerated ones, although those who are incorporeal can also couple in a sense."

"Sounds fascinating but perhaps it’s not the best topic while we eat." Alison interjected.

"Right, of course." The Guardian smiled at her apologetically. "Going back to Maleen, if you’re interested in her story then you’re in luck – one of the temples you’ll be going to is the place where she was born."

"I assume it’s a temple dedicated to the Moon then?" Calen said.

"Sort of, you’ll see when you get there – but a fair warning, the being guarding it is a bit... different than the others."

"In what sense...?"

"Unlike the others she’s not a corrupted beast, nor did she come to inhabit the temple after the invasion – she’s been in there since before you were born in fact."

Calen didn’t like that explanation one bit, the enemy was not only a ’she’ instead of ’it’, but was also hundreds of years old and not corrupted – it only made him dread whatever the other temples had in store.

Apparently it wasn’t the case for Isara though, as she launched into a flurry of questions about the entity protecting the temple.

"Is she a human?"

"No."

"A spirit?"

"Not in the traditional meaning of the word, but I suppose you could classify her as such if you don’t stick to the definition too strictly."

"Why is she guarding that place?"

"You’d have to ask her yourself, she never told me."

"Is she strong?"

"Extremely – but don’t worry if you play your cards right you probably won’t have to fight her. I waited with sending you there because of the very slim chance that she might attack you, but now you should be strong enough to just barely survive a clash with her."

"Speaking of temples, how are we going to find these ones?" Calen questioned. "Alfred guided us to the last one but I doubt it will be the case this time."

"I prepared something for that exact purpose – well, Joel and Martha prepared it but I asked them to do it. I will give it to you after the tournament, it’ll help you with finding the rest of the temples without having to trek back here every time to ask whether you’re sting enough to take in another one."

"Won’t we have to come back anyway since your city is connected with every other big settlement? It easier to travel underground than above it."

"I’m afraid that some temples are so far away you won’t be able make use of the tunnels, not to mention some other locations that you might want to visit in the future."

"So more trekking through the desolate landscape while invisible, great." He groaned.

"You won’t have to do that for much longer, I reckon that after these two temples you’re domain will be strong enough to deter most corrupted beasts – no more skulking around."

"How would I get stronger from a temple where we most likely won’t even fight, much less kill its protector?"

"You’ll see."

In theory her cryptic words were supposed to be exciting and mysterious – but they only made Calen feel anxious.

Facing an unknown powerful enemy in exchange for unclear rewards? Not exactly something he liked to do.

"What about the other temple?" Cassian asked suddenly. "The one that doesn’t contain an ancient mysterious being."

"I haven’t seen the creature that made its nest inside, but I expect it to be no less dangerous than the Krakee chieftain, perhaps even more." Sylara stated. "All the information I have comes from one of the scouts working for the Enlightened, he reported hearing a terrible wailing in the vicinity of the temple, one which threatened to take away his sanity."

"Lovely." Isara deadpanned. "What’s the scout called? We should probably try to get more info from him."

"Mark, he became monk rather recently and from what I gathered he doesn’t really enjoy it – that’s why he became a scout I suppose."

There are so many things one could do even in this ruined world, why do something you don’t like?

They would probably find out at Sage’s Summit.