The white light intensified and then it turned to black as sensation returned to my limbs. I felt myself laying down on the softness of my back with something cold beneath me. I made it out to be the chest plate that was still on my back. I noted Cellestra standing to my side. The first thing I did, before even opening my eyes, was sigh.

It hadn’t been as I’d expected, both in communicating and answers, but I had a lead, a pretty good one at that. Cellestra was kind enough to give me a few moments as I regained my wits and started processing the information that was provided to me by the goddess.

She had, to some degree, sealed away my parents’ memories of me. I thought it would be beneficial to them both. I could imagine it being painful for them to not know where I was and if I was safe… pretty much the same I felt about them.

I wondered just how much they had been affected by Elysa’s magic. I had no idea how they appeared here in this world and what they did and didn’t remember. Now that I thought about it, wouldn’t they know this was a different world in the first place?

I was left with even more questions than before. Although, I felt that these were far less important. The main thing I knew now was where to start looking.

“Where is Thymhil?” I asked with my eyes still closed. When I didn’t receive an immediate reaction, and was met with confusion on Cellestra’s face, I continued. “Or Len Asari?”

The elf shook her head. It appeared she’d not heard those names before.

“Len Asari is a province quite far from here,” said a voice from behind the altar.

The priestess that conducted the ritual was emptying the bowl of burnt reagents on a piece of fabric. I had no idea what the idea behind that was. “Will you need to travel there?” She continued.

“Yes,” I said, finally opening my eyes. “How do we get there?”

“Easy, Kealyna,” Cellestra spoke. “I know you’re in a hurry, but we still need to sell those items on your back.”

I lifted myself off the armor piece and moved my legs to stand up. “You’re right.” I turned my head to the priestess who finished cleaning the ritual bowl. “Would you be willing to purchase a few items we picked up?”

“I noticed blood on that armor,” She started. “Since the goddess was willing to speak with you, am I correct in assuming it doesn’t come from an innocent person?”

I nodded and couldn’t help but chuckle slightly. “Far from it. It belonged… well, that’s up for debate. It most recently belonged to a bandit leader we dispatched while protecting a convoy of elven merchants. The same thing goes for the golden dagger.”

“In that case, we’d gladly buy them.”

Cellestra was right once again. Some things just seemed to go easier when you had the… should I call it favor? Of the goddess helping you out.

I cut the threads with my legs and moved the armor piece on the floor and the dagger to one of my hands. I then unsheathed it and presented it to the priestess. When I did that, I saw her eyes grow wide. She stared at the weapon longer than I was comfortable with, which made me wonder if there was something going on with this dagger.

“It’s a ritual dagger,” She explained. “Clearly elven in nature. It’s almost as if Elysa wanted this returned here.”

I didn’t know what to say. A dagger made of gold was completely useless. The fact that it was a ritual dagger was not something I’d thought about before.

“How about twenty gold pieces for both items?” She suggested.

It made me realize that I had no idea about the value of currency in this world. Back in my old world, twenty gold pieces were quite a bit. I looked to Cellestra, who shook her head. Of course she couldn’t know either. She’d been using other things to pay for her necessities for years.

“Uhhh,” I started.

“Sounds good to me,” Cellestra finally said.

I looked at her and could see she wasn’t entirely certain about this deal. However, I think she and I both knew that we weren’t being ripped off here. It wouldn’t look good for followers of Elysa to do such a thing to someone who had a special connection with the goddess.

That’s what I thought, at least.

“Give me a moment then,” She said with a small smile as she walked off into the room at the back.

Almost immediately, Cellestra turned to me and looked into my eyes expectantly.

“Thymhil?” She asked after a few seconds.

“That’s where my parents are… or were...…” I said as I crossed my arms.

“How…?”

“I do not know if they are still there. Elysa avoided spying on them so to say, so that Hograd couldn’t mess around with them as well. By the way, Hograd is the one responsible for my own curse. Speaking of curses, yours is not actually a curse.”

“Hold on,” Cellestra said sharply. “You’re going too fast there.”

I sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“So he was behind it after all?” She asked, then paused, seemingly thinking. “Now what?”

I shrugged. “I have no idea. I don’t know why he did that. I don’t know what I’m going to do about it either. Sure, I hate his guts for cursing me like that. I would have been long dead if it wasn’t for Elysa, but still, what can I do?”

“I don’t know…” Cellestra admitted. “Leave it, for now, I suppose. I’m certain there are more important things to worry about first. I’m sure you feel the same way.”

I nodded. “I can always worry about that later.”

“Now, what was that you said about my curse?”

“It was one of the only questions I got to ask. Elysa said it’s not actually a curse. She did call it an ailment, though. She also said that it doesn’t progress further as long as I can use her magic on you.”

Cellestra turned her head to look at the ceiling of the temple before heaving a deep sigh. I could tell that that had been one of the more important questions to ask. The relief that washed over the kind-hearted elf was just… beyond imaginable. I believed I even saw a tear form, which she quickly wiped away.

At the same time, the priestess returned with a small pouch which she emptied on the altar to show there were, indeed, twenty gold coins contained within. She then placed the coins back in the pouch before handing them to me. I placed it in the still-stunned elf’s backpack.

“You would like to know the way to Len Asari, correct?” The priestess said while Cellestra slowly recovered from the massive relief she had just gone through.

I nodded in response. “Do you know how we can get there?”

“I can give you the general direction, yes. I have to warn you that you will have to cross through hostile territory in order to get there. Len Asari is a remote elven province. It borders two provinces occupied by demonic beings. Strange as it may be, one of them is on extremely good terms with Len Asari, and they have been for quite some time. The other, however… not so much. It is a good thing the elves of your destination have a formidable military.”

None of this sounded good in my mind. A province bordering a hostile demon one? What was Elysa thinking when she put my parents there? I knew I was supposed to be there as well, but still.

If there wasn’t this stupid period in which I couldn’t undergo another ritual, I would have asked to do it again. I needed to know why she made that kind of, in my opinion awful, decision.

“To get there,” The priestess continued, regaining my attention. “Is going to be quite difficult. I would suggest asking residents along the way as I don’t quite know it myself. I know it’s all the way north, but I don’t know what roads to follow other than the ones leading in that direction.”

I sighed in disappointment, but I understood that it wasn’t possible for someone to know all this. As long as I could get moving soon and go in the general direction of our goal, I would already feel better.

“The first road that you encounter when you walk around the city…” she said as she pointed to her right. It was the direction that we walked in until we found the temple. “Leads due north. If you like you could probably save time by venturing off the road when it does eventually bend. As long as you follow the direction it leads in, you will come closer to where you need to be. I can’t promise it’s entirely safe to do that, but you seem to be in a hurry so I thought I’d mention it.”

I nodded again. “We are. Thank you.”

I looked at Cellestra who had recovered and was about to ask her to head out when something else entered my mind.

“Would you happen to have any food we could buy for the journey?”