“Are you... alright?” Caspiera asked, more confused than concerned.

“Hm?”

“You just got this sad look all of a sudden.”

“It’s nothing,” Donavan said, forcing a smile. Caspiera furrowed her brows at him, but he had no desire to dwell on dark thoughts. Looking around for something to change the subject, Donavan spotted something on the far side of the room.

“So, what's all that?” Donavan said with a nod, he could feel Caspiera’s gaze linger on him for a moment longer until she eventually glanced over to where he’d indicated.

On the far wall, dominating the entirety of its upper half was a circular stained-glass window. No, not quite a circle, it had twelve sides distinguished from each other by slight angles. Its colors were predominantly of browns, greens, and golds, but backlit by the waning daylight they were muddied to darker and deeper shades. All around the inside of the shape, like numbers on a clock, a series of golden circles sat nestled in each of the twelve corners. Each circle had a symbol in its center. Inside the circle at the top, where the twelve would be, was what looked like a silver tower. To its right was a crashing blue wave, after that a sapling with golden leaves like the one on the other windows, and so on.

“You mean you seriously don’t know?” Caspiera asked looking back up at him.

“Lest just assume that I don’t know most things.”

Caspiera frowned, then nodded to herself. He tried to ignore how quickly she let herself agree with his statement.

“That is the Dodalah, it's the symbol that represents the twelve in their entirety. Though this temple is dedicated to Jeiya in particular, every temple pays homage to the other twelve.”

Donavan nodded, he wasn’t sure how useful this information would be, but he figured it was good to know on principle. He studied the symbols, starting from the top and moving clockwise downwards, but frowned as he got to the six o'clock circle.

“How come the bottom one’s empty, and why is it black when the rest are gold?”

“Quiet!” Caspiera barked. “Don’t talk about that, especially not here.”

Donavan blinked at the woman’s sudden forcefulness. He opened his mouth to ask why when the clopping of approaching heels drew his attention to the two women crossing the floor over to them. One was the priestess who originally lead him in, the other was… well, she was something.

Though her outfit technically had more fabric than the other priestesses, it somehow managed to be even more provocative. A long, slinky green dress hugged tightly to her voluptuous curves. It had slits up both sides to the waist, flashing the length of her long legs with each step. The lace waistband of her panties peeked out on each side with the swaying of her hips. Unlike the other priestesses, The heart-shaped cutout on her chest was upside down and quite a bit bigger allowing for not just a bit of cleavage to show through, but the entirety of her massive chest along with the gold leaf embroidered bra she was wearing that was so ill-sized, it seemed she’d spill out of it any second.

“This is the man who rescued the captain from the field.” The first priestess said as the two arrived.

The new woman looked Donavan up and down, a lascivious glint playing across her jade green eyes. With wavy blonde hair tumbling down from underneath her headdress, and a beauty mark just above and to the left of smirking cherry red lips, the woman was like a walking wet dream, actually, that was probably exactly where Erwin had got his inspiration for her.

“I am headmistress Vivienne.” The woman began, her voice low, tone so intimate it sent swells of heat rippling through his body. “Caspiera is a dear friend of mine. I can’t begin to express my gratitude.”

“It was nothing,” Donavan said glancing at the floor with a muffled cough.

“Nonsense,” The headmistress said taking a step closer, softly biting at her bottom lip. “The Captain keeps everyone in this village safe. We owe you a great debt for doing the same for her.”

“Really, it’s no issue,” he said taking a small step back. “Helping others is its own reward and all that.”

“But surely it doesn’t have to be the only reward.” The headmistress responded, taking yet another step forward. She was so close now he could smell the faint scent of flowery perfume.

“Oh, will you lay off it.” Caspiera interrupted from her place still cradled in Donovan's arms. “Leave your bimbo-ing for another time, if you hadn’t noticed, I need your help.”

“No need to be so impatient.” The headmistress muttered, stepping back and relieving Donavan of the swelling heat in his chest. “Now, let's have a look… How did goblins manage to do all this?”

“They had firebombs,” Caspiera said.

“That's just ridiculous.” The headmistress replied, folding her arms, the action taunting him to let his gaze drift downwards to her chest. Well, maybe a peak wouldn’t hurt.

“I was at the northern water-gate, the fires were on the southern wall. How the fuck else do you think my arm got burned?” Casperia said gritting her teeth as she raised the scorched arm up for the headmistress to see. “Look, I hate to ask, but I need to be back on my feet asap, can you do your thing?”

The headmistress frowned for a moment, but nodded, and glanced back up at Donavan. He snatched his eyes back up to meet hers, desperately hoping she hadn’t noticed where he’d been staring. For a second he’d thought he’d gotten away with it, but then the woman flashed him a clandestine wink and, for what felt like the billionth time today, his cheeks started to burn.

“Hold her still.” the Headmistress said. “She can be surprisingly squirmy”

Caspiera rolled her eyes, and Donavan readjusted his grip. The headmistress laid an outstretched hand just a few inches above Caspiera’s charred arm. He realized then that he had no idea what exactly it was the headmistress intended to do. Watching on, it should’ve been obvious, but when she started, he still couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.

A series of glowing green patterns and pathways appeared on the pale skin of the headmistress's hand, like light-up tattoos that hadn’t been there the instant prior. The designs almost seemed to resemble circuitry; a labyrinth of thin, hard angled lines organized into various arcane looking shapes and sigils. They started glowing a soft, pale green, but rapidly the designs burned into an emerald luminescence that blackened the rest of the grand chamber with their casted shadows.

Donavan's breath caught, as he and everyone else in the temple went quiet. Expressions of wonderment, reverence, and just a bit of fear painted the faces of all watching on, all bathed in that eerie verdant light.

In the space between the headmistresses' hand and Caspiera’s burnt arm, a spectral circle the size of an open palm hung in the air. Little runic markings orbited along its circumference and inside geometric shapes and even smaller circles revolved inside of and around each other in a seamless waltz of clockwork rotations.

Donovan was so mesmerized by the carousel of holographics he almost missed what was happening to Caspiera's arm beneath.

The burnt skin was foaming and fizzing, and as the foam abated, underneath was pink, perfectly healthy-looking skin. Nothing whatsoever of the blackened and blistered burns remained. Caspiera quivered in his arms as the strange power washed over her, and for a second, he thought he could smell the blooming of flowers and hear the chirping of birds.

The headmistress then moved her hand over Caspiera’s broken leg. This time, the exposed, jutting bone slowly slid itself back into place. Caspiera convulsed, grunting out in pain, but Donavan held her firm. After the bone repositioned itself, the skin began to knit itself back together, and after a few moments more, the only remnant of the wound was a tear in her trousers.

“That was… That was incredible” Donavan murmured.

“Oh, I can do all sorts of incredible things.” The headmistress said batting her long eyelashes at him. Despite her bragging though, a measure of fatigue seemed to weigh down her suggestive expression.

That was magic. He’d just seen real, honest-to-god, magic.

How many times had he imagined being able to see something like this? Or even better, to do it himself. Erwin said he was some kind of wizard, right? That had to mean he could use magic himself, how fucking cool would that be, but how? How did it work, what did he have to do to use it? He had no idea where to even start, but the prospect itself was exhilarating.

The more he thought about it, the wider his smile grew. Maybe this place wasn’t gonna be so bad. Maybe he could find some actual enjoyment in his situation despite having been forced into it against his will. Sure, he’d been a bit baffled by some of the more... ‘exotic’ quirks of this world, but what he had just witnessed; that was why he had fallen in love with fantasy in the first place.

“You can put me down now,” Caspiera said impatiently.

“Oh yeah, sorry.”

He lowered Caspiera gently to the floor. She wobbled for just a second on her newly healed leg, but soon was standing tall.

“You’re not hurt at all are you?” The headmistress asked looking over Donavan’s body. “I think I've got one more in me if you need it.”

“No worries, I’m fine.”

“Why don’t you let me do a quick check-over to be sure, I'll be gentle.” The headmistress said quickly stepping over to him and pressing her body up against his own. “But only if you want me to be.”

“Oh, for fucks sake,” Caspiera said, rolling her eyes.

For a moment, all rational thought fled his mind, replaced only with the cripplingly vivid awareness of how warm the sections of exposed flesh allowed by her outfit felt against his bare skin, that and how tight the cloth around his waist seemed to be growing.

Then he remembered he was not a fourteen-year-old and reclaimed his mental faculties enough to carefully push himself away from the lewd woman.

“I appreciate the offer, but now that the Captain is healed, I really must be getting back to what I was doing.”

The headmistress seemed to pout for a moment, but stepped back, and gave him a kindly if somewhat disheartened smile.

“I meant what I said about repaying you,” she said, the earlier flirtatiousness gone, replaced now by earnest sincerity. “So, if we can help you with whatever it is your doing, just ask.”

Well, maybe they could help, it couldn’t hurt just to ask, could it?

“I’m looking for someone, they should be here in town.”

The headmistress nodded. “We here at the temple know everyone in the village, everybody has come in to see us at least once before, can you tell me their name?”

“Well, not really,” Donavan said scratching the back of his head. If only he’d read the damn draft instead of just skimming the summary. Then he’d already know this basic crap, but it wasn’t like he knew that the information would end up ever being relevant to his life.

“Can you describe them at least?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Donavan nodded. He’d seen the cover art Erwin had commissioned for his book only a few hours ago, he could just go off of that. “Young guy, maybe just barely in his twenties, a real farm boy type, tall with long brown hair.”

“Hm.” The headmistress said looking down in thought. “You’ve just described half of the village. Lots of young men came here to farm at the behest of the Oaktri Trading company, is there anything more specific you can give me.

Donavan frowned down at the floor. The guy depicted on Erwins cover was so generically handsome, he couldn’t think of any features that would easily set him apart. but maybe he could use something else he'd seen on the cover.

“He might have a sword.”

“A sword?” The headmistress said, golden brow raising slightly.

“Yeah, a fancy one. With a crystalline black blade and a golden hilt, it has these abstract sigils running down the center of the blade, real sleek looking, not made out of any normal metals.”

Caspiera raised an eyebrow, and the headmistress displayed no reaction whatsoever.

“Can’t say I’ve seen anybody with anything like that around here.” The headmistress said evenly.

“Neither have I.” Caspiera chimed in.

“Damn, he must’ve not gotten it yet,” Donavan muttered under his breath.

“What?” Caspiera asked.

“Nothing," Donavan said with a dismissive wave. “Guess I’ll just have to get back to looking the old-fashioned way.”

“Very well.” The headmistress said with a nod. “But remember, we still owe you, so if you should ever need anything from us, healing, a good meal, a warm bed… or a warm body.” She added with a seductive tone. “I’ll personally see to it that any of your desires that it is in my power to fulfill, will be.”

The headmistress then made it a point to look him square in the eye as she drew a finger up to her lips, and slowly glided it down her neck to her chest, cupping one of her breasts and fondling herself, letting out a soft moan as she did.

“Yes, um well, I-uh I really must be going now,” Donavan coughed and quickly pivoted towards the entrance, only to find the other priestess standing in his way, playfully nibbling on her thumbnail and staring up at him through flirtatious lashes.

“Buh-bye now,” She cooed. “Come back soon.”

Donavan said nothing, nimbly side-stepping around her and sped-walk his way to the front doors.

“Any friend of Caspiera’s is a friend of ours.” The headmistress called out after him. “Remember, anything at all!”

By the time the headmistress finished her sentence. Donavan was already out the door.

…

Vivienne watched as the temple doors closed behind the strange man and turned with an inquisitive brow to her old friend.

“You found an odd one.” She said to the captain. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a man so shy before, it’s almost as if he’s never been in one of our temples.”

“He hasn’t,” Caspiera said, staring at the place the man had been only a few moments ago. “He said so himself.”

“Really? That can’t be true, where could he have come from that doesn’t have at least one of our temples.”

Caspiera shrugged. “No idea. He didn’t seem to be too keen on talking about himself. He just showed up out of nowhere.”

“Half-naked and doesn’t like to talk about himself? How come you always get the good ones?”

Caspiera rolled her eyes.

“Whoever he is, he’s strong, scary strong. He killed those goblins like they were nothing”

“Well does the mystery man have a name?”

“Don of Navan.”

“Hm, that is odd. Well odd or not, he was an absolute delight to tease, and not at all hard on the eyes. If you can get him back in here, me and my girls could have a lot of fun with that one.”

“Oh no,” Caspiera said adamantly. “I’ve told you before, I want no part in your games to lure random men into your bed.”

“Oh, don’t be like that.” Vivien pouted, but then narrowed her eyes at the guard captain. “Or is it that you want him for yourself? I’m willing to share y’ know.”

Caspiera scowled and turned away. Though Vivienne was well aware that she only did that when she was trying to hide a blush. She smiled, happy that she could still get a rise out of the grizzled captain now and then.

“Of course not. I’m the captain of the guard, I’ve got better things to do than going around seducing people.”

“You’re still a follower of Jeiya though aren’t you? Seducing people is a form of worship for us. I could teach you how if you like. He might be a tough nut to crack, but the chase is half the fun.”

“Drop it, Vivienne.” The captain growled. “My only interest in him is strictly professional. He may have saved my life, but he could be dangerous. We still don’t know who he’s looking for or why.”

“Too bad he wasn’t looking for a wife because I’m available. Or even just a mistress, I’m available for that too.” Vivienne said, a playful finger twirling her hair.

“By the twelve you’re incorrigible, do you ever stop thinking about sex?” Caspiera said shaking her head.

“Nope. It’s what makes me such a good follower of Jeiya.”

Caspiera hung her head and let out a long, familiar sigh. “Whatever, I’ve got to get to the head office before the village meeting starts or Desna’s gonna pop a blood vessel. I’ll catch up with you later.”

With that, the captain of the guard took her leave. Vivienne smiled and waved as she watched her friend go, but the moment she was out of sight her expression dropped.

This couldn’t have been a coincidence. Not one week after she received a proclamation from the high-cardinals that the cursed swords location had finally been discovered to be somewhere on the frontier, a man shows up out of nowhere and starts asking around about it? Only certain church officials were even aware of the sword's existence, much less its appearance, yet he’d described it perfectly. How had he known about it, was he working for the church? He had to be if he knew so much, but if so, why wasn’t she notified of his arrival?

Plus, what he’d said had made no sense. All their texts indicated that the sword could not be touched by mortals, yet he had spoken as if he expected someone to just be lugging it around. Was it possible some other faction had become aware of the sword's existence, but who? The Imperial family wouldn’t send a single half-naked vagrant, and he’d seemed all mystified when he saw her use magic which ruled out the Arcanists Association, maybe one of the city-state alliances, but they rarely concerned themselves with legends and obscure mythos, Hells it could be an enemy nation or something else entirely.

Dozens of major factions could’ve had an interest in acquiring the sword, it possessed immense military, arcane, and even theological value, but up until now, only the church of the twelve possessed any real information on it. Now this Don of Navan, some supposedly random farm boy, and gods know who else seemed to be aware of it as well. That did not bode well at all.

“Nira,” Vivienne called over to one of her priestesses.

“Yes, headmistress?” The young girl said running over, still holding a pan of needles in need of disinfecting.

“I need you to draft a letter for me to the geezers at the Ziaxium. Tell them... tell them we may have a problem.”

The girl nodded and quickly ran off.

A knot began to form in Vivienne’s stomach. There was something off about this whole situation; from the church’s sudden but secret crusade to find and acquire the cursed blade, to the mysterious stranger showing up expecting to find it here. If knowledge of the sword's existence had gotten out, it would have world-shaking consequences, and if that was already the case, then firebomb flinging goblins were going to be the least of their worries.