The fire had spread throughout the Temple, it lit the night sky so brightly that people from nearby towns could still see it. And in the dept of the Temple, the leader of the Temple, the High Priestess was facing her judgment. Kyle, the man who just slayed the mighty Minotaur all by himself slowly made his way to the High Priestess. There was nowhere for her to run and nowhere for her to hide, the Temple was on fire and she doubted even with his injuries, she could not outrun Kyle, all hopes were lost and she did what she had to do.

“Please, I beg of you, please spare my life” the High Priestess begged. In the end she was only human after all, too afraid to die and pleaded for her life just like everybody else. But Kyle did not look as though he was the kind hearted, second chance giving kind of person. He took his time, approached the High Priestess and put his sword on her neck.

“Come on, you could do better than that” Kyle encouraged the High Priestess to beg for her life even harder, and that she did. When the first option, relying on his humanity clearly did not work, she went to the second option, negotiate.

“Please, If you let me go I will grant you whatever you want” she said.

“Oh interesting, tell me more” Kyle let loose a little bit of her throat.

“Gold, more Gold than you could ever dream of.” the High Priestess spoke out loud, she forced a smile on her face pleading Kyle to let her live. “And power as well, with me on your side, you can take control of this city and can do whatever you want with it”.

“A tempting offer, but we all know that you can’t do that. How can you give me all the gold that I desire, this is a Temple not a bank” Kyle said

“I can get it for you, the people in this city will offer me any number of gold I wish for. All I have to say is that it is for the Goddess and they will spare no fortune. How do you think this Temple of ours runs on, the Royal doesn’t give us a penny.” the High Priestess said.

“So I can live like a King until I die if I take your offer” He let go of the High Priestess.

“Yes, that I swear on my life. If you let me live, all of the city's richness and power shall be your” the High Priestess replied. Kyle then let go of his sword and lent out a hand to the High Priestess. At the moment she had the biggest, brightest and happiest smile anyone had ever seen, she reached her hand out to take Kyle’s.

However, she did not receive his warm hand but Kyle’s foot straight to her chest. He sent her flying, breaking a couple of her rips as a result. She tried to get herself back up but couldn't, the pain was too much for her and she had to sit up with her back against one the stone statues of the Goddess.

“Why…. I thought.. we had… a deal” the High Priestess spoke.

“It was truly a very tempting offer. In another life, I would have accepted it without hesitation. But not this lifetime, if only you hadn't tried to kill my friends” Kyle said. He then picked up his short sword once again and walked toward the High Priestess.

“Fuck you ! You filthy low life son of a bitch ! Do you really think that this will change anything, that killing me will end all of this. Another shall take my place and so on, as long as the people still believe in the Goddess the Temple shall never die” the High Priestess spoke out.

“It doesn’t make any difference to me either. All I want to do is to kill a monster” Kyle replied.

“hahaha…. HAHAHA.” she laughed. “Is that what you think what’s happening? Let me tell you something. In the eyes of the people, I shall be their High Priestess who protected them for all of those years. And in the eyes of the Goddess, I am the one who served her all of my life, never letting anyone doubt her existence or her power. They will moan for my death and they will cry for me. Tell me what more can you ask for”

“Too bad your God is not here right now. But I am, I shall be your judge and executioner, and to me, you are just another monster that needs to be killed off” Kyle replied.,

“You have no right to judge me, you low life. Only the Goddess has that right. My life is yours to take, but not my soul. And I know that she will spare the soul of her favorite daughter” the High Priestess said.

Kyle held his sword up high ready to wipe that smirk of her face and end her life right there and then. However, a noise caught his attention and he moved back immediately. Unbeknown to both Kyle and the High Priestess, the statue that the High Priestess was lying against was one the damaged one that the Minotaur hit before. And the moment when Kyle was about to take the final swing, the statue came crumbling down. In the end the High Priestess was killed not by Kyle, but by the giant stone statue of the Goddess that she worshiped for all of her life.

Kyle walked up to her crushed body and said. “I hate to say it, but you’re right, I have no right to judge your soul or to take your life... But she does”.

Kyle turned away and walked out of the hall where two dead bodies of two monsters now await the fire to turn them into ashes. He had to get out right now before the fire burned down the entire Temple to the ground. He still took his time, carrying his injured foot to a balcony on his way to see the result of his action.

“Hmm, it seems like the guards had finally taken control of the situation” Kyle looked down upon where the fighting between the people and the Temple was just a couple of hours ago. And then he looked at the giant stone statue of the Goddess of Healing that was placed in the middle of the city, it was built to always directly face the Temple. But right now, it looked as though the Goddess was watching her Temple, her symbol, burnt down to the ground.

“Hey,.. don’t give me that look... It’s nothing personal” Kyle looked back at the giant statue and said.

*****

“What’s taking him so long ?” Luna asked. They had all made it out alive thanks to the help of Leona, the cursed child that they saved. They were all staying at the abandoned house outside of the city.

“Don’t worry, we will be here any minute now” Liam replied. “By the way, where is Leona ?”

“She had been outside, looking at the fire coming from the city for a while now,” Luna replied.

“He is back” Leona came back in and spoke to the team. Kyle slowly made his way into the house, Maria and Leona made quick work of his injured foot and other injuries. And like the other, Kyle was very surprised by the extent of the healing power Leona had. Leona then asked the other if she could have a few quick words with Luna and Kyle alone so they stepped outside for a few minutes.

“I want to thank you for everything that you have done for me,” Leona said.

“No it was nothing, we were just doing what’s right.” Luna said.

“No, it was much more than that. You are the first one, except for my adoptive mother who has ever shown me any kindness” Leona replied. “ Kyle can I ask you something, have you… “ before she could finish what she had to say, Kyle gave her the answer.

“Yes, the High Priestess is dead. Your mother's life is avenged” he said.

Looking back at the fire litting the night sky, Leona spoke “Good, thank you.”

“How about you, Leona. Now that the curse is lifted, what do you want to do ?” Kyle said.

“I don’t know what I will do, but I know who I want to become now,” Leona answered.

“Who ?” Luna said.

“You,” Leona replied.

Kyle with a confused look on his face spoke out. “You know, with power like yours, you could just go back to the city and claim the right for the Temple. I don’t think anyone here could match your healing power, you will be the new High Priestess and reshape the Temple to whatever you want.”

“Never, I’ll never go back to that Hell hole.” Leona spoke out strongly “I’ll never become the hand of those that took my mother life, my only wish that they will all burn in Hell”

“So instead of wealth and power, you decided to become a nobody like us ?” Kyle replied.

“No, I want to become a hero just like you,” Leona replied.

“Hero, haha, I think you are confusing something here. We are no different from other adventures out there”. Kyle spoke.

“Aren’t you? ...You protect” Leona looked back into Kyle's eyes, the eyes he saw were those of a strong and courageous warrior. She could become a hero, a symbol if she wanted to, that much Kyle could guarantee.

“I owe this life to you, and one day I shall repay my debt.” Leona said.

“You don’t owe us anything. Besides you have saved one of ours as well, so if there was any debt between us, it has been paid off in full..” Luna said.

“No, you have not just saved my life but you also gave me a new one as well. For that I shall never forget about you” Leona replied. “But for now I have to say goodbye, I have this strange feeling, calling me to the North. We shall meet again, until then I wish you the best of luck and a safe journey.” Leona said her goodbye and left.

When Leona was out of their sight, both Luna and Kyle saw “Hidden quest complete”. They received their rewards, just a little bit of EXP, just enough to let Luna lvl up to lvl 3. But Kyle did not, instead he received a note, “you shall receive this reward in the future”.

“Fuck, all of that and I get nothing” Kyle yelled out kicking the rocks and plants under his feet. It took him a couple of minutes to calm himself down.

Kyle then looked at Luna and said “ I know we are tired and we haven’t slept for nearly 3 days but we have to leave this place right now. News will spread quickly and others will come and look for us, much stronger and dangerous individuals.”. Luna nodded in agreement and they headed back in to tell the others to pack up and leave immediately.