The next morning, I woke feeling well-rested. Thankfully, no bugs had gotten curious and entered our little chamber while we slept, because that might have resulted in an unfortunate accident.

Emeri, on the other hand, looked like she hadn’t slept a wink. Purple bags rested beneath her eyes, she looked haunted.

“Are you… okay?” I asked hesitantly. Had the idea of sleeping in a nest made her uncomfortable? She had been the one to suggest this in the first place, though.

“…m’ fine.” I got in response, along with a shrug. I sighed. This was going to be another rough journey, huh…

A few minutes later, we departed the hive, in search of our goal, the first temple. The desert sun shone harshly, but the monsters in the area were calm, thankfully.

Over the next few days, we slowly trudged through the dunes. To combat the monotony, we would travel through movement skills occasionally. That would lure the nearby monsters towards us, which made for good practice and a fun fight. Well, as fun as fighting a pack of worms could be, I guess.

Throughout these few days of travel, Emeri recovered a bit. She got some necessary rest when we camped out for the night. Unfortunately, she still wasn’t giving away much when it came to her new knife.

“So what is it?” I asked for the umpteenth time.

“I told you, Arthur. I think it’s just an ordinary knife. My answer won’t change, no matter how many times you ask.” She responded, frustrated.

I chuckled. At this point, I was only asking because she looked funny when she was mad. Still, she was acting awfully shifty about an ‘ordinary knife’. I told her as much.

“Look, I don’t know what it is, okay! I just get a strange feeling when I look at it. Now stop asking!” she said, pointing a finger in my face.

I lifted my hands in surrender and smiled, which seemed to calm her down.

She refused to talk for the rest of the day, though. A cruel punishment indeed.

-Scene Transition-

A few days later, we finally saw it. There it was, on the horizon. Three sharp towers rose into the sky, surrounding a domed roof. Emeri and I had made up over the past few days, but that didn’t mean I was prepared to see her jump up and down in excitement once we reached our goal.

“Do you see it? It’s there!” she said happily, still bouncing up and down.

I made a show of squinting in the direction she pointed, acting as if I couldn’t see what she was talking about.

“See what? More sand?” I said with fake confusion.

“…Don’t you see it?” she mumbled, looking back and forth between me and the temple, as if the mirage was about to disappear any second.

I shook my head. “The thirst must be addling your mind. Why don’t you drink a bit? We’ll find it eventually.” I said dramatically.

“…oh.” She responded sadly, looking downcast.

“… I’m just messing with you. I can see the temple, clear as day.”

“Fuck you!” she said, before smacking the top of my head so hard I tumbled into the sand. I could have dodged her hit, but I might have deserved it. By the time I got back up, she had already stormed off in a huff.

A while later, we arrived at the temple gates. We had dusted off our equipment and Emeri had taken her religious necklace out of storage, since she wanted to fit in, in her own words.

The gates were guarded by two clerics carrying maces. They were covered in white and golden clothing from head to toe, and they didn’t even greet us as we passed through the large, old wooden gate.

Emeri took it in stride, used to such an attitude from her compatriots, apparently. The temple itself was an example of duplicity. On one hand, the building was a sight to behold. Its size and architecture showed the care and passion of those who had created it, but its aged, worn look meant that many details had long since faded. From close up, its walls looked no more distinct or intricate than those of the termite hive we had visited recently. That was saying a lot.

Despite this, Emeri’s boundless enthusiasm wasn’t affected. She entered the temple with just as much reverence as she would have the capital church back in Roa, perhaps even more.

The inside of the temple had an interesting dynamic going on. In its centre, a giant statue of Helios was erected. To a non-believer, it depicted a young man, no older than fifteen, wearing gold and white clothing and an assortment of expensive artifacts. He lifted an exquisite sword at the sky, as if to challenge the sun itself.

With the way the temple was arranged, the sunlight bathed the statue all day long, from multiple angles. Furthermore, only the statue was illuminated. Everything else was dark, as even candles weren’t allowed inside of the temple. Only Helios himself could receive sunlight in this temple.

The statue was surrounded by numerous pilgrims, clerics, and priests, who kneeled on hands and feet to show their reverence. They took care not to touch any of the spots that were lit up, as that would be a minor case of heresy. Only children were allowed to make such a mistake and get away with it. As Emeri had told it, if any member of the church committed such a faux pas, there would be consequences. The light was sacred in this place.

Emeri turned back to me. “I’m going to pray all day, as is expected of those making pilgrimage. I’ll see you tonight, alright?” she whispered. I nodded, and made a quick bow and prayer to Helios, before stalking out of the quiet temple. If Emeri wanted to kneel to Helios for the entire day, then she could do so on her own.

I spent the next few hours securing us accommodations at an inn and exploring the temple complex. All kinds of shops and services had popped up around the temple over the centuries, forming the small village that I could see today. There were certainly some differences with normal villages, of course. For one, most things being sold were related to Helios in some way. Brooches, torches, weapons, and armor... Hells, even the food was Helios-themed. ‘Get your sun-baked steak here!’, one restaurant owner had shouted to all passerby’s. ‘Sun-blessed wood for sale!’ a wealthy-looking merchant had claimed.

Like this, I spent the rest of the day loitering around the complex, in search of anything interesting. Thankfully, everyone left me alone. Something about being alone in such a holy place put me on edge, for some reason. I guess my affinity was making things difficult for me.

When there were only a few hours left till sundown, I retired to the room in the inn I had recently rented, to look at my mental space for a little while. Thankfully, the parasitic plant I had removed recently hadn’t returned. Still, there was a lot of work left to be done. Nonetheless, my little forest was starting to expand again, and other plants were filling up the underbrush. Some were even starting to climb onto my cabin, which I wasn’t sure I liked yet. For now, I let it be and focused on repairing some of the fences I had put up a while ago. After that, I patched some holes in my roof. It never rained in here, but if it ever did, I wanted to be protected.

Not wanting to spend too much time defenseless, I opened my eyes again. Through our week long journey, I had gotten another three levels, so I allocated the points and spent some time practicing some skills indoors. Eventually, I went in search of Emeri. The sun had already gone down by the time I reached the temple.

The place was deathly silent, and even as I entered, I couldn’t see anyone else there. Had Emeri left already, following the other pilgrims?

Unsure, I headed deeper into the temple and felt the door close behind me. It was a cloudy night, so I wouldn’t have been able to see a thing without my dark sight. Emeri was not where I had left her, so I moved back in the direction I had come from, until I heard a small sound on my right. I moved to investigate, and found a small bench on the side of the temple, with a single occupant. Sure enough, under a thin blanket, Emeri was sleeping.

I sighed and approached her sleeping figure, shaking her awake.

“W- wha?” she mumbled quietly.

“Emi, it’s me. I think you fell asleep. It’s already nighttime.”

Her eyes widened in panic.

“What? But I only closed my eyes for a bit!” she protested until I shushed her. That only caused her to redden even more.

“You must have been more tired than I thought.”

“I guess so…” she grumbled back, reluctantly getting up and wrapping her blanket around her.

I turned to leave, when she spoke up. “Art…” she began quietly, “I can’t see…” she said, hiding her face in her blanket and holding a hand out in my direction.

I grasped her offered hand and led her passed the statue, though for some reason we were both sweating a lot. Something about this situation was making it hard to breathe.

Our little moment was suddenly interrupted when Emeri started to shine. Or rather, something in her pocket did, along with a crack in the base of the statue.

Our tense mood turned into one of curiosity and Emeri hesitantly pulled out the shining object. It was the dagger. As if in a trance, she approached the statue and the shining crack.

“Emeri, don’t!” I shouted, but it was already too late. She inserted the dagger into the crack. It fit like a glove. It wasn’t a dagger at all. It was a key. Then, everything went white.