"Okay, I see that there has been some sort of misunderstanding with my words..." Vorza stood from the ground, wiped off the bit of dirt that was on his robe, and looked Alix in the eyes. "I understand that it was your magic but what type of magic might that actually be?" Vorza annunciated each of his words to ensure absolute clarity.
Alix's face twisted. "Are you talking down to me? Do you need me to put you in your place again?"
"Nonononono!" Vorza shook his hands at Alix desperately, making Alix slowly lower her raised fist. "I don't want to fight you anymore! I clearly can't win!"
Alix scoffed. "Fine..." She said with disappointment in her breath.
Vorza's eye twitched. 'D-Did she want to beat me up or something?'
"It was sorcery." Alix stated blandly.
"Huh?"
"This is not my first time surprising someone with my unique casting, but it was still just sorcery."
"I-I've never-
"I get it..." Alix cuts off the boy, having no further patience for these conversations. "...you have never seen sorcery casted like that before! Not many people have, I only formed this type of casting recently. I have still been working out the issues with the process."
"So far, I seem to be the only one that's capable of this form of casting though that is based on little to no testing. I can not be certain if I am truly the only one able to use this method until I can teach it to others."
Alix's words halted when she realized that Vorza was staring at her with furrowed brows, squinted eyes, and a slight frown at his lips.
"I...don't think I understood a word that you said?" He said, utterly perplexed.
Alix sighed. "Few people do..." She turned on her heels. She went to enter the temple, like she'd originally planned on doing.
"H-hey! Wait up!"
"What is it now, Lecher of the Mist?" Alix asked without looking back.
Vorza hesitated a bit. "Ouch! That one hurt much deeper than any pit in the demon plane!"
Vorza stood holding his chest dramatically until he noticed that Alix still hadn't stopped and chased after her.
"Hey, I was serious when I said you can't just walk into my Master's temple! Sosech is a special kind of place after all!"
"Sosech?" Alix stopped and looked at the boy. "Is that the name of the temple?"
Vorza felt pride swirl through him as he'd finally managed to halt the stubborn girl's advancement! "Yes, it is! It stands for The Temple of Soul Searching or Sosech Temple! A place created by the people of this town for my master, Amalgamate! It is a place for people that have lost themselves during their journeys through this world!"
"They come here, to the temple encased within the clouds, to ask help from the Cloud-Evoking Mystic with all of their vast wisdom! All are welcome in the temple as everyone in the world needs a bit of help when it comes to locating their soul~"
Vorza finished his, clearly practiced, speech about the name of the temple and looked to see Alix's expression.
Alix continued to wear her usual unimpressed look even after hearing the boy's words. "I see, so it is not a temple of godly worship but instead one promoting self-discovery. Is that right?"
"U-uh, y-yeah that sounds right?" Vorza suddenly felt embarrassed by the whole spiel that he just gave. He spent so much time working that speech but Alix wasn't even slightly shaken by it! "You really simplified things, didn't you?"
Alix shrugged. "I live my life surrounded by idiots so I have learned to talk in more simple terms. Though, I find even that fails to work at times!" The thought of Holiday passed through Alix's mind for a moment before she looked back to the boy with an urging look. "So..."
Vorza frowned for a moment when he realized that Alix was waiting for him to finish what he was saying earlier! "Oh, right! Sorry about that!" Alix rolled her eyes and motioned for him to continue.
"Ahem! No one can enter the temple without getting examined by my Master first! If you fail to meet the requirements of the examination then you will not be allowed to enter!"
Alix squinted her eyes. " Where do I go to get examined? What are these so called requirements that you speak of?"
"Well the examination happens upon contact with the barrier surrounding the entrance. As for the requirements...I'm...not really sure?" Vorza admitted with his gaze downcast.
"Of course you're not." Alix rolled her eyes and marched straight over to the entrance.
Vorza ran after her with his hand out. "Wait you can't-"
Alix turned around right after she crossed the threshold of the temple. "What now?"
Every orifice on Vorza's face with round.
"Wait, what the-how did you-" He ran over and swung his hand around in front of the entrance randomly. "But the barrier? Where did it go?"
"What are you doing now?" Vorza looked over to Alix. His eyes were filled with astonishment and respect!
"You've been accepted? And so easily? It has been a long time since my master was so welcoming to someone!" Alix stared at the boy in silence.
'I have better things to do.' She faced forward and walked into the misty halls of Sosech Temple.
...
I have a question?
If you knew where the devil slept...would you pay him a visit?
If you knew that somewhere in your hometown was a building that was completely abandoned. A building that existed at the edge of town that people never visited! A building that was forbidden by the mayor for anyone to interact with, especially during the night!
Would you not be curious?
Well, a certain young boy was very curious.
He would always ask about that building? He berated his parents with questions about who stayed there? Why were people so afraid of it? Why couldn't he and his friends go play around it?
His parents would constantly dismiss the subject. Saying things like, "We'll tell you when you're older."
"It's an old building so it's dangerous to play around it."
Even yelling, "You have no business asking about that place!" on the days that he was particularly adamant.
However, his curiosity would not be so easily quelled. He waited until the moon drew high in the sky and all but the insects of the night were asleep. He crept out of his bed and exited his room through the window.
He had to visit that building. He had to see what was inside! It felt like something was calling him there!
His bare feet pitter pattered against the dirt. He had been in too much of a rush to put on his shoes. He felt the coldness in the air from the shifts in the weather as autumn was starting to become winter. Yet despite all of that, he still went.
He ran through the town, past the shut down shopping stalls, past the old well and far at the edge of the sight of the town's guardian.
After several minutes of running he finally saw it!
The building...
This was his first time seeing it in person! Its construction was like that of an outhouse, how it was shabbily made of old, rotten wood! Even its size was nothing to gawk at, as it was barely as big as the well that he'd ran past earlier! Its construction seemed poor enough that even the weakest breath would cause the entire thing to crumble yet somehow it seemed to stand taller than any other building in town?
He felt his heart race. He approached the forbidden grounds for closer inspection. Never once had he been considered a rule breaker but this time around his curiosity got the best of him!
*Creeeeaaaaak*
A chill zipped down the boy's spine as the rusty hinges of the door slowly creaked open. He was confused. 'This place is old, it's abandoned? It should be empty should it not?' He stopped his approach, warily examining the building from a safe distance.
The inside was pitch black. No candles, no fireplace, no nothing. It makes sense seeing as the building is made of wood not limestone like the other buildings in town. Any fires may burn the entire thing to the ground!
The only light that was available to you was the light of the moon, silver and full with all of its radiance. This light had been granted to you by the goddess of all things that the night represented, Knalia.
It was thanks to that light that he were able to see something that disturbed him. No one is there to have, supposedly, opened the door! His head tilts at the perplexing discovery. It also seemed like the building led...down?
In the bright light of the moon, a staircase was visible to the boy. But why would a building lead straight down?
"...Hello, Eric..." A deep, ominous voice slowly called out to the boy. "It's good to see you again!" He stood trembling. He looked around for whoever could've spoken but there was no one, save the open door before him.
And most unnervingly, the voice knew his name!
How? He'd never even stepped close to this place! There's no way that this voice should know him?!
"H-How d-d-do y-you k-know me?" The boy named Eric managed to spit out despite his trembling bones!
The voice grunted as though was disappointed. "Eric? Did you forget about me already? I thought our time together was much more special to you than that?" The boy stared at the dark entrance afraid and confused when he felt a strange heat radiating from his chest.
He looked down and saw a bright red mark shining through his tunic.
"The mark..." The voice rumbled. Though he was unable to see a face the boy could somehow sense that the person speaking was smiling. "A sign that you succeeded in one of our test! Tell me, do you remember now?"
His entire body became cold yet, sweat ran down your back like insects running away from a flood! His breathing intensified and Eric's mind quickly became a flood of questions!
The brand, it was reacting to this thing?! Why? What does does it have to do with any of this? Why is this creature asking about it? Where's Mama Wolf? Alice and Kent? Why was he in a village that he'd never seen before but felt as though he grew up in this place?
What in the world was going on?
Pain infects his brain as a deep headache arose! He grabbed his head and fell to his knees, tears formed in his eyes as the pain was intense and deep! The world around him darkened to go dark and the brand on your chest burned like never before!
"Agh!" He couldn't help but cry. The pain was becoming too much to bare! He did his best to manage it but it seemed to worsen by the moment. All the while, the voice continued to resonate even within the darkness.
The voice spoke in a language that was indecipherable to Eric but also familiar? It was the same sort of tongues that the voices spoke back when he'd originally been branded! That realization pulled the boy out of his thoughts enough to notice that at some point he'd been laid flat on his back.
"No..."He whispered in horror. He tried to get up but felt something wrapped tightly around his body holding him in place.
Again, just like back then...
Though he hoped that this was where the similarities ended the sizzling sound of searing metal that came from overhead told him that his hopes had been killed.
A white hot piece of metal slowly lowered from the darkness overhead, cracking with a terrifying and powerful energy! He shook, he pushed and he kicked. He did all he could to try to break free!
...but he knew his struggle was meaningless...
After all, it didn't work the first time around, so why would the second be any different.
Still, he tried to free himself! The sizzling slowly became louder as the metal slowly descended! The sound of a crowd of people chanting in that other language from earlier cut through the darkness as Eric fought and screamed!
He screamed until his throat gave out and his screams became a mere hiss that he struggled to get out.
The strange shaped metal got closer!
The voices chanted louder!
He fought harder!
Until, just like the first time, the brand slowly pushed deep into his chest cavity! He wished to scream but still no sound came out! He felt light headed, as though all of the blood in his body had been forcefully pushed out!
His body felt cold. The voices chanted inside his head as he on the verge of consciousness. Then, he hears the strange man from earlier again. The man that Eric could only call the devil, spoke.
"...Let the blood from thou blade fuel thy blessed crest!"
The words confused him but he had no time to ruminate as within seconds he fell into unconsciousness.