Eternal Elysium

"We have been waiting for you… Captain Asher."

Asher shivered slightly as he heard the old priest's words.

They sounded ominous in a sense, but he knew that was not entirely the case. Asher's mind was strong and had gone through many things, be it watching horrors or being assaulted by corruptive forces. However he has managed to go through them; one might even call it luck.

Asher won't deny that.

However, he was still vulnerable to stress and the pressure it built on him over time. And that's exactly what has been happening for quite some time now.

Asher was on edge from all the looming threats and paranoid of everything and anything.

With a sigh, Asher stepped forward with his lips tightly pressed together. As he came closer to the benches, he stopped a few inches away from the group of people sitting together.

"Sorry for making you wait then." He tried to say it with a smile but couldn't, seeing the old priest's serious face.

"Hmm, it's alright; please take a seat alongside your companions. I was going to tell an interesting tale."

"Interesting tale?"

He paused and looked at Anny and Liber sitting side by side. Then, with a little hesitation, he sat beside them.

"Yes, a tale of an angel I saw fifty years ago."

Asher's face stiffened the longer he heard the priest speak. He was prepared to tell about the flowers' sudden growth when he saw the old priest's stern face.

But!

This was too sudden.

How did we go from talking about flowers to Calamity to now angels?

Isn't this weird?

Then Asher remembered something.

'Angel… Did someone not say the exact words after the crowd gathered?'

"What is this guy speaking about?"

Asher whispered with a hint of trouble flickering on his face.

"Where have you been?"

Liber asked, leaning closer.

"I was talking with the commander."

"About what?"

"Hmm, well, certainly not about the problem that is coming our way."

Liber chuckled nervously. Seeing Asher this confident was unsettling in many ways. For one, it felt like a way to hide his own trembling heart, but Liber didn't point it out and simply nodded.

"Alright."

Asher seeing this paused and leaned back before asking back in a low voice.

"How long have you all been here?"

Liber thought for a while and then said.

"I guess an hour? We came a little later after we couldn't see you anymore from above the walls. The old priest asked us to wait here till you come."

Asher nodded and turned his attention back at the priest, who looked back at him with the same face as before. Asher shifted in his seat awkwardly as he waited for the priest to speak.

And he didn't need to wait for long, as the priest opened his mouth, beginning to speak.

"Thank you for your patience in being here even amidst such serious times. You all are soldiers. While I can guess you are new and not from here, I still ask you to stay here. This place is safer than any part of Kalista, I guarantee that."

The old priest's words were much more kind and solemn than one would think. Asher had expected a bunch of questions to come his way from start but seeing the old priest's calm approach made him relax considerably.

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"I guess you have some questions for me?"

Asher asked calmly while raising an eyebrow.

The old priest nodded.

"I do."

"What happened with those flowers? They only grow in Temple and never so fast." He asked, walking closer to one of the flowers that had entered through the open windows. Under his gentle caress, the flower glowed softly under his touch.

The flowers had come coiling through the pillars, while it was not as bad as outside. Asher felt that this place would look better if they could grow it inside here as well.

'Maybe I will secretly grow it later.'

Having such thoughts, Asher leisurely leaned back, prepared with quite an honest answer.

"Actually, I think you are right. The flowers are indeed special and could only grow under the blessing of Goddess Celestia." Asher paused, looking at the old priest's face, followed by the others listening closely. He was aware that others were as interested as the priest. After all, it was not every day one saw such mystical flowers and especially not growing tall enough to cover the tall walls of the temple.

Asher smiled faintly.

"I felt a profound connection with them…"

"A connection?" The priest muttered under his breath.

"Yes, it was quite shocking but it's indeed true."

Asher nodded and continued to speak with a light voice.

"In the past, during the ceremony of stars, I was blessed by the goddess herself. It was for a task I can't possibly tell to anyone, so I am sorry I can't say anything more."

They all remained silent, deep in thought.

It was obvious why they had fallen silent. Not every day would one come and say that they had been blessed by a god. Before anyone could get suspicious about his words, Asher swiftly added under his breath while placing a hand above his heart.

"If I am lying, may the goddess smite me down now."

"Wh—"

"Hey, hey, wait!"

They yelled, trying to stop Asher. But it was of no use. Asher has already said his piece and now waits for something to happen.

However nothing changed

"..."

Asher, seeing this, smiled.

It was common knowledge that taking a god's name held considerable weight in this world. Especially in her own temple, no less. It would have been no surprise if Asher had actually died for lying but he didn't.

After all, she was on his side.

'Now it would have been awkward if she did react.'

Asher smiled bitterly at such thoughts but kept a polite and confident smile on his face.

Well luckily he wasn't lying; he did suspect that Celestia's connection with him did play a big part in the pull of essence. However, the growth from [Kairosflow] was simply ethereal. The compatibility between the ability and the flower was too good.

"No, it's alright. I believe you, Captain Asher."

The old priest nodded before sighing.

It was rare but still a possibility as many tried this before Asher, some lived while others died mysteriously.

…You should have said that before. Asher thought before nodding back.

"I am not interrogating you; forgive this old man if I gave such an impression." The priest gave a hefty laugh.

"No, no. We didn't feel anything like that. Right, Asher?" Anny asked as she leaned forward to look at him.

Asher licked his lips as their eyes again turned toward him before he nodded.

"No, it's the least we can do, after causing such commotion outside."

"I am sure you were the only one who caused that…"

A silent whisper again left Asher shutting his lips. He turned his head to look at the source of the sound and sighed.

'Summer… Can't she just stay quiet sometimes?'

"Haha, you all are a lively bunch."

"We are… Please continue, sir, with the story you were about to tell. We have a lot of time anyways."

Going outside would not be allowed anyways; better just listen to an old story then.

Going along with such thoughts, Asher looked at the priest with an expectant gaze; he was fully aware that stories always come from a source, holding some truth in them. Like how the story of Blackshores was true, the characters in it—Lord Undying and the Hollow—were both real as well.

The only thing that made him reluctant now was that the last time he heard about them, he ended up facing the dead Hollow, which certainly was not a pleasant experience. Now this time he was going to hear the tale of an angel…

'I am not going to meet an angel before meeting Lord Undying surely.'

The old priest nodded with a thin smile, as if he had already remembered a bitter past.

"It's been nearly seventy years, yet I remember it as if it were yesterday. She stood alone in the temple after the doors had closed, her gaze distant, her presence fragile. The moment I saw her, I was enchanted—perhaps even lost to her from the very first glance. Her golden hair flowed like sunlight, her pale, fair face softened by a sweet smile. Yet her eyes remained hidden beneath a crown, as though she were blind. And still, she walked with such ease, so sure of her steps. It was… a sight both beautiful and unsettling, one I could never forget."

'Wait, how is she an angel? This sounds more like a crush!'

"I was a new priest back then, still learning my way around the world," the priest said with a chuckle as he leaned forward and settled into a seat at the front.

"So, I asked her what she was doing inside when visiting hours had already ended."

He paused, muttering under his breath, "Maybe I shouldn't have asked that question," before letting out a quiet sigh.

"She didn't answer at first. Then, with a calm voice, she said she was there to visit the goddess before taking on an important task. I was baffled, but her words were so simple, so steady, that I couldn't help but nod."

"And then?" Summer asked impatiently, eager for the tale to end.

The old priest leaned back, his gaze distant.

"I asked what important task had brought her there—because I had never seen anyone like her before. She seemed otherworldly… and her next words only made her feel more like a messenger of the goddess herself."

His voice lowered.

"She said she had come to stop an approaching calamity."

What?

Asher's head couldn't help but jerk ahead at the priest's word.

The word "calamity" held many meanings. One wouldn't associate directly with the creatures of beyond at first; after all, a calamity appearing was always unheard of, almost a myth.

But Asher knew something that others didn't. He had just now learned about it from Clonas after all—the swamp—Wasn't that a calamity sealed away not long ago?

Now, Asher could guess who had finally done it.