As Zay and Iris entered the forest, Iris continued further into the forest for an entire hour before stopping. She chose a specific spot to stop at as well. Flowers bloomed across the land, a chair made of leather sat neatly in a ring of red, blue, yellow, green, and pink flowers. All of which had three leaves on the stem. Each one, radiating slight divinity.
Zay looked down at the ring of flowers—glanced up at Iris and pondered to himself as to why they walked through a forest for over an hour before arriving at this location. He pondered so much so, he couldn't help but to ask the reason behind it.
"Priestess Iris, may I ask why we traversed an hour worth of a forest to just... arrive at a chair inside a ring of flowers?"
She turned her head, facing him, before giggling slightly. She raised her left arm, and pointed forward. "Open your eyes and look around." she smiled warmly and Zay's gaze lingered on her face for a small second.
He raised his gaze and his eyes widened. It was a sight of beauty, a lake filled with streams of running water from rivers, fishes swam together in circles in this lake, not just any fish though. They were rare fish that has been blessed by a God. Zay narrowed his eyes, taking a closer look at the water and realized the entire lake had been blessed by a God.
"An entire lake... has been blessed? What happened?"
Iris tilted her head slightly and suddenly, her eyes dropped, the smile faded as she slowly sat down on the grass, flowers began to bloom around her as silver aura formed from her fingernails, touching the grass.
"A long time ago, over two thousand years ago, this place was a zone of war, death, and constant bloodshed. Eventually, it became known as "Blood River" but then one day came a person. This person had been described as several different people. One claimed it was a woman in her late eighties. Another climbed it was a man in his early thirties. Despite all of the flaws and holes between the appetences, the only thing that had been stated through every testimony was that this person raised their hands, right here, before this river... well, it was land before it became a river."
Iris lira stopped for a moment, taking a deep breath of the flowers around her, inhaling the scent and then continued.
"After this person raised their hands, golden aura erupted throughout thirty miles worth of land where blood had been spilled, where war was constant, where the land itself began to die out and the terrain was replaced with a deep and large lake. Ever since then, it has been called the 'Divine Miracle Lake.' It's... a special place for a lot of people. Mr. Roland told me about this place when I was a child and ever since I first saw it, I would always come here and pray, eat, play, and even sleep some nights as it felt more safe than anywhere else in the world to me."
She turned her head, facing up to Zay, "I brought you here because this is where I learned to control my divinity. When I was first blessed by my Goddess, I went through the same thing you are of divinity leaking around the place. After several weeks of constant practicing, I finally managed to control the aura of divinity, bearing this in mind, do you want to start now, or do you have any more questions?" she asked with a warm smile appearing on her face once again.
Zay looked at her smile, then back at the lake filled with divinity. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, processing the sounds around him. Fishes jumping out and back in of water, ripples across the surface, birds calling out for their partner and young ones, the sound of nature, it was extremely peaceful now, despite the history of the lake he had just learned about.
Keeping that in mind, he looked down at her again, her amber eyes reflecting the evening light of the sun. He blinked once, twice, and then a third time.
"This place... seems lovely." he replied then gave a nod.
Iris closed her eyes after hearing that, and opened her eyes again, taking in the beauty of the lake before her. "Please go and sit in the chair." she said as she pointed to the leather chain in the middle of the flowers.
Zay stepped over the ring of flowers before slowly sitting down into the chair. He looked around, and took a deep breath in, already feeling pressure in his joins release slowly as he simply sat in a chair.
istood up, walked into the ring of flowers as they began to grow taller with her mere presence. She moved both of her hands and placed them onto Zay's bare shoulders. Her right hand being placed on Zay's right shoulder, her left hand being placed on his left shoulder.
Zay felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder as one of her fingers rubbed against the scar of where the violet band had burnt into his flesh.
She leaned down, "Are you alright?" she asked in a soft tone, wanting to make sure he was fine before continuing.
Zay sat in the leather chair, and looked at the flowers that had somehow grown taller, reaching half-way to his knees when they were previously barely beneath his ankles. 'Is a sort of divine interaction?'
He wasn't sure exactly as to what it was as he couldn't remember anything that would suggest such a feat of flowers growing with someone walking unless they were a druid, or a forest elf of Sequence 2 or higher. Which, He did not believe Alira were neither a Druid, or a Forest Elf.
She did not show any of the signs of either. Her skin was the color of ivory, not a green like a Druid, or as tanned and as brown as a Forest Elf's skin tone. She did not possess the long pointy ears of an Elf, nor did she possess the vines which dangled and flowed around her arms as a Druid. And so, he was confused on why such a unique thing appeared when she simply stepped over the ring of flowers.
"I'm fine." he replied a moment after thinking about the uniqueness of the situation and tried his best to breathe slowly, inhaling a deep breath, while exhaling slowly.
Alira moved her hands an inch closer to his neck before Zay began to feel a warmth from her hands as silver aura began to flow around her hands, slowly turning to gold, increasing the warmth of her hands within his shoulders.
"Take a deep breath, exhale it slowly, and close your eyes." she said slowly, repositioning her feet to become more comfortable.
Zay was hesitant for a moment but decided to trust a priestess as not just anyone can gain that title as they must be chosen by a God, or Goddess to become one. Taking that knowledge into consideration, he took a deep breath in, and slowly exhaled it as he closed his eyes.
"I want you to take another deep breath, and allow my aura to flow into you. After that, just relax, continue breathing, and you should find yourself in a place of darkness."
Zay took another deep breath, reluctantly, he deactivated all of his minor aura defensives against aura invasions as everyone had this. At first, he tried to relax but couldn't. Too many thoughts ran though his mind, not allowing him to relax.
Alira felt tenseness in his muscles of his shoulders and decided to rub his shoulders very slightly, while quietly humming a song she loved as a child, and the same hum which she used during this exact process the year prior.
After several minutes of quietness, ripples of fish could be heard, the flowing river, and the quiet sounds of the forest. Everything around began to force Zay into a relaxed state before took another deep breath, and suddenly, he felt as if the world faded around him. He opened his eyes and he was in a complete dark space. He saw completely nothing.
Another minute passed by, the humming from Alira faded from his ears as her voice could be heard.
"Follow the small golden orb as it will take you to what you must do. I cannot tell you what that is as I do not know."
From the darkness, a faint light emerged, a tiny golden orb, no larger than a coin, floating weightlessly in front of him. It pulsed softly, like a heartbeat, then began to drift forward into the void.
Zay followed the small orb as it drifted slowly throughout the void. The golden orb pulsed out divinity as it began to heal internal blockages within his veins that he hadn't even been aware of. He looked down at his hands, feeling the motion of twisting, clenching, and moving his fingers became easier to do.
'W-what is this?' he thought to himself as the orb slowed, veering to the left as stairs appeared, leading down.
The golden orb floated in front of these stairs and Zay took a step down. The golden orb pulsed as it drifted downward. Zay followed it down and upon reaching the bottom, memories rushed back, memories he had pushed down several lives ago. A time where he had gone by a different name.