Chapter 13:
Sythrik laid in bed, sleeping soundly. The winds outside bustled harsher than usual, bushes was heard ravaged by the weather, and the moon illuminated through his window.
Yet, Sythrik was undisturbed, sleeping like a child, snoring and sometimes speaking to thin air.
...
"Search for clues regarding the church of fortune."
Sythrik jumped up, startled, believing someone had intruded him yet again... However, none was to be seen. There was only faint rays of light from the morning sun, a slight headache.
He rubbed his temples and sat up in silence while faintly grunting. "Just what was that?... Am I s-schizophrenic!?" Sythrik thought in fear. "No, I must be imagining it!"
Sythrik disregarded it and stood up. He took a deep breath before dressing himself. He looked out the window to see a gentle and warm weather, deciding to go for his usual plain attire! He walked toward his drawer and carefully opened it. Just as he was about to take out some clothes, he stopped for a moment and thought, "today is the day I am meeting up with Caius on his request... Did he make some plans to spend time together because I am soon to leave Lorath?"
...
Sythrik pondered for a while, weighing the pros and cons before deciding, "I guess I have no choice but to wear a more formal attire despite the weather. It may be our last time together, dressing the part does not hurt the soul."
With that, he put on a regular white linen shirt and neatly tucked in between his black trousers. With that done, he rummaged the drawer and found a black vest and put it on. He looked at the table and saw his pocket watch, thinking of fashion, he quickly put inside the small pocket that was at chest's length inside his vest, revealing only half of it's silver hue.
He walked down to the bathroom across the hallway and stared at the mirror, arrogantly admiring himself for a moment.
...
After having finished his necessities and put on his finest pair of brown shoes, did he finally step out of his home. He didn't eat breakfast due to the large amount of food he at the day before thanks to Sennan.
He disregarded the thought of food and pulled out his watch, "still two hours till the meetup..." Sythrik pondered for a little while, trying to figure out what to do in the meanwhile.
...
After a successful minute of thinking did he decide to head toward the library!
"I might have already found all the information regarding the book of Ereshkigal, also known as the grimoire of destined death. But, there is still that voice!" Sythrik started walking toward the library as he kept thinking to himself: "last time I did what it told regarding the invitation letter, I did have my come to a conclusion I might never have reached. In that case, doing so now as well by searching for clues regarding the church of fortune, I might stumble upon yet another pleasant answer!"
"That voice might be my guiding voice in some way or another..."
...
As he made his way into the library and took off his shoes, He saw another, unfamiliar receptionist instead of Lynette. As such he simply walked past with a simple "hello." and delved into the religious section.
"Let's see now, the name was cathedral of fortune... Aha, there it is!" He reached toward the shelf and took out a brown leathered book with silver symbols etched across it's edges with the symbol of silver four wings in the middle.
"Hmm, does this god have wings or is it an angel they praise?" He muttered as he found a seat and sat down. Sythrik opened the book after licking his thumb to more easily brush through the slides of paper.
...
He read the whole book and it's contents, noted down the important information on a yellowish parchment.
"The cathedral of fortune, or simply church of fortune was made in honor of Nicodemus, the victorious lord of war. Despite his evil-like name it is said that he wages war for the people and not for domination. Only times of need or to guard his land. Regarding the 'fortunate' part, it simply means that those whom follow him is bound for a fortunate life, not needing to fear lack of food, housing, medical treatment and such. In other words, he represent a stable way of living.
"The story of this lord... No, I will assume that he is presented and is a god. He was supposedly born into this world because of the peoples' constant prayers for salvation. It does make sense since at that time, around the sixteenth century, there was great war between Tarot and Instant. It is said that upon his birth, the war came to an end and 'both' both lands turned prosperous..."
Sythrik stopped reading his notes for a moment and pondered a bit before he continued, "in that regard, they are trying to pin him as a just god, taking no side and instead becoming the representative of peace... But that leads me to question something-why do they refer to him as a victorious war god?"
...
Sythrik pondered for moment, reading parts of the book again before he ultimately gave up.
He looked back at the paper and said, "they must think of him as a war god in such a way that he stops them, not starts them and remains victorious in doing so. That is my hypothesis though, nothing more nothing less.
"The last amount of valuable information I got was a bit... Unhelpful. The book describes him as unbeatable in the area of war due to his victorious path, and that all those whom wish to follow his guidance is to prevail in all aspects..."
Sythrik sighed as he folded the parchment and put it in his trousers' pockets.
"A bit arrogant no?" He said as he pulled out his pocket watch and observed the time. "Only 20 minutes till we agreed to meetup." Sythrik snapped his pocket watch together, closing it as he put it back in his vest's pocket.
"I should get going then, nothing wrong about arriving a little sooner than expected!" Sythrik said as he put the book back to its original position and walked out, waving a simple wave to the new receptionist while smiling gently.
He made his way to the exit, put on his shoes and met the warm wind as he stepped outside, reveling in its beautiful sensation before finally making his way toward his workplace.
...
About 12 minutes later, just as he was about to turn the door knob, he felt a strudy hand grab him by the shoulder.
"Is that you, Sythrik?" A familiar voice echoed behind him.
As Sythrik turned around, his traces of fear turned into that of normal joy. "Long time no see, Johann!"
The brown-haired Johann smiled back and asked, "its good to see you, but what are you doing here?" his muscular and lean build stood with great posture, staring with curious eyes.
Sythrik smiled as he stepped down from the stone slabs and looked slightly upwards, meeting Johann's gaze as he answered, "I was asked by Caius to meet him here at this point in time. I am soon leaving for Tarot and I believe he wanted to spend some quality time of sorts before I started my travels, and... You know..."
Johann looked at him with more solemn eyes and said, "so you know about it too I take it. He only has some small time left to walk, in that regards we should make this day as exhilarating as possible!"
"We?" Sythrik muttered before finally, the honored man, Caius said, "That's right, I invited Johann and you, Sythrik to spend some time together for nostalgia's sake."
The two pieced together the pieces and nodded. Then, Sythrik asked, "what did you have planned, Caius?"
Caius smiled warmly, his wrinkles formed in a beautifully aged manner and said with a gentle voice, "have the two of you ever been to a theater?"