We stepped into the temple.
"Coming?" I asked the dragon.
He poked his head through the entrance and sniffed the air before following us in.
Inside, the space was massive, with huge stone pillars all decorated with small reliefs of friendly dragons.
I was still surprised by this. Dragons were part of Innishean folklore, but not as much as a place like this seemed to imply. I'd never seen anything like it.
Or—well, I suppose that wasn't entirely accurate.
If we ignored the dragon theme and the location, this place wasn't too dissimilar from traditional Innishean temples, which were well known for having a comfortable, unthreatening atmosphere and were often used to temporarily house shipwreck survivors.
These temples normally had a Daon, a "Teacher of the Way", offering words of wisdom or advice to those who sought them out, but were just as often used simply to sit in contemplation or meditate. They generally felt safe, with a touch of Zen.
Later temples, post Yun Seojun influence, had full-on Zen gardens outside, but this one looked older and had likely remained untouched all the way up here.
Because of the rough waters of the Bay of Biscay, Innishae had been pretty much isolated for centuries. Until Yun Seojun and, later on, finally the construction of the first airport, not much had come in and out of the country (well, except for the occasional shipwreck survivor), so local temples, music, and traditions had remained strong until just over a century ago.
I suppose it wasn't so surprising that the new influences had been welcomed so readily. Innisheans were curious people, always eager for new ways to experience and enjoy life. It really was in our blood—King Eoghan had only been the main representative of this.
Anyway, this place felt great. Magic sparkled in all its nooks and crannies, but it was playful, not like… asking for sacrifices. It made my chest purr.
The dragon flew up to the chandelier, studied it for a moment, then set it on fire.
WHAT!
I jumped back and let out a yelp, startled. Then light poured out, lighting the place up.
It looked like that was the proper way to use it, then.
I looked around. Ah, this place really felt very Innishae, in the best possible way.
"This looks like a great place for you," I told the dragon.
"I like it," he said happily. "It's very big, too."
It was. The System had literally found the perfect place.
I went to explore, but the whole temple was just a huge single room plus the cave behind.
When I came back, I found that Llewellyn had swept up the whole place with his Elemental Wind and was now sitting on the floor with the dragon, staring at the System interface.
"What?" I asked, just as Llewellyn bought a huge pillow-like thing and watched it materialize in the room.
"We're decorating," Llewellyn said. Then to the dragon, "Give it a try."
The dragon approached it cautiously and stepped on it, curling up and using it as a bed.
"It's very comfortable," he said, letting out a contented puff of steam.
Ah, good! This was great.
I sat down next to Llewellyn and opened my System interface too.
"Does he need anything else? What about food? Is there even anything to hunt up here?"
I suppose that, if I could take the dragon into my Core Partition once a day, that might be enough to feed him.
The problem was that my Core Partition was definitely too small for him. And besides, what if some days I couldn't go? It would be safer to make sure he had all he needed here. Maybe we could leave some emergency food supply?
I scrolled through the System shop.
"All this Magic, a whole System shop, and no electricity-free refrigerator," I muttered. "We've really not evolved enough as a species, have we."
Llewellyn snorted.
"System," I said. "How do we solve the food situation? Is there anything to eat around here?"
[System Notification: Stream with abundant fish detected nearby!
Location: 0.7 km east.]
Oh, that was good! I hoped dragons liked fish.
On the window floating in front of me, the System was elaborating something. After a few moments, it chimed again.
[System Notification: The Blessing of St. Caerwyn protects this temple. System intervention was able to channel it into a passive "caretaker" function. Anyone seeking sanctuary in this temple will be cared for.]
Oh! Was it a version of what I had in my Core Partition?
Well, anyway, this was great.
I didn't know what this blessing could provide, but it was more than we had five minutes ago. Besides, I was glad the dragon could go out and look for fish. Better not to rely on external help too much—he should be able to fend for himself if all else failed.
Not much we could do about the company for now, but it looked like he'd have food, water, and shelter here at least.
I watched Llewellyn explain the details to the dragon and flopped down on my back on the hard floor, pulling out my phone to check if there was any signal. Surprisingly, there was.
A text from Niamh told me that the news of the Distorted Realm had reached the Internet, so everybody was now aware we'd been in France (well… Llewellyn, at least). Thankfully there was nothing about a dragon anywhere, so it looked like we had left on time.
"I'll go and check the stream," the dragon said after a few moments, wings expanding and folding a bit, likely in excitement. "Shouldn't take me long if it's so close."
"Alright," Llewellyn said. "Ask the System for the map. We won't leave until you're back."
We watched the dragon fly off.
Llewellyn looked at me sprawled on the floor, gave me an amused look, then flopped down next to me.
We stared at the ceiling. Penguin immediately climbed on top of Llewellyn, snuggling into his sweater.
This felt good. It wasn't even that cold inside the temple.
Suddenly, I regretted not having been able to snatch two French croissants while we were in Paris, but we'd had no intention of sneaking into the actual airport only to end up in footage for the news. Still, disappointing. Maybe I should make use of the System to travel around the world more often, not only for Distorted Realms.
That was, assuming I could catch a break. I sighed.
"I don't know how you've been doing this for seven years," I said, putting my phone away. Now that we finally had some downtime, I was feeling a bit drained.
Llewellyn eyed me. "Tired already?"
Well, honestly? Yeah.
Still. What I told him before hadn't changed. This was still better than anything I'd had going on before.
Okay, maybe not when I was being strangled, but overall? No contest.
Speaking of which—
"You can still leave," Llewellyn said after a moment, before I could bring up what was on my mind. "I wouldn't hold it against you."
What? Hey.
"Who said anything about leaving?" I said.
What the hell?
If there was one person who shouldn't have to face all this alone, it was Llewellyn. I'd be damned if I was the one to ditch him.
"Anyway," I said after a moment, rubbing my neck. The pain wasn't there anymore, but I still felt weird. "What's your opinion on the System Access Alliance? Because something that guy said made me think he's working for them."