Pov: Ael
I danced around the kitchen, holding the paper of the translated text in front of me. Off in the distance, Eirian watched me.
"Who is the best!? I am! Who is the best!? I am!"
"Wait, how!?" Eirian walked towards me, trying to read the paper I was dancing with.
As I stopped, I turned towards him. "The same way we do with any other god, we pray to them. Honestly, I am stupid for not thinking of it earlier. Not like we grew up learning how to pray to the different gods." I laughed.
"What does this mean?" He asked with a concerned look on his face. "Are you planning on having us make a pact with her?" I stared at him. "You already know my answer when it comes to this." He continued.
"Eirian, I would never make you, but right now, we are at a standstill. We might have an idea of how to break the veil, and with two corrupted beasts out there, it would be hard to do anything." My smile, which was once there, faded. "Look, I will make the sacrifice for us; you don't have to worry." I placed my hand on his shoulder, getting rid of his worries.
Off in the distance, a faint soft voice could be heard. "What is happening?" Eira, who was now awake, made her way towards us, carefully putting her weight on one foot.
As Eirian turned towards her, he said, "Careful." He then walked towards her to help her sit down.
I smiled, "I found our way out."
"You did?" Shocked, she looked towards him.
---
After a while of figuring out what to do, I sat in the middle of the cafeteria. The storm didn't calm down from last night and was still raging outside.
"Are you sure about this?" Eirian asked.
I nodded towards him, "Yeah, don't worry, everything will be fine."
As they both watched me, the only sound that I could hear was the prayers I spoke as the doors shuttered, keeping back the wind. I would pray over and over again, waiting for the God of Numen to invite me to my sanctuary. After a few more minutes, the wind that roared outside went quiet. The world faded out. I was now someplace else.
I opened my eyes and seemed to be standing in the middle of the royal palace. Blood everywhere, blue banner shredded, and in front of the throne where the king was supposed to sit was an altar. The roof of the palace was gone, and I could see the bright blue sky. I could hear the wind roar outside.
"Hello." A female voice rang.
Hearing this, I was in shock. 'Was I talking to a real god?'
Placed at the entrance of the room, I walked forward on the blue carpet leading me to the throne. Some of the pillars were destroyed, and it seemed as if the windows looked out into nothing. The place stood in some kind of void.
When I reached the altar, I kneeled in front of it.
"Hello, your... sorry, what do I call you?" I said, keeping my head down.
I could hear her laugh, "Finally, someone with respect."
I looked up, still kneeling down, "You should have seen how Eirian was talking to me, you would have thought he wasn't talking to a god."
'Stupid Eirian.' I thought.
"Please forgive him," I strayed my eyes, embarrassed.
"For now, just call me holiness, or Fey. Oh! God of Numen also works."
I looked off to the sides, observing the place once more.
'This place is different from what Eirian described. He described it as a dark abyss, this... well, isn't.'
"Your holiness, if I'm not out of line, are sanctuaries different for each person?"
"Aren't you a perceptive one?" She chuckled. "Yes, sanctuaries are different per person. To be honest, I haven't seen one so... well, bloodied up in a long time."
I looked around once more. 'It is pretty chaotic.'
"What makes them different?" I asked.
"Didn't you come here for something?" She replied, dodging my question.
I looked up, staring at the altar. I see the same language I saw in the notebook on it. The same exact words that Eirian told me before. "Offerre, et accipies virtutem."
Holding my gaze on the altar, I said. "I am here to make an offering, but in return, I want help. How do we break the veil?"
"I guess that Eirian told you about our talk?" The voice rang.
I stared off to the sky, which made her sigh. "I guess he really doesn't want to make an offering to me, and here I was trying to help him?" She paused for a moment, "I thought he would want to avenge his mother."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, to put it bluntly, his mother died." My heart dropped. I didn't care for his mother, but he was a friend. I can only imagine how much his mother means to him. I knew how much my mother meant to me.
The god continued, "She died when Lune got invaded. You should have seen the mess. Not surprised though, you humans have always been such vile creatures."
Still trying to recover from hearing Eirian's mother's death, I stumble on my words, "W-what do you mean Lune got invaded?" My throat closed as my heart raced.
"Ah, yes, as you guys have been occupied in this 'viel', the Lune Empire got invaded. I must say, The Sol Kingdown was fast with it too."
The world went quiet for me. The God kept rambling on, but I didn't listen.
'The Empire is falling? What is happening?' I thought, wanting to collapse right then and there. Before I do, I clenched my fist and kept myself from falling.
"Wow, didn't think learning that would get you so riled up." She said.
"Give me the same deal you gave Eirian," I said, with some determination as I struggled to hold myself up.
Silence filled the room.
"I would, but I don't know..." she paused, "to make an offering, you need a strong enough will, something you are willing to die for, something that you are willing to dedicate your life to... are you sure you want to do that?"
"Our hearts decide what's worth offering, right?"
She laughed. "That's correct."
"Then why do you talk as if you already know what I need to offer?" I asked, looking up.
"Just because your heart decided, doesn't mean I don't know what your heart wants."
'If that's true, I know where this was going. If I were going to make an offering, I was going to have to offer that...' I bit my lip in frustration. I hesitated before speaking once again.
"Y-yes, I am willing to offer my life for my will." I looked towards the altar.
"Hmm..fine—"
As she hummed in thought, the ground started to shake.
"What's happening?!"
The sky began to crack, and pieces of the building started to collapse onto the floor.
"Well, that was cut short. It seems like you won't be able to make your offering. Your sanctuary seems to be falling apart."
"But my offering!" I yelled in a desperate attempt to make the deal with her.
She laughed, "Don't worry, I will see you soon."
The floor below me began to crack as the pillars gave way. As the sky finally gave, breaking into pieces, when it does, the floor does as well, causing me to fall into an endless void.