The Curse-breakers of Avondor || ONC 2022 || ✔

Chapter 8: Divine Favour

Audren had often been in the Pantheon when still living in the Free City, to pay his respects to the mountain goddess. Though his home hadn't been too far away, the visits to her shrine reminded him of where he belonged and comforted him during his stay. Dyna had jokingly called him sappy for it, but Audren hadn't missed the homesick look in her eyes whenever she did choose to accompany him.

None of his previous visits had been quite so chaotic as this one, though.

The smell within the Pantheon filled him with horror; while those turned into Cursed within its walls had mostly left the building (Audren only had to cleave two undead heads), their stench remained, courtesy of the blood and patches of skin and hair littering the floor. If he'd had time, Audren would have taken a moment to empty his stomach, but he forced its contents to stay in his body as he rushed through the central hallway. That hallway, long, straight and topped by a high ceiling, stretched out before him all the way to the back of the building, where a fountain to refresh the thirsty stood. Audren imagined nobody had drunk from it in a while.

Breathing heavily as adrenaline rushed through his veins, he kept an eye on the little open rooms to his right, which housed a variety of shrines dedicated to gods great and small. The right side found itself in the east, he remembered, meaning Solmar's shrine would be there, not to his left. The sun rose in the east, after all. Audren's footsteps echoed loudly in the hall as he sped further along.
When he spotted Solmar's shrine, a euphoric feeling came over him. He'd built up so much momentum he barely skid to a halt in time to take his right turn. Leaving the central hall behind, he dove into the side room, double-checking to make sure he'd be alone in there.

No Cursed seemed to have an interest in revering the Sun God. Save for Audren's panting, it was dead quiet by the shrine; quiet and shadowy, for the candles people normally lit for the god stood untouched. The altar for Solmar's offerings was empty, too. Audren concluded the food, coin and miscellaneous possessions left there had been taken by survivors of the Cursed's onslaught. He couldn't blame them for the sacrilegious theft. Wasn't there a possibility he'd have done the same if his situation had called for it?

He wasn't here to take offerings and risk angering a god, though. He was here to please one. After allowing himself a brief moment to catch his breath, he cleared his throat and moved closer to the altar, gazing at the marble statue of Solmar behind it. Eyes painted golden in a young, bearded face stared him down. Audren bit his lip. He didn't understand why, but the depiction of the Sun God seemed to command respect, even more so than his own Goddess of the Mountains.

Nevertheless, he faced the statue, never breaking eye contact, and came to a halt by the altar, placing his hands on it. "Solmar, Lord of the Sun," he began slowly, still trying to find the right words.

It felt odd to be asking a favour of this god, like marching up to a nobleman he'd hardly interacted with and demanding to be given half the contents of his treasury at once. But Audren pressed on.

"I don't think I've ever given you anything," he admitted to the statue, "though I've never asked you for anything, either. But today, I don't have a choice. As you must know, Avondor is cursed. The undead threaten my people. I have to save them. I need to break the curse. And I need your help to do it."

The statue didn't reply; of course it didn't. Audren hadn't expected to hear a sudden voice in his head or to see the god manifest before him to hear him out in person. He did, however, wonder if it had gotten warmer in the Pantheon. Was it his imagination, wishful thinking, or was it no coincidence he felt as if the sun had begun to illuminate his face?

"I'm looking for an alleged ancestor of yours," he explained. "The Countess of Santonshire. Lady Limnaia of House Acestor. I have reasons to believe she knows more about the curse and about the man who most likely created it. But I don't know if she's still alive or where I'd have to go to find her."