The Devotion of The Sun

Chapter Five

:!:Recap:!:

'When the sun first rose, the goddess of nature began to gain consciousness, and this was the start of life,' that line reminds her of when he claimed he could read it. 'So he wasn't lying... but that doesn't make any sense, why could he read it? It's not in Aprodiatian, not even close to our language based on how different the letters look...'

✩.･*:｡>───── ⋆☀︎⋆ ─────<.•*:｡✩

She's left with more questions than answers the further she reads. 'It's like a twisted love story, the solar god fell in love with the nature goddess... he devoted himself to her, abandoned his life in the clouds and grounded himself making his wings useless, all for her, she ended up trapping him with her...' she sees a illustration of a winged man with horns.

'When he died, she went hysterical, she died shortly after he did, however her insanity and bloodthirst stayed as a common trait within her daughters,' she gets an idea as she begins to catch up with the translation. 'If I join the temple... maybe I'll get some answers on what happened to Damien, and then maybe I'll be able to bring his parents' bad deeds to light...'

The translation ends, she puts it down where she found it, before sneaking back out of the temple, and sneaking back to her bedroom. 'Maybe... just maybe... I should visit the forest tomorrow, early in the morning so no one is really awake... though, if I do I will be breaking a lot of rules...' she thinks about it as she changes her clothing.

She thinks about him again, about the boy she knew as Damien. 'I miss him,' she thinks about his amber eyes, his tan skin, all the scars on his hands from his rough sword lessons... she flops into the bed, frowning. 'I'm going to the forest,' she gets under the blankets and closes her eyes. . .

She wakes up at 4 in the morning, 'I slept in too late,' she gets up quickly, changes her clothing, and sneaks out her bedroom window. She notices Lucas already up, he's at the entrance of the forest.

"Oh, hello Bella," he notices her.

"Lucas, I found a translation of the book Damien borrowed on the day they took him to the forest," she doesn't hesitate in telling him what she learned. "You said Damien had horns and wings, right?"

"I did, he had feathered white wings, a sun on his forehead, pointed ears, and black horns,"

"In the book he borrowed there was an illustration of the solar god, he had wings and horns too, along with pointed ears and a sun on his forehead,"

"Do you think..." She trails off thinking about the whole situation. "Do you think Damien turned into a spirit?"

"... I'm not sure... I've never heard in history of a human turning into a different species," he looks towards the forest. "And... if he did transform... Why him? There's plenty of people here so why did they have to take him?" he furrows his brows, frustrated by it all.

"Didn't it also happen after he was blessed?" she points out, he nods.

"But there's been countless blessings before and after him, and none of them turned into spirits,"

"True... well... i'm going to go into the forest, i'm going to look for him," she crosses her arms.

"You shouldn't, you do know how dangerous the forest is, right? Not only do you have to worry about wolves, you have to worry about forest spirits, the roots of the forest itself coming to life, and even if you do find him you won't be able to bring him back, if the temple sees him it's a 50/50 on how they'll react, they'll either worship him or try to kill him." he warns.

"I know, but i need to see him, i need to see that he's really alive,"

"He is alive, I can sense it, and knowing him he wouldn't want you to do anything rash or dangerous for his sake," he gazes at the trees, the depth and darkness of the forest, the roots that cover the ground. "Going into the forest without any supplies or preparation is a death sentence."

"But..." her eyes downcast.

"I know you care about my brother... if you're going to go search for him, you need to have some supplies, a knife, some water, food, and instead of wearing a long dress, sneak out in some pants and a shirt, if your wearing a dress it could get snagged on branches and rocks," he gives her advice.

"What do you think I should do if I run into a forest spirit?"

"Well if you run into one then you're too close to the heart of the forest, and the only advice i can give is to run away,"

She thinks about it for a moment. 'I need to get older first, so i have enough stamina to tread through the forest and carry things with me, what foods take longer to rot...'

.

.

.

He lays on the bed, his skin feels like it's boiling. His mana is seeping out due to an overcharge. 'I guess this is what I get for over using my mana,' he feels Lenore's ice cold hand on his face. "I'm sorry," it's practically a whisper, his voice is weak. 'I hate making her take care of me like this, i feel like a burden,'

"Shhh, don't worry, it's fine milo," she hushes him. "How do you feel?" she moves her hand to his jaw, it's been five years since he's turned, and although he's stronger, he's been training his magic and body harshly. His wings have gotten larger, his horns have grown, his hair now reaches past his back.

"It's like my blood is molten lava..." he closes his eyes, savoring her cold touch, "it's harsher than the burn of being blessed by the temple," she gazes at him, her gaze softens.

"Next time don't over use your power when you're training it..." she gently moves his hair out of his face. "Your already stronger than any one of the humans, so i don't get why you're so intent on becoming stronger,"

"... i had a nightmare..." he says quietly, "one that was too realistic for comfort... a human wanted to hurt you, you got a cut on your arm right here," he weakly traces where. "I didn't see what happened next," she caresses his cheek.

'So... he's been trying to get stronger to protect me... i wonder... could it be a premonition?' he leans into her touch more, causing her heart to melt. "Well, stay in bed for a few days and get some rest, I'll stay here with you to cool you off... and please be more careful..."