"You knew?" Meliodas asks her, looking betrayed. "I... uh..." Celeste looks down. "You knew the entire time. For ten years, you know I've been trying to find out what happened to my power and you didn't say anything?!" Meliodas shouts. "Look, in my defense even if I were to tell you where to get your power, you'd still have problems getting it back." Celeste defends herself. "I mean, you could've barely contained your demon side back in Vaizel and when we fought Galand. I didn't want a repeat of what happened back at..." The Goddess trails off and looks off to the side, wrapping her arms around herself. "Look, I'm sorry. I should've told you, but I didn't think it was the right time." "Go get your power back." Her brother's words ring through her head. "However, now is the time to give that power back to you. I also need to get my power back."
"Now that you phrase it like that, it makes sense. So where is it now?" Meliodas asks after considering her words. "The Holy Land of the Druids, Istar." Celeste shares.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•☆☆•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
The group stood in a vast green field with rock structures. "So this is Istar. It's the Holy Land of the Druids, right?" Elizabeth asks. "Yup. I think it's been about 10 years since I was here." Meliodas replies, walking ahead. "If I hadn't returned to store your power, it would've been over 16 years for me." Celeste shares, walking beside him. Elizabeth stares at them and jogs to catch up. "Sir Meliodas. Lady Celeste, are you familiar with the druids and what they do?" Elizabeth asks them. "A little, cause of one of the Seven Deadly Sins' missions." Meliodas replies. "I lived here for a while before coming to Liones, so I'm very familiar." Celeste shrugs.
The trio walks silently and Elizabeth looks around. "I know we're in the right place, but there's nothing but stones as far as the eye can see and there doesn't seem to be anyone around." The princess points out. She continued walking and unknowingly stood in front of the gateway. "My goodness, what a beautiful view." She comments. "And it gets better." Celeste tells her, standing beside the princess. "Sure is." Meliodas agrees, though his view is different from the women's since he is looking under Celeste's skirt. Celeste puts a hand on Elizabeth's back and leads her through the doorway, while Hawk scolds Meliodas.
"Did the Druids build all these too?" Elizabeth asks the Goddess, looking at the stone. "Look ahead." Celeste tells her with a smile. "Huh?" Elizabeth looks ahead and is surprised by the view in front of her. The sky was green with purple clouds floating about. There were more rock structures, a cave, a tower, and a narrow path, across the lake, leading to an island where three figures stood. "Lady Celeste, what's this?" Elizabeth asks the shorter woman at her side. "What do you know? Guess the entrance was already open." Meliodas comments, walking through with Hawk. "Huh? What are you talking abou—" Hawk stops and gasps at the view in front of him. "Whoa! This is amazing!"
The others make their way over and also stare at the view. "How exactly does this work?" Slader asks. "It is a special gate that protects this place. To get through you need the spellcaster's permission. Not me though, I know the spell so I can come through whenever I want." Celeste explains. "Does that mean you opened the gate?" Slader asks her. "No, the gate was already open." Celeste shakes her head. "Then by that logic, Lady Celeste, if the gate's already open then..." "Look over there." Hawk motions to the figures. "Your deduction is correct. We were indeed aware of your arrival." The blonde woman replies. "Who are they?" Slader asks. "Those are the Druid chiefs." King answers.
"The Seven Deadly Sins. It's been quite a while." The blonde woman greets the Sins. "Oh and Archangel Celestel, pleasure seeing you again after all these years." She and her sister bow to the Goddess. "Oh, no bowing." Celeste waves them off. Hawk runs ahead and greets the tall man thinking he is the chief. The blonde sticks her staff into the pig's nose, making him scream. "We're the chiefs around here. I'm Lady Jenna. This is my younger sister Zaneri." Jenna introduces herself and her sister to the pig. "Wait a minute. You mean these two little girls are chiefs? And who's this old guy?" Hawk asks, referring to the guy. "I'm the priest in charge of protecting our two dear chiefs. The name's Theo." He introduces himself with a harmless smile.
"How old are you anyway?" Hawk asks. "What's up, Theo? Looks like you've really bulked up!" Meliodas greets Theo. "Yes, Sir Meliodas, and at 15 I'm still growing." Theo replies. "You're 15?!" Hawk shouts while being tortured by Jenna. "This pig is so amusing!" Jenna tells them, pulling Hawk's ear. "Do you have any idea who I am?" Hawk asks her. Elizabeth smiled at them and turned to Zaneri who was staring at her with a blank expression. Celeste turns away from them and makes her way to Jenna, her expression shifting to a grim one. Upon seeing the Goddess, Jenna stops her abuse of Hawk and turns to Celeste. "What's wrong?" She asks her.
Celeste pulls her sword from her waistband and hands it to Jenna. "The sword your brother gave you?" Jenna questions, confused. She takes the sword and grabs the hilt. She pulls on it and her eyes widen when she sees the broken blade. "I'll have it fixed for you, but it will take a while." Jenna informs her, sheathing the blade back. "Take as much time as you need, as long as it's close to the same quality as before." Celeste nods. "The reason we came here today..." "We know why you've come to the Holy Land so there's no need to explain." Jenna cuts off Meliodas, holding Hawk beneath her arm, and Celeste's sword and her staff in the other. "That makes things easier. I'd expect no less of the Druid chief. Thank you." Merlin says.
"By the way, Merlin. Those people just standing over there near the entrance, are they friends of yours?" Jenna asks the mage, referring to Gowther and Arthur, who are both on the path. "Yes." Merlin replies. "If you're ready Meliodas, let's go to the tower on the right." Zaneri tells the blonde. "You as well Lady Celeste." "Me? But I don't need a test. I willingly gave up my power so I should be able to get it back without a problem, no?" Celeste asks, looking at Jenna. "Well, yes, but you have some doubts in you and pent-up feelings that you need to release before you can get the power back." "Oh, that's so not fair." Celeste mumbles. "And you as well." Zaneri turns to Elizabeth. "Me? What for?" Elizabeth looks confused.
The group walks down the path to the tower in silence. Celeste folds her arms and frowns. 'Doubts. What doubts could I possibly have?' She wonders, following Zaneri beside Meliodas. The blonde stops to talk to Elizabeth but Celeste doesn't notice and follows the younger chief into the tower. "It's so dark." Elizabeth comments once she and Meliodas catch up. "Our powers are inside this place?" Meliodas asks Zaneri. "Yes, and at this point you both will have to go through a trial, Meliodas and Lady Celeste. Returning your powers will depend on the results. "Oh, so I just ace this thing, and I'm good to go, right?" He asks.
"It will be very painful and difficult." Zaneri tells him. "To be honest I'm worried you may not be able to take it." She confesses, staring at Meliodas but she meant it for both him and Celeste. Meliodas grins and punches his palm. "When you put it like that, it just pushes me even harder. I'll face any sort of test you got." He says, determined. "Let's just get it over with so I can get my powers back." Celeste waves her off. Zaneri sighs and raises her hands, a heavenly aura surrounding her. "Dorukimoto Hekatokobe Nokutasenkieto!" The ground below Meliodas and Celeste glows, shocking Elizabeth. The light becomes brighter, forcing Celeste to cover her eyes.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•☆☆•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Celeste uncovers her eyes and blinks a few times, taking in her surroundings. The Goddess looks around at the green fields. She looks down at her eyes widen at the outfit she is wearing. "Hey, are you even listening?" A very familiar voice asks. Celeste's breath hitched when she turned to face the voice. It was Meliodas, but he didn't look like he did when she last saw him. She knew where and when she was, and she had a feeling of what this was about, which made her clench her fists. 'What does this have to do with getting her power back?'
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
