Chapter FIFTY-NINE: Far Away Priestess

...

As the Druid of Dreams had warned, upon returning to the Dream Statue to visit his beloved, the Sun Priest found that the divine sculpture was no longer conveniently within the confines of the Oracle's stronghold...

..

Deciding it to be a minor setback, Aydan went to the world in search of the Statue. It required he make arrangements to leave their son behind for the day trip to the Mystic Isle to get to Mysten Far, where the Statue was now being watched by the priestesses. Inconveniently so, since it also meant getting further behind on his duties in Aveyond.

Determined to see the Dreamer, alone, he wandered through isolated snow covered mountains and forest until he found the portal to the Priestesses of Aia.

Upon arriving in Mysten Far early, shortly before sunrise, the Priestesses of Light all gathered around the Druid of the Sun. Amazed to see a priest in their home base—a rare event as priestesses always seemed to outnumber priests as there were never any stationed within this holy place. Even more rarer to have an esteemed immortal druid visit their tiny island.

All the young priestesses flocked behind the striking druid—all of them suddenly wishing to be heard and seemed content ranting away all their personal existential concerns to him as he moved from temple to temple in search of the Dreamer's portal.

While all the priestesses eagerly followed, delighted by the Sun Druid's unexpected visit, each priestess continued making needless efforts to discuss the hopeless state of the world and their own reasons for becoming priestesses in the first place, much to the dismay of the Sun Druid. With each step Aydan took, he was wholly annoyed by the time he was able to cut into the incessant dialogue and tell the priestesses what he was seeking: his Beloved's Priestess Portal of Dreams.

Upon learning the Druid of Light wished to visit the Dreamer, the priestesses eventually led him to the Statue for the Dreamworld, situated on a short narrow passage away, semi-hidden from the world, and guarded by two elder priestesses.

He tried walking forward, but both priestesses immediately blocked the way.

"I need to enter the Dream, Elders of Mysten Far," the Sun Priest declared to them both. He looked behind him, realizing the other priestesses where no longer under his shadow, and had scurried back to their places near the various temples.

"The Dreamer has not requested your presence, Druid of Light," one of the priestesses hesitantly advised. "...The Dream is not safe at this time."

The Sun Priest sighed. Only a short time was left to enter the Dream as Talia would surely be resting from her duties or moving into another part of the Dreamworld, since she was not expecting him to visit. Already having thought ahead, Aydan had expected some sort of objection in spite of his high ranking position.

"Erm...Priestesses, you know, as I was walking up these hills, I saw a peculiar young man with golden hair standing by the base of the hill. He had an injured leg and asked for a priestess to heal him. He said his name was Herbert...No, Herald...No, that's not it...He said Hercules."

"No way! Hercules?! Thee legendary son of Zeus? Is he really here among us?!" both elder priestesses swooned.

"Yes, that one. I'll be more than happy to guard the statue for you...He specifically asked for elders," Aydan offered, hopeful his lie to be convincing. However, without further effort, both elder priestesses immediately agreed to leave the Sun Druid in charge of guarding the statue and hurried away towards the hillside.

As soon as the priestesses were out of sight, with the sunlight now illuminating the grassy sea green Mystic Valley, the Sun Druid immediately sprinted towards the Dream Statue.

..

Once he crossed to the Realm of Dreams, the Dreamer was already standing a short way away from the portal.

The Dream appeared gloomy and strong wind blew from all sides as the shadows of nightmares lurked in all corners of the Dreamlands and its sky. Talia quickly pushed the closest nightmares lurking near with her strongest magic, dispersing any terrors that were nearby with halos of bursting light.

Right away, the Sun Druid noticed, too, that they were in a completely new part of the Dreamworld—different from the previous dream forest enclosure; yet, somewhere closer to the Tear Shrine, due to the deep violet trees and meadows, and the land being raised high over the eternal night sky, he realized, as he hastened his pace.

"My wife!" he gasped, nearly out of breath after running so fast as he wrapped his arms around Talia, though nearly falling over into the perpetual nighttime abyss as he spun her around.

"Bah! Troublesome man! Please, go back to Dameon, Aydan," Talia muttered softly after a short while, indicating their visit would need to end soon. Her free hand stroked his cheek gently, feeling the heat of the new day outside still on his tanned skin and brown stubble.

"Aye...But not yet. I will return to you again, my love," he said, realizing Talia was now in a state of lasting melancholy. She did not respond to his words and only exhaled deeply, appearing conflicted. The Sun Priest knew he would need to leave shortly. "What is wrong, dear one?...I know I have arrived too late to stay long...Before I leave, I must know...Have you forgiven me?"

"Husband..." Talia whispered while she kissed him, but then nodded for 'no' once pulling away.

Suddenly, behind Aydan stood both elder priestesses. Both priestesses were furious at the Sun Priest.

"Liar!" one of the priestesses exclaimed at him. "He tricked us! We are sorry he got through, Dreamer Talia. This won't happen again."

"Liar?" Talia repeated half-baffled in an amplified tone, now also peeved, "LIAR!"

She immediately sent the druid away, back to the snowy lands he had came from, far from Mysten Far and the portals.

...

The following day the Sun Druid defiantly returned. This time the portal to the Mysten Far was gone. Aydan kicked around in the snow searching for it, only to find the deactivated star-marker buried underneath.

Without further thought, he teleported instead, sure he would make it to the island as it was not far from the portal. Instantly, the churning violence of the sea pulled him under and around into the frigid water. He floated to the surface, holding on to jagged ice and rocks; fortunately, somehow becoming buoyant and staying afloat from the not so shallow deepest of the cold ocean floor.

Still tightly holding onto his staff, the Sun Druid attempted to apparate to Mysten Far once again, but only arrived at the same part of the frigid sea, once more, submerged in bone chilling water. Immediately, he knew the enter island of Mysten Far had been moved away.

Enraged that he was not advised by no one, not even the Oracle or other druids, the Sun Druid instead teleported to the Sun Temple to lay in the sun's warm rays.