Authors note: sorry abouthe late update but I had a lot of things going on and unit exams were happening. Well this is the 4th chapter have fun reading Choa.
"Whoa it's huge I haven't seen a temple that big since the Rabona cathedral!" Raki exclaimed as they approached the Temple of Mondi.
It was indeed large, going up to 20 stories and stretched over about an entire acre. There was a few acres worth of farmland going over the plains to the north and a small town towards the south. They had just arrived in the area and were looking over the area from a cliff at least 500 meters high. It seemed like an easy area to defend the Cliffside was completely smoothed out making it almost impossible to climb there was only one way in or out and it was a very narrow path. No doubt that any army, no matter how large, couldn't penetrate the valley. However, the problem was that the monks were all enclosed in the valley, so if an army were to penetrate they would all be slaughtered.
As they approached the entrance to the valley, they also saw a large steel door blocking the only way in. Clare couldn't see how a yoma could have possibly gotten in, but the yoma's aura seemed to be pulsating from the door, it seemed like a very large amount. The guard looked at them from his tower and gave the signal to the others to open the gate, which didn't look easy.
As they were walking, Raki noticed that the monks seemed more afraid of him than of Clare. This was very unusual, since he seemed much more amicable compared to Clare. As a child passed by he bumped into Clare. Now usually when something like this happens, the child would either A)start crying B)run away C) start screaming or D) all of the above. However, this child just said he was sorry and flashed Clare a warm smile, but as soon as he looked at Raki he started doing option D).
"Clare have you noticed something… strange, since we entered town?" Raki finally said a few minutes later, as they entered an alley. "As a matter of fact Raki, I have. Why do they seem so kind to me but are terrified of you? And another thing... I keep sensing yoma power everywhere. I just can not pinpoint the source" Clare said with obvious curiosity. Before they could continue, Clare suddenly stopped walking. She began looking around as if sensing danger. Raki stopped and asked "What's wrong Clare?" while at the same time, gripping his sword and looking around to see if he could smell whatever it was Clare was sensing. He whipped around and blocked an incoming sword as Helen entered the scene.
"Hah hah, nice move. You've gotten faster since last time. I see you haven't slacked while I was gone" she said with obvious smugness. "Ah I see that you two showed up at last." This from Deneve as she was sitting on the roof of the house next to them. "So the old gang is back together again, I knew this would happen someday" Miria said as she entered the alley through the other way.
"Miria, Helen, Deneve you're all here too. I haven't seen any of you in a really long time." Raki said as he was still holding Helen's sword back. "Well of course, you didn't think I would leave you alone without me did you?" as she put her sword back and put her arms around his neck from behind. Helen has been flirting with Raki ever since he had matured and her girlish side seemed to take over.
Clare was watching calmly, but inside she wanted to cut Helens head off. "How dare that little slut try to put her hands on him! We should just kill her right now for even having the audacity to do that!" Clare merely ignored her inner voice speaking.
"h-hey Helen how have you been?" "Oh, you know, here and there. How about you? Have you missed me?" "Hey Helen, we should be getting to the tower instead of fooling around." Deneve said sensing the danger coming off Clare. "Fine. Fine. Lets go" as they exited the alley and back into town. "Isn't it great? All the townsfolk seem to love us. I like it way better than all the others" Helen exclaimed. "Yeah, they seem to accept us a lot better than the others" said Miria. "If only more towns were like this, our job would be a lot easier" said Deneve.
But then, Miria seemed to notice how all the townspeople were glaring at Raki, and that the women weren't glaring, they were staring at him. Like the way Helen and Clare stared at him when his back is turned. This continued until they reached the tower, which was indeed large and the doors were very thick. They opened to reveal a middle aged man dressed in plain gray robes " Oh my goodness! You came just in time! I didn't think you'd come."
He blurted out at the site of them. "Please come in, we have much to discuss." They went in and saw the hall. It was large, with a chandelier hanging in the middle of it, with people bustling around doing their own business. Some of them stopping to look at Raki. They were brought to a room on the second floor that looked rather like, that scene in the first godfather movie, except it was bigger and there were more chairs. "Please sit" the priests said gesturing towards the row of four chairs. The girls sat in the chairs while Raki, being the gentleman, stood. "Now to business. The reason we've called you here was because there have been a few attacks on our town. In the first attack, there was only one yoma. Our troops dispatched him quickly, but after that more and more have come. The last one killed four men before we could kill him. His last words disturbed us." They noticed that he used the word him, not it, when referring to the yoma. "His last words were... They will come, the yoma army will come and slaughter you all, like the pigs you are."
"That's why I've called you here. Our troops are not prepared for this kind of assault, but we do have a plan that requires your assistance." The priest looked calm, but they could see him taking glances at Raki like he was afraid of getting killed. "By the way father, I would like to inform you that you have another yoma in your midst. I can sense its energy all around but I can't pinpoint it" Clare said. She had walked all that way and could feel yoma energy everywhere but couldn't find the source. "Oh yes, well that is something else. We should tell you about. You see we all have what you would call yoma power"."
"What!" Helen screamed. She had also sensed the strange energy and had wondered why it seemed to come from every direction. "It's in our blood, something passed down from generation to generation. It's why no one has been able to come into our valley unless we allow it." explained the priest. Deneve responded, "Which is why everyone seemed to be so friendly around here, their used to it" Miria pointes out, "but that still doesn't explain why everyone is so afraid of Raki." .
"Well, there is an explanation for that as well; you see we follow a more, primitive system." The priest explained. It's the male with the strongest power that rules. Our females determine attractiveness by the amount of power the male has." "Sounds a lot like Gorillas to me." Deneve whispered to Helen, which inspired a chuckle. "So the males fear Raki because he has more yoma power than the others." Clare said. "And the females are staring at him like lovesick puppy's because, to them he has an immense amount compared to their males" finished Miria much to Clare's dismay. "Well, it's not only that, but you see Raki's energy is well, err, different" started the priest "different? What do you mean different?" Raki exclaimed, finally joining the conversation.
"Well it's hard to explain, you can't sense it because, you've always sensed one type of aura all your lives. So, you can't really differentiate separate auras" the priest then got up and started. "Please come with me and I'll show you what I mean." They started to walk up a large stair case as Raki asked the priest, "So tell me father, how is my aura different than everyone else's?" "Well, for starters, it seems to be growing and as it grows your aura becomes more wild, animal like, even dark." The priest looked at Raki with a grim face "and the more it grows, the faster it seems to grow. I don't even know if there is a limit to how big it can grow."
Raki found this news a little startling, he didn't really like what the priest was saying. "Here we are" the priest said as they neared a large door decorated with gems. "This is what you will need to protect. Most of all, I want you to know that none of our lives mean as much as what's in this room." As he said this he knocked on the door in a few different places and the door swung open. When they went in, they saw a variety of gems in all different colors. They were in a display cases of different shapes as well. There was a yellow jewel that was shaped like a fox head, another that was baby blue bracelet and looked like a person with green wings. We saw a gold and silver key. Another that was white with some red markings on it in the shape of a strange skull mask,and the last one was white with a hexagramal shape "These are the ancient gems of the Signore Dei Mondi and they possess the power to transport a person to a different world."
"The gems however, are only one way passages and we have lost many monks in the travels. Despite these losses we have gained incredible knowledge from these quests. Others want this power as well. I don't know why yoma would want the gems, but they must be protected at all costs. We can pay any amount you wish as long as the yoma do not get their hands on them." There was something about the amulets that drew the attention of the warriors.
Each amulet seemed to project its own aura and they could now compare different types. Raki indeed had a different aura than they did. It was a subtle difference, but it was still there. They tried to match it with one of the amulets, but he had an aura that was similar to all of them. His was also different. Raki's attention was however on the yellow amulet. It seemed to call to him as though it belonged to him.
signore dei mondi lord of worlds