Chapter 410: The Land of Orthias.
Moriganne walked out of the forest and the blizzard became more fierce and heavier. She couldn’t see anything but whiteness in front of her, and the cold was too extreme that anyone would freeze in a matter of seconds. If it wasn’t for her Divine energy, she would have frozen to death.
"We have arrived," Sanya said, staring at the distance in front of her.
"Arrived? I can’t see anything, Lady Sanya..." Moriganne said, furrowing her brows and narrowing her eyes, trying to see through the extreme blizzard.
Sanya snapped her fingers and immediately the blizzard disappeared in an instant. That was when Moriganne lost for words and her eyes were fixated on the city in front of her. A colossal temple that was as big as the whole city was right in front of her eyes.
Moriganne looked at Orthias, dozens of them walking around the city entrance with big walls that prevented her from seeing the inside, walking down the stairs, and carrying massive cubes of rock on their shoulders. She couldn’t blink her eyes by the magnificent view of the walls and the entrance that looked like a temple, making her feel so small, standing in front of the entrance that the top half was covered and blocked by the thick clouds.
"Welcome to the land of the Orthias," Sanya smiled softly as she began to walk ahead of Moriganne.
Moriganne tried to keep up with Sanya while she tried to be respectful to the Orthias around her. She was surprised that none of them even looked at her, but then she was completely shocked when she saw humans among Orthias. She couldn’t believe what she saw, humans lived among Orthias and she didn’t know anything about them.
"Lady Sanya, those people..." Moriganne looked up at Sanya who was walking beside her.
"They’re humans, yes," Sanya smiled at Moriganne. "Their ancestors and before them, they had served us the Orthias for centuries. We took them and took care of them," she explained as she looked at the humans that were wearing a thick fur coat to keep them warm.
Moriganne didn’t expect humans to exist on this land, and thought that they were the luckiest humans in the world. She then pushed that thought aside and kept following Sanya until she noticed the Orthias that had walked past them, and they bowed their heads to Sanya. She was curious as to why they showed respect to Sanya even though she knew that Sanya wasn’t an elder.
Moriganne chose to be quiet since she didn’t want to be rude to Sanya. They walked up the long stairs toward the entrance to the temple, and it still felt surreal for Moriganne that she was there in the land of Orthias.
As soon as Moriganne went through the massive double door stone, she was surprised it was a whole big city inside. She lost her breath from the magnificent beauty of the city that looked ethereal and godly. She looked at the isolated city inside tall walls, and the bridges up high from the ground that connected all the colossal buildings. The thick mists covered the city with the blue energy floating around the city and the auroras that floated in the sky above the city.
"(This is the city... the city that might have existed long before human’s civilization...)" Moriganne looked up and around her, feeling small and insignificant.
Sanya guided Moriganne to the temple in the center of the city. This time, everyone looked at them and bowed their heads to Sanya as if she was the most respectable Orthias even among themselves.
Moriganne entered the courtyard and saw a dozen Orthias gathering around. When they saw Sanya, they immediately moved to the side to give her a path to walk on. Some of them were twice the size of a human, making them look like giants.
"Veyra Sanya, drelas voren," one of the Orthias spoke, a man with long silver hair with blue eyes and a long sword sheathed on his back.
"Nehra velon ethariel korthas veylra hunan. Veylra hunan-tar," Sanya said, her expression stoic when she looked at the Orthias in front of her.
"Ehra, Veyra Sanya," all the Orthias answered at the same time as they lowered their heads to Sanya once again.
Moriganne looked at them, wondering what they were talking about. However, she noticed the word Veyra before they spoke of Sanya’s name, a title perhaps.
"This is Moriganne Sancticus, the Saint of humans in the North. She’s the representative of humankind, the one that the elders have recognized and summoned her to our land," Sanya said as she placed her hand on Moriganne’s back and pointed her other hand to Moriganne’s face.
The Orthias looked at Moriganne and judged her appearance. Moriganne knew that the word Saint had a bad taste in their mouths and memories. She knew about the thing that had happened in the past, about the event when humans hunted Orthias and led by the first Saint.
"Please, Lady Sanya, my title isn’t necessary..." Moriganne said as she looked at Sanya.
"Is that so? Then just call her Moriganne," Sanya looked at the Orthias.
"Welcome, Lady Moriganne. The elders are inside and have been waiting for you," the man said, pointing his hand at the big double stone door.
Moriganne bowed her head at the Orthias in front of her before she turned her head toward where the man was pointing. She could see the bright blue light coming from the inside, and she knew that she was about to meet the elders of Orthias, the ancients of the ancient race.
Sanya walked up the stairs with Moriganne beside her. They walked on the long bridge where Moriganne could see the city from below. She wondered how many Orthias were there, but if she could make a guess, there would be hundreds of thousands of them. The city was way too big for only thousands of Orthias.
"Lady Sanya, is there anything that I need to know before I appear before the elders?" Moriganne asked, her heart racing and she could hear her heartbeat in her ears.
"There’s nothing you need to worry about. They’re just a bunch of old people in your terms. Just speak what you want to say, and look at them if you’re curious about them. As long as you’re by my side, those old people will behave," Sanya smiled softly at Moriganne.
Moriganne was baffled when Sanya could speak of her elders like that. She was afraid and confused as to whether to take Sanya’s words seriously or not. She didn’t want to offend or be disrespectful to the elders that would cause this opportunity to form an alliance with the Orthias.
"I’m not joking, Saint Moriganne. Just believe in me," Sanya said as she looked at the massive entrance into the temple in front of her. "There’s nothing to be afraid of," she assured as she walked into the temple.
When Moriganne entered the temple, she was welcomed by the sight of a statue of a dragon decorated the surrounding wall and the ceiling. She could see the statue’s eyes glowed bright blue as if it was alive, and she was trembling in fear. She then looked at 10 Orthias who were standing in a circle, speaking with each other in Orthias language. They either wore full-body armor or a robe, their size was almost three times bigger than Sanya’s, truly like giants.
When the Orthias noticed the presence of a human, they stopped talking and glanced at Moriganne with their glowing bright blue eyes. They slowly turned their bodies to face Moriganne, staring down at her like a lost child.
"You’re here, human..." A woman with long white braided hair that reached the cold stone floor stared at Moriganne. "You must be the Saint," she added.
Moriganne glanced at Sanya, hoping that Sanya would guide her on how to respond to the woman or if she should bow down or not. However, Sanya didn’t say a word and just looked around, staring at the hall since it had been a while since she had come here.
"Yes, Elder. My name is Moriganne and you can call me by my name rather than my title," Moriganne said as she lowered her head to show respect.
The elders looked a bit confused by Moriganne’s gesture.
"There’s no need to be respectful and polite, Moriganne. We can see and hear your thoughts, there’s no reason for you to be polite and respectful when we already know you’re being polite and respectful from the inside," a man with long straight hair said in a calm and relaxed voice. "You have proven yourself worthy to stand among us, your family has proven that not all humans are evil," he added.
Moriganne was mildly surprised when she heard that coming from the mouth of an elder of Orthias. She slowly lifted her head and stared at all the elders in the eyes, and they all gave a nod of approval.
"Our guest here is a bit tired from the journey. She needs to rest for a bit," Sanya said as she stared at all the elders in the eyes with a cold expression.
The elders stared at Sanya with a stoic expression before they all nodded their heads with understanding. Moriganne was so confused as to how the elders seemed docile toward Sanya. She couldn’t help it anymore, and she wanted to know why the elders and the Orthias seemed to respect her deeply.
"Come, Moriganne. I’ll show you a room to rest with food to eat," Sanya said with a soft smile on her face.
"Yes, thank you..." Moriganne couldn’t decline the offer since she wasn’t tired at all, but if Sanya said so, she couldn’t say no.