"Why did you lie?" Aerindel turned to his sister.
"Brother, we can tell him later. Did you not see the state they are in?"
"But if anything happened to Rye…"
"From your description, I believe that man's intention is not to hurt Rye. And did you not say their robe was similar? They might be acquaintances."
Aerindel still couldn't help but feel restless.
In an unknown place, Octavian appeared with Rye in arms. In front of him was a wide pool with pillars of clean white marbles surrounding it. Beyond the pillars were cool soft mists swirling lazily with gold and silver glimmering beyond it from time to time.
The water inside the pool was that of a divine gold, filled by an incessant shower from above.
Octavian took light steps towards the pool and passed the rain without any golden droplets daring to wet his figure. Once his foot touched the water, instead of dipping in, he continued walking on the surface.
He placed Rye down at the eye of the pool and let his hold go. Rye's body floated as if the water below him was a solid surface. Seeing it, Octavian smiled.
His dearest sun was indeed very clean. Even the angels would still be submerged at least a split of a hair width.
Why wouldn't they? They have foul emotions towards the demons.
The water rippled softly beneath them and they started flowing into Rye's body. Octavian sat down next to him and caressed his soft hair endearingly.
Time passed until Rye's eyelashes lightly trembled. His eyes fluttered open and immediately focused his sight on the gorgeous face above him.
Rye, "…"
Is he dead?
Octavian chuckled, "You will not die that easily, my dearest sun."
Rye cast his gaze down as he blushed from embarrassment.
Octavian loved seeing Rye being all shy and embarrassed in his presence. This was the face only he could cause.
"I have sinned, Octavian," Rye confessed, "I took away the life of an innocent girl."
"I witnessed and I heard," Octavian touched Rye's hand, "You have not sinned."
Rye shifted his hand to shyly hold Octavian's hand, "Forgive me."
Octavian intertwined their fingers, "You are forgiven."
They stayed in that manner until Rye was replenished enough to sit up. He looked around, "May I ask where we are?"
The water stirred and formed a golden couch for the god to rest on.
"This is the Cleansing Pool. Only those who required to be cleansed will be submerged into the water." Octavian positioned Rye to lean onto him.
"What is it usually used for?"
"The angels' regular cleansing ritual. Some of the water is lent to the mortal temples."
"Angels need cleansing?"
"Certainly. Their hatred for the demons is their major flaw. If one is not cleansed regularly, they would jump to the mortal world to kill the demons."
"May I ask why you created the demons?" Rye hesitantly asked.
Octavian softly smiled at Rye and gently stroked his hair, "Why do you think that is?"
"I am afraid I do not have the qualification to guess…"
"You are my lovely bride, my dearest sun," Octavian wrapped Rye's hand in his, "What more qualification do you require to guess my intention?"
Rye turned pink from Octavian's words and thought of it seriously.
"Is it because the humans will destroy one another without a common enemy?"
Octavian nodded, "But mainly, they existed to balance the world. Remember what you said to argue with your king when you were summoned to join your brother."
Rye took a while to recall it, "Demons leaned to the black, elves towards the white, and humans stood in grey?"
"Yes, that is exactly it," Octavian squeezed Rye's hand in praise, "Before the existence of the demons, the combination of elves and angels meant the world is tipped to the white which caused the demons to emerge. Before more evil emerged, I removed the angels from the mortal realm."
"You were not the one who created demons?" Rye was surprised by the information.
"Nor angels, nor elves, nor humans. They are created by the world itself," Octavian played with the sunflower pin, "I also am. A god is deemed necessary by the world for its creature to rely on and deliver the miracles needed to move the wheel of fate. I am also tasked to keep order of the souls before its birth and after its death though I now mostly leave them to the angels."
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Rye fell silent as he processed Octavian's words.
"Are you disappointed?" Octavian lightly asked without any hint of anger in his voice.
"I am not and will never," Rye touched Octavian's arm, "…Are you not lonely?"
"Do I not have you?" Octavian closed his eyes and rested a side of his face on Rye's hair, "You came to visit me almost every day. Many times you read me stories, sometimes you sorted out your thoughts, sometimes you entertained me with your imagination. I am not lonely at all lately. Though I always wondered when you would pray to me privately."
Rye lowered his head in embarrassment, "I must have disturbed you a lot."
"Not at all. I always awaited your visits eagerly," Octavian turned Rye to look at him, "And now I have you as my bride. I am delighted to hear your prayers."
"I promise to pray more if it delights you. Forgive me for my previous reluctance." Rye said guiltily.
"You are forgiven." Octavian soothingly pressed their forehead together.
Rye flustered from the distance. Octavian's golden eyes were directly in front of him. His eyelashes almost brushed his lenses. Just a little tip of his head would make their nose touch.
Reading his mind, Octavian mischievously shifted his head down slightly and touched Rye's nose with his. He lightly chuckled from how Rye cutely shrunk back like a small turtle.
"Octavian…" Rye's eyes glistened wrongfully.
His heart really couldn't handle Octavian's teasing.
They snuggled and spent the time with each other with Octavian mostly teasing Rye, until Rye fell asleep in Octavian's arms.
Octavian gently carried him up, mindful to not wake him up, and walked out of the pool. His figure disappeared and appeared back in the castle's chapel amidst the night.
Although it only felt like a few hours at the Cleansing Pool, 4 days have passed in the mortal realm.
Octavian accompanied Rye's sleep until he knew someone was coming after sunrise. He moved Rye's head from his lap and lowered it down to the flower bed on the altar.
Ludric walked through the sunflower path for the twelfth time since the morning he discovered Rye has gone missing again. He has been coming every sunrise, noon, and sunset, hoping to find Rye. They couldn't find him anywhere within the city and decided to wait until Rye came back himself.
They could only trust Rye's strength and intelligence.
But this time, when Ludric opened the chapel's door, there he was, sleeping soundly on the altar. His face, fully exposed without any lens blocking it, was incredibly peaceful and relaxed. His hand was positioned neatly on his abdomen with his robe spilling down, sparkling from the sunlight.
Ludric was stunned for a split second before he felt his eyes burning. He lowered his eyes and closed them until they cooled down. What was wrong with his eyes lately?
He approached the altar to wake Rye up, but again, his hand was repelled. He stared at the robe suspiciously and tried to touch Rye's face instead. He was repelled more viciously.
He frowned at his reddened hand.
What is this? He can't touch Rye? Did Rye cast a protection spell on himself?
No, this started since that day they found this chapel along with Rye who went missing. Before this, he could touch Rye just fine when they rode the Raptor together.
His eyes burned again and he lowered them from Rye's face. This too.
He sat down on the steps with a dark face.
It must be that person who Rye met on their first day here. They must be very possessive about Rye. Not letting anyone touch him or look at him too long.
This also means that person must be very powerful. Rye didn't have any sign of awareness about this spell on him. He must tell Rye about this and have him stop seeing this person again.
Right after he had just thought of that, Ludric's eyes blanked out. A few seconds later it went back to normal.
Rye woke up not long after. He realized he was at the chapel. Did Octavian bring him back or was it all just a dream…?
Ludric turned around when he heard the movement, "You're awake?"
Rye sat up, "Ludric?"
"You were asleep for 4 days."
"…4 days?" Rye was slightly surprised.
That long?
"What happened?" Ludric asked.
"It's nothing serious, I overused my mana."
"That's good then. Let's tell your recovery to everyone else."
Ludric didn't question anything more and Rye followed him out.