A terrifying storm engulfed all the land. As far as the eyes could see, there was nothing but wreckage and destruction. Thousands of trees were uprooted.
A strange mist was surrounding the land, floating within a few inches of the group.
The Sky kept roaring as lightning flashes, accompanied by booming sounds as heavy rain lashed the land. The winds were cold yet flew at tremendous speeds.
"I must say, when you said we would be entering a Temple, this wasn't what I expected to see."
Lia observed her surroundings, amazed. As soon as they passed through the gates of the Temple, it was as if they had entered an entirely new world altogether, one that was going through multiple natural disasters at once.
"Me neither, but it's not entirely unexpected. The Temple was less of a building, and more like a portal to this world, it seems. If I'm not wrong, this world... It's the true temple of Gods."
Raphael could only theorize, yet he had no confirmation.
"At least you two aren't the ones being drenched in this rain." A tired voice chimed in, attracting their attention to it.
Raphael scratched the back of his head, noticing Azekiel, who was drenched from top to bottom due to the rain. Not only was rain troubling him but also the cold and other factors.
Unlike him, Raphael and Lia were completely dry. Since they were in their Spirit Forms, the Rain or other such things couldn't affect them much.
Azekiel hid the two books inside his clothes to protect them from this rain. "We should've prepared for something like this before entering, but we can't even go back now either. The entrance has disappeared. It's like we are trapped here."
He hadn't even moved one step after passing through the door of the Temple, and now there was nothing behind him for miles.
"We need to find a shelter first and then see the map to pinpoint our location. That should tell us where we need to go."
"I doubt we can find a shelter that easily." Lia grimaced. "Looking at the storm, any nearby shelter should've been destroyed. Not even a single tree is left intact."
"We can't just sit idly in any case." Azekiel stepped forward.
"U-"
Poof~
As soon as Azekiel took a single step ahead, he disappeared.
"What? Did he disappear? Where did he go?" Even though Azekiel disappeared, Lia and Raphael were left behind.
As the two spirits were left speechless, Azekiel came back, a few meters ahead from where he had disappeared.
He appeared to be even more drenched now. "This damned place!"
"Teleportation?!" Lia exclaimed. She had seen Azekiel disappear on one spot and appear on another.
"It's not teleportation." Azekiel rolled his eyes. "It's the damn ground. Because of the mist floating close to the ground, we can't see what's ahead. There was a deep hole before me which was filled with water."
He didn't need to tell more for the two Spirits to understand what happened. Azekiel fell into the hole and had to swim to the other edge from where he came out.
"Even the books are completely drenched now. It's not good."
Even though he hid the books inside his clothes, he couldn't protect them as his entire body was submerged in the water. Fortunately, he wasn't inside the water for too long.
"If we can't find a shelter, the books might be ruined completely. But even moving is risky here."
Azekiel's feet were hidden by the mist, just like most of the ground. He couldn't even see what was before him, let alone decide on how to move.
Each step was like walking in a landmine where he had no idea what was ahead. There might even be a cliff at some distance, and he could fall straight off the cliff if he weren't careful.
"You stay here. It's better you leave the search to us. Since each movement for you is so time-consuming, I'll look for a place. Only after confirming the direction, you shall move."
Raphael came up with a plan as the rain continued lashing around. His two beautiful wings made an appearance once again, taking him straight into the sky, giving him an even better view of the surroundings.
Still, the rain was an obstruction, decreasing the visibility. If it wasn't for the rain, Raphael could've seen even farther, but now he needed to move constantly to observe the surroundings. Raphael selected a random direction and shot ahead.
"It must be so good to have wings. He makes me so jealous sometimes." Lia observed Raphael leave, showing slight jealousy.
Azekiel moved his wet hair that were covering his eyes to the side before glancing at Lia. "If you knew more about him, instead of being jealous, you would be more glad that you aren't him."
"More about him? Like what?" Lia had no idea what Azekiel was talking about. Was there something about him that was so bad that it would make people glad that they weren't him?
It wasn't surprising that she didn't know since she wasn't summoned when Raphael told Azekiel about this, and since then, he hadn't talked about this.
Still, believing this could help Lia understand what Raphael went through each moment, Azekiel told her everything.
He talked about the curse of Raphael.
While Azekiel talked about Raphael's curse and how he was always being tormented by hunger, Raphael was searching the surroundings in this heavy storm to find any place they could take shelter.
He went from once to place, traveling over ten kilometers in each direction to ensure he didn't miss anything. Unfortunately, he didn't find anything.
He increased his range to over a twenty-kilometer radius after failing. There was nothing even within a twenty-kilometer range. Raphael increased the search range even more.
"It's been over two hours. Will he be fine?" Lia was starting to get worried about Raphael, who had left a long time ago. He still wasn't back.
"He is in his Spirit Form, so nothing can harm him. So don't worry."
Even though Azekiel said that, on the inside, even he was worried, especially after he had seen Raphael in that darkness, almost losing himself and his mind.
On the inside, he was worried if something like that could happen again. He tried to stay positive.
****
Outside the Temple, a young woman approached the entrance with her calm steps, only to stop a few meters away from the entrance.
The Two Statues that were guarding the place appeared to be coming back to life.
The first statue slowly opened his eyes. The statue of Osiris was woken up first, followed by the second mysterious statue.
The two giant statues gazed at the young lady who looked like an ant before them.
"You can't enter. Leave."
Generally, the Statues would've told the lady that she could only enter after having the two books. Unfortunately, there was no chance for her to get the books since Azekiel already had the two of them, so they straight refused her, not even bothering to explain anything.
The young girl didn't turn back though. She flashed a devilish smile. "I didn't come here to go back."
