After I finished trying on all the dresses they brought, I sat in the chair opposite where Mother sat with Father. Mother was still busy shopping, but now it was the twins' turn to try on dresses. They were in the other corner of the store, close to the children's section, though we could still see them from a distance.
The clerks brought a fresh tea set and new snacks for me, clearing away the set Mother had used. Immediately, Adel poured some steaming tea into a cup. After all the commotion of trying on dresses, I felt a little thirsty and hungry.
"Can you two let my hands go? I want to drink that tea," I asked Lady Octavi and Adel, who were sitting beside me, still gripping my hands firmly.
"No, we cannot do that, My Lady," Adel replied politely. "But I can bring the cup to you so you can take a sip."
She lifted the cup to my lips with her right hand. Since I was genuinely thirsty, I leaned forward and took a sip.
"How about some snacks, My Lady?" Lady Octavi offered.
After I swallowed the tea, Lady Octavi picked up a cookie with her left hand and brought it to my mouth. I took a bite. Because I was hungry, I chewed enthusiastically, munching with my cheeks puffed out like a squirrel.
"How about another one, My Lady?" Lady Octavi asked, already reaching for the plate.
She kept bringing cookies to my mouth, and I kept taking bites, munching away with frowning cheeks. While chewing, I glanced at Father and saw him smiling broadly at me.
"Why are munch you smiling like that munch, Father?" I asked between bites.
"It is just cute to see you being spoiled by them," he chuckled.
I swallowed hard—gulp.
"How about my dear father tells them to let go of their hands?" I changed my expression, smiling sweetly at him.
"Me?? Tell them to do that? No way!!" He leaned back, shaking his head.
"Why??"
"Because it was your mother who ordered them, not me."
Lady Octavi put another cookie in front of my mouth. I sighed and took a bite.
"But munch you are my father munch…"
"But… I cannot do that, Aurelia. Because your mother…"
"How about her munchmunch?"
We both looked at Mother from a distance. She was directing the clerks with sharp, precise gestures.
"She will be angry at me if I order them to let go of their hands from you," Father whispered, looking terrified.
"But this cute daughter munch is so helpless with munchmunch this holding hands. Munchmunch. Am I better than Mother being angry munch?"
"Oh, my daughter, you don't know how scary your mother i—"
Suddenly, Mother shot a fierce glance at us across the room.
Gulp. Gulp.
I leaned my face close to Father.
"What was that, Father?" I whispered. "Did she hear it?"
"That is your mother, Aurelia," he whispered back, eyes wide. "It is better not to talk about her now."
"Right…"
There was no more conversation between us. It was just me eating snacks with help from Lady Octavi, sipping tea with help from Adel, and Father smiling at me, clearly enjoying my predicament.
At some moment, I caught Mother talking with the twins. Suddenly, they ran off as if they were looking for something. A few minutes later, they came back to Mother. Immediately, Mother turned her gaze to me; it seemed she had given them an order.
The twins walked over to me. They stood in front of me, looking shy, hiding their hands behind their backs. I didn't want to speak a single word to them.
"Sister… Aurel..ia," Aurelio murmured with a shy tone.
I ignored it.
They looked at each other nervously.
Then, they spoke simultaneously. "We, here…"
"Wanted…"
"To give…"
"You something…"
"Give me something?" I raised an eyebrow.
They nodded at each other and brought their hands out from behind their backs. In their palms lay a white hairpin and a necklace with white gems.
"These are our presents to you, Sister," Ophelia said softly.
"These presents are our apology to you, Sister," Aurelio added.
"So we apologize about what we did, and hope Sister Aurelia can forgive us," they chorused.
I looked at them for a moment.
"Adel," I commanded, "put your hand on Aurelio's head."
Adel complied, placing her hand on his hair.
"And start to rub him," I ordered.
Adel rubbed Aurelio's head gently.
"As you can see, Mother ordered them to hold my hands until we get home. So I ordered Adel to do this, to show how… Happy… I am… that my little siblings can realize what they have done and ask for forgiveness."
Their faces instantly lit up with happiness.
"What about me?" Ophelia asked, stepping closer.
I ordered Adel to do the same to Ophelia.
"You can put your presents on the table," I said warmly.
They placed the gifts on the table and rushed to hug me. After squeezing me tight, they walked over to Mother and hugged her too.
"Is that great?" Father beamed, a big smile plastered on his face.
I ignored him and turned to Adel. "Can you keep these presents until we get home?"
"Of course," Adel answered.
After an hour, we finished shopping. Mother had bought me entire rows of dresses. I didn't know if they were suitable for me or not, but they were certainly suitable from Mother's point of view. Because of the sheer volume of our purchases, the owner said they would send everything to the house.
We continued to walk in the street. I didn't know where Mother and Father would take us next. Ahead of us, I saw the twins walking hand-in-hand with Father, seeming genuinely happy about today.
From a distance, I spotted a huge building sitting atop a massive concrete platform. There were two sets of stairs at the corners leading up to it. Curiosity piqued, I turned to Mother beside me.
"Mother, what is that building?"
"That is the Temple."
"Temple?? Are we going in there?"
"Yes, we are, Aurelia."
When we arrived in front of the platform, I realized how tall it was—at least ten times taller than my height. I saw Father tell the twins something, and shortly after, the twins left the building area accompanied by the two guards, their maids, and the four children.
Seeing that, I went to Father.
"Where did those two go?"
"I just told them to go have fun in the city."
"If it is like that, I will come with them."
I turned away from Father and tried to follow them, but the holding hands restrained me, pulling me back.
Mother was smiling mischievously. Even Father was smiling too. Mother stepped up beside him.
I turned my face to both of them. "Sigh. Let me guess. Mother and Father want me to go to the Temple." I looked at Lady Octavi and Adel. "And ordered you two to restrain me from going anywhere."
"Forgive me, but it is Madam who ordered us to do this," Adel said apologetically.
"Right…" I looked back at my parents. "Sigh. So what is the occasion for me to go there? Even Mother's smile became scarier than before; there must be something you two are hiding from me."
"My!!! Was I smiling?" Mother asked, feigning innocence.
"Yes, you were, Mother. And it was scarier than before."
"It must be my habit to smile, and it made me smile accidentally… BUT you are so mean, Aurelia. My smile is not that scary. Right, dear?" She beamed at Father.
"Yes….." Father said with a nervous tone. "Mother's smile is beautiful, Aurelia… It is so mean… to say that her smile is scary…"
"Sigh. Huhhhhhhh… Just let's go to the Temple and make this as fast as possible. Since you don't want to tell me the reason why we are here."
I marched toward the stairs. Lady Octavi and Adel followed in lockstep so I could move. Mother and Father followed behind me.
When we reached the top of the platform, I was mesmerized by the building. It was huge—super mega huge, tall, and spacious—surrounded by towering columns. There were smaller buildings on each side, also ringed with columns.
I noticed a lot of statues. On the edge of the entrance platform, there were six statues of women as tall as me, each striking a different pose. Above the building itself, there were three more statues.
"Who is she depicted in the statues here?" I asked.
"She is Delios, My Lady," Lady Octavi answered.
"Delios?? What is she?"
"A goddess from the God's Realm."
"Wait a minute," I frowned. "In the square, there is a Gennaia statue. She is a goddess too. Why is her statue not in here?"
"Ah.. about that, Gen—"
"Because she is not a worthy goddess," Adel interrupted suddenly.
"Not worthy? What do you mean, Adel?"
"Gennaia is a loose goddess," Adel stated coldly. "She doesn't care about her responsibility and just goes off to the Human Realm to play around. The God's Realm was angry at her, making her lose one of her wings."
"But she is the only goddess who interacts with humans," Lady Octavi countered, clearly unhappy with Adel's words. "Whereas other goddesses are apathetic about humans and only care about themselves."
"Interact with humans? It doesn't mean to blend with humans," Adel argued. "There is a line where a goddess needs to know herself. Their entity is greater than humans. For what reason does a goddess play with humans? We humans are not an asylum for a goddess who runs away from her duty… What is she? A child?"
"It was the God's Realm who shunned her in the first place, made her sick of the realm, and drove her to the Human Realm," Lady Octavi shot back.
"Well, it is her fault because she got shunned in the first place," Adel insisted. "She was so obsessed with humans. She even wrote something about how gods and goddesses can be in relationships with humans. It was a taboo to think about that, and it made her get shunned."
"What is wrong with that?" Lady Octavi demanded.
"What is wrong with that?!!" Adel raised her voice. "They are great entities! If they want to have a relationship with humans, what will happen to the next generation? They will not have a place to call home because they are neither human nor god. They will live long as gods, and they will suffer from that because they will see all the people they loved and adored around them pass away, breaking their hearts many times. Just imagine how many times they will see people die. It makes them realize it is a curse to be born from the relationship between human and god…."
"But Gen—"
Slap!
Suddenly, Mother's hands were in their faces, silencing them.
"You two. Cut it out. And start moving to enter the Temple."
"But Mother," I pressed, "I am still curious about why there is no Gennaia statue in here?"
"Because it is Delios's area, so there is no Gennaia statue. Simple," Mother said briskly. "Now let's go to the Temple."
"That's it???"
We moved on, climbing the entrance stairs of the Temple.
Inside, we entered a vast chamber filled with columns. Two giant statues of Delios stood in brave poses, dominating the space. We passed through that chamber and moved into the next.
In this inner sanctum, there was another Delios statue, larger than the ones before. She sat on a throne, flanked by two roaring bonfires. In front of the statue, there was a stone platform the size of a human.
Two people approached us and led us to the platform. Two other attendants stood by the bonfires. One person served me a drink in a glass. I looked at Mother.
"Accept it, Aurelia," Mother told me.
I took the glass. The attendants by the bonfires threw something into the flames, and they flared up blue. The person beside us gestured for me to drink.
"Drink it, Aurelia," Mother instructed.
I drank it.
A few seconds later, I suddenly felt incredibly sleepy. My eyelids grew heavy. The one who offered me the drink requested that I lie down on the platform.
But… before I could do that…
Suddenly, I collapsed.
In my half-unconscious state, I felt hands catching my body, preventing me from hitting the ground hard, and gently lifting me onto the cold stone platform.
...…
Suddenly...
I opened my eyes.
And realized... I was somewhere else. Not on the platform anymore.
I looked around. There was nothing. It was empty. Just endless white space.
In this nothingness, I stood up.
I started walking.
I kept walking… kept walking… kept walking.
And then... I saw a figure far away.
I ran toward it. I kept running… running…
But I realized… the more I chased it, the farther away it became.
I stopped chasing it. I bent over, gasping for breath.
When I lifted my face from the ground...
Suddenly, the figure was right in front of me.
I looked up.
And saw…