Theapan Temple (Part 7)

"Are you going to stand there all day?" Priestess Mai asked while sitting down in a chair.

The room had a few long tables lined with chairs. Whenever the people worked or read in the room they made use of the tables. She had sat at one of those tables to read.

Hearing her words Vorbuk knew she was aware of him. Fading into a black fog he wafted through the room. The black fog taking form against a chair to the left of Mai. Slowly solidifying into Vorbuk's human form as he leaned against the table in his chair.

"Was I being obvious?" Vorbuk casually asked as he tried to mask his awkwardness.

"You've been following me for a while, but no." She teased him with words that seemed to pierce his conscious.

Vorbuk coughed a few times.

"You are not supposed to be in this room since you do not work for the temple." Mai leaned towards him and whispered, "You could be-"

"What are you reading?" Vorbuk cut her off with a question. He had already considered the thought that he wasn't allowed in here before she called out to him.

Mai leaned back and carefully observed Vorbuk for a moment. Perhaps he lacks manners because he is a beast? Placing the book down in front of her as she sighed.

"I am studying. As second in charge of the temple I have to spend time studying the books in here. Whether it is about history or the specific gods that we have on record." Mai sounded almost like a student.

She spent a lot of her time in the temple library studying everything she could. With her father being the pope she struggled to learn everything she could to follow in his steps. Intent to be a strong pillar herself for the temple because the people around her were people she wished to protect. They were her friends and family alike.

"All these books depict information on the gods?" Vorbuk asked while glancing around the place. He could not guess how many books there were in front of them.

"Not entirely," Mai looked at him like he was crazy. "The temple has a lot of books written to help guide our people during magic training."

"Even so.." It did not matter if half of them were used for magic training at the temple. If just half of the books were about the gods it was a scary thought. The temple by standards of looking at the degree of books it held on the gods could cause the temple to be mistaken as supervisors to the gods. He did not know what knowledge they held but there was a lot of it.

"There are a lot of gods and the temple has existed for a very long time." Mai said as if she read the look on his face and understood his thoughts.

"I wanted to ask you something." Vorbuk decided to bring up why he followed her.

"I'm listening." Mai was curious.

"You know about the mark too right?" He whispered to her causing her expression to blank.

She nodded and scanned the page of the book she was reading on the table. Turning to look at something other then Vorbuk. Of course she knew about it. There was not many things her father kept from her. Especially if it was important unless it would put her at risk.

"How many gods are there?" Vorbuk asked partially to divert her attention elsewhere. At the same time he was curious how many gods really existed in this world.

"A few thousand gods exist. The first god was born at the beginning of time. There are only twenty original gods. The others were born amongst the gods. If you consider the fact that they have lived since as far back as the beginning of time their population is very small. Most gods don't even leave their own realm. The ones that do are usually only the original gods." Mai explained.

They probably couldn't help but come back to the mortal realm at times. No matter how long they lived each of the original gods would be drawn back to the place of their birth eventually. It was impossible for them to not occasionally become curious. After all the original gods were all originally mortal.

"But why would another god kill the next ascending god?" Vorbuk muttered.

Mai flinched.

"What's that?" Vorbuk asked about the book she was reading again. Pointing at the book gently with an innocent smile.

Slamming the book shut Mai stood up. Walking over to a shelf as she slipped the book back into its original place without a word. She was not interested in sharing information on what she was reading. Outsiders were not permitted to freely access the books in their library either.

After putting the book away she headed towards the exit. Turning to glance back at Vorbuk as she called out to him. "We should leave now."

As she stepped out of the room seeing him following her from behind Vorbuk waited for her attention to leave him. Using his shadow movements he stealthily slipped a random book from a shelf away. He knew he would be in trouble if he was caught. He was not sure what book he'd taken either. Stepping out of the room behind the priestess the door slowly closed behind him.

A while later..

Two servants were cleaning out the temple library. One of them was dusting off the books in a far corner. The corner was filled with books that were rarely touched. Realizing a book was missing he flinched instantly before calling out to the other servant.

"What do we do? Where could it have gone?" one of the servants was panicking at the scolding they would receive when it was found out a book was missing.

"Maybe the priestess borrowed it."

"But that book was rarely taken out because-" He could not get rid of how nervous he felt at the thought of that book being used by someone who was unaware of it.

"What happened?" Pope Johan asked them as he entered the room.

After they explained that a book had went missing they felt nervous. Explaining to Johan Lovette which book had gone missing he did not utter a word until they were finished.

Unlike what they expected Johan did not get angry. A strange smile swept across his face as the pope began to laugh uncontrollably. This reaction caused the servants to flinch.

"Ignore it. Pretend nothing happened." Johan Lovette said as he decided to feign ignorance of the situation.

That book... If I'm not mistaken.. Johan thought as he watched the servants rush to quickly take care of the situation.

Johan was not angry about the book that had gone missing. He was certain he knew where the book had gone. The book that was taken was also not related directly to a god in any direct way that was harmful him. Regardless the fact that a book had been stolen was dangerous information to allow to leak out of the room.

Why did he take a book about a different element then his own? Johan pondered over the thought of that book. The book had nothing to do with the wolf's own shadow element. It was a different element entirely.