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A crystal white obelisk stood in the middle of the structure, at the center of a lunar-aligned calendar etched into the stone below it. A black obelisk guiding a solar calendar had been transferred to the human stronghold in Kari long ago.
Clem gasped as we passed over the markings, a trail of light emerging from my chest, connecting me to him, Kiar, Bracken, and…
Hadi. But his was different. It was faint, loose, unlike the thick knotted bonds connecting the rest of us.
The others noticed this, too, as Hadi mumbled something too low to hear.
“Is this… the tether? A physical representation of it?” I asked Clem as my hand passed through the rope like mist.
He nodded, and looked grim, staring at Hadi’s, fingers flexing towards it, before he allowed his hand to rest.
Something to note, I thought as the rest closed in on our destination. We had made it. Now it was time to make good on my promise, to talk to the Goddess and undo the tether once and for all.
Summon the Goddess. Survive the night. Slay the King of the Nocs.
Months ago, I would have died happily knowing I’d achieved these things. Now, my heart was so uneasy, my palms shook as I removed the stone from my pocket and held it to the obelisk’s peak.
“What now?” Bracken asked as Clem clutched his hands together as if praying. Bracken had to duck to peer inside but couldn’t fit. Hadi was forced to remain on the outskirts of the temple as well.
“How do we meet her?” Kiar asked, unable to contain his excitement as he surged inside, wrapping around the clock, enthralled.
“Enough chit-chat. Hurry Sun,” Hadi demanded, his pincers and arms threatening to tear the flimsy wood asunder.
Hearing my name from his lips for the first time just before we intended to fight to the death gave me whiplash, but I was too fed up with their demands to care.
“Shut up!” I shouted, all of them getting on my damn nerves. “Prepare for when the portal opens. Who knows how she will react to our intrusion.”
I raised the stone above the obelisk high. We waited, waited, and waited some more, impatient as time was running out.
What was going on? Why wasn’t it working?
Unless…
Had I bet wrongly? Was she sealed off from us for eternity?
That couldn’t be right. Even minor gods and goddesses, who had lost their veneration, could still be summoned. Hadn’t Atlan fallen over in shock, to my amusement, as Jia regaled him with tales of soldiers accidentally summoning goddesses when washing the blood of nocs off their clothing at a river once? Of the nymphs chasing them, begging for more devotion, more food, more mana as the soldiers screamed in terror?
So how was it so hard to summon an abandoned goddess, forgotten for twenty-five long, hard years, with her moonstone as an offering!? I must have been the one at fault. I had to be doing something wrong.
I wiggled the stone, wondering if it wasn’t in the right position. But it was not working, and my heart clenched, fearing we’d miss our window of opportunity.
I could feel Hadi’s anger boiling over, seething, whispering, “Are you worthy or not, vermin? Prove your worth, or else.”
Worthy for what I didn’t know, not sparing him a glare as panic coiled in my gut.
Clem rubbed his temples with one set of hands, clutching his chin, his fourth hand holding my hand above the stone. Kiar looked between us, his frown hard.
“...Do they say anything when they summon her? Your priests?” Clem asked, and I would’ve punched myself if we had time for me to recover from the blow.
“Of course! You’re so smart, Clem,” I gushed, taking a moment to kiss him.
He beamed bright pink as I stumbled over the summoning prayer. It was one that we used when we wanted the Gods to listen. I had always thought it was for show, but hopefully it would work now.
“B-Blessed be the Son of the Sun and Moon and Stars, creator God of Naran, ruler of the Sky and Sea–”
“It is ’ruler of Naran, creator God of the Primordial Sky and Eternal Sea,’ young champion and dearest companions.”
We all turned at once expecting a fight, but I was thrown off by who greeted us, shocked beyond belief as a gravelly voice corrected me.
