264 Working some issues (2/2)

Daren saw her moving away from him and going deeper into the cave, ”Where are you going?? You said it was late at night!”

”I don't care! I can't stand another second next to you! Good luck returning home by yourself!”

He continued to observe as she used the fire of her staff to light the way.

”Fine by me... I rather be by myself than with that woman's servant...” he answered.

Once he was alone, Daren began to think if maybe he hadn't been too harsh on Leona. After all, as he said, she did help him when he was in a dire situation and even placed herself in harm's way many times before to aid Evlin and the others.

But even though he wanted to, part of him still could not let go of his grudge towards the gods.

A goddess trapped him as a metal statue for two-hundred years, imprisoned his best friend, and even erased him from existence. He assumed she was going to be punished once Evlin dragged her to the other world, but instead she seemed to be just enjoying an easy life as her maid as if nothing had happened.

Not only that, once the war with Mia was over, some even began to look at her as a hero and him as an enemy, all because he had been placed under Mia's control and that same goddess played a huge part in rescuing him. Daren never felt so humiliated before, being saved by the one person he hated the most in the world.

Even though Lilith tried to tell him to let it go, he just could not.

It wasn't just that goddess. Daren hated all the gods. The goddess that imprisoned him, the goddess that forced Auren and Ria to work for her, the god that turned Mia into a maniac, the god that was responsible for protecting his homeland and yet when he arrived everything was in chaos, and finally, this new Hanna goddess that just casually arrived out of nowhere and simply asked them to kill a dragon for her while threatening the lives of the kids.

No matter how much Daren tried, he could just not see himself getting along with the gods due to their history, nor with someone like Leona who just follows their commands like their word was law.

If it were up to him, he wanted to let the temples of the gods stay destroyed so he could never have to deal with them again.

But on the other hand, a god is the only way to get Evlin back home, and he owned Evlin more than he could count.

”Godamnit...” Daren whispered as he realized that in the end, he would still need to cooperate with Leona in order to help his friend.

He finally stood up and followed the path Leona had used in the hopes of finding her.

”Leona!!! Leona!!!” he screamed as he advanced.

He was about to shout one more time, but a hand appeared out of nowhere, and closed his mouth while slamming him against the wall.

”Shhhh!!” Leona whispered while locking Daren in place.

”What are you doing!!?” Daren tried to say.

”Don't make any sounds...” she mumbled to him.

The woman finally released Daren after realizing he had calmed down and gestured for him to follow her.

Daren wasn't sure of what was going on but he still obeyed her command out of pure curiosity.

As they continued to progress through the tunnel, Leona finally showed him what she was concerned about.

”Can you see it...?” she asked.

”Yeah...” Daren replied while shivering.

At the end of the tunnel, there was a huge cave with five different holes in opposite directions connecting to different paths. The ceiling was open which revealed the night sky filled with stars and the bright light of the moon in the far off distance.

Inside the cave, a large creature was sleeping in the center of the cave being bathed by the moonlight and snoring very loudly making the entire area shake with its noise.

It appeared to be some kind of giant lizard with dark blue skin, a pair of wings on its back, a long tail that was used to wrap his whole body like a blanket, and a head filled with purple horns and purple hair.

”A dragon...” Daren commented.

”Do you think it's just a regular dragon? Or could it be one of Knucker's underlings?” Leona wondered while trying to not speak too loud.

”Hard to say... He probably dispatched his dragons to guard the temple locations... There is no reason why one of them would be here in the middle of nowhere...”

”Wait a minute... There is one temple that is located on an island...” Leonaremembred.

”There is?”

Leona tried to adjust her position and attempted to peek over the open ceiling after climbing on top of a rock. It was faint but she could make it out just enough the shape of a structure very similar to her own temple right on top of a mountain outside the cave.

”This must be it... There is no doubt about it...” she noted.

”What? What?” Daren asked.

”We are on the island of the temple of the north!”