Chapter 92 - Eighty-Eight (1/2)

Even though I had had contact with humans before, lived among them even, it has never been like this, so into their society and costumes, always somewhat detached to them; and even my past memories seem so distant now, more like a book I've read than my own memories.

It was a strange feeling of detachment to humankind, of being yet knowing you do not belong here...

What I'm trying to say is that… I'm a hound, a magical creature, and my humanoid form may… confuse some, but my soul, my mind is that of a hound, an animal.

A beast, a predator.

So it was against my nature to bow down and pretend to by a mere maid, a servant, which is bad enough to give me an itching sensation that makes me want to simply kick someone for no good reason.

To make things worse, I'm with Isaac, of all people, and we have just got ourselves into a pit of snakes.

Let just say that the eunuch was only the first one to…greet us so ”kindly”.

”Oh, Isa, long time no see, I bet you missed the palace, please 'enjoy' to the fullest our warm meals, hot baths, you may even find some perfume if you ask nicely…” Says a propitious woman with a strong smell of flowers, not stronger though than the colorful impact her image gives to my eyes.

I want to sneeze so badly right now… shit.

”Thank you for such worries Sister, I'll gladly enjoy the 'hospitality' the palace gives to us wanderers.” Isa answers with a smile that does not reach his eyes, emphasizing the hospitality word.

Oh, so that's what he meant when he said about the difference between the inner sisters and out sisters; while the latter was the one that, according to him, really tried to help and went out to save people, the inner sisters, beyond having all the comfort of the palace and not having the distress of the travel and have to deal with the poor, had enough time on their hands to plot and conquer and drink tea.

Bureaucrats, to summarize.

Another, one of the followers of that woman, even said before leaving: ”Is a pity, so out and about, must be hard to come back and be unaware of what happens inside the church… must be confusing to come back to it unaware like that...”

And a bunch of gibberish that I rather pretend to be deaf to.

Well, I've never been happier that servants don't need to talk.

However, even though the inhabitants of the palace were that ugly, the temple itself was marvelous; beyond the statue at the entrance even the walls of this place where pieces of art, crafted not only on the wall, but shaping it as well, 'making' the wall.

There are layers of flames crafted together on the white stone in a wild dance, their sharp edges bringing to life the beauty and danger that a flame contains.

There were smooth waves too, crashing against each other and making foam form between; and bringing them all together was the wind and the earth, plants that reached the sky's growing from the Earth, some real, some crafted, bringing it all together in a complex yet harmonic picture.

And as if that on itself wasn't it enough the whole place was pure white, the type you only get with constant care and paint, fresh and pure, the blinding color of the snow.

However if it seems dull or uninteresting by the lack of colors it would soon be proven wrong for that was only the entrance, the real beauty was hidden in the central hall, an open space embraced by the temple's walls in all sides, forming a square right in the middle.