Chapter 1472: Gehenna [9]

Unlike Damien, Thalia did spawn in the wilderness.

The scene was most familiar to her.

If someone asked her where she could find peace, she'd always have the same answer.

The jungle.

Ever since her parents died defending the village from the Uruk, she'd been obsessed with the jungle.

It was the place that housed terrifying monsters like that.

It was a horrifying landscape filled with death and danger, but it was also unbelievably beautiful and captivating.

The jungle was a place that even the Uruk, no matter how powerful it was, could escape.

For that, Thalia respected it, and for its beauty, she loved it.

The wind against her face as she rushed through the trees was one of the most comforting things she'd ever felt, like the feeling of a mother's hand brushing against her.

The feeling of a weapon in her hand being used to kill, not for pleasure or survival, but for the well-being of the clan, made her feel a sense of honor unlike any other.

And just like Damien, she loved to look at the stars and marvel at the grandiosity of the world.

Her reasoning was different.

She never thought about exploring the stars. That was far too advanced for her.

Instead, when Thalia looked at the stars, she saw those she'd lost throughout her life.

When she took time alone, she looked up at the stars to talk to them, always maintaining hope that she'd get a response back.

There was nothing more familiar to Thalia than the wilderness, and as such, that was exactly where Gehenna placed her when she first arrived.

Thalia didn't get repeatedly tested like Damien.

In fact, none of the Gehenna youths did.

For most of them, the instant they arrived in the realm and walked around a little, their guardian ancestors found them and took them for training.

Only Thalia and Damien experienced something different, and only Damien's experience was so unreasonably different.

Thalia didn't immediately meet her ancestor, nor did she only meet one.

As she familiarized herself with the new jungle, warily standing on the trees and scanning below for evil spirits, she was swept into the sky.

Her body became a kite, propelled by the winds to fly higher and higher until she was above the clouds.

Naturally, it was terrifying.

Thalia screamed like a little girl. She closed her eyes, but when she felt the impermanence of her surroundings, she began to panic.

She'd never been in the sky before. To her, this sacred place was not meant for the human body.

If she fell, she died, and if she ascended, she'd meet those who passed long ago.

Stuck in this limbo where traditional belief contrasted with reality, Thalia was continuously thrown higher and higher until she landed on flat ground again.

Or rather, on opaque clouds, a white marble flooring that existed only in the sky.

She continued to remain careful.

Thalia knew much more about Gehenna than Damien.

This place wasn't just a spirit cemetery, nor was it just a prison.

Gehenna was something bigger. Gehenna had its own spirituality, and with it, Gehenna would exert its influence over the world.

Only the Gehenna Tribe had gained the privilege of being blessed by it, but Gehenna's reach spread far beyond the jungle.

How else did all those evil spirits arrive here?

Gehenna was a mystical and esoteric existence that seemed to support reality itself, so even though what Thalia experienced seemed to go against her faith, it actually made her infinitely more of a believer than before.

This realm had its own spirituality. Since it brought her into the clouds...

Thalia followed the path the mist provided her without question.

At its end, she found a majestic structure, unlike anything she'd seen before.

Standing atop the clouds as if it weighed nothing at all was a massive pantheon that seemed to belong to none other than the Gods.

It was pure white like everything else, with gargantuan columns spanning its exterior to hold its weight.

Each and every one was carved with another story, another heroic tale about a hero of the past.

And on the column most near the entrance to the pantheon was a story about two lovers who had given everything for their daughter.

For most people, the ancestors would descend to the earth. They'd train and guide the youths until their time was up and then return to the pantheon.

But Thalia was the next Saintess.

Entering Gehenna meant something entirely different for her.

Every generation of Saintess would be made to enter Gehenna in their youths.

During that time, they would be blessed with a power.

No two Saintesses ever had the same power.

Because the powers they received directly correlated to the fate of the clan.

The Saintess of the last generation had the power to defend. She was able to form a massive barrier over the clan that saved them from countless threats until she died.

The current Saintess had divination, though nobody knew the true level of her ability. Her purpose was to predict the clan's terrifying future and set up an escape path for them, one that was eventually hinged on Damien and made his responsibility.

Thalia was the next Saintess.

But she didn't know about what was happening in the outside world.

She'd come here assuming this appearance of Gehenna would be just like the one she'd witnessed in the past when she was only a child.

How could she know that she couldn't have been more wrong?

Today was the day Thalia truly became the successor for the Gehenna Tribe's Saintess position.

Today was the day she received her unique power.

And today was the day she understood what her role would be for the rest of her life.

A single ability that held so much weight, that was what waited for her within that pantheon.

Along with those who would present it to her.

Thalia took a deep breath.

She was prepared to meet the ancestors. She was actually excited for it.

She'd heard tales about the great heroes of the tribe since she was a baby. She grew up adoring them, and it was because of them that she went into the forest for the first time with the intent of being a hunter.

She couldn't wait to meet those same heroic figures who inspired her life path and continued to inspire her now that she was trying to improve the fundamental techniques of the clan.

However, she couldn't help but wonder...

'...are they there...?'

The people who most recently gave their lives for the clan.

According to the legends about Gehenna, they'd be granted entry for their sacrifice.

The fact that they would be here, resting peacefully, was one of the main things that allowed Thalia to regain her sanity after their passing.

But standing in front of the pantheon where she'd truly find out whether or not she'd ever see them again, Thalia was forced to hesitate.

'Mother...father...'

She couldn't waste time asking if reality would match her expectations.

The only thing she could do was walk up those steps and meet destiny herself.

The pantheon's massive stone doors opened for her automatically as she approached, indicating her belonging here.

And the darkness within, laced with countless powerful auras, assailed her.

'Without cowardice, without weakness...'

She would not remain terrified in front of destiny forever.

She would overcome herself, and in the process, she'd overcome the world.

It was yet another lesson she'd taken from Damien, and right now, it was the reason she could steel herself before the mountainous task ahead.

With that mindset and the will to move forward, Thalia entered the jaws of fate.

Whether what happened inside was considered fortune or misfortune...

Well, only Thalia herself could decide.