Chapter 277 - 270. The Arms Master
While Zein managed to avoid attention before, he couldn’t afford to do that now when he walked in the middle of the current Saintess and the future Saintess. Not to mention, one of the Templars was guiding them.
But Zein probably would never have known that the main reason for people’s surprise and wondering gaze would be the white rabbit snuggling in his arms, the one Elena called Cloudy. Unbeknownst to Zein, the rabbit was the dweller of the Sky Garden; the space in which the altar for the Goddess and the fragment of Setnath was in.
And the rabbit would never get cozy with anyone other than the Chosen Ones.
While being oblivious to this, they climbed up the tree using the elevator and arrived at the main hall of the peak sanctuary. From there, they used the stairs to reach the Sky Garden near the highest point of the tree. The Templar stopped before the entrance of the garden; that was as far as he could go. But the Saintess and Elena came with Zein.
How there could be a garden on a tree, Zein had no idea. But it was inside a building that almost looked like a greenhouse with the plants all over the room and crawling through the wall all the way to the roof. The rabbit’s ears twitched once they stepped into the garden and it jumped off Zein’s chest, running into a pair of twin cats.
Zein realized that it wasn’t just a garden for plants. There were also animals; mostly the small ones, but there were also birds, and Zein was sure there was a falcon watching them from the pedestal near the roof.
The garden itself seemed to have three different layers. The outer one was where the plants seemed to make a fence, with shrubs and flower beds where the animals liked to gather. The second layer was a spread of fresh green grass and flowers that made one feel like traveling barefoot and having a picnic under the sunlight coming through the crystal roof.
And finally, at the end of the garden was a tree; a small one, and inside the crook of the tree, was the shimmering fragment of Setnath.
Beneath the tree was something that looked like an exquisitely carved table; the altar. And standing near the altar was the Medium with glowing eyes--the Goddess. The Saintess and her successor bowed toward the Goddess, before taking a step back.
"This is as far as Elena could go," the Saintess said, holding into the young girl’s hand, who waved at Zein with a wide, cheery smile. Zein watched the two turn back to walk toward the gathering of the small animals and birds, before he himself took a step forward.
The moment his feet touched the grassy field, Zein could feel some kind of invisible barrier as his body passed through; a little strain of a force field. Perhaps that was what made the young girl couldn’t go over. But he walked easily through the small meadow and into the territory of the tree bearing the fragment.