Mila, who is still crying and trembling, replies: "How can I do it?, I am not as talented as Emma, I do not have as many resources as the others, I am not as smart as them nor…"
The timeless voice sighs heavily Sigh and replies harshly: "How much longer will you keep looking for excuses Mila!, will you keep making excuses your entire life because you did not have what others have!, will you keep blaming life and destiny for your own incapacity!, do you really believe that everything is the fault of something external and not yours!?"
Mila remains silent… she does not answer, even if she denies it, even if she tries to convince herself, she knows it… she knows that everything is just an attempt to deny her own responsibility for her weakness.
The voice does not wait for an answer, but continues: "Mila Schmidt, why do you think you were chosen to be a priestess?, having or not having an inherited artifact does not make you better, the fact that destiny favored you at the beginning does not make you reach the peak all at once, what you need is already with you, you have something that others do not have, and you only must… use it."
Mila calms down a little and asks with a sad voice: "What is it that I must do?, what is it that I have that others do not have?"
The voice, in a calm tone, tells her: "What kind of question is that?, you already know what it is… if you want power you only have to take it, after all you already have it in your hands don't you?"
Mila, surprised and confused, looks at her hands and realizes that she does not know when it happened nor how, but she had been holding all this time a medallion… a medallion that she knows very well, because it is the same one that was given to her when she became a priestess, the same one with which she connected with Molly…
But she notices something different, there is a slight glow in the three energetic gems of this medallion, each one shines with its own rhythm as if calling her, inviting her and guiding her towards something more…
All of this had happened in just a few minutes, the snake has already arrived and using its large body it completely blocks the area, Mila, who was already completely trapped, realizes that this is to prevent anyone from rescuing her again.
Knowing that she has no other option, she simply stores Molly inside her medallion and then inserts her energy into her medallion…
When Mila's energy touches the medallion, it runs through all its intricate inscription lines, lighting up with three lights of different colors, one emerald, one amethyst, another topaz.
Then the voice sounds again for a moment: "Yes, that is how it should be…"
The snake, which sees this light instinctively and with devastating fury, lunges towards Mila to devour her alive with its enormous and grotesque mouth.
But soon an incredible pressure settles over the area and… everything stops, from the birds flying in the skies to the blades of grass moved by the wind, the whispers of the forest and the sounds of insects, the snake remains paralyzed and suspended in the air, about to attack just mere centimeters away from Mila.
And from the sky a pair of enormous eyes appear, eyes incredibly unique and beautiful, a dragon pupil black as shadow that divides an iris into two halves, one emerald and the other amethyst.
On the very edges of the iris there are clearly visible and mysterious golden symbols, which can be clearly seen to be numbers, and from the iris emerge two hands like those of a clock that move pointing at the numbers.
And when the light is strong enough it forcibly pulls Mila's mind into its interior…
…
Inside, Mila sees darkness, mist and shadows, Mila walks, walks and walks searching for something, her mind is confused, her mind is filled with fog, she is not able to think clearly.
No, she cannot even properly remember who she is or why she came here, when she has walked for a long time, finally something appears before her eyes and she approaches it, the moment she does so the panorama changes completely, now an intense light illuminates everything, she can see that it is a desert because of the shining sand, and although the mist remains, everything seems to have changed.
In the process of doing so she comes across fragments of walls, collapsed columns, pieces of bricks and stone blocks scattered across the ground, she also sees a path eroded by the incessant passage of time.
This place is ancient, old and mysterious, but strangely familiar, she believes she has seen it somewhere, but she does not know where, why can she not remember?, it is almost like one of her childhood dreams.
It does not matter, she shakes her head and enters the ruins, while doing so she sees skeletons in armor, humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, all the mortal races dead with their precious artifacts still on their bodies or near them, with different wounds, some have holes in their skulls, others have their entire rib cage in pieces.
It is obvious that a battle had occurred here, a very violent and fierce one, because even those artifacts she saw are shattered, from destroyed swords, armor, shields and impressive weapons of war, she could even see the corpses of the opposing side which are…
Minotaurs, ogres, trolls, fauns, cyclopes, nagas, lamias, harpies and centaurs, among many other types of monsters, their corpses are not precisely in better condition than those of the mortal races.
She stops to look at them for a moment and then continues advancing into the ruins.
When she can finally see the central part of the ruins, her heart beats uncontrollably, because of what she is seeing, in the center of these ruins there is a temple, an enormous and incredibly imposing temple, although collapsed by the passage of time and the battle that took place at its time.
The temple has large columns carved from an energetic stone she does not recognize, its imposing walls with a thickness of about 70 centimeters have been pierced, and the incredible yet majestic pair of doors has two dragons… one western and one eastern.
Above the door there is a symbol that makes everything clear… the symbol of the two dragons chasing each other, and on the sides of the door, although partially destroyed, the statues of those same two dragons can be seen.
For her it is obvious… this is a temple of the emerald-golden dragon god, without thinking too much, Mila walks until she reaches the door and although she could enter through one of the holes, Mila pushes the door with all her strength.
Slowly and with great difficulty the door opens little by little, letting out a creaking sound of a door that has not been opened for decades, perhaps for centuries or millennia.
The light penetrates illuminating the interior and it is almost as she imagined it, destroyed benches with corpses all around, some do not even have armor, showing that not all were combatants.
Mila enters and sets her gaze on what interests her… the giant statue that shows the two forms of her lord, and on the altar that was at the front, on that altar there is a kind of clear and transparent orb held by a base decorated with a large number of energetic gems and refined precious energetic metals.
Mila walks toward that orb, but stops for a few moments upon noticing several symbols on the dead…
In addition to the obvious symbols of the dragon order, the order of space and the order of time, all from the temple of her lord, she can see others, many that she does not recognize, but the ones she does recognize freeze her…
Because one is the symbol of the church of origin, the arch-enemy of the current temple of the emerald-golden dragon god, also the symbol of the temple of the god of curses, and the last one is one she knows very well, that makes her heart tremble even today at night and the source of her nightmares… the symbol of the savage blood legion, the same force of monsters that killed her parents and took everything from her except her sisters and brothers…
Trembling, she resumes her path, but she notices something strange as she does so, several of the corpses of the defenders of the 14 mortal races were side by side with those of some others such as lizard men and beasts, it would not be so strange since they are a race of the monster clan, but, these are wearing temple clothes.
Ignoring that detail and focusing on what is important, she continues her path until she reaches the altar, when she touches the beautiful sphere then everything spins around her all at once, and although she feels a little dizzy she does not withdraw her hand, she only closes her eyes tightly.
…
When she opens them she sees that everything has once again changed, now she is in the corridor of a magnificent palace in front of an incredibly imposing and majestic door, Mila hesitates for a moment, but she touches it and gently pushes.
And the door opens calmly revealing a hall even more majestic than the previous door, very spacious and with very tall pillars, but what caught her attention are not those trivial details, but what is at the end of the hall…
No, rather, who is at the end of the hall, a person sitting on an elegant and imposing throne but not overly luxurious, it is a man who has emerald hair, his skin is white and fine, with features that make him incredibly beautiful yet powerful, just his bearing alone makes you want to adore him, and he is resting his head on his hand looking as if he were bored.
Mila then remains still without knowing what to do and the person opens his mouth, but not his eyes: "Did you come just to observe me only? or are you going to come for what you desire?"
Mila freezes because the voice she heard… is the same as that mysterious voice.