Solar Mage

Chapter 12: Stigma

She continued to cry in my arms for a long time.

You can cry for as long as you want, no one should have gone through as much trauma as you have.

Eventually, she stopped crying and wiped her tears off.

When she opens her eyes she immediately pushes herself away from me and bows down.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I've shown you another disgraceful side to me and ruined your clothes!"

I look down at my shirt and see that it's completely wet, soaked in tears.

Wow, what an amazing amount of tears.

I look back at her and see her sad face once again.

"Arthur, I really want to help you and be with you but... I think I still need time to recover..."

Her eyes stray from me.

"I know this is a selfish request of mine, but I really like you, can't you just stay here with me? I can grant you any wish!

She glances back, with eyes full of hope and anticipation, to see my response. But her face darkens once again as she sees mine.

"I'm sorry Pyro, but I have a duty to fulfill. I must protect the world from Arcanus. It is the burden I must carry because of this knowledge imparted onto me when I became Luke Wolkan's successor. I cannot afford to sit back and watch as Arcanus rampages across the world again, this time without anyone to stop him. It is regretful that you cannot accompany me, but if I must walk this path alone, then so be it."

I walk up to Pyro and see her frowning face not making eye contact with me.

I'm sorry for hurting you right after you've just begun to recover but I cannot waste any more time here. I don't know when Arcanus will be unsealed so I must quickly get stronger.

"Send me back."

I say as I close my eyes and brace myself to depart back to my body in the mortal world.

Sigh, what am I going to do? Without Pyro's help I won't be able to cleanse the church and release my father. Should I turn to black magic-"

Out of nowhere, I feel something warm and soft press against my lips.

I immediately opened my eyes to figure out the situation.

"Badump"

I feel my heart beating quicker than it has during my most intense training.

I see Pyro's gorgeous face with her eyes closed extremely close to mine and our lips touching as we kiss.

W-what's happening? Is this what a kiss is? It feels so... so...

I am stunned from shock as we kiss and after she pulls away.

"Hehe, that was my first kiss, you're such a womanizer Arthur."

She says as she holds her head while she daydreams.

When she opens her eyes, she changes her attitude after she sees me, still too shocked to move.

"Ahem, I didn't just kiss you because I wanted to, if what you said about my church is true then for them to consider you as my Apostle, then me leaving my mark on you is more than enough. When you get back to the mortal world, take a look at your left eye, it holds the power of discerning truth from lies."

I smile at her warmly.

"Thank you Pyro, truly."

I bow to her.

"W-whatever, just make sure you don't die, and you better come visit me often! Not that I would be lonely without you or anything..."

"Of course, I am in great debt to you, that's the least I could do."

Pyro quietly mutters, though hoping for Arthur to hear.

"And you better not get yourself another woman."

But Arthur was too lost in his thoughts.

Yes! With this, I will be able to save my dad!

He is calm shows visible confusion

"???" "Did you say something Pyro?"

Pyro is flushed red but also shows disappointment

"O-oh, you didn't hear me? Nevermind..."

"I-I'll send you back now I guess, time should pass 10 times slower for you in this realm than the mortal world so not too much time should have passed."

She begins to chant as white particles start emitting around my body.

She waved me goodbye as my body started becoming transparent as it fades away.

Just before I get teleported, I move up to her and kiss her on the cheek.

The last thing I see in the Realm of Flames is Pyro's surprised face. A second later, I am transported back to my body in the Mortal Realm.

Inside the circle of prayer, Arthur opens his Eyes of Truth for the first time.

Ugh how much time has passed?

I take a look at the Solar Clock that determines time based on the position of the sun.

Twenty minutes have passed which means I was in the Realm of Flames for two hundred minutes, which means Pyro was crying on me for 180 minutes...

I walk up to a reflective piece of glass and take a look at my eyes. My right eye was normal brown, the same color as it had always been, but my left eye was still the same color, but now had an orange sun, the Symbol of Pyro engraved onto it.

... this is really flashy, is there any way to get rid of it?

I tried to focus all of my concentration onto my left eye and pictured it without the orange sun on it and it returned back to normal.

I checked myself out once again and decided that it looked natural enough and decided to leave.

When I walk out the Room of Prayers that the circle of Prayer is in. I notice that wherever I go, there are no guards or priests around.

What's that loud noise coming from the outside?

I walk out and to my amazement, I see a giant crowd of people outside, commoners, nobles, holy knights, and priests alike. They are all staring upwards, at the top of the Temple.

When I looked backwards, I saw the majestic symbol of the sun radiating brilliant light, just like the myths had said.

Then the light starts to dim and someone in the crowd cuts the silence with their shout.

"LOOK, THE LIGHT IS DISSIPATING AND SOMEONE'S EXITING THE TEMPLE!!!"

I turn around and now see everyone staring at me.

The crowd shouts in unison.

"IT'S THE APOSTLE"

"ANOTHER APOSTLE HAS FINALLY SHOWN UP AFTER THREE HUNDRED YEARS!"

"FIND OUT WHO HE IS"

Then the crowd starts charging at me while the Holy Knights try but fail to repel the crowd.

A man wearing priest clothing grabs my arm and pulls me back into the temple.

"Quickly, follow me great Apostle, we must get away from this crowd!"

After we get into the temple we continue to run as the crowd continues to chase after us.

We continued to run until we reached a room with a heavily decorated door and no longer heard the crowd running behind us.

"Grand Councilroom"

It read on the sign next to the door.

The priest knocked on the door.

"Knock, knock. Cardinals, it's me, Jacob I've brought Arthur Ventrike."

A low voice from behind the door groans.

"Come in."

Jacob opens the door and a grand room is revealed.

Woah, this room is giant and the whole room is furnished with gold. There are ten seats total around an oval table decorated with gold but half of the seats are empty. The high priest sits at the head of the table and looks extremely young for his position; around thirty years old must be a figurehead. One of the cardinals present is an old, fat and short man and the other two cardinals present look exactly alike and wear masks that conceal their face. The other person at the other head of the table looks old but wears holy knight armor, likely the leader of the Holy Knights.

I grit my teeth before I speak.

"Greetings, esteemed leaders of the Church."

A cardinal that is fat, short, and bald who reminds me of a pig speaks in a serious tone.

"Forget the formalities, there is only one reason why you're here, it must be to save your father. But you're too late. I'm sure you know of it as well, the appearance of the Apostle, so we no longer need a talent like you."

Priest Jacob tries to say something.

"Um, Cardinal Agon-"

"Be quiet! Do not interrupt me while I'm speaking! Now, as I was saying, we have no need for you anymore. We won't be switching sides not that we would have in the first place and we will give Count Loran the highest punishment. What is talent to a god? Now leave before you are escorted out, this is a joyous day, it would be terrible for it to be ruined by... Ventrike.