Chapter 1: The Withered Star and the Temple of Dead Faith
As I awoke and began my endless walk, the sounds of trees decorated with purple flowers and women laughing somewhere struck my ears. I frowned and looked at this strange atmosphere, a place that felt like it belonged to the gods. Where was this? My attention was drawn to my own clothes, and I noticed they had changed. I was wearing a white dress with floral patterns; on my feet, there were sandals and a vine-like ornament wrapped around my ankle from the sandal.
Who was I? Or what was my name? I didn't know, but I did know this: I was probably a lost soul.
"Have you lost your way, little lady?" I frowned at the sound of a man's voice and looked around. Leaning against a tree, he was gently running his fingers over the strings of a lyre he held, creating a sweet melody. Without looking at me, he showcased his very handsome face in my frame with a smile. I felt uneasy around this man with hair that resembled the sun, and I took a step back.
"Who are you?" In response to my question, he smiled mockingly and said, "Little man." I sized him up from head to toe. Raising his eyebrows, he said sarcastically, "What a polite lady," and slowly walked toward me, closing the distance between us.
"What sort of courtesy would be shown to a gentleman with whom I haven't had the honor of an introduction?" I asked with a playful smile, and he narrowed his eyes, stopping his lyre playing.
"My name is Theodoros," he said, leaving two steps of distance between us. "And yours?" he asked this time.
That was the problem. What was my name?
Any name would have been enough to escape this question. But that wasn't the problem, either. Where was my past? A name should have a meaning. But that name still didn't exist in me. I had forgotten my name. My origin and my past—did I even have a name? I had forgotten. But thankfully, my body hadn't bothered to forget basic needs, like drinking water.
"My name is Eleana," I said, and a kind of smile that suited his face perfectly and that I would want to see for an eternity appeared on his handsome countenance.
"Gift of the sun?" he asked, raising his eyebrows and looking at me with a satisfied, slight smile. His aura and the energy he exuded captivated me. But he suddenly lost that extraordinary effect, leaving me with a man who was nothing more than a man.
"So my name means this," I thought, sealing it in my mind, and I raised my eyebrows knowingly. "Yes?" I said, adding an icy coldness to my voice and interlocking my hands.
He narrowed his eyes slowly, and a slight smirk rose at the corner of his lips.
I was tense and starting to get scared, but I tried in vain not to show it. I frowned and whispered to myself, "It would be good if I found a temple soon..." Would men like this always appear before me?
"Good day," I said, and as I turned my back, I started walking quickly. I sharply rejected the urge to look back, warning myself, "Don't look at that cursed man!"
"Now, start making a list, Eleana: I don't have a home, my name is new, is there a god I should believe in? Well, there must be one!" I said, wrinkling my face at the strange question in my mind. As I exited the forest, I came across a path.
The path led me to the town. A large statue of a man, which overshadowed the houses and buildings of the town, was directly in front of me with its golden color, and I could see it from a distance even though the trees only allowed me to see it from the neck down.
I raised my eyebrows in surprise and started to evaluate my options.
"There must be a temple where I can stay?" I looked around but couldn't see a place that looked like a temple. With a sudden decision, I started walking toward the town with angry steps.
The fire that burned the iron underneath my angry steps was the unknown. The fire that burned my anger was fear. A person who is afraid asks, "Why?" For example, you are a good person, so good that you constantly attend temples and never miss a donation. But when a wrong strategy in the kingdom you are king of renders all your savings worthless, do you have the audacity to demand an account from the representative of wisdom? Or do you lament your own stupidity? No, you'd be ungrateful, we'd be. Was I any different? I could also see myself as being ungrateful.
Now I was wondering if my angry steps were because of my ingratitude... Did I anger God? Or the gods? Or was there a mistake in my birth? I was born, and the angels carrying me fell as if their strength was not enough.
I laughed at the thought. "A fallen angel, huh?" I rolled my eyes. "It's a very sweet approach, but maybe I could be a cast-down angel? Or an angel who was unlucky? Whose else could such a tragedy happen to?" I finished my conversation with myself as I blended in with the crowd.
I glanced at a woman whose blue tunic and gold necklace around her neck caught my eye. With a neat ponytail and slightly bronzed skin, she was humming a song with a smile devoid of arrogance. I pricked up my ears, but the woman had disappeared from sight with her quick steps. I didn't feel the need to turn and look behind me again.
But with a sudden idea, I turned and started running toward the woman, who now appeared as a blue line due to the distance she had covered. "Excuse me!" I sensed that a few people were looking at me. The blue woman hadn't heard my voice, or perhaps she chose to ignore it and not look; she was one of those who didn't turn back.
No matter how fast I ran, it was very difficult to get through the crowd, and I didn't want to lose sight of the woman. The woman was rich, so she must have left a good offering at a temple. I hoped she knew where it was.
When I finally reached the woman, I was out of breath.
"Ma- madam," I said, trying to catch my breath and regulate my breathing.
"Yes?"
I gently raised my head and, trying to be convincing, asked, "May I ask you something? Where is the temple?" The woman's eyebrows rose slightly.
"Whose?" she asked, and this time, I was the one with the blank expression.
"God's?" The woman's brows slightly furrowed.
"My god?" I asked again. How long would this cycle continue?
"Who is the god you believe in?" And yes, we've come to the benefits of the beans, but I had neither beans nor knowledge.
Which god did I believe in, to whom did I surrender myself? Who did I trust, whom did I see as my confidant? From whom did I ask for help? To whom did I pray? How was I going to tell someone my god when I didn't even know who I was? What was I going to talk about with someone? I didn't even know how to introduce myself, and yet my search for a sanctuary had led me to a dead-end street again. I was walking around all the rich gates with a broken key, trying the locks. But when the doors didn't open, I blamed the key.
I thought I could be a juggler with a few words, a few balls, and a string.
I suddenly turned my eyes to the sky to find an excuse. When the dappled sunlight hit my eyes, my lips opened slowly as if they had received the necessary signal, and I said, "The god of the sun..." I thought there must be a god of the sun.
If everything had a god and the sun didn't, I would be very resentful if I were the sun.
"The god Apollo..." The woman, having received the answer she needed, walked past me and pointed to the statue. "His temple is there, I hope you can get the information you need." she said, and she put her hand on my shoulder, squeezing it as a sign of support. "Thank you..." I said, smiling and nodding my head. "I'm glad I could help," she said, turned her back, and continued walking. I was about to start thinking about how to end the conversation. I started walking toward the statue, retracing the path I had run. Actually, I could have figured out that the temple was there or that I didn't necessarily have to ask that woman. But I followed my impulse with the idea that came to me.
I wondered, in my past life, was I someone who gave in to my impulses? Or did those impulses always lead me to treasure? I hoped so because I had an inner voice with a devil's tongue. It was cunning enough to prove to me in a thousand ways that it could be right. And then cowardly enough to blame me.
The fact that trees covered the path to the statue made me nervous about entering the forest. Forests were full of snakes and dangerous unknowns; I could access general knowledge but couldn't see or remember the intricate details.
When a man in a cloak, whose bright golden color dazzled my eyes, walked nobly through the branches, I wondered if he was a priest.
He gently pushed back the hood of his cloak with his fingers, and with his bald head, his ripened face and beard, I concluded he was in his forties.
"Sir?" With my voice sounding unsure, I approached the man who exuded a powerful energy as if he had been blessed by the sun, playing with the hangnail on one hand with the other. When the man raised his eyebrows with a cold expression and looked at me, I took the idea of him being a priest as a reference in my head.
"I was going to ask you to tell me the information needed to enter the temple; I don't want to make the slightest mistake in showing respect for our divine and enlightened god..." I resorted to a honeyed tone. You have to call the snake with a sweet tongue. You have to infiltrate the priest through his weak spot, not with money. And that's how you get the information you need. And it wouldn't be bad to make a friend.
The man's cold expression slowly broke, and a warm smile took its place: "You thought well, my daughter, blessed by the light of the Goddess Athena; earning the respect of the gods is a great honor. It will be to your benefit to show them the necessary attention in the best way possible. I will be happy to accompany you," he said, and with his hand, he gestured for me to go ahead into the forest.
I did as he said and entered. I saw that behind the trees, a large door of vines had been cut. There was no spider web or any other obstacle; for all the devout people, the door was as if it said, "Your god is with you," without even a small obstacle.
As I passed through the area, what greeted me was a temple made of white marble, designed to let the sun, whose god it was, enter completely. It wasn't too big; there were many valuable things surrounding it in the large area: tall spires and Ionic columns.
"This is magnificent!" I said, admiring and examining my surroundings slowly.
"Worthy of Apollo, the god of the sun," the priest said proudly, like an artist examining his work.
So the god's name was Apollo?
"Is God Apollo only the god of the sun?" I asked, afraid of looking foolish but careful not to seem hesitant. The priest surprised me by shaking his head. "He is also the god of art," he said, and I raised my eyebrows in astonishment.
"That's why his temple is truly a work of art," I said, continuing to examine the columns, and I saw the priest, who had gone far ahead, smiling with his hands clasped behind his back. "Aren't you coming?" he asked. I ran to him and caught up. We stood at the entrance of the temple, and I began to examine it in detail as well.
It wasn't too big, but its inner power was very strong; it brought great happiness to the soul and warmed me from within. The priest stepped in front of me and bowed; I did the same, using him as a reference. The torches on either side of the temple's entrance burst into flame.
This magical moment caused me to be speechless. The idea of maybe there being a system in the torches caused my brain to stop in this magical temple, and I immediately disabled the thought.
As I entered, I realized that contrary to how it looked from the outside, it was divided into four sections. Like an illusion, a one-room temple, all the torches lit up in sequence.
"Can I ask you something?" When I turned to the priest, my surprise grew immensely as I saw that the priest wasn't there.
"Where are you?" I raised my voice, but I had to deal with the thought of whether speaking loudly in a temple would be seen as disrespect to its god. What was surprising was that I hadn't heard a single footstep or a sound; the priest had seemingly vanished like the wind.
"At the very least, you could have been considerate enough to tell me you were leaving." I grumbled and started walking around the sections. In one room, there were statues. There were all kinds of statues, from large to small. One statue depicted a man holding the sun in his palms. The statues were masterfully crafted, with attention paid to the smallest details.
The urge to touch them influenced my impulses, but I didn't think I would want to touch a statue. Taking a risk wasn't really my thing.
The statues were generally depicted as a young man with curly hair. After a while, I left the room and entered another. In this room, there was a lyre on a marble surface. The lyre was shining like gold. When a writing under the marble caught my eye, I bent down and examined the inscription.
I was lucky that my amnesia didn't touch basic information; otherwise, I would have been no different from a newborn baby. This basic information also didn't affect my ability to read.
"A gift from the brother god Hermes."
Since it was a work in the temple of Apollo, this lyre must be one of the unique things that symbolize him.
Who was this God Hermes?
I had to make a great effort to pull my eyes away from the lyre. It dazzled my eyes and could focus my attention on itself. My hands, which were going crazy to touch it, were itching madly. The urge to touch it seemed to have sworn to become my main impulse. My hand slowly rose and was about to touch the lyre when my consciousness awakened, and I quickly lowered my hand.
"Don't be ridiculous, Eleana, let a god's curse complete the set!" I scolded myself and left the room. The third room was locked, and I didn't dwell on it. Just as I was about to head to the doorless room directly opposite me, I heard footsteps and looked around. I concluded that there was no one and was about to continue walking when the fire of the torch hanging on the wall next to me tilted to the side, and a quick gust of wind passed by me. I tensed up and looked around.
"Nothing, just a gust of wind," I tried to reassure myself and was about to continue walking when I felt a sudden sensation. I quickly grabbed the torch from the wall and turned around.
"Get your guard up!" When I turned around and saw the priest, my eyes widened in embarrassment.
"Do you still prefer to get your guard up?" he said, and the ground didn't split open, but my embarrassment wouldn't go underground either. "You'll have to settle for being a tomato, my dear Eleana," I thought, and my face felt hot as if it had turned into a beet.
But what was I supposed to do? The man was like a cloud, here one moment and gone the next. But since he was a priest, I couldn't attract a priest's wrath.
"You suddenly left, and I heard a footstep," I started to explain myself. The priest held out his hand, showing he wanted the torch, and I gave it to him. As he put the torch back in its place, he began to speak. "For you to think that the house of God is special only to you is very," he said, raising his eyebrows. "Absurd." And yes, I hope my quota for the first day's mistakes never fills up because it seemed like I was going to stumble a lot in this "never" paradox.
"Can I ask you something?" I asked timidly.
"I don't have a place to stay; how can I find one?" I asked, and the priest's calm gaze became thoughtful. I had come here thinking of staying in this temple, but if I tried to take refuge in a room here, there were valuable artifacts. There was no room for me.
"If you become a priestess of the Goddess Hera, they might offer you a home," he said, and a heartfelt smile appeared on my face.
"How can I get there?"
"Peacockia is on another island," the priest, seeing the change in my gaze, gave me a look that seemed to say, "You didn't have that, either."
"Look, Father, I'm nothing more than a woman who lost all her memory a few hours ago." I started to explain without thinking much, assuming that if I explained my situation, he would lend me a helping hand.
"I don't remember my past, nor do I know if this white dress I'm wearing has any meaning. All I know is that a few hours ago, I was walking on a road, but I don't know the before. And I can't remember who I am besides being a devout person, and I am afraid of turning from a saint in the presence of the gods to a street woman." I played my last card and gently knelt. I continued without losing my momentum, seeing the priest's gaze change and showing that I was getting what I wanted. I clasped my hands in a pleading gesture.
"I beg of you in the presence of God Apollo to help me." I started to lower my head to the ground when I felt a hand on my chin and realized it was the priest.
"I will only show you the way to become a priestess of the Goddess Hera. My wife and I can be your hosts this evening. For you to go to that island tomorrow, I will ask a friend; I'm sure he will reserve a place for you on his ship. When you get to the temple, the rest is up to you because you will have a priestess to convince. I wouldn't overlook a devout, faithful woman anyway; I don't think my god would be pleased with that," he said, and when he smiled slightly, I smiled with happiness and slowly stood up.
"Thank you, sir," I said, nodding my head. The priest gently raised his hands parallel to me. "May the light of God be upon you," he said, and my heart warmed.
We walked to the priest's house toward evening. His house was not too big, but not small either. It was a two-story house. It was white. It was far from the temple. The priest knocked on the door three times, and a black-haired woman in a white tunic opened it. The middle-aged woman had wavy black hair that reached her waist, and she was holding a baby in one arm.
I had assumed she was his wife but couldn't help but wonder her age because of her natural, serene beauty. The woman's pleasant gaze turned to her husband. "Welcome, my love," she said in her velvety voice. Then, when her gaze turned to me, she raised her eyebrows. "We have a guest, I see," she said. I had expected her gaze to change; after all, there was no rule that everyone had to want a guest in their home. But the woman's satisfied gaze also fell on me.
"My dear girl, would you grace us with your name?" she whispered, raising her eyebrows, and the corner of her mouth lifted slightly.
"Eleana..." I made a short introduction.
"We would be happy to be your hosts, wouldn't we, my love?" she said, gently directing her gaze. I turned my gaze to the priest next to me. He nodded in approval and gently passed his wife to go inside. His wife motioned me inside with her hand. "Please, come in," she said. I nodded my head and whispered, "Thank you..." As I went inside, I heard her whisper something behind me.
"Welcome, Eleana. May your destiny be full."
