Meeting back up with Lin outside the tower, the group had begun to leave the area. As always, Lin took the driver's seat with Ode and Thames inside the carriage.
"So, what are we doing now?"
Thames asked while setting the book about deities on his lap.
"On our way to Lino! Got nothin' to do for now...!"
Ode sat back after answering his question.
Gradually, the fantastical scene of flower trees began to vanish as they distanced themselves from the Flowery Tower. He thought back to the long boring trip that they were going back on, then read the title of the book.
'Deities, written by Juni Summers'
So, he wrote this?
Opening it, he had begun to read in order to pass the time of the trip. Ode had, at some point, begun to snore loudly.
Day had turned to night, and their surroundings had turned to barren land, the Dry Flatlands, by the time Thames finished half the book.
Feeling somewhat satisfied, he closed the book and began to collect his thoughts.
He had learned that, like Ode told him, most magicians were under similar deities. The major deities like Trem, Tenis, Juno, and Pluton were considered that because they had churches within major cities.
Lino probably had a church dedicated to each of them. A particular detail he hadn't known, however, was that Tenis and Pluton were relatively new deities according to the Tower Association.
Pluton, the God of Space, was a welcomed deity as he represented the progress of mortals and science, but Tenis, the God of Wealth, was a relatively sore sight to the association.
It was due to most of his followers, and his existence, being a testament to greed, which also caused most magicians publicly following him facing harassment in the towers.
Juno was, as stated by the book, a well-established deity. Due to their domain being 'Subjective Joy', they had remained prevalent through the turning of ages.
Trem was an outlier, but more similar to Juno than the first two. She and her believers had repeatedly adapted to the growth of art and accepted it, allowing her church to mostly flourish.
There were other major deities, but these four were the most popular currently.
This doesn't seem too confusing... I should've gotten a book on Trem before we left.
He briefly reprimanded himself, then continued to think back on the book.
Lesser-known deities were considered a category and weren't listed in the book, but it briefly described them as deities with less than a city worth of followers.
There wasn't anything on the deities Juni told me about... But that's probably in the next half.
Setting the book down next to him, Thames allowed the river of sleep to quickly take him like a raging rapid.
His nose twitched as the scent of salt water hung in the air... His eyes slowly fluttered opened, realizing that their path wasn't meant to pass by the sea.
Where... Am I...?
He questioned inwardly as he finally opened his eyes, a sea of countless white doves flying up swiftly, departing white feathers onto him.
Scattering in all different directions, they painted the black abyss that appeared to be the sky.
In awe of this fantastical scene, he continued to watch the dark sky, propping himself up with his hands, feeling the sandy ground.
A sea...?
He found himself quickly coming to a conclusion due to the sand and the saltwater smell.
Once all the doves had vanished from his sight he got up, looking around.
Contrary to what he assumed, there was only sand under the blank sky for as far as he could see, and there was absolutely no sea, despite the smell.
As he bent down to pick up a lost feather, he noticed something twinkle in the sky. Something bright but forgotten by most men.
A star was shining down.
It was a single small star, but in the dark sky it shined brighter than anything he had ever seen.
Shoving the feather into his right pocket, he began to walk in the direction of the star. A sense of familiarity hung in his heart as he continued to watch it.
With each step he took he found himself sinking further into the sand, but he didn't seem to notice, hellbent on reaching this guiding star.
Finally, Thames was directly below this star, but the sand was now up to his waist.
Huh?!?
He was obviously confused as he snapped back to reality, or this dream, and realized that the sand had begun to swallow him up.
He began to squirm, attempting to get up, but it only caused him to sink further. Feeling bested, he simply let the sand take him.
Looking back up one last time at the sky, he noticed that it had returned to being a black abyss.
The star had vanished.
And just like that, he had been swallowed up completely by the sands of his dream.
Thames slowly awakened, back inside the carriage with Ode in front of him.
"How long was I asleep...?"
His throat was dry as if he had been eating sand.
"Half a day at least!"
Half a day?? Should I be worried?
Growing anxious, he reached into his right pocket and felt something like a feather.
Huh? I guess it isn't new for something from my dreams to be with me...
Taken aback, he focused on the outside to forget his dream.
They were just now arriving at Lino, the trip this time was clearly faster than the last one. In contrast to the last time they arrived at Lino, there was little to no traffic, allowing them to smoothly enter the capital city of Werone.
The market was scarce and had much less tents than the last time he visited with Lin, but of course he couldn't see the full scope of it since they were only passing it.
Eventually, they stopped back in front of Ode's house, departing from the carriage. Lin quickly vanished upstairs, likely exhausted from the journey, but Ode had remained with Thames near the entrance.
"Here Thames!" He yelled while tossing him a ring.
Catching it, Thames examined it carefully. It was gold band with a star pattern etched along it. Inside it were characters that he recognized faintly as runes.
"What is it?"
"An artifact! It'll let me know where you're at!"
Noticing Thames' confusion, he quickly elaborated.
"Artifacts are items with a deities spell! Magical items basically." He gave a grand thumbs up as Thames slipped the ring on.
"Do I have to do anything?"
"Well... If ya get into trouble just take it off! I'll be able to sense it, so I'll be there in a split!"
Thames nodded, understanding what he meant.
"Do we have to do anything today?"
"Nope! So, if ya wanna explore Lino ya can!"
With that, Ode turned into the house and went upstairs as well, leaving Thames outside.
I have some money from Ode still... Guess I'll go find something to eat.
Quickly setting the book by Juni on a table in the living room, he leaves again, making his way up the street.
He hadn't been up this way before, but most the buildings were practically identical in style to Ode's.
Eventually, he turned onto a different road, which he quickly gathered was a commercial road.
There were groups of people traveling in different directions, most carrying some form of shopping bags, and all wearing fashionable clothes.
The clothes were a dead giveaway for their status as people in Lino with extra money focused on their appearance.
With his stomach grumbling, the sweet scent of dessert flowed into his nose. Turning quickly towards the direction, he noticed a stand selling fried batter dusted in sugar. Funnel cake.
It was a new fad in various cities, but thanks to this he was decently familiar with it.
Better than nothing...
He shrugged and went up to the stand.
"Just one please."
"Coming right up!"
The woman dressed in plain clothes and a white apron quickly replied while beginning to fry the batter.
Thames' lips started to salivate as she dusted the dessert then handed it towards him as he handed her four copper dollars.
"Thanks for your business!"
She said quickly while focusing her attention to new customers.
Feeling content, he began to walk back up the commercial street, occasionally tearing off pieces and shoving them into his mouth.
He occasionally directed his attention into the various shops but refused to enter thanks to the growing amount of powdered sugar on his clothes.
Reaching into his pocket, mistakenly imagining that he took napkins, he accidentally drops the dove feather.
At the same time, the wind blows wildly, carrying the feather far in front of him.
Shoot!
He silently cursed to himself as he started to jog lightly towards the feather. Eventually, the wind stops and the feather floats gently onto the ground.
As Thames reached down to collect the feather, he noticed a familiar looking person in the distance, intermingling with the various crowds.
Shoving it back into his pocket, he looked towards the person but realizes that he's quickly walking away.
I swear that looks like someone I know...
Approaching them slowly, completely forgotten about the mess of powdered sugar by now, he notices the person again.
With slicked back jet black hair and silver jewelry covering his blueish skin and wearing a finely tailored black suit despite the weather, Thames realized who it was.
The Tower Association's most wanted, Renny Syn.
What's he doing here?!?