Jadis was woken early the next day by the insistent prodding of Soteria’s staff at her side. The act was made all the more unnecessary considering her Dys self was fully awake and aware and had even greeted the old Dryad. She poked Jay anyway, and Syd for good measure.

The old Dryad wanted to speak with her, and her alone. Giving Meli a kiss, Jadis promised her lover that she wouldn’t be long and left her to the attention of her mother and sister, who were already waiting out in one of the nearby open clearings. Jadis hoped that her advice from the previous night would help mend Meli’s relationship with her father, even if just a little, but she didn’t put too much worry into the thought. At least her mother and sister were showing that they wanted to connect with Meli again, and that was a wonderful sight to see.

At Soteria’s request, Jadis had donned her armor and followed the ancient caretaker out of the grove and into the forest to the east. As they walked, they started a conversation about Jadis’ life, which soon turned to Soteria’s long history and her involvement with the Nephilim nation of Asteria.

“They did not have royalty,” the wizened old woman explained as she trod along the side of a babbling brook. “Asteria was a theocracy, I believe is the word. A leader would be chosen from among the priesthood, usually a saint, and they would sit in judgement and guide the nation with the backing of Lyssandria’s will.”

“Huh. I wouldn’t have thought Lyssandria would involve herself so actively with the mortal plane,” Jay commented as she kept her pace slow to match with the much smaller avatar. “Seems like it would go against the Covenant.”

“She did not intervene as regularly as you might be thinking. Just imagine a conclave of priests rather than senators, and you will have a good idea of what it was like.”

Jadis wasn’t sure she liked that idea. Then again, all the priests and priestesses she had met on Oros had been almost universally kind and good-hearted. She certainly wouldn’t mind someone like Aurea or Vita sitting in a position of power. Sholto, the high priest of D… maybe not.

“It’s still hard to imagine an entire nation of Nephilim,” Dys shook her head as she walked on Soteria’s other side. “I can’t even picture that with the avatar races we have around today.”

“I do not think you have the right vision in your large trio of heads, sapling,” Soteria laughed. “Yes, Asteria was the home of the Nephilim, but they were still in the minority. Most of the people who lived here in those days were mixes of the other races, with liberal helpings of Nephilim in their ancestry.”

“You mean like half-human, half-Nephilim hybrids?” Jay asked.

“Indeed,” the woman laughed again, causing her willow fronds to waggle. “We avatars do not breed so quickly or so numerously as our more short-lived counterparts, but the Nephilim were like rabbits in spring. They overcame the odds through sheer sexual fervor.”

Jadis let out a chorus of amused guffaws at the elder’s words. While she couldn’t imagine having a conversation like this with either of her own grandmothers, Meli’s grandmother was easy to talk to, and too irreverent for Jadis to feel uncomfortable discussing crude or sensitive topics around.

“You know, I had a few Nephilim lovers myself, back when I had the back for it,” Soteria mused. “Before I met my Ariston. He was a good man, and I would never change our lives together. But those Nephilim boys… they knew how to make your roots curl!”

“Oh, my gods…” Dys put a hand over her face in barely restrained embarrassment. “Too much information!”

“I’m not surprised Meli fell for you,” the old Dryad pressed on. “Clearly, a love of Nephilim honey runs in the family.”

“Soteria!”

The ancient caretaker cackled at the chorused exclamation, and Jadis couldn’t help but laugh as well. As the laughter died down, Jay took a moment to look around them. While they hadn’t gone all that far yet from the grove, they were past easy sight of the grove’s trees or the rotted lands, thanks to the thick foliage surrounding them.

“Where are we going, anyway?”

“To that mountain, there,” Soteria pointed with the head of her staff. “About halfway up.”

“There!?” Syd exclaimed from behind the wizened woman. “At this pace, it’ll take weeks to go that far!”

“What? You don’t like spending time with me?” Soteria pouted. “I thought we were getting along fairly well.”

“Actually, I think you’re possibly my favorite in-law,” Syd admitted. “You have the best sense of humor.”

“But please for the love of D don’t say that to anyone else,” Dys said seriously. “The last thing I want is to stir up trouble with my other in-laws. Anyway, I don’t have weeks to walk with you. I was supposed to fly back to Thracina today. We’ve got a lot going on right now.”

“Such a busy life you lead,” the Dryad grumbled. “I would ordinarily tell a sapling like you to slow down and enjoy the sun on your leaves, but there are other considerations at work. Bring out those wings of yours and take us forth, Jadis. That mountain, midway up.”

With Soteria’s permission given, Jay scooped the practically primeval grandparent into her arms and cast her Succubus Wings spell. Taking to the air, Jadis sped off to the east, to the mountain Soteria had indicated. She didn’t go at top speeds, since she didn’t want to risk harming the old Dryad, but even flying at a reduced pace put them at the foot of the mountain in no time at all. At Soteria’s direction, Jadis landed along a ridge that was around half-way up the mountain and set the Dryad down.

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Ahead of them, hidden between two outcroppings of weathered stone, was the entrance to a passage lined with twisting roots and crawling vines. Just inside the passageway were walls carved by hands, not time, and etchings that looked millennia old could be seen under the foliage. Jadis followed behind Soteria, curious about where the woman was leading her, but didn’t voice her questions. There was something both ancient and somber about the dimly lit passage, and Jadis felt as though speaking would be somehow disrespectful.

It wasn’t until all three of Jadis had fully entered the tunnel that she realized that the ceiling height was suited to someone of her prodigious size, not people who were smaller.

“Ah, here we are,” Soteria’s voice echoed in the dimly lit tunnel. “It’s been a long time.”

Jadis gasped as she walked into the sudden light of a large, round chamber. Far overhead, the boughs of ancient trees swayed in the mountain winds, and water trickled down pale and craggy stone. The floor of the chamber was perfectly round and had been carved with countless ancient glyphs, some of which Jadis recognized from the enchantments that Sabina so frequently made use of, while others were wholly unknown to her. A few scattered leaves and twisting roots had covered the smooth stone surface, but the perfect gem of eleria the size of a wagon wheel that was inset in the middle of the floor was uncovered and without flaw. The walls of the chamber were covered in lifelike carvings of men and women wearing armor. Their arms were held up before them, like they were meant to be holding things, yet their hands were empty. Between the statues were stone thrones, carved from the rock of the mountain itself. Each was covered in more runes and inscriptions, inlaid with unblemished gold. All were vacant, except for one which rested exactly opposite the entryway that Jadis and Soteria had come through.

A man sat in the throne, eyes closed and head bowed. His skin was marble white and his hair was as pale as fresh snow. He was naked, revealing his chiseled muscles and perfect proportions. The only blemish on his body were the wisps of tree roots and lichen that had begun to grow over his feet and legs. He was achingly handsome, perhaps the most handsome man Jadis had ever seen, and she couldn’t help the way her eyes instinctively roved across his exposed body.

Of course, the man wasn’t alive. He was completely still, his chest unmoving as stone. It was a statue. But… what a statue it was. Jadis had seen depictions of Nephilim in Lyssandria’s temple before, but none could even hold a candle to the work of art that this sculpture represented. Whoever had crafted the man had been a true genius.

Blinking away her moment of surprised distraction, Jadis opened her mouths to ask Soteria where they were and what this was all about, then felt the breath rush out of her in shocked and noiseless exhalation. The statue of the beautiful man had moved.

Slowly, yet smoothly, the Nephilim statue lifted his head. Jadis watched with mesmerized fascination as he opened his eyes, revealing irises that shone with the same golden luster as the inlaid runes of the thrones. Jadis couldn’t help but take a step back with all three of her selves when the man rose to his feet, revealing that he stood at almost exactly the same height as her. With calm and measured steps, the stone Nephilim approached Jadis, stopping only when he was an arm’s reach away.

“Welcome, young Nephilim,” the man’s voice was deep and rich, yet oddly inflectionless. “I have dreamt of this day for quite a long time.”

Jadis knew she was gaping at the man like a fish out of water, but in the moment, she really wasn’t sure what to say.

“And what am I, a weed? Is this any way to treat an old friend?”

Whatever spell had been cast over her was broken by Soteria’s words. Jadis stepped back, putting some distance between her selves and the Nephilim man. While Dys’ gaze went to the Dryad, and Syd scanned the room to make sure no more surprises were about to jump out at her, Jay focused her full attention on the Nephilim.

No, not Nephilim, Jadis quickly deduced. There were no Nephilim left in the world, not before her rebirth. This man was—

“Good morning, Caretaker Soteria,” the man said politely, yet with that same inflectionless tone. “I pray to Metethys you are doing well.”

“You’re a Golem!” Jay exclaimed.

“I am a Golem,” the man confirmed after he had turned his golden eyes back onto her. “My name is Techne. May I have your name?”

“Jadis,” Jay responded, still struggling to get her wits wrangled back into some semblance of order. “What—no, who are you? What is this? I don’t understand what’s going on at all right now, and to be perfectly blunt, I’m a little freaked out.”

Techne stared at her for a moment, then turned to look down at Soteria.

“Did you tell her nothing of who I am before bringing her here?”

“Of course I didn’t,” the old Dryad snorted dismissively. “Why ruin a good surprise?”

“For fuck’s sake, Soteria,” Dys stared at the ancient woman in disbelief. “I’m the one whose patron is supposed to be D, not you!”

“What can I say,” she shrugged mildly. “When you get to be my age, you have to find ways to keep yourself amused or you’ll grow as dull as a stump.”

“Your patron is D…” the Golem murmured as he looked between the three of Jadis. “I see. That explains the unusual nature of your classes.”

All three of Jadis narrowed her eyes at the man. She hadn’t focused on the fact, but Techne had been treating her as one person instead of a trio of women. His words cemented what she had only subconsciously registered.

“You can see my status sheet, can’t you?”

“I can,” Techne nodded once in confirmation. “I apologize for the intrusion into personal and sensitive information; however, when I saw you, I had to confirm that you were truly a Nephilim, and not some form of trickery.”

“Would I have brought her here if she were not truly a Nephilim?” Soteria grunted as she took a seat on one of the empty thrones. The size difference was such that her bare feet dangled over the edge like a child. “She is no trick.”

“No, she is not,” Techne agreed.

“Okay, great, we’re all in agreement that I am, in fact, a Nephilim,” Jay stated with a bit of sharpness in her voice. “Now, would one of you please, for the love of D, tell me what in the flying nut hammer is going on?”

“You are somewhat more crude of tongue than I was expecting,” the Golem commented.

“Yes, it’s one of my many flaws. Still waiting for an explanation.”

Taking a step closer to her, Techne held up one hand, using it to indicate the room around.

“This place is the Hall of Memories, and I am its keeper. I have been waiting for two thousand, three hundred and eighty-eight years to fulfill my promise to Ephesius, my friend and the last Nephilim to set foot in this hall before you.”

“And that is?” Jay asked, her tone growing soft as the immense age of the Golem before her penetrated her awareness.

“I am here to pass on the knowledge of the Nephilim,” Techne stated in that same monotone, though a smile graced his perfect features as he rested a hand on Jay’s shoulder. “To you.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep