Chapter 27: Lotus

That was a wingless Feathered One, just like Izumi Siaa. This was the girl's first reaction.

He... doesn't seem to care much about me.

Suddenly, the girl seemed to realize something. Whether it was her peers or adults, all they showed her was awe and fear. Only one person was different—the Feather Priestess, who felt both kind and strict toward her.

Thinking of this, the girl couldn't help but smile faintly, revealing two small tiger teeth. She waved at him, saying, "None of my friends want to play with me... would you like to play with me?"

Upon hearing this, the man seemed a little amused, and then disappeared from her sight.

The girl felt a bit disappointed, assuming that adults simply didn't have time to play with children. She was about to leave when she realized that somehow, the man had appeared right beside her.

Seeing this, the girl was astonished and quickly asked, "Hey, you clearly don't have wings, so how can you move so fast? Are you also a Feathered One favored by the Feathered God?"

"Favored by the Feathered God?"

The man chuckled again, stretching out his hands to gently pat the girl's head.

Instinctively, the girl tried to dodge, but before she could react, his hand was already on her little head.

"Ugh..."

The girl was a bit frustrated. She had clearly wanted to avoid him, but found herself unable to, which was very annoying.

"What is your name?" the man asked.

"I don't have a name," the girl replied, still somewhat annoyed but with puffed cheeks, answering this strange adult. "I am the next Feather Priestess. The Feather Priestess must devote her entire self to the Feathered God and the Divine Bird, so of course, she cannot have a name!"

"The Feathered God might not care for you."

The man shook his head. "The Feathered God has never needed such devotion, nor does he require you to have no name, or to call yourself Feather Priestess."

"You're not a Feather Priestess, how could you possibly understand the Feathered God?" The girl seemed even more upset and huffed, saying, "No one in the ancestral land understands the Feathered God better than the Feather Priestess. The Feather Priestess is the Feathered God's most loyal servant!"

"Alright, if you say so."

The man shrugged, not taking the matter to heart. Instead, he asked, "Do you have any wishes? Or perhaps, is there anything troubling you lately?"

"I do." Though still a bit angry, for some reason, the girl was quite willing to answer his question. "The Feathered God has never responded to me, nor has the Divine Bird... never, not even once. Every morning the Feather Priestess asks me about this. Maybe I wasn't chosen by the Feathered God or the Divine Bird... Maybe the Feather Priestess made the wrong choice picking me..."

Her troubles were vast, reaching up to the divine.

This surprised the man for a moment, and he merely smiled. "Meeting you this time is my greatest reward."

The girl's confusion grew at his words, and just as she was about to ask more, she suddenly felt a cool sensation spreading from the hand on her head.

"Sleep well. When you wake up, everything will be better."

That was the last thing the girl heard before losing consciousness.

After she drifted into sleep, the man smiled gently and waved his hand. Instantly, a mist swept over the waters, and where the girl lay at the center, a lotus blossom quietly unfolded, enveloping her.

"This lotus will accompany you as you grow. I find you quite pleasing to the eye."

All the descriptions of gods that the Feather Priestesses offered were born of imagination. As time passed, the gods became more and more unfathomable. According to the Priestesses, mortals could never guess what lay in the minds of gods, and the gods themselves cared nothing for mortal opinions.

To the gods, the Feathered Ones were nothing but pitiful recipients of charity, and only by serving the gods wholeheartedly could they find a place in this land.

What the Feathered Ones did not know, however, was this:

Their god had always been watching them.

The god would grant a spark of spirit only at the right time, gently guiding the development of the race.

...

"The history of the Merfolk is already past; the royal court has nothing to do with me anymore."

Izumi’s voice sounded in the Feather Priestess’s ear.

In his account, he was merely a slave of the royal court. One day, taking advantage of the guards’ negligence, he escaped and fled all the way to the shallows. Somehow, he grew a pair of legs and thus came ashore.

After wandering for years, he gradually adapted to life on land. The only reason he returned to the ancestral land of the Feathered Ones was because of the mysterious bird by his side.

When he mentioned the mysterious bird, it chirped twice from nearby.

"Who would have thought Izumi, the Master of Creation, had such a tangled past."

The Feather Priestess smiled, her throat producing a phlegmy rattle. After a few cackling laughs, her gaze turned sharp and sinister.

Is it true?

He was not entirely convinced.

At this moment, the Feather Priestess remained hesitant, unsure how to treat Izumi.

Should he simply be killed, or kept close, to become a powerful aide to the successor?

The Priestess was undecided.

Ultimately, Izumi was too valuable a resource to be easily discarded. To kill him would be a waste; to spare him might invite trouble.

This dilemma left the Priestess in a difficult position.

But just as the Priestess was struggling with indecision, a hurried figure rushed to the doorway. Without pausing, he clasped his hands in greeting to the Priestess and Izumi inside. "Feather Priestess, Master Izumi, something has happened at Feathered God Lake!"

The newcomer was Yun Twenty-Nine's son, Yun Ha, who was usually responsible for tending the fish and patrolling the lake.

Yun Twenty-Nine had served the Feathered Ones his entire life. Only upon the verge of death had he earned his son the right to a true name, rather than being known by a mere number, as he himself had been.

Izumi did not hesitate. "What happened?"

"A sudden mist arose over the lake, but it soon cleared." Yun Ha glanced at the not-distant Priestess, then continued, "After the mist faded, a glowing flower appeared in the center of the lake... I’ve never seen a flower like it, and neither has anyone else. It looks very strange... but also rather beautiful."

"A flower?"

The Priestess was surprised and stood up, smiling at Izumi. "Since that’s the case, let’s go see what this flower is all about."

"Very well." Izumi nodded and rose, following the Priestess outside.

A pure white veil seemed to hang over the surface of the river, weaving a dreamlike atmosphere. Amid this ethereal scene, a colorful glow shone at the lake’s center, dazzling and radiant to behold.

It was beautiful, dreamlike.

Amid the surreal brilliance, there was indeed something divine about it.