Amentia

Chapter 63 - A half-truth

The drive back to the village took them four days instead of three. The sense of emergency was gone, so there was no need to rush through the tricky parts of the forest. They were also still overwhelmed by everything that had happened at the mountain base, all that information to process and all the physical exhaustion to recover from. Nati was surprised how light and serene she felt after having finally solved the puzzle of the disease. The relief was also enhanced by the euphoria of calling two of the most powerful names that had ever passed through her mind. She felt invincible.

They spent those four days debating everything they'd learned, starting with the most important thing: the fact that the Gods everyone worshipped here were actually human beings, a race they rightfully had negative feelings towards. It felt wrong to hide such an enormous and significant piece of information from everyone. Natalia could easily —or well, more or less easily— call Aurora's name again and force her to reveal her human form to the entire world. But what would that accomplish? Amentia had been divided enough already. If they took their faith from them, the disease made out of the bad part of humanity might resurface much faster and they might succumb to it much more easily. Amentians had seen humans and they did not look like Gods to them. The truth just wasn't worth the worldwide chaos that would come with it. And Aurora had already spent so much of her life being hated and cast out for who she was; it would've been cruel to put her in that situation again just for the sake of truth. As long as the Gods behaved like Gods and took care of their world, it wasn't entirely wrong to maintain the lie. Plus, it would honestly just be a huge pain in the ass to be the ones to reveal something so important to the world. At best, they would be harassed and spat at; at worst, they might get killed. Religion is far too delicate a subject to meddle in.

When they arrived to the village and got out of the cart, the girls found a completely different place. They didn't know what they'd been expecting, but it wasn't this. It looked so... colorful. The noise was the most striking thing; when they'd left, no one spoke above a whisper, if they spoke at all, and now there were so many voices ringing that it was hard to discern any individual conversation from afar. There were gatherings on the street of creatures chatting, joking and gossiping. There were children running about and laughing. Whenever someone ran into another on their way, they stopped to ask how their day was or how the farm was doing. It was a regular, peaceful village on a breezy, sunny day.

The girls stood next to each other by the cart, marveled and emotional. In just four days, this place had returned to its old self, almost as if nothing had happened. The girls put their arms around each other and took a moment to watch these creatures go about their day, taking it in. They had made the right choice. It had all been worth it.

When they finally walked inside the village, they spotted Omylia filling up a bucket of water by the well. When Nati called her name, she dropped the bucket back into the well out of surprise and ran to them in happy exclamations. And then she grabbed two of them by the hand and took them to where the caravan was parked, closer to the center of the village. The stage attached to the side of the caravan was in full display, wider than the caravan itself so it could fit the props and a number of actors. The curtains were closed, but there was already a small crowd gathering in front of them to make sure they got front row seats. They all had their payments in hand and eager expressions on their faces.

"Look who's back!" said Omylia as she opened the caravan door.

Before they were smothered with hugs, the girls were flooded by the smell of Ruvyn's food cooking in the kitchen, and the warmth of it brought tears to their eyes.

Adam was the first to react to Omylia's words and he clumsily ran towards Nina to wrap his arms around her and squeeze her tightly. Nina sunk her face into his chest, smiling sweetly and breathing deeply.