The New God's Of Avaricia

Chapter TWO: "The Avarician Continent, Still."

"...You..."

A sharp crack in her voice and its immediately apparent that whoever stands opposite Hannah at the door wears a familiar face, but not one she had expected to see today... not after all these years.

[Mount Kendo]

"Falls... springs... melt flowers."

Arteus repeats the words to himself as he stares to the top of a hot spring inside Mount Kendo.

And the ceiling of the cave he now stands, where the sweaty teal glow of the melt flowers shines a blurred blueish colour. The glowing indicator for the famed upside-down plant!!

A once active volcano turned dormant, Mount Kendo sits south of Barley, and is the last bit of land before the Great Oceans Pesedon. It is here and areas like this that melt flowers grow.

Extreme heat the most important factor in their growth, melt flowers take their nourishment in Mount Kendo from the steam raised by the cave hot springs below. Hence why they grow upside down.

This one flower could be Barley's salvation if they knew how to farm it safely. Lucky for them though their village has a boy with not only a tremendous resistance to heat but remarkable healing abilities to boot oh and not forgetting a woman crazy enough to constantly risk her and her son's lives for them.

The main ingredient in making flare ups, melt flowers once mixed with the appropriate herbs can help restore a person's body temperature almost immediately. Making them perfect for white-snake bites and frostbite.

"..."

"Well... Up to it Art."

With a quick leap Arteus is off the ground in a flash and reaching for the cave's ceiling.

"..."

*FSsshhh

The heated rock sizzles against his skin as he sticks his hands finger first into the ceiling, dangling wildly over the hot springs.

"...Tch..."

"How does mom usually even collect these."

He twinges in pain while scaling the ceiling in a manner similar to crossing monkey bars as he makes his way towards the flowers!

-Two And a Half Hours Later-

"Hup!"

*tut.

One soft landing later, and Arteus is safely back on the ground with relative ease.

"One... two... three... Good! With this many we shouldn't have to worry about melt flowers for a while."

The boy smiles proudly to himself, clearly pleased with the hull.

"Hopefully we get out of this damned winter soon."

"Geez... What sort of games is All-sky playing with us."

He mumbles to himself salty at the cruel hand fate is dealing.

All-sky. The proverbial utopia of the afterlife for all who had led their lives according to the Laws of the Gods. But also, the home of said Gods.

From Chief Gods of the realms to Gods of the elements and fortune. Everyone on Avaricia prays to the All-sky.

And while its actual existence is heavily debated it would be hard to argue against given the subtext and hundreds of thousands of accounts that exists detailing the exploits of the Gods when they still roamed the continent.

From their individual ascensions to deified figures to them making the Laws of All-sky and eventual Vow of Birthright.

Avarician faith insists that the Gods are always watching and judgment will eventually be passed come time for the second birth.