Part 1

    Gishzida and Renier arrived at the Golden Forest at daybreak two days later. Gishzida had been in a hurry and had said that he needed to get back within the next two days without fail, so Renier had ultimately had to ride a horse too, and they rode day and night without rest as they hurried along their way. All four of them had been aching all over, as if they’d been beaten by an iron mace, they the time they finally made it to the forest.

    Gishzida paid the two warriors from the West in silver at the entrance to the forest and sent them back to their homeland, and then he whistled to let the other priests know of his arrival. Then, he handed the linen shawl that he had been wearing around his shoulders to Renier.

    “You should at least cover your face. Minnè, Jada, Kiros, and anyone else who might recognize you are already dead and you look and sound different than you did three years ago, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

    Renier hesitated when she saw the shawl’s gorgeous embroidery, so Gishzida flipped over the part of the shawl that had been embroidered with gold thread and covered half of Renier’s head and face with it, and then he untied one of the strings that had been decorating his hair, wrapped it around her head, and tied it at her forehead.

    “A lot of Western warriors cover their heads like this, so it’ll be safer for you to pretend that you’re one of them. You could even pretend to be mute too if this isn’t enough to assuage your concerns. Anyway, a lot of people from outside are visiting the forest right now, so you should be able to fit right in.”

    A lot of people from outside are visiting the forest? But no one can just walk inside the Golden Forest without sanction…….

    “Ah, oh dear.”

    Renier froze in her tracks. There was an acrid smell permeating the forest. And Armanu’s, the divine tree’s, flowers were just as scarily crimson as they had been three years ago. Renier looked back at Gishzida, and there was a tremble in her voice as she asked,

    “I-is it the spring festival right now?”

    “You seem to have forgotten the date. Today’s the first day of the ten-day ritual. We had to hurry here so I could make it on time.”

    Renier was stunned speechless and looked up at Gishzida in silence. Does that mean that the galtir left the forest right before the ritual began and had to hurry back in just two days just to look for me? Wait —is he even in his right mind? Gishzida continued,

    “Rest in my bedchambers inside the temple while the ritual is being carried out. I’ll have them prepare a separate bed for you.”

    “Lord Gishzida? But I…….”

    Renier’s voice was on edge as she stopped him. Gishzida shook his head in exhaustion.

    “I want you to rest during the day and guard me at night. Did you forget that you have a duty to protect me?”

    “Oh…….”

    Renier finally realized that she was being overly sensitive and lowered her head. Coldly, Gishzida continued,

    “I asked you for your loyalty, and you agreed to give it to me. I won’t make you uncomfortable, and I don’t intend to lay a finger on you either. But it’s up to you whether or not you want to believe me, of course. You can rest in my house of water from before instead if you’re still unsettled.”

    It’s up to me……huh.

    He always spoke so ambiguously, now that Renier thought about it. A considerable portion of his words and actions were neither lies nor the truth, and neither good nor evil —he was always so vague. She could never tell whether the outcomes of his words and actions were good or not either.

    It flustered Renier because he was so different from a certain other high priest whom she had met in the Northlands. The other high priest had been vividly unambiguous about everything. His goodwill, his hatred, his love, his feelings, his life, his death —everything about him had been so clear. Even his bloodlust, which she had witnessed after he’d betrayed her, had been so clear and intense.

    Renier saw a number of en-ishibs who were probably Gishzida’s close aides running toward them. They immediately threw themselves to the ground and prostrated themselves once they saw him. Renier realized anew that he had truly become the leader of the Celestials. She folded her hands together and politely said,

    “I will go to the house of water, Lord Galtir.”

    Gishzida left for the temple with the en-ishibs, and Renier began making her way to Gishzida’s old house.

    It wasn’t difficult for her to find Gishzida’s old house. It was on top of a tree that stood northeast in relation to the temple. The house of water was spherical, and it looked no different than it had three years ago.

    Renier heard the drums, the singing, and the flutes echoing from afar as she looked up at the house in a daze. The memories that she had repressed deep within were probably starting to get dragged to the surface, especially considering that she was already so dazed even though there was still plenty of time left until the ritual started at noon.

    Renier grew increasingly uncomfortable. Ten children were probably sold to the forest to be sacrificed again this year, just like what happened to me. Her brand began hurting, as if she was being branded all over again, as the memories resurfaced. She undid the long piece of cloth that was covering her head and face before she began climbing up the tree.

    “How dare you?! Who are you?! That’s the galtir’s personal rest area. Don’t you know that outsiders aren’t permitted to enter the priests’ homes?!”

    “Ack!”

    Renier, who had nearly made it all the way up the tree, slid down and landed violently on her backside. The low-ranking priest must’ve been making preparations for the ritual, as he was holding a bundle of plants that looked like herbs in the skirt of his kanaukes, which he had pulled up to his knees, and he came running over while glowering fiercely at Renier.

    “Did you come from outside? Then you should be participating in the ritual that’s taking place in the plaza at the center of the forest —how dare you try to sneak into the priests’ houses?! I don’t care how high and mighty you are on the outside —Did you forget that once you step foot inside the Golden Forest, you’re just another believer like everyone else?!”

    “Gosh, may Armanu of the harvest and Lord Kittu of Six Wings forgive this fool! I’m the lord galtir’s new slave, my good priest. I met the lord galtir by chance in Ninurgal two days ago, and he bought me for seven shekels. He told me to wait up there until the ritual ends,”

    Renier answered hastily while rubbing her hands together. The priest sighed and scrutinized her up and down before he finally nodded.

    “Right. The galtir did say that he brought back a new slave with him. That must be you.”

    “Oh, did he now?”

    “Hmph. He must’ve sent you here since slaves aren’t permitted to participate in the ritual. Well, go on up. You mustn’t wander around the forest on your own while the ritual is still ongoing! Understand?!”

    “Yes, sir!”

    The low-ranking priest picked his bundle of herbs back up and began making his way to the plaza.

    Renier scowled when she tried to start climbing back up the tree. Not only had the skin on her arms and hands been torn against the rough tree back as she was sliding down but she’d also gotten a long scratch that stretched from her chin all the way down her neck because of the rock she was wearing as a necklace. She was vexed. Renier grasped the rock and stuffed it back under her clothes as she grumbled,

    “Seriously, this is the worst. I can’t just throw this damn rock away, but I can’t exactly give it back either. And it’s not like it’s even pretty or lightweight. It’s always getting in my way, and now it’s even made me bleed too.”

    She couldn’t help but sigh as she looked back up the tree and then at her hands again in turns. Her hands were scraped and bleeding, and now she had to climb up a rugged tree. A wave of sadness washed over her as she suddenly thought about Lady Minnè.

    “Back in the day, Lady Minnè would just say, ‘Baras!’ and send me up there in one go. I’d basically go flying straight up to the top of the……ack, w-what the…!? Ahhh!”

    Renier startled as her body suddenly began floating in the air. Ahh, ahhh? She was struggling to keep her balance in midair when her back collided into the tree’s branches and she realized that she was already so high up. Ah, ahh, arghhh! Screams poured out from her lips like there was no tomorrow.

    “W-what the…who’s doing this?! Who’s messing around with me?!”

    Renier screamed as she clumsily grabbed hold of the branches so she wouldn’t ascend any higher.

    “Help! P-please stop! I’m scared! Please stop this!”

    She desperately looked around. But she didn’t see a single soul, perhaps because everyone was busy preparing for the festival. Then again… No priest would have the spare time to wander around and mess around with a slave on a day like today.

    This was undoubtedly the work of a ngak, especially considering that she’d received no warning before she was attacked. However, she didn’t know who had attacked her or from where.

    Renier trembled and gasped for air as she clung to the branches in order to keep herself to floating any higher. She was extremely dizzy, and she was also on the verge of throwing up.

    Is this how I die? She would fall to her death if the ngak was suddenly released while she was floating so high in the air. Her vision started turning yellow. As a last ditch effort, Renier tried shouting the extinguishing ngak that she remembered Gishzida using previously.

    “Zii! Zii! Ziiiii!”

    ……Huh?

    Her force lifted her up into the air suddenly vanished, and she began plummeting to the ground. Renier was just barely able to grab a thick branch before she hit the ground. She dangled from the branch for quite a while. Tears were flowing down from her eyes.

    Renier crawled her way over to the house of water and quivered on the floor for a very long time. She could not comprehend what had just happened.

    She rummaged through her old memories and pointed in front of her. Then, she recited the en that Lord Gishzida liked to use often.

    “Gan……zer.”

    Pow!

    A large flame shot out from her fingertips. Renier had been expecting this to happen, so she opened her hand and pushed the flame aside.

    “Asilal!”

    The flame was pushed toward the watery wall as Renier directed, and it sizzled as it extinguished. She sank down to her feet and stared blankly into space as tears began pouring down her face once again.

    “What……the hell?”

    I’m not a priest, I don’t have a ngak tablet, I don’t have priests’ blood, and I don’t have a divine stone either. Forget having a divine stone, I don’t even have a divine pebble…….

    Renier suddenly froze stiff.

    I do have a pebble on me.

    She pulled out the black rock that had been hanging from her neck and peeked down into her clothes. She had scraped her chest when she was climbing the tree, just like her hands, and there were beads of blood forming where her skin had broken.

    A divine stone……and blood.

    “But this isn’t a divine stone.”

    Renier quivered as she ripped out her hair. She recalled Lord Gishzida saying that a Celestial’s hair turned golden after the first time they manifested a ngak…….

    “W-what do I do?! I don’t know…what now?”

    Her hair was the golden color of honey as it rested in her palm. Tears began falling uncontrollably from her eyes yet again.

    “Lord Gishzida. Lord Gishzida? What’s going on? I’m not a priestess. I swear I’m not a Celestial. What do I do, Lord Gishzida?”

    I’m just Renier, a slave who had brown hair until just now.

    Renier covered her now-golden hair back up with the linen shawl and tied it tightly before she hastily climbed back down the tree. She needed to see Lord Gishzida before the ritual started. There was still a quarter of a day left before the ritual commenced, so he was probably preparing himself mentally somewhere inside the temple.

    She had to find him at once and ask him. What on earth was going on? Had she really become a priestess? Was it even possible for a mere slave wench to suddenly become a priestess one day?

    She was certain that Lord Gishzida had previously told her that a mere slave wench could never become a priestess. Only the descendants of priests could become priests themselves. In which case, something truly preposterous was going on here.

    Renier clutched her rock and sniffled as she walked, but then she stopped in her tracks and began sobbing again. Her vision fluctuated between turning yellow and going white, and it made her so dizzy.

    Lord Gishzida. Lord Gishzida? Please help me. Please tell me if I’m really a priestess of the Golden Forest, if I’m really a Celestial.

    “I’m just an orphan that a fisherman on Elde Isle happened to find abandoned in the forest. The island has nothing to do with the Golden Forest. So, how did I end up being a Celestial? I thought that Celestials were only born inside the Golden Forest.”

    I don’t know anymore. She recalled that believers of the Golden Forest who were noble kings, royals, and warriors participated in an orgy with the priestesses during the festival. Is it possible for me to be a descendant of a Celestial? Is it possible for someone with Celestial blood to be born outside of the forest? Do I really have Celestial blood in my veins, and is that really why this happened?

    She had wanted to become a priestess back when she’d first met Lord Gishzida. She had envied his ability to start fires and draw up water with just a single word. But not anymore. Renier continued to rip out her hair to check what color it was as she cried.

    “I’m so scared, please don’t be like this. I’m so scared that I think I’m about to lose my mind.”

    ……Why are you scared?

    A sharp voice asked from within her.

    You thought that it’d be nice to become a priestess. And a priestess of the Golden Forest, to boot, you idiot. Your fate’s about to turn around completely. Your damnable old master, who always neglected you, and the bastards who always tried to force themselves on you will have to bow down before you now —they won’t even be allowed to look you in the eyes.

    Don’t be ridiculous. Do you really think that Lord Giszhida will continue keeping you by his side if you’re really a priestess?

    If you’re really a priestess, the Lord Gishzida……he…….

    “Great. Getting chased out of here will be a wish come true for me too,”

    Renier forced herself to mutter, but the curt voice inside her only started up again.

    Do you really think that Lord Gishzida will really just let you go like that?

    Renier had no way to confirm how Lord Gishzida truly felt. Thus, she had no way to anticipate how he would act.

    Renier slowed down. She felt like feet were sticking to the ground below as she approached the temple. The increasingly dense scent of incense was churning her insides —perhaps they’d started burning it earlier this morning.

    Lord Gishzida was very knowledgeable about medicinal herbs, so he had probably compounded the incense himself. The incense was supposed to mask the stench of blood and entrance and arouse people, but it only made Renier want to retch.

    Renier slowly stopped walking toward the temple. A large crowed of people had already started gathering in the plaza early in the morning.

    The mood in the air felt strange. Renier’s throat dried up even as cold sweat poured down her back. Why are there so many people here when it’s still bright and early in the morning? Doesn’t the ritual start at noon?

    Armanu, the giant tree, was standing tall next to the temple, the makeshift altar was next to the tree, and the bronze incense burners were spewing dense aromatic smoke. The people were eerily quiet and noticeably tense.

    There’s still so much time before the ritual starts —did something happen?

    Renier pushed her way through the crowd, and she froze in her tracks when she looked to the altar.

    “……Oh. O-oh my god.”

    She squeezed her eyes shut and backed away. Gishzida was in the middle of performing the sex ritual with the sacrifice atop the altar.

    What is this? Isn’t the ritual supposed to start at noon?

    She suddenly recalled how Gishzida had urged them to hurry all night long because he had to return to the forest ‘before dawn.’ Gods. Her head began to hurt. The ritual had apparently been changed to start at sunrise instead of noon. Renier wanted to rip out her own feet for hurrying her to the temple without being aware of this.

    I need to go back. Right now!

    Despite her wishes, however, her body sank down on the spot. The strength left her legs, and she grew terribly nauseated, perhaps because of the dense scent of incense and her horrible memories of the past. The earth seemed to lurch up at her with every step she took backward because she was so dizzy that everything seemed to be spinning around her.

    Oo, oooo.

    The people watching the altar were beginning to moan as they smiled with a strange light in their eyes. Renier was quivering like a leaf as she raised her head and looked around.

    ……Shit.

    Renier turned back to the altar only to immediately whip her head back to the side.

    The festival was very different from before now that Gishzida was presiding over it. Unlike Kiros, who had conducted the ritual while clothed in order to trick people into thinking that he was performing his duties, both Gishzida and the girl who was today’s sacrifice were fully naked. The intense rays of the sun shone down on him and made both his snow-white skin and the beads of sweat on his back dreadfully visible.

    The restrained sacrifice had brown hair just like Renier, but her hair was a disheveled mess atop the altar, and she was giggling senselessly with her eyes rolled back as if she was high on something.

    “Ah, haha, ahahaha, kyahaha…….”

    The girl become more hysterical as Gishzida’s movements grew fiercer, and she began clenching and unclenching her hands after the rope around her wrists had broken apart. The sacrifice’s giggling and the high priest’s ragged breathing reached the ears of the people below the altar.

    Renier bit down on her lip as she shook her head. Forget about her golden hair —she wanted to get out of here immediately. She forced her quivering legs to steady, but a sharp scream suddenly erupted from the altar just as she’d finally managed to climb back up to her feet.

    “Kyaaaaah!”

    Several people gasped sharply all around Renier. The high priest stood up after he had concluded the sex ritual and promptly stabbed the sacrifice in the heart. The sacrifice, who had been high on some drug and completely unaware that she was dying, had died with a mixture of laughter and astonishment frozen on her face. Her limbs began convulsing in a frightening manner.

    “Priests and devout believers of the Golden Forest! Receive Armanu’s blessing!”

    Gishzida stood up and raised his right arm. He was holding a sputtering heart in his bloody right hand. Whoaaa, whoa! The people’s excited shouts surged into the air. Then, Gishzida took some of the blood in his other hand and smearing it across his forehead and lips before he loudly proclaimed,

    “Armanu has promised thus! The sacrifice’s blood, flesh, and bones are her own blood, flesh, and bones, and any man or land that receives it will be granted Armanu’s overflowing blessings! O Armanu, fill the forest with thy vitality, and bless them with thy bountiful harvest!”

    “Give us thy blessing!”

    “May the earth be blessed with bountiful harvest, may your wives, daughters, and daughters-in-law be blessed with many children, may kings be blessed with vast territories and numerous soldiers, and may warriors be blessed with strength in their arms! Glory to Armanu, our first mother! Glory to Kittu of Six Wings, our first father!”

    “Glory be!”

    The drums began beating quickly after the people shouted back, and then their singing began resounding from every direction like thunder. Oo! Ooo! Blessed be the Galtir of the Golden Forest! Bless thy galtir, O Armanu! Bless thy descendants, O Kittu of Six Wings!

    Renier stared up at the altar in a blank daze. Was the cruel-looking man covered in blood up there really the same man who had so gently patted her head and comforted her?

    His figure, which was so pale, smooth, and sparkly that it almost looked like he didn’t have a single drop of blood inside his body, elicited only the awe toward one who had transcended humanity and lust for his beauty.

    It was not only the priestesses but also even the men who had come from outside who gulped as their eyes glossed over. Renier began backing away again, unable to tolerate this any longer. Everyone had lost their minds. Gishzida’s pearly whites flashed as he grinned.

    “The ritual!”

    The drums continued beating —boom boom boom boom, dum dum dum dum— as priests came out from either side of him and draped his clothes over him and tied a sash around his waist. Gishzida was scowling heavily as he surveyed the believers who were gathered around the altar. His terrifying gaze, bloodshot eyes, and the capricious lines of his firmly shut lips clashed horribly against the beauty of his face.

    Gishzida raised his hands and began blessing the believers in a sharp tone.

    “Come, sons and daughters of Armanu and Kittu. Come, o faithful servants! May Armanu grant the earth, Celestials, and man her bountiful vitality! Grant us thy blessing, o Armanu!”

    “Whoaaa! Grant us thy blessing, o Armanu!”

    “Plow the land, plant your seed, and bear fruit! The men shall plant the seeds, and the women shall bear the fruit! May you find pleasure in this land. Grant us thy blessing, o Armanu!”

    Then, he raised up his bloodied and crimson arm no sooner than the words had left his mouth.

    “Du, Ushumgal!”

    Yet another loud shout erupted from his lips. Immediately, all the smoke from the incense burners was suddenly sucked into a large vortex above his head and took on a gigantic shape. It was a long and great white dragon that seemed to shroud his head completely.

    “Whoaaa!”

    “Wooow, Galtir!”

    “Galtir! Galtir! O great Guardian of the Forest!”

    The dragon made from white smoke neither scattered away nor ascended into the heavens. Instead, is slowly began descending to where Gishzida was pointing. The people were buried in a dense cloud of smoke as if they were covered by a fog.

    “Sound the drums. This is the time to sow the seeds for a bountiful harvest, and the time for the heavens and the earth, and for Armanu and Kittu, to be united. Add one and one to get three, then seven, and then twelve as all things become plentiful, and may the blessing of the Golden Forest be with you, who believe this!”

    “May we be blessed!”

    Boom boom boom boom, dum dum dum dum! The drums began beating faster, and Gishzida began dancing on the altar that was enshrouded by the white smoke from the incense. His dancing was fierce and rugging, contrary to what his looks suggested. It took a moment before the people returned to their senses and realized that Giszhida, whose long sleeves were whipping the air and whose golden hair was disheveled, was dancing in midair.

    The crowd went wild as Gishzida demonstrated the Celestials’ abilities. The people shouted, danced while being intoxicated on the incense, and sang as they rushed toward the cart where the sacrifice had been loaded. Anyone whose senses were keen, like Renier, were vomiting and collapsed here and there.

    The people reached out to Gishzida from every direction when he climbed down the altar. Then, Gishzida took one of the priestesses who were standing by the altar by her neck and brought their lips together. The priestess did not refuse him, and she beamed brightly instead. Her arms snaked behind his back and neck as if she had been waiting to receive him.

    That was the trigger, and the people began pairing up to have sex. The orgy was the last stage of the ritual.

    Renier was quivering from head to toe as she backtracked. That wasn’t the Lord Gishzida she knew. By the time she squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, his body was already intertwined with the priestess he had chosen like a pair of intwined snakes.

    Everyone’s eyes were glistening eerily around Renier. It terrified her, and it was appalling to her. She felt multiple hands grabbing her from all over the place. Renier smacked all of them away, and then she turned around and began to run. She vomited over and over again, until she felt like her gastric juices were beginning to flow in reverse, all the way back to the house of water.

    “Lord Gishzida’s the galtir. He was only doing what he had to do. I…I was just surprised, that’s all. I was just a little surprised.”

    Renier trembled under the covers as she tried to comfort herself. But chills kept running down her spine every time she recalled what he had looked like atop the altar, and her whole being shuddered.

    How am I supposed to look Lord Gishzida in the face now? Will I be duty-bound to participate in that festival too if I’m a priestess? Do I have to become one of those women reaching out to him from the crowd, just like the priestess who was standing beneath the altar?

    Renier slowly undid the shawl around her head and ripped out some of her hair again. Nothing had changed —her hair was still the golden color of honey. She had a mountain of things she wanted to ask Lord Gishzida, but she didn’t have the courage to see his face right now.

    Should I wait for just a few more days? I’ll probably have calmed down, and Lord Gishzida will probably have returned to normal, once the spring festival’s over. Will I be able to keep my composure and ask him then?

    “I’ll have to change my hair back to its original color first.”

    Renier desperately forced herself to remember the en that Lord Gishzida had once used to change her hair to blonde and then return it back to brown.

    “Girikur Kusig Dilib,”

    she mumbled, but then she tilted her head quizzically to the side. She couldn’t feel anything, unlike before. She ripped out her hair again, but it was still blonde. Wait, did I get it wrong? Was that the en that makes you blonde? What was the other en again?

    “Bar…barr? Was that not it? Why isn’t it changing?! Oh, was that the en that returns things to normal? I guess that blonde is just the normal color of my hair now. O-oh gods. What do I do? What was hell was the en that turns your hair brown again?”

    Renier wracked her brains for a while before she clutched the black rock in her hands and feebly muttered,

    “Girikur, Su, Dilib.”

    The tip of her fingers stung a little, and the something seemed to sweep through her head. Renier hesitantly ripped out a few more hairs.

    “I knew it…….”

    The strands of her hair resting in her quivering hands was the same shade of brown that her hair had been before. Her eyes began burning as the hairs in her palm grew blurry.

    There was no way for her to deny it anymore no matter how much she wanted to. Reneir was a bona fide member of the Golden Forest.