"This, Sy, is the Grand Cathedral."
My eyes had a glimmer in them only a child's could. "Wow!"
"A safe haven created by our ancestors to give praise."
"Give praise?" I questioned, looking up at my father as he held my hand.
"Yes, to give praise to our God."
We walked down a long corridor, soon stepping into the nave.
Eight statues were aligned evenly along the walls, with one larger statue in the middle.
An older woman kneeled on the floor wearing a habit wrapped in cloth.
I could only pick up on short mutters as we walked past her—not even acknowledging that she was there.
Father started at the statue on the far right, naming them one by one as he pointed to each avatar.
"Effy, avatar of the sun."
"Skota, avatar of the moon."
"Arias, avatar of the sky."
"Ronti, avatar of thunder."
"Gin, avatar of the earth."
"Thala, avatar of the sea."
"And finally, Fóti, avatar of flame."
His finger moved to the statue in the middle.
"This is our God. He goes by many names, but is most commonly known as Seftis."
I tugged on my father's arm. "What happened to them?"
He looked toward the ceiling. "It's hard to say."
"According to legend and ancient texts, the avatars were hunted down and slaughtered."
"Who would do such a thing?" I blurted out.
My father frowned. "Our own ancestors."
"Texts from thousands of years ago describe the killings of these avatars… texts so sacred not even I have them."
"Only a few churches scattered around the lands have those texts… they say reading them could cause psychological damage."
"It's taboo."
He poked my nose.
"Don't ever go looking for them, okay?"
"Of course I wouldn't!" I said with a pout.
Father let go of my hand as he walked to the statue of Seftis.
"One thing we know for sure, Sy, is that our God is still alive."
I scratched at my chin. "How?"
Father looked to the ceiling once more, almost as if he questioned whether I was old enough to know this.
"I'll tell you, but just this once, okay?"
I smiled ear to ear. "Yeah!"
He sat me down on a bench, running his rough hand through my hair. "It's prophesied that when a realm's God ceases to exist…"
"Demons are unleashed onto the lands."
I flinched. "Demons!?"
Father continued. "To my knowledge, our realm is demon-free, so we know our God still stands."
Tilting my head, I fell sideways onto the bench. "And what are realms?"
Father smiled, sitting beside me as he patted my hip.
"Realms are essentially other worlds."
"They contain different types of people, food, and even Gods."
"Seftis is the God of our realm, and we people call our realm Earth."
"Demons also have their own realm."
"Time is different for demons than for us humans. A measly second to us could be days or even weeks to a demon."
"Our people call the demon realm the Void Realm, but other realms could have different names for it."
I wiped at my eyes. "Father… tell me about the Void Walker."
My father walked over to me, placing his hand on my head. "Zef must've gotten in your head again."
"The Void Walker is just an urban legend, Sy. Now, you seem tired. Let's head back home for today."
I flashed a drowsy smile. "Yeah!"