Lis and Evar walked in the direction the black cat had indicated.
Although Evar did not know why Lis had changed direction, he followed Lis's lead without question, trusting him implicitly.
After an indeterminate amount of time, just as Lis had begun to adapt to the environment of Divine Island, he suddenly realized that the forest ahead was thinning.
The fog that had been drifting through the air also started to dissipate.
Are we... about to leave this place?
With a flash of Magic Light, the Jade Wand appeared in Lis's hand, casting protective and enhancement Spells on both him and Evar.
Seeing this, Evar also drew his Longsword and began to be on guard.
The two of them slowly walked forward, with only the sound of their footsteps rustling through the silence.
When Lis and Evar emerged from the forest, they found that they hadn't left the woods but rather had come upon a clearing in the center of the forest.
Stepping on grey-green stone bricks, Lis and Evar watched with somber expressions as a building suddenly came into view before them.
It was a lofty altar of pure white, with exquisite patterns of cyan and blue meandering upon the glistening white jade steps, faintly shimmering with a special radiance.
At the highest point of the altar, at its very center, was a unique podium of wave-shaped stone, upon which Lis could vaguely see a cyan-blue Treasure Bead floating above.
The altar had a total of ten stone tiers, and with each ascending tier, the intricate patterns on the steps became more complex and mysterious. Merely gazing upon them, Lis felt as if gales and thunder were flashing before his eyes.
It was as if he was caught in the midst of a tempestuous sea ridden with storms and thunder, like a small boat unable to extract himself, passively enduring the assault.
This abnormal sensation forced Lis to involuntarily close his eyes, momentarily relieving the Spiritual Shock he was experiencing.
While the sight of this extraordinary and mystical altar was within Lis's expectations, the unexpected part was that atop the altar were several figures kneeling on the lowest stone tier.
With hands pressed together as if silently praying, they were dressed in simple white robes decorated with cyan and blue motifs reminiscent of Storms and Thunder.
How can there be others here?
Are they alive or some kind of monster?
Upon witnessing this unusual sight, Lis's attention was immediately piqued.
At this moment, Evar seemed still lost in the influence of the altar, not yet having come to his senses.
Lis did not rush to wake him but instead carefully observed the figures on the altar.
Moving a few steps closer to the altar, Lis suddenly heard voices coming from its direction.
You are the protector of sailors!... You are the embodiment of Thunder!... You are the sovereign of the endless Storm!
You grant us Newborn!... Your Divine Country shelters the souls of the believers, preventing them from returning to nothingness!
Listening to those murmuring prayers, Lis frowned.
They were praying to the God of Storms and Thunder, Ansel. Were these his believers?
It wouldn't be strange to encounter believers on the island left behind by the deity Ansel.
But what was baffling was that the deity had fallen an untold time ago; how could there still be believers here?
One must understand, while the existence of deities is profoundly mystical and their lives incredibly tenacious, it is quite difficult to kill them.
As long as their believers and their Divinity remain, and no one else has taken their Divine Position, these deities might have a chance to resurrect from the river of time.
That being said, only other deities or some extremely special circumstances could cause a deity to fall.
The deities who had caused the downfall would naturally not allow for any chance of resurrection, arranging for their believers to be hunted and exterminated, taking over or bestowing their divine positions to others, eliminating any possibility of Resurrection.
Most importantly, once a deity has fallen, their believers will intuitively sense it—prayers go unanswered, and the deities' priests will lose all their spellcasting abilities, some even losing control over their inner Magic Power and dying on the spot.
Apart from the fanatics of Devout Faith, most believers are quite pragmatic creatures; once they lose protection, they abandon their faith or switch allegiance to another deity.
Therefore, deities who manage to return are exceedingly rare; only a few potent deities like the Lord of Dawn have such tales recorded, and whether those records are true remains up for debate.
Lis found it hard to believe a deity like the God of Storms and Thunder Ansel could achieve such a feat—so what was this situation?
The black cat's voice suddenly resonated in the depths of Lis's mind, with a grave tone.
Lis echoed, hardly believing it.
Lis was very clear on what a Prayer was.
Or to put it another way, anyone with the slightest knowledge of the Church of the Gods would be aware of this existence.
Prayers are the faithful believers of All Gods, who, at the end of their lives, will not have their souls fall into the Nether River and journey to the Netherworld. Instead, they are taken by their worshiped deities into the Divine Country, there to obtain eternal Life.
This is every God believers' aspiration, and also one of the reasons they chose to worship the Gods.
Eternal life—what a temptingly powerful word!