Watching them stalk her from the shadows she used a [Flash] spell before closing the distance while they were blinded. She easily defeated several of them before a 4-foot wolf carrying a statue dashed around the corner straight at her.
Seeing it she felt a wave of despair as she knew she would never be able to defeat a beast that could run while carrying that much extra weight. Resolving herself to take it down with her life she swung her mace just as she heard it speak.
"Hey, I need yo..."
Bang!
It had taken the mace to its face, but the dark beasts didn't try to reason or talk with you? This wasn't an enemy!?
Watching it being pushed back by her mace she suddenly had a feeling that she had just made a very big mistake. The wolf was now standing on two legs and firmly planted its feet before pushing back against the mace with its face.
"What was that for?" It mumbled with a low growl.
Surprised, she responded, "Ah, I'm so sorry!"
Chronos' eyes flicked to the woman's left side; a dark wolf was jumping at her throat. Pulling echoforge out of the armory amulet on his right hip he swung it upward with one hand. The wolf's lower jaw was shattered as it struck, flipping it over on its back.
Pushing her mace away from his face with his left hand he said, "Whatever, I can scold you later, right now we need to finish these wolves."
"I said I'm sorry, it really was an accident. So, let's just forget it ever happened." She repeated as she swung her mace at another wolf that just joined the encirclement.
A wolf jumped at Chronos' throat only to bite down on echoforges shaft. He promptly twisted the shaft and spun, using the wolf as a weapon it slammed into two other wolves.
"It doesn't matter if you're sorry, you still need to check if it's an enemy first. If it had been anybody else their face wouldn't be working right now!" Chronos barked back.
Looking around there were only a few left to fight, but the defeated ones were already gathering shadows to reform.
"Oh, great more lecture's about holding back and not bashing them again." She said while rolling her eyes.
"What? No, if they're an enemy then bash them, even if they can't move anymore. Just make sure they're an enemy first." Chronos glanced at her to see her eyes wide in shock.
After defeating the last of the wolves, she looked at him like he had said something truly ridiculous.
Looking at her properly for the first time since the fight started, he could see that she was exhausted and had torn clothes from more than just these wolves. She was a few inches shorter than his human form and had long red hair with a toned physique, even through her robes he could make out the definition of her muscles. Her chest wasn't overly large but large enough to flow over one's hand and on it was the symbol for the Goddess of order. Her eyes were a light golden color, though he couldn't tell if that was natural or the result of worshipping the Goddess of order.
At her waist was a mace and a holy book that was giving off holy power. Actually, looking around her, he saw the darkness being pushed back by the holy power. Was that what kept her from turning to stone? Maybe she could turn Gregory and Sariah back.
While he was examining her, she was looking at him with just as much scrutiny. No, perhaps more if the confused look on her face was anything to go by. The longer she looked at him the more confused she looked. Was there something on his face?
Just as he was about to speak, she asked him, "I don't see any holy relics or symbols; there's no sense of a god's blessing either. How are you alive right now?"
Now she was looking at him like he was an interesting research subject, but Chronos could see her hand resting on her mace. He got the distinct feeling that if he couldn't give her a suitable answer, he might have to fight her.
"I don't know. When everyone else turned to stone it didn't affect me." He knew this wasn't a good answer, but he really didn't know.
Clang!
She had swung her mace at him again, but he blocked it with echoforge.
"Oi, what did I just tell you about bashing people?"
"That I should bash them even if they can't move." She said with a fierce look on her face.
Pushing her mace to the side Chronos responded, "Only after confirming that they are an enemy. Why do you even think I'm an enemy?"
She took a guard stance and replied. "Every creature that enters the dark void turns to stone. The only way to not become a statue is to have a god's relic or blessing but I don't sense any god's blessing on you, so you must work for the enemy that controls the dark void."
She enchanted her mace to have holy flames showing her full power as a third rank priestess. Chronos realized that this would be a difficult fight unless he could find a way to appease this crazy woman.
"Hm, wait priests of the Goddess of order have spells to find out if a person is telling the truth, right? Use one of those on me, my situation is extremely weird, and I don't think you will believe me without those spells."
She looked at him with a bit of disappointment, "Can't I just bash you and ask later?"
"Are you really going to ask later?" Chronos asked while giving her a skeptical look.
She looked frustrated for a moment before agreeing, "Fine, but if you're lying, I will bash you."
She picked up her holy book and turned to a certain page. Reading what was there she pointed her mace at Chronos and recited the prayer of truth. Chronos only relaxed after hearing the words of the prayer, he had to make sure this woman wasn't going to try and blast him with a spell before searching for the truth.
With a flash of light that created a floating set of scales like a merchant would use she finished her spell and began her questioning.
"How did you get here?"
"I was in the village square when the boar smashed the tear and the thorns expanded."
The scales tipped to the right indicating truth, she nodded. Squinting she prepared herself for a fight before asking the next question.
"Why aren't you turning to stone?"
"I don't know. I don't have any holy items and as far as I know I'm not being blessed by any god."
Watching the scales carefully they tipped to the right again, now she was really confused.
"Then what were you doing with those two on your back?" She pushed forward with her questioning.
"Gregory and Sariah are my friends. I couldn't leave them for the dark beasts to collect and brought them with me."
The scales tipped right once more.
"That makes sense." She mumbled as she looked less sure of herself than before.
Chronos interrupted her, "Are you certain that you have to have holy power to avoid the petrification?"
"Yes, only the power of a god can oppose this place."
The scales tipped to the right.
Staring at the scales Chronos commented, "Well, it's good to know that the scales work on you too."
"N-No they don't!" She flinched as she exclaimed.
The scales tipped left indicating a lie.
...
...
"They're not supposed to, alright! I'm just better at bashing things than casting judgment spells." She huffed as she snapped the book closed and ending the spell.
"We all have our own strengths and weaknesses." Chronos said with a gentle smile.
"Keep looking at me like that and you're getting a mace to the face." She was glaring at him now.
Holding his hands up in surrender Chronos tried to calm her down but couldn't stop a smirk from crossing his face. She reacted so well to teasing.
"Alright, I don't want to be hit either. So can you turn my friends back to normal?"
"No, I'm not strong enough to support multiple people inside of a void. We need to find a high priest to undo the petrification and most of them are locked in combat or separated from us. I don't know how we're going to get out of here without more help. My force was just meant to investigate the rumors of tears, not break them." She said in frustration.
"I guess we're on our own then. Let's try to find others first, if we can find more holy relics it might be possible to undo the petrification on some more statues. By the way, we haven't introduced ourselves yet, I'm Chronos." He said while offering his hand.
"I'm Lyla, a priestess, which corresponds to the third rank of aura or magic." Lyla shook the offered hand.
"Glad to have you with me. I hope it's a long relationship." Chronos said and for the first time in a long time he felt like he meant it. This girl sounded like she would be fun to be around.