" Hi..I'm Viona, nice to meet you." The wounded yellow haired woman greeted him back but her voice was strained, she was still wary of him.
Khaladrel's smile grew wider. " Don't be scared, I don't bite." ' Nailed it, now they'll know I'm friendly.'
" Mommy, that man is scary, I'm so scared." Suddenly a little girl cried. " Don't worry sweetie, lady Viona will protect us, the scary man won't eat you."
Khaladrel's mouth twitched. He stopped smiling. " No, don't be scared, really, I mean you no harm.
I'm a servant of the God of dreams, progress and magic, Khaladrel." The woman named Viona limped forward.
Her eyes grew cold, " Stop lying, Gods are long dead." That statement caught him by surprise.
' Gods are dead?' his mind was in shambles but outwardly he didn't show anything. He continued looking at her.
"Well the God of dreams is very much alive." He looked at her burnt leg. " That doesn't seem to be healing, do you not have medication for it."
Viona sighed and laughed bitterly. " If we had medication for the radiation why would we fear the sunlight so much? Have you been living in this cave your whole life?"
" I see, so what do you plan to do with it?" She smiled but sadness and unwillingness could be seen in her eyes. " I have to amputate it or the radiation will kill me."
The others cried bitterly hearing that, especially those she stopped to help while running.
Viona was stronger and faster than most of them, even though she wasn't an awakened warrior she was the only one with a bit of mana inside her.
Had she not been held back trying to help them she never would've been wounded. Hearing that the wound couldn't be healed.
Khaladrel couldn't help but smile so wide it reached his ears. Viona covered her breasts.
" Creepy."
" So creepy."
" Disgusting."
He heard their whispers. He coughed. ' It seems I still don't have the hang of this smiling thing.'
" I HAVE GOOD NEWS." in his excitement he ended up shouting. Cough cough. " As I was saying, I have good news for you.
If you worship and pray to the lord of dreams Khaladrel, he will heal your wounds and you will never again go hungry or live in fear"
They looked at him doubtfully but did not say anything . " Pray? What is that?" Viona asked with confusion. ' Ah, so they don't know what praying is.
Wait that doesn't make any sense, everybody knows what praying is, oh wait, they did say the Gods are long dead, how long have the gods been dead for people to even forget how to pray?'
Khaladrel smiled gently at them, or at least he tried to but based on their reactions he still looked creepy.
Viona coughed a little. " Sir Khali, could you.. could you not do that " he pointed at himself, " What? Smiling?"
She looked surprised. " That was smiling! Sorry, you have a...unique smile but it terri.. effecting the children so I would appreciate it if you stopped."
He felt like his heart had been pierced by a blunt stick. ' I'm trying my best alright.' he coughed.
" Noted, now as for praying,it's very simple. You just do what I did, call the name of the God of dreams, inspiration and magic in your heart and ask for what you desire."
He took out his candles and lit them up, he felt a pang of pain at the waste but figured it was worth it to have new believers.
" Come, follow my lead." He knelt Infront of the statue. The others followed suite and knelt with him.
Then he closed his eyes, he didn't actually pray, praying to himself would be weird and pointless.
A few seconds later he felt their prayers but they were weak and flimsy, not because the people praying were weak, they didn't really believe in him so their prayers were shallow.
Which was understandable but unless they believe he will barely receive any divine energy and he won't be able to help them.
However he knew convincing people to believe based solely on his words was unrealistic.
Some might but others won't and to people like them who had never seen the glory of Gods, his words alone would never be enough.
So he came up with a plan, demonstration. " Lord of dreams, shaper of thought, voice of all unsaid who blurs the walls of truth and falsehood , hear my plea and bring truth to my desires, let flowers bloom and heal the souls of those lost souls."
' ahh that so embarrassing.' praying to himself in such a grandiose manner no less was more embarrassing than he thought it would.
He felt all of his remaining divine energy disappear. A small white flower bloomed Infront of him.
It released a faint fog that made those who inhaled it feel relaxed. Creating this tiny flower cost him more than creating two candles.
More than twice the cost infact but he expected it. A flower was a living thing, creating living things cost more divine energy.
And even then, there was a limit, he couldn't create anything with a soul as that was the domain of another primordial God.
His older sister Gaia of nature. ' This better work.' if they still didn't believe after this he would be pissed.
He had no more divine energy for tricks. Just as he thought that, he felt their prayers more clearly now.
They were praying for food and water, Viona was praying for her leg to heal and enough strength to protect these people. Of all of them she had the strongest desire and belief.
She's the only one who even knew Gods once existed and seeing a miracle happen in front of her made her believe.
Although she had once seen awakened people do amazing things, there was always a hint of mana in their actions.
However she didn't feel any mana here, the flower just bloomed like it was already waiting to.
If that wasn't a miracle she didn't know what was. As she prayed Ved felt a stream of divine energy.
He measured his initial energy pool as a hundred points. Those hundred points were depleted.
However she alone in only a few seconds had already regenerated over 50 points. With the others, his total pool was approaching the initial 100 he had.
It continued to grow, to 80, 85, 90, 95, then 100 he waited expectedly then it rose to 101. Khaladrel almost jumped up.