Something… strange, it wasn’t the lizardmen that had been tailing them for the past two days suddenly appeared outside the window’s frame or anything. Outside the tavern everything still normal, pedestrians still steadily pacing through the street on their own leisure, but somehow Samuel could saw their shadow imprinted on the ground. Indeed, it wasn’t just the pedestrians but everything outside the tavern window had their shadow casted on the ground. And that was what puzzled Samuel and caught his attention in the first place, the sun has completely set and though the moon still somewhat bright on the sky, but it was no full moon like a mid-autumn night, thus there was no way its light could make everything casted a clear shadow on the ground like what he seeing outside. Soon, like Samuel, some of the pedestrians outside seemed to noticed what was going on.

“Hey… uh… Is it me or the outside seemed… brighter?” Samuel asked his companion.

Before Elesil and Emma could give Samuel their respond, the tavern’s door split open and a young man came through the doorframe with bewilderment on his face.

“Everyone, loo… look outside,” the young man stuttered in Bricatish, “it… it’s the Hand of Quelas’Airuth.”

His word putted a surprise look on everyone’s face in the tavern, quickly on their foot, everybody headed toward the door whilst outside of the tavern’s window, every single person on the street had raised their gaze toward something on the sky with an amazement look fixed on their face.

“Quelas’Airuth” the name somewhat familiar to Samuel’s ears. If Samuel’s memory served him well, he recalled, that was the name of the chief god of Bricatia’s main faith, a group of deities usually referred as “Quelas’Airuth and the Fives”.

“Hand of Quelas’Airuth?” -Samuel wondered out loud about what the young man just said.

“It is the name of a constellation” –Elesil sated Samuel’s curiosity.

Joined the many gathering crowds of people outside amidst the sounds of the tolling bell of the town’s temple, everybody in the tavern bathed in the strange light from heaven, pointing at something on the night sky, every person on the street wore a great amazement look on their face. Samuel raised his gaze upward and the light forced his eyes to slightly squinted, amidst that sea of stars on the night sky, not far from the galaxy which split the night sky in haft, was the source of the light. At the middle of the constellation shaped like a hand, brighter than a full moon could ever be, almost as bright at the sun, it radiating its light upon all beings on the mortal realm below. The sight truck Samuel to his core, his body slightly trembled as bewilderment and excitement rushed throughout every fibre of his being. A soft “whoah” of wonder burped out from his throat, since the day he learned the appreciation of the night sky, never in his live he could ever through he could witnessed it with his own eyes, the thing that could turned night into day.

A supernova.

Mesmerizing was the light show on the heaven, Samuel stood and stared in admiration of the spectacle, but unlike him, who aware that what was happening was just a normal astronomical phenomenal. Others in the crowds were not so, as Samuel quickly realized, some in the crowds burst into tear, some trembled in some kind of religious euphoria, some even fell to their knees with hands raised to chin-lever and palms face upward, a praying posture Samuel once saw while still stay with Kranwolf’s family, even Emma too, joined the crowds surround her in praying.

“Beautiful is it not?” –Elesil smiled, unlike the crowds surrounded him, stood tall he still.

“Yah, never have I thought I can ever see one,” Samuel replied.

As everyone on the street continued in awe of the heavenly spectacle, behind the window of the, now, empty tavern, there was a person still sitting on a table. Face obscured by a veil of long haft black and haft white hair, that person observed Samuel and his companions standing outside the window. From the individual’s pocket, an old timey pocket watch was pulled out. Read the ticking clock’s hand, the mysterious person mumbled “right on time”, then to the book in front of that person, ink was put on paper, and words of what was happening at that moment were written.

Night eventually passed, and Samuel once again opened his eyes with the light of the morning sun welcomed him back from his slumber. Outside his room, the supernova still luminous on the heaven above like a second sun, made the morning a little brighter than usual. Samuel came to the window and gave off a long yawn, a little sluggish he felt, for his night was not very well rested, throughout the evening, a weird tingling sensation on his right hand kept bothered his sleep together with it was a strange dream, the dream was fuzzy and he couldn’t recall much of it, only a vague image of him and a young woman walk around a dimly lit place.

After finished their breakfast and ready to set out again, Emma asked if they could make a short stop at the town’s temple for her to attend the temple’s service, to which Samuel complied. The street of the town was almost empty as nearly every person in town had gathered at the temple, as birds on nearby trees raised their morning song to complement the passion in the priest’s voice. Samuel and Elesil waited outside the temple’s fence while Emma jointed the attendee crowd. Gazed up to the supernova above, Samuel listening on the voice of the priest, he seemed to telling some sort of story to the attenders. Although not a religious man, Samuel did find the story the priest was telling quite interesting, on a storytelling level.

As the crowd silently listened, the passion words of the priest travelled to every ears and told them of a mythical splendorous time called the “Age of gods” where the gods walked among mortals, of the paradise on earth that once was. And then how those who now known as the Cursed Old Gods has gone mad and tried to consume all living things with their madness, and thus the Old Gods of yore waged war against each other and doomed the old world in unspeakable calamities. The priest told tales of how their ancestors had endured hardship of the “Age of wandering” of how through burning sand and melting rock they’d marched, through endless water they’d sailed, through forests that darker than the darkest of night they’d pressed through, of how they’d survived the onslaught of the unimaginable monstrosities, of the implausible monsters unleashed by the war of the gods, how they’d went against all odds just to kept the feeble ember of hope burning in search of the new land. And how the merciful Quelas’Airuth was moved by the unyielding will of their ancestor’s faith, and had turned his hand into a constellation and with it, shine a beacon light to the earthly realm and sent the Fives descended to guide all those who wander to a new land, Varlaurea. Then gazed upon the supernova on the heaven above, the priest ended his story with and optimistic note, as once again, the hand of Quelas’Airuth shine upon the mortal world, predicted a great splendorous time was about to come.

After the service, Emma re-joined the group and they resume their journey, out of curiously the girl asked for the reason Samuel not join the temple’s service.

“Oh, eh… I’m not really a religious person or anything so… you know; it’ll be weird for me to…” Samuel awkwardly shrugged.

“So what do you think about that?” –Emma pointed at the supernova on the sky- “Don’t you think it a sign of the gods?”

“Er… I think… it’s just a normal astronomical phenomenal, that’s all,” Samuel answered.

“You called a star almost as bright as the sun, suddenly appeared on the sky is normal?” -Emma amazed as Samuel’s answer.

Didn’t know how to respond to the girl, Samuel just gave of an awkward smile as Emma comment of the weirdness of his viewpoint, and tried to think of something to change the subject, Elesil suddenly stop his veleis and cut off the two’s conversation.

“What’s it, Elesil?” Samuel asked.

“How long had we left the town? Ten? Fifteen minutes?” Elesil asked the group, “Have you two saw our guest?”

Thus, finally they’d realized they found no trace of the lizardmen who had tailing them for the past few days.

“Maybe… he finally gave up?” -Emma swept her gaze around looked for the lizardmen.

“Let’s hope so,” –Samuel unfastened his short sword off his velelis's saddle and hanged it on his waist- “But we still can’t be so sure.”

Thus, their journey continued, with a constant high alert of their surroundings.