"Are you one of the Chosen?" Azarios calmly asked Gwendolyn, the female looked instantly in the direction where Azarios was staring.

With a meek nod, Gwendolyn became confused. 'He saw my entire life, so he should’ve already known? Why did he ask me instead?'
The female's eyes showed clear relief. "Azarios you glorious lower God you! I'm so proud of you for not being completely useless!" The female smiled as she shook him again, Azarios' eyes showed clear annoyance while his face remained neutral. "O~ka~y! Miss, if you could please follow me."

"Wait." The female glared at Azarios who spoke, watching him wave his hand up then down while pressing his fingers against the blue floating screen, a short orange haired male with fuchsia color eyes came storming through the door.

"I'm here!! I'm so sorry I took so long!"

'You got here in less than ten seconds though?' The female thought to herself annoyed.

"It's okay. Take care of the other souls for me." Staring up at Azarios in shocked surprise, it quickly turned into happiness as the boy gave an eager nod to Azarios as he guided Gwendolyn out of the room while the female raised a suspicious brow towards him.

Azarios ignored her when she started to speak. "Wa~h! Amazing! So you ‘do’ know how to say more than four words!"

Scrunching her brows confused, Azarios wordlessly offered his black cloak to Gwendolyn while motioning his hands down towards his nose as she understood "you should wipe your nose" is what he meant.

Thanking him with a shy smile, Gwendolyn was nervous having seen how he looked without the cloak; his face completely out in the open was much more handsome than she initially thought, which took her by surprise when Gwen took in his full appearance as they walked.

She noticed his hair had more black than there were white strands, and his red-violet eyes were actually more of a rare central heterochromia.
His eyes had an orchid color as the base with the red wrapping around it, almost overshadowing the base color unless you paid enough attention to detail. He wore a black turtleneck with black dress pants and shoes to match. But still, it didn't change that Gwen still felt at ease walking next to Azarios.
If anything, it just made her more jealous and insecure of his good physic and looks while her own self-esteem dwindled further.

The woman raised a brow at Azarios' suspicious behavior.
She knew he was being overly friendly, but she wasn't sure if it was because Gwendolyn was a Chosen One or not.

"H~m...this is interesting. You don't usually show any interest in anyone. Are you taking such good care of her, because she's a Chosen One?"

His eye twitched in annoyance, glancing at Gwendolyn when he noticed she was becoming more insecure as her shoulders tensed up. Seeing the rose-gold ring had become copper, Azarios knew his eyes turned back red and didn’t have a lot of time left.
He stopped and spoke to the woman behind him without turning around. "Lola." The woman he called tilted her head after a moment of silence. "Shut. Up." Glaring down at her with a deadpan expression, Lola glared at him with an annoyed smile, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him down to her height.

"How dare a low level God like you talk to me like that." A crazed look appeared on her face as bloodlust enveloped her aura, causing Gwendolyn to become slightly afraid and unsure on what to do. "Just because I was demoted doesn't mean I'm not still a higher rank than you. So don't think that it gives you the right to look down on me like that either."

"You did that to yourself." Her smile dropped while Azarios continued to look at her as if bored and wanted to leave.

Lola seethed at his expression, lowering her eyes with clenched teeth. "You’re lucky we have someone to escort. Otherwise I would've ripped the skin off your body and grind your bones into dust." Gwendolyn held her breath in shock while her eyes stared in disbelief.

She shut her eyes before blinking several times as she saw what appeared to be an arrogant grin on Azarios' unusually calm face. "I dare you to try." Releasing Azarios from her grasp, Lola continued onward without looking back. Shortly after she turned to leave, Azarios watched as the ring dissolved into ash and his punishment took full reign once again.
Gulping at the bloodlust aura emitting like flames around Lola, Gwendolyn felt a hand on her head and looked at Azarios after she subconsciously flinched. Her brows scrunched slightly confused at his now pure red eyes after seeing how his face went back to being expressionless.
"Everything’s okay. Let's go."

Regardless of her own suspicions, Gwendolyn smiled and nodded at him. “Yes, let’s.” Handing over his hooded cloak back, she apologized to him for how dirty she had gotten it.
Azarios said nothing at first, wearing the cloak and snapping his fingers before showing Gwendolyn that his cloak was now clean, along with her ruined makeup and snot-drenched dress.

She was genuinely amazed by the simple trick he had shown to distract her, causing Azarios to pull up his hood as he felt a faint twitch at the edge of his lips, wordlessly suggesting to Gwen that they continue on.

Gwendolyn stopped mid-step and stared in awe at the cerulean color building with a unique design, watching a bright silver aura of divinity surround it.
Her shoulders instantly tensed to her ears as she heard a low and faint ringing, a voice speaking to her allowed her to snap out of it.
"Are you okay?" Hearing Azarios' voice, Gwendolyn let out a breath while forcing her shoulders to relax, nodding and smiling nervously.
"The aura's a bit..." She surprised herself at how dry and cracked her voice had become, clearing her throat a bit. "Overwhelming, which I didn’t expect."

"It's understandable, since this is the building of the Gods." Staring at him curiously in shock, Gwendolyn waited for a moment to have him speak, only he didn't.
"Wha-...what do you mean?"

"It's the building where the Gods live and have meetings."

'I've had this thought before, but...I don't think he can go over a certain limit of words. I wonder why that is?' Smiling softly, she awkwardly chuckled with a tilt of her head. "I see...that seems to have explained it a bit. Thank you."

He nodded his head once in return. "Let's go, we mustn't dawdle behind."
Giving a nervous nod of understanding, Gwendolyn agreed outloud and the two continued forwards when Lola had side-glared at Azarios' direction behind her.

Gwendolyn gawked around her surroundings completely in awe of the interior, momentarily forgetting about Lola's bloodlust aura becoming murderous as it surrounds her. 'Amazing...I don't think I've seen anything this big before? Even the buildings outside can't be compared to this.'
Jumping slightly when she noticed a few people had suddenly appeared in front of her, Gwendolyn grabbed Azarios' wrist with shaking hands before quickly letting go.
'It's alright, I'm fine. Just breathe and calm down first, I was just surprised.' Inhaling through her nose, she let out her breath before bowing her head in greeting.
"Welcome, Chosen One." The guards bowed deeply in return, side-glaring at Azarios before taking their attention back to Gwendolyn. "We will be showing you the way to the meeting room with the Gods from here. Please, if you’d follow us."
"B-b-by my–by myself?" Her less hoarse speech came out, causing the guards to look at her in worry.
"That's right. Do not worry, we were given orders to take extra care of you." Gwendolyn's body shook in fear, her memories from the Viewing Room surfacing as those words were similar to the ones the knight who murdered her had said before they departed.
She took a step back, her chest tightening and vision spinning as the guards moved towards her. Gwendolyn could feel tears at the corner of her eyes while her heavy and uneven breathing began to hitch, her hands finding their way to her head and clawing it deeply with her regrowned nails—not even flinching at the pain it emitted as her ears ranged louder when she remembered Sir Gilbert.
'It's all my fault. He's dead because of me...if he wasn't assigned to me, he would still be alive. He's probably cursing me out from the dead, I just know it. I bet he thinks I deserved to die!'

"My Lady..." She flinched and stopped her self-inflicted habit before moving her head to the voice, seeing Azarios had shielded her from the others. "If you'd like, I'll go with you inside." He spoke while keeping his slightly lowered gaze at the guards.
"Azarios," a guard spat in annoyance, "you shouldn't have even stepped foot here to begin with!" Gwendolyn gripped the back of Azarios' cloak tightly, his words calming her chaotic mind for a moment.
"...please let him go with me." Her shrivel voice was soft and her head had hung down low. The guards stared at her surprised by her meek attitude, sighing before reluctantly agreeing with her request.
When the guards had kept their distance, Azarios turned to her and placed a hand onto her shoulder. "Milady, lift your head. Even if your eyes are elsewhere."
The same guard bickered at Azarios for speaking casually to a Chosen One, but both Gwendolyn and Azarios ignored him.
She nodded in understanding, taking several deep breaths while closing her eyes; reopening them when she lifted her head with a face devoid of emotions.
She stared at the guards chest rather than their eyes, and had started to follow them after the guards looked over at one another concerned, nodding once as they felt a drop of sweat rolling down their forehead. "Wait! What about me?" Lola complained. "I wanna go in to~o!"
"You are not allowed entry since you were demoted, Lola." The kinder guard looked at her sympathetically. Feeling herself about to cry at how she was already being treated differently, Lola shouted towards the mixed haired man. "Azarios you bastard! Take me with you!!" Azarios turned his head in her direction only to stick his tongue at her and looked away, causing Lola to become embarrassed as she stubbornly walked away.

Gwendolyn stayed close behind Azarios who stayed a bit farther away from the guards. She couldn't tell if it was because the two guards were hostile towards him, or if he knew she was uncomfortable with them escorting her.
Gwendolyn gently tugged on Azarios’ sleeve to grab his attention, and once she did she suddenly became nervous for a moment until his words from earlier helped calm her down again. She looked up at Azarios with an exhausted small smile. “Thank you for helping me.”
He nodded with the same blank expression, but she could see his eyes soften at her. “It’s my pleasure, Chosen One.”
Knitting her brows together, Gwendolyn gave a long sigh that helped relax her once again tense shoulders. “You may call me Gwendolyn,” she spoke a little louder so the ruder guard from ahead was able to hear her clearly, “or Gwen, since I know you can only speak at a certain limit.”
Watching the rude guard shake as he momentarily stopped, Gwendolyn stared at his back apathetically. ‘She’s allowing that filth to call her by name!? Hah! Ridiculous.’ Calming himself down, the guard continued walking with a prideful smirk. ‘It doesn’t matter. Once she finds out the truth of what he’s done, she’s not going to want to go anywhere near him!’

“How did you know about my limit?”
Shrugging her shoulders, she grinned playfully. “I’m occasionally over observant, and you weren’t exactly being subtle about it.” Seeing a mischievous glint in his eyes, Gwendolyn couldn’t help but to give a short chuckle. “Perhaps it’s because you witnessed my life from beginning to end, but I feel very comfortable around you...and thank you, for not judging me on how I lived before.”
Azarios’ eyes stared at her pitifully, knowing the meaning behind her words. “How you lived was not, nor ever your fault, Gwendolyn.”
“...thank you, but it’s hard to think it wasn’t partially my fault. I didn’t even have the courage to stop it from getting this worse.” 

“It's hard to have courage when being beaten into submission.” She stared at Azarios with watered eyes, her chest tightening at his words not out of a harrowing discomfort that she's been accustomed too, but out of pure foreign joy.
'That’s right. My life was full of awful unnecessary hardships now that I really think about it. If it wasn’t for Azarios showing me my brother, cousin, and others who had really cared about me, I would’ve been thinking that I deserved to die since I thought I was all alone and no one would notice my absence.’ Unable to stop a genuine smile that reached the corners of her eyes, Gwendolyn chuckled before speaking. “That’s very true!” Her steps felt lighter than usual, as if a chain that weighed against her ankle broke into pieces.
Azarios wanted to smile with her when he saw her face glow, seeing how she’s gaining a bit of confidence now. However all he could do was give two thumbs up while trying with all his might to show his enthusiasm through his eyes.

Upon reaching their destination, Gwendolyn’s body naturally tensed at the double doors that oozed the same radiating–but much stronger, silver aura compared to outside. Knowing there had to be more than one God inside. No matter how much she kept repeating in her mind that she was fine, her body refused to listen.

She shook uncontrollably from fear; believing for a moment that she would be receiving divine punishment. "It'll be okay Gwen. You're not in trouble."

Her glazed over petrified eyes stared at him pleadingly, while her broken voice was soft, almost a whisper. "How can you be so sure?"
Azarios placed his hand on her shoulder, feeling a calming warmth radiate from him as Gwen’s body slowly began to stop shaking. “Believe me, I know. And if you were, you’d know.”
Snorting a chuckle at his attempt to cheer her up, Gwen slowly breathed in and out when the kinder guard took notice of her being ready. “Thank you, Azarios.”