Becoming A God In Another World With My Crush

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None of them spoke, not Eli, who sat with his staff across his lap and one hand pressed over his wound. Not Iris, who was still gripping the scorched branch as if the Shadreks might rise from their ash and attack them again and definitely not Xander, who hadn't moved since the girl had spoken.

The stranger took a single step forward, careful and cautiously, her voice was soft. Too soft for someone who had just scorched monsters into memory.

"May I?" she asked.

Xander blinked. "Uh... may you what?"

She raised her hand, hovering it just above her own collarbone as though mimicking the spot on him.

"Your chest. Please," she said.

Xander glanced at Iris, then at Eli-who didn't intervene.

The crystal under his ribs hadn't pulsed in minutes. Maybe it was tired too. Maybe he was imagining this entire moment and any second now, he'd wake up choking on reality.

Still, he nodded.

The girl stepped closer. Her cloak shifted slightly as she raised one hand. She wasn't tall, barely reaching his shoulder.

Her fingers brushed the space just above his heart the she gasped, her hand jerked back her hand trembled. Her lips parted but no sound came for a full breath. Then, barely above a whisper: "You're really him... the Kaelhi."

"I mean... yeah," Xander mumbled, scratching the back of his neck, still feeling very uncomfortable with her "Most people just start with a handshake."

"I...can't believe I'm standing in your presence," she breathed. "Your almighty presence-!"

Iris snorted softly. "...almighty? He mostly just whines and bleeds."

"Hey!"

The girl smiled faintly, but her gaze never left Xander."I felt it the moment I arrived," she said. "You must come with me at once," the girl said suddenly, her voice firmer than before. "There isn't much time."

Xander blinked. "Uh... come with you where, exactly?"

"To the Temple of Iasora." She stepped closer, hopeful. "My mistress awaits you."

Iris moved before she even processed the words-stepping half in front of him like a shield drawn out of instinct.

"Whoa whoa woah, thanks for saving us and all, " she said, trying her best to sound polite. "But we're not going anywhere with someone we just met in the middle of the night. Ever hear of stranger-danger?"

Xander blinked at her. "Not the warmest thank-you, Iris."

'Stranger-danger? She looks harmless.' Xander thought, then he remembered what had happened to the Shadreks immediately she arrived.

She shot him a glare like 'shut up, you're welcome.'

The girl faltered under the stare but didn't back down. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, bowing her head. "I didn't...mean to alarm you."

Then she straightened-palms folded together as if rehearsed. "My name is Alyhana Radelthy. I am an apprentice priestess of the Temple of Iasora. I was sent to find you."

Iris looked her over again, eyes narrowed. "Apprentice priestess. Right. You got ID or something?"

Xander made a noise somewhere between a snort and a cough. "What, like she's supposed to be carrying a holy passport?"

Eli took a slow step forward, the weight of silence pulling down the camp again. His voice, when it came, was steady-but edged in suspicion.

"Show me your emblem, Priestess."

Alyhana blinked. "O-oh-of course."

She reached into the folds of her cloak and pulled out a delicate chain, revealing a golden emblem that shimmered like molten sun. The symbol etched onto it was an open eye surrounded by flame-tipped wings. She held it out with both hands, her fingers trembling slightly.

Eli took it with a kind of reverent hesitation, turning it over, tracing one rune with his thumb.

Then he dropped to one knee, shocking both Xander and Iris, with his head bowed low. "Forgive me. I did not recognize the Speaker of the Gods."

Alyhana gasped and nearly dropped her flame torch with a blush dusting her cheeks and her brown eyes wide. "Please-d-don't kneel! I'm not worthy-I'm just an apprentice! I haven't even undergone my formal binding!"

She looked like she wanted to melt straight into the moss. Xander blinked. "Wait. Speaker of what now?"

Iris tilted her head. "Hold on-you mean like a literal speaker? For the gods? Like... they speak to you?"

"More like divine mouthpiece," Eli murmured, still kneeling. "Even apprentices carry authority."

Alyhana shook her head quickly, face going red. "I mostly clean sanctum floors and study old rituals, I promise."

Xander looked at Iris. Iris looked at Xander. "...Are we supposed to bow, too?" he whispered. Iris shrugged.

The emblem glowed faintly in Eli's palm as he said, "You have been sent by the divine," he said quietly. "Which means this meeting is no accident.

Alyhana took the emblem From Eli and held it to her chest like a prayer made real, then slowly, she turned to Xander again with her eyes soft and shinning. "I can't believe I'm meeting you, in my lifetime...." she whispered. "I've prayed to you since I was a child. You're more than a prophecy. You're... hope."

Xander froze when she stepped closer, close enough that the firelight caught in her lashes. She took both of his hands into hers gently, "My life-my soul-is yours for eternity," she said softly. "I.am forever devoted to you."

Xander was internally screaming in five different frequencies. He gave Iris a wide-eyed side glance like please intervene before I pass out, but Iris looked far too entertained and amused to help.

"Um..." He gently, gently pulled his hands free, trying to smile without combusting. "That's... incredibly sweet and whatever. But I'm really just a guy from Crestwood Heights who barely passed algebra and still doesn't know what half this crystal stuff even does."

Alyhana tilted her head, confused. "Crest...wood?"

"It's a school," Iris offered, deadpan. "There were lockers and full of crazy teenagers."

"Oh," Alyhana murmured, clearly trying to pretend she understood.

"I mean, I'm flattered...really," Xander added quickly. "Really. But I don't think anyone should give me their soul without at least seeing me trip over something and fall to my death first."

"You do not have to understand," Alyhana said softly. "The best heroes all through history did not know what they were doing as well."

Xander opened his mouth. Closed it. Tried again, and realized he had nothing to say to that.

Alyhana took a steady breath, smoothing the folds of her cloak as if it would help untangle the next words from her chest.

"My Mistress, the High Priestess of Iasora...received a vision two nights ago," she said. "She saw a flame return to the realm. Her words were, 'The Kaelhi walks again, and the earth remembers him.'"

That quiet sat heavy on their camp again. "So she sent me," Alyhana continued, her voice softer now. "To find you and bring you."

Before Xander could respond, Eli stepped forward, tone clipped and focused. "How far is the temple from here?"

"The ruins of Iasora are close," she said. "A day's walk, if we traveled the road. But I know a faster way."

She turned toward the forest, pointing toward the east, where the trees stood thicker and darker.

"There's a path through the roots. A hidden road used by the priesthood. It'll take us near the lower sanctum before the sun's next rise."

Iris raised an eyebrow. "You're saying we're cutting through the creepy forest instead of taking the open road?"

"It's the only way," Alyhana said gently. "Especially now."

She stepped forward, eyes flicking to Xander's chest again-then to his face.

"You've swallowed the Veylith Crystal," she said. Not a question. Just fact.

Eli tied off his shoulder with a strip of cloth from his robes. Iris repacked her satchel with trembling hands. Xander just stood there staring at Alyhana, the short pretty girl with shoulder length light pink hair and brown eyes.

He swallowed hard. 'How does she know that I swallowed the crystal? How did she find us exactly when the Shadreks hit? And how did the fire answer only to her?'

Alyhana turned toward the treeline, lifting her torch. "W-we should move," she said. "The eastern pass gets colder the closer it pulls toward the ruins. If we wait, the mist will cover the road."

Eli nodded, his staff lighting faintly once more. "We'll follow your lead."

They doused the rest of the campfire and started moving, boots crunching softly over scorched leaves and dirt as they went in silence.

Xander stepped closer to Iris, voice low. "Can we even trust her?"

Iris didn't look at him right away, her eyes were scanning the trees, always two steps ahead as did her landmarking in case they needed to escape...they would know where to run. Her voice, when it came, was quiet. "I don't know."

She finally glanced at him, brow furrowed. "But she burned those things to dust without flinching, knew about the crystal inside you, knows a shortcut to the Temple and bowed like she meant it when she called you Kaelhi."

"So that's a maybe," Xander muttered.

She sighed. "It's a 'we don't have a better option than to trust her'"