When Alex and the other opened their eyes again, they were inside a big hall; there were many statues inside the hall, one of them looked like Goddess Mea. The other statues were probably goddesses like Mea. There were male statues as well, maybe some Gods.
People were waiting for them as though they knew they would come; many of them looked like guards, they wore silver armors while carrying swords and spears. The remaining people looked like religious people; leading them was a beautiful priestess, she had blue hair and blue eyes; looking at them, she welcomes the eight.
''Welcome, Otherworlders. We have been waiting for you. An oracle coming from Goddess Mea announced your arrival. I'm the priestess in charge of this temple, and my name is Priscilla. We are honored to have you here. You must be tired. I will show you your respective room. We will talk tomorrow. Please follow me. I will lead the way."
After saying this, Priscilla started advancing, Alex and others followed her, shortly after each one of them got a room, and now Alex was inside his room.
The room itself was pretty simple, clean with a desk, two chairs, one bed, and a bathroom. The bed was not big. Alex touched it to see if the material used to make the bed was hard or soft. Strangely, it was not different from Earth's bed.
Alex sat on the bed pondering, but then suddenly, someone knocked on the door. He stood up, went towards the door, and opened it. Standing in front of him was a maid, green hair and light green eyes. She could be considered a beauty by Earth's standards.
She bowed before asking Alex if he would like to have his dinner now or later. Alex dismissed her, saying he wasn't hungry, he would call her if he needed something. She bowed before leaving.
After closing the door, he sat on his bed once again in silence. After a few minutes, he summoned his Gift. Two guns appear in his hand. Alex decided to check each one of them to see if he had missed something.
'Well, to tell the truth, I just wanted to see if I could unseal it.' He mumbled before proceeding to check the guns.
He checked the silver gun, which looks like a Desert Eagle 50 EA (RAE-713 IMI Desert Eagle Mark XIX Speedloader). There was a carving on the gun, he checked the whole gun, and suddenly he noticed something, there was a cross-shaped carving on the hand of the gun. It resembles a Christian cross without Jesus on it. He did not know what this represents, but maybe it has some religious meaning. Alex decided to test something. So, he cut his finger and dripped his blood on the silver gun, expecting some reaction, but nothing happened; he ended up disappointed.
Having failed to notice anything special about the silver gun apart from the carving, Alex decided to check the second gun; maybe there will be a reaction, he thought. The second gun was entirely black and looked like a Taurus 44 Raging Hunter .44 Remington Magnum Revolver, he did the same thing with the black gun, but nothing happened.
How can he survive in this new world without his gift? He wondered maybe he should use a sword in the meantime. Let's try that later. Alex decided to try another weapon while his Gift was sealed; maybe later, he may find a way to unseal it.
Before sending the two guns back, he decided to check the hand of the black gun; he was astonished when he looked at the carving on the hand of the black gun. He felt a chill running down his spine looking at that carving. What was drawn was a skeleton wearing a black robe with a hood; in his right hand was a black scythe while his left hand was extended towards Alex as if he was asking him to come closer. This carving looked like a reaper from hell; it gave an ominous feeling.
Alex quickly sent the two back and went to sleep, thinking about his next course of action.
•••••
The next day in the morning, the sun was high in the sky.
Alex woke up and did some light exercises.
After finishing, he took a bath and got dressed in casual pants and a shirt left on his table by the maid. The quality of these clothes was not bad. He decided to head out.
Stepping outside his room, Alex observed his surroundings; the temple was pretty big, judging by the number of rooms here; apart from Alex's room, there were ten rooms when he roughly counted, there were lots more rooms after their rooms.
After walking for about a few minutes, Alex coincidentally met Maria and Sakuya; Luna seemed not with them. Alex greeted Maria.
"Hi! Maria, how are you feeling? Did you sleep well?"
Maria smiled before answering.
"It was pretty good. Thank you for your concern. What about you? I know that you must have thought about your Gift and what Leonardo and others had said. Don't worry, I believe in you; even without your Gift, you can survive, and I don't believe that your Gift is useless. You will become stronger, and I do not doubt it."
Alex knew that it was her way to cheer him up, there may not be any profound meaning behind what she just said, but he was happy hearing it.
''Well, Leonardo and others were jealous, no need to take them seriously, people always fear the unknown,'' Sakuya told him.
''That's true. Well, it doesn't matter what the four think; I have already decided on my goal.'' Alex said he had never taken Leonardo or others' words seriously.
''That's the spirit. Let's have a match one day.'' Sakuya suddenly asked.
Alex was surprised, ''Okay, but there will be a condition.''
''Oh? Do tell.'' Sakuya said, amused.
Smiling mysteriously, Alex replied, ''You will know it later. For now, let's go; others may be waiting for us.''
Maria smiled after hearing Alex's words, Sakuya pouted.
Maria and Sakuya exchanged glances before nodding, and the two followed after Alex, who was going in toward the big hall where priestess Priscilla and others were waiting for them.