Harem System In A fantasy World - Chapter 118: The goddess

Chapter 118: The goddess

“Come,” The Holy Mother said calmly.

Solara followed without question.

The passage beyond was nothing like the cathedral’s radiant halls. Gone were the golden trims and holy murals. These walls were dull grey—smooth, sleek, and utterly unadorned. There were no carvings, no runes, and no symbols of faith.

What was more unsettling, though—

There was no visible end. The corridor stretched forward into a vanishing point swallowed by distance. The two women walked in silence.

Their footsteps echoed softly against the seamless grey surfaces. No torches lined the walls, yet the space was faintly illuminated by an ambient, sourceless glow. Time lost meaning here.

They walked.

And walked.

And walked.

An entire hour passed.

Yet neither showed fatigue.

Solara did not dare ask how such a passage could exist beneath the cathedral—how it could stretch so impossibly far within the confines of the holy city. Some secrets were not meant to be questioned.

If the holy mother wanted to tell her, she would, of not, well, she wouldn’t ask.

At long last, a faint light appeared in the distance.

As they stepped forward, the corridor opened into a vast circular chamber.

The contrast was striking.

The walls and ceiling were the same dull grey as the passage, forming a perfect, seamless dome. But at the far end of the chamber—directly opposite the entrance—stood a golden altar.

Unlike the sleek emptiness surrounding it, the altar shimmered with intricate carvings and divine inscriptions, radiant and majestic.

And at the very center of the room—

There was a circular pond.

The water was impossibly still, like polished glass. Its surface reflected the ceiling in flawless symmetry.

Within the pond swam two koi fish.

One was pure white, its scales glowing faintly like moonlight.

The other was pitch black, absorbing the dim light around it like a moving void.

They swam in slow, graceful circles around one another, never touching, never straying apart.

Solara felt her breath steady unconsciously.

The air in this room was… heavy.

Not oppressive, but heavy enough for her to feel like something was pressing down on her chest.

The Holy Mother walked along the edge of the pond, her reflection gliding beside her across the water’s surface. She extended her hand toward the golden altar.

An urn resting atop it trembled slightly.

Then, as if pulled by invisible threads, it lifted into the air and floated across the chamber, landing gently in her outstretched palm.

She turned and handed it to Solara.

“Draw water,” she instructed.

Solara stepped carefully to the pond’s edge and knelt.

The white and black koi paused briefly as she approached, their eyes seeming almost aware.

She dipped the urn into the pond.

The water filled it without so much as a ripple being formed.

When she rose and turned back, the Holy Mother’s gaze was steady.

“Drink.”

Solara did not hesitate.

She raised the urn to her plump lips and slowly poured the entire contents down her throat. The water was neither cold nor warm. It had no taste.

Yet the moment it slid past her tongue—Her pupils contracted sharply. A violent tremor ran through her body.

Light and darkness exploded within her mind.

For a split second, she saw—

A woman bathed in blinding radiance.

Then—

The same woman, kneeling in filth, eyes burning with hatred. Her heart pounded violently against her ribs. The koi fish in the pond began circling faster.

Solara staggered slightly but did not fall. The Holy Mother watched her without moving. Without comfort. Without concern in her gaze.

“Good,” she said quietly.

The pond’s surface rippled for the first time.

And then it suddenly erupted with chains. The illusory, radiant chains tore upward from the depths as if something imprisoned below had lashed out. They shimmered with blinding white light, yet veins of black ran through them like cracks in glass.

They shot toward Solara.

Even as her body reacted on instinct—stumbling backward, her golden hair flaring behind her—she made no sound.

The first chain wrapped around her wrist. The second coiled around her other arm. Two more snapped around her ankles. The final chain shot straight for her throat. It locked around her neck with a silent, luminous snap.

For a heartbeat, the chamber glowed so brightly it seemed a second sun had ignited underground.

Then—

The chains vanished, gone as if they had never existed. Solara remained standing for half a second. Then the pain came.

It felt as though her entire body was being torn apart and rebuilt at the same time. Her bones felt like they were cracking and reshaping. Her veins pulsed like molten metal was being forced through them. Her mana core twisted violently, expanding, compressing, tearing itself apart, and knitting back together again.

Her divine blessing screamed.

Her body arched backward.

Her fingers clawed into the air.

Still—

She made no sound.

Her teeth ground together so hard that blood seeped from her gums. Her jaw trembled violently. Tears streamed down her cheeks, not from emotion—but from pure, unbearable agony.

The koi fish swam in widening circles, faster and faster, their movements stirring the pond into spirals of white and black.

Minutes passed.

Then more.

Then more.

An hour.

An entire hour of torment.

Solara’s consciousness flickered repeatedly, threatening to sink into merciful darkness—but each time she dragged herself back.

She would not faint.

She would not scream.

She would endure.

Not once did she question.

Not once did resentment surface.

If the Holy Mother had deemed it necessary—

Then it was necessary.

Even if her body felt like it was being torn apart and rewritten at its most fundamental level.

At the exact moment the hour completed—

The pain stopped, but not gradually. It stopped instantly. Like a blade severing a thread.

Solara’s body went limp. She collapsed forward onto the cold, grey floor, unconscious.

The chamber fell silent. The pond returned to stillness. The koi resumed their calm, eternal dance. The Holy Mother stood unmoving for a long moment.

Then she exhaled softly. A quiet, almost human sigh.

She walked toward Solara’s fallen form and crouched beside her. With gentle fingers, she brushed a strand of golden hair from the young woman’s face.

“I’m sorry, child,” she murmured.

Her voice was no longer motherly.

It was calm and almost melancholic.

“But I had to do this for your own good.”

Her gaze lowered slightly, something colder flickering beneath her composure.

“Even if what I saw was something you chose of your own free will… I shall not allow it.”

Her fingers traced Solara’s cheek almost tenderly.

“Never.”

She straightened.

Then snapped her fingers.

Solara’s body dissolved into particles of light.

Gone.

The chamber remained. The pond remained. The koi continued swimming in perfect harmony, as if nothing had happened at all.