24/06/2022
Where will the adventure take our heroes next? Keep reading!
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Chapter 2
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The path that led our heroes into the mountains was a narrow one and looked like nobody had used it for a long time. Here and there, young plants sprouted through the once well-trodden trail, plants that Matemhain strongly advised them not to step on, so as "not to anger the forest spirits."
When the heroes reached the stairway with its tall gateway that had no gates, they heard a cry, mixed with the sound of a vase shattering. Without saying a word, they ran towards it, completely forgetting to take a bow of respect before entering the sacred place.
The sunlight dispersed through the flowers of the blooming sakura tree behind the temple and created a halo of light. The falling leaves looked peaceful, but at the same time, they appeared a little menacing when one caught a glimpse of a leaf out of the corner of one's eye. Brunhild kept turning to look at every rustle made by the leaves and was constantly mumbling to herself something about "spirits following us from the village."
Everything here seemed to have two sides, one creepy and one calm, scary and enticing at the same time. It seemed as if the monastery stood on the threshold between the two worlds, between reality and the spirit world. Setting foot on the last step, Ingrid, who was the last in the group, shivered and rubbed her shoulders:
"Ohh… This temple gives me the chills," she said in a hushed voice.
The others didn't say anything, but it was clear that they agreed with the Captain. They began looking around, hoping to find at least one living soul there. But aside from the shattered vase on the path to the temple entrance, there was no sign of any human presence. The inside of the temple smelled damp. On the walls there hung faded tapestries that were decorated with characters, the meaning of which the Captains didn't understand. They gave the place an oppressively grim atmosphere. Their once-bright red hue had turned into a bleak greyish tone, almost as if the color itself had absorbed the layers of dust. The vases that stood in rows along the walls were covered in cracks, either from age or humidity, and that only increased the dismal feeling of the place. A shadow flitted past in front of Brunhild, making the girl turn to look at the entrance doors, which immediately closed right before her eyes. Brunhild let out a cry, which made the others in the group jolt from the sudden break in the silence that filled the empty hallways of the monastery.
"I suppose this could be viewed as a greeting of some kind," Matemhain chuckled, calm as he always was, and he proceeded further into the temple.
A flash of red lit up the place, bringing the color back to this holy place, just for a moment. In this flash of light, the table in front of the Buddha statue appeared to be covered with food that, apparently, only Bernard noticed, but he didn't think anything of this momentary vision. The marksman was very sceptical about such things.
Despite Matemhain's warning to stay together, when Ingrid caught a glimpse of a white dress behind a column and heard a woman's laughter coming from the corridor, she ran towards it in the hope of finding someone. Brunhild shot a guilty look towards the wizard and immediately followed Ingrid, not wishing to let her go alone.
Matemhain could only hastily cast a protective spell before both girls disappeared from view. He and Bernard had nothing else to do but head into the opposite wing. This part of the temple looked a lot more decayed. The paint was flaking off the walls in some places, and the floor was covered in rubble from the crumbling ceiling. It seemed that the place hadn't been cleaned for at least a hundred years.
As if from nowhere, a shadow crept across the walls, looking nothing at all like the shadows cast by the two men. The sound of footsteps that came from the shadow was followed by a barely audible rustling, as if something was following them, trying not to give itself away.
Turning to the source of one of these sounds, Matemhain saw a monster rushing toward him. It had only one eye and vaguely resembled a monk in a torn robe. The monster was closing fast, leaving only moments before it reached them.
"Bernard, shoot it!" Matemhain shouted, creating a transparent wall between the two of them and the monster. The wall bought them a few more seconds to prepare for the monster's attack. Working together, with arrows and fire spells, Matemhain and Bernard managed to bring the creature down.
A weak glimmer on the farthest wall in the room caught Matemhain's attention. The light was coming from the runes that were engraved in the wall itself. Tracing the runes with his fingers, Matemhain was overwhelmed with visions, and it took him a few seconds to get ahold of himself. They were visions of the past that the wall contained within it.
A story unfolded before Matemhain's eyes. A story in which a young hero who had wandered into this place tricked the demons living here into drinking some magical sake, before chopping off their heads. The temple had been built to cleanse this place from an ancient blight, and the demons had harbored a serious grudge against humans ever since. That's why the temple was deserted and the monks who lived here had turned into terrible monsters.
The wall with the runes turned translucent. Matemhain and Bernard were greeted by a terrifying scene on the other side of the wall: Ingrid and Brunhild were sitting at a huge wooden table along with the demons.
