Temple Mission

Tristan decided to look at the missions for Level 1. Many were investigative missions that involved exploring a different world, but there were several that were on earth as well. Tristan looked for missions that were in Coastal City and found a few of them. He decided to try a mission.

Mission Level 1.

Investigate abandoned temple rumored to be haunted. Location : ...

Reward : 10 credits + Bonus depending on the reports and evidence.

Tristan looked at this mission and thought it was something he could try out. The weekend, he made an excuse at home of going camping for a couple of days before making his way to the temple in question to investigate.

Tristan was an ordinary person, with no magical skills and so wasn't sure how he would be able to handle the situation, however, from reading the forums he figured that most level 1 missions could be solved without much strength.

As he reached the temple's steps, he made his way through the 500 or so stone carved stairs uphill to the small abandoned temple of an eastern belief. The temple was dilapidated, as if it hadn't been cleaned in years and several of the walls of the temple had cracked.

It was a fairly small temple, and Tristan was surprised that such a temple with a picturesque view of the city existed silently, hidden from people. He walked around observing the area, he didn't really find any hints that the place was haunted.

Since Tristan had decided to camp at the place for the night to observe if there was perhaps any haunting, he set up a tent after exploring around the temple and inside, which had the statue of a standing plump cat.

As the sky darkened, Tristan set up a camp fire and began to rest, looking at the sky. He was tensed because of this mission, but it seemed to be for nought. It didn't appear that the temple was haunted at all.

Suddenly Tristan heard footsteps and looked to his left to see a man dressed up in wooly clothes walk up to him. The temple was fairly remote and he was surprised to see Tristan camping here.

"Friend, how come you are camping here?" The man asked.

Tristan thought for a bit before replying. "I heard that this place was haunted but had really good views of the city and when I came here I found that it was actually a beautiful place to camp. As a camper, who could let go of this opportunity?" He smiled. "What are you doing here sir, you don't even have any gear, you walked here late in the evening?"

The man laughed. "My name is Cory. As you said, there are rumors of this place being haunted. I am what you might call a ghost debunker. I investigate such places to debunk them."

Tristan nodded. "Do you want some coffee? I didn't find anything out of the ordinary either, I was just surprised at why this place was abandoned."

"Apparently, this temple was hit by a mild earthquake that destroyed it and let to several deaths and was thus abandoned. It was a peaceful buddhist temple earlier with several visitors." Cory said.

Just then a weird howling began whistling through the mountain and the wind began rushing in. The trees began swaying wildly and the day had already turned into a moonless dark night.

"Ooooo" A weird wail pierced through the air and the temperature dropped considerably. The man in wooly clothes, Cory, stood up with vigilant eyes. He looked at Tristan, who was also looking around in curiosity. "Young man, it appears things aren't normal here. We should leave."

"What do you mean? Isn't it just the wind creating a howling sound? I thought you were a debunker." Tristan asked.

Cory blinked. "I am indeed a debunker, but when I come across real paranormal things I eradicate them too."

"Ha? Real paranormal things?" Tristan played dumb.

Cory nodded. "I know you won't believe me kid, but the world is more vast than you can imagine. I can feel the presence of a vengeful spirit here." Saying so he took out a paper talisman with an inscription written on it.

Tristan looked on. Suddenly a white ball emerged from thin air, glowing brightly and the howling sounds only got greater.

"Dispel!" Cory shouted as he threw the talisman onto the orb. The talisman glowed brightly and electricity shot out from it which hit the glowing orb. The wails turned painful and became louder.

Suddenly the orb began rotating with rapid speed and the air began forming a vortex underneath the orb, a powerful auditory shriek blasted into the man with wooly clothes, who vomited blood.

He suddenly realized that he wasn't a match for this vengeful spirit and he had been heavily injured as a cold energy rampaged inside his body constantly damaging his organs. Cory fell unconscious.

Tristan, who was shocked by the interchange between Cory and the glowing orb, surprisingly didn't feel threatened by the orb, but seeing the state of Cory did put some fear into his mind. The paranormal truly couldn't be underestimated, he thought to himself.

He carefully stared at the orb, but he did not feel any harmful intent from it. Instead, it felt like the orb was inviting him into the temple. Gulping down the lump in his throat, Tristan followed the floating orb into the temple.

When the orb saw Tristan enter the area and stand before the statue of the cat, the orb went behind the cat onto a broken podium. It suddenly transformed into an 8 or 9 year old girl in a traditional festive outfit, but the girl was white and ethereal like the orb.

The young girl then began performing a traditional eastern ceremonial performance, which Tristan quietly watched, for he sensed earlier that, that was what the orb wanted from him.

When the girl finished performing, she bowed, but her eyes had tears in them. She raised her head to look at Tristan and smiled. She then opened her mouth and mouthed some words, but no sound came out. Tristan, however, understood. The little girl was thanking him.

Tristan then saw a weird scene. The girl began shining like a diamond jewel and then dissipated. The cat statue suddenly opened its mouth, which frightened Tristan, but from its tongue rolled out a shiny silky bead, that landed on Tristan's hand. The cat then dissipated as well.

However, Tristan couldn't care any less about the cat statue at this moment. He looked at the silky bead in his hand with a stunned expression.

Within his vision, he could see a floating text.

[Gratitude of a Remnant Spirit]

[Absorb? Y/N]