Chapter 4: Cletus....

Deep within the rugged peaks of a desolate mountain range lay a cursed temple. A haunting monument to old forgotten gods and ancient rituals to old and wretched to be tolerated by nature. Well luckily, nature here was twisted beyond madness.

It perched precariously on the highest peak f rugged mountain range, its crumbling stone walls were weathered by centuries of relentless winds and black ice storms, shrouded in an eternal cloak of foreboding weather and dark fog.

Upon approaching the temple, the air would grow heavier with an oppressive aur of unseen entities, distant howls of unseen creature's echo through the jagged cliffs.

Dark clouds swirled ominously overhead, casting a perpetual shadow over the desolate landscape below.

Lightning flashed intermittently, illuminating the temple's silhouette against the dark greyish menacing sky, as thunder rumbled like the trumpets to welcome the opening of heaven's gates.

The temple itself was a labyrinth of crumbling corridors and dilapidated chambers, its once grandiose architecture now marred by decay and neglect from the gods it sought to worship. Any aura of scared divinity had left its walls, leaving it as an empty shell of its former glory. Glory that struck fear and awe in all that knew of its existence.

Sinister symbols were etched onto the temple's stones walls, their meanings lost to time but even now they still radiated an unmistakable sense of malevolence. Torch scones lined the passageways, their flickering flames cast eerie shadows that danced along the uneven floor of the temple.

Within the heart of the temple lay a cursed altar, a macabre centerpiece of dark rituals and unspeakable sacrifices. Blood had stained the ancient stone of this sinister altar, a grim and horrifying reminder of the horrors that had transpired within these walls.

Whispers seemed to emanate from the very stones that formed the foundation of this ancient secret, voices of restless spirits condemned to wander the cursed hall for eternity.

Legends spoke of a powerful curse that would befall any who dared to disturb the menacing state of sanctity of the temple, condemning them to suffer the same fate as those who came before.

Many have sought the secrets hidden within its walls, drawn by tales of untold riches and forbidden knowledge, only to vanish without a trace, their fates forever intertwined with the cursed temple on the high-rise mountain.

Yet even now a silhouette could be seen moving in the dark corridors of this cursed temple. He moved in wobbly manner like a person, carrying a great weight. With seemingly no semblance of bones or maybe that is what the untrained eye would tell you. 

If you looked closely to this silhouette, you would notice that every movement it made, was made with great vigor almost a little bit too much vigor. To a point where it had to waste many movements as it moved.

As the silhouette moved closer to one of the eerie torches on the walls in the temple hall, light gradually hit the silhouette's' body.

From head down, his body was exposed to the world. His legs appeared very unusual. They were shaped like that of a beast with no fur. The beast like legs caused this person's legs to curve backwards. Similar to how a beast would look like if it stood on it hind legs. 

Moving up, the body became somewhat normal. Maybe the abnormality was the black silver-grayish shade of his skin. He was dressed in a crudely made beast skin fur skirt to cover his torso, and even that was drenched in putrid smelling blood.

Moving further up along his body one could see densely packed steel like muscles. looking like the curving's of an ancient sculpture. Along the left side of his chest, one would notice faint black tattoos that would flicker from time to time. They were so faint that it would take someone's total attention to be able to even catch a glimpse of their chaotic order. 

Moving up his head one would be able to a white translucent bone like mask that had been fused with the person's face. And although it was almost translucent you could not actually see anything behind the mask. All that you would see was a pale fog circling behind the mask.

In reality, this was part of his face, just like how one would have a nose on one's face, this was the same for him. But its color stood out like a sore thumb against his dark silvery grey skin.

The mask was mostly plain leaving nothing but three deep grooves where the mouth would have been and from time to time, a deep dark light would flash from within the grooves in a randomized sequence, it had no rhyme nor reason, and should you try to do so, your soul would be corrupted.

Moving up, one would be able to see two deep holes where the eyes would have been and that is when the darkness will welcome you.

This would make you wonder, how it was possible for a mask that seemed no less than skin surface thick, could contain such depth in it.

Looking into that darkness one would be able to see that each hole had two irises floating around in an unusual order.

The First Iris was like fractured glass, seven colors of fractured glass. There was a black-gold color, but this color could not be easily seen against the background of the abyss type darkness that surrounded the darkness.

The next colors were a dull grey, a brilliant silver. But those two colors almost blended together, making hard to make out their individuality. The other colors were a deep ruby red, a fierce golden orange, a crystalline electric purple and a deep ghostly white. They surrounded an abyssal black pupil almost like as if they were paying homage that the pupil itself. The seven colors were fractured like glass making the pupil look bizarre.

If you were able to look inside the pupil you would be able to see an ancient character written in a language that had even creation had no inkling about. The character represented ' The First."

This language was the language of the "The Deep Dark" a realm of eldritch horrors and entities. It was called "Eledrachie". This was a language known only by Eldritch entities. No other had the right to even know its name. Or the darkness that they reside in will spill over into creation. Corrupting it to the very roots of Existence.

But good for Creation that this character could not be seen even if this this person wanted to.

The second Iris was different from the first, this one was shaped and looked normal, well normal in terms of the first. This Iris was a black-silver shade with a red-purple thorny ring surrounding it. Its pupil unlike the first was golden in color. Bu this gold was so pale that one would not have been able to see it at first.

On his whole body, his eyes were easily the center of attraction, they were so mesmerizing that they were just a foot short at the realm of divinity.

And yet there was nothing divine about the gaze that they held in them. They could easily draw out one's primal fear, they looked at the world in apathy. Hidden deep within them was untold majesty and superiority that they disdained to show themselves out to the world, like as if it did not deserve their gaze.