Wind Spirit Ancient Temple

After we had discovered what seemed to be the final gate before the real mission would begin, me, Crafty and Red Wolf headed back to the rest of the party who were still recuperating, in the space after the door room, to inform them that we have indeed found the location.

After our leader heard this, he wasted no time and spurred everybody on their feet. Whilst I was away with the other two, Drake seemed to have regained consciousness but he seemed out of it, almost depressed. I didn't bother striking up conversation to ask him about it, and instead watched over the rest of the group getting ready to follow us back to the lair. Luckily, Widow seemed to have recovered enough as well and in the spare time that we had when everyone else was rallying themselves, she healed my foot. Her gentle hands slowly caressed my foot, massaging it and whispering some sort of chant. A Xanadu colour washed over my foot in a warming sensation as it wrapped my foot with care and generosity. A tender and welcoming feeling.

I wrapped my foot in bandages that had been passed onto me by Widow and stood firm. My foot no longer felt pain or discomfort that popped up before. I was very appreciative of her deed, and rewarded her with the only thing I had, my smile and an earnest thanks.

The rest of the party had was once more mobilised and prepared to set out. Our leader ordered the three of us to lead the way to the final destination.

So just like that, we had done as ordered and took command as the navigators of the party. Everyone followed eagerly, all looking prepared to finish this once and for all. So was I, to be honest. I couldn't exactly look upon on this and recount it as a pleasant memory. Or maybe me I can? I'm not sure. But if we get this mission done successfully, I think I might. After all, I've gained their trust and proved my worth. Which was going to be arguably the most challenging part about this.

After a short while, us three, without issue, escorted the rest of the group to the doorstep of the gate. Our leader carefully inspected the gate before confirming this is indeed the correct place. I don't exactly know what he was checking for or what could have told him this was the lair a hundred percent, but that no longer mattered to me. I had one goal, and that's all I was going to focus on.

"Ok everyone, huddle around here." Our leader said in a hush, his index finger gently placed across his lips telling us to keep our noise to a pin drop. "We have finally arrived at this destination, the one we had been working tirelessly to get to. Now there is only one thing left to do before we can leave this cave and return home." He looked towards me with deep eyes, a hint of hesitance lurked amongst them as well as a an ick of fear, or what seemed like it.

Though it could just be my eyes being wary after this time. I am fairly exhausted after all.

"Blank. This is the main thing we brought you here for. Now look up above the door, all the way up there." He placed one of his arms along my shoulder and slid his other arm slowly in an upwards motion that moved at the same pace my eyes did. I quickly located what he was trying to imply to me.

"Holes."

"That's right Blank. We need you to fit through that hole, enter the lair and retrieve the eggs. You ready to do this?" His rough, blistered hand patted my chest with a slight tremor in his movements, his saliva seemed fairly hard to swallow for himself. Is our leader in a bad condition by some chance? I guess it's all the more reason to finish this quicker.

"I would like to ask a few questions about this, if that's alright?"

"Go ahead boy. This mission is dangerous so I think you deserve to know full well what you are getting yourself into."

"Thank you. Firstly, why do we not use the front door?"

"It'd be rather challenging to open a door of this magnitude without breaking it down, and that would most certainly alert the Giant Earthworms."

"Second. Why can I not just create a hole for us by reshaping the earth in the wall?"

"Giant Earthworms are sensitive when it comes to any mana activity, therefore it's best you don't use magic when you enter or even before you enter, unless you want them to kill you for sure."

"Ok. I think I get the gist of it all know, but one last question. How am I getting up there and getting back out?

Skull face then proceeded to remove his backpack from his back, and withdrew a long thick rope that he pulled over his neck.

"This is how. We'll attach the rope to the the ceiling using a hook. Then once you are inside, we will remove the hook and throw over the rope through the hole. Obviously not all of it. Then once you are ready to start taking the eggs out and are ready to leave, tug the rope twice to alert us. One of us will be holding the rope at all times and then we'll just pull you in. Sound alright?" He shot me a toothy smile with a thumbs up. So uncharacteristic. Or maybe this was his soft side? Him trying to be nice to me?

"Well I guess I don't really have choice with the method do I?"

"Unfortunately not. We probably could think of another way of getting you in there, but we may not have what we would need. It's most safe and practical to use this method. Oh and one more thing. The eggs. They will most likely be near their parents so be careful not to get eaten alive. As for how the eggs look, they look just like normal chicken eggs but white with grey lines in them and they are roughly your size. but don't worry, they're not that heavy. Or so I read anyway."

"Hahahaha." An awkward laugh surrendered itself from my mouth as I scratched my back. "That's reassuring. Thank you."

"No problem kid. Tell us when you are ready and we'll send you over."

I nodded my head and excused myself from our little conversation. I distanced myself from the group and went to take a closer look at the actual holes. "Can I even fit in that?" My concerns leaked out my mouth. I smacked my cheeks, rallying myself up.

Remember, this is your last goal before you can move on! Persevere! For your brother!

I took another five minutes to myself, allowing my thoughts to align and clean themselves up, before announcing I was ready to go.

The whole party gave me words of encouragement and pats on the back as I stood next to our leader, who swung the massive rope, with a hook attached, round and round ready to release it net to the whole in one of the crevices. He held his breath and released the rope with incredible momentum swirling perfectly at the spot and clinging on just as planned.

My feet felt more than they had felt before, as I walked to the rope, as the bottoms scraped and scratched at the surface of the jagged floor. My toes wormed around molesting the grime underneath, my senses felt heightened. Was this because of the adrenaline? I don't know. But I was starting to feel as if I was being dragged into their reality. It clawing at my clothes, trying to drag me in. But it's still missing something.

My right hand placed itself on the rope, firmly grasping it, but then our leader placed his hand on my shoulder, with a slight tremor. Like he was hesitating again, or he was afraid. "Good luck out there kid."

Was he worried for me? I didn't know I had gained their favour this much, but it certainly brought closure to that faltering voice in my head that was telling me they would betray me anyway.

I shook his hand off, and climbed upwards, to the final challenge that I would face. The lair of the Giant Earthworms. The Wind Spirit ancient temple.

I climbed to the top and then unhooked the rope, throwing it down to them. I leaned over the edge looking downwards. A gentle slope awaited me, that would allow me to slide down without taking damage. I throw myself over, using my hands to lean on the graphite slope. My eyes aroused at the scenery of the temple, a breath-taking view that held culture, beauty, elegance, importance, prestige and power, all contained within a single glance.

Though before my mind delves deeper into the architectural beauty at display, I ducked to the side, taking shelter behind a shrine building. Why you may ask? Because of the calamity faced ahead of me. The Giant Earthworms laid slumped over each over, their spikes reminding me of weapons which were stuck in the ground of a battlefield after coming out victorious. The pale skin that was more bland than snow, and it's breath which resembled that of a deep horn being sounded.

"Whew. That was close." I muttered under my breath as I took one more glance making it sure it didn't wake or notice my presence.

I should find high ground so I can scout out where the eggs are exactly. Also it wouldn't be a bad idea to explore this place a little more.

I pass the shrine building, walking behind it, and end up walking out into a street surrounded by shrines and multiple different spots that I had now idea what were for. But one thing I recognised and understood, is the whole temple was some sort of scripture. I mean, ancient langue scattered around walls, floors, statues. It was incredible. The experience of reliving an ancient culture by investigating their remains was thrilling.

I wish I could write. I would have been able to record this possibly fabulous information and discovery, but I had been cursed to not be able to experience the gift of education. This world is awfully cruel. Having no mother or father. Having your brothers body as your own and your brother dead. How will I even go about trying to give his body back to him. Through some sort of possession magic? Ughhhhh! What am I thinking about right now? Focus!!

I wonder around more and more, loosing track of my goal and scolding myself constantly for that fact. I was stuck in endless cycle of that. Eventually I managed to stir myself in the direction of my mission and tried to reach the highest place in the temple. It was a massive building that soared up, decorated in red and gold, eastern styled with it's pristine and elegant look. The problem was, the entrance was directly in front of the view of the Giant Earthworms and whilst they were not awake, I prefer to not enter there possible field of vision. So to get inside the building, I did the obvious thing and found my was to the back of the building and climbed through one of the windows, pushing back it's greenwood shutters. Delicately I plopped my foot down on the ground and to my surprise, even though this building was ancient, it was not run down or squeaky in the slightest.

This saved my efforts of sneaking around on my tiptoes in every building that I entered.

"Right. Now to the very top." I muttered to myself as my eyes tracked a stone ladder upwards. I began climbing it almost immediately, but did not hurry, making sure to make a stop at each floor. You never know what you can find in amazing places like these.

And just as I hoped, I did find something special after all. A stone slab with drawings on it depicting some person receiving a blessing from a wind spirit and getting something else that was written in their language and I couldn't decipher. It didn't elaborate any further, but looked important. Maybe it grants some kind of power? One day I might stumble across this and get some kind of spirit. Or maybe not.

That was the last floor before we reached the top of building. The last floor was an open roof with stone fort balcony that oversaw the whole place. Weapons such as spears and swords were all kept around here, as well as uniforms that bore the colours of green, white and black. I started thinking that this place might not have just been a place to worship the Wind Spirits, but also a stronghold. Maybe there was something even more important in this temple that was worth more than these statues and knowledge?

I carefully stumbled to the edge of the balcony, resting my hands on the walls. My head turned in the direction the slight breeze that was felt on the back of my neck and in this silence I even heard the waves gently crashing. It was a beautiful sound. One that ripped me away from reality. My tired eyes persevered as I searched all around for the eggs.

"There." I whispered to myself. My eyes capturing the location, just behind the Earthworms, and slightly north east to them as well.

I ripped myself away from the view and climbed down the ladder hurriedly, missing a couple steps occasionally. I ran around the whole temple, trying to use as many things for cover that I could whilst I approached the eggs carefully. I couldn't really see what they were in from that distance, but now that I was peering at them from a corner only a few meters away, I realised they were placed in a large fountain, one that possessed no running water.

I turned away from the scene, my back pressed against the wall and my breathing becoming heavier. I tried to stabilise my breathing before I gave anything away.

It's now, or never!

I finally took a step out into the open, sweat trickling down my back. I hurried to the eggs.

They really are my size! Can I even pick it up?

I steadied myself picking up with both hands exerting my whole strength in a second and... it went flying in the air.

FUCK!

I sprawl around trying to catch it and barely manage it.

I didn't think it'd be that light. I know I was tole they were but I thought they were exaggerating. I could take two at a time with me.

I holstered both above my head and jogged back to the spot I came from. I tugged on the rope sharply and was immediately responded with a pulling force that accelerated me upwards. I climbed into the hole but didn't jump down to them.

"Here's the first one." I muttered to them dropping the egg on them. I should have warned them, but luckily they managed to catch it.

"I'll be back with the rest soon." I snickered wiping underneath my nose and jumped back down into the temple. This time I didn't tug on the rope immediately but instead piled them up near the entrance. I didn't bother throwing the other egg over with the first one either, and waited to do it with the rest of them.

Ok! That's all the eggs! Now to just get them out of here.

I tugged on the rope the second time and began haling the eggs over, one by one.

"Ok, that's all of them." I whispered loudly from the other side of the whole.

I then tugged one more time to signal them to pull me over. Instantly I felt the motion pull me upwards onto the holes ledge. I smiled at them whilst leaning back, but then a piece of rock crashed in the temple behind me. I turned around, and to my fear, they started waking. Their terror pink skin, massive spike exuded from their body that carried poison, and it's mouth which was littered with blades capable of ripping through one's life.

I turned back to them still smiling and uttered, "I think we should get goin-" My eyes blinked for a second but our leader jumped to the hole grabbing onto the spikes from the ceiling...

and pushed me.

Skull face pov:

I felt bad after how we treated Blank. I knew he wasn't of the age required to be an adventurer, but I thought it'd be alright to exploit him. I would forget about him just like that, and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it. That's what we had done till this point. But because of the things we have done to him... I'm fearful of my future. We treated him harshly and exploited him. I think he even realised that. He tried to prove his worth to us. Which he did. But his performance lit a spark, that slowly burned into a fire. He was more capable that I realised. At his age to be that competent with magic and be able to have that much power was unheard of. I was worried that if he lived, he would take revenge on us... on me. I decided I needed to take action, to secure my survival and everyone else's in my party.

The fact that the Giant Earthworms woke up, was just the last push I needed to go through with this.

That's right! So we can survive we need a distraction! That's my excuse! I had no other choice! He was going to try to kill me in the future anyway, right?! I'M RIGHT, AREN'T I?!!

This is the last burden I will allow this job to create. One that I will carry even after death. After this mission, I will retire from adventuring, settle down and have a family...

And try to atone for a lifetime's worth of cruelty.

I hear Blank calling out to us as he tugs the rope. Crafty starts pulling on it and I see his face emerge from over the wall as he sits himself on the hole's ledge. He hears a crashing stone behind him and calmly tells us they're arriving. Still with a smile on his face.

Why are you smiling? Don't make this harder for me!!

His smile was like a child's. Innocent, trusting, kind, full of excitement, and sheltered.

I direct the source strength in my body to my legs, and explode of the floor up to the ceiling near the whole, where I grabbed a spike that dripped from the ceiling. Blank's face was confused, but he was still relaxed. He allowed himself to blink, and I forcefully push him backwards. His eyes widen in shock, confused. Why? He was probably thinking.

I whisper to him as I watch him fall. "Sorry kid... I really am."

I jump down and sever the rope. The rest of my party also look confused.

"Get moving, now!"

But lead-"

"Get MOVING, NOW!" An outburst of rage coming from me. We each take an egg, and begin sprinting back to the exit of the cave.