It took us three days of fast walk to reach the Northern Temple. It was located under a mountain named the Cursed Soldier. Through it a series of waterfalls ran down to a large lake bellow. The waterfalls, when looked from a distance, displayed a vague shape of a legionary – there was a head with a helmet, arms that held the rectangular shield, a sword, a couple of legs... It was a beautiful sight, but there was also something sinister about it.
My grandmother used to talk to me of these waterfalls. Back in the old days, before the long winter, a soldier raped and killed a local girl whose grandmother was a witch. So the witch-grandmother called an evil curse upon him, turning him into waterfalls. Unable to leave, unable to move, unable to express himself, dead – but alive, he was trapped in a prison of sorts. Local folk said that at night you could hear him moan and plead for a release from his miserable fate. The girl he raped and killed haunted the area as well. Allegedly, at night, she walked around the lake at night looking for some sort of justice for her stolen life. It was said it was best to avoid the lake after sunset.
The walk to the temple was a pleasant one. I more or less spent time with Otho. We talked of future and times to come. Antonia kept her distance and that suited me. It was easier that way, for the both us.
The temple was a typical Vetulonian structure. White, with pillars and glass domes. I saw no aqueducts though. Inside the building painted statues of famous sages from the past haunted the halls. Colored statues weren't the standard in Vetulonia and it was my first time seeing art of that sort. I liked it, I felt it added some flavor. The sage's famous quotes were chiseled on the basis of the figures. One stayed with me: “What we are is dissipating sound.”
At the temple we each got our room. We were instructed to rest and to wait inside. The room was dingy with an odd feel. Except for an old bed there was no furniture. Under that coffin of a bed lied a pissing pot and a small bucket with water and a rag.
I didn’t like that bed. It looked like several people had died in it. Still, I lay down and waited. My thoughts were jumping all around and I couldn’t relax. I tried meditating for a bit, but wasn’t very successful. A couple of hours later, in the evening, as the sun was about to set, the door of my room opened. A sage walked in, carrying a lit purple candle in one hand and a blue glass cup in other. Although she appeared about fifty years old, she was gorgeous. Her lips were painted orange and the blueness of her eyes was enhanced by dark paint encircling them. Her dark and long curly hair had greys in them, but somehow that made her even more attractive. Of course I immediately imagined her and me in bed. My mind worked that way and it sometimes made me feel stupid. I awkwardly smiled and tried to say something, but kept quiet.
She put the candle on the floor in the corner of the room. She smiled back and offered me a cup of something she held in her other hand.
“Here, drink this.”
“What is it?”
She didn’t answer. Gods, she was gorgeous!
“Is it the Elixir?"
“Drink it,” she smiled and left the room with small, quiet steps, closing the door behind her.
I stared at the blue glass cup for a while, then drank it in four gulps and went to bed. For a long time, nothing happened. Then, all of a sudden, I was thrown out of my body through the roof of the temple, towards the dark sky. I wanted to breathe, but there was no need for it. I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t. I was flying through the sky, then the clouds, then I was above the clouds! I lingered there for a while, admiring the puffy whiteness bellow me. Then, again, I was flung into the darkness above, towards the stars.
Soon, everything around me turned into geometrical shapes, holding together all that is. Colors appeared that I have never seen before. That is something I still don't quite understand or can describe in an efficient way.
A voice appeared, a woman’s voice:
“What do you want to know?”
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The question confused me. Again it spoke and when it did, the colors and shapes morphed and realigned:
“What do you want to know?”
A bunch of different thoughts ran through my mind. What is my fate? What will happen to Antonia and me? How is Marius doing? Will my brother get married to that girl from Stelarium? What does the future hold for Helena? But one thought prevailed over all other.
WHO AM I?
My senses started expanding. I felt like my mind was a cup which extended with each drop of knowledge it received. Was I Antonius at that moment? I felt as if I was and wasn’t at the same time.
I saw Old Vetulonians arriving at the shores of Helena, ages ago. I saw an old soldier, with bushy beard and wild look in his eyes. Self-love was the core of his being. He enjoyed butchering his victims and raping women, sometimes even men. He had a habit of licking the blood of his victims from his sword, a quirk even his vile comrades found odd. He died when he got stabbed in the neck by a girl he was raping. She had a hidden blade behind her back, which he – in his drunkenness – hadn’t noticed. While I watched him gasping on the floor, dying, I felt deep shame.
Then I saw a slave girl, working in a Vetulonian brothel. She had a hard life and got killed when she became too old. In fact, she wasn’t that old, but she got sick and there was no use for her anymore. So while she was sleeping, the owner of the brothel slit her throat. “Now now,” he said, “Don’t fight. It’s not such a bad way to go.” He then kissed her forehead as if saying goodbye. Although her life was hard, I felt she accepted her fate – if not even embraced it! There was wisdom lurking in her passiveness, although a lot of anger as well.
Then I saw a scruffy looking young man, sitting near a camp fire, in the middle of a dark forest. It was night and snowing. He appeared barbarous, dirty and vicious. He was eating meat he had cooked on the fire. I looked closer and saw a bloody corpse near him. The body had strange wounds and only then I realized he was eating flesh of his fellow man. Soon, wolf’s howling ripped through the night, and that startled him. The next thing I saw was him getting butchered by a pack of wolves.
After that I saw a young woman, looking at the horizon, her eyes focusing on large bodies that were coming her way. Their skin was gray, their heads were bald and square shaped and they had long straight narrow noses. The Giants! When they came near her they smiled. She returned the gesture and her eyes brightened. She never saw such marvelous beings. They said, in her own tongue: “We have work to do, young one.”
Then I saw Vetulonia flourish! I saw the founding of our five cities. I saw the Dwarvenlands and their mountains filled with silver. I saw Megalopolis and their huge eagles gliding above them, always watchful protectors. I saw the Horse People of Sodomir living in peace, indifferent to the world around them. I saw Elves of the east, always trading and admiring each other. The Five Cities and their glorious mammoths. I saw the old Kingdom of Porosia falling apart in their violent civil war. I saw the League forming in the eastern part, while old Porosia was holding its diminishing power in the west.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT, WILL THERE BE WAR? I asked.
The woman’s voice stayed silent. Then everything faded away, and I was alone, in complete darkness. But I wasn't scared. My mind was of complete peace. I felt a gentle pull and found myself in a beautiful garden filled with trees. I looked at the nearest one and sensed as if Marius was the tree! The tree started growing in front of me, stronger and stronger, taller and taller. Then all of a sudden it died out with a terrifying howl accompanied with a freezing cold. I instinctively turned my head to the other tree, smaller, but stronger. I could sense its deep roots going way beneath the earth. The tree was weeping, water flowing down its trunk. I knew that was Otho. Then I saw a beautiful willow tree, elegant and indifferent. A storm gathered around that willow tree, but it remained serene, strong. Antonia. I could sense her energy. My attention was then drawn to a beautiful oak tree… It swayed gently, although there was no wind. Somehow I recognized it from somewhere. There were other trees there, in fact, countless of them! I wanted to touch them, feel them, sense who they were and what messages they bring.
“It is time…” The woman voice said. I protested.
“I want to know more, I need to know more! I don't understand any of this!”
“Everything you need you already have.”
“But I have so much more questions!”
“Let them be.”
She materialized in front of me and I recognized her! She was… She was…
She smiled. Her skin was dark, with dark green eyes and full lips. Her hair was of gentle green color.
“Antonious’s mind can’t remember me now, but you know who I am. Learn to let go of the mind and try to rely on other senses. They will tell you which path to follow.”
I wanted to say something, but couldn’t. She then put her hands on my shoulder and gave me a kiss on the forehead. Any by that, I was back in my dark dingy room, covered with sweat. I fell asleep immediately and slept a dreamless night.