The next twenty-four hours passed in the blink of an eye. I felt much better after taking the time to sleep for at least twelve hours and then the rest of the time I spent reading while I lay against Aeolith in the Dragon Roost. Just being near her while she rested as well filled not only my physical pot but my emotional and mental pots as well. I was restored to a point I had not been since the beach day with Al'Doran. The reading I did was simply on the history of Hogarth. Nothing from the journal and nothing where I needed to learn new skills. I just wanted to understand more about the world I now lived in.

Sandra came by once to go over a few details of the people she had chosen for roles in the town as well as to discuss some of the building and research plans for the city. I agreed with her proposed plans on everything except what the Combat engineers would research. I decided that they should research the next level of enchanting weapons and Sandra agreed that it made sense to begin looking at bettering our weapons to have more light enchantments for fighting the Shadow Beasts.

I decided to wait one more night before we left for the Serpent Monks so that we could leave early in the morning. The others were not happy to have me leave by myself, but the words of the goddess made it pretty clear to say that we should not take them with us. I promised that I would not take any unnecessary risks and would only go to the mountain to return the eyes and then come back. No deviations, no extra trips, just the mission for the rewards.

I continued to just relax and read, talking about the history with Aeolith until the sun set that evening. I bid her goodnight as I got up and walked back to the inn. People in the streets would stop what they were doing and bow as I passed, many giving me a polite "m'lord" as I passed, or "Greetings Dragonrider" with a few shop owners I had dealt with just shouting out to me and waving "Dragonrider!" as I passed their stands. I waved or bowed my head to each in acknowledgment of their greetings, trying to remain personable as well as being seen as their new lord or mayor. It felt odd to be someone with so much notoriety after coming from a world where I was just another faceless person in a crowded city that went about their daily life. To suddenly be someone that everyone knew, even in a town the size of Jewelston was taking a lot of getting used to. I had rushed in to save people whose names I didn't even know, putting myself in danger to ensure that they didn't die from a danger much greater than themselves. I thought about what drove people to do such brave and reckless things and just couldn't put it into words other than it was just the right thing to do.

The Dragon's Nest stood there in the night, the windows glowing with light from within making it shine in the darkness around it. Smoke billowed out of the chimney meaning that a fire had been lit in the large fireplace near the stage. An upbeat tune coming from a lute or stringed instrument that someone played inside while patrons sang along to the tune the minstrel or bard played showed it was a crowd favorite. The inn was alive with activity at this early hour of the evening. Workers finished with a hard day's work, adventurers staying in the inn, and some people just out for an evening of drinking were all gathered to enjoy a few drinks and some time to cut loose. I stopped for a moment to take in the scene of peace and joy coming from the inn and smiled. Before entering I looked into the window and saw humans, dwarves, elves, and a couple of orthix in the inn sitting at tables, some with their arms around each other's shoulders, but all with a drink raised singing along to the tune being played. I smiled at the display of comradery and companionship shown by people who likely either barely knew each other or had just met. This was the kind of town I wanted to be a part of. No prejudice, no judgment, and just a group of people all trying to have a good time together. I realized again why I was doing everything that I was to keep this world safe.

Placing a hand on the doorknob, I turned the handle and pulled the door open. The crown inside turned to see the newcomer and went silent for a moment while the bard continued to play. Seeing who entered smiles lit up the room and everyone raised their drinks again and cheered at my arrival. A chorus of "Hail Dragonerider" and cheers from around the room erupted as I stepped into the warmth of the light that shone from around the room. Patsy smiled at me from behind the bar and raised her own shot of whiskey as she downed it and moved to greet me.

"Hail Dragonrider," Patsy said, a smile beaming as she reached out and hugged me. "It's good to see ye, lad. I hope ye've gotten the rest that ye've been looking for."

"I have Patsy, thank you. It appears you've been doing well for yourself."

"Aye, it's true. Business has been good. But that isn't what's most important. All that matters to me is that people are happy and taken care of. Thanks to ye, the people here feel safer, Many of them be pulled from the villages that ye went to. I can't tell ye how much I appreciate yer looking out fer those who cannot defend themselves. Yer a good man, Callan Ryder."

Heat rushed to my face as I blushed at her compliments. She ushered me over to a table near the fire and made sure one of the barmaids brought me a drink. She refused any form of payment I offered and told me that tonight the drinks were all paid for. We drank and toasted the good fortune of the town and the tables were even moved back to make room for a dance floor. At one point I even saw Patsy dancing with Captain Harlow who was already red-faced from a few drinks himself. Laughter could be heard throughout the evening until I finally decided to call it a night and went upstairs to my room. I left to more cheers and applause as I went upstairs to call it a night and Patsy went around shushing the other patrons once I had closed my door for the evening. I couldn't help but smile again at the kindness Patsy showed me even to the point of trying to keep the celebrations to a dull roar so that I could sleep for the evening.

Tristan was already in the room sitting on his bed, staring out the window when I arrived in the room. He was staring peacefully up at the stars and heard when I closed the door.

"Hey, Tristan. How's it going?"

"Hi, Callan. I'm good. Just sitting and thinking about...life I guess."

"What about it?"

"I was thinking about how much my life has changed. I was in a bad place when you found me in that forest. My family was gone, people and monsters were constantly trying to kill me, I had no hope of getting stronger without some help, and I was feeling like life wasn't worth living anymore. Then you came in and scared the hell out of me and I thought I was finally going to be free. And you did free me. Just not in the way I had expected. You gave me purpose. I've never been this happy before."

"Oh, Tristan. I'm so sorry for the things you had to go through. But I am glad you are happy now."

"Thanks. You know I think going through all of that was worth it to be here now. I feel like I have a family. A real one. Not one that just drags me along places. One that actually cares. Thank you for that."

I smiled at him and put a hand on his shoulder as I moved into the room.

"You are welcome. And we are glad to be your family now. You are a good person, and I'm glad I ran into you as well."

We smiled at each other again and I moved over to my bed to sit down.

"Well, I have a really long trip ahead of me tomorrow, so I am going to get some sleep. I'm sorry I can't take you or anyone else with me, but we are going to make the trip as quickly as we can."

"That's fine. I understand. And it will be good for all of us. Hopefully, the rewards are something to help us in the long run."

"I hope so too. Goodnight Tristan."

"Night, Callan."

----------------------------------------

Light washed in through the window and hit my face. The warmth of the light was a wonderful sensation on my cheeks. The laser beams that hit my eyes, though, were completely unwelcome and I groaned as I stretched in my bed. Apparently, I had fallen asleep quickly as the others were in their beds now, Vokin snoring so loudly that the floors vibrated slightly. I chuckled lightly at it and threw the covers off myself to get dressed.

A few minutes later I had my armor and weapons on and was headed out the door. I greeted Patsy, who offered me another of the fried chicken sandwiches and, of all things, a bag of chips to go. She then handed me a separate bag that held three more sandwiches and then two more bags of chips. I put them in my bag of holding and thanked her profusely before giving her a hug and heading out the front door.

The morning was still early so the streets were not yet full of patrons looking to shop at the market. The vendors were out and ready to greet the shoppers, and many of the early risers were already out buying food and supplies. I was again greeted by most people as I walked through the streets and I politely greeted them back as I walked. I reached the Dragon's Roost a short time later and embraced Aeolith, putting my forehead to hers as was becoming our normal greeting. It felt like being complete when we performed this ritual as it was the closest we could get to each other in a meaningful and intimate way. She was the other half of my soul now. I felt complete with her so close.

I got her saddle out and had some assistance from the workers at the roost in getting it strapped onto Aeolith. I climbed on once the saddle was secure and she walked to the open space left for her take-off and landing and began to flap her wings to fly.

"I checked the maps yesterday to be sure and as the name says, the Great Western Temple is due west of here set high in the mountains. We should be able to see it from the sky. Let's head west and make for the mountains." I said to Aeolith mentally.

I got an affirmative emotion from her and she took off. We went straight up, higher and higher with the beating of her wings. Once we had sufficient altitude, she tilted her wings and began to flap in a motion moving us forward. We circled the town once and Aeolith let out a mighty roar before heading west toward the mountains. I could hear faint cheers from the town below as we began to fly away. I was sure that was a tremendous sight to see from below. Aeolith banked slightly to head west, the mountains were visible from this distance, but they were a small line on the horizon currently. It would take hours to get there.

I settled in for a long ride out to the mountains. I took out a book to read while we were traveling and decided to try looking at the journal again with a fresh mind and set of eyes, promising myself I wouldn't obsess over the details. I took out the leather-bound journal and untied the strap holding it closed and began to read from the beginning again. Most of the information at the beginning I had read many times and it was something I was pretty familiar with, but I read each word this time to see if there was some understanding that it held that I had missed in my haste to find answers. Light was a key factor in almost everything that Andomir did. He referenced "The Light" many times in a way that made me feel as though it was almost some kind of entity rather than just one of the cardinal elements. Maybe I needed to look further into the great sources of light to see if any secrets could be unlocked. I read on, trying to highlight and focus on themes surrounding light that he wrote about.

The journal soon was a wash with underlines, circles, arrows drawn to other possible cases, and notes about the light in the first third of the book. I needed more materials to reference my questions about light and greater entities to be able to draw any conclusions, but I didn't let that discourage me. I had found something to dig into. That was a step forward for me.

"We are getting closer to the mountains, Callan," Aeolith reached out mentally to pull me from my focus.

I put the journal away and looked out to see that the mountains were indeed much closer. I activated my Dragon Senses ability to see what she could see and was able to cause my vision to zoom in and see more details of the mountain range. Scanning back and forth I was able to see things on the side of the mountain I wouldn't normally see from this range. After about fifteen minutes of scanning, I saw something.

"There. In the mountains to the left. There appears to be something just below the cloud level of the mountain. Some kind of structure. I bet that is the temple." I said to Aeolith.

She banked left to where I had indicated and began to look for a place to land near the structure. As we got closer I heard a bell ring out. Once, twice, then three times with long low notes. It was clearly a huge bell, likely one rung with a wooden beam suspended on ropes. I think the Buddhists on earth had called them Bonsho from what I remember from my brief online study of monks.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

As we got closer to the mountain, I noticed what I took for a structure was actually a really large set of gates set in the mountainside with what appeared to be a staircase leading up behind it. I could see a few people running around on the stairs. They looked like ants running up and down the mountain from this distance though. We flew in closer and decided to stop on a large ledge outside the gates to show respect to those inside the monastery, rather than just flying over and landing inside the temple.

We landed on the ledge and I dismounted from the saddle on Aeolith's back. I walked over to the large gate and noticed a bell on the outside of the temple hanging from a curved metal bar with a mallet dangling from a rope next to it. A plaque next to the bell read "Ring the bell for any who seek entrance". Easy enough. Grabbing the mallet I gave it one good hard hit. The sound reverberated through my chest as it rang out over the mountainside in one long low note. The sound was beautiful and pure as it continued to resonate in the air. I heard a creaking and metallic scraping sound as a drawbar was opened from the other side of the gate. It appeared to be a long drawbar as the sliding took several seconds to open. One massive gate door opened on hinges and a small bald man wearing burgundy colored robes stuck his head out to see who had rung the bell.

"May I help you," The man asked politely looking first at me and then at Aeolith. "Can it be? A Dragonrider has not graced these halls in centuries!"

"Hello, good sir," I began, awkwardly. "We have come here on a quest to return the eyes of the serpent to their rightful resting place. Could we come in to present them?"

The man bowed and pulled his head back into the gate. The gates opened wider to allow both Aeolith and me to enter. We walked inside where there were three more monks standing there bowed at the waist off to the right on the stairs. Unsure what to do, I bowed as well in greeting to the monks who still remained bowed despite my bowing and returning to my upright position. We followed the monk who had first greeted us up the stairs, and I heard the gates being closed behind us.

I looked up as we climbed the stairs and couldn't even see the top from where we were standing. There had to be hundreds if not over a thousand stairs in this staircase. We walked for at least thirty minutes, Aeolith having a little bit of trouble with the stairs being narrow as they were built for people and not dragons, but with her claws, she was able to hold on and walk with us. We walked through a layer of clouds on our way up, showing just how high up we actually were before we reached the top of the stairs. I was thankful I had as many points in Endurance as I did now so I wasn't completely worn out. When we reached the top of the stairs I stared around at the temple grounds. It looked so much like a Buddhist temple it was uncanny. The main difference was that instead of statues of Buddha, there were statues of serpents intricately carved to show every detail of their anatomy. Their scales were beautifully carved to show every detail of the curves of their bodies, even flexing out where the snakes bent around in their sitting or ready-to-strike poses. The buildings almost looked to be Chinese in design and seemed to be something straight out of an old kung-fu movie.

The buildings were all supported by huge round posts painted red with black bands at the tops and bottoms for decoration. The walkways and paths were paved with worn stones and short knee-height walls lining the sides of the roads. The center of the temple grounds had a large open space where the monks practiced their fighting styles and trained with various weapons. At the back of the grounds was what appeared to be the main temple building with stairs leading up to the doors. At the base of the stairs was the largest snake statue I had ever seen, with its mouth wide open in a hiss of fury. It was a beautifully carved sculpture that was complete except for the eyes, which were holes carved into either side of its head. I guessed this was where the jewels were supposed to sit.

We were led through the grounds and over to the large statue where our monk guide stopped and turned to us. He didn't say anything but put his hands out in a bowl shape as though he was going to catch water with them and nodded toward my bag of holding. I reached in and took the jewels from my bag and placed them in his hands. The jewels glimmered in the sunlight as he looked down at them and smiled fondly down at them. He bowed low again and then turned toward the statue. He first kneeled with his hands extended out over his head to the statue, then stood up and began climbing up the side of the statue. He placed first the left eye into the socket and then the right eye. After he placed the second eye, the clouds darkened and all of the monks looked up from what they were doing and then came to the main training grounds and went to their knees, bowing all the way to put their faces on the floor. The clouds then began to swirl in the sky and lightning struck the ground in front of the giant snake statue.

I had to cover my eyes from the strike and took an involuntary step back. When I lowered the arm protecting my face, I saw there was a man standing in the spot the lightning struck wearing black flowing robes. He was huge as well, standing at least nine feet tall with a staff carved in the shape of a serpent in his right hand. Long white hair that flowed like snakes streamed down from his head and across his back, and a short pointed white beard adorned only on his chin reaching down to his robe. He turned to look at me with green reptile eyes. He smiled at me revealing fangs instead of teeth and his tongue flicked out at me like a snake tasting the air.

"You mussst be Callan, Ryder. My sssissster told me of your impending visssit," The man said, drawing out his S sounds as though he was a snake that could speak.

"Beraz I presume," I said, bowing at the waist to show respect.

"You are correct, young one, and I appreciate your sssign of ressspect," Beraz replied.

He walked over to me and began to shrink as he did until he was about the same height I was, his staff clicking on the ground as he walked with it.

"Thank you for returning the eyesss of the ssserpent to my temple. They have been misssssing for cccenturiesss. They are truly invaluable and could have fetched quite a priccce, but I sssee your heart isss good in your desssire to return them."

"Thank you, sir. You honor me with your words," I said, trying to remember how people talked in those old kung-fu movies. "This one does not feel worthy of your praise."

"Ba-hahahahahahahaha!" Beraz suddenly laughed long and hard at my response. "I like the way you think Dragonrider. But there isss no need for that kind of formality here. You have done me a true favor. My followersss could not find the eyesss so I am exssstremely happy you did. Come, let usss go to the temple to cccelebrate! I hope you enjoy a drink from time to time?"

"I do! Lead the way," I once again bowed slightly offering him to lead the way.

Beraz laughed again and walked toward the great temple, turning and calling to me over his shoulder as he walked.

"I sssee why my sssissster likesss you!"

We walked up the stairs to the temple proper and entered through the doors that Beraz opened with a wave of his hand. He walked across the large open space to the throne that was sitting at the other end of the room facing the front doors. He sat on the giant throne that was carved in the shape of many serpents in a pile, roughly shaped like a chair.

"Come, Dragonrider. Join me. Sssit and enjoy a drink with me." Beraz motioned to a chair to his right and waved for the monks to retrieve drinks without speaking to them.

I walked over to the chair, Aeolith able to follow behind because of how large the room was, and sat on his right. Aeolith laid down on the raised platform the throne and chair were on beside me and rested after her long flight here. She curled up with her tail around my chair protectively and laid her head on the floor and closed her eyes to rest, trusting that the serpent god would not harm me and that even if he did, there was nothing we could do about it.

A few minutes later several monks returned with a platter full of different drinks. Tea, whiskey, wine, water, and something that looked like a tokkuri or a sake flask as well as two little cups to serve it in.

"Pick your poissson," Beraz said, gesturing to the platter the monks held before us. "I alwaysss loved that turn of phrassse."

I chuckled at the joke and leaned forward to take one of the sake cups. A monk took the tokkuri and poured some into the cup for me. I downed it in one quick gulp and held the cup out for another. I was surprised immediately at the drink. It really was sake! And it was the smoothest sake I had ever tasted. I used to love drinking sake with friends on a cold winter's day at some of the Japanese restaurants in New York, and this one was better than any I had tested before. It had light fruity flavors with just a hint of sweetness to it. After the monk poured me another cup I drank it down as well and asked for one more cup.

"A man after my own tassstebuds," Beraz beamed as I drank the sake.

He took a cup as well and had another monk fill it for him.

"Is this plum sake?" I asked curious about the flavor.

"It isss indeed. You have a good tongue," Beraz chuckled at the obvious joke again. "We have to lighten up, mossst people don't like sssnakesss you know."

"I do actually. I've never been especially fond of them myself, but I don't think that represents you other than choosing them as maybe your favorite animal?"

"True, but I have a bit more fondnesssss of them than the average...well anything I guesssss."

I chuckled as well. Beraz really felt a bit more like a friend than Erot has seemed. He was happy to converse over little things like what our journey was like and what we had been doing since we got to Hogarth. We talked for about an hour before he finally got down to the brass tax.

"Alright Callan, I like you. And I know I owe you a favor, but I want to offer you sssomething instead. While a favor would be a boon, I think what I have to offer you will help you more in the long run."

"Alright, I'm intrigued. What is your offer?"

"My sssissster told me of what you have been up to and I happen to have a map that will lead you to sssomething that will help you. If you are willing to take it, I have to offer it to you inssstead of the favor sight unseen. I cannot tell you what it isss." Beraz said, looking slightly sad that he couldn't actually tell me.

Something that would be better than the favor of a god in the eyes of a god? That was a tempting offer. I sat and thought about it for a few minutes. Beraz really seemed to be a good god. He had welcomed me to the temple without prejudice or extravagant fanfare on his part and served me drinks for the return of those jewels.

"You know what, you have won me over Beraz. I'm a fan of yours now. I will accept your alternative gift, sight unseen."

Beraz smiled a genuine smile at this show of trust on my part.

"You will not regret thisss decccisssion, Callan. I can assssssure you."

With that, a notification appeared in my vision.

Quest Complete!

Eyes of the Serpent

You have traveled to the Temple of Beraz, the Serpent god, and have returned the jewels to his temple. Beraz has found you to be a fair and reasonable man and has increased the rewards of this quest because of his favor for you!

Rewards:

100,000 XP

A gift from Beraz, sight unseen

As I dismissed the notification, Beraz reached into the sleeve of his robe and pulled out a scroll rolled up with a seal on it.

"Thisss isss your prize. Go ahead, open it. The seal is just to keep it closssed and looking niccce."

I took the scroll from him and broke the seal with my thumb. I unrolled the paper and looked it over. It was a map. It showed most of the continent we were on, which seemed to take of about fifty percent of the world of Hogarth. On the map were many cities, one of which was Jewelston nearly in the middle of the continent. Off to the far right side of the map though, was a forest highlighted to stand out with the words "Temple of Light" written over what appeared to be a drawing of some kind of ruins.

"The Temple of Light?" I asked, confused.

"It isss an ancient sssight dedicated to the light and everything it ssstandsss for. You could awlaysss visssit it to sssee what isss there." Beraz said slyly, taking another drink of his sake and pointedly looking away.

I stared at him pointedly for a moment.

"You can't tell me what's there can you?"

"I cannot. All I can tell you isss this was worth the trade for a godly favor."

I shook my head and laughed.

"I think I like you as well, Beraz."

He smiled at this comment.

"Well, it hasss been wonderful visssiting here again and ssspeaking with you, Callan, but I really mussst be off. Unfortunately godly thingsss to do, you know. I will be watching though." Beraz said with a wink.

We both stood and walked back out to the entrance of the temple.

"Oh, Callan, feel free to ssstay the night here at the temple. My followersss will be sure you are looked after while you ressst. I know that journey wasss a lot for your dragon. You can leave in the morning to head back." Beraz said, snapping for a monk to come over. "It hasss been a while sssinccce a Dragonrider hasss graccced these hallsss."

The monk bowed and motioned for me to follow him while Beraz walked out to the training grounds and with another flash of lightning was gone again. The clouds went back to their typical white color and stopped swirling after he left.

The monk led us to another side building that was large enough to house both Aeolith and I and a few other monks brought out some food and beds for us to rest on. I thanked them for their kindness and they bowed and left the building.

"He sure was a character," Aeolith noted, chuckling lightly in her throat.

"He sure was, but I like him. He was...real with us. Didn't treat us like less than or better than anyone else. I like that in people."

We settled down and had some food and water and then prepared to sleep for the night. Most of the day had been spent traveling and it was now getting to be late. The conversations with Beraz had been refreshing, but I looked forward to being back with my team. I still had no idea what the temple of Light held, but we could figure that out. I could do some research and see what it might mean for us. I laid down and fell asleep without trouble.