Gon ran to the balcony and leaned dangerously over the edge. His head swiveled to the three strange things seen from Hisa’s apartment. First, the air snake frantically wound its way up and down the statue at the arena. Second, the white wolf spirit took to a jagged peak and howled, a sound that haunted the mountain hallow. Lastly, the full moon turned bright red.
Ema pulled the boy close and looked up at the red disk. “How’s your stomach?”
“I think it’s getting better.”
Good, the poor child struggled to recover from the necromancer’s magic. She’d drained him of life to give to the twisted resurrection of the Duke’s eldest. But she had faith that Gon was strong and would recover.
Masahide joined them and watched the wolf leap to another peak. “After the tournament, and after we help Whitebeard, I don’t want to be a knight anymore. I understand I’m the Templar Champion, but it's a thing that goes back much further than knights. I want to take you and Gon and find a place to make a home.”
Hisa spoke first before Ema could tell him how much she wanted that. “Perhaps You should consider taking the trails.”
“I already found a grand master,” Masahide said.
Gon stood at Hisa’s level. “Why is the moon like this?”
Hisa spoke in a singsong voice. “When the moon turns red, the King is dead.”
Ema felt old memories stir. She’d heard the saying before from the older generations in Wythmere before the plague. But the elders passed down many sayings that they stitched together from ancient premonitions.
The White Wolf howled one last time and bounded from sight.
Kiyosue, the steward of Mount Templar, barged into the room, sloshing a mug of ale. “How could you put this Whitebeard fellow forward? He’s a chained prisoner who looks guilty and will stand trial tomorrow?”
Masahide’s blue eyes bore into Kiyosue. “I watched Whitebeard dispatch a wight singlehandedly, effortlessly. And since then, he’s proved to be the greatest knight of the realm.”
“And a criminal?”
“I don’t know what’s going on here. But the Duke is up to no good. I watched him murder a knight. He kidnapped Ema and Gon; we’re lucky to have gotten them back. And we’ve just scratched the surface of what’s happening.”
Kiyosue emptied the mug and wiped the foam from his mouth. “You can’t make these accusations public. Fucking spirits, man, he could be the king. Everyone’s in a stir about the moon.”
“And the Black Order?”
“It’s not the first time a thirteenth replacement has come along. They come and go.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Hisa stood between them at elbow height and spun a cane. “Don’t you remember the full saying? When the moon turns red, the King will be dead. The realm shall fall under Mount Templar’s pall.”
Ema had heard that, too, but the elders always spoke of the End Times. They couldn’t have meant now. It was just a bunch of stories to scare children.
“We must,” said Hisa, “free Whitebeard. His hesitation has gone on long enough.”
Kiyosue frowned down at Hisa. “Who is this small woman?”
Ema pulled Gon from the balcony. She didn’t want the same thing to happen to him as had happened to her. “It’s Dragon Hisa.” She closed the doors to the outside.
Kiyosue made an annoyed grunt. “Another survivor of the Dragon Order?”
Masahide crossed his arms. “I’ll help free him. But first, what’s happened to Mount Templar?”
“Nothing,” Kiyosue said.
Hisa pointed the cane. “Look for yourself.”
The chamber was silent for a time, and Masahide stepped back, raised a hand, and opened a portal that expanded to reach floor to ceiling. A rumble echoed and shook the dust from between the stones. “I don’t know if I can step into it.”
Hisa put her cane through the portal and tapped the other side. “Solid.”
Kiyosue examined the rim where one location met the other. “How did you do this? No one can do any more than open a pinprick into the temple. The whole order together couldn’t do this.”
“Come,” Hisa said.
The group walked into the portal. There, fluted columns towered over them to hold a roof far above. Five huge statues of strange warriors stood in the temple. She recognized them by Masahide’s description. One was a muscular, grizzled man named Ulf. Batu pulled a bow from horseback. Felix played a lyre. Si, in a conical hat, pressed both hands together. Sagara carried a thin staff.
“No one’s allowed in here,” Kiyosue said. “This is the spiritual heart of Mount Templar.” But he made no move to stop them from walking the temple.
“Look,” Masahide said. He stood in a red glow that outlined his figure didn’t come from the moon but from a fountain of lava.
“There’s nothing under us.” Kiyosue staggered back from the edge. “There’s nothing!”
Ema let go of Gon and crept to the side. All she could see what ash and steam, for it looked like the range of snow-capped mountains ended here, where it collapsed into a vast crater. She hurried back to take the boy's hand. “We’re floating in the air, the whole temple.”
“This was not the whole temple,” Kiyosue said. “We had a village and an entire complex. It’s all gone.”
Blowing towards the plains, a column of smoke miles across billowed into the sky. It blotted out the stars and rained ash.
Masahide knelt at the center of the temple, at a shrine of a mountain spring. “This is the end of the realm.”
Tears welled in Ema’s eyes, but she placed a hand on Masahide’s back and said, “Let’s get Gon out of here.”
Hisa stuck a hand outside the temple into an ashy wind, and her hand came back sooty. The air outside didn’t enter the temple. “It looks bad, but we have to face it and make the best of what’s coming.”
Ema
Level: 3
Focus: Everywhen reality warping (50ft radius outside) (1 mile inside)
Secondary focus: unknown
Weapons: none
Items: climbing gear