The wooden floor creaked a little, but didn't seem ready to collapse. Even though the three Temple guards, dressed in plate armor, stood safely on the floor, Indres still took cautious steps. The wall on the opposite side to doors had a narrow window, so there was enough natural light to illuminate the room. One of the younger Temple guards, however, summoned light, causing shadows to retreat from the corners as well. No one wanted any more surprises. Perhaps that is why the face masks of the Temple guards’ helmets had been removed, to allow them to see and hear better.
Away... Leave us in peace... Pain...
Inside, it was hard to tell where the voices were coming from; Indres even thought he was hearing them from the walls. It was clear that it was something supernatural, so he had no choice but to ignore the sounds for the time being. The air was also unusually cool, fortunately not so much as to be unbearable.
The room itself did not seem particularly impressive. Nobody had bothered to put plaster on the walls inside, so they were as greyish gloomy as outside. Indres saw an oven, some cupboards and two beds. Servants or guards had probably lived here.
Pival walked to the top of the wooden stairs by the left wall and cautiously looked towards the second floor until his companion found the wooden trapdoor under the stairs and opened it.
"Master, there's a staircase down here," Tedot announced.
"Wait a moment." The eldest of the Temple guards answered and began to invoke the blessing again.
Indres recognized it as the same one that made the man's eyes radiate light. He was not mistaken, and a moment later the pupils of Baern's eyes began to glow again. The man's gaze moved to the floor of the room, then to the ceiling.
"It looks like the curse is most concentrated downwards." He spoke.
When Baern's eyes returned to normal, he looked at the other men.
"If the curse is tied to a particular room or object, then the purification ritual is best performed there. I cannot tell you how much more this ghost is capable of doing, so remain vigilant."
"Yes, sir." Indres and other two conformed.
Cautiously, the four men made their way down to the ground floor, where there were no windows, so it was completely dark. The light of the temple guards revealed a narrow corridor with several doors. Behind some of them were small rooms that looked like larders and storerooms. Besides firewood, various tools and clothes, Indres and the Temple guards also found a few weapons and light armor. Everything appeared to still be in good condition, except for the foodstuffs, which looked badly shriveled and withered.
The last room was different. It was completely empty, apart from the iron chains with shackles on the wall.
"It looks like a prison." Indres thought as he slowly entered the room.
He also noticed this room had a thicker door that could be locked from the outside.
"So, it seems..." Barens face grew grimmer as he looked at the shackles.
The gloomy room was completely empty, with no obvious signs that anyone had ever been imprisoned here. True, everything in the tower looked unnaturally clean, with no dust cobwebs or other signs of abandonment.
"This place can't have been built recently, but nothing is rotten. Even the foodstuffs seem to have dried-up unnaturally. Is it because of black magic?" Indres asked the Lights guard.
"Yes, it seems that the curse is trying to keep everything intact." Baern nodded.
Indres leaned in to take a closer look at the shackles. Hunter noticed scratches, confirming that someone had once been locked in them.
Unexpectedly, the shackles shook of their own accord and rattled unpleasantly. Indres jumped aside, putting his hand on the dagger's spike.
It hurts ... Why did I ...? I am thirsty... No escape... the impression came that the whispers were coming directly from the shackles.
He looked at Baern, who was still standing in the doorway, but didn't seem too concerned by the phenomenon.
"Is this the center of the curse? Because of prisoners here?" Indres asked, trying to keep his voice calm.
"No, it's even lower. There must be somewhere a way to go even lower." The Lights guard argued.
"This is a stone floor... but yet there is a deeper cellar?" Pival questioned.
"Yes, the entrance is most likely hidden."
They began to check all the rooms, accompanied by ghostly whispers. Every now and then a noise came from a place or corner where no one was, and sometimes objects moved of their own accord or fell to the ground. Each time this happened, all four men were forced to check the source of the noise to make sure it was nothing dangerous. Indres felt his patience and nerves being tested, and the younger Temple guards also seemed to be getting more anxious.
"Be vigilant! The wraith may just want to delay us finding our way down, but it may also want to relax us to miss the real attack. Focus!" Baern warned.
It took some time, but eventually they found another wooden hatch in the corner of the food store, under several barrels. But it could not be opened in the usual way. Tedot grabbed the metal ring with both hands, but the doors wouldn't budge.
Away!
Don't touch it!
Don't shock us!
Pain...
Darkness...
The voices grew louder, and now they came clearly from below.
With his commander's permission, Tedot made his spear glow white and smashed the hatch to pieces with it.
What do you want?
Why me?
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Warm blood...
I hurt...
I smell blood... I remember it...
The two youngest Temple guards jumped down first. Baern followed them and Indres was the last. The hunter felt his mouth was unnaturally dry, as if he had been in the hot sun for hours instead of in a cool room. At the same time, air grew even cooler, but not in the usual way. Indres felt that this cold was freezing his body from the inside. And it was coming directly from this hole under the hatch.
The temple guards have the power to defeat it. Be brave! Indres ordered himself and went down.
It was one big room. Vaults and arches of the cut stone supported the ceiling, suggesting that someone had gone to the trouble of creating the place. Unfortunately, the architectural structures were overwhelmed by the hideous paintwork on the grey stone walls. Skulls, skeletons, dead bodies and monsters of horrific appearance had been created with great care and attention.
So hungry...
Fresh blood... Foreign and familiar...
No! Go away!
I'm innocent!
Mother....
Warm, living blood...
Go away!
Mother, help!
The voices, the sobs and the cheers seemed to become contradictory. Some expressed anger or threats, others fear and despair. They all came from the center of the room, where there was a large, black stone slab with a flat surface. Above it was the black mist they have seen before. It was not as indistinct as before. Indres could make out a head with pale lights for eyes, a black hole for a mouth, and a bony neck and arms. The lower part of the body, however, was still hazy.
Although the bow and arrows had not been effective weapons so far, Indres readied them anyway, just as the two young Temple guards raised their spears.
Blood and flesh... So hungry!
Wraith’s pale eyes seemed to radiate a cold that managed to creep under the skin and touch the bones. Reaching out its greedy hands towards the intruders, it began to move closer.
No, Indres noticed that the ghost was actually looking and heading directly in Baern's direction. The voices grew louder and more menacing again.
His blood!
Vengeance!
Justice!
Blood for blood!
Life for death!
Before the ghost reached Baern, the man managed to invoke a blessing, similar to the one before. The light of the staff seemed harm the specter, who stopped and raised his hands as if in defense.
No!
Not me!
Mother, save me!
You promised!
Help...
The voices pled and cried, but gradually grew weaker. The stature-like shape disappeared, the black mist became weaker, transparent and faded towards the center of the room, the black stone slab.
Indres sighed. He had the impression that the cold was receding a little. Also, the unpleasant whispers from the walls or elsewhere now were inaudible.
"Is it over?" Hunter asked quietly.
"No, not quite. The curse still exists, only the wraith has been weakened and is no longer able to form a physical form. Its grip on the Material Realm dwindle." Baern explained.
"It looked... quite angry, especially at the end." Indres continued to speak.
"Refuses to accept death, craves fresh blood. I denied it, hence the anger."
"I hope you can eradicate it completely."
"I think so, yes. If the wraith has lost its powers, it won't be able to stop us when we break the curse."
"Could it be the object of a curse in the middle?" Pivals said, pointing to a stone slab in the middle of the room.
They all slowly walked towards it.
"It looks like an altar of sacrifice." Pival said.
"Yes..." Baern confirmed quietly.
"Are these carvings for draining blood?"
"It looks like it."
The entire stone slab was covered with tiny indentations, a sort of canal pattern. Indres noticed that it continued on the floor and made a pattern in great circle. These grooves were currently empty, and Indres did not see any traces of blood in them, but that did not mean anything.
"But what is it?" The young Temple Guardian turned his attention to a small metal disc in the middle of the stone slab.
In Indres' eyes, the disc looked like a brooch, but larger, with a dark red jewel in the middle and strange symbols around it. This object was not simply placed on the stone slab, but seemed to be embedded inside it.
"It looks like an artefact of some kind, but its purpose is unknown to me... But I sense something bad coming from it... Better not to touch it." Baern replied, studying the object for a moment.
"There's also this... " Tedot, meanwhile, pointed to something on the wall on the other side of the stone tablet.
It was a pile of skulls, with a pole stuck into it, with another skull at the end, but a slightly different one. This skull had a sort of crown, made of gold or some such metal, and in the eye sockets were two precious stones that shone in light, making them look alive. The wall behind this skull was painted to form a dark human-like with large black wings and a blood-red sword in its hand. The crowned skull was in place of head.
"The shrine of the god of death! This is truly pagan land!" Pival exclaimed furiously as he walked closer and spit in the direction of the grim object.
He looked ready to smite this blasphemy on the spot with his spear.
Indres didn't quite like the condemnation of his homeland, but given that this accursed place was only two days' walk from the village, he couldn't really object.
"Peace, my scutifer! This province is now part of the Empire, just as it was before. It is our job to cleanse it of all filth." Baern said, placing a hand on his subordinate.
"But master, if these are the skulls of the dead, perhaps they hold the wraith here? If we destroy them..."
"No, the curse is too large. This whole room, the rooms above us, and the tower itself. Everything is soaked with their pain, their fear, their despair and their lust for revenge. Destroying one or two objects will not help."
"Then... a purification ritual?" Tedoth thought.
"Yes, just as we planned." Baern nodded.
When Indres was still in the army, it was usually enough to destroy the remains of the dead or objects that linked them to the realm of the living to eliminate undead and specters. He had heard of times, however, when this was not enough and blessers performed special rituals to purify cursed places.
"Let's not waste time! Prepare the circle!" Baern gave orders to the other two Temple guards.
They both obeyed and removed small crystals and metal vessels from their belts, which they began to place in a circle between the stone slab and the pile of skulls at the wall.
"I'll check the rest of the tower. It won't be long." The Lights guard announced and headed for the exit.
He looked up at Indres and waved a hand for the hunter to follow.
The two climbed silently up to the entrance level. Indres was glad to see daylight from the door and window, which was gradually turning redder, indicating that evening was approaching.
Indres had thought that the older Temple guard would lead him up the stairs, but Baern stopped near the door and looked out, then turned to the other man.
"Ranger Riggi, I would appreciate it if you would not mention the details of what you experienced downstairs to your comrades... and to the others." He spoke in a serious voice.
"This... death rituals are a secret?" Indres furrowed his brows.
"It is cursed knowledge. Better not to spread it. Also, the voices they spoke... Better that it all remain forgotten."
Indres did not answer immediately, just watched the older man's face. The violet eyes and face seemed darker than usual, probably because they were in the shade, with the light coming from behind.
The hunter nodded.
"I won't say anything about it." He also confirmed with his words.
"Thank you." Baern looked relieved and even smiled.
He stepped aside from the doorway.
"Then you can help the others, then rest until we finish the ritual."
"I'd like to climb up the tower as well, sir." Indres objected.
The temple guard's smile faded again.
"Better to do that when we finish the ritual."
"May I know why... ser?"
"We agreed at the beginning - I would be the first to check all papers and books, as well as any suspicious objects. Anything related to black magic and the death cult will be destroyed! " Baern warned, holding up a finger.
"Some may feel... offended if they are pushed aside... sir." Indres tried to be diplomatic.
"You saw what a place this is! What if there are some magical traps and other curses? I'd better check everything first. Alone."
Once again, the Temple guard’s face seemed darker, but this time not because of the shadows.
"As you say, sir." Indres bowed his head reluctantly.
"Be patient. All other material possessions in the tower will be yours, I promise." The noble tried to comfort and tapped the hunter on the shoulder.
Indres obeyed and went out of the tower to join his companions. There was an unpleasant smell in the air due to the many burning remains of spawns and undead bones.
It stinks... Indres thought to himself.
He didn't mean the stench of burning monsters.
***