The walls past the door were solid stone, and cool to the touch. Kivi marveled at the uniformity of it all, much more so than any quarried stone could hope to achieve. Obviously, this work had been done with the god Xeph’s Shape Stone ability, but the sheer volume of work that had gone into crafting just this one tunnel...
Either thousands of priests must have tunneled in shifts, or the power that avatar Callan might one day wield would so outshine her own, it would be like comparing a candle to the sun.
Kivi wasn’t sure which she found more intimidating.
She glanced away from the passing walls to study the avatar once again. Whatever argument he and Xeph had been having before they entered appeared to be over; although the young man muttered to himself periodically, it did seem to be anything of substance.
Seeing an opportunity, she spoke up. “Avatar?”
“Hmm? Yes, High Priestess?” He glanced back at her, his eyes reflecting the light of the strange grayish torches lining the hallway. Another miracle of the god Xeph, most likely.
“I...” Kivi hesitated. While she did not wish to anger the avatar by prying too obviously into his past, she also knew that there was not likely to be a better opportunity to do so. Down here it was just the two of them, without the rest of the village looming over their every word and action.
Besides, as much as she hated Shamain for it, Kivi knew the older lud was right. If they wanted to understand this man who carried their god inside of himself, Kivi needed to take a few risks. After all, everything Shamain had assumed about Callan had been based on his being a yeth. If that weren’t the case... A suspicion had begun growing inside of her, one she almost thought too foolish to put into words. Yet there was no other possibility. She needed to find out the truth for herself.
“What are you?” she blurted out. Callan blinked.
“Excuse me?”
Immediately, Kivi’s face flushed. She had not meant for the question to come out like that. “Forgive me, that was more blunt than I intended. I simply meant—if you are truly not a yeth, then you must be one of the other elevated races. Yet you are not nearly tall enough to be a rutain, nor feathered enough to be a veloom. You have not the eyes of the forfiliin, the fins of the lilish, the muscles of the gorgmith—
“Hey, I think I’m plenty muscular, thank you very much.” The avatar flexed his arms for her, which... didn’t actually disprove her point, but she thought it best to keep that observation to herself. Instead, she continued with her observations.
“—You have no extra arms nor eyes, no fur or fangs or tail. I know I am just a simple lud from a small backwater village, but even we know the characteristics of the elevated races. So please, help me to understand... what are you?”
At first, the avatar said nothing, and Kivi assumed he would simply refuse to answer. Or perhaps he would contradict her claims. After all, she was from a backwater village, and beyond the yeth she had met the few times she had left home, the only other races she had ever encountered had come with the cult. So, it wasn’t entirely impossible that she was misinformed. But the wriggling sensation in her gut told her that wasn’t the case.
She waited. The avatar was looking at her, but his expression was distant, as if he was listening to a conversation only he could hear. Belatedly, Kivi realized that was exactly what was happening. She wondered what Xeph was telling him.
“I—Fine.” The avatar focused on her again, and Kivi felt the full weight of his gaze. “It’s because I’m not one of the elevated races. I’m a trueborn human.”
“I knew it.” The words came out of Kivi in a rush. The truth she hadn’t wanted to let herself believe was laid bare in front of her. A trueborn human. It was like meeting a creature out of legend itself.
The next moment she frowned, her giddy elation flowing away as reality reasserted itself. “But how is that possible? There hasn’t been a trueborn human left in Urslang for at least a thousand years.”
“Longer than that, I’m betting,” the avatar muttered, though so quietly Kivi suspected she hadn’t been meant to hear. He shook his head, then said more loudly, “It’s because I’m not from this continent.”
“Of course, that makes sense.” Kivi was reminded of what the avatar had told her and Tervak on that first morning in her basement. Now his sudden lack of knowledge about the surrounding area, or the politics of the Badlands, or even the workings of lud society, all of these oddities fit together like pieces of a puzzle. “You came here from... Cainox?”
That was the only other continent Kivi knew by name. Shamain would know the others, most likely, but she wasn’t there at the moment to help.
The avatar shook his head. He almost looked embarrassed, though who knew for certain with a human? “Not exactly.”
Well, perhaps Shamain would have some insight about it later. Still, she felt she had a much better understanding of the situation now. Kivi gave a slight bow. “Thank you for sharing this information with me, Avatar. If I can be of any assistance with helping to navigate Urslang culture, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“I will, thanks Ki—ah, High Priestess. Now, let’s get a move on. I want you to witness the awesome power of this fully operational battle-temple.” Callan paused for a moment, then made a face. “No, Xeph, that was a—you know what? Never mind.”
They continued down the tunnel, and Kivi’s wonder over the avatar’s true nature was quickly supplanted by an even greater sense of amazement for their new home. For one thing, the temple was much larger than she had suspected, with pathways branching off from their tunnel again, and again, and again. Callan led her past innumerable doors, some bearing labels which she couldn’t read, others giving no hint whatsoever about what lay behind them.
Then at last they exited the tunnel, and entered the true heart of the temple, and Kivi realized that her amazement and wonder were only just beginning.
The heart of the temple was MASSIVE. It stretched far into the distance, beyond where Kivi could even see. Stone benches lined either side of a walkway that in better times might have been lined with plush carpeting, or possibly dyed pythian mats. Now not even shredded tatters remained, but the sense of grandeur to the space lingered on.
Kivi turned and stared at the avatar. “I understand now why you felt our entire village could be housed here.”
“Yeah, it’s something alright, isn’t it?”
She turned back to study the room again, nodding slowly in response. “Is this where the village will reside? Communally in this chamber?”
“Just a moment.” The avatar went silent long enough for Kivi to finish her second study of the space. “Xeph, ah, isn’t exactly keen on the idea of you all sleeping in his worship hall. However, he says there are more than enough rooms down the passageways we passed getting here. Plus, that’s where the fountains and food supplies are, so your village should be all set. Supplies, security, privacy, the whole nine yards.”
Before Kivi could ask what the importance of nine in particular was, the avatar turned and started walking further into the room. Just past him lay a massive slab of stone that Kivi knew instantly was the god Xeph’s altar. It exuded a calm presence that she associated with a god of mountains and stone.
Also, the strange effigy atop the altar could not be anything but the likeness of a god.
Its head was a twisting mass of shapes that hurt Kivi’s eyes to stare at too long, so she quickly averted her gaze back downward. Fortunately, the rest of the altar appeared to be ordinary stone.
The avatar laid his hands on its surface, then glanced back at her. “Care to join me, High Priestess?”
“Of course. What do you require of me, honored avatar?”
“I’m not sure, but the last time it told me we needed an—Ah, never mind. That seemed to have done the trick.”
Kivi blinked as words began to scroll down her vision. Unlike those in the hallway, these ones were readable. Their form was similar to the messages that had appeared when she was first gifted with Xeph’s bounties, but this time there was far more information. Most of which made little sense to her.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Temple Designation: *Unknown*
Temple Class: *ERROR*
-STATISTICS-
Nave: ???
Aumbrey: ???
Narthex: ???
Scarsella: ???
-CONSECRATIONS-
Teleport
Scry
Commune (ERROR)
Tintinnabulation
-DOGMA-
Annexes: ???/3
Domain: ???
Conviction: 2/???
Conviction cost: 1/week
“Huh.” The avatar was looking in her direction, but not at her specifically. Was he seeing a similar screen? Perhaps he could help her make sense of what the god was showing her. “Hey Xeph, you getting this? Why is it tilted all funny?”
He reached out, and Kivi almost jumped as the god’s interface moved away from her, shifting to face the avatar instead. Now Kivi could only barely read the words, which appeared backwards to her.
“Hmm. Pretty sure all these question marks aren’t supposed to be there. Xeph? This making any sense to you?” A brief pause. “Yeah, yeah, compressed memories, I get that. But, like, shouldn’t seeing this awaken something?”
While the avatar communed, Kivi crept forward until she stood beside him. Her heart thudded in her chest at her brazenness, but she couldn’t stop herself from reaching out a finger and tapping the edge of the interface. The entire thing shifted slightly, so that it was facing more towards her once again.
“Hey, what did you—?” The avatar frowned, a confused furrow splitting his brow. The confusion as Kivi tapped one of the words before her.
“What does tin... tintinnabulation mean?”
“You can see this?” Callan blinked at her.
“I think so, Avatar.”
“Huh. Alright then.” Reaching out, Callan straightened the screen, so it was easily visible to both of them. “Okay, Xeph. Better start explaining.”
----------------------------------------
I do not see what the concern is, Xeph grumbled, the sound like a mote of sand in a dust storm. The temple is both of your responsibilities. Why would you not share management if its interface as well?
Behind them, another group of lud appeared inside the teleportation circle. Callan had to admit, the whole process was rather underwhelming. There was no flash of light, or clap of thunder, or anything remotely magical about the process. Just one moment the circle was empty, and the next—poof! There they were.
Hmm. He supposed the poof part was somewhat magical.
The group of lud hurried out of the circle to join their friends and family milling about the edge. Xeph had been quite clear that no one should remain inside it when the next group teleported in, or the results would be anything but magical.
Returning his attention to the conversation, he studied the interface in front of him and Kivi. “I mean, I guess that makes sense. It just seems weird that something which I thought was printed on the back of my eyeballs is apparently there for everyone to see.”
With the small exception of it being invisible to all but my chosen few.
“See? That makes it even weirder. At least when I was pawing at nothing, I could write it off as using the computer in my head, or whatever. Now you’re telling me you could have just let everyone see what I was doing so I didn’t look like some crazed tweaker.”
I don’t know what either of those things are.
“Yeah, and its likely to stay that way, until you stop withholding critical information.”
Xeph let out a growl. I keep telling you, mortal, I can’t control which memories are available and which remain compressed.
“Just seems rather convenient, is all I’m saying.” Glancing sideways, Callan watched Kivi for a moment. “What do you make of all this, High Priestess?”
“Oh, this is far beyond anything I have experience with. Truly, Xeph-Zul-Karatl is as powerful as he is mysterious.”
Glad at least someone appreciates my mystique, Xeph said, a preening note to his voice. Callan rolled his eyes.
“Mystique requires a level of control on your part, you know. Can you at least tell us what’s the deal with all the question marks?”
Hmm. I have my suspicions, but please check something for me first. Concentrate on one of the statistics.
“Okay...” Yet Callan hesitated. “This better not give me a brain-splitting migraine like last time.”
Everything in life worth doing comes with risks.
“Says the god who is probably shutting off his connection to my pain receptors as we speak.” With a shake of his head, Callan concentrated on the line for... the nave? Wasn’t that a part of a church building?
Error: Paladin not detected. This temple is limited to tier 1 functionality.
He glanced over at Kivi. “Did you see that?”
“See what, Avatar?”
Okay, so they shared the main window, but it appeared that any sub-windows were their own. Callan wasn’t sure if that was important information or not, but with as many mysteries as abounded here, he’d take what he could get.
My suspicions were correct, Xeph said, drawing Callan attention back to the matter at hand. Before my withdrawal from the world, this place was more than a mere temple. It appears that its status as a higher tier building remains intact, but inaccessible to us for the moment. Related aspects are similarly hidden until such time as we regain the requisite followers needed.
“And how many would that be, exactly?” Callan asked.
Unfortunately, that is information we will need to discover together.
Which was about as much as Callan had figured, but he couldn’t deny still being a tad disappointed. He turned his focus elsewhere to keep from dwelling on matters beyond his control. “Alright, so we can’t know this temple’s stats. What about the other parts, like consecrations? Seems like those are still functional.”
Yes, at least some of them.
Callan looked over the list, then focused each Consecration in turn, a series of boxes appearing in his vision.
Consecration: Teleport
Move any of the god’s followers between two designated points at will. Does not function for those who have not sworn an oath of faith. All circles must be located inside temple domain to be functional.
Current number of active circles = 3
Maximum number of circles allowed for this temple is ???.
Consecration: Scry
Display of maps and other information related to temple functions. May also utilize conviction to perform external surveys. Cost and time required to gather information is dependent on distance and interference from opposing domains.
Consecration: Commune
Allows for direct communication with other temples. Conviction required dependent on distance and interference from opposing domains.
Error: This consecration is currently unavailable due to no other functioning temples detected.
Consecration: Tintinnabulation
Defensive function. Instantly summons all faithful within the temple’s domain to the central worship hall.
Cost to activate = 10 Conviction per 100 individuals
“Huh. Seems like there’s another teleportation circle around here somewhere,” he said, dismissing the windows again. Kivi glanced at him curiously.
Likely it is as damaged as the one above, or else it would have brought us to it during our first attempt.
“Suppose that makes sense. That tintinnabulation seemed useful, by the way. Could be a great way to gather everyone back here whenever we need to have a meeting.”
I would caution against using it for frivolous purposes, Xeph noted. Most temple functions require additional Conviction in order to function, and the temple is dangerously low at the moment.
“Oh yeah, I was noticing that.” Turning, Callan nudged a nearby chest with his foot, the one that contained their remaining supply of memory shards. “Want me to get chowing down so we can refuel?”
That depends. How many remain?
Callan opened the chest and sifted the pieces about. “Seventeen.”
In that case, leave them where they are. You are currently generating four times the conviction the temple will require, and we may have need of those shards for other purposes yet. Such as replenishing our priesthood.
“Fair enough.” Callan closed the lid again. He turned to Kivi. “I guess it’s time we start showing everyone around. I imagine they’re famished after this morning’s walk.”
“That would be appreciated, Avatar.”
Wait a moment, Xeph interrupted. Now that the temple has full operations restored—well, mostly restored—there is something else I wish you to do.
Callan sighed. Between the walk and the climb down the cliff, he really wanted to lay down and rest for a bit. “Whatever it is, make it snappy.”
I cannot snap, lacking the required meat sacks you call fingers.
It took all of Callan’s willpower not to sigh again, louder this time. “Xeph...”
Yes, yes. Approach the altar so I may activate the Scry ability.
“Are we going to show everyone the layout of the temple?” That actually was a good idea, and Callan felt rather silly that he hadn’t thought of it himself.
Perhaps later. I have something more important in mind at the moment.
The space over the altar flickered, and a ghostly image bloomed to life. Unlike the map of the temple, which had been a series of snaking lines and boxes, this was a single, bloated mass. Many of the lud went silent and turned towards the altar at the image’s appearance.
Callan frowned at the image. “What exactly are we looking at here?”
This, mortal, is a map of Urslang. And with temple functionality restored, we can use it to finally locate my remaining followers.