Waking from sleep, sitting up, a shot came out of the underbrush whizzing by Elara’s ear and into a nearby tree.

“Don’t get up too quickly!” said a voice, not nearby or far, echoing throughout the trees. Looking around the forest and the whispering branches, Elara and Arion could neither hear or see the voice through the dark never ending treeline.

“What do you want with us? We have done you no harm!” Elara shouted to the trees. Three further arrows came out of the forest, but by this time Arion was ready and the arrows ricocheted off the invisible shield he had erected around them.

“You’ll have to try better than that!” said Arion in a singing tone.

“Eugh, fine,” said the disembodied voice. A green hooded figure emerged from the trees and lowered their bow.

“Who are you?” Arion inquired.

“What’s it to you? I’m not obliged to give you that information, said the figure.

“True but you’re one step away from one of my bolts disintegrating you.” Arion threatened. Elara mused that this was quite out of character for Arion but in the face of the potential danger she was relieved that he wasn’t his jovial self and was treating this situation a bit more seriously.

“I’m Taria if you must know, but that’s all you’re getting.” The woman lowered her bow realising the fruitlessness of still having it raised and started towards them.

“What are you doing? Arion asked.

“Coming over to shake your hand like a civilised person?” Taria replied.

“That’s alright,” Elara said, “We don’t need to do that until we can all trust one another.” She looked sideways to Arion for a nod of agreement, to which he obliged.

“Makes sense, you’re not as stupid as you look.” Taria chuckled, storing her bow on her back with her arrows.

“So you’re on the way to the temple aren’t you?”

“What temple?” Elara started.

“The temple of Boratia,” Arion said. “It’s the temple of the gods, long lost and forgotten. Not a place that we should venture into lightly.”

“Then why would we venture into it?” said Elara incredulously.

“This is the most interesting historical find in the past century!” said Arion excitedly.

“Not to break up this little tea party, but can we try not to bore me with this chit chat.” Taria said with impudence. She removed her hood, her long flowing curly ginger hair waving in the slight breeze. “Can we please get going, if we’re going to this temple?”

“Sorry but does that mean we’re going to the temple then?” said Elara

“Do you want to go?” queried Arion.

“I mean I’m interested as to what this temple of the gods is all about but anything we should be worried about?” worried Elara.

“Nothing we can’t handle!” said Arion cheerily.

“That’s what I’m afraid of!” Elara sighed.

“You’re stronger than you look little crow,” Arion said gently with a fatherly look in his eyes. This took Elara off guard and she was worried that she had divulged a bit too much about the events of her leaving Brost.

“Shall we?” questioned Taria.

Picking up their packs and brushing their feet over the smouldering coals of their already reduced campfire, Arion and Elara followed Taria through the trees to the path that led to the temple.

“Watch out!” exclaimed Taria, as she lept to the left. Arion and Elara dove to the right and left respectively as a flurry of arrows passed over them, closely missing the tops of their heads by inches.

“This place must be riddled with traps!” slowly getting to their feet, the party looked ahead to the direction of the arrows. There was a stone monument with the faces of the three gods etched into it in a circular pattern.

“Wow I’ve never seen the medallion of the three gods before!” exclaimed Elara.

“It is a thing of beauty and pain and sorrow,” said Arion.

The god of darkness was positioned at the top left segment of the medallion surrounded by swirling wisps of shadow, the god of light at the top right segment surrounded by radiant rays of brilliance and the god of nature at the bottom with lush foliage and twisting roots.

“Seems like the gods have a particular plan for us.” Taria mused.

“If that plan was to kill us they did a poor job of it!” Arion chuckled. They stepped forward towards the stone monument, and with a click of a stone slab, a plume of fire erupted from the monument and engulfed them.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Thanks for that!” Elara said as the shield around them was erected as quickly as Arion could.

“Phew, that was close!” Arion breathed a sigh of relief as the fire stopped and the shield came down.

“Let’s try a different tactic.” Taria suggested. She threw ten knives outwards in a spread towards the monument and caused a pillar of spikes to protrude from the floor and a large axe to come swinging down from a tree further along the pathway. “Well that helped, I hope that’s all there is now!”

“Me too, fingers crossed we can get through this gauntlet quicker than we have.” Said Elara.

They took a cautious step forward onto the next stone step, with no response from the monument.

“I think we’re safe,” said Taria cautiously.

“Let’s crack on then!” said Arion excitedly.

They stepped closer and closer down the stone pathway until they reached the stone monument. Atop it stood a large sun dial which showed an arrow in the sunlight pointing west.

“I thought it was to the west and that seals it!” Exclaimed Taria. “Are you sure you want to continue onwards?”

“I mean it’s a bit too late to turn back now,” Elara confirmed.

“Very true, lets go forth unto the temple!” Arion skipped forward down the new pathway, overgrown and dark unsurprisingly merry after having almost been killed. The barbed vines arched around the pathway after the monument, encasing the stone laced path blocking out all sunlight.

“Let’s shed some light on the situation,” Arion lit up the end of his staff with a ball of white light which emitted down the pathway, lighting up a large wooden door in the distance.

“Is that it?” enquired Elara.

“It had better be,” said Taria. “Or I’ve been travelling months for nothing.”

After the previous pathway, the trio were on their guard as they inched down the long stretch of paved stones. Arion had his shield up and Taria had her bow drawn. Elara didn’t know what to do however, she kept very close to Arion as he had protected her thus far. Halfway down the path, Taria looked around, “I don’t think we’re going to be bothered by anything at this point.” As soon as the last word was out, the stone slabs in front of them burst upwards and crashed down on the ground behind them into many small pieces. Standing infront of them, was a man, or what looked like a man, decked in armour and a single sword in his right hand. The man’s eyes were a dark red and his head was a pillar of fire. The man lifted his sword arm, and went to bring it down on Arion, pushing through the shield like butter.

“Arion!” Elara screamed as the sword came down towards them, until a clang of steel rattled in their ears inches from Arion’s face.

“Much appreciated.” Arion shakily whispered as they realised that Taria had dropped her bow and unsheathed her own sword to protect the two. The man lifted his sword again while Arion and Elara made their way backwards as Taria took their place in a fighting stance. She parried the next blow to the left and stepped to the right expertly. A bolt of light hit the swordman in the chest from Arion’s staff but he only staggered backwards a few metres.

“My magic isn’t effective here,” said Arion to Elara. “Let’s step back and let the sword fighters dance.” Arion put his staff across Elara’s stomach and stepped backwards, bring her with him until they were a safe distance away from Taria and the swordsman.

Taria went on the offensive after the bolt, lunging for the man, sword outstretched, looking at impaling him under the arm where the armour was weakest. The man parried to the left as they began to go back and forth with their blows and parries. With a skilful feint, Taria managed to get behind the man, took out a dagger and stabbed the man in the back of the neck. The swordman’s neck turned fully backwards, bones cracking in a unnatural motion and stared at her for a few seconds, before grabbing the dagger, throwing it to the side, turning around and trying to stab her with his sword.

“What will it take to kill you?” Taria panted, sweating heavily and exasperated.

“Try cutting off his limbs!” Arion shouted.

“I totally didn’t think of that!” Taria shouted back annoyed.

She continued her dance with the swordman until she managed to get between the armour of his right leg and remove it with one well timed slash. The man looked at his leg, to Taria, and started to hop towards her, almost unphased by the blow.

Taria used her nimbleness to her advantage and got behind him and chopped off his sword arm, the sword clattering onto the ground. She picked up his sword and with crossed swords guillotined his head from his shoulders. There must have been some form of magical properties in the sword because as soon as the man’s head was removed with it, his appendages, body, armour and sword, burst into a blue flame. Taria dropped the sword to the floor as she watched the man disintegrate into the ground.

“All clear!” she shouted to Arion and Elara. “Thanks for the help!”

“You’re welcome!” Arion shouted back, Elara stood there with her mouth agape. “Any chance that we managed to get the armour he was wearing? I would like to study it as no one has ever blocked one of my bolts quite as effectively.” He mused.

“Can you just be happy that its dead and say thank you?” she rolled her eyes.

“Fine,” he sighed. “We’ll go into the temple without magical resistance armour,” he sulked. “Come along darling,” he grabbed Elara’s hand and led her forwards, her mouth still not able to create words. He passed Taria, approaching the large wooden door to what the trio believed to be the temple.

The door was oaken with a metal latch and a large metal knocker adorned with a tree, moon and sun motif,

“Definitely the temple then,” Arion thought as he ran his fingers over the door knocker. He went for the latch lifting it up with two hands. Straining he tried to open the door, “This … is a …. bit heavy….” He panted. Finding her voice after a long moment of not being able to comprehend the previous scenes she had just witnessed, Elara asked,

“Are we meant to knock on the door?”

“Whose going to answer though?” said Taria.

It was then that Arion noticed the inscription around the knocker, written in the old language, that looked like symbols and numbers.

“They who made me, can destroy me,” he translated aloud. He was rather knowledgeable when it came to history and god lore but this riddle was not forthcoming to him.

“I think I know this one!” Elara exclaimed.

“Everyone knows this one.” Taria rolled her eyes.

“She fell into the fire at the beginning of the world, the gods with all three magics hurled, out of the forge the phoenix of birth, came the planet we call the Earth.”

Elara continued, “The gods with their powers less, promised to destroy the world made of mess, all but one it seemed for the dark dove, was the fire in the dark that one called love.”

“So because of the god of darkness, we’re all still here?” Arion started surprised.

“Of course! Didn’t you know?” quizzed Elara.

“Well, no,” Arion admitted. “We were always informed of a different history in the White Keep.”

“Of course you were,” Taria sighed. It wouldn’t suit the counter narrative to the crown and the rest of us mere mortals would it?”

“I suppose not,” Arion stroked his beard for a few seconds, grabbed the knocker firmly and knocked on the wooden door loudly.

“Earth,” he stated commandingly.

The latched moved up with an otherworldly force and the door swung open inside the temple.