After heeding the advice, Kazius would wait for the next day. Kazius had waited so long to come here… Yet now that he was finally about to climb Mount Ulf, Kazius felt a looming uneasy feeling. There was something ‘wrong’ with every mountain so far, for lack of a better word. They were all death traps to normal people.

Yet Mount Ulf, while the tallest of them all, it was like an ordinary mountain. Of course, that made looking around a lot easier, despite the foliage growing around it’s path.

The mountain even had some areas with a proper stone steps, yet Damon regarded this place with concern… Why? He climbed this place as a kid, right?

“This is pretty peaceful… I don’t know where we should look for a temple though…” Alice stated, looking relaxed. Clearly welcoming the change of pace.

Damon on the other hand was on edge. The cheery male would have his eyes dart about repeatedly, as if watching out for something. “Don’t trust the peacefulness… The mountain Guardian is out there somewhere. It is a big guy, so at least he won’t surprise us. I told you, I would love to fight it, but we don’t stand chance. Honestly, the first few times I climbed this place I didn’t even meet it… Good thing too…” He admitted.

‘He talked about the Guardian a lot… What even is it? Maybe instead of Guarding the mountain… It is actually protecting the temple… I have never seen Damon so nervous about fighting anything before… Unless including his sister… This thing must really be something… But if it didn’t appear when Damon first climbed here as a kid… Then where did it come from? Or did he really just get very lucky…’

“Do you know anything that looks like a temple here? If you are that worried, we can try and hurry along.” Kazius suggested.

“I am not worried… I love battles, but I’ve tried to fight it, there is no way!”, Damon exclaimed. “That isn’t a battle at all.” He admitted, a hint of sourness over it in his tone. It was clear he would love to fight the guardian, but he didn’t think it feasible.

“I suppose that makes sense… Then what about the temple?” Kazius would remind him of his other question.

“Well, there is nothing like that here. I haven’t seen a temple at all.” Damon admitted.

Kazius sighed, of course it wouldn’t be easy. He really wished Vind had told him more. Even The Oracle was less vague.

The group would wonder aimlessly for what felt like hours, just following the path. At this point Alice looked bored with the scenery while Damon still was on edge. It was then they heard it.

A jingle.

The air seemed to grow heavy, suffocating even. Like the air had shifted.

All the sounds of nature the group had enjoyed in their walk, suddenly faded… It was so silent it was uncomfortable. A maddening ringing silence. Damon’s eyes would go wide, fear hinting in his expression.

Then there was another jingle. It sounded almost like a wind chime, but higher pitched. Something about the sound almost rung like a warning.

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An overwhelming sense of dread filled Kazius.

‘What the hell is that?!’

The jingle would suddenly grow closer yet again.

“Its… It’s the… guardian.” Damon would finally manage out. Normally he was so talkative, but it was almost like talking was difficult. His words coming out in short continuous bursts followed by silence in between. His hesitation to fight such a thing was becoming very obvious.

There was no wind, no sound. Kazius could have sworn he saw his shadow move on it’s own again out of the corner of his eye. Like it was trying to tug on him, but he was too frozen.

‘Is this all in my head? It is like an overwhelming presence… Not even meeting Vind was anything like this…’

Another jingle.

‘Run’ Kazius would suddenly hear. It was that voice again… Maybe he wasn’t crazy, his shadow really did talk to him maybe? Still, he felt frozen, almost glued down.

‘RUN!’

At this Kazius snapped out of his shock, tugging on the two to run off and do just that. Good thing too since out of the corner of his eye, Kazius would see something move closer. There would be one final jingle. The world suddenly growing bright. Then oh so suddenly, a ray of light would hit where they had been standing seconds ago, the spot getting charred black.

‘WHAT’

“What!?” Damon exclaimed, seeming to be thinking his the same. Being just as shocked as he was.

Alice on the other hand would scream, the princess being more than horrified. “What the fuuuuuuuck?!” She would exclaim, normally not cursing much, but that was just how shocked she was.

They would run, very much running for their lives at this point.

“Did you know that thing could do that?!” Kazius exclaimed as they ran.

“No way! I thought it was just fast and strong! Maybe a heavy presence! It never did that before!” Damon exclaimed in horror.

‘So first it appears, then it learns how to do this?!’

They keep running. The jingling didn’t seem to get any farther away though. Just where was it?

They couldn’t keep running forever… At this rate they would have to consider fleeing the mountain… But would it follow? The group would run with the intention of getting off the edge of the path. Rather than just an edge though, there were pillars and stone steps leading up the ledge.

‘Finally! Cover! Escape! Whichever!’

The group would rush forward between the pillars that resembled an arch, intending to take cover and see where the creature was. Rather than finding themselves behind some pillars though, as they approached, the pillars would glow the same color as the light from the guardian. With no time to react, even though Kazius tried to stop, Damon failed to stop his momentum fully due to his stature. He would end up falling with them through the pillars. Rather than land on the dirt though, what welcomed them was less forgiving, hard marble.

“Sorry! I was just freaking out about the-“ Damon would exclaim, his voice carrying an echo in the halls of the pure white marble hall. “What the…”

Alice groaned, getting up, “What’s wrong? Is that thing behind us?” She questioned only to grow shocked as the hall came into view.

Kazius too would manage to get up, his expression growing confused and shocked. He would look behind them. There was a large marble gate with metal doors that shined with metal just as beautiful as the kind you could find at Veleno.

He would then look at the front to take in the massive yet elegant hall. The place was lit up brightly, glowing a golden accented white like the attacks from the guardian. Odd stone and metal flowers could be seen at the forefront. The stone bases covered in eyes that would blink at the group. As if staring and watching their every move. Behind them there was a hallways full of many many mirrors at either side with an even bigger more elegant mirror at the very end, the mirror shining with the same glow the filled the place…

While they were the only ones there, the deafening silence from before was now replaced by quiet whispers that seemed to come from the very walls of the place.

“No way…” Alice stated in awe.

“The temple…” Kazius confirmed in both confusion and concern, his brows furrowing.