They were walking through the jungle. It had already been about two hours since they left, and they still hadn’t found the temple. Aelin would occasionally run ahead to see if there was anything. As she did so, she climbed trees with great ease and jumped remarkably high. Blocky followed her as well. Seeing those two, especially Aelin, jumping through the trees surprised Mat and Sam. Oh, and along the way, they encountered a few monsters, but they were easy to defeat compared to the one from before.
Suddenly, Samantha said to Mat,
“You know... I’ve been thinking about something.”
“What is it?”
“Well... Aelin. She got used to us way too quickly, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, I’ve thought about that too... Well, at least we were the ones who found her.”
“Why do you say that? Oh... I get it.”
Living in such a remote house, she could have died without anyone finding her until long after it happened. Worse, if someone had found her earlier, it might have been "bad people."
“So... I guess it’s for the best.”
Two more hours passed. Now Aelin and Blocky were walking alongside the group because Samantha thought it was too dangerous to let Aelin keep jumping around.
“Ugh... If we’re going to go through all this with the others too... I don’t want to be part of this anymore...” Sam said out of nowhere, sounding exhausted. “Isn’t there another way to find the temple?”
“Well... We don’t know.” Pointy responded for everyone.
“Really? We can’t find it with... I don’t know, some kind of spiritual power or something?” Sam asked.
“Oh,” Mat said, “I hadn’t thought of that... Huh?”
Aelin tugged on Mat’s shirt.
“What is it?”
“Spiritual power?” Aelin responded with another question. “Oh, it’s like energy or something, something you can feel...”
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“Energy?”
“Oh, right. She doesn’t know what that is...”
“Well, it’s...”
“It’s the capacity of something to do work, or to cause some sort of change or transformation. There are actually many explanations depending on the field, but... Let me make it simpler,” Pointy explained. “Spiritual energy is basically what keeps you alive, what moves you, and lets you use powers, assuming your body is compatible, of course.”
“What?” Aelin didn’t quite understand, but her expression didn’t change to one of confusion.
“Oh, I see...” Mat said, then turned to Aelin. “Well, you can sense animals, right? I mean... You know where they are without seeing them.”
“Yes!”
“And you’ve probably noticed that each one has a different aura, but at the same time, similar to those of similar animals, right?”
“Yes!”
“What?” Samantha interjected, turning to Pointy. “Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“But I don’t feel anything...” she replied.
“Neither do we,” Blocky said. “But TRX can, I think.”
“Is that true?” Sam asked.
“Yes, I think so,” TRX said. “I can sense the presence of various animals, but... I can’t tell them apart.”
“I see.”
While they were talking, Aelin said to Mat,
“There’s something over there that feels similar to you.”
She pointed south.
“Really?” Mat said, surprised. “I don’t feel anything.”
“It seems like you can’t sense presences similar to yourself, or something,” Pointy said.
“So... Is the temple a living being or what?” Sam asked.
“Nah, it just has the Hero’s aura, a divine aura, or at least that’s what we were told,” Blocky said.
“I see... Wait, why didn’t you mention that earlier?” Mat asked.
Divine aura? Mat thought to himself.
“We forgot...” Pointy said. “And since none of us can sense aura, and neither could you, that information was useless. Although...”
“Aelin could,” Samantha said, as she walked over to Aelin and patted her head. “Good job. You helped us a lot.”
“Hehe...” Aelin seemed happy.
“That’s strange, but it will be very useful,” TRX said.
“Alright then. Let’s head that way,” Mat said.
“Yes!” everyone agreed.
They headed towards the place where the temple was supposed to be. Incredibly, aside from the monster they encountered the day before, nothing else happened that day. It seemed like most monsters were drawn to the mark at night.
Finally, around 2 in the afternoon, they reached some ruins. As they approached, something felt strange.
“Oh! I’ve been here before,” Aelin said. “When my grandfather...”
She was about to cry, but Samantha managed to calm her down, with Mat’s help, of course. Despite this, they decided to have lunch there since it was peaceful.
Afterward:
“Well then,” Mat said. “Let’s go in.”
He started walking toward the ruin’s door, but as he did, a booming voice was heard. Only Samantha was startled.
“Only those who bear the Mark and two followers may enter. If you do not bear the Mark of the Chosen, you may only enter if you are willing to sacrifice something of great value to you.”
“What?” Mat said.
“That’s right, people without the mark can enter too,” Pointy said. “But don’t worry.”
“Oh, I see. Well, who wants to come with me?” Mat asked.
“Not me,” Samantha said. “I’m a little scared...”
“I see... Well, then stay here and look after Aelin.”
“Eh, okay.”
“So...”
“I’ll go,” TRX said.
“Okay, who else? Oh, right. Roundy, you come too,” Mat said.
“W-why me? Oh... Right... I’ll go...”
The three gathered in front of the door.
“Well. Can we go in?” Mat asked.
“You may.”
The door opened.
“Wow,” Aelin said, looking impressed. “Can I-?”
“No. It’s dangerous,” Sam said.
“Oh...”
Mathias, Roundy, and TRX entered. After that, the door closed.