The Cathruli were surprisingly late risers. Probably because many of them were night owls, except the elderly and those whose jobs required them to rise with the sun. What Gwyneth found interesting were the few devoted religious groups among the Cathruli. The Sun Worshippers awoke just before sunrise and would sleep just after sunset. On the other hand, the Moon Worshippers would wake up just after sunset to sleep just before sunrise. She thought it was quite loyal of them while Aston just thought them weird.
Gwyneth had hoped to bathe during her time here, but water appeared to be scarce. The river was several miles away, with a group of dedicated Cathruli fetching water every few days. Needless to say, the Cathruli didn't bathe much.
Isla was still ill from the heat, and Notus wasn't faring much better. Yet, the latter insisted on joining the group on their journey to the Fire Temple. Cetri would lead the expedition while Mitra continued research on Elric's mysterious shield.
"Where is this Fire Temple, exactly?" Elric asked as they began their hike.
"Just south of the volcano!" Cetri answered.
"Aren't we south of the volcano?" Aston snarked.
Cetri rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but this is like closer south. Besides, it's more like southeast anyway!"
"And you're sure this is where the Fire Spirit is?" Gwyneth asked.
"According to all our books anyway!"
"I thought you said before that you don't worship fire?" Aston asked.
"It's... complicated. We don't worship it per se, but we respect it. After all, the Fire Spirit is what allows us to survive volcanic eruptions in the first place! So, the temple is more like... an acknowledgment."
Gwyneth thought back to Aeceria. Was there anything comparable in her land? The Fae hadn't mentioned any temples, but it was highly implied their Elemental Spirit lived among them. Besides, they had other ways of worship, she was sure. But Aeceria? It had long been known that each kingdom resonated with a specific element besides Zetheria, yet there was little to no history of the Earth Spirit. Was it because it had vanished long ago? But Avel and Camellia had assured her the spirit favored her, meaning it must be around somewhere.
She shook the thought away. None of that mattered now.
"Prepare yourselves!" Elric called back. A few anteaters and a swarm of bats approached the group. Gwyneth hung back while watching the others deal with the situation. Thankfully, none of the animals had armor, allowing for swift kills. Notus and Aston used their elemental magic of course, and Elric tested out his enhanced sword. A stream of water flicked through the air, knocking three bats out at once. "I could get used to this." He smiled.
Cetri fought with a rather large hammer. For someone so skinny, Gwyneth would have thought she'd have trouble swinging it. Yet, she seemed to swing with ease, knocking one anteater into another before both hit the rocky wall of the cliff.
"Why are the animals in Cathrul so huge?!" Aston shouted, catching the Fae next to him off guard.
"That would be our ancestors," Cetri began. "A loooong time ago, they experimented on animals, mutating them. Times were tough and there was a shortage of food. They're more aggressive now and far more dangerous, but nobody exactly minded."
"Mutating animals? I'm not sure I've ever heard of such a thing." Elric looked lost in thought.
"I dunno the specifics; it's a story from ages ago. Probably had something to do with Zetheria." Zetheria always was the technological wonder...
A few more bats fell to the ground before Cetri looked back at Gwyneth. "How come you don't fight?"
Gwyneth's gaze shot up to the Cathruli before she processed she was being spoken to. "I was never allowed to learn."
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
"What?!" Cetri yelped, her ears perking up. "Girlie, you should have told me sooner! Listen, when we get back, I'm going to teach you alllllllllll about fighting! But... Not allowed to learn?"
"Aecerian princesses typically aren't allowed to learn how to fight. That's what our knights are for, after all..."
"But the princes can?" Cetri raised an eyebrow, shocked when Gwyneth nodded her head. She shook her head, stifling her disbelief. "You see, all the men here are capable of being far stronger than us women. But they're wimps! Most of them, anyway."
"Maybe it's not the blade they fear but your scorn." Notus tsked, causing Cetri to do a double take.
Gwyneth couldn't help but feel excitement at the idea of finally learning how to fight.
Finally, she would be able to protect herself from Aston tormenting her. Her younger self would be very proud.
---
"This is it?" Aston stared at the... partial structure in front of him. Two smooth stone pillars arched together to create an elaborate doorway that led into the side of the cliff. You could see part of the building extruding from the cliffside. The little bit of the temple that could be seen was akin to a mausoleum.
"Yeah, that's it." Cetri pushed the door open with ease.
"It opened?!" Aston gasped. "Shouldn't it like... be locked or something? What if someone attacks the spirit?"
"Like who?" Cetri raised an eyebrow. "No Cathruli would ever dare. And no outsiders get in without our knowledge. ...Not many outsiders get in, in general." She shrugged. She grabbed a torch at the side of the entrance. "Anyway, light?"
Aston focused his magic on the torch. Shortly after, the tip was lit with fire.
"Lit."
"Lit?" Gwyneth raised an eyebrow.
"It's an expression."
"Is that a good thing?" Elric asked.
"Yes. Very good."
"I see. Your tone didn't match your enthusiasm."
Several torches lined the walls of the temple. Using the torch, Cetri lit one causing a chain reaction. Aston wasn't sure what to expect, but he had expected the temple to be bigger. Maybe the size of Aeceria Castle's ballroom. This was the size of his bedroom at best. The walls all shared the same beige color of the pillars and door, and there was a large mural on the back wall. Gwyneth approached it, surprised it wasn't in the old language.
"How old is this mural?" Gwyneth asked.
"Hm... Probably at least eight hundred years old?" Cetri assumed.
So, the old language had already fallen out of use by then.
The mural depicted the four Elemental Spirits; the fire one was slightly larger with clearer details than the others, likely due to bias. Gwyneth wasn't sure how to picture them, but she was surprised that all the spirits took on a diamond shape created by their respective element. Mostly. Fire was depicted as swirling flames and Water as droplets and streams. Earth was depicted as tiny rocks, while Air was depicted as flowers. How strange.
"There's one here, too." Elric motioned to the east wall. This mural depicted the Cathruli interacting with the Fire Spirit as if they were having a pleasant conversation. However, one Cathruli seemed to be burning? "What is going on here?" Elric pointed to the burning Cathruli.
"Yeah, I never understood that one either." Cetri shook her head. "Punishment? Accidentally touched the Fire Spirit? Fell in lava shortly before? The fact that Cathruli can't wield magic? No one can say. Some people have gone as far as to say the artist made a mistake or took some artistic liberties with that one."
"If you're all done debating history, I believe we have all ignored the unicorn in the room." Notus tapped his foot impatiently.
"Oh yeah. Where's the Fire Spirit?" Aston asked.
Silence.
"You lied!" The Fae approached Cetri who seemed unphased, lost in thought.
"No, this is what the book clearly stated," Cetri answered.
"Then where is it?!"
"Is this proof that the Fire Spirit has woken up and moved?" Gwyneth asked.
"Then why hasn't anyone seen it?" Aston asked.
"Maybe they're shy...?"
"That's such an Isla explanation."
"No. The Fire Spirit is in the Fire Temple," Cetri said more confidently. "It's just not in this Fire Temple."
"Huh?"
"There were three Fire Temples built. This one, one that got destroyed during an eruption, and finally..." she paused. "One on the other side of Cathrul."
"The cursed side, correct?" Gwyneth asked.
Cetri nodded, letting out a loud sigh in the process.
"Then we go there." Notus began walking out.
"What? No!" Cetri chased after him, blocking his exit. "You asked us to check, we checked. We're not going to the other side of Cathrul where it's cold to look for the Fire Spirit because... why exactly? Is it important if they came back?
"It brings us one step closer to understanding the elemental anomaly."
"But it's just too cold and too far!"
"Then I'll go alone."
"No, you will not! You haven't given us any reason to trust you!"
"And since when do I need your permission?"
"Since you stepped foot in my territory, you smoldering Fae! Besides, the other temple likely has a lock system after the war."
"What if we went?" Elric asked.
"Aston, what do you think?" Gwyneth asked, turning to their hero.
"I'd rather not look for some ancient spirit when I could be saving the world, so no." Aston shook his head.
"Then it's decided." Cetri crossed her arms.
Notus gritted his teeth, obviously annoyed at the current situation. He was about to speak before Gwyneth cut him off. "What if we went after Zetheria? I'm also concerned about the elemental anomaly as well as the Earth Spirit..."
"Fine." Notus crossed his arms.
Gwyneth took one last glance at the mural. I thought they would be more human-like in appearance.