With the knowledge that there was a location, they could travel to where they would see if this supposed God of Tomes had a shrine or not, they headed towards the center of the large city. While it was possible to ride a carriage through the city from destination to destination it was not looked highly upon. Most would leave their carriages on the main road into the city, allowing for the roads to remain clear and cleaner.
As they walked past the main street which contained the bland marble buildings, they began to be able to see the first of what would be seemingly endless shrines to different gods. The style of these various shrines were generally open. Large marble steps would lead up to a fifty-foot by fifty-foot platform covered in tiles of the same clean and pure marble. Around the edge of this platform would be tall and broad pillars of marble, sometimes adorned with some sigils to help represent what god was worshiped there. These thick pillars came in several variations of styles, but each held up a simplistic looking roof of marble, tiled with what were likely clay tiles to protect from rain or other weather. In each of these temples, a statue would be present. A mortal created representation of the god presiding over the space. Some were human women and men, various poses being immortalized in white stone representing what the god had as their legacy. Other gods were not so simple. In places, you could see statues of plants or beasts, entities that had found the path to godhood.
They walked past many of these temples on the two-mile trek to arrive at their destination. The building looked like a wider version of a temple, about five times as wide. The main difference is that this building rather than being wide open like the other temples had walls made of the same white marble that decorated the whole of the city. The walls were set about five feet in from the large pillars and stretched all the way to the structures’ roof. In the center of the entrance was a simple double door made of highly polished dark wood. The doors were fully open, and a bright light could be seen on the inside. “This is it” Lord Losler spoke lightly as they arrived at the first step, “The Hall of Records”.
As if the name itself provided the answer to why they were there Jien nodded gently as they stepped forward towards the open doors. This must be the location where those who administrate this city keep records of the temples and rites performed at them. If there was a God of Tomes as Jien had mentioned, records of their temple should be in this location. As they entered through the doorway that was twice the height of a grown man, they were finally able to see the inside of the structure.
The inside was clean with white marble floors and walls just like other establishments on the city’s main street. In the center of the long space was a large circular desk where three squires sat in their pristine white robes. Each was either helping someone with a question or peering over large tomes that sat before them as if mesmerized. The Losler pair approached the desk and waited silently until they were motioned to come forward by a teenager with blond hair and bright blue eyes. As they approached his side of the desk the teenager asked, “How may I be of assistance?” To this Lord Losler responded that they were looking for any record of a God of Tomes. The teenager smiled and instructed them to follow him to find out. This type of question was of course a common occurrence. If one had a path in mind but knew little of the Cities of the Gods, they would come here to find the correct temple to head to or if no god quite matched their chosen path to choose something similar.
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The space behind the circular desk was filled with what seemed to be endless rows of fully packed bookshelves. There was everything from stone tablets to scrolls made of the finest lambskin, and of course, more leather-bound books than the eye could count. However, the three of them walked past all of these different sources of knowledge to the far back of the building. The bookshelves were arranged so that a clear semicircle of ten feet was present. In the center of this open space, there was a large pedestal holding a tome far larger and thicker than any of the others they had seen.
The young squire walked up to the tome and began to whisper something that the Losler pair could not hear. Though they were not able to hear the spoken words they knew deep down that the squire was casting a spell. After a few more moments of mumbling the squire spoke normally, “show me if there exists a God of Tomes”. After he spoke these words, a light breeze swept through the room as the book before them began to move. Page after page flipped ever so gently as if whatever was turning the pages feared that the next one, they turn may disintegrate into nothing more than motes of dust. This process continued for several minutes, only the gentle sound of pages turning as well as the smell of parchment and dry ink permeated the air, that is until the pages stopped flipping. With that, the phenomena faded completely, and the squire stepped forward to look at the pages that had been opened too.
What was present was surprising to the young squire. On one side the page was crisp and clear to read, listing off much about a Goddess of Tombs. On the next page though legible to some degree the page of the book had faded tremendously. The title was large enough and had been bold enough originally that it was still mostly legible. The title did indeed make it clear that there was indeed a God of Tomes, the trouble came with reading anything else. The squire mumbled what was likely a much shorter and simpler spell. His face paled slightly given the use of mana but using the means he had he discovered where to go to see the temple they were searching for.
He quickly led the Losler pair back to the front where the circular desk was present and then provided them instructions in the direction of the far back, right sector of the city, providing them a plot number that would equate to an address in any other city. With this knowledge in hand, the father-son duo made their way to the destination. It took them more than an hour on foot but neither of the two complained about this. Soon they reached a section of the city, though this section did not seem like the rest. There were many temples, but it appeared that they were not maintained well.
Some pillars of various temples were cracked or had fallen apart, some were overgrown by large vines. This part of the city could not compare to the remainder, the very site of these shrines leaving the Loslers baffled as to why it was not maintained. However, as they continued their walk they discovered what they felt was the answer to their thoughts, there were no squires, very few priests, and what appeared to be no Archons in any of the temples they had passed. This knowledge made Lord Losler frown, a part of him wanting to turn back as he felt that they would not even be able to achieve their goal here if there were no caretakers or anyone worthy enough to perform the rite for them.
Despite his fathers’ apparent doubts, Jien continued to the furthest corner of the sector, following the plot number until he finally reached his destination, his father arriving shortly after. What greeted them was definitely a surprise and not a pleasant one. The temple was shaped like all those they had passed in the main street of the town; however, it was so covered in vines that anyone would think that nature was trying to swallow it as if to hide what had become of this once holy space. They saw more than a few of the supporting pillars that held the stone roof had crumbled long ago, leaving them with the question as to how the temple was even still standing.
Lord Losler turned to his son and spoke with a deep frown. “I don’t believe we will find what we are looking for here, do you have any other thoughts regarding the path you wish to follow?” However, when he looked his son in the eyes, he found a determination that made him worry. Sure, this was supposedly the correct temple, but it looked to have not been maintained, likely meaning it had neither a priest nor archon to perform the Unsealing Rite. Yet Jien as if ignoring his fathers’ thoughts completely stepped forth, determined to ensure whether this path was cut off to him or not.