They went on, wordless. Duzz kept staring at Crefar suspiciously, but he didn't seem to care. He was focused on the environment around him. The thought of the demon she saw Crefar turn into never left Duzz's mind and she wanted to ask him about it, but she didn't know where to start.
The tunnel went on some distance before ending in an entrance to a larger space. It was pitch black beyond the entrance and the light of Duzz's lantern could not disperse the darkness inside. Crefar turned to Duzz, his face unusually hopeful. Duzz nodded slightly and started preparing a torch. With two torches lit, they went inside. The stronger light of the torches dispersed the all consuming darkness and showed them the vast space beyond the tunnel.
It was a large dome with earthen floor. It seemed as though the soil had found its way inside the originally circular space and throughout the centuries it had completely filled the lower half of it.
"D-d-do you think this wa-wa-was that wind-thing's home?" Duzz asked Crefar.
"No. This is someone else's home. That elemental entity may have been created by my god, but beacuse it was trapped in here for long centuries, unable to get out, it went insane." was Crefar's answer.
"Wh-wh-who's home is this, then?"
"I did not think I would see it again," Crefar said, full of reverence. "But now I see why this monastery and everything about it felt so familiar. You see, this is a temple.
"A long long time ago, temples were built on the verges of worlds, so they could reach from one universe to another, drawing on the magical power of the transgression. I used to visit dozens of these temples in my day, and seeing the state of this place, I see now it must have been so very long ago. These old temples were usually on the inside of the colossi - gigantic statues that were hollow on the inside and represented the forms of the gods these temples were dedicated to."
"You m-m-mean... Th-th-the tower with the cut-off t-t-top..."
"An arm. A fallen off arm of a giant statue, that in its day was holding a sphere in its palm. And inside this sphere a dome. This dome."
As they went on with their torches, more of the dome's other side became visible.
There were roots weaving through the earthen ground and on the perimeter of the dome, some strange underground fungi of many colors were sprouting wildly. That was the first thing Duzz went to inspect.
Crefar's attention, however, was captivated by something on the opposite side of the dome. He had to go close to really see it, but even from afar, his heart already knew what it was. A large stone altar stood there, half covered by the earthen floor. It was an unusual ancient sculptural group or relief. Part of the sculpture crawled up the ceiling of the dome like a creeper plant and depicted strange flying entities soaring through the air. There were strangely shaped clouds, gusts and torrents of fire and sculpted piercing spikes of lightning. To the modern eyes of Alois it was no more than a depiction of elemental chaos. In front of this wall-creeping relief, there stood a large idol with only part of its belly and a misshapen head poking out from the ground, that seemed to belong to the sculptural group, as if all the chaos on the wall behind was crawling out of this one idol.
It had a large belly, short hands (if they were indeed hands - they were small protrusions on its sides with claws on them) and a large head with small mouth full of spiky teeth, two very large eyes and many curving horns that went up from the crown of its head like a twisting flame.
"Man Há-Tan!" Crefar said out loud and fell to his knees.
"Th-th-that's him? That's y-y-your god?" Duzz stammered from far behind.
YOU ARE READING
The Hall of Heroes
Fantasy"It is not just a tale." the wise woman said calmly. "The Hall of Heroes exists. It is a tomb built by our ancestors that houses the remains of long dead heroes native to this mountain country. And through a certain ritual, those heroes can be calle...
