The Goth Villianess

The Temple

We were brought out of the area the same way we were brought in. Luckily we were given two hours to change for the ceremony so we didn't have to go in the clothes we wore during the Games especially since some places on the clothes got torn. Sophia managed to get her emotions back under control but she was still a bit upset at me even after I told her the hare wasn't actually real. Tara and Prince Edward were off arguing somewhere and Harvey was busy fussing over Helena. Timothy has not come near me at all since the games ended and I didn't care since it looked like the engagement would be over soon anyway. I doubted Timothy would want to stay with me after the reproachfull look he gave me when I first had killed the hare.

I bathed and dressed in a formal long black silk dress that had a lace collar that cover my neck and shoulders. I finally got to put makeup on after having to go without it during the Games, I belive that it had been years since Timothy or any of the others had seen me without makeup. Back in the other world I used to wear the usual exasperated makeup that could be seen on many goths. Unfortunately I couldn't wear my makeup exactly like that in this world so I had to change my makeup style slightly to fight in with the constricting expectations of this world. I did a smokey eyeshadow look with a dark purple blended into the middle of it. I applied a pure black lipstick over my lips and applied a sharp line of eyeliner on my eyelids. I filled in my brows and put a ribbon chocker around my throat while putting silver earings in the cap of crescent moon's into pierced holes in my ear lobes.

Harvey, Tara, Sophia and I were all standing side by side on the stage while the Headmaster gave a speech about what the games were meant to show us. "The games are made to show us our true selves, Lady Darksheild showed us that she is ruthless and determined and she wouldn't let anything stand in her way since she took the initiative that won her team the games!" The headmaster declared as he flipped over the page on his stack of notes om the marble podium. "Lord Shineblade showed a cunningness and wisdom with how he dealt with the threat of the hag, Lady Rondish showed us that she would do anything for her team to win since she stopped her own fiancé from taking the prized hare from Lady Harnmin!" The headmaster went on. "Finally we come to Lady Harnmin who used her magic to help her team locate the coats that they had to find to complete their first challenge this shows her resourcefulness!". The audience of our peers clapped for us for a few moments when the headmaster stopped speaking for a moment to allow them to clap without interrupting them. The headmaster's speech was coming to the end so the others and I stood up from our seats as was expected of us. "Now the victors must travel to the ancient temple of the god Oiche, what they may find there we can not say but we pray to the goddess of good health and luck that they return to us after they complete their adventure there!".

We were expected to leave for the temple in a few hours and we had to return two days before the winter ball to have enough time to prepare for it since it wad in our honor. I wore tight dark grey leather trousers and a long sleeve black silk shirt and wrapped my knuckles up in a long strip of black cloth made from cotton. I was tying up the laces on my knee high leather high heeled boots with Timothy finally knocked at my door. I could tell it was him since he would knock in a specific way. "Come in" I said while focusing on tying my lace. Timothy entered my room and closed the door. He didn't speak so he expected me to start the conversation. "Well out with Timothy! What do you want?" I asked him in a harsh tone while switching to my other boot to tie up the lace on that one. He seemed to chew on his words for a moment as he considered how to say what he wanted to say. "Do you really want to leave me?" He asked while looking downcast.
I finished tying up my lace and then turned to look at him. I sighed before answering, my traitorous heart still love him for some sick unknown reason but I knew I had to make sure this relationship ended on my terms since I couldn't wait for Ashley to finally capture Timothy's heart. I wasn't going to allow him to mistreat me anymore, I was done with that. "It's for the best" I told him gently "We just aren't good together!" I explained sadly. "What do you mean 'we aren't good together' ?" He asked me.
I stood up from my bed and went over to the rucksack that Sandra had prepared for me. She mostly filled it with clothes and provisions but I opened up the bag and pulled open the drawer on my dresser and pulled out a few obsidian crystals along with a few small animal skulls and a few black candles. I stuffed them into the bag, since we know knew that the temple was one of Oiche that fell into disuse after the war of false gods were there was a civil war over what divine people worshiped and since the more "evil" gods followers caused the most destruction and chaos heavy sanctions were placed on those followers so the temple had been left to rot and fall into decay.

"Our relationship isn't healthy Timothy and we both knew it for a long time" I said while slinging the rucksack onto my back "it's better for it to end than for both of us to suffer for the rest of our lives, we won't ever be happy together!". I looked at the clock and decided I would help Sophia pack and try to slip a few more things into her bag since my bag was already full and ready to burst. "Believe me Timothy I not happy about our relationship ending but in time you'll see it's for the best!" I told him gently before kissing him on the cheek one final time before walking out of my room. I chanced a look back and saw Timothy looking heartbroken with tears running down his cheek. I had to look away to prevent myself from being reduced to tears as well.

We sat in the carriage loaned to us as we slowly made our way to the temple. When we passed the temple district the high priest of Oiche had his hand up in signal for us to stop for a moment. "Young worshippers" He greeted us as Harvey and I bowed to him "I heard from my sources that you have been granted permission to enter the ancient temple that was taken from us many years ago!" Harvey and I knodded. "I must ask of you that if you happen to come across some ancient artefacts that you bring them back here so that we may be reunited with them and be able to worship Oiche together with them!". Harvey and I agreed immediately since we had already decided to bring anything we would find to the high priest first before we could keep it incase it was important to the temple in some way. As the high priest went back up the temple steps and the carriage started moving again Tara asked "Does this mean that if everything we find in the temple has to be shown to that high priest and if he decides that they are all important we don't get to keep any of it?". Harvey and I confirmed this. Tara sighed but she knew that if the temple belonged to her god that she would also want everything to be brought before her high priest first just to make sure that if anything was of value to the temple that the temple could have it and make use of it. Sophia didn't care either way since even though she was fine with us worshipping a god that was considered to be evil she wasn't going to take anything for herself if it came from a temple dedicated to an evil god.

Just before we left the city the carriage driver told us that he couldn't bring us anything further and that one of us would have to drive the carriage from then on. We debated on who would drive first since obviously we would be taking turns with who was driving. All three of us girls decided that since Harvey was the only man on this little trip that he just be chivalrous and take the first shift. He didn't object much to this but I would say he did it because he didn't trust the rest of us to maneuver our way through the tricky bit of the travel since the first few hours if the travel was the most complicated bit of the journey according to the map.

We were two days into our journey and it was my turn to drive the carriage. The rain was pouring down and I had the hood on my cloak pulled ad low over my fave as I could without affecting my field of vision,  we had made good progress we had came to the conclusion that we would arrive at the mountain that the temple was located on within a few hours and I would be glad to be able to walk about for a bit since my lower back was aching from sitting for so long with little breaks in between the long stretchs of travel. The others were either sleeping or reading something since there wasn't much to do in the carriage.

The mountain loomed over us as we approached it. I had tied the horse up at some tree and had unclipped him from the carriage. We started the long hard climb and after a few hours we wished we were still sitting in the carriage from how much the muscles in our legs were cramping.
We managed to reach the grand ancient temple of Oiche just before nightfall.
It was magnificent, tall pillars of obsidian and I spied some large statues made from amethyst between some of the pillars. The temple was a masterpiece to look at with its intricate design and high towers.
Now all we had to do was enter it and look around.