The Phoenix & The Hydra

The Temple Of Aléhan

The Temple Of Aléhan

Time was lost. There was no difference between illusion and reality. The barren land slept under the grey sky, quiet and peaceful. Snowy mountains arose in the distance and a cold wind was coming from the east, bending the sparse grasses towards the ground...
The stillness covered the land like a veil. No birds sang, no coyotes howled and even the rivers seemed to have sworn an oath of silence.
For almost a week Asha had followed the great river Ursul, before she crossed the Raptan-Desert. Her tough horse withstood the extremes much better than she did, but the dryness had made its hooves brittle, so Asha often walked next to the animal, despite her own weakness.
The wasteland of Aléhan spread endlessly in front of her eyes, while she went deeper and deeper into the north.
The emptiness was depressing. Nothing but sand, rocks and dirt.
The few animals, which called this place their home, didn't show and only their prints in the moist ground indicated their existence.
The long and exhausting journey had eaten up almost all of Asha's energy, but she was too close now to give up. She needed to find Jess. Find her and bring her back.
Asha was now entering a darkness she had promised herself she would never return to.
A world, which wasn't meant for the living.
But still Asha looked upon the mountains in the distance and beyond, so far beyond everything that even the sky seemed to end.
She was so close now that she just wanted to keep going and had to force herself to make camp for the night. But her horse needed rest and so did she.
Without thinking too much Asha took care of the indistinct brown mare, before she made a campfire and buried herself in the warm sheep furs. The sun wandered towards the horizon until it sent one last ray of light over the sky and disappeared. Although the land hadn't much to offer, the stars always sparkled brightly and the moon enlightened the emptiness.
Asha could feel how she slowly went insane. The further north she got, the deeper she lost herself in the blackness of her past and more and more she felt her sanity slip away. But she didn't care. She had to find Jess. No matter the costs.
She could hear the voices of past years echo in her head, sins she had committed came to life again and above all the dreams killed the last bit of humanity within her. At some point the exhaustion took over her body and pulled her down into the black caves of hate and discord, where she felt like home...

She woke up before sunrise. The sky showed a pale blue glimmer, a harbinger of the rising sun, but she wouldn't wait anymore. Desire and longing drove her in a dangerous, venomous way.
She got the horse ready and continued her journey.
Asha felt the void when she crossed it. It wasn't visible; there was no exact border between life and death, only a vivid sensation of distortion, which crept up her body.
The mare got more and more uneasy, played nervously with her ears and swiped her tail.
Animals had much more pronounced senses when it came to the supernatural, but Asha felt it too, in a way.
She knew it was crazy to go to that place, crazy to hope that Jess hadn't crossed over yet, crazy to believe the love of her life would actually wait for her.
But she didn't claim to be reasonable after all.
Asha didn't know how long she rode until she saw the first ghost.
It wasn't more but a scheme in the lifeless landscape, a concentration of cold air, which formed the figure of a rider.
He didn't have a face and yet Asha felt his look upon her, as he saw her as the intruder she was.
She didn't belong here.
Her horse flipped its head and tried to break out to the left, but Asha held her tight and forced her past the ghost, although she didn't feel comfortable herself.
Later she saw many more roaming souls, which couldn't cross over and were lost in this place, doomed to wander the wasteland forever.
Asha didn't feel sorry for them. She didn't feel anything but the pull of yearning for Jess.
At some point it started snowing, big smooth flakes, which came from the sky like weightless crystals and soon the ground was covered with a white fluff.
Asha smiled when she thought about the irony of snow. So beautiful and yet so cold.
The end of the day already ceased, when finally reached the mountains and began the climb.
The horse had problems with the coarse rocks and the slippery ground, but made its way after all.
Again Asha didn't want to make camp for the night, but stopped anyway at a sheltering overhang.
It protected them from the lethal cold and rough weather and she even found enough dry wood to ignite a small fire.
The arms wrapped around her knees and a fur around her shoulders, Asha watched the flames, how they fed of the air, rose and rose up, trying to climb higher, but were unable to reach for something that wasn't there.
I am sorry I couldn't save you, she thought and couldn't help the blame filling her up.
Why did she let this happen? Why hadn't she been more careful?
Questions she asked herself every minute of every day since Jess had died.
Asha knew she wouldn't have wanted her to take revenge on those drunken bastards. Jess was such a kind and loving person, caring about everything and everyone. But Asha was different.
And she had killed every single one of those guys, no matter if they were directly involved or not.
The rage and hate had taken over and never left her since.
Maybe Jess would never forgive her.
Asha moved closer to the fire as a deep coldness ate her up. She didn't know what she would do if Jess rejected her. She tried not to think about it. Her first priority was reaching her. Everything else could wait. It had to.