Defenders of Destiny Book One: Conflux

Chapter 26: Temple of Rancoor

"Can we trust that owl thing?" Boog asked, staring at the expansive desert before him. He and the others, along with the fox and lizard known as Elenia and Grig, stood before the temple Aragol had seen in his vision. It was of incredible size with four gigantic pyramids standing at its four corners. A high staircase led up to the temple itself, which consisted of many great columns shaped into various Moharan races supporting the edges of the temple's peaked roof. They had finished climbing the stairs and could see the desert span all around them, along with the towering pyramids representing the four wind directions. Two massive doors with carvings of all manner of animal life stood closed, barring access to the huge temple.

"Yzara is trustworthy enough, for a Holaarian," answered Elenia. She watched Grig walk up to the doors and place his scaly hands on their surface. "Can you open it?"

"I am a master of healing magic, Elenia," replied Grig, "I am not skilled with opening enchanted doors. I believe we will just have to wait for Yzara to return."

"What was she doing with Celestia anyway?" Graham asked Grig, his face and jaw fully healed. "Did she really push her off the eagle?"

"She believes your friend is a key to saving us from Nilepyt, the snake titan," Elenia said. "I think what she was doing was training her."

"That's some hardcore training," Victoria stated. She had wondered what the owl woman saw in Celestia and how she could believe she could fly but Victoria remembered brief flashes of the nightmare she had gone through in Valthumar's mansion. Celestia had been different then. She had wings, black hair, clawed hands, and flew with skill and amazing agility. Had she seen a vision of what she could truly become or was it nothing more than a nightmare? She had never spoken to anyone of what she had seen and wondered if she should bring it up now. She glanced back at the temple and decided that now was not the time. They had more important matters to attend to.

Karmen, refreshed and healthy once more, studied the doors, tracing the outlines of the animal reliefs on their golden surfaces. She grabbed the handle and pulled but the door didn't move at all. It felt as if it was fused to the ground. She turned around and looked at Boog. "Can you walk through?"

He nodded. "I can try." He walked up the door, turned ethereal, and marched on.

And slammed right into it.

"Hmmm," Karmen said thoughtfully, "I didn't think it would work anyway."

Boog frowned as he rubbed his bruised nose. "What? You knew this would happen?"

"I had a suspicion."

"So how are we getting in there?" Victoria asked as she looked up at the faces of the columns, expertly carved and incredibly lifelike. "The anchor's in there..."

A loud bang made Victoria jump and she looked to her right to see Boog slamming his brass-enforced knuckles at the door with all his might. His powerful strikes made the ground shake but the doors never budged or even showed a mark. After tiring himself he stood back and growled in frustration.

"It looks like Elenia is right," Elmar said as he approached the doors and studied them closely. "We're going to have to wait."

Casandra, still aching from her near-death experience, eyed the temple as she rubbed her chest, her healed wounds itching. She sensed something ominous coming from deep below. She felt cold when she tried to focus on it and wondered if it was the anchor. She had never felt that way around the other anchors. This was only the third one, though, so it was possible its corruption was so deep compared to the first two that she could feel it within herself. Whatever the case, it made her unwell and she wondered if perhaps she should have stayed in her recovery bed.