282: Temple

The following half an hour was spent with Hari giving a very basic rundown of everything that had happened from picking up Troy from Grantholm. Jamal was enthralled for the whole thing until it got to the part about Mt Divinus’s destruction.

“Did anyone check on my people, do you know?” Jamal asked.

Hari shook his head, “We had to leave quickly. I trust they’d be safe, though the entrance is likely blocked.”

Jamal had a frown, though it was hard to see.

“Your people?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t going to insult him.

It was Jen who answered, “There’s a community of Living Earth who live deep in Mt Divinius. I believe we mentioned them to you a while back. They mostly keep to themselves and have limited trade with Boltron.”

“Oh, one of those mining communities?” I asked, remembering the crash course that Jen gave me about the people who live around and in the mountain.

She nodded, “Exactly.”

Jamal had not said anything, just seemed to be lost in thought.

“Jamal, we can take you back there if you require. It would take a while, but just say the word and we’ll head that way,” Hari offered.

I felt Crisplet pushing across worry and concern.

Jamal just waved it off, “No, I wouldn’t want to go back. They don’t have any good drink there, and don’t worry yourself, Crisplet. They are good with stone; they’ll be fine. The same likely can’t be said for everyone in the mountain, though, if what you say is accurate.”

“No, probably not,” Hari said sombrely.

Conversation was interrupted as Gilain and Luis entered the inn. Jamal immediately leapt to his feet, but Gilain already spoke before Jamal had a chance.

“This place? Seems a bit run down, doesn’t it?” He said with a laugh.

Jamal straightened his back, hollering out, “That’s because no one around here appreciates a good drink!”

The grin that appeared on Gilain’s face was almost scary. “I take it all back, you found the perfect place!”

Hari, standing up, said, “Jamal, that’s Gilain and Lewie.”

“Come, come, take a seat, I’ll grab ya a drink!” Jamal called, immediately heading around the bar.

“Give me the best you’ve got!” Gilain called.

Jamal stared at him for a moment, and the second a gold coin hit the table, Jamal let out a boisterous laugh, shattering any of the sombre atmosphere from before.

“You got it!” Jamal called.

I noticed he was shifting a mat on the floor where he seemed to pull open a door that led downstairs, below the inn.

“There are rooms underneath?” I asked.

Milo laughed, “He’s a living earth elemental. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a massive array of rooms under there. He’d be better at working stone than I am, I’d wager.”

I looked around the inn again, just observing the place as it appeared to be falling apart, finding the statement very hard to believe.

Hari, who seemed to have noticed my glance, had a grin. “He’s not so good with wood.”

This made no sense. If he was good with stone and not good with wood, why was his building made out of wood then? Surely stone would be better.

Jamal reappeared carrying a barrel that looked to be larger than he was.

“They won’t let me have a stone building this close to the tree, but this is the best location for grain, so I make do,” he said, as the barrel landed on the counter with a thud.

Hari spoke up, “Before we start drinking, we need to visit the temple. Don’t suppose we’d be able to book your rooms and the kitchen?”

Jamal scooped the coin off the table as he came over with a mug for Gilain. “You always got a room here, you know that.”

Gilain took a sip of the ale before his eyes went wide, and then he drank the entire mug in one gulp.

“Brilliant! This might be the best ale I’ve had in the last century or two!” he yelled.

Jamal had a giant grin on his face. “Finally, someone who appreciates quality. Just you wait, I have better barrels hiding down there.”

Gilain pulled out at least five or six gold coins and slammed them on the table.

“I want to try everything!”

Jamal let out a burst of laughter. “Hari, I like this new travelling companion of yours.”

As Gilain got another mug from Jamal, he looked over to us. “I’ll give the temple a miss and stay here.”

We were soon standing back outside. We’d decided to wear our travel cloaks; it didn’t really hide much, especially with Crisplet and carrying clacks, not to mention Lily who decided to walk with us.

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It wasn’t a long walk from the inn to the tree, and with how it dominated the sky, it was impossible to miss.

The trunk of the tree was magnitudes larger than the city itself. It felt so enormous, honestly, that I believed it would take half a day or more just to walk around it. This made the walk to the temple deceptively long despite reaching the tree in a few minutes.

Climbing the stairs inside the tree, I got my first look at the temple itself, which surprised me as it was a massive building in an open clearing of the trunk. I had envisioned it actually carved into the tree itself.

Liane seemed to read my mind. “It’s still mostly made of the wood of the tree, and if you look in the middle there, you’ll see the leaves breaching the top of the temple. That’s a branch from the tree, that emulates the actual tree inside the temple, you’ll see in a moment.”

Another remarkable thing that caught me by surprise was that I expected the inside of the trunk to be dark, cast fully in shadows, especially this late in the afternoon, but it was hard to describe—it was lit up, as if there were lanterns scattered around, but there was no source for the light that I could see.

“Where does the light come from?” I asked.

“There is not an easy answer to that, besides saying the god, but what is believed is he’s not just generating light; rather, the tree produces beads of sap and it uses that to reflect sunlight from outside, lighting up the inside of the tree. Even at night, inside here is often brighter than outside as the moonlight is amplified,” Milo explained.

This is something I now wanted to see. I still didn’t really understand how it worked considering it looked like the tree was fully enclosed on the inside, so I didn’t know where the light was coming in, but sometimes it was better not to question these things.

Another thing that stood out to me was there was no blue in here. Arcane foraging, unlike most trees, didn’t see this as a viable ingredient in any way, and if it wasn’t for the leaf glowing blue in Clack’s nest, I’d have thought the ability wasn’t working.

I noticed there were four members of the temple standing outside the front entrance, watching us as we approached. Though I couldn’t tell if they were waiting for us specifically, or if this was just normal for them to greet people as they entered, I got my answer from Milo, however, who must have seen my concern.

“Don’t worry, Trev, they are not for us. This is a long walk from the tree to the temple; these members will help any injured party reach safety,” Milo said.

When we reached the temple itself, one of the men in the green robes went inside the temple in a rush, while another approached us.

“Lord Ashmoon and party, I presume?” He bowed.

Hari nodded, “Yes, that’s us.”

Before the conversation could continue from there, however, a familiar face came rushing out of the entrance, as the man we had met on the road, Lital, stood there, slightly out of breath.

“If you’d all like, I would be honoured to escort you all,” Lital said, now bowing.

Clacks let out a chirp, which seemed like the first time that everyone there seemed to really pay attention.

“That would probably be for the best,” Hari said.

I saw Lital turn to one of the men behind. “Please inform Head Priest Prinae that the guests have arrived. I will give them a small tour. It may be best that we also give some distance between the general public and some of the guests in this party, as the auras are quite strong, especially for the sick.”

I couldn’t help but frown at this. I wanted Lily to come along, but he was right; if there were sick and frail people, then Lily walking next to me would complicate matters.

Kneeling to the ground, I whispered to her, “Would you mind watching out of the scarf for now? I don’t want to make the sick and injured suffer any more than they have.”

As a further bribe, I pulled out a piece of bacon I had cooked off, which vanished from my hand only a second before Lily sank into the shadows.

Lital seemed to have just noticed, but his eyes locked onto the scarf.

“That’s quite the piece of clothing you have there,” he said with a smile.

“Please lead the way,” Hari gestured.

Entering the temple itself reminded me greatly of the temple of fate. The entrance opened into a giant central chamber, the centre of which was dominated by the tree that was growing through the temple, and amazingly, the statue of the god himself was carved into the wood of the living branch.

“I thought carving living wood like that would kill it?” I asked quietly.

Milo nodded, “Normally, on an ordinary tree, it absolutely would, but for this one, you couldn’t cut the branch unless it allowed you to anyway, so the god has had a hand in that.”

Lital, clearly overhearing the conversation, explained, “It was carved nearly eight hundred years ago, and it’s said that Head Priest Prinae did it in his first decade here, and was guided by the god of life himself.”

“The same Head Priest?” I questioned.

“Yes, Head Priest Prinae has been here for eight hundred and seventeen years now, looking after this temple,” Lital said.

I struggled to wrap my mind around that. I still remembered Amanda telling me when she was heading here that it was run by an elf, and I knew they had longer lives than humans, but eight centuries? And to spend it in a single temple?

“Your friend and our Acolyte is currently in the hospital wing; I’d be happy to take you there first if you’d like.” Lital offered.

“That would be great. I’d love to see Amanda. I would also like to see the statue up close if that’s possible. I’d like to thank him for the leaves,” I commented.

Lital raised an eyebrow. “Leaves?”

I didn’t get to respond before Clacks came to the front of her nest, holding her own leaf in her beak and let out a muffled chirp.

“Yes, when we arrived at the city, every member of our group had a leaf land on them, including Crisplet and Clacks,” I gestured to the nest.

Lital turned back towards the statue, a look of shock on his face, and I even heard him mutter, “A direct blessing.”

He seemed to pull himself together after that, stating louder, “Yes, absolutely, I will take you to the statue, then we’ll go see your friends.”

“You have said ‘friends’ twice now. I know Amanda is here, but who is the other friend you keep mentioning?” I had to ask.

There was a pained look on Lital’s face, and he didn’t answer right away. “I think it’s best Acolyte Amanda informs you of that.”

He didn’t say any more as I arrived at the base of the statue, and like the goddess of fate, this statue looked divine. The wood was smooth, and the sculpt of the god had a flowing robe, and I noticed around the base of the statue there actually appeared to be grain growing out of the wood.

“Is that real?” I asked, pointing to it.

Lital smiled, nodding, “Yes, it grows year-round, though we don’t harvest this grain.”

As he said it, there was a very soft breeze that carried the scent of fresh bread, and unlike all the times I sensed the chicken at the temple of fate, I wasn’t foolish enough to think there was a hidden bakery around here. I knew what I needed to offer, and I’d make sure to prepare something with Crisplet and Clacks if she wanted to.

So with a knowing smile I looked to the statue, closing my eyes. I said a prayer to the god of life:

“Thank you for the leaves, and thank you for recognising Crisplet, Clacks and Lily. I know little about you, but I am hoping to learn, and will return with our offering.”

The breeze increased in power after that, and was noticed by Lital, though he kept quiet, even though he was staring directly at me now.

When I noticed that Crisplet was done, I turned to Lital, “We’ll return later with our offering if that would be acceptable?”

“Absolutely, we’re open at all times,” he said happily.

“I will lead you to your friends now,” Lital said, a smile on his face.