Previous: Eldarin Mind, Post 1
I left the horse dead in the sand some fifty miles back. I don't remember its name. Hell, I'm lucky I remember my own name. I do know that Ryla would've had me whipped had she known my plan. She still might, if I survive this thing. But I need to get to the temple. See with my own eyes. It can't be true, of course, but I just can't let it go.
Two
There it was, the temple of the Nature God. Or the entrance, anyway. Plain as day, just sitting there like it always had been. Right here at the End. I don't know how else to describe it. I'm standing at the end of everything. A large black chasm extends out before me. I can see the sands and the sky on the other side but they look...artificial. Wrong. Beautiful, like a realistic painting, but wrong. I pick up a stone and chuck it as hard as I can. My mind reels as the stone plinks quietly off of the wall of sand and sky on the other side and plunges silently into the black abyss between us. My gaze lifts to the sky above and I can follow a curvature of kinds. The clouds do not move. Did they move before? I know they must have. It strikes me with all the fury and force of a storm. It's a dome. It's a goddamned dome! My whole life, leading to this... My eyes settle on the temple, sitting there quiet-like and unassuming. I wonder, why is it here? What is its purpose at the end of all things?
Three
I stand over her, my breathing harsh and ragged, trying to regain control of myself. My sword arm trembles and I feel weak at the knees. The temple had been murderous, full of deadly traps and deadlier guardians, all trying to either kill me or push me back the way I came. They only made me more determined to press on. My reward had been the woman, who now lay dead at my feet, and the ornate double doors just beyond where she met me, telling me I had done well to make it this far. To the End, she called it, and I could hear the capital E. I had had enough time to wonder if she meant more than just the end of the temple before she tried to murder me with wicked magics. The spiral burns encircling my right arm, where her lash of fire gripped me, radiate pain throughout my body. I hold my blade up and examine the golden blood smearing its length and glittering in the flickering torchlight. Who was she? What was she? I derived no pleasure from the foul deed of her murder. In fact, I feel eerily hollow about it. But I had been given no choice. Right? But then, maybe I could’ve turned back hours ago and I would not be standing here now over a rapidly cooling corpse. Only one thing left to do, then. I stride over to the doors and give them a heave, pushing against them with my whole body. They swing open easily. I cannot comprehend what lies beyond. Only darkness, with twinkling bits of light winking at me as if from a great distance.
Next: The Healer, Post 3