“I am in the Temple of the Tree of Souls.” The place was real! It wasn’t a fabled tale after all or a memory that had deceived Lucius.
“She knows…”
“She is clever.”
“Sss mmise.”
The three voices said again, making me awkwardly say,
“Uh…thanks…I guess.” Well, at least they seemed to like me, so big plus on that one, especially if that meant I wasn’t going to get eaten anytime soon. My voice echoed around what I could now see was a carved temple that looked to be as old as time itself!
The markings along its walls belonged to every known civilization since the time of man and there were many even I didn’t recognise. But giant pillars the size of redwood trees were all carved in every type of symbol, hieroglyphics and script known and unknown. They framed the open space and there were far too many of them to count, which spoke for how big the Temple was.
As for the floor, it was a series of broken slabs that had been uprooted and split from the dark black roots that looked charred as if they had been set alight. I followed them all the way to the centre of the room which was the whole reason the Temple had been built. For it hadn’t been for the tree above, where Lucius had died as Judas, it had been from this tree grown from his ascension.
It was an enormous stone grey tree that reminded me of the one in Afterlife, the Temple of Souls. Clearly souls needed a lot of temples I thought sarcastically. But this tree was most definitely different as, like the roots that had led us here, the whole tree looked to be made of them. So instead of having a trunk and branches, it was simply a giant series of roots in the shape of a tree, only at the top there were so many silver leaves, there must have been millions. Each one seemed to flutter and shimmer as if caught on some imaginary wind, and at the very top of the tree was what looked like a single blood red rose. One that could only be seen as it was the only colour on there. That and a strange strip of shadows that seemed to swirl around the centre part of the tree, making me question if this had something to do with the shadows I had seen surrounding the army of rogues?
But then as I stepped closer, I started to notice more.
“The tree…what…what is wrong with it?” I asked at the sight of the black charred roots that weren’t just contained to those under my feet and slabs, but also to the base of the tree. It was like a darkness rising up from the ground below and reaching all the way to the first set of branches of the tree. Reaching to where thousands of leaves had turned to black and even now, I could see as one started to fall to the ground and then crumble away to ash. Then seconds later there was another.
“Hurt…”
“Infected.”
“Mmawam.”
The three said making me step further into the space and as I started to walk round the tree, I could now see the huge split at its core that looked like an opening. The closer I got the more I could see for myself that it was in fact a doorway, one as big as the one we had just both tried to step through. An ominous red glow came from the darkness within, as if daring you to take a look and find out where it led. Well, that was one rabbit hole I was most definitely staying away from, I thought with a shiver.
I looked back to Lucius and asked,
“Will he be alright?”
“He sleeps through his death no longer…”
“The Blood of the King still beats.”
“Mhom hamme.” The mumbled part was a little pointless and I couldn’t help but wonder why. So, I asked,
“Where are you all?”
“She seeks the seekers…”
“Keepers of three must we be,”
“Memme mh.”
Then I saw only one huge figure as tall as Ragnar appear from behind one of the massive pillars. He was wearing a long worn cloak that covered all of its misshapen figure. I could feel my mind working overtime just trying to distinguish which part was which, and why there was only one that had appeared, when three voices could always be heard. When suddenly I didn’t need to ask again, as the cloak fell away and revealed the true horror of who it was I was speaking to.
“Holy shit,” I muttered, taking quick steps back as the figure of three bodies combined emerged. It was like the tree in a way, where three torsos conjoined as the shape of a triangle and were twisted up in six arms and four legs, as it was clear, only two were needed for walking.
But this wasn’t the only thing about the creature that was horrifying, it was the three heads all grouped together and, like the body, were off centre and not quite in a line. It also became clear to see why one was always mumbling.
“Gods in Heaven,” I uttered in shock as I took all of him or should I say all of them in. One of the twisted limbs was reaching up for the face closest. Its hand was tucked inside his mouth, dragging his jaw down making it impossible for him to speak. Pained, angry eyes wrinkled the features on his face making the skin on the bridge of his nose rippled.
As for the other two heads, another hand had reached up the head of the next, one that was turned towards the side and in between the other two. The hand was positioned over the top of his head with its fingertips embedded in the eye sockets, in a painful grip blinding him. The last and top head had two hands reaching up and not only covering its ears, but had the fingers tugging down at the flesh so they hung limp and unused. But strangely out of the three, he looked the less pained and was obviously the one that relied on sight.
So, it seemed for them to exist at all, they had no choice but to work together as a whole. For two could speak, two could hear and two could see but only one of each was useful to the three. Which told me that perhaps they communicated as one mind, as all communicated.
“See no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil,” I whispered as it dawned on me, making them hiss and at first, I thought I had insulted them. When it became apparent it was actually a strange chuckled sound.
“She is funny our queen of blood…”
“She will save us.”
“Meesss.”
“What do you mean, I am…” They interrupted my question by telling me,
“You are our Master’s Chosen One.”
“His blood born and first of your kind.”
“Mhossone.” I frowned at this and looked back to Lucius who was still passed out on the floor.
“I don’t understand,” I admitted shaking my head as if there was some temple sized puzzle piece I was missing here.
“We are keepers of the…”
“Yeah, yeah I got that bit, so skip ahead…no pun intended,” I said making them snigger a hiss again. So just as they were about to yet again repeat themselves, I held up a hand and said for them,
“Yeah I know, I’m funny, now get to the part where you explain what it is you think I have to do with any of this,” I told them as my irritation was mounting.
“The Tree of Souls dies from the Venom of God.”
“Yes, the Venom is what kills us.”
“Mmmauanu.”
“What did he say?” I asked, referring to the mumbling one, checking I wasn’t actually missing out on the helpful one of the group.
“He said that it must be stopped before the infection reaches the branches of our queen.” I frowned and looked to the blood red rose that seemed to be at the top of the tree.