The Petite Dungeon Explorer

Ekon sat next to my Father, and Clemente. My mother was on the other side of me and sitting next to her was Salem. Everyone was a little tense.

My whole family was dressed in inky black clothing, while Cecily and Ekon are both in armor that"s native to their tribe. Ekon was dressed in simple pants that are a deep brown, around his are covered in thick bandages that are a deep black and embellished in gold. He had a tight-fitting plated metal chest covering, that was bronze in color.

His golden eyes are calm as he looks out the window.

Cecily was dressed in a golden skirt that has black pleating to it. Long tights cover most of her legs and she"s wearing short boots. A golden shirt that covers her arms and her neck and leaves a little open skin above her chest. It looks flexible but it was hardened metal. A cut sleeved jacket and hood cover her little head.

All over her body strings of jewelry hang and shimmer when the light hits them. Nuzzling her head into my arm, I can"t imagine that it"s comfortable.

I"d donned a simple set of black armor, that I normally wore. It left enough room for movement and it was something that I was comfortable in. I"d also brought the armor that my Brother and Marigold had gifted to me.

However, it was a little too conspicuous. Yet, if I needed to, I"d use it. No one could deny that it wasn"t an amazing set of armor.

The carriage had fallen into a death-like silence as no one was speaking. My nerves were starting to fray as the silence drags on.

Someone else apparently couldn"t take it any longer either.

"There is still time to choose a different temple," Salem says.

I flinch a little, that wasn"t the sort of conversation. However, at least someone had broken the silence.

"I"m fine with my choice, I"ve made my mind up," I say with a small sigh. I knew that he didn"t approve of it, but that was just him being an overbearing older brother.

"The Fate Temple, unlike all the other Temples is one that different for each and every person that enters it. Which makes it both special and deadly, it"s a leap of faith in the unknown," he stresses.

"She"s made up her mind," Clemente says peeling an eye open to stare at Salem.

Ah, one approves, and one doesn"t.

"I"m talking to her; she can speak for herself!" He snaps.

"Those that enter it, either pa.s.s through it and obtain the cla.s.s or they"re unable to pa.s.s the trails that are set forth by the Temple. It"s not completely cruel to not give you something good for you in the end, but it"s never a.s.sured that you wouldn"t get a trash cla.s.s," Salem stresses.

I could understand where he"s coming from but at the same time, that was a risk that I was willing to take.

"We understand that fact, and it"s a risk that we"re willing to take," Ekon says, his voice firm and sure. He looks over and makes eye contact with my Brother.

"Cecily agrees, this is something that we"ve decided," she echoes her Brother.

Salem turns and looks at me, I meet those burning red eyes and felt my stomach clench.

Those eyes of his… it felt like they carried the weight of the world within them. It was enough to make my stomach flip flop. I felt almost swayed by those eyes, but I wouldn"t change my mind. Biting the inside of my cheek, the pain sparks my mind back to life.

"As they said we"ve made up our mind and we"re not backing down," I say with a grin meeting his eyes again.

Salem closes his eyes and then a smile blooms on his face.

"It seems like you"ve all made your choice. If that the case, then you"ll have all my support. I trust that you"ll all make it through," Salem says.

"You bet there going to make it through," Clemente sounds.

"Of course, my little blood candy"s going to make it through," my father"s scoff looking at the boys.

A unanimous laugh sounds throughout the carriage. The mood within the carriage had significantly lightened.

It didn"t take long for us to arrive in front of the Temples entrance. These temples aren"t near the center of town like the Temple for G.o.d"s. They are located in a special district.

This special district also housed the other cla.s.s obtaining temples. It was a gated area that was blocked off from public entrance unless you were planning to take your cla.s.s test. It wasn"t a wide area, to say the least, a lot of temples held more than one cla.s.s.

For instance, there was the blade temple, this was the temple where one could obtain the cla.s.ses that had to do with wielding a sword or blade-like weapons.

Just to name one. However, that is where the Fate Temple was special, it could grant you any cla.s.s.

We soon stopped in front of a black house; this was the Temple of Fate. The door to the carriage swing open and we all get out. My father helps my Mother and Cecily out of the carriage. I jump past him and he gives me a glum look.

I felt a little bad now.

"Hollis," Silvyr voice rings. Turning I find him running towards us. He was by himself, and he was dressed in leather pants and a simple rangers coat that was green. On his back, he had a bow and quiver strapped to him.

"It looks like we"re all here now," I say.

He slows down and walks towards us. He smiling and Ekon give him a clap on the back.

I look at the Temple. It wasn"t like the white stone temple, instead, it was a huge temple constructed out of black stone. It was a striking look; it was as if all the light from the surrounding area was being eaten up by the Temple.

I notice a black path that leads up to the Temple. It was lined with huge golden trees that ran parallel to the path. The ground was covered in the fallen golden leaves from the trees.

The more I looked towards the Temple the more mysterious it felt. It was then that I notice a woman, she"s standing just at the start of the pathway. Her presence was almost invisible, it was as if she"d just appeared out of thin air.

She had short silver hair, and her skin was pale as if all the color had been drained from her. Almost all the flesh on her body was bound by black stripes of cloth that hide all of her flesh from view. The only part of her flesh that is visible are around her mouth and nothing else. Her eyes are bound as well.

Clothed in a simple silver dress, that came her knees and was held by simple strings that curl around her neck and arms. She didn"t move it was as if she was a living statue.

She must be the Priestess of the Fate Temple.

"Welcome. We have been awaiting your arrival children," the priestess spoke as she moves towards us.

Arriving in front of us, I find that she"s far taller than I expected. She towers over us, with delicate movements, she raises her hand and places it to her cloth-covered eyes and then waves her hands towards us.

A couple of red flames flew from her fingertips and quickly enters our eyes. It happens so fast that I didn"t have any time to react, much less to move out of the way.

There wasn"t any pain when the flame entered into my eyes, it seems to melt, and I felt as if a film was being removed from my eyes. I blink a few times.

Looking up at her, I find that all the places that we"re bound by the black cloth are burning. Alight in a white and black flame, even her once white flesh was a completely scorched black color.

"Wow," Cecily breathes next to me.

I open my mouth to say something, but she presses a finger to her mouth. I quickly shut my mouth and swallow the question that I had.

"I"ll take the children now, we shall notify you when they finish their test," the priestess says speaking to my family.

"Very well," my mother says.

"Children, you"ve trained hard for this, don"t doubt yourself and come back victorious," my mother says to us.

We nod our heads.

"We"ll wait for you all here," Clemente says as he grabs Salem"s arm.

Giving everyone a big smile, I look back towards the Priestess but find that she"s already standing on the path waiting for us.

"Let"s go," Ekon says stepping forward first. Silvyr follows after him. While Cecily wraps her hand around mine and we follow after them both.

Arriving next to the priestess, I find that the path and the golden trees have tendrils of light that seem to seep out of the trees and dances upwards towards the sky. Almost as if they"re stretching out and reaching for something.

The golden pathway after every step left a burning white footprint on it.

"Now children, the test will begin once you"ve set foot into the temple. There are only a few things that you"ll need to keep in mind," she says leading us forward.

"At any point in the test, you"re able to quit the test. If you do that you"ll be ejected from the test. Remember, that this is a test to choose your cla.s.s. I"m sure that you"ve all prepared yourselves," she speaks, and we arrive at the front entrance to the black temple.

"No matter if you finish or stop halfway, your cla.s.s shall be a.s.signed and chosen for you," she explains.

We nod our head and look towards the entrance to the temple.

It was impossible to see into the Temple, all that I could see was my reflection. The priestess wasn"t even reflected in the mirror-like glaze membrane that was the entrance of the temple.

"We wish you, children, the best of luck. If you"ve got any questions, please ask them now. Because once you enter you shall be on your own," she spoke with a bright smile.

"We"ll pa.s.s this and get our destined cla.s.ses!" Ekon says firmly looking at us. His pitch-black hair blows slightly with the wind and his golden eyes are hard as he looks at us.

"Exactly," I smirk.

"Cecily going to get her fated cla.s.s! You two better as well," she says grinning.

"Let try our best then," Silvyr laughs softly.

"Okay then, we"re ready," I say to the Priestess.

"Then have a good trip, please enter one at a time," she says.

Holding an outstretched hand, she points towards the gla.s.sy mirror-like entrance.

"I"ll see you guys at the end," Ekon says stepping forward first.

He quickly heads to the front of the gla.s.sy entrance and steps forward. He"s completely swallowed by the mirror.

"I"ll get going then," Silvyr says as he pads forward. Before he steps through the entrance he looks back towards us a sad flicker in his eyes before he heads in.

Cecily looks at me.

"You go next," I tell her with a gentle nudge.

"Good luck," she tells me. Releasing my hand, she walks forward and steps forward and is swallowed just the same.

Looks like it"s my turn.

Taking a deep breath, I walk forward and press my body through the entrance. Pa.s.sing through the mirror-like membrane, it felt like my body was being pulled in all sorts of different directions.