Hollow Light

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This is a bachelor project from Graphic Storytelling, The Animation Workshop, VIA University College.

Copyright @ 2019 by Hope Hjort

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Hope Hjort

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Prologue

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Chapter 1

I

guess I should have seen him coming. It had been

a terrible morning with nothing to kill, after a terrible week of nothing to sell.

Growing up on the streets, I had to learn how to get by, somehow. Luckily, it turned out I was pretty decent with a bow and arrow, despite being short- sighted. But when no animals show up, even the most skilled hunter gets in trouble. And that was how it had been the past couple of weeks.

So of course, one of the temple’s people would appear by the city’s entrance out of nowhere, just as I returned from hunting, empty handed. Why wouldn’t they?

“Are you Nigel? Nigel uh no-no last name…?” He shifted on his feet nervously, standing by the foot of the main street’s stairs. His hands fumbled with his black tunic, “Just Nigel is fine.” I replied and swung my bow over my shoulder. The quiver rested by my hip.

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The Temple insisted on having a tally of everybody in the city. Specifically, the homeless and criminals.

It pissed me off no end, making me feel like a sheep being herded. I was 20 now and dying to escape this life as a homeless hunter, scrambling for money.

“My name is Zephyr, and I’m an acolyte of the temple of Radiance.” He reached out to greet me, smiling and waited patiently for me to shake his hand.

I didn’t. In fact, I just looked him up and down.

We were opposites. Where I was stout, a little chubby, with bronze skin, dark hair and amber eyes, Zephyr was tall, lanky, looked about 18, with wide lavender eyes, pale hair and skin. He was almost cute to look at.

When he realised I was not going to return the gesture, his smile shrunk a bit and his hand retreated into the fabric of his tunic.

“Um – The-the temple… we want to help the unfortunate with an education -” Realising this was just a recruiting round, I groaned and went up the stairs.

The city of Lamos, the capital of the south, was built on a hill and surrounded by a tall wall to keep people safe.

Most of the streets consisted of steps, especially the main street going straight from the entrance to the top, with small streets branching off. Zephyr’s stammering voice seemed to follow me.

“Joining the temple will put a roof over your head.”

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“I have a roof over my head.”

“A roof that doesn’t leak?”

“You haven’t done this much, have you?” I stopped and looked at him, a few steps down. A temple guard stood by a house further down from Zephyr, observing… closely.

A hand rested on the scabbard at his hip, ready to intervene in case something happened between me and Zephyr. I frowned.The Temple Guards were the soldiers and overseers of the city, and today there were extra walking the streets, checking newcomers and merchants.

The harvest festival tonight always lured in thieves and tricksters.

Having a bit of a chequered past… let’s just say I wasn’t in their good graces. They always kept an extra close eye on the bad street kids – i.e. me.

To avoid that conflict, I turned right down a small road between a group of houses. We were by the middle levels, near the main plaza, and the houses here were built with dark wood and big carved stones, large enough to house a family or two. Zephyr followed, persistent for some gods-forsaken reason.

“We also serve at least 2 meals a day.” Zephyr added.

My stomach growled, betraying me, but I growled back. I wasn’t going to let myself be caught up in the temple’s converting process just for an actual hot meal.

“We can also give you work.”

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“I have work.” This was getting tiresome. I sped up and jogged down the ally, hoping to lose him.

“Something that actually pays.” Zephyr said keeping up. He started to sound annoyed. Good, then he might quit soon.

But the moment I turned down another small street, my body froze.

Just ahead, in between two houses with black scorch marks on each side, lay the wreckage of a burnt down building.

It looked like it had happened only a few days ago and wasn’t cleaned up yet. The wood was burnt to charcoal and falling apart. The stone was brittle and crumbled to the touch. Instantly, my mouth went dry and I swallowed thickly.

A couple of ragged kids were scouring the ruins for anything useful. I knew them but they didn’t pay any attention to me. However, the moment they saw the black temple tunic on Zephyr they scattered like rats.

The smell of smoke and death still hung thick in the air and my stomach heaved.

I guess I should be happy I hadn’t eaten in days, because there was literally nothing for it to vomit back up.

I ended up leaning against a wooden post trying to control my breathing again.

There was gentle touch on my shoulder and Zephyr looked at me with a worried expression.

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“I know what they call you among the temple guards.”

I ground my teeth together. Good to know the Arsonist of Lamos never died out…

“Yeah? And what do you call me?” I slapped his hand away from me. Not wanting to seem vulnerable, I straightened and made my face neutral, trying to ignore the fallen building behind me.

“It doesn’t matter what I call you, but I think it’s affecting your decisions in life.”

With a snort I asked, “And you believe the temple can change that?

“If you’re willing to change, yes.”

“If I’m willing to –” The stink of soot jabbed at my nose like salt in a wound. I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache pounding behind the eyes.

“Is everything alright here?” The deep voice echoed through the little street. I recognised him. Hallows. Captain of the temple guards.

He was a large man, somewhere in his 50’s, with a big beard that in the past few years had started to turn from black to grey.

Zephyr gave him a reassuring smile. “Good morning Captain Hallows. I’m just trying to convince Nigel here that the temple can provide him with a better life.”

Hallows shifted his brown eyes to me, which got him a scowl in return. Then he let out a deep belly laugh.

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“You really want him to be part of the temple? The Arsonist?”

My temper flared and my hand twitched over the quiver. Don’t do it, Nigel. An arrow wouldn’t penetrate that breastplate he’s wearing.

“Captain Hallows, that-that was 13 years ago. I don’t know about you, but I believe in second chances.” Zephyr gave me another one of his bright smiles. What was I, a pity case? “And that’s what the temple does.”

Captain Hallows eyed me again and set his jaw. His smile dropped before he looked back at Zephyr.

“What does the High Priestess say about this? I rarely see you without her, so this is an interesting sight.”

I noticed Zephyr shifted a little uneasily on his feet and swallowed. “Mother Henna is-is in Alkorr for the week. A pilgrimage.”

“But the festival’s today, and she’s missing it?”

Zephyr shrugged. “Such is the life of a leader, I guess?” He let out a forced laugh, clearly uncomfortable about the conversation.

“But you still think it’s a good idea to add someone like him to your temple?”

“I’m right here.” I crossed my arms and leaned up against the wood post.

“He’s the Arsonist. He’ll steal you blind and set fire to the temple.” That man was two heads taller than me and a captain. Yet I still had the urge to punch him square in 11

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the jaw.

Zephyr frowned and looked at me. I was still visualising ninety-nine ways of killing Hallows without being noticed. I was on forty-six. “I hardly think you’re that bad.” Zephyr said. I rolled my eyes.

I wasn’t, but Captain Hallows was always right. It would be a terrible idea to bring me to the temple. I was a low life pickpocket and a degenerate arsonist. A total lie by the way, and not one of mine.

But not only that. I didn’t believe in the Celestial Goddesses and the temple had it out for me ever since the High Priestess declared me a criminal.

Looking Hallows straight in the eyes, a menacing smile crept on my lips as I said, “You know what, Zephyr?” He jumped at his name.

“I will take you up on that job offer.”

“You will?” Zephyr asked, surprised.

“What?” Hallows narrowed his eyes at me.

“Of course. I will steal you blind, just like Hallows said.” My voice dripped with sarcasm. Sometimes the truth can be so outrageous it sounds like a lie. Maybe not blind, but the temple gets countless offerings every year.

A golden trinket or two and I would be on my way to a new life somewhere, where I could just be Nigel without seeing my past in people’s eyes... haunting me.

Zephyr recoiled and stared at me wide eyed, before he let out a laugh.

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“Y-you nearly had me there.” Zephyr looked at the Captain. “See Hallows? I-It’s going to be fine. I trust Nigel.”

Hallows was glowering at me and I could see the tension in his jaw. But he didn’t respond.

Zephyr gestured to the path Hallows was guarding.

“How about I show you the temple before the festivities. I think you’ll like it.”

“I’m sure I will.” I smirked.

Hallows stepped aside so we could pass, glowering. If looks could kill, I would’ve been dead ten times already.

It was hard keeping a smile of satisfaction off my lips as we passed him. I patted my quiver and held the bow ready in my hand, showing that if he tried something, I’d be ready.

We walked up the steps to the main plaza. As Lamos’ main market area, it was bustling with people daily, but today was extra busy due to the preparations for the harvest festival that night.

Aside from the regular merchant stands of traders and buyers, people were decorating the street’s houses with colourful streamers. Flags with the temple’s sun and moon insignias were being raised on posts together with sheaves.

We walked past the middle of the plaza. There was a big rounded dent where a couple of priests swept, preparing for the festival’s big bonfire.

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We would celebrate that once again people wouldn’t go hungry this winter, except for those of us who didn’t have the means to pay for food, of course.

It was a cute tradition though, and the food was good and at least free for everybody. However, I tended to avoid the plaza after sunset when they lit the fire. Not really my style.

This year’s harvest had been late and the city had started to worry, so with the news that it had been extra successful, people were in a bigger party mood than usual. Music was already pouring out of windows and around the plaza with children dancing around.

We were just reaching the next set of stairs when the ground began to tremble. Zephyr, half a step up, stumbled backwards and into me. It knocked all air out my lungs, and I reeled backwards till my back hit the ground.

The shock sent electricity through my body and hurt like hell.

Everything was shaking lightly and people around us went still. The music stopped completely, Merchants caught breakables and people stood up against wooden posts to not fall.

It didn’t take more than a few seconds before everything returned to normal and idle chatter once again filled the air as if nothing had happened.

My head was pounding from the fall as Zephyr rolled off me, apologising profusely.

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“Oh, my gods, Nigel, are you ok?” He grabbed my hand and pulled me into a seated position.

“Hang on, I need it to stop spinning for a moment.”

A man wearing a priest’s tunic, maybe in his early thirties, came running to us, holding a cup.

“I have some water, is he ok?”

“I-I think so.” Zephyr said. “Thank you, Priest Sebastian.”

The man handed me the cup and I emptied it on my face, letting the coolness soak in for a minute.

Long strands of hair clung to my wet forehead, but it felt nice and the headache subsided. Eventually Zephyr helped me back to my feet.

“I’m so sorry.”

I shook my head and grunted in response.

“It’s fine. It was the ground.”

“That-that’s the second tremor this month too.”

Zephyr said.

“Quakes are normal, though,” I replied.

“Minor maybe, but it’s normally caused by storms or wind streams. But both today and last time were windless.”

Zephyr hugged himself and looked to the sky “And six tremors in a year is way more than the normal two or three.”

I followed his gaze. Completely cloudless and no wind to shake the ground. Seemed like the festival would 17

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have clear weather tonight though. I glanced back at Zephyr who was brushing dirt off his tunic. His eyebrows knitted in thought.

I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms, thinking.

Zephyr was starting to pique my interest.

The High Priestess would always inform us things were how they were meant to be. Yet here stood an acolyte concerned about our world’s events. I was starting to wonder if he was somewhat different from the rest of them. Less brainwashed maybe?

“So, what kind of job is it you have for me?” I asked as we resumed our walk up the stairs.

“You’re a hunter, right? so h-how about hunting for the temple instead?”

“What difference does it make, from what I earn today?”

“Bad days will still give you food on the table?”

Zephyr said and smiled sheepishly. This was definitely his first time recruiting alone. What an amazing offer for a homeless person.

I hated that it came from the temple.

The higher we went the bigger the houses became, until we reached the temple by the end of it. Something about it gave me the chills.

The Temple of Radiance was a giant dome, with several smaller ones branching out, all connected by I hated that it came from the temple.

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The higher we went the bigger the houses became, until we reached the temple by the end of it. Something about it gave me the chills.

The Temple of Radiance was a giant dome, with several smaller ones branching out, all connected by long buildings resembling bridges. All the buildings were white stone with several windows in blue and yellow hues. The garden was lush with colourful flowers and trees. Even here in autumn, it stood out like a heavenly place.

They tried so hard to cover it in colour, but it was hard to ignore that underneath it all it was just cold, white stone “Did you come for the sermon last week?”

“I don’t really go to sermons.” I grimaced.

“But you know about the gods, right?”

“Sure. Can’t really avoid that with you people preaching on the plaza daily.”

Zephyr blushed and fiddled with the fabric of his tunic.

“Two goddesses. Sisters, right?” I said. “The Sun and Moon and there was the legend of the fight with The Mother Dragon. Then the cataclysm and now we’re floating.”

Our world, Insula consisted of floating continents and islands.

It’s been like this for 500 years, since the big cata19

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clysm. Our world broke from its core and now floats above the ocean of clouds we call the Dragon’s Breath. No one knows what’s underneath it. If there is anything underneath it at all. Some have tried to find out but no one has ever returned.

I have no idea how it was before this, with the temple proudly informing us this is where we should be because that was the will of the Goddesses.

Zephyr chewed on his lip, perplexed.

“You’re not wrong, albeit a very short version.” He slowly shifted his look from me to the dark wood double door we were headed towards. It was twice the size of us, with swirly carvings and a set of circle windows in stained glass, one in yellow, the other in blue, and each with their own pattern. Zephyr pointed at the yellow one.

The glass resembled a setting sun.

“That’s the insignia of the Sun Goddess. The spiraling sun is the goddess herself, while the five sun rays surrounding her represents her sword, her arrows and the many attacks she struck on the Mother Dragon.”

I nodded at the blue window next to it.

“I guess that’s the Moon insignia then.”

Its pattern looked like the shape of a crescent moon leaning against the left side, hugging a circle to the right.

Zephyr nodded.

“The full moon on the right represents the goddess.

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attacks.”

“Sounds like they were unstoppable.”

“Unless they were apart,” Zephyr replied. “They were vulnerable without each other. One could only defend and the other only attack.”

“So, working together?”

“They were the ultimate team.” Zephyr said with a grin. “And now they look down on us, making sure we are safe.” Zephyr spread his arms out and let the sunlight rest on his face.

“How come the Goddesses didn’t stay on Insula?” I asked, crossing my arms. “Why did they go back to the sky, leaving us with the rubble of a world to clean up?”

Zephyr licked his lips.

“I assume since it’s not their home, so...”

“Then why did they protect it?”

Zephyr started to sweat, and his eyes flickered to anywhere but me. He swallowed and pushed the doors open.

“H-how about I show you something really cool.”

I wanted to continue but the moment the door opened my jaw dropped to the ground.

“This is the sermon hall.” Zephyr said.

It was a massive, open area with carvings up the walls. Tapestries with the two insignias hung from pillars standing and holding the rounded roof in place. They all lead to the middle of the ceiling where there was a big stain-glass window of the sun and moon intertwined.

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Zephyr showed me the raised platform right below it, where a priest stood sweeping. Even bigger tapestries in blue and yellow with the holy insignias hung from the ceiling and around us were stained-glass windows letting the light become a variety of colour dancing against the white walls.

Priests walked among the wooden benches that surrounded the platform in circular patterns, cleaning and polishing them. It could probably seat a few hundred people at a time.

I noticed vases standing against the walls with blooming fruit branches. Dried sheaves of corn braided with flowers surrounded golden candleholders in the window sills that were being lit by passing priests.

I could feel my heart pound a little harder and my eyes wouldn’t leave the small flame dancing.

“Is that safe?” I asked and nodded to the lit candles and corn. They seemed too close to each other.

“Of course.” Zephyr let out a soft chuckle. “We do it every year.”

Zephyr gestured me to follow.

“This way. The thing I want to show you is over here.”

A door to the left led down a hall, to an old looking door with a golden handle. I could steal that and be able to feed myself for a month, I thought.

Zephyr dug out an old-looking key from his tunic’s 22

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inner pocket and unlocked it. He looked at me with a nervous but excited smile.

“I’m not actually supposed to do this while Mother Henna is out,” he said with a whisper. “But… it’s the coolest room in the entire temple.”

Zephyr glanced over my shoulder and I joined him on reflex.

“Alright, here goes. Welcome to the audience chamber.”

The first thing I noticed about this room was the giant golden throne standing on a slightly raised floor in the back of the room. It was covered with carvings and had silk drapery hanging over the back. For a moment, I thought I was going blind from the gold flashing in my eyes.

Behind the throne was a giant stained glass window with the same insignias. The walls around us glittered with specks of gold in the sunlight, and with the four unlit lanterns hung on each corner of the room, I could only imagine how it would look after sundown.

Unable to control my curiosity I went over to touch the chair and the silk.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt fabric this soft.”

Zephyr suppressed a small laugh behind his hand.

The more I looked around the more gold I saw. The carvings on the walls were embedded with it, the floor too.

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and I could see it in between the colours of the glass window “You’re right, this is the coolest room in the temple.”

I said. Zephyr straightened a bit and got a proud look on his face. Yeah, the coolest for sure, and the entire reason why I felt anger stir inside me.

So, this was what they used their riches for.

On the left was a small wooden door. It had no carvings or lantern around it. In fact, it looked like it was trying to blend in with the wall and be forgotten.

“What’s behind that?” I asked and walked over, feeling my hand over it. I furrowed my eyebrows confused. It was warm. In an odd, but comforting way.

Zephyr fiddled with his tunic and walked up beside me.

“That-that’s where the holy emblems are.” He said.

“Holy emblems?”

“Behind that door are the sigils that were embedded with the true power that defeated the Mother Dragon.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

Zephyr gingerly touched the wood with his fingers, seeming almost afraid that he’d break it.

“It means, if Insula gets in trouble again, the Goddesses can reclaim their power via those emblems. They are over 500 years old.”

“Why didn’t they just bring it with them when they left?”

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“It was a gift to us.” Zephyr said and lifted his chin.

“Besides not everything needs to have a clear explanation, Nigel” He eyed me, clearly annoyed by my questions earlier and I shrugged walking to the exit.

“Are they valuable?”

“They’re invaluable!” Zephyr exclaimed and went after me. “There are only a few proofs that the Goddesses existed, and those two are the biggest ones.”

“What do they look like?”

“I haven’t seen them. S-so I don’t know.”

“Wait.” I laughed and turned to him. “They’re the proof of your goddesses’ existence and you haven’t seen them?”

“That door is for the High Priests only. I’m just an acolyte.”

I laughed again, watching him lock the door to the chamber and tucked the key back into his tunic pocket.

“So you don’t even know if they exist?”

“They exist.” Zephyr furrowed his eyebrows I snorted and rolled my eyes.

“Whatever makes you happy.”

Zephyr stepped up in front of me as we entered the sermon hall and we both stopped.

“Do you want the job or not?”

I didn’t meet his eyes at first and glanced around the place. It was bright and colourful, especially with the festival decorations.

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Some of the temple guards were sitting with string instruments, tuning them. Who’d have thought they had talent in more than sneering and poking at us.

I set my jaw and looked back at Zephyr.

“Can I think about it and come back to you tomorrow after the festivities?”

Nodding once, he said, “Of course. The doors are open tonight for food and music.”

Zephyr insisted on showing me to the door and about half-way there, he tripped over my foot. I caught him around his waist, stopping him from hitting the ground.

There were a few temple guards looking our way, but Zephyr waved them off as he got back on his feet and I tucked my hands back in my pockets.

He wished me a good day and we split our ways.

I waited around the plaza until the festivities picked up in the afternoon. Music became the main noise in the city and tables with food and warm wine were brought out from houses and the temple.

Not having eaten in days I stuffed my face with roasted boar and fruit both fresh and dried. What I didn’t eat, I packed into a leather bag I was carrying together with my bow and quiver.

My plan was to get out of the city tonight while most of the temple guards were either drunk or in a food coma.

Priests and commoners danced around the plaza and people threw firewood into the hole. The moment the sun 26

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set they would light it up and throw in offerings of fruit and corn to the goddesses for another bountiful year.

I get it. Sometimes we would rather blame some entity for our fortune or misfortune than the world or ourselves.

Feeling that it was someone else who made the choices for us and not just a lucky year gives us a sense of comfort in the things we couldn’t control.

I didn’t blame the entities for my misfortune. I blamed the temple. They started this downhill road 13 years ago and now I wanted to move on – far away from them.

With a bottle of wildberry wine, I blended in with a group of drunk men dancing and bumbling into the temple. Captain Hallows stood at the entrance, very much not drunk and focused on the people entering and leaving. Damn him for being so devoted to his job. Ok, priority number one when getting out of here – avoid Captain Hallows.

I was shoved into the sermon hall and the smell of sweet cakes hit like a slap to the face. Last time I had those was when my mom baked them for the last harvest festival we were together.

I blinked and ignored the churning in my gut as I danced around with the drunk men, keeping an eye on the priests. I saw Zephyr laugh while holding a gold rimmed glass, talking with the spectacle-wearing priest 27

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from earlier today, Priest Sebastian.

The hallway wasn’t there and at first, I thought I had imagined the entire day when I noticed a big sun coloured tapestry I hadn’t seen before hanging over the wall.

I herded the bumbling drunk men in that direction and nudged the tapestry slightly with an elbow. Bingo – the opening was behind it.

“Victor my man! You’ve done it again! This wine is even better than last year.” I cheered and raised the bottle.

Victor roared in return and the rest followed with a hearty laugh.

“Say Nigel,” one of the others said and leaned close, he smelled like cheese and dirt. I grimaced a smile, suppressing how much I wanted to gag. “How come yer wearing that bow?” He poked the bow strapped around my shoulder. I laughed and shoved the wine bottle in his face.

“How about some wine, and I’ll tell you why. How about we all get some!” I shouted the last part and they all cheered in return.

I poured wine into the glasses and cups in quick motions, laughing, and pounded Victor on his chest. I handed him the rest of the bottle and he immediately drank from it. I had hoped this would happen – when one started, all leaned back and gulped it down. I snuck behind the tapestry and into the hallway.

I waited a moment to see if they noticed. but Victor 28

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belched and shouted, “For the goddesses!”

“For the goddesses!” Everybody in the temple roared back.

For the goddesses indeed.

My feet moved over the stone floor silent as a cat.

None of the lanterns were lit, so I only had the windows to see ahead of me. The hallway was bathed in a reddish light and I figured the sun was going down. I had to do this fast. Reaching the door was child’s play and I fished Zephyr’s key out of my pocket.

“Putting your key in your tunic’s pocket in front of a pickpocket and then letting him catch you from falling.

Amateur.”

There was a loud cheer from the sermon hall and music started playing. My heart was pounding loudly against my ears. I waited, looking back to see if anyone came in this way.

The door clicked open with ease and I entered, closing the door after me. I crawled against the walls to not be seen if anyone just happened to pass the giant window on the other side.

I wanted so badly to grab any kind of gold from the audience chamber but whoever had built this place had been smart, putting it in the walls and chair. It was impossible to steal. So instead I turned to the door with the holy symbols.

The key did not fit, no surprise there. I grabbed my 29

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hunting knife from my boot and started tweaking at the lock. The lock was old and rusty, after a few minutes of trying, it clicked and the door creaked open slowly.

I felt the same warmth I had earlier today, just much more severe. With a deep breath I stepped in. I just needed whatever was in here and then get out.

I expected a lot of things entering that room but what I saw was none of it.

It was the least impressive room of the entire temple.

Where everything else in this temple were carved in patterns or covered in tapestries, this room was pitch black.

It didn’t even have windows. It was just an empty room except, with the light from the audience chamber, I could see what looked like a podium with a glass dome covering the top in the center.

I put my bag down by it and began feeling between glass and podium. There was a little edge and I figured with some prying, the tip of the knife would be able to cut into it.

I kept jimmying the knife until half of it was in between and yanked it up and down. The glass cracked where the knife was, but eventually it popped open like a barrel lid. I put it gently on the ground and picked up my new treasure, looking at it in the weak light from the room behind me.

The sigils shimmered bright and golden in the light, almost as if they didn’t need it to do so. They were heavy 30

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in my hands and almost as thick as a finger, but the weirdest part was the warmth they exuded.

I rubbed a thumb over the surface and felt the symbols’ carvings. I recognised the patterns from practically everywhere in the temple. A sun and a moon. They were metallic and should’ve been cold to touch, but just like the room these had that same comfortable warmth. It was welcoming and I could feel it through my whole body.

“I trusted you, you know.”

My heart skipped a beat and my body jolted so hard, I nearly threw both emblems to the other side of the room.

Zephyr stood behind me, with a lantern in his hand, lighting up half of his face. The look of betrayal he wore almost made my stomach curl in on itself. My hands moved down, searching for a pocket or a pouch where I could subtly tuck the emblems in. The bag was too far away.

“How-how did you know I was -” “Do you think I’m a fool?” Zephyr asked and slammed the door. His voice was low and angry. A surprise after all his stuttering today.

“Stealing my key? Do-do you have any idea what kind of trouble you’ve put not only you, but me in?”

“You did let me into your temple, so…”

Zephyr dropped the lantern and with two long steps he was suddenly in front of me and grabbed my right wrist holding it up between us. The coin shimmered in the lantern’s light behind us. He’d caught me by surprise, so I 31

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wasn’t sure how to react at first.

“I gave you a second chance, and this is what you do?” I could see he had tears in his eyes. “Steal from the temple?”

He removed the coin from my hand in a swift motion, catching me off guard. I backed up as he reached for the other, my eyes narrow.

“Don’t be so holy, Zephyr. Your temple steals from the people all the time.”

“And that justifies you?” Zephyr said, his frame trembling and he held the coin close. I could feel anger boiling in my chest.

“I’m just here for my part of the fortune.”

“Your fortune? This belongs to the temple! The people’s offerings are given to us! Not taken.”

I grabbed Zephyr’s tunic and pulled him close. My turn to catch him off guard and his eyes flickered in a panic from me to the emblem in his hands.

“Yeah? Your perfect temple doesn’t steal anything?”

I asked him in a low tone. “You didn’t steal my dignity?

My home? My life? When your high priestess proclaimed me a criminal? Made me the goddamn Arsonist of Lamos?

None of that was taken away from me?”

“We didn’t steal any of that. You ruined it yourself.”

He stammered, his voice was shaking as much as his body. “You blame the temple for being a criminal, but did you try and change yourself?” I felt sweat on my forehead 32

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and my heart was hammering to the point it gave me a headache.

“I didn’t do anything!” I yelled, and pushed him away, my breathing staggered as anger boiled over. Zephyr stumbled backwards, eyes wide.

“How-how do you think people are going to look at you after this, then?” Zephyr asked and nodded to the coin in his hand. “Still not a criminal?” Tears stung my eyes and I had to close them. I took a deep breath as my hand clenched around the coin till the knuckles turned white.

“Gi-give me the other emblem.” Zephyr demanded and reached for it. I swung out and pushed him hard.

He toppled over the lantern and fell into the wall, sliding down to the floor. Zephyr held the emblem close to his body, as if he was afraid it would break. The lantern had been dropped and I could only really see part of Zephyr’s expression. He had tears in his eyes and gritted teeth.

“Your temple ruined my life!” I hissed behind my teeth.

“And I’m trying to improve that!” Zephyr said fighting back on his feet leaning against the wall. His voice softened. “Give you an education! Be who you’re supposed to be.”

“Oh, shut up.” I groaned and pressed my free hand hard against my face. “Such holy bullshit!”

Crk. 33

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I froze. Something cracked. Instinctively I looked at the emblem in my hand. The coin itself looked perfectly fine. I saw it had the sun insignia on it and for a moment, I swore it felt like it was humming.

Crrk.

I looked at Zephyr, whose wide eyes focused on something else entirely… I followed the gaze and saw a crevice glow red hot from… something on the other side of the room. A black, spherical object, about half my size, stood on a little raised platform against the wall, no more than a few centimetres off the ground.

“Is… is that an egg?” I asked and squinted. It was hard to see in the dark.

“Y-yes.” Zephyr said. “But that shouldn’t be here.

Tumoris’ temple has it.” Another crack appeared and the glow grew a little brighter.

I took a step back. It might have been on the other side of the room but the burning glow the cracks had, and the weird crawling sensation it gave off, freaked me out.

“Is that normal?” I asked.

“D-do you think that’s normal?” Zephyr’s voice was hoarse from panic. “It’s supposed to be petrified” “That doesn’t look very petrified.”

“It doesn’t make any sense.” Zephyr said. “Why is it here?”

He took a step towards it when the ground shifted so hard beneath our feet we both fell over and down to the 34

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floor. I sat on all fours and Zephyr was back sitting against the wall.

“No way.” Zephyr gasped. “Another one?”

The tremor was bigger than any of the other ones before it and where the others had lasted only a few seconds this one kept going.

The egg fell off its little podium and down to the floor with a thud. I was expecting it to break but it just rolled around itself as it added another crack to the already growing fissure.

It hissed as steam broke from the red glow of the egg and the room started to spin. I felt overwhelmed by something and I felt lightheaded. I wasn’t sure what it was, but my body was reacting to it and my vision started to falter. I fought back up on to my feet, struggling against the trembling ground.

The ceiling was giving away as gravel fell on us and, I feared the room might collapse on us if the tremor kept going.

I heard Zephyr let out a yell in pain and saw how he curled in on himself, a white light erupting through his closed hand, engulfing him and lighting up the room.

Pain exploded in my aching head and my entire world went upside down, and I fell hard against the stone floor. I rolled over trying to get back up when it buzzed from my right hand.

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Pure seething agony crawled through my hand and up my arm. Panic rose in my chest and my breathing staggered.

I jerked backwards, trying to throw the emblem from me but nothing happened.

My arm and hand were locked in place pressed up against my chest. I scraped at my fingers to open around the emblem, but nothing helped.

The pain slithered like a snake up my arm and out through the entire body and into my heart. My chest was on fire. I heaved for air in between screams so much my throat could barely follow. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think and then it all just… turned dark.

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Chapter 2

I

woke up to the smell of smoke.

I could hear distant noises, yells. I figured the bonfire had been lit. Crap. I needed to get out of here soon. The emblem felt warm in my hand, as I shook my head clear of the foggy vision and scrambled for my bag and weapons.

I tucked the emblem into the bag and looked around.

My head was pounding, and my lungs felt like they were thick with cotton.

I blinked towards Zephyr lying next to me. He was out cold, and still holding on to the other emblem. One emblem would be enough. The risk of waking him up was too high and I still needed to escape without being seen.

I rubbed a hand over my eyes. The fog didn’t go away. I must have hurt my head when I fell to the ground.

I already had problems seeing things clearly and this 41

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extra layer of brain damage was not helping. As I struggled to my feet, with the wall as support. Pain pounded like a constant hammer to my head.

Zephyr began to stir with a small groan, and I dashed out of the little dark room, into the audience chamber. The air was so thick that I started coughing violently.

CRASH! There was a loud scream and my brain woke up more.

That didn’t sound like festival celebrations.

Zephyr came stumbling out after me, his eyes wide and vivid.

“What was that!?”

It hit me like a brick.

“Fire.”

“Wh-what?”

I turned to Zephyr. My heart was already pounding its way out my ribs. How had I not realised this.

“We need to get out of here! This fog? It’s smoke!”

I grabbed Zephyr’s wrist and pulled. There was a burning sensation trickling up my arm and my hand went numb for a moment.

“Wait! where’s the second emblem?” He pulled back towards the little chamber, hugging the other tight to his chest.

“I have it! Now come on!” I exclaimed. My body started trembling and I found it hard to breathe.

Not this, I couldn’t do it again.

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The smoke smell became stronger and I coughed violently. The noises turned to obvious screaming. It ran cold down my spine.

We ran to the hallway and my body stopped listening.

The tapestry that had covered the entrance was already falling into pieces of liquid flame. Fire licked the ceiling in the sermon room. The benches and bearing pillars were already blackened and creaked dangerously.

We heard Captain Hallows yell indistinctively in the smoke.

“Captain!” Zephyr yelled. His voice sounded strained. He ran towards the sermon room, but a pillar engulfed in red hot fire crashed down in front of the doorway, cinders spurted into the hallway and as Zephyr staggered backwards to not get hit by it, he tripped over his tunic and rolled to the ground. A lantern nearby exploded, and the wooden pillars in here were already darkening as fire moved towards us.

I couldn’t move. I wanted to. I really wanted to. But my legs were locked in place. My vision went white for just a short moment.

I’m not sure what happened but the stone temple was suddenly replaced with wooden walls on fire surrounding me. The heat was unbearable and no matter which direction I looked flames roared close to me. I needed to get out of here. The house was on fire. I needed to – I needed to find my parents!

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Zephyr pulled at my arm, coughing. My mother’s scream echoed loudly in the back of my mind, like an old scar.

I was back surrounded by stone walls covered in smoke.

“We need – we need to get out!” Zephyr croaked.

I shook my head to get my feet going right until I realised we were moving towards the fire. I pulled Zephyr to a stop.

“No!” I fell into a coughing fit, body nearly giving in, had Zephyr not caught me.

“Are you crazy!” My voice was drowned as another lantern exploded. I let out a yell and we both dug for cover.

Everything started swimming.

“We can’t…”

Hold on!” Captain Hallows was standing on the other side of the flames. He started coughing violently. From the looks of his scorched clothes and burns up the arm, he had been inside for a while. He looked exhausted. “We’ll be fine!” Zephyr yelled. “Get out of here!”

Despite my vision blurring, my eyes met Hallows’ eyes. Slowly and gut-wrenchingly his expression went from worry to rage.

“You!?” Hallows roared. Truly he didn’t believe I had done this, right? I could barely breathe myself!

Fire moved towards us fast and we were getting cor48

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nered.

Tears, smoke and so many other things swamped my vision and I had to cling to Zephyr.

I felt Zephyr pull me back into the audience room and he slammed the door.

“This won’t hold for long.” He croaked. “The-the window.”

I held my arm up over my mouth and nose, to try and clear my mind, but nothing helped. Zephyr was punching at the coloured window with one hand.

He was still holding on to the emblem with the other.

“It’s not working!” Zephyr said. The desperate tone in his voice stung my heart.

I grabbed my knife from my boot and dashed to the window. “Stand back!”

Zephyr jumped away from the window and I slammed the knife into the glass pickaxe style, trying to crack it.

My body was wavering, and I had spots in my vision.

What was even worse, the glass barely got a scratch.

“What is this glass made of!?” I groaned.

My arms felt like rubber and I was heaving for air.

Giving up, I leaned against the window, feeling the exhaustion falling on me like a thick blanket. My eyes fought to stay open and just lying down to sleep was far more tempting than I liked it to be.

The door exploded and Zephyr let out a scream. De49

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spite neither of us capable of breathing nor moving right, we stumbled to the emblem room, away from the fire.

Zephyr grabbed the lantern that we had left and started searching the floor frantically.

“What are you –” I coughed, throat tight and sunk to my knees. “What are you doing?”

“Help me.” He said between weak gasps. He was on the opposite side of the room, right next to the fallen egg, pulling with one hand at something from the ground.

I crawled over there and noticed it was a hatch. The unbearable heat grew closer. The door was already blackening on our side and embers were burning in between the crevices of the wood.

Despite the danger, I couldn’t help but glance at the egg for a few seconds. There was something unsettling about it. It was pitch black, as if light just got sucked right into it. Yet the emberlike cracks breathed with its glow.

Looking straight at it made my neck hair stand on end and I felt a sense of discomfort and fear.

Prying my eyes away from it, I tried to help Zephyr pull the heavy wooden hatch open. It must’ve been closed for centuries and it scraped against the stone, unable to break free.

“Let go of the emblem and help me!” I yelled. Zephyr shook his head, “I can’t! It must be safe!”

“Zephyr!” I wasn’t sure if it was the smoke or the fear, but I felt the tears down my cheeks. “It’s either the em50

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blem or all of us.”

“These could save the world one day! The world!”

Zephyr yelled. I wanted to punch him. I took as deep a breath I could followed by a coughing fit and shimmied the bag off me and nudged it to him.

“Put it in here.”

Trembling Zephyr tucked it into one of the outer pockets. I saw how his fingers could barely move due to sheer exhaustion.

“Now please!” I begged. “Help me open this.”

Zephyr grabbed the hook and we both pulled with all our strength.

My right hand started burning and the sensation flowed through my arms like blood, heating it up all the way to my heart. But it was a good heat, like renewed energy streamed through me.

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It rang in my ears.

“It’s gonna be ok.” I breathed. “It’s gonna be alright.”

We waited a few more seconds till it stopped raining rubble and dust and then we tried again.

Working together, we pulled the hatch open enough to squeeze through. I pushed Zephyr in with the lantern.

The door fell apart. into charcoal and with my heart in my throat I threw the bag over my shoulder and jumped in after Zephyr, slamming the hatch shut above me.

The roar of the fire died down immediately and the air became easier to breathe.

It was a very old tunnel. Ceiling bearing pillars stood in a never-ending row into the darkness.

For a moment, we took in the silence and breathed.

I welcomed the chilly air and the smell of musty dirt as I leaned my body up against the pole next to me, trying to comprehend what the hell just happened. Zephyr was trembling but he held up the lantern.

“This way. Before the fire reaches above us.”

Trembling I forced my legs to walk. We started moving through the tunnel. I could see the poles we passed were old and ragged from critters and humidity and I swallowed thickly.

We used each other to keep our legs from collapsing. I could feel his weight against mine. Adrenaline was fighting against the smoke in our lungs and the exhaustion we felt from no air.

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I gave myself a moment to breathe. I was lightheaded.

But we were safe from the fire.

“Um… N-Nigel?” There was an odd tone of panic in his voice and when I glanced to my side, I saw Zephyr staring wide eyed at his left hand while we walked. I realised mine still had a prickling sensation after the weird light, earlier.

When I turned my hand over, I did not expect to see the sun insignia burnt perfectly into the palm of my hand, still glowing like dying embers. It didn’t hurt but rubbing a finger over it, I felt the warmth exuding from it.

Swallowing thickly, I turned my head to Zephyr swiftly who looked at me with the same expression of panic and terror, I was feeling in my stomach.

I saw the moon insignia in his left hand.

“What is going on?” I asked.

Zephyr opened his mouth, when the ground trembled beneath us and I stumbled into the wall.

“Another quake?”

“It can’t be…” Zephyr replied.

It could.

Gravel and dirt fell like rain above us and we stood against the unstable walls for balance, waiting as the ground shook beneath our feet.

A stone rocked loose from the ceiling behind us and slammed into the first pillar. Being old and worn, the pillar splintered like a twig against the boulder and 57

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the entire ceiling just fell apart. Like a waterfall of dirt and rocks, it broke down pillar after pillar, none of them strong enough to hold up the cave in… and it was coming closer.

“Run. RUN!” I screamed and pulled Zephyr back to his feet.

Adrenaline rushed through me once more and I ignored the burning in my lungs. I had no idea when the exit would be, but anything was better than right here.

We ran down a dark ongoing tunnel, from the thundering sound of the collapsing ground behind us.

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To be Continued...

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To My Family, Q, Monica, Cecil, Steve, DJ, Ken Peter, Erik, The Animation Workshop and the Mighty Nein.

Thank you all for the help and support!

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Banners/tapestries that are burnt and destroyed!! - greytones Burnt Sunbanner

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Cover Jacket.indd 4-6

24-05-2019 13:02:47

Hope Hjort Cover Jacket.indd 1-3

24-05-2019 13:02:41