The sun slowly disappeared behind the horizon, giving rise to the long shadows that would cover even the sloppiest thief's tracks. Golden Fang and a small contingent of his remaining forces dashed through the thick woods toward the exalted temple of his mistress.
"Everyone split and investigate the surroundings. Leave the temple to me." With an order, the golden rose split, and Fang dashed through the forest, soon revealing what was supposed to be a magnificent temple to his lady.
However, what he witnessed appalled him.
The glorious temple had been desecrated and ruined. He could smell the iron in the air, and the atmosphere was silent.
He stopped dead in his tracks, his fists clenching. Who dared!
He stepped closer to the remains of the grand temple door, its wood was shattered, and it was covered in blood. He crouched and picked up the wood, and brought it to his nose. "This is fresh."
"Perhaps a day old, at most." He dropped the piece and [Shadowmeld] took effect. He merged with the darkness and passed inside the once glorious halls.
The lights were long extinguished, and decaying corpses of dark-clad priests littered the walls.
Whoever did this. He grit his teeth; the temples of his lady were sacred, and anyone who dared desecrate them so would perish.
His form was a blur, he passed through the empty halls and soon arrived at the large stairwell that led deep underground. Much like all other entrances it was shattered.
"Corpses of priests of all kinds, elves, and even various beastmen." He slowly descended. The corpses he witnessed wore crude clothing, and their broken weapons were made of bone.
Soleah, your kingdom really is pathetic. His nostrils flared and brows furrowed. The inability to protect a temple of his lady was heretical.
While the temples were safe due to the existence of their paladins and even blessed children, it was not uncommon for them to be besieged by someone stupid enough.
Yet, when he saw who the attackers were. "How did this scum beat the paladins?"
Soon, he arrived at the bottom floor of the temple, deep underground, where a great vault of night held various artifacts. Usually, nobody could open the vault, yet what stood before him defied that expectation.
The great metal door was melted, and the vault was empty.
"Where are the paladin corpses?" He asked nobody in particular, his eyes scanned every corner of the vault. While the darkness-clad priests were present everywhere, there was a distinct lack of paladins.
He passed deeper into the vault, which was completely empty, everything of value was gone.
From mundane gems to powerful magical weapons.
He rubbed his chin and walked forward. "So the beasts attacked the temple, killed everyone, and stole everything of value, but that can't be everything."
There were temples that had much less defense and vaults filled with even more powerful artifacts.
"Maybe the seventh moon had a secret weapon I wasn't aware of." He nodded. It made sense to him that they would try to steal it to gain an advantage over the elves.
He delved even deeper into the vault.
Step.Step.Step
It's strange that even beast priests were slaughtered.
His arms crossed, and his steps stalled. "This smells foul…" He stopped in front of a former secret entrance. In front of him was the mangled corpse of a woman wearing armor decorated with Len's symbolism.
He kneeled in front of the Bishop and inspected her wounds. "This is not the work of a crude weapon."
The slices were too clean, and the woman seemed not have put up much of a fight.
Bishop is being easily defeated. His fists clenched. "This is not an act of beasts. Who could it be…"
He raised his head and headed toward the secret entrance that the bishop had defended with her life.
Before stepping in, he turned to the bishop and picked up her body. "I won't allow a body of night's faithful to rot." He placed her against the wall and stepped back. He opened his palm and looked at the lifeless body.
"Your service will be remembered. May the lady of the night guide you.[True Dark]."
The pillar of darkness descended upon the corpse, leaving nothing behind.
I will have to send away everyone who fought. A sigh escaped his lips before descending into the deepest layer of the vault.
The darkness grew unnaturally thick. Even his night vision started to fail.
Lady Len, guide me through your blessed night. The sight had to be abandoned, thus he closed his eyes.
When delving into the dark mists of blessed night, one had to abandon all mortal senses and let oneself be embraced.
He felt his lady's embrace take him, and the darkness held no effect, his sight was not bound to the existence of light.
He grabbed a piece of cloth and covered his eyes.
"To think I will get to visit the temple's great vault again, so unfortunate that it is in such a sorry state."
However, as he stepped deeper, instead of blessed darkness growing stronger, it, on the contrary, thinned.
"This is not good." His eyes opened, he ripped off the cloth, and his sight returned. Soon, the blessed darkness fully disappeared, and he found himself in a small room that served as the containment for the temple's most important relics.
The smell of iron was heavy, threatening to overwhelm even his senses. There was something else. Something foul.
The vault was empty, but no corpses were left. The blood-coated walls and the ceiling. His face contorted in anger. He approached the central pedestal. A security measure that once would deter even him was shattered.
This is so much worse than what Soleah thought.
"Whoever did this is incredibly powerful."
His fingers dragged over the remnant of the pedestal. "Blessed Child, but no blessed child would dare desecrate the temple. Who else would be able to do this?"
He pinched his chin and delved into his thoughts. Blessed children are out of question, they are too connected, beasts or elves lack the necessary power.
There was only one party he could blame.
"Red Dawn… those treacherous dogs!" His fists clenched. If they sent an inquisitor, then this would make sense, and elves being so primitive would make it easy for them to slip unnoticed.
He audibly exhaled and turned to the exit.
His job here was done. "Lady Len, I will do everything in my power to avenge your temple and everyone who gave their souls in its defense. Red Dawn will regret this dearly!"
He turned to the exit, and his form turned into shadows. Each corpse was hit with [True Dark], giving them proper burial in the name of his lady.
Soon, he arrived in the large courtyard; like everywhere, it was stained by blood, and corpses littered the ground; however, he could notice some abnormalities within them.
He stepped forward and crouched in front of a large tiger-like beast, its fur wasn't made of hair, but instead it oozed some kind of dark liquid.
"Even in death, you desecrate this holy ground. Soleah better send people to restore this temple. [True Dark]."
He crossed his arms and stared at the sky. "Perhaps losing so much of the Golden Rose was just to bring to my attention how heretical Red Dawn is."
The fact that he had been tricked and almost enslaved gnawed at his soul.
"Lord Fang!" One of his scouts appeared in front of him, kneeling.
"Speak, what did you find?"
"It's some kind of grotesque monster. We cannot deal with it alone."
"Is that so?" His face contorted in disgust. "Lead the way."
He followed the thorn into the forest, distancing themselves from the temple. The trees grew sparser and soon they arrived at a clearing. The smell of rot was strong here.
In the distance was what Fang could only describe as a plant made of flesh and armor.
"I think… I know what happened to Soleah's soldiers."
The carnivora plant thrashed and attempted to strike at everything around it. "Retreat to the camp, I will deal with the monster."
With his order, the thorns retreated, leaving him alone against the grotesque monster. "To think I would feel sorry for a bunch of elves…" He cracked his neck and approached.
The fleshy tentacles struck him, but his body dissolved, and the tentacle merely passed through Fang.
"[Midnight Reaper]" A purple blade enveloped his hand. He dashed forward, and a surge of shadows passed behind Carnivora's tentacles.
He raised his hand and struck the monster.
A purple line formed through the monster, the melded armor shattered and flesh disappeared in the sizzling darkness.
"This is the same blood from the beastman." He jumped back and opened his palm. "[True Dark]."
A pillar descended upon the monster, erasing it completely.
The flesh and armor disappeared, leaving a solemn silence behind.
"This fate…" He shook his head and turned toward the direction of his camp. "I suppose Soleah deserves to know."