Cthulhu's Vessel

The Temple

For the rest of the walk, Hugo carried me on his back. He refused to let me walk because of my sprained ankle. He said: "I can't believe you are still a clumsy shit". It was rude, but it was also the truth. He can be really stubborn when he wants to be. I stared into the back of his neck, a little bead of sweat went down into his shirt. Now that I noticed it, he was pretty tan with light hair. He must've been on this island a long time. Why did he decide to come to Seattle? Was it because he wanted a change of pace? Or because I was there?

As we exited the forest, I noticed a lot of broken-down buildings. But it was mostly the children there, why are there children here? They didn't kidnap them as well, did they?

"No, we didn't kidnap them, those are children of some of the cultists that had died early this year. It was to find you say they gave their lives willingly, only giving us one wish. It was to take care of their children." Hugo informed me, as a lot of the children began staring at me.

He set me down, carefully so that I didn't stand on my left foot. The children ran up to me, their hair colors ranging from blonde to black. How long has anybody been on this island?

"She's pretty, Hugo is she your wife?" A little girl with blonde pigtails said cutely.

My face turned red, what kind of fantasies run through this child's head.

"No, Edith, she's our princess."

"A princess? Really? I love princesses." She said excitedly looking at me with her green eyes glowing. I smiled at her and the other children, I can't believe he said that I was a princess.

"She's really busy now, she has to go to school to learn of our king," Hugo explained to the now whining children.

"Is she going to marry our king?" Edith asked, looking sadly at me. I wonder why she suddenly got upset.

"No, but he's taking her in." Hugo smiled brightly, he was so kind to the children. If only he used this gift on the mainland and not kidnap me and bring me to this crazy place.

I waved goodbye to Edith and the other children, then limped after Hugo. I was able to stand on both feet now, after stepping in a puddle. Although Hugo seemed a little irritated that I was walking again. But he didn't do anything about just kept making sure I would trip over anything. They really don't want me injured at all. There are several cultists following us holding spears, are they to protect us.

"Why are they holding weapons?" I asked, why not just use a gun?

"There are dangerous animals here and we don't have guns because our most trusted supplier died. So every month on the 9th, we send someone to the mainland to grab supplies. No one is willing to send us guns though." Hugo said, looking around at the primitive-looking weapons.

"Animals? Like that Selkie?" I asked curiously, last time I checked, Selkies weren't animals. They shed their seal skins to become a human, right? So they aren't fully animals.

"Exactly, they and other creatures attack us during the night. They try to take Edith and the other children. It makes me sick to think of what they want to do to them." Hugo stated, he began to look really pale.

"So, where are my other clothes?" I asked, rubbing my arms as the chilly wind blew.

"Here's a jacket, but your clothes are in the Temple," Hugo said, handing me his jacket. I sheepishly took it, then put on the really warm jacket. It smelled a lot like him, like the smell of saltwater along with an earthy smell.

The cultists and Hugo stayed around me until a big building came into view. It was a huge temple lined with cracking black paint and roots. A tree was growing over the building so some of the bricks were falling out. The symbol on my back was behind some lit torches on the wall. I could hear the wind roaring through the halls inside the temple.

"You have to go in there yourself, no one is allowed in the temple beside you and the High Priests. Two will be joining you on your journey, if you survive you will be attending our school." Hugo informed me as the two men from before stepped forward.

They tugged at the jacket, but I pulled it closer to me, resulting in an annoyed glance.

"Sorry Coral, but you'll have to take it off, it's mandatory," Hugo stated, peeling the jacket off.

I nodded and let him take off the jacket, everyone formed a semi-circle around us. I had no choice but to walk into the temple with the men that had kidnapped me. I sighed, then walked into the damp cold tunnel. One of them had grabbed the torch so we had some dim light to light our path. It was quite drafty I might say, a little cold too. But I guess that's what happens when you are on an island in the middle of a stormy ocean with a tentacle monster.

"What are your names?" I asked, because I didn't want to refer to them as "the men who kidnapped me" any longer.

"James, the grumpy one is Luke." The man with the tattoo said.

Luke grunted at the irritated James, then continued to ignore me. I sighed as we walked deeper into the Temple. My body began to prickle as of it was surrounded by heat. I ended up having to stop because it was getting harder to breathe. The two who were walking with almost didn't notice until they didn't see me next to him.

"Miss you need to keep going. The test has begun." James said, taking a hold of my arm.

"I... can't... breathe..." I gasped out, trying to draw in breath.

"If you stay here, you'll die, same as the others. You'll feel better if you keep walking." Luke hissed, clearly irritated at my weakness.

I glared at the two of them then walked ahead of them. It was hard since my chest was burning and practically screaming for air. I thought I was going to pass out, but once I smelled the sale water I almost felt better. I quickly ran towards the smell and eventually losing Luke and James. I found the source of the smell, it was a small pool of ocean water surrounded by a strange dark rock. It also looked like there was a tunnel underneath the water. I approached the glowing pool, I felt like I was drawn to it.

I could hear singing coming from the water. It sounded like it was going away, further and further. But it also sounded like it was coming closer at the same time, like it wanted me to follow it. I bent down to stick my feet into the water, it was freezing! I was already waist deep just stepping into it. The singing became louder as I swam closer to the cave entrance...