Destined To Die

Chapter 17 - The Pale Temple

-17-

-The Pale Temple-

The passage narrowed ahead, the soft green light of the glowsticks absorbed by the black stone walls of the tunnel, worn almost unnaturally smooth. It dipped sharply into an even steeper decline until they were almost swimming straight down again, lungs burning as they pushed on into the dark. It was Abigail that saw the next turn first, clawing desperately through the water as the tunnel suddenly levelled out and reversed, bringing them upright into some sort of underground pool.

Her fists clawed against a layer of ice at the top, smashing on it desperately, mouth opening to form arcane words but only filling with seawater. Whatever sparks were forming in her fingers vanished, drowned out by the water. Maddy joined her, beating her fists against the ice sheet that blocked their path to the space beyond, making little impact on the ice. It was Akane that came up from the rear, a sword clutched in each hand and carving up in the ice with desperate swings, that eventually sliced enough chunks of the thick ice away for them to break through to the equally freezing air on the other side.

Sabbath was the first to make it through, tearing himself free from Abigail's grasp and swimming up through the small hole with more speed than Akane had ever seen, pulling himself up beyond. Maddy was pushed through next, and then Abigail, Akane following closely behind and pulling himself up onto the dark ice beyond.

Lit by the dull green light of their glowsticks, they took in their surroundings. The room they were in was a perfect dome, a floor of black rock and ice giving way to perfectly smooth pale grey stone. The air was stagnant and still, their breath frosting in the air.

"Abigail, warmth," Akane shuddered, pulling the three of them together as the water ran off their clothes, somehow even colder now that they were out of the water.

The witch began to speak a few times, stuttering on the words as she shivered before a wave of warmth washed over them and dried out their clothes. The water dripping from them dispersed into a fine mist in the air as they all gathered close. Even though they weren't soaked to the skin, the cold they felt within and the deep breaths of icy air did little to help their feelings of oncoming frostbite.

"We need to move," Abigail said, swallowing after a long moment, "It won't take them long to work out where we've gone."

Against the far side of the pale domed chamber, walls completely bare and featureless, a fifteen-foot-tall staircase descended into the dark. The stairs themselves were absurdly big, carved of the same white-grey stone as the dome, clearly made for some kind of god rather than man. Each step was more akin to a downward climb as they made their way slowly forward. Sabbath quickly climbed up onto Abigail's shoulders as they started to move, wrapping himself around her like a scarf and holding on tight.

"I don't want to do that again," Maddy shuddered, looking back one last time at the icy pool in the middle of the chamber as they descended the stairs, before it finally slipped out of sight. "I'd be happy to never swim again."

"Let's hope there's some other way out of here then," Abigail murmured, a small flame flickering into existence over the head of her knotted staff as the light of the glowsticks faded, lighting up their surroundings slightly more.

The walls of the staircase were smooth and completely bare, as if this entire structure had been carved from a single piece of rock, untouched by time or ornamentation. The flame burned steady, not even dust moving underfoot in this place, their footsteps echoing on into the oppressive darkness as they descended.

"This is old," Akane murmured, looking over the walls, a sword held in each hand, "Very old."

"So, it turns out that Kento wasn't crazy," Abigail nodded, "but what the fuck is this place?"