C.A.L.B.E.R.S prompts

Blood god

   Clover wiped the sweat from her forehead, the desert sun high in the sky as the heat blistered on. Not that she really minded, she was having to much fun! She was helping Knuckles the echidna and the chaotix at an excavation site of a new temple found only a few months ago. She had always wanted to help with something like this, the temples carvings not matching any of the previous carvings from ancient civilizations. She had begged to be brought along, and Knuckles only allowed her to come along because Rouge was having issues with morning sickness. She looked back over her shoulder spotting Scourge on a towel with his shades down, laying on his back. Next to him partially under an umbrella Luna lay with her own shades and a bikini. Her fur was white, reflecting the sun sure, but it was rather thick. She spotted Clover looking at them, and they both waved to her. She smiled and waved back, the looked over to the other side of the site where Tigris was playing in the sand with Charmy. 

   They had just cleared the sand from main entrance, the stone here was black, almost black marble but had what looked like garnet veins running along the stone. It was so cold to the touch, even under the bright sun, it was odd. She wished she could ask NightShade about it, but he had refused to come out to the desert during the day, even if he was in their shadows. They would have to wait till nightfall for any assistance from him. Mighty and Vector were removing the rubble as Saffron flew over head, drawing out the temple layout. Espio was sent to find any other entrance to the temple, and any booby traps that could be inside. He hadn't reported back yet, but it couldn't take that long, Clover was sure it would be any moment he'd appear with news. She looked at an empty space next to her and Knuckles, as if to expect the chameleon to appear there..... Nothing happened. She sighed and turned back to check on Victor and Mightys progress, when she came face to face with Espio.

"GAH!" She jerked backwards. "Espio! Don't. DO that." 

"Oh, apologizes Clover." He gave an embarrassed grin. "I looked around the outside, it seems there are no openings other then this one."

"Huh, thats odd. you'd think they'd design it to include the need for air." Clover motioned Saffron down and looked over the structure. 

"It's to bad we can't know where this one came from, it would give us an idea on how large it could be." Saffron landed on Espios shoulder as she handed him the book.

"Right, and for all we know it could very well go deeper under the sandstone." Clover thought carefully on how to get around to uncovering the rest of the temple. 

   She could remember the temple from her home on Aquatia island, the one with the multiple tiers of water pooling and flowing all throughout the structure. This was dark and imposing, almost like a tomb. Knuckles had said echidna temples were more like large courtyards, with natural flora and fauna for the chao gardens that lived in the sacred place. Clover was envious of that fact. There had never been any chao on the island, even though the books she had read said at one point there were, but the priests of the temple chased them off, not wanting chaos' powers there. She had read about other temples, the ones of the fire mages that liked high up in mountains, only seen from a distance. The Kokorian shrines that were small and modest to reflect their own gods peaceful and quiet nature. Those were usually small statues and rarely spoken of since there were few left still standing, and none were built anywhere near settlements. She sighed and looked up as she came to a decision.

"We should probably head inside, start scouting out the layout, the outside can wait until we have a proper way to remove the rest of the sand."

"Right. Vector, Mighty go take a break, the scouting team, lets move in." Knuckles dusted himself off as he walked over. "To bad we don't have a sand bender or whatever to move all of this out of the way."