The Eternal Imperium

Chapter 7: The Temple

The midday sun hangs overhead, sending down waves of exhausting heat. The desert wind kicks up small sandstorms that grind even the toughest of mountains down to gravel. Through the heat and sand, Red and Coco trudge through.

Coco hated every second of the ordeal. She hated it when she first got to Vacuo because sand tends to ruin her well-maintained outfits. Now, though, she hated it for the reason everyone else in the world did. Sand fucking sucks.

The two had been walking for hours as they left the tiny town they spent the night prior in at the crack of dawn. Red had told her that the location to start their search for the Relic of Destruction was in a set of ruins he had discovered a few years back.

Eventually, the two reach the peak of a dune as they breach past a small sandstorm. They look out as they see a set of ruins that had been built into the side of a large cliff face.

Coco: "This it?"

Red: "Yep. Never been inside, though. The place looks huge. I left the excavation of the ruins to Theodore. But it looks like exploring it has to be our responsibility." The two begin to head down the dune toward the ruins.

Coco: "So, who built this?"

Red: "Vacuo has been a warzone for warlords for a really long time. Most of them eventually die out and are forgotten. But some find ways of forging their legacy. The one that supposedly held the Relic of Destruction was so good at being a warlord that he built numerous temples, shrines, and catacombs dedicated to himself. In my search, I learned that at least ONE of them has the relic."

Coco: "And it might be this one?"

Red: "Dunno. All the other ones I've found weren't as extravagant as this one. So it could be a good sign. Only one way to find out."

They reach what appears to be the entrance to the set of ruins. A set of massive arches are built into the cliff that leads in further. In truth, they had no way of telling if this was the entrance or not. The passage of time could have caused the true entrance to be filled with sand. Without any form of excavation equipment, they would never know.

They head into the ruins and are instantly hit with cold air as the temperature drops dramatically. It seemed that the shade mixed with the constant wind allowed the airflow to cool the temple's interior. Coco took full advantage of the temperature change.

Coco: "Oh my Oum! It feels so nice."

Red: "Well, you aren't wrong. But if it's nice for us, then the Grimm surely think so as well. So keep an eye out."

Coco: "Is it wrong to say I miss when the Grimm were our only problem?" She says as the two begin to explore the ruins.

Red: "Grimm aren't anything too special. They're just animals that exclusively feed on humans. We only made them a large threat because they seriously threaten our survival."

Coco: "Kinda makes them a pretty big threat when you put it like that."

Red: "You think too small. The same could be said for stuff like mice and hawks. Mice treat the Hawks like a real threat because the Hawks are a threat to the survival of the Mice. It's all based on how the ecosystem works. A long time ago, Humans didn't have to contend with Grimm. Then, one day, poof, the first Grimm appeared. As the saying goes, there's always a bigger fish." He says, looking over some hieroglyphics that had been shaved away by the constant sand being beat upon them.

Coco: "Your way of thinking generally confuses me."

Red: "In short, Coco, gain perspective. See things from different points of view. Doing so will give you a greater understanding of how things work."