The Two Sisters: Dire-fury Edition

Ch.37: The Temple

The group all cautiously stared at the temple, amazed at how despite its old age the building still stood. Not even the years of weathering down and the acts of nature had made it tumble, even though it looks like it would fall from the slightest gust of wind. Judging by the intact ground and wildlife roaming freely and calmly, the temple hadn't been visited in most likely centuries. Nevertheless, they had to enter the temple, for they had something to do in it.

Raven took in a breath, starting to slowly make her way down the path. The group hesitantly followed closely, staying alert in case anything happened. Zarsh bleated nervously as he hid underneath Argon, who was watchful yet uneasy. The pillars easily towered over him, the statues of winged lionesses sitting on the tops with their eyes covered. Dark let out a small whine, looking up at the statues. "Th-these are Weeping Angel statues." she stated quietly, shrinking back slightly as the statues seemed to be moving and shifting. "Is it just me or... are the statues moving?" she mumbled, in which Bonnie huffed nervously. "Theeeeeyyyyy are indeed moving.."

The group was now approaching the entrance, but the statues were now looking at them, which casted a curtain of tension. It seemed like they were judging the group and waiting for them to do something so they can take care of the intruders. Their eyes remained blank and expressionless, which made sense as these were statues and not actual living beings. Still, they were magically enchanted to serve a purpose the group didn't know.

On either side of the massive entrance sat two more winged statues, but these were male. They kept their heads down and eyes closed, their ears up and listening. The wings were tucked in, gathering vines between each stone feather due to the age and time. Although they had been sitting there for years, guarding the temple, they showed no signs of weathering or damage. Bonnie took a step closer to inspect the statues, looking up at them as he was smaller than them. "Hmm.."

All of a sudden the lions' eyes flicked open, causing Bonnie to jump back and run behind his sister. The group stood still, watching in awe as the statues came to life. Their stone wings spread open and blocked the entrance, their keen eyes watching through them into their souls. Their mouths then opened for what seemed like the first time in a while, and deep, mighty, and demanding voices spoke in unison.

"ᚺᚨᛚᛏ. ᚤᛟᚢ ᛋᚺᚨᛚᛚ ᚾᛟᛏ ᛖᚾᛏᛖᚱ ᛏᚺᛁᛋ ᛏᛖᛗᛈᛚᛖ, ᚠᛟᚱ ᛁᛏ ᛁᛋ ᛟᚾᛚᚤ ᚨᚲᚲᛖᛋᛋᛁᛒᛚᛖ ᛏᛟ ᛏᚺᛖ ᚷᚱᛖᚨᛏ ᚲᛖᛚᛖᛋᛏᛁᚨᛚ ᚷᚢᚨᚱᛞᛁᚨᚾᛋ ᛟᚠ ᛏᛖᚱᚱᚨᚠᛟᚱᛗᚨ." they spoke, which heavily puzzled the group. Bonnie turned to Argon. "What are they saying?" he whispered, in which the large hybrid shrugged. "Not sure, we never had these lessons in class! Not even in the Elite training!" "ᛋᛏᚨᛏᛖ ᚤᛟᚢᚱ ᚾᚨᛗᛖᛋ ᚨᚾᛞ ᚠᚨᛗᛁᛚᚤ ᚾᚨᛗᛖᛋ." the lions spoke again, their blank eyes unreadable.

"Zarsh Mirepelt." the deer stated, suddenly next to Raven and kneeling before the lions. The dragoness looked at him with surprise, asking how he knows what they're saying. "It's required reading in school here at the swamp territory." he then glanced at her. "Tell them your names and your family names." he then casted his glance to the ground. Raven gulped and turned to the lions, bowing to them. "Raven Nightfang." Night seemed unsure about this, but regardless bowed to them. "Night Darkflight."

Dark slowly hopped off of Argon and stood beside her sister and brother, lowering her head only. Argon bowed to the statues, letting out a small grunt. "Argon Stonehorn." Bonnie then bowed as well, but had too many thoughts running through his mind. "Bonnie Nightfang." then Dark took in a breath, keeping her head low but not fully bowing. "Dark Nightfang."

The lions stayed silent for a moment, staring at each of the group. Their eyes then halted on Raven and Dark, seeing something within the two. The lions then hummed lowly, which the group could all feel in their chests. "ᚹᛖᛚᚲᛟᛗᛖ ᛒᚨᚲᚴ, ᛋᚨᚲᚱᛖᛞ ᛋᚢᚾ ᚨᚾᛞ ᛗᛟᛟᚾ." they spoke, lowering their wings back to their original position. "ᚤᛟᚢ ᛗᚨᚤ ᛈᚨᛋᛋ ᚨᛚᛟᚾᚷ ᚹᛁᛏᚺ ᛏᚺᛖ ᛋᛏᚨᚱᛞᚢᛋᛏ, ᛏᚺᛖ ᚡᛟᚱᛏᛖᛪ, ᛏᚺᛖ ᛋᛈᚨᚱᚴ, ᚨᚾᛞ ᛏᚺᛖ ᛋᛏᚱᛟᚾᚷᚺᛟᛚᛞ."

The group then stood straight, then made their way inside the temple. It was dark, but even so it was obvious that no one had visited in over a century. Dirt and all other plant life had crept inside, stopping after a few steps inside. It was large inside and there was plenty of room, and even Argon could stand tall and spread his wings yet he wouldn't be able to touch either wall at full wingspan. Argon chuffed, looking at the gathered dust on surrounding shelves. "Wonder what we have to do here... I swear if it's something of restoration-" "I don't think it's a restoration thing because that would take forever." Raven stated, trotting to a nearby torch and standing on her back legs. "Besides, Torga said we need to get Dark back to the Night lands as soon as possible." she then lit a small flame onto the torch, which did something unexpected.

As soon as the first torch was lit, all the others lit up as well. "Woah." was all that Zarsh could gasp as he looked around. He then looked at all the items gathered from all the years of missions, but didn't dare to touch them out of fear they would disintegrate. The deer then moved on, walking down along the hallway, stopping to look up at a very old mural. "Guys? Come look at this!" he called out, his eyes not leaving the mural. Argon sighed, walking up to the deer and then at the tarp. The rest of the group had now arrived to the area, and now stared in awe at the mural in front of them.

Of course from all the years it had a yellow fade, but they paid attention to the drawings in them. There were multiple figures in it, all with different poses. Up front was a female direwolf, her snout pointing downwards and appearing to be frowning. Not to mention she had wings as well. She looked similar to Dark, except for the fact she was lighter in color and the mural direwolf's wings were feathered. Behind the direwolf stood a large dragon, her wings also spread out and her large curved horns protruding from her head.

Standing behind them was a large deer, standing tall and proud while beside him was a fox-like creature who had a paw out. Flying above the group was a dragon with a wolf-like snout with deer-ish horns, while next to him was a dragon with a cat-like snout. Behind the entire group stood a huge bull-like creature, his mighty wings spread out. "Wow... these creatures..." Zarsh began, his eyes wide and staring. "They look.. like us! Like they're so similar, but they're different..." Bonnie nodded, staring at each figure in the mural.

Dark kept looking at the mural, then she turned her attention to a goblet below the mural. Unlike the others that one wasn't lit up and remained untouched by a flame, but then she noticed some small blue glass-like stones in a pile nearby. She grabbed one and examined it, seeing how it shimmered in the light. The Dire-fury then tossed it aside, not seeing anything important from it. The stone landed in the goblet, earning a small whisp of air before it lit up in blue flames, which turned the surrounding torches' flames blue. Along with the flames changing color, something else happened with the mural.

It now began to glow light shade of blue, although it was only in certain parts. The creatures now each held a weapon. The deer-horned dragon held a crossbow, while the cat-snouted dragon held a broadsword. The deer held a staff which had some sort of serpent-like dragon coming out of the orb, all while the fox-creature's paw had a glowing orb. An ancient drawn sun stood behind the ram horned creature, and a moon stood on where the direwolf was standing. Finally the bull-dragon held a large battle axe, which seemed to shimmer even if it was just a drawing. Above the group now glowed a bunch of stars, only a few of them being notably brighter than the rest.

Raven chuffed and grabbed a scroll along with a graphite pencil, then she began to sketch the stars. "Uhh... what are you doing?" Bonnie asked her, in which Zarsh answered. "The constellation is a map! She's drawing it so we know where to go." the Lunight Fury hummed, noticing a much brighter star at the highest point, which possibly told him it was their final destination.

The temple trembled and shook, which made Night think it would collapse. Argon only grunted and shook his head, gently nudging Dark to the exit. "It's time we leave. The temple is telling us that, so it's best we obey it." he stated, making his way out of the temple. The rest of the group then went on to leave, but Dark paused as she looked back to the mural for a moment. She stared at it, thinking, then turned around and left the temple.

The group now left the temple's property, and quickly kept moving to their destination. Groans and cracks came from behind, and by the time Raven looked back to see what it was, the temple was no longer there, only the trees. She hummed before turning to look in front of herself, thinking back to the mural back there, but the hybrid had a feeling that there was more to the mural.

She felt like more secrets would be revealed once they reached their destination.