The Spirits of the Universe (PJO)

Chapter 54--We Visit a Temple

A/N--Sorry for the short chapter, I was hit with a lot of responsibility this week. The next one will be longer!

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"There's no way this is the right place." I stared at the outside of the building, which screamed rundown from every angle. The walls had cracks crawling all through them, making me wonder how the structure hadn't already collapsed. Overgrown plants peeked out through a rusty chain link fence separating us from the back lot, and the sidewalk to the door was cracked and chipped.

I was used to old buildings—after all, Manhattan had a lot of them. However, I'd seen nothing as decrepit as this in the city. Still, there was one main reason why I was taken by surprise at the exterior of the building.  This is your temple?

Order winced inside of my head. It's been a few millennia since I last visited. Back then, there used to be a huge palace here, decorated in adamantium and gold. Maybe they moved . . .

A strong wind blew past us, and I jumped as the gate in front of us slammed shut. The sun shined off of a dusty bronze sign that read: Temple of Order and End (well, the ink had been rubbed off with the decades in some places, so it instead read Tem of er and en, but it was pretty easy to figure out what it really stood for).

Whatever the case was with this building, I hoped that Order was right.

"Why'd you bring us here?" Liam asked, glancing over his shoulder nervously. "I'm not so sure about this place."

Liam's anxiousness wasn't unfounded. We were in a town called Eldermire. It was about three days north by horseback--a town that, according to Aridne, Niyomina and the caravan would definitely swing by. The town was quaint—the people were consumed in their daily lives and jobs, and the city blocks stretched about two dozen in all directions from the town hall. 

And yet, there was still a shady downtown. 

To make matters worse, we'd passed through many dark alleys (several full with tough-looking men) to get to the side street we were on. It was practically deserted. There were no people in sight. No recent hoof prints on the dusty road, and the even the wind seemed scared to blow through here.

"I already told you," I said. 

"Right," Liam responded. "You had a dream that coming here would help with the mission. Problem is, I don't see how anything on Mugger Lane's going to make things easier for us."

"Maybe the inside will be better," I said. "C'mon."

I quickly moved forward before he could ask any other questions. There was a slight chance I was lying right to his face; there was no dream, and this escapade was certainly not going to assist us with the mission. But I'd been bored of twiddling my thumbs, and Order had been bugging me relentlessly to visit here. 

And I wasn't going to trust Order by going alone—not after what End had done.

My frown deepened.

Fortunately, Liam didn't notice—Aridne's flaming was too distracting for him. 

"Don't be ridiculous," Aridne scoffed, still stuck on the fact that Liam was scared. "With your nasty looking sword, you'd be the mugger."

Liam took the bait. "Have you even looked at a mirror? You're carrying two swords. The only reason you'd be doing that is to carve your enemies into chunks of flesh like a psychopath."

They squabbled all the way to the doorway, and even after I opened the door. When we stepped inside, however they fortunately fell silent. 

"Wow," Liam breathed out. "This was so not what I was expecting."