A Dreamer's Worlds

A Once Obsolete Shrine

 The shrine had been made of marble. Now it'd been repaired with tougher stone. Granite maybe. The contrast gave the shrine a look of patchwork. Seamus ran his hands over one of the stony seams. No one knew what the shrine was of, only that it was only thing in one piece after this boom town died. That had been sometime in the nineteenth century. It was the twenty first now.

The shrine itself was made up of a pedestal with a thin roof attached to two light posts. Oil lanterns once provided light to the shrine, but they were broken and useless now. The idol itself perched at the center of the pedestal.

Seamus moved his hand to touch one of the idol's heads. Those who researched it thought it was a dual god, governing opposite aspects. Looking at the doubled figure, Seamus could understand why. The idol looked like a dragon, maybe a wyvern, but with each limb doubled up. It had four wings, one set stretched out and the other tucked into its body. It had two heads, two necks. One head looked towards where one would pray while the other was arched in a battle pose. Both had their mouths open in a vicious cry. With their scythelike blades pointed towards the ground, the tails were raised with a menacing look. The legs split at the knee and the idol balanced on the back feet as the front ones clawed at the air.

All in all, the idol was an enigma. No culture had a deity like it. Even the pagan pantheons didn't have a creature like this.

Obviously it was important, given that the shrine was in the middle of the town. Why it was important was a completely mystery. Seamus rubbed one of the idol's head, finger slipping off its horns. He straightened, looking around.

The whole town was in disarray. The buildings had collapsed, worn down by time itself. Wood had rotted and stone had been knocked away by the boredom of animals.

Everfair wasn't so fair anymore. It hadn't been fair since the gold had run out in the mines and there wasn't anything else to keep people there. It was one of the oldest ghost towns in the country.

It was also the possible hiding place of a known killer. The Carrington Killer, as the press dubbed them, had been caught in the act by the FBI. Seamus had been on the task force and had chased the Killer all the way to Everfair. There were other agents roaming the town, but the radios were silent. No one had found anything.

The idol stared at the platform below it. Seamus kneeled to examine it. The necks were completely marble. No repair had been needed there. Still, the bowing head seemed a little off. Seamus nudged it up, accidentally pushing it all the way up before he realized it actually did move.

Now the idol looked even less benevolent than it had before. It looked like a bird of prey as it caught its prey.

Seamus's radio crackled, a voice announcing that something had opened up in one of the buildings. They requested back-up.

Seamus and a few others responded to the call, surrounding a staircase. It looked like it led deep into the earth. Definitely farther than any of the basements in the town.

"Why's this in a ghost town?" Agent Thompson shined a penlight down the staircase. There looked like there was a place for torches, but there weren't any there now. It was completely empty.

"Dunno. Maybe the settlers were cultists or some shit." Agent Meyers crossed his arms and leaned back.

"How did this even open in the first place?" Agent Martinez peered into the darkness.

"The shrine. One of the heads was pointed down and this must have opened when I fixed it." Seamus stepped next to Martinez to look inside.

"Think the Killer's in there?" Thompson didn't seem like she wanted to go down.