The Esper of Algol: Protector

Holy Light

They finally made it through the mountain passes, the snowstorm that had started a week ago when they had met with Reko still blowing about.  After following another ice passage took them toward the equator of the planet, although the only difference in the temperature was that maybe it was 20 below instead of 30, they emerged on the other side of the mountain where the winds were a little bit calmer. They headed north to a tower where according to HAPSBY's map the Gumbious Temple was located.

There was a Dezolian at the entrance. When Alis stated their purpose, he nodded but disappeared, leaving them to find their was up the tower on their own.

On the second level, the floor they were walking on suddenly dropped from them, plummeting them back down to the first. When they went back up and tried a different route, it happened again.

"Think that green guy at the door was having a joke?" Myau commented as Alis sang to them to heal their bruises.

A few more tries, and they finally knew the path to take to get to the third floor; the temple was on the fourth. A faint buzz of magic was all about the place. The priests were awaiting them, and watched carefully as they walked up the chancel toward the sanctuary, where a very large fire was burning in a golden basin adorned with simple stylized swirled golden flame.

In front of the flame was a simple alter, bearing a carving of the same golden swirling flame. In front of that was who Noah supposed was the head priest.

Myau strutted into the room ahead of the others. The Dezolians didn't seem to mind. Some of them chattered excitedly in Dezolian when Myau approached them. They spoke with him in accented Palman, and kept the feline engaged in conversation.

A couple of them, including the one they saw at the entrance, whispered loudly to each other in Dezolian behind their hands. Noah saw one of them point to the red wand he carried. It made him uneasy and a bit defensive, even though the wand itself was calm. Alis was looking at this group, too, a slight frown on her face.

"Welcome Palmans, and Mistar Musk Cat, to ze Gumbious Temple," the head priest greeted them. "I am Kazu, Protectar of ze Flame. What is your purpose in coming to visit us?"

Odin approached, bowed to the priest, and showed him the Amber Eye. "One of the white dragons we encountered on the way here said it was cursed. We also encountered... they seemed to be walking dead... zombies... in the caverns. They were attracted to it."

Kazu took the Amber Eye into his hands. "Whare did you get zis?" he asked sharply.

Alis spoke up then, "We encountered a dragon on Motavia with that embedded in its head."

"The dragon was unusually aggressive." Noah added. "We had no choice but to kill it in order to escape with our lives."

"Zat dragan," the priest said, peering closer into the gem, "was likely already dead."

That's what Noah had been afraid of. "So, that gem, the Amber Eye, reanimated it?"

Kazu shook his head, "No. It was merely controlling it. A different, dark powar woke it. Zat powar is corrupting ze gem, not coming from it. Dragans have too much magic to be controlled wizout a conduit. Our people are not so lucky."

One of the priests who had been muttering about Noah's wand interjected, "Are yoo aware of zee evil that flies in ze skies of Palma?"

"Do you mean Lassic?" Odin asked. He too remembered what the tarantul had implied so many months ago about the king being above Baya Malay instead of inside it.

"I know not what it calls itself," the lower priest replied. "But ze dragans, zey talk, as yoo know. And zey can talk from distant places. Zey say evil is in ze skies of Palma."