Path to the Void [Points of Light 1 - RPG fantasy]

1.07

It was nearly three hours later when the camp was packed and gone, and we were able to finally enter the square. By then, stormclouds had begun to gather overhead, hovering with an oppressing air and blocking out the sun that had just barely started to sink towards the horizon. Jack and I stood at the base of the stairs below the doorway, shooting apprehensive looks at each other, neither quite wanting to be the first to step below the arch.

Finally Jack kicked at the stairs, scuffing one shoe on the stone, and said, "Well, more likely that Vayesao is going to like me nosing in, so I guess I should go first, huh?"

I nodded, shifting a little uncomfortably. It hadn't been so apparent from the balcony, but now, standing in front of the door, I could feel the ambient energy of lightning magic, raising the hairs on my arms with static. The clouds above, which rumbled faintly every so often, could not be a coincidence. 

Jack's tone might have been joking, but it was entirely possible that the opening of the temple had drawn the spirit's direct attention, and even without the storm, that gave me plenty of reason to be nervous. The twelve powerful incarnations of magic itself rarely appeared before humans directly, instead favoring manifestations of their element (including, quite possibly, the storm above our heads). It was even more rare for them to appear before humans who were not gifted with magic in that element, humans who weren't inclined to follow that particular spirit - and when that did happen, it rarely ended well for the humans in question. Maribelle had told her children the story of such an encounter the night Min and I stayed in town, and Min herself had told me a few more.

There wasn't anything to be gained by standing around waiting, however, unless you counted the potential for getting caught in the rain. So when Jack began to ascend the stairs, I followed only a few steps after, only pausing briefly to examine the open doors. The runes that had glowed upon them earlier had disappeared entirely, whatever spell keeping the archway sealed gone. All that remained were the intricate carvings of lightning patterns between clouds, set into the grey-green stone.

The inside of the temple, in that regard, was not so different from the outside; the hall was covered and narrow, the same stone and carvings, but the floor was far less worn by weather and footsteps. As we stepped down the path, however, the tops of columns lit up as we passed between each pair - what I had thought was only a gap between the top of the columns and the ceiling was now filled with crackling, blue-green electricity, contained only by a glass barrier. Indeed, although most of the bolts were contained in the glass, some would now and then pass from the top of one column to the other, with a hissing, fizzing static sound. 

I kept my eyes worriedly on those columns, jumping a little when the bolts darted from one to the next. Jack, on the other hand, seemed unconcerned, even exhilarated, with a grin as wide as anything I'd ever seen. "Man, look at this. I can't believe it just lights up like that, after who knows how long."

"It's amazing," I agreed, continuing to watch the sparks overhead as we came into a somewhat wider area. It was like the square outside in a superficial way, with similar patterns on the floor, but instead of the perpendicular corners, the walls curved in a large, graceful arc, lined with more columns and leading around to a steep stairway on the far side of the room. As soon as Jack entered the room, the sparks from the columns nearest us jumped to the next column along the walls, and then the next, until the entire room was lit by the blue-green light of lightning magic.

The magic lighting the room wasn't the only evidence of the temple's nature - as we stepped forward, stray sparks from above began to drift downwards towards us, floating lazily in circles around the room. I tried to keep clear of them, but Jack seemingly possessed no fear of the magic turning harmful. One hand cupped around a drifting ball of magic, Jack turned back to me, still wearing that wide grin that was worrying me as much as any manifestation of magic.