Charm a Relic

Chapter Twenty Seven: The Quartanitz

The air was very cold in that dark stairway. Reegan and Candillice both grabbed candles that were lit on the walls close to the entrance. Servants had placed the candles there but nobody other than the Prophetigress was ever allowed to walk all the way up to the Temple. However on this special occasion the guests were permitted through invitation by the Great Spirit.

"Is that a draft or is some body singing?" Reegan asked as he heard a low humming sound.

"It is the song of our Great Spirit!" Candillice replied.

Sam could not take his eyes off of the darkness above the stairs because it terrified him.

Candillice could see that Sam appeared to be very frightened. She knew that he was probably also still shaken up from meeting her mother. She had many questions to ask Sam but did not want to overwhelm him at this time. The others seemed to be acting cautious as well, except for Reegan who had already run more than half way up the stairs. He was excited by the sight of the murals painted on the wall.

"Wow! hey Candillice what are these?" Reegan shouted.

"I don't really know. . . I only first saw them not that long ago. They must be very old murals painted by my Ancestors," she replied.

"Whoa look at this guy here!" Reegan shouted again and pointed to a painting of a large Tigris man. He looked very powerful and majestic with rays shining off of him as he was striking a pose to convey his power.

"Toido start rolling man! We gotta get this all on camera it looks important!" Reegan yelled.

"Look at how the beams of light are painted hitting each of the different types of people, we have Felines here but other races too! I don't know what they are? But look it appears they are all walking up these steps towards something. . ." Reegan exclaimed, he made sure that every mural and statue in that stairway was documented before the camera.

"Mr Reegan sir do you believe this to be connected with the story you disclosed to us at the camp site?" Rufus asked.

"I can't be certain about that yet!" Reegan said.

"I've made mistakes jumping to conclusions in the past and it cost me big time! But I can tell you from what these murals are depicting it sure looks like something of great significance is at the top of these stairs!" Reegan explained and ran up ahead further.

"It's True! You can speak with the Great Spirit of this World up at the top!" Candillice shouted and ran ahead to join Reegan.

Reegan's excitement did not quell Sam's fear as he was hoping perhaps nothing was up there and that everyone was just being superstitious. He began to imagine a Malevolent deity that would cast fire and smite him like the Queen had threatened was a possibility. Sam was really not looking forward to reaching the top of the stairs.

Sam was left behind as everyone followed Candillice up the stairs. Even June ran past Sam as she complained. "I hope it's warm up there!" Sam still climbed the stairs slowly when he looked up to see that Rufus and Candillice were holding the door open for him. Sam was afraid, he did not want to be alone but he knew that he could not turn back.

Sam was hesitant to step through the doors and instead pretended as though he were admiring the murals. This was when he spotted something that Reegan had missed, covered in vines that were spreading from the room above. An image of two young girls holding hands.

"Samuel we require your aid with the audio will you join us already?" Rufus shouted.

When Sam walked into the room it clearly looked like a temple that had been there a long time. The room was circular with vines and moss on the walls as well as the ceiling. It reminded Sam of the room where he ran into the giant butterfly monster Papilliowalayo. Although Sam could not see any signs of a powerful deity or any sign of danger he remained anxious.