Chapter 2: The Onyx Reliquary

The stale air of the mountains was cold. And despite the gentle whistling of the breeze, Alyssa knew extraordinary danger lurked ahead. She rounded the path and looked up seeing the pinnacle of the temple built into the face of the mountain and hurried up the mountain path until it ended right before the massive monolithic looking temple gateway. Built of gray stone with massive pillars and winged beasts carved into each one, it appeared dark and foreboding. Slowly, she ascended the steps leading to the entrance carefully inspecting the chiseled markings in the pillars as she went.

Upon reaching the door she gently brushed her hand across its surface and closed her eyes, and then all of the etchings turned into silvery dust and fell into her hands. With a gesture of her hand, she tossed it into the vacant air before her and watched as images of the past appeared before her; strange ritual processionals leading into the temple, bloody battles and riots, and lastly the temple door being shut and then the images faded away and the silvery dust fell to the ground.

Turning to face the door, Alyssa kneeled down on her right knee, put her right hand on cold stone of the door and bowed her head saying in a dark, guttural language, “death is a prison that catches all, death is the lord of all.” With some loud moaning the door began to ascend and open revealing the inky darkness within. She stood to her feet and summoned a bright torch that she grasped and with a deep breath entered the temple.

From the shadows her torch cast, she could tell the interior was vast, and likely rife with peril. The Dy’Hom were immensely fond of using traps to guard their temples. When faced with the decision of which of the corridors to follow, Alyssa consulted the map she had taken.

“Well, here we go.” And she chose the passage on her right. She hadn’t gone too far when she saw a stirring and gathering of mist which then transformed into a spirit. With a scream that pierced her soul, the spirit charged grasping towards her with outstretched hands. Despite the rush of fear, Alyssa summoned bright orange flames and projected them at the charging spirit which vanished in an agonizing scream.

“Would I be so lucky if all the dangers of the temple were that easy to get rid of.” She said and pressed on into the darkness. She came to a narrow corridor lined with various statues and at the end was an altar of some sort. She maneuvered down the corridor passing several statues that seemed to be glaring at her with empty, yet penetrating gazes.

Alyssa walked up the few stairs leading to the altar which was carved from black marble. The detail on the altar was highly ornate. She slowly placed her hand on the smooth surface of the black marble and ran her hand across the top of the altar. A series of “crunching” sounds had her turning on her heels to see that the statues had become animated and were aiming their stone spears at her. Suddenly she realized she had let herself be backed into a corner.

“That figures,” Alyssa muttered to herself. She had no choice but to stand and fight, but when she noticed more entering the corridor, she dismissed that thought. Something was also dampening her ability to recall many of the spells or enchantments she knew. Taking a step back she prepared for the onslaught, and just as a volley of the stone spears came barreling towards her, she felt the ground beneath her vanish and she fell.

The air rushed through her long, jet-black hair, and since she had dropped her torch in the chamber above, she couldn’t see what she was rapidly approaching. She formed a sphere of fire and peered through the darkness and her eyes opened widely just as she plunged into a pool of water. After a few seconds the initial shock of the impact was over and she began to swim towards the surface and out of the corner of her eye she could see some formless shape beginning to chase her.

Alyssa swam as fast as she could. Her pursuer was gaining and gaining, and now she could make out white eyes with talons and tentacles reaching out towards her. She broke through the surface and hurried ashore, and although she couldn’t see much the unmistakable sound of something breaking through the water behind her bellowing loudly followed by silence seemed to suggest the creature returned to the depths.

Once her heavy breathing subsided, she stood to her feet and summoned another torch. She could see that she landed in a pool of water at the center of three cavernous passages, and directly behind her were two colossal stone doors that had been broken in half. The ground was littered with skeletons, torn clothes, and rusted armor and weapons.

Cautiously, she made her away around the pool of water avoiding its edge and headed towards the dilapidated door. She climbed the pile of rumble that once stood as one of the giant doors and as she reached the top, she looked across a vast ocean of darkness. She noticed a nearby torch on the wall which she lit and then torches all across the cavernous space ignited pouring in light. There were several large stone pillars the height of the cavernous ceiling; some broken down, some badly damaged, and a few still standing untouched by the destruction. A wide path of red stone led from the giant doors towards the far end of the room where a hollowed-out tree stood, and beneath it was another altar.

She climbed down from the pile of broken stones and carefully walked along the path of red stone. She again came across a concentration of skeletons and signs of a violent struggle. As she drew near to the altar, she saw only two skeletons; one was clasping the other’s throat, while the other skeleton had one hand on its attacker’s face and the other clutching the edge of the altar. On the center of the polished scarlet stone was a purple, cylindrical object which appeared to be constructed of glass. Whatever the substance was, based on the description she was given and her research, she knew that this was the Onyx Reliquary, which she found odd that it wasn’t black.

She pulled out a cloth from her satchel and wrapped the reliquary with it and then carefully placed the object back inside. She noticed a dusty, black piece of fabric draped over something. With a firm yank, she pulled the fabric down revealing a large crystal mirror. She noticed some words inscribed at the top, “from beyond the darkness, from beyond the reach of death, take me away; away from here.” And after Alyssa spoke those words the crystal mirror hummed to life projecting an image of the temple entrance.

Realizing that the crystal mirror was a portal, she readied herself to step through but a series of screeches and rumbling caught her attention, and over her shoulder she could see dozens and dozens of leathery winged creatures known as spires flying towards her. She quickly stepped through the portal and she emerged into a darkly lit corridor. Swiftly glancing around, she was uncertain which direction to go, and she knew in moments the spires would be appearing through the portal she had just used.

“Lead me to the sun,” Alyssa said then waved her hand as a circular ball of light appeared and then raced down the corridor with her running after it. With all haste she kept after the sphere of light. As she passed through various points in corridors and passageways, she stepped on several pressure plates; some of the traps sprayed acid at her, some launched various pointed projectiles, and some shot fireballs at her. She was able to deflect and shield herself from most of the damage, but her skin was burned and cut in several places.

As she emerged from a passageway into the main entrance chamber, she could see the light from the temple entrance. To her left a large gathering of spirits were charging towards her, and behind her the spires and finally caught up with her. She hurled a few fireballs at the spirits, but there were so many they simply absorbed the fire and extinguished it.

With every ounce of her might, Alyssa bounded up the stairs finally reaching the exterior of the temple door. As she turned to block the entrance, the spires and spirits had almost reached her. She summoned lighting from some nearby clouds which pierced the stone entrance and destroyed the structure in a massive explosion. She then weaved an enchantment to seal the creatures deep inside the mountain temple and collapsed onto the ground breathing heavily.