11 - Inner Sanctum

I pushed the giant doors. They resisted initially, but then moved a lot easier than 20-foot-tall stone doors should have.

The room inside was already lit with a ring of torches on the wall. It was circular, and larger than I could guess with an initial glance.

This all paled in comparison to the ground. Sticking out of a sandy floor, were hundreds of swords. Elegant rapiers, rustic claymores, glass scimitars, embellished katanas. And everything in between. Each sword was unique. My jaw fell open in awe.

"You have arrived. Welcome to the Temple of Swords."

My attention focused on the source of the voice, a man standing on stone thirty or forty feet in from the entrance. No features could be seen under his cloak, which flowed on a nonexistent wind. I glanced to the others, to find they heard him too.

"You have come a long way. And they who called you are eager to be received. Before I can permit it, I must try you once more. Come, enter."

Any doubts I had of who he was vanished as he repeated what I had heard so many times already. Without realizing it, I stepped into the room.

"She who bears a second future, what is the value of knowledge?"

She seemed to think about it, but when she was about to give an answer, she was interrupted.

"Your answer is accepted. Seek out they who call you."

Juliana looked to the right, but looked back at the cloaked man in confusion. "No one is over there." she said.

"You hear them," the stranger asked, "but do not acknowledge their whereabouts? Go if you will. None in the Temple of Swords will ursurp you your will."

Hesitantly, Juliana looked back to where she apparently heard someone, and walked in that direction. She passed several swords. One was large enough that she could have hit her shoulder on it. Another nearly clipped her heel with its hilt.

She walked past a fiery orange-to-red gradient blade, with a black grip and a d-guard sculpted like flames. She turned back to it, as though surprised that her call had come from another direction. Juliana circled it, as though to confirm. Then, hesitantly, she pulled the blade free of the sand. It was one-edged, like a machete. The back edge was flaming. Like, on fire and moving. But Juliana didn't seem to be hurt as she touched it.

"The Fire Sorceress. Teach her, and she will teach you." the robed figure stated, though Juliana didn't seem to hear.

The cloaked man's eyes passed over me - as though saying, 'not yet' - and landed on Thomas.

"He who worked the land of another world, do you love it all?"

"Yes!" Thomas replied instinctively, "It's my place, you see."

The figure nodded. "Your answer is accepted. Go, find they who called you."

Thomas roved to the left, going deep into the room. If an appraiser had calculated the price of the weapons he passed in materials alone, it would boggle their mind. Despite this, the sword Thomas pulled from the sand was a worn blade. The steel edge was dull and chipped.

As he returned, the cloaked figure said, "The Forgotten. Please take care of him. His lot has been poor."

He turned to Silence. "She who walks alone, can you bear the whole price an action would cost?"

"Your devotion is impressive," the cloaked figure said after a brief moment, "Go and find they who called you."

Silence made a beeline to a curved blade of icy blue crystals. The guard was stylized as a dragon maw trying to swallow the blade. Yellow eyes glinted. It became obvious as Silence pulled it from the sand that it was a large object. It seemed larger than any steel Greatsword. Silence twirled it with ease.

"The Frost Dragon. I give you caution, to the Dragon, only victory matters. No matter the price."

Silence shrugged before kneeling with the blade on her lap.

He turned to Katie. "She who is innocent, what is the greatest blessing in the Interplane?"

I balked at the question. "How is she supposed to-"

"Your answer is accepted," He interrupted, and it felt like he gave me a knowing sideways glance before returning focus on her, "Go, and find they who called you."

Katie wove through the swords of all varieties before stopping at a crystal blade. White wings formed the guard, and they were the only opaque of the weapon. Katie pulled a glass-like blade of diamond from the sand, by an equally glass-like handle. It was two-edged and symmetrical.

"The Angel. Remain pure, and her aid will always be with you."

The figure turned to me and I braced myself for whatever question he could ask me.

"Traveler among the Realities," he addressed me, "will you protect the Temple of Swords and all those who enter it worthily?"

It gave me pause. I knew the answer he was looking for, but would I be able to offer it honestly?

"Yes," I finally said.

"Then come." he replied. I approached him, stepping the narrow path to his stone step. As I came within touching distance, he spoke again. "The Ancient, protector of the good and willing of this world."

With that, the cloak melted away, like dust scattered to the wind. He revealed a longsword. Hand and a half hilt, jeweled pommel, simple guard. A seemingly ordinary steel blade protruded from a sand-filled gash in the stone, which had been completely hidden.

I grasped the handle with both hands, feeling a power akin to mana channel like an electric current through me. I pulled the sword from the sand, proving its length to be about the same as Xor's weapon that we had abandoned.

He'd be peeved if he found out about that.

"Perhaps he would." the now-familiar Ancient's voice came to my mind.

"You can still speak?" I asked.

"Telepathically. To you, and to the other blades. But my connection to the other mortals is severed."

I scanned over the room. "They all speak?"

"They can. If you would like me to show you, I can. It would require letting me have a portion of control."

"What do you mean, 'portion of control'?"