Chapter Ten

Cilicia was a deserted place. The modernization that came with the creation of Light city didn't stretch there, hence, it preserved most of its local way of life.

There was barely anyone walking on the dusty street. The roads remained untarred and it carried the smell of dust in the air.

Little worship temples scattered scantily across the streets, far from the busy life.

Lily resisted the urge to throw up as her body was yet to adjust to the speed of the teleportation void.

Fidal looked around the place, not spotting anything that could be of interest or worth taking note of.

Mostly the old and very few young people lived in Cilicia.

"Where is the place?" Fidal asked Lily who looked pale.

Lily looked around and frowned. "we should walk ahead." she said as she moved.

Fidal took note of where they passed as they walked.

As they drifted deeper into the city, the air became thicker and dustier and Lily had to cover her nose and the few sightings of human life became nonexistent.

Thick large trees with yellowing leaves spread across the empty expanse of land. As they took a path, it became almost impossible to see what was ahead as the air was even dustier and the temperature dropped.

Lily shivered and Fidal frowned. Although she didn't feel cold, her body was sensitive to changes in temperature because it adapted to it immediately.

"Are we going the right way?" Fidal could no longer stop herself from asking.

"Yes," Lily shivered and rubbed her palms together as she kept walking. "You just yanked me along so no proper plan was made and I'm being forced to recount the way from my memory and what I've heard," Lily said unapologetically.

She had an inkling of regret though. It looked like Fidal didn't get cold and she was the only one shivering and sneezing like a wet dog on a rainy day.

Lily suddenly paused her racing thoughts as goosebumps rose across her skin also causing Fidal to stop.

The quiet slithering sound and the light movement on the dried fallen leaves caused Lily to gulp carefully.

Fidal's ears moved at the sound, her dark eyes and heavy gaze sweeping across lightly.

Suddenly, two strings of transparent liquid shot straight at Lily's eyes. Fidal moved swiftly and pulled Lily behind her causing the liquid to miss her and land on the leaves where she stood previously.

The leaves it landed on spread to other leaves and those in that area melted quickly and turned gooey black. The whole side was also burnt.

Lily's lashes trembled as she turned pale. Her face lost color and her lips became bloodless.

She held on tightly to Fidal's arms as though to reassure herself.

She didn't want to imagine what would have been of her if that stuff landed on her instead.

A black snake shot out from behind the haze and lunged at Fidal's face. Its fangs bared and ready for attack.

Lily screamed and covered her head with her arms reflexively, hiding behind Fidal.

The air became still. She waited but didn't hear any sound. Warily, she opened her fingers carefully and peeked into the space between them.

Unable to see anything, she dropped her hands and the sight made her almost unable to hold back a gag.

The snake was withering on the ground, and its head was swallowing its lower body.

Its fangs weren't retracted so it kept digging and dragging into its skin making crimson red blood spill out.

It choked on its body and blood but the snake didn't look like it had control over its actions.

When the long snake had swallowed half of its body, it spilled its venom over its torn skin.

The sizzling smell of burning skin penetrated the air as the snake melted into a blob of burnt black.

Lily covered her nose and took a step away from Fidal. Horror clouded her eyes at the disgusting scene she's just witnessed.

A light look played on Fidal's features as an untinted madness flashed through her obsidian orbs.

Lily caught the fleeting look as the horror of what had happened settled in.

For the first time, without letting her rationality judge her reasoning, she felt seriously scared of Fidal. She didn't know a thing about her and she felt like she was gambling with her life.

She can easily be killed and she will not be able to fight back. She needed to get away.

Fidal kicked the burnt snake aside, "Shall we?" she asked lightly, her head turning to look at Lily.

Lily trembled and nodded quickly, her head bobbing up and down. She wasn't sure she wouldn't stammer or lose her voice if she tried to speak.

Fidal walked ahead, clearing the leaves away as she moved.

Lily looked at the straight back and walked after it. No matter what, it was better than getting lost. She didn't want to turn into a human blobfish if she encounters another snake.

Fidal pushed aside the stretched branches of a dried tree and a temple came to view.

"We are here," Lily said lowly.

The huge temple stood proudly in the deserted area. It looked run down but it didn't hide its majesty.

Two sitting lions were sculpted on both sides of the tall doors. On the top frame of the door was the drawing of a herd of running stallions and the words " فر سترنگته اند پور " were carved on it.

The hard brown wooden door had holes in them, probably from termites' attack with heat-hardened clay bricks as fence and walls.

Despite that, the exquisiteness of the architecture was not lost as the temple was decorated with hard limestone carvings of gods and goddesses.

Some were in prayer and some had a kind and serene look on their faces.

Lily was already lost to the world as her eyes took in every single detail about the outside of the temple.

Fidal raised a brow at Lily. She had noticed that the stupid human was scared of her after the snake incident but now, it seems like she had loosened her guard.

"Farsi, the language of the Persians," Lily said aloud, "The Persians had a trading channel with the people of the Kainsk Empire. It's no surprise they picked some of their languages. But, what does it mean?" she asked subconsciously.

She looked at Lily and lowered her eyes, Nevermind, she probably didn't know too.

"For strength and power." Fidal said "Everything was done for strength and power, the stronger you are, the more power you had to speak or command obedience" She explained.

Lily looked at Fidal with unmasked surprise while Fidal resisted the urge to laugh angrily upon receiving the look. She wondered if she had always looked dumb in Lily's eyes.

Fidal humped and walked towards the temple.

She pushed the wooden door aside and faint light cast into the dark place.

"I thought you said something was discovered here, how come no one and nothing is securing the area?" Fidal asked as she got the lighter from her pocket and flicked it on.

The little fire provided light for them to see.

" There should be. I'm not sure why there isn't" Lily frowned in confusion as Fidal walked around lighting the wooden torch in the temple.

There was nothing in the temple aside from a couple of drawings and carvings of prayers on the wall. The whole place was dust-covered and the books there were already worn. Placed on the same shelves as the books was a small molded clay pot sealed with wax. The wax covered every part of the pot and sat alone at the top level of the shelf.

Lily walked around, "there's nothing here," she said. All the walls were covered with inscriptions and a huge prayer painting from the early era covered the walls of the altar.

The wax-covered pot caught her eyes and she stood on the tip of her toes to get it.

Carrying the pot, she inspected it carefully. She shook the pot but whatever was inside was light and powdery and the content was not much. She sniffed the pot and her eyes immediately dulled for the moment.

In what felt like a trance, she felt like someone was calling out to her from the pot.

"Smash it" the feathery voice whispered to her ears, "do it, break the pot" it continued.

Lily raised the pot, "Hey, come see this" Fidal interrupted.

Lily's eyes cleared, she shook her head and looked doubtfully at the pot.

She carefully placed the pot back and stepped away from the shelve.

Fidal held the painting on the altar aside exposing a door. The door was sealed, preventing entry.

She raised her leg and kicked the door, smashing it into smithereens.

Heavy dust gushed out and Lily sneezed.

Fidal walked into the room. Unlike the other room, this room had a lot to tell.

On a raised platform stood a four-horned Naraphim with a whip in his hand.

His stand spoke of power and pride.

On a raised wooden table were a local knife and a dirty white cotton scarf. The wooden table looked to be a sacrifice table.

On the walls were writings made with charcoal.

" Every fifth year, twelve of the most beautiful royal blood virgins of Kainsk descent are to be given off to the Lords of the city as the price of a hunt. " Lily read aloud "The circle must not be broken and the sacrifice must continue as long as Kainsk is to reign."

Fidal walked to the other side of the room where more writings were on the wall. The writing was rough and hurried, "The circle is broken. King Abdimà's daughter, Ámāari ran away with her lover. One of the virgins of the hunt is no longer a virgin. The Lords are angry. The end of Kainsk is near." It read.

"The King has sought the book ' Shams al-Ma'arif ' from the Persians to prevent the doom of Kainsk but the gatekeeper tells the King that it is inevitable. The king's daughter is cursed and sealed."

Fidal's pupils dilated after reading the words on the wall. It read " I am one of the few left after the Kainsk bloodbath, the numbers left can be counted. I will die. The ' Shams al-Ma'arif ' has disappeared. The Lords have been restricted in a circle to a place called Grorhur. The grimoire describes it as a place between the living and the half dead."

"They all died." Lily whispered "What's ' Shams al-Ma'arif' " she asked

"It's a grimoire also called the book of the sun of gnosis. It is a book of magic. It talks about magical spells and sorcery and communication with demons. Much of the dark magic of the world came from there. It's is the picatrix of both hemispheres, of the living and the dead." Fidal explained.

"The Naraphims?" Lily asked

"I've heard of Grorhur before and thinking about it, the essence of that place might be the orb," Fidal said and walked forward when she noticed a door knob on the floor.

She crouched down and twisted the knob, pulling it open.

Far under was an oubliette and the floor of the dungeon could hardly be seen from that high up.

"Do you think anything important is down there?" Lily asked from behind Fidal.

"I don't know," Fidal said as she flicked on her lighter.

"Push her." A light voice whispered at Lily's ears. "If you don't, you will never escape. She can't die easily but you can," it said.

Lily rubbed her ears and frowned "do it, don't be a coward." the voice said

"I'll check it out," Fidal said

"NOW!" the voice in Lily's ears commanded.

Her hands twitched and she pushed Fidal down the dark dungeon.

With a last look, she slammed the oubliette door close, clink it to lock, and ran towards the exit of the temple.

While running, she felt like she wasn't in control of her body as she ran to the shelve with the wax pot at the entrance of the temple. Without stopping, she crashed into the shelf and the pot came tumbling down.

It crashed on the floor and broke as the powder inside escaped.

Lily groaned and her eyes cleared. She tried to sit and realized that her kneecap was injured.

The escaped powder took a human form. Bright pink eyes settled on Lily like prey.

Lily's scalp tingled, ' how did this happen? ' she asked herself with no answer to the question.