While the statues stood out to Beth as something unusual she glanced at the others to see if they had any recognition of them. After all it wouldn't be the first time she thought something was mystifying and it turned out to be super common. However, the other two had no recognition in their eyes and their mouths were slightly agape at the sight of them. After all they stood out massively from the surroundings and it wasn't like they were anywhere near civilisation. If somebody built or maintained such a thing they would have to travel days to reach it. That wasn't considering travel time with the materials needed to craft such a thing. Clearly whatever this was wasn’t something Pauline had studied or something that Nate had come across in his exploration of the area around their village. Walking around she quickly found the front of the statue, or three statues as the case turned out to be.

Three young, angelic figures looked out from the statues their eyes seeming to follow Beth wherever she went. The figures were remarkably similar to depictions she’d seen of angels back home, though without the wings. Clearly the look was associated with part of the universal subconscious for celestial beings across existence. They had a look of serenity on their faces Beth had only seen depicted in artwork or on the face of a sleeping baby. All three statues were stood replicating the mountains with two stood next to each other up front and one standing slightly behind the pair. All three stood with their hands outstretched and had small carved plaques on them. They were obviously representations of the three sisters and were carved of the mountain material having assuredly been carted all the way from them. From the slight difference in rock colour Beth surmised that each statue was made of a slightly different rock.

The idea that they had carted not just the large amount of rock all this way but that they had carted three lots of rock from each mountain was a terrifying idea. Matching the expectations of the sisters the front two, Wisdonna and Platilda were almost identical despite the story Beth heard having them as non-identical twins while Naia at the back looked older than the others and though clearly related there was a noticeable difference. Again a departure from the story Beth heard where Naia was the youngest.

Before further investigating the plaques on the statues and the objects one of the sisters appeared to be holding she turned to the others who were similarly scrutinising the statues.

“Is this a common thing? We haven’t come across any yet but it’s not like I’ve been around all that long. Have we been lucky to find this one or unlucky to not find hundreds?”

Pauline was flicking through her small notebook to find a blank page and was furiously scribbling so Beth turned to Nate.

“Well I’ve never seen one before in the wild but I think I’ve heard mention of something similar. It’s a shrine to the goddesses. We do have something similar back home but it’s more abstract in it’s interpretation. This one has something different about it though. You know what I mean?”

Nate was right the statues were cold to the touch like the mountain but more so than that the seemed to radiate coldness far further than it seemed like they should have giving the whole clearing a slightly more cool environment. Further there was a sense of serenity and peace that Beth felt while in their presence. As though they were safe from the dangers of the world while they were there.

Beth took a step closer, the front two statues had something in their cupped hands. The left statue had a small amount of water pooled within it. Crystal clear water that was bubbling slightly as though air was flowing through it. In the hands of the rightmost statue were 3 small balls that had brightly coloured flecks in them. The kind of thing that would look extremely alarming if found in nature on a mushroom or animal. The last statue was empty handed though the air just above the hands of it seemed distorted as though an area of extreme heat. When Beth perhaps foolishly stuck her hand, slowly, into the area she felt no discernable change however.

While Beth was inspecting Pauline seemed to be frantically taking a rubbing of the plaques with a small piece of charcoal having sketched them out seemingly on the opposite page. Nate appeared to no longer be concentration on the statues and instead seemed to be chewing something. Beth went to begin looking at the plaques Pauline wasn’t taking a rubbing of when her brain caught up with itself. Nate was chewing something, where had he found something to eat in horror she looked towards the statue that held the small brightly coloured balls and sure enough only two remained. She quickly ran over to him to start to hit him on the back to get him to spit it out but he dodged away and continued to chew like a dog that had got its hands on something it knew it shouldn’t. Beth knew she wouldn’t be able to stop him and turned around back to the statues to see to her horror that the number of small balls was down to one and Pauline seemed to be similarly chewing with a happy look on her face.

The world having seemingly gone mad Beth knew there was nothing she could do about it. Though she was sure she could wrestle the food away from Pauline Nate had already swallowed and further they trusted these sisters or goddesses or whatever they were rather implicitly and Beth was willing to trust them. Though she wasn't going to touch the stuff herself.

Having made her peace with it she decided to read the plaques she hadn’t yet got around to. Seemingly she was missing something. She started on Platilda’s given that seemed to be causing her the most issues.

‘A treat for those following in our footsteps. Like all gifts we receive you must trust those giving it are doing so with your best interest at heart. - Platilda’

Despite seeing the others had obviously committed themselves to the treats and had yet to drop dead Beth remained dubious of the offering. She hadn’t been raised believing in these goddesses and while it was clear nothing dangerous was occurring she didn’t know the affect the so called treats would have on her. As such she wasn’t willing to take the risk despite the urging of the others. Urging that remained vague as to exactly why she should commit to the treats. Maybe it was left over paranoia from the mountain but Beth was sure she didn’t want anything to do with the small nibbles and she would keep an eye on the other two to ensure it didn’t have any unexpected effects on them. Not that there were exactly any expected effects.

Either way she had survived this long without the help from the so-called goddesses and that wasn’t about to change. None-the-less she read the plaques on the other two statues. The other two appeared to have finished eating and were drinking directly from the statues cupped hands, the water within seemingly never running out. Something again she chose to ignore and they had clearly already very much committed to the risks inherent in trusting the statues.

‘Drink all who follow in our footsteps. Take all you need and more for who knows when you will next have the option. - Wisdonna’

The back statue didn’t have anything in it’s hands but did have a plaque none-the-less.

‘Let both those who are following in our footsteps and those who have already travelled in them give what they can. For the weight of that which isn’t needed can overwhelm. - Naia’

Reading this Beth couldn’t help but scoff a little. From the story she heard Naia was the cause for all the problems held by the three sisters. If she was honest Beth wasn’t fully clear why she was treated with revery but Beth certainly wasn’t going to give anything up for her. Anyway, she hadn’t partaken in the gifts so saw no reason to pay the associated cost. Instead she picked her bag back up from where she had temporarily placed it down and got ready to move. An action not replicated by the other two. Instead they were rummaging within their packs.

Nate moved first having pulled out his reserve knife. A slightly shorter but no less useful blade. A tool that having would fundamentally increase their chances of success. Nate didn’t even hesitate before placing it in the outstretched hands. At first nothing seemed to happen but then the metal of the blade began to bubble as the trio watched. The bubbling increased until the whole blade knife was bubbling and spitting, though all remained within the statues hands. Once the blade had fully turned into a silvery liquid it it began to drain from the hands as though through a small hole. All in all the process took just under a minute and there was no evidence or the knife or any affect of the sacrifice. This didn’t stop Pauline from stepping forward and ignoring Beth’s shouting for her to reconsider she placed a large bag of food into the hands of the statue. Including the last of the meat from the mountains that had naturally dried to form a kind of jerky. Much like the knife the bag began to bubble and spit. It then deflated like a popped balloon collapsing in on itself before turning completely to liquid and again fading away. Beth tried not to groan and instead settled for rolling her eyes at the sacrifices. Sacrifices she wasn’t confident they could afford. Having made it clear to the others she wasn’t going to donate herself they quickly grabbed their bags and began to climb up ready to continue their journey. Hopefully with a few less distractions.