Chapter 50: Temple Welcome

Trint locked eyes with the guard, and at that moment, he decided to continue down this path rather than fight. The guards approached, and two quickly flanked him.

“What brings you to the temple?”

“I seek to learn,” Trint offered.

“Then you have come to the right place,” The guard affirmed. “Are you a follower or a seeker?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Trint admitted.

“Uncover your right hand,” The guard instructed.

Trint reluctantly unwound the wrappings and revealed his hand palm up.

The speaking guard stepped back while the others nearly dropped their weapons.

“What? How do you have a human hand and a temple symbol on your palm?” The guard demanded an answer.

“What do you mean temple symbol?” Trint had an idea his symbol would be connected, but his humanity clearly indicated he was not a typical temple visitor.

The guards grabbed Trint by the arms and hauled him out of line and into the temple network of corridors. They brought him to a room with several guards and a priest in fine robes.

“Why have you brought this begar into my office before a service?” The priest addressed the guards with nasal condescension.

“Chief Priest, please, we need you to take a look at this,” The lead guard informed with great deference. Bowing and averting his eyes.

The other guards held up Trint while the lead guard grabbed his unwrapped hand, palm facing the priest.

“I see; please set him down in a chair.” The guards followed the instructions and held Trint down by the shoulders. Trint allowed the whole thing to play out, hoping he would get answers. Then the priest waved at his guard. Two others approached Trint and unwrapped his head, confirming his humanity to all present.

“So stem’r how did you get here? And why do you bear the mark of our sister temple in the Atlas Citadel?” The priest inquired.

“I apologize, but I don’t know about the connection to the symbol. But I will agree to answer what questions I can,” Trint complied.

“I think you will answer any question we ask. But I don’t trust the system or your people much since they only want to slaughter us. But you are the first I’ve been able to speak with. Tell me, who are you?”

Trint directed his system to reveal his title of Sovereign: Creator/Keeper/Governor.

“No! This can’t be true. How do you have a title and one of Sovereign? This is blasphemy! You, our Sovereign? The priest’s face flashed disgust and doubt. “This goes against everything we expected. Why would a savior be from the system? Our traditions say nothing of the sort.”

“Your holiness,” The lead guard interjected, “We heard rumors of a Sovereign in the system. Have you not heard of the one who claimed to have met a Sovereign in a trial?”

“Don’t put hope in rumors,” The chief priest challenged. “Especially any that contradict my teaching and that of the council.

“I can’t explain everything, but I am truly a Sovereign,” Trint countered. “I came here looking for answers, and I need to return to the system and my family. Will you help me?”

“That…I…” The priest was lost for words. Gathering his thoughts for a moment, “Cover him in a robe and guide him to a suite. Keep two guards with him at all times. I will proceed with our service for our people. While I’m gone, send word to our council and tell them we will meet tonight after the final service.”

“Yes, Chief Priest.” The guards chimed in unison.

Trint was promptly covered in a guard’s tunic. Then taken by force to a lovely room in the interior of the Pyramid compounds. There were underground networks connecting the buildings. After all the stairs and walking, there was no way that he was still in that monolithic pyramid. It was incredibly vast, but they had covered at least a mile dragging him along.

Trint was brought to an above-ground complex and taken to what he thought resembled a second-story apartment. He was allowed to move around the apartment, and food was set out for him. He hadn’t planned to be gone long, so he tried to send a system message to Jester.

Jester, I am at the Sovereign Sect temple. I don’t know how long I will be tied up here. Use the funds I gave you to get food and any supplies you need. But be careful and stay safe.

The return message was quick to arrive.

Trint, you should be careful. I don’t know what they will want with you, and you might be taken, prisoner. Let us know if things change. We will be fine staying close to the inn.

Trint felt a little better knowing that Jester and Cajan wouldn’t be worried. He knew from the Chief Priest that he was in for a wait with the council meeting in the night. Trint decided to take a nap.

‘You mind keeping a lookout?’ Trint asked Pneuma.

‘You are welcome to rest. I will alert you if the guards act against you or if more people arrive.’

‘You better wake up,’ Pneuma told him. “There is a small group approaching your suite.’

‘Anything else happen?’

‘Nope, but four guards are coming,’ Pneuma informed. ‘None look like priests.’

The guards didn’t immediately open the door but asked for a password to enter. The verbal phrase was confirmed, and four new guards entered. As they entered, one approached Trint as the other three waited inside the door. Trint’s face was still uncovered.

“May I see your hand?” The approaching guard asked; his armor appeared more ornate and well cared for, but there were obvious signs of usage, with minor nicks and cuts from training or battle.

“You can’t just interrogate him,” the original guard said. “The priest council is meeting soon to determine what the temple will do next. Even your Sovereign Guard need to wait for their orders.”

“That’s enough,” The Sovereign guard in front of Trint lifted his hand over his shoulder and made a fist. The three who came with him quickly responded and subdued the other original two guards with a choke hold around each neck and the third guard with a knife in front of their faces.

They were silent and didn’t resist with blades inches from their eyes. With his fist raised, the lead guard turned to the now kneeling and bound original guards.

“Will you two swear a system contract to protect this Sovereign with your life? You get one chance. Yell or fight back, and you will not leave this room,” he pointed to the one on his right.

“I will never betray the priesthood you….”

“That’s enough,” Another quick gesture, and that guard was executed with a blade through his eye. The guard holding him never moved during the execution. Until his captive was dead. Then he lowered the body to the ground and wiped his forearms free of the blood spilled on him.

“Now is your only chance. Will you swear? Nod yes, or join him,”

The guard eagerly nodded.

“Bind him with a contract,” the leader turned to Trint. “Forgive the intrusion, Sovereign. I am Commander of the Sovereign Guard. Call me Cai. We only have a short time before we might be discovered.” Kneeling before Trint, he said, “I swear by the system, I mean you no harm and will protect you with my life and serve you any way you see fit.”

Immediately the system acknowledged the system contract.

“Like I said, we don’t have time to stick around,” Reaching into a storage device, Cai pulled out a cloak and boots. The boots and the cloak matched the style of the guards.

“Put these on, and we will get you out of here. The priests will not side in favor of you. Some would be open to learning more and likely show they are loyal to you as Sovereign, but most are happy with their place and power. They will likely decide to kill you and let the system sort you out.”

“If I go, where will you take me?” Trint asked.

“There is a network of chambers below the pyramid, and I think there is something that you need to see. The chambers are guarded by the Sovereign guard, who are loyal to me and have sworn to protect the Sovereign. They can be trusted, and I vouch for all of them.”

“I will choose to take your offer on faith. Don’t prove me wrong,” Trint challenged. “Lead the way.”

They left the original guard to deal with his dead partner’s body. Trint followed them as they took a much different set of corridors that circled back in the general direction of the pyramid. But much of their travel took them downstairs deeper underground. They came to a large and ornate hallway. There were symbols Trint recognized on the walls, and Trint knew them from his personal Spirit Plane. They came to a dead-end chamber with a podium in front of a barren and dust-filled pool that took up the second half of the room. The podium was just at the edge of the empty pool. It was like a plaque describing something in the pool. It reminded trint of a mall fountain with coins at the bottom and maybe some fish swimming around.

“Sovereign, try placing your hand on the top,” Cai pointed to the podium.

Trint approached and saw that the top showed the same symbol as his hand.

“What is this? I thought the priest said this symbol was the same as the Atlas Citadel. Why is it here too?” Trint’ considered,’ Was the priest lying to me?’

“The temple in Atlas features your mark but can be found here too. The temple here predominately shows another symbol, and this one matches your palm. I was hoping you would know what to do, and we don’t know what it does.”

“So Joppa and Atlas have temples but have a different symbol?” The guard nodded. “And no one can read or understand the language carved on the walls?” Trint asked

“That is true; our scholars have theories, but no one has been able to make anything more than a guess, and those don’t seem to lead anywhere. The priests claim only they can understand them. Please try placing your hand with the mark on the podium.”

Trint was now very curious if this would do anything. He stepped to the left of the podium and placed his right-hand palm down on the top, aligning the symbols.

Trint immediately felt a connection. He sensed his Spirit flowing through the circuits inside him, and the link felt like a stream flowing through a waterwheel. He could discern that his Spirit was moving mechanisms. Powering them and activating something big. Like plugging into a power source, Trint felt a massive surge of Spirit enter him. Like the connection was now funneling an abundance of Spirit into him.

For several miles around the temple, the drawing of Spirit felt like a wind flowing towards the temple. The Spirit became so dense and thick that a cloud formed. It swirled around the top, was drawn to the top of the pyramid, and then pulled into the capstone, flooding the entire pyramid. The drawing and disappearance of the cloud happened in about 15 seconds, so not everyone in the area saw it, but they felt the change. Now the entire pyramid was glowing.

Trint felt the connection shift. He removed his hand. As he did, the fountain filled with liquid Spirit, and some of the Spirit solidified to form 5 stepping stones across the now swirling fluid. Trint didn’t know for sure, but it seemed he should take a step of faith out onto the steps.

He looked to the guards, who showed excitement instead of their frozen stoicism from before. Trint stepped up on the ledge and onto the first stepping stone. As he did, the wall changed from stone to shimmering white Spirit. It was similar to the entrance to an instance.

Trint didn’t wait for the guards and walked through. He appeared in a room with no doors, but there were pools around the room’s exterior filled with Spirit. The entire exterior pool gave off a golden-bright glow. Trint surveyed the room and found similar symbols to his Spirit Plane cage in the room. On the center of the floor was an enlarged image of the marks on his palm. The raised stone, an inch high, showed the interlocked circles with the single triangle corners ending in the center of each circle. Then the octagon framed the outside of the rings.

Trint walked to the center of the diagram on the floor, and it was about half the size of the 40-yard square room. As Trint was walking, the four guards appeared in the room where Trint had first arrived. They looked around in wonder and huddled closer to Trint in the center of the room with looks of nervous excitement.

As Trint reached the exact center of the floor, the pools on the outside quickly overflowed their rims, and the Spirit flooded the room. The Spirit only came up to the outside of the hexagon on the floor and rose up. The guards quickly stepped out of the overflowing liquid Spirit and were safely in the dry center.

Trint noticed that the Spirit began taking on the same shape as his internal view of the cage surrounding his body. The water covered his nearly spherical cage, and then a system message appeared to Trint.