A Cloak of Night

Chapter 128

"Mistress," Dawn started, only to fall silent. She'd expected something along the lines of the other temples. Buildings carved into the stone of the valley and heavily decorated. What she found was something else entirely.

Intricate arches connected columns of stone. On both were carved the stories of Laminal and her mate, the triple moon god Dalshan. They, in turn, formed an intricate pattern, one of the sacred ones from the few writings Dawn had ever been allowed to see.

Mysteries, scrolls, and things like that weren't just sacred. They were precious and always guarded. Here they were woven into the structure of everything, freely seen but kept secret from the uninitiated.

"Hm?" 42 hummed.

Dawn didn't say anything as she looked up. Night, secrets, chaos, all of those were aspects of Laminal, but she was also the mother of the stars. Above them, hanging in the air were lines of gold and words. As the stars moved through the seasons, they could be named, and constellations created.

"How?" Dawn asked as she gazed upward. It wasn't a completed work, but it was ideal in many ways.

"Gold embedded in the glass. I marked out a few key stars, but everything can be edited later," 42 replied.

"Glass?" Dawn parroted back. She'd thought she was looking up at the unobstructed night sky. That perhaps the gold lines were an illusion.

42 didn't so much as gesture, and a glass section came down from above. It was a quarter dome in shape and water clear. Dawn knew her Mistress could make things well beyond the ability of mortal artisans but had never considered how it could be used in depth. Her prior masters had also shaped the world to suit them, just never so intricately. Seeing the thick bubble-free glass, she wondered what else 42 might be capable of.

"Want to look around a while longer or head to the first floor?" 42 asked.

"This isn't the only level?" Dawn asked, looking around. From what she could see, the temple was at ground level.

"I thought it would be a little boring for a goddess of secrets temple not to have a couple of surprises," 42 said and laughed. She gestured at one of the archways, one featuring a stone carving rather than empty. Dawn examined it and, after a few minutes, understood the trick. 42 has installed a dungeon puzzle in the temple.

A teleportation circle glowed to life on the floor when the puzzle was solved. Stepping onto it, Dawn found herself inside a large chamber with nothing but chalk on the floor. 42 was only a moment behind her in appearing.

"This part isn't finished because I was eventually going to consult you about it. I just got carried away with the topside part," 42 explained.

"We’re under the glass temple?" Dawn asked. She got a nod from 42 in reply.

"Yeah. I was thinking of setting up a maze here. One with chambers that connect to various parts in the temple like the one you used," 42 explained, gesturing to the chalk lines. "So if you know what you're doing, you can take shortcuts to some parts. If you don't, though, kind of a mini-dungeon to keep intruders out."

Dawn nodded, not in agreement but with simple acknowledgment. She'd expected a few statues and maybe some of the odd books 42 made sometimes. Copies of the system's encyclopedia entries as she'd named them.

"There was almost nothing about how the servants of Laminel themselves lived. That gave me a kind of wandering order impression, so I thought a monastery setup wouldn't be appropriate," 42 continued.

"Tell me if I'm wrong, but I thought a couple of chambers for the temple's keeper and some acolytes and the odd wandering member or pilgrim would probably do the job," 42 said, rambling a bit. Dawn realized that she hadn't spoken in some time. She'd been absorbing that she was being spoken to, but that was all.

"Just a temple keeper and a few acolytes would be more than enough. Others can stay in the valley or sleep on the floor. The ones where I was from were just stone altars in fields, and we'd camp by them," Dawn explained. They'd also bury any valuables in stone vaults sealed with wax to try and keep them safe. Of course, it didn't always work, but they tried and usually could salvage things enough to make copies if worse came to worst.

The high priestesses had been the ones who tended the altars and vaults, most often alone but occasionally with an apprentice. Dawn had wandered between such places in the company of an elder sister once she was taken from her mother. The road had been hard, and they'd sold their services to others as much to survive as to honor Laminal.

"How will people come here?" Dawn asked. Laminal was respected as a goddess mainly because it was known that she would retaliate fiercely against those who harassed her clergy. That did not, however, endear her to many. It was why her worship was done in the wilds, away from any village or town—respected but unwelcomed.

"Follow me," 42 said, sounding excited. She seemed to swim through the air. Her dark form slipped between and combined with the shadows around them in hypnotic ways as she led Dawn to an archway. Once she stepped through, Dawn found herself on a small terrace just off the side of a staircase cut into the mountain's stone. Looking back toward the arch, she found it gone, nothing but rough stone greeting her.

"As I said, I can't make it boring. The stairs start in the valley and lead up to the glass temple. There are a couple of other rest stops like this on the way up," 42 explained. She led Dawn up the stairs, which would take a mortal a long while to climb. Her Mistress moved them to the top, so Dawn was treated to a clear view of the valley below.

"I'll need to mess with it, but I was thinking about making it a full day's walk to get up here. Like if you start at sunrise, you'll reach it at sunset, for effect," 42 explained.

Dawn could picture it, supplicants and the curious alike beginning the ascent. It would be relatively comfortable. The stairs would never be narrow or steep. 42 wouldn't even think to make something that wasn't a trap uncomfortable on purpose. Despite its comfort, it would be a long journey. The only real reward at its end would be the satisfaction of one's curiosity.

"I'm going to spend the night here and pray for my goddess's guidance," Dawn said after a few moments.

"Hope she likes it," 42 said, sounding nervous.

A Goddess forced into the fields not enjoying such a gift was absurd, but Dawn understood 42 was sincere. She took her strange and slightly dense Mistress into a shoulder hug.