119. High Temple of Jaghi

119. High Temple of Jaghi

Adam shuddered as he awoke, feeling the hot rays of the sun seep through the window and onto his body. He sat up, looking to find Jurot on his bed, carving away at a block of wood.

“You have finally awoken,” Jurot said.

“Don’t tell me I’ve been out for days.”

“No,” Jurot said.

“Weeks?”

“It is later afternoon,” Jurot said.

“The same day?”

“Yes.”

“Oh,” Adam said, a little disappointed. “I thought this was going to be the time I rest up for weeks to heal up everything because I did something cool...”Alll latest novels at novelhall.com

Jurot stared at him for a moment before returning back to his wood. “You were hurt quite bad.”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t realise making potions could almost kill you.”

“No,” Adam said. “It wasn’t making potions that killed me, it was me being stupid.”

Jurot nodded his head, understanding the sentiment. “Will you continue to be stupid?”

“Probably.”

“Even if it kills you?”

“A man is free to do as he pleases as long as he doesn’t hurt others.”

“Lanarot will be hurt if you die.”

Adam’s eyes fell to Jurot’s face, who was staring at the wooden block. “So, you have found my weakness.”

“It is well known to all of us,” he said.

Adam side. “Sometimes, Jurot, you say the smartest things.”

“Even a broken watch is right twice a day,” Jurot said.

Adam smiled.

Once he had filled his stomach with lunch, he caught Elowen staring at him, and she motioned with her head for him to follow.

“Oh my,” Adam said, looking down at the tiny baby wrapped in thick cloth. Her skin was the colour of the ocean, with a pattern of silver around her entire face. There were small gills at her neck and her fingers were slightly webbed, but otherwise she looked like a normal baby girl.

She smiled, revealing her pointed, shark like teeth.

‘Okay, maybe not like a normal girl?’ Adam thought.

She cooed and giggled as she stared up at him.

“Who is this little adorable girl?” Adam asked, holding out his finger.

The Princess grabbed his finger, her tiny hand gripping it tight. She noticed his pointed ears, and reached up at them with her webbed hands.

“This is Princess Mina’tu’rea’wyz’wyl,” Elowen said.

“Can I just call her Princess Mina?” Adam asked, already forgetting most of the name.

Elowen bowed her head.

“Are you feeling better now my little Princess?” Adam asked. “Oh my, look at how lively and happy you are.”

“She was unable to act much due to her condition,” Elowen said, staring at the Princess. “The curse had made it so that she was unable to move or speak for the entire year.”

“How did she eat?” Adam asked.

“She was able to consume food once a month, and only when we were in absolute safety,” Elowen said.

Adam frowned, before staring down at the girl, who was nibbling on his finger gently. “Who did this to her?”

Elowen and Redboulder exchanged a glance. “You’ve helped us so much, but we are unable to tell you that. There are some private matters.”

Adam nodded his head slowly. “Alright,” he said.

“Adam?” Jurot called out.

“Yes?”

“Previously you told me that you did not like to kill,” he said.

“I don’t.”

“Why did you kill Vandra?”

“Vandra?” Adam thought. “She’s a Dragon.”

“Yes,” he said, staring at Adam expectantly again.

“I think, because she’s a Dragon and so much more powerful than us, and that she was trying to kill a bunch of people trying to save a little baby, it was fine to kill her.” Adam recalled how many sentient creatures he had killed thus far. It hadn’t been many, though most of them had been full of evil like that thing’s progeny.

“Okay,” Jurot said.

Omen: 2, 11

Adam stared at the temple within Jaghi. “This is a temple?”

It wasn’t just big, or huge, it was unbelievably titanic. He had thought that it was large, and that it would end a few feet into the mountain side, but it continued deeper within.

The temple was made of small white bricks lain together into a large dome, with windows made of colourful glass.

There were ten statues outside, each of some kind of warrior, which flanked on either side of the entrance, which was a large wooden door made of black wood.

As he stepped inside, he saw just how deep the temple truly was, with a number of pillars spaced evenly throughout, which assisted in keeping the ceiling up from crashing down on the thousands of believers.

Adam looked out to the end of the room, where the temple’s main room stopped, about five hundred steps away, only to have three exits which were covered by long strips of cloths people could move aside to enter the next area.

Adam gathered that the temple ran even deeper, through those cloths, as he didn’t note Sozain’s iconography here, nor most of the Gods he knew about.

There was the iconography of the God of Crafts, Goddess of Stonework, Goddess of War, the Goddess of Life, and the Goddess of Balance engraved into the stone within the room. There was a statue of each, one in each corner, with the Goddess of Balance’s statue in the centre, where it acted like a pillar to keep the ceiling up.

“Damn,” Adam whispered, causing a few passer bys to glare at him. “Sorry.”

The Half Elf stepped further inside, feeling the raw magical energy which was seeped within the temple.

He paused, shuddering.

There were eyes of unseen beings weighing down on his shoulders.

He approached one statue in particular, which was of a beautiful woman, who held onto a blade which had been planted into the base of the statue. The blade was large, and wasn’t made of stone, but was a real blade, made of a grey and red gem, one which only a Giant, or an Iyrman, could swing properly.

In front of the statue was a dark skinned man, which most kept away from, praying quietly as he knelt before the statue.

“Oof,” Adam grunted, taking a knee beside Dunes, before bowing his head before Arya’s statue. “It’s a shame they didn’t manage to carve your likeness properly, but it’ll do.”

Dunes finished the current prayer and opened an eye. “I didn’t expect to see you, Adam.”

“Good,” Adam said. “It means I’m not easy to figure out. That means I can surprise my enemies in battle.” Adam winked.

Dunes smiled. “Have you come to pray to the good Lady?”

“Lady Arya and Lady Elaveil, yes,” Adam said. “I thought I should pay my respects to the pair, since I haven’t yet. Though, I don’t see Lord Sozain’s statue.”

“His statue is further in,” Dunes said.

“How deep does this temple go anyway?” Adam asked, looking towards the end of the room.

“There are another three rooms this large further in,” Dunes said.

Adam whistled. “Damn.”

Dunes narrowed his eyes towards the cursing Half Elf.

“Sorry.”

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Mission complete! Princess is safe!

Jaghi as in Jag-high by the way.

I really like the next few chapters for no reason in particular.

Thanks to all the new Patrons and the random 5*s I've been getting recently. It's been filling me with so much motivation to keep writing. I haven't been feeling too well recently so it's been helping a lot!