I made way across the land bridge, heading for the pavilion. I kept a close eye on the lake, hoping that the sea serpent we just killed did not have a friend or something, they were pack creatures anyway, and where there's one, there's bound to be another.
But I'm not really sure about that either, the sea serpents were also very territorial, even to themselves. And in a lake as small as this, it's quite possible that the dead sea serpent was the only one living in it. Besides with the huge amount of Lightening coursing through the water, ever other living thing in this lake would have died.
But like I said, the sea serpents were territorial, which was why it was he only dead creature in the lake, there weren't even fishes in it. I put the entire ordeal in the back of my mind and got into the pavilion. I wasted no time in placing my hands on the stone table I had previously seen. And with that, came a repeat of what happened in the first temple.
The stone table reacted to my touch, creating a massive pillar of light that shot into the sky, clearing the clouds above our heads, and exposing the vast cosmos to the eyes of everyone in the realm. But along with this beam of light, came the soul searing pain I had been forced to endure before, and this time it was bloody worse.
I still couldn't pass out, having no choice but to experience each and every second of that torture, helpless to my plight and cut off from an kind of help. I felt like someone had shoved my mouth open, and dumped a bucket of scalding hot lava into it, not caring for whatever consequences might arise from it.
It burned like nothing I've felt before, I know said the pain last time was insane, and at the pinnacle of any sort of pain I've had to experience, but this was worse, painful beyond compare and mind breaking to the extreme. I never got numb to the pain, feeling every piece of it as the seconds seemed stretch like the hours of a prehistoric age, that would never come to an end.
And then just like that everything was over, and I couldn't make sense of it because I was laid out flat on the ground of the pavilion, breathing deeply as my entire body was drenched in sweat and the pain slowly faded away.
Soren ran over, standing over me as the stone table disintegrated into white dust and fell over the black tattoo of a snake on my forearm. The form of the snake suddenly developed ridged above it's head with tiny horns poking out of it. It's black form now had large streaks of white stretched across it's entire body, and it looked even more alive than I expected it to be.
It took me almost an hour before I was able to drag myself up and walk off the pavilion. By this point, the day seemed to have come to an end as dusk slowly creeped up the edges of the sky and horizon. There really was no warning, as the sky just went suddenly dim, and everything was plunged into darkness in mere moments, not even given anyone the time to react.
And that's when the entirety of the realm lit up brightly, and in such a beautiful way that I had to forget about my pain and discomfort to admire the sight in front of me. The lake began to glow a light blue, giving off a rather serenity luster and atmosphere. The trees became bioluminescent, along with the insects, and any other sort of animal that walked through the forest and past us. Heck even Bobo was glowing a vibrant green, as his surroundings were made bright by the light from his body.
I couldn't understand why it was like this, but it really was beyond beautiful. It was like every living thing, animal, plant, element and even dragons were fighting the encroaching darkness in their own unique way, and that was by letting the light within them shine. It sounded cheesy, but unlike the vampires who just wallowed in the darkness, the dragons actually fought against, making this place different than what it was probably expected to be.
Of course the vampires were victims of an entirely different and painful scenario, and there was not many opportunities to fight against their circumstances, or evolve in such a way that the darkness could not hold them or their life sway, by it's cold and emptiness. It was amazing.
With the entire realm lit up, our path forward was still as clear as it was during the day time. And relying mostly on my, feelings and connections to the soul dragon, we slowly and surely made our way towards the third temple. But one thing that really worried me, was the fact that I've not seen any other dragon apart from Bobo ever since we got here, and I asked him about it.
"Well that's because they're not letting you see them. We're being followed by no less than two hundred individual dragons who have made this forest their home. I told them not to interfere, and to just let you complete your quest. I believe that you have everything you need, as our experiences so far has told me that this is a journey you have to make on your own. I'm only here to accompany you, and unless it's absolutely necessary, we won't interfere in anything you have to do. And we'll keep you safe, because quite frankly not every dragon in the realm are eager about leaving this place."
I was surprised by this revelation, but somehow I was not too surprised by it. Dragons were eccentric, and their way of thought completely different from any other creature. And one thing they could do really well, was read the true meaning of whatever they experience. Of course it's not as if I've become an expert in dragons, but they're supposed to be wisest of them all, so no pressure.
The third temple was actually just as easy to fin as the first. It was another clearing in the forest, filled with dilapidated and broken statues, pillars, and blocks. From what I could see this place was more like a palace than temple, but until it was rebuilt, I couldn't exactly tell what it looked like during it's glory days.
This time I wasn't looking for a stone table or a pillar, but rather a cube floating two meters off the ground. It stood there, alone and solitary right In the center of the ruined palace, and to be honest I didn't want to touch it. This was my halfway mark, but so far I've experienced a shit ton of pain to get here, and I was not ready to experience it again.
I had this scary thought and feeling that, the pain would only get worse from one temple to another, and it terrified me. When I touched the others, I could do nothing, I was completely unable to muster up any sort of defense as every ability in my arsenal seem to fly away, and I was nothing but an ordinary person under the onslaught of that pain. But I don't think I could back out of this either way.
"Let's just get this over with." I said to no one in particular as I approached the cube.
I placed my hands on it again, and another pillar of light flew up in the air. At almost the same time, I could feel a pillar of fire, rising up towards the north, burning in tandem to my glowing light. I had just a second of clarity to understand that Baeki had found her second temple, and then the pain washed over me again.
This time I couldn't remain standing as my legs gave way from under my hands were stuck fast to the cube, so I wad left hanging there, being held up by the device responsible for my pain. I could feel my body shaking, my heart pounding, and hear the rush of my blood from within my veins.
There was no thought for me, just the pain. My body shook and tested wildly on the ground, hoping for some sort of release, any kind at all. But none was forthcoming, at least not for another five minutes. And just as it came, the pain went away, it was just unfortunate that my body and mind still remembered the ordeal and couldn't act to my commands.
Soren had to come carry me himself on my back, as I opens my eyes to look around at my changed surroundings. This building was big enough for a dragon twenty times the size of Bobo to walk in and be relaxed. It was huge, and comparing it's size to fifty Olympic grade stadiums might be a little bit of an understatement. This was place build to accommodate dragons, and obviously more than one if the size is to be taken into consideration. This place was a library.
Rows and rows of bookcases filled my sight, and within those bookcases were polished jade like stones of varying colors. And there were millions and millions of them around. This was the collective knowledge of dragons over countless millennia, and based on the numerous roars I was hearing outside, the dragons seemed to be happy to see this place.
Soren made his way to a corner of the library, with Soren in tow, and me lying helpless and weak on his back. I took a look at the tattoo on my hands, and I was surprised to see that the serpent had filled out, and had grown legs, four of them. It was already obvious that this was not a tattoo of a serpent, but of a dragon. And with every temple I go to, the tattoo becomes more and more complete, and even more life like. At this point I think I could even see the light refracting of its white and black scales.
"You have done a great service to the Dragons your Majesty. You've returned to us our inheritance, the legacies of our ancestors, and given us a chance to be who we're always meant to be. We will forever be grateful and in your debt, please rest easy, we will protect you."
"He's right master, sleep." Soren said to me, as he placed me on the ground, using his body to support mine.
And it wasn't until they both told me to rest that I realized how exhausted I was at that moment. And not just from my body, but mentally too. It was a tiredness that went deep, all the way to the depths of my soul. And so I took their advice, and just slept.