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Image removed. Please read our art usage policy. Thank you!In a rural country, surrounded by fields both of green and brown, both wild and cultivated, sat a humble temple. Unlike most of the structures around it, someone had taken the effort and expense to cart in the shaped and blocked stone and marble necessary to give a decently somber and artistic exterior to the mostly circular building. Even a few authentic looking ten foot stone columns had been scrounged from somewhere to hold up the peaked roof of the covered patio. A couple of heavy oaken doors were currently opened to welcome what passers-by might wish to stop in for a moment of contemplation or prayer. They were decorated with carved scenes of a benevolent and nature-themed spirit of light spreading life and healing. A squat rectangular brick structure jutted off from one corner large enough for a few rooms used by the temple's caretakers.
The main temple area inside was not large by the standards of such buildings, but it was tastefully built with a marble floor and more columns around its perimeter. Three stained glass windows, together with the doorway, sat at the major compass points of the room and let in a gentle light to the otherwise cool and shaded space. There were a few wooden benches close to the end opposite the doors, in front of a small dais.
In front of the windows to the sides sat a couple of statues of deities, but the conspicuous shelf in front of the last window behind the dais sat empty. It was before this vacancy, with his back turned to the door, that the temple's primary caretaker stood in silence. Viewed from behind and covered in his favorite gray robe as he was, the man's age was not evident – only his sturdy frame and stiff posture.
Yet he had been feeling it of late, his age that is. It was not so much the occasional aches and pains which were not there twenty or even ten years before. It was more a subtle weight that he felt inside of him, a burden that loomed over even his most casual thoughts which he couldn't quite put his finger on.
Kavik frowned as the sun's rays, washed to beautiful colors by the stained glass before him, shifted and played across his weathered face.
Every day it gets harder to ignore, he thought to himself.
There are fewer years ahead than there are behind, I know this. When I pass from this life, what will I have given? This temple? Every coin I gained from my misspent youth I put towards this place and the people it helps, and every year since then I have given to those same people, trying to pass on what I have learned; trying my hardest to teach them what I have failed to master: The teachings of Gods whose beauty and light could save this world. Could save us all from ourselves. Why does it not feel like enough?"Can I take your silence as a prayer, or are you finally getting bored with this peasant life?"It was not in his nature to be easily startled, though Kavik did feel the hairs on his neck stand on end as he recognized the voice.
"Barnet," he said in a neutral voice.
"I did not expect to see you again." He turned to see a face that looked even older than his own on a bent figure of a man.
Distinctive violet eyes shone brightly on the otherwise haggard looking face, and a smile lifted the sides of the man's gray beard – but there was no warmth in either of them.
"Come now old friend," the man spoke in a low voice which was still strong.
"You may have spurned me but I have never forgotten you... Tell me, how is this mundane life treating you? My body seems to have aged far worse than your own yet I sense you have the heavier spirit. Perhaps it is the perfect time for my visit! Let us sit, and remember the old times eh?"Kavik didn't return the smile though he did, after some hesitation, come and sit beside the man on one of the benches.
"Tell me," Barnet continued,
"what's it like? Settling down, tending to the simple folk as the years slowly pass you by... Is it all you hoped it would be?"Kavik frowned again. Was he ever like this man, were they once really friends? Had the years changed him that much or had his 'friend' changed for the worse?
"I've learned much from these 'simple folk' as you call them. Most of them are good men, better men than I ever was. And you'd be surprised how beneficial the simple act of helping others is to one's own soul... Perhaps you should try it sometime." He turned in his bench seat to face the man beside him.
"But you didn't come here out of curiosity did you 'old friend'? Not after all these years. Tell me why you're here."The man chuckled softly.
"Why to take your advice my dear Kavik! I'm here to help you." Those piercing violet eyes seemed to gain a notch in intensity as the men stared at each other.
"You can't tell me you're happy here, living like this! You, who were always the smartest and most talented of us all. Why you should be looking down upon nobility by now. Does it never get to you in the quiet hours old friend? The longing? The thought that you could be doing something more? That you could... BE something more?"Kavik found himself uncharacteristically squirming in his robes, almost breaking eye contact. There was something in the man's words which had gotten past his defenses -resonated with something inside of him he didn't want to face.
The bearded man must have sensed the effect of his words for he seemed to gain momentum.
"I can help you! I've come to renew old bonds – make things right between us as it were...." Pulling something out from beneath his cloak he handed over some folded pieces of paper.
"Look at them for a minute, tell me what you see..."After unfolding the papers and glancing at them the blue-eyed man shot a look of intense concern back at his older associate. He hadn't needed a minute to recognize some of the excerpts of runes. Even after all these years he still would have known them anywhere.
Another smile. This time Barnet leaned in conspiratorily and spoke in a hushed tone -though there was no one else in the temple.
"Yes... There is another scroll my friend... Recently uncovered in a buried ruin somewhere on a jungle island. Some fool discovered it while studying the primates there or some such nonsense, he doesn't even know what he's stumbled upon!
"Of course, this 'library' as he's calling it contains many other pieces of ancient literature as well it seems, and is drawing attention from other circles. Apparently a few writings of some religious significance have been uncovered also – but that matters not. What's important is that you and I are two of a very small number of people alive who know the power these runes contain, and we must act quickly if we are to get to the original document before someone else figures out its importance yes?"Now Kavik did look away, a heavy and uncomfortable weight hitting his stomach. He didn't like this 'discovery' one bit. Desperately he hoped it was a fraud, but that was unlikely. Very few people even knew of these dark magics, inscribed in ancient runes long buried, and those who did were unlikely to have a motive to create forgeries. He wished that he could forget the entire conversation, forget the past events it brought to life, but he could not afford to do either.
Still, among the numerous disturbing revelations present, one thing seemed most out of place.
"Why are you really telling me this? And don't give me more yarn about wanting to 'renew old bonds.'"Barnet chuckled again.
"I see you haven't completely lost your edge... Very well. I came because we both know if this little endeavor of mine is to be successful I'll likely need your help. It was you who translated the first scroll, you who broke its code and figured out its little riddle yes? Perhaps I could do it without you this time, but I've never been a man to fall victim to overconfidence, besides-""-besides which," Kavik interrupted,
"you're no doubt worried the scroll will require another human sacrifice to relinquish its secrets, and what better way to solve two problems at once than to bring me along. Isn't that about right?"The older man's smile faltered.
"My dear Kavik. You have grown a bit more cynical over the years haven't you? You shouldn't have worried about that, we'll think of something else should such... unfortunate necessities reveal themselves."Kavik offered a grunt in reply, then fell silent as he stared at the colorful window before them.
"No," he said at last.
"I want nothing to do with this. You're wrong about me. I'm happy with my life here, and this time I'll have no part of your little quest for power. You're on your own... old friend."The old man's bent frame seemed to puff up in indignation. Apparently he had thought to have had the younger man solidly hooked. The harrumph that followed was impressive for its sheer derision.
"Happy indeed. You used to be a better liar that's for sure. Beyond that change for the worse I can't say that you're any different at all than when we last parted! Still so full of yourself... You actually think you're better than I am, I can see it your eyes! You can stuff your holier-than-thou ways and false human charity! You may have these rural peasants fooled but you'll never pull the wool over my eyes no matter how hard you lie to yourself. We'll always be the same inside you and I..."He rose to leave as if the bench were suddenly rotted through and distasteful to sit upon.
"But if it suites you to rot to old age in obscurity then far be it for me to rescue you from such nonsense! Goodbye once more, and good riddence!" He said no more as he fled the temple with an agility that belied his looks.
Once alone again Kavik rose from the bench and resumed staring at the colorful window and the empty shelf before it. He had never figured out what belonged there, and was waiting for inspiration to strike him. It never had. Perhaps he would ask Alvina. He had found the younger acolyte often had the piece of wisdom he himself was overlooking. He probably should have asked her long before now, he decided.
After all it was she alone to whom he felt he could entirely trust the care of the temple when he left, and he *would* be leaving soon. Not for the reasons that Barnet had assumed of course – not for power. Not to claim the scroll, but rather to destroy it. Once before he had touched such dark magics, had desired their gifts and paid their price. Never again, and if he could help it he would see that no one else had the chance to do so either.
Perhaps then the disquiet in him would at last be quelled. Perhaps then, at long last, his past could stop haunting him and the scales of his life could be balanced...