Enter the temple
The inside of the temple is filled with light. Stained glass windows depicting the four deities cast kaleidoscopic patterns across the birch wood pews and white marble of the interior. The circular chamber is built with a large tree at the centre, laden with four different kids of fruit. A beam of impossibly bright light shines down from the ceiling above the tree, and in the upper branches doves can be seen roosting there.
As you move further into the temple you catch sight of a middle aged feline slouched on one of the pews, face down and mumbling in his sleep. He is dressed in a tattered pair of pants and nothing else. Large, thick-skinned fruit are scattered on the floor around him, spilling out pink juice from rough tears and bites. From the smell they have fermented into crude alcohol.
A few pokes causes the cat to stir, and he rolls over awkwardly to look at you. His eyes open wide, and he rubs them a few times in disbelief.
"You... are you real?" he sits up quickly, almost losing his balance, and laughs when you steady him. "By those bloody Gods you are! I was starting to think I'd be stuck here forever!"
He explains through slightly slurred speech that he has hidden in the temple for a long time. How long he isn't sure, but he survived by drinking water from the fountains near the tree, eating its fruit and hunting the occasional dove. "It all grows back so quickly, you see," he adds as he plucks an apple. "Tomorrow another one will grow in its place!"
You talk with him about all you've seen and heard so far, and the cats joy quickly turns to fear and sorrow. He speaks, reluctantly, of his two friends who perished. "I found the body, you see. It's up ahead, guarded by a terrible room. But we need the eye and the heart and I didn't dare go back for them! That wolf... I don't he can come in here. He's never tried. I've seen him outside once or twice, but he won't set foot on the temple step."
The cat seems reluctant to talk about his adventures any further, and so you press him about the body and the 'terrible room' that guards it. "It shows you temptations," he explains. "At first it was full of wondrous things, spell books and magic staves and rings of power. Now it's full of wine, and food, and women... I don't want to know what happens if I take what it offers. You have to go in there and want the body, and only the body. You have to be strong and not be led astray. What happens if you get to it with the eye and the heart? I don't know. But you could do it now, right?"
You thank the cat and head through the door to the trial. As you walk away he takes your wrist and pleads, "don't go! Please, stay a while. I've been alone for a long, long time, and if you fail I don't know if anyone else will ever come! Please stay, at least until morning?"
It's obvious by the needing tone his interest in you is physical, but his eyes are more lonely than lustful. You can't help but wonder what it must be like to be trapped in this temple, too afraid to leave for fear of a cursed spectre prowling the ruins beyond. Will you accept his request and stay, or soldier on?
Written by Jasan Quinn on 17 May 2015
The end (for now)