Chapter Nine

The walls are rivers of blood, and they pour into deep crevices on either side of the floor. There is a soft sound of indiscernible voices as if a multitude are quietly whispering, speaking their thoughts in a jumble of suspicious whispers. Every now and then something moves beneath the blood as if someone is running through it and I find this all even more disconcerting than the other two hallways. It feels like we are being spied upon as we are talked about in hushed voices.

Jugong's ears shift restlessly, the thick fur of his head and neck stiffening and puffing out. He bares his teeth and whips his head toward the loudest of whispers, his tail slashing through the air behind him. His wings fan the air around him, the tips coming just shy of gliding through the rivers coursing down the walls as if he is preparing to take flight at any moment despite the close confines. It is a trapped feeling that I understand all too well. It brings back memories of the wulkwos and the strange way they whispered to each other with dual voices as they came closer and closer to my hiding place.

Unsettled, I walk at a faster pace, all the while I feel chased as if those creatures are giving chase once again. An alarmed cry falls from my lips, and I plunge forward into a full out run. Jugong's voice shouts after me but I can't make out his words, all I know is the terror filling me as I hear the panted breaths of the wulkwos, their claws hitting the floor. They are reaching for me, preparing to rip me apart between them once more. I scream in panic as a pair of cold arms encircle me and lift me off my feet. I claw at my captor and scream louder as another pair of hands grab ahold of me.

"Quick into the chamber!" a voice hisses and I sob, tears streaking down my face.

Claws will tear at me; teeth will snap and rip into my flesh and they gorge themselves on my meat.

"Here. Here. Stop, we've made it. Marie. Marie. Wake up. Come back to us," he croons.

A purr rumbles steadily from my other side as a smooth, cold hand and a hot, furred one stroke over my face and along my shoulders as I'm held between them. I surface gradually as a veil descends over that memory, dulling the pain as I gradually come back to myself once more. My eyelashes flutter and my eyes finally open as I look up at the two concerned faces peering down at me. Jugong with his green eyes and inky fur in a lush, thick pelt, his foxlike ears flattened with worry, and Nygohl with his inhumanely pale face and dark eyes brightened with the blue flames burning in the hearts of them. His dark hair falls like a curtain around us. He runs a claw gently down my cheek and a relieved smile tips his lips as a small sigh escapes him.

"I was worried," he rasps. "I didn't expect you to react so strongly."

I shake my head, silencing him. "It's okay. Just… bad memories."

A look of sympathy crosses his face, and he nods. "I forget at times that many reclamation specialists were once human. You are always haunted by your death and afraid of those little things that accompanied it. The worst the death, the more suited for reclamations it seems because you have suffered terribly and arrive with your mind and spirit still intact despite it all. Once you endure that, you can endure any horror that you are sent after."

I exhale and release a shaky laugh. "I should have known that this place would find a way to use it against me."

Nygohl nods in agreement. "I should have considered it as well. Forgive me. I would have carried you through there personally if I had even thought…"

"It's over with now," I sigh. Jugong anxiously backs up a pace so that I can sit up and reach forward to cup his fuzzy cheek in one hand. "I'm okay. I promise."

His head tips in a faint nod and his eyes slide shut as he leans his head into my palm, brushing the back of one wing affectionately against my cheek. I move my fingers against his fur. I never noticed before how soft it is or how baby fine and silky the webbing of his wings are. I leisurely enjoy the contact as I center myself, not unaware that Nygohl's hand is still on back stroking in small circles. For this moment I can feel the connection between us and am drawing strength from it. Eventually, Jugong straightens, his head craning as he peers at our surroundings.

"What room is this now?" he queries as Nygohl gently helps me to my feet as if I'm the one who appears to be made of porcelain.

"The chamber of the mind," the wraith replies.

Shifting my gaze from him, I take my first glimpse of my surroundings and gasp. There was a scene in a movie when I was child in which a beast gifted his beautiful captive with a personal library of magnificent size filled top to bottom with books. As I grew up, I decided that was the most romantic of gifts. Staring at my surroundings now, I am astounded by what the simple reality of such a place looks like. Everywhere I look there are massive shelves filled with books and taller iron stands filled with candles to shed light on every possible corner. In the center of the room, however, was a strange device that seemed out of place and taking up much of the remaining space of the room.

I step around Jugong and Nygohl and head for it, curious as to what purpose it served. Like the berry bush served for the chamber of growth, and the rose beds were the true heart of the chamber of desire, I have no doubt that this machine is the true heart of this room as well. My eyes scan the room, noting that the images on the walls are carefully framed, depicting scenes of companionship and scholarship, but in each image, there is a sense of something just beyond the veil waiting and watching. It is a grim imprint like death awaiting them at their end of their pursuits. This is evident as well as with the machine.

I turn toward it again, examining it more closely this time. It towers over me, each side supported by a skeletal figure. At the top the sun is at the pinnacle, surrounded by a number of suspended planets. My gaze drops, noting the dials and lifts again before noting that the ceiling above is marked with the numerous constellations visible from Earth. My gaze drifts back to the sun and I frown as I note at its center are numerous, small, layered plates shifting minutely as if it contains a sort of clock ticking down the minutes…. hours…. days…. years.

If I listen closely, I can swear I hear the soft moaning whisper of the mechanism ticking as it slowly winds down.

I tap a finger on my leg as I consider the layout of the temple. Those who entered would be escorted through the front entrance and would be kept within the so-called pilgrimage rooms. The courtyard waited beyond that with water available to slake the thirst. The first room was truly the courtyard representing the open primordial waters. A second finger then joins the first as I consider the next chamber. Following after the courtyard is the room of growth where the food of the garden was enjoyed and the illusion of peace despite the dangers all around.

"What are your thoughts?" Nygohl whispers and I glance over at him, not entirely surprised to see him hovering so close once more, his gaze fixed intensely upon me as if waiting expectantly for me to work out this puzzle.

I turn to him and cross my arms over my chest. "I think that this is more than just a temple, and I think that you already know that. The entire set up is so precisely planned as if following a specific order, one that you must be aware of. So perhaps, you should be the one doing the telling and tell us what the hell is going on here."

The wraith nods thoughtfully and his own gaze lifts to the machine. "Yes. I will explain but first I wish to hear what you see here in this place. I want to see how this all translates to the human eye as it may reveal things I have not considered. If you have not noticed," he waves a hand toward the skeletal image. "It directly involves the dead."

I nod because that's fair enough. Every room in this place has a stark theme reminiscent of some points in history it seems.

"The open courtyard and its water represent both birth and death, I believe. The passage over and through water is attached to both concepts as well as purity. It is a place of beginnings though you don't realize it from where you are standing. The chamber of growth with its apparent abundance inviting one to take respite in a seeming wilderness brings to mind innocence amidst the dangers of the world."

Nygohl nods, and his lips twitch and curl in a temptatious smile. "And the next room?"

"Matings. Breeding," Jugong rumbles, his wings twitching as if still uneasy about the powerful spell of the chamber.

"Yes," I agree. "But not only that. Each room offers something while also posing a risk to overindulgence. One can be safe and just eat the berries closest to the path but if you venture into the growth to look for better fare or more than what is offered you put yourself in direct danger. The second chamber poses a similar risk."

Jugong shudders. "Obsession. Getting lost in desire so that you want nothing else." His head tips in consideration and he sighs wistfully. "Not a bad way to go."

I cough to cover my choked sound of amusement and shake my head at him before turning my gaze to the room at hand. "This chamber, though, mystifies me a little. You call it the chamber of the mind and it is packed with knowledge in the form of books, but there has to be a catch like in the other rooms, but I cannot see how it relates to this device which deals specifically with tracking the movement of time."

"It is not obvious?" Nygohl regards me curiously for a moment before tucking his hands behind his back and turning slowly in place as he regards the chamber. "With knowledge comes awareness of the self and the world, but with it, it brings its own frustrations and sorrows as one realizes that they cannot escape time. Even the gods, cannot escape the changes that time wreaks on the worlds of the living and the dead."

There is something so sad, ageless, and desperately alone that echoes through Nygohl that my heart clenches. I tear my eyes away and rub at my chest disconcertedly as my gaze sweeps what appears to be a pretty ordinary study.

"What is the catch, though? What is the danger laying in wait here? This seems perfectly ordinary."

He shakes his head, a sad smile tipping his lips. "Look closer and you will see it. The danger is not from the outside this time… but within."

I frown in confusion but walk closer to one of the numerous images hanging from the walls. Once again it is a collection of people that appear to be talking. In this image they appear to be in rapt conversation, each holding different insignia of sorts declaring their office or specialty. I can't make sense of all of them but get the theme. This time however, the veiled shadows take a more definite form at this close inspection and death itself dwells there and waits.

I swallow sharply and slowly back away. "Seeing one's own destruction ahead but being unable to change it."

Nygohl nods. "Even the gods who built this place understood that nothing can simply just exist forever, that tides of destruction will always rise and must be met. And naturally they fear such drastic change as much as any mortal, though for vastly different reasons. Immortals dislike change more than anything, and in this place any great threat of change can mean the ending of everything that was built here."

"And the souls that were walked through here saw their own end, too," Jugong summarizes in disgust.

Suddenly I understand. The whole kaleidoscope of human emotions that led to this point through the corridors, and the whispers of shared knowledge in this last hallway before entering the chamber of the mind. There is no escape and here they knew that they were preparing to meet their end.

"What happens from here?" I whisper.

"The hall is nothing more than a set of stairs and it takes you to the final room—the chamber of blood. It is the sacrificial chamber."

I blink rapidly as I feel tears well up into my eyes. They knew that their death was coming. Death to the dead is a hopelessness that holds no promises afterward. They would be afraid as they walked down the stairs, knowing that they were meeting their end there within this temple of death.

"And the clock?" I manage to ask the question even though my lips feel stiff with the emotion choking me.

A fleet smile crosses Nygohl's face, and he nods approvingly. "You saw that. This entire temple is also a mechanism itself. It aligns to the natural powers of the world and its magic. The clock counts down to the reset of energies when the wild primal energies of the underworld can break forth. Seals must be reset at the weakest hour, fed by the prepared souls of the dead. Naturally the most convenient are those that were captured by the reclamations office for violating their movements restrictions without proper license."

My stomach plummets and a wave of nausea sweeps over me. "Gods. How many souls am I responsible for sacrificing to this place."

Jungong's wings immediately come up around me, comforting me as Nyghol places a hand on my shoulders and gives it a squeeze.

"No one yet, I promise you," he murmurs. "And I am determined to see to it that not another soul is sacrificed to this place. But we only have this small window. If we fail and the power of the temple is restored, the division created by the Hasken can no longer be interrupted until the realignment occurs once more." A contemplative expression settles over his face as he peers up at the clock. "I have missed it time and time again, but I shall not this time."

I frown at his words. Just how old is Nygohl? I don't recall his file mentioning that he was that old. I don't really recall even hearing of a wraith that old. At least not old enough to have seen the underworld cycle multiple times.

"If it is a clock ticking down to reset, why does it have all the levers?" Jugong interrupts as he peers down at them. I also glance down at them curiously.

"Oh, that." Nygohl shrugs and laughs lightly. "You might say that sometimes it is more convenient to trick the energies of the temple to come into alignment a little earlier to open the vortex rather than await the exact moment. The powers that be are all for convenience when it comes to their sacrifices rather than risk missing the moment."

"Vortex? What vortex?" I ask, my head coming up in surprise from where I was studying the dials.

Nygohl's smile widens. "Finally, the moment I have been waiting for. Right this way."