I looked through the door, hoping to see what was on the other side. I knew this wasn’t a lair as I could see just a little, but it was dark, like the whole place was closed off. I was about to step through the door when Renfry laid his hand on my shoulder.

He smiled and said. “Let me step through first. It’s my duty and honor to protect you.”

I nodded. Getting used to having people working for me would take a while. While I was used to having Blink with me, she would have had me pause only so that she could get inside and find out what I triggered. As much as I hated it, the Bait, Assassin game we had worked great.

That thought made me think of Blink, and I reached out to her. I showed her where we were and that we were coming but needed to rest. Her emotions back to me were being the patient hunter. She didn’t like the cage but knew she should rest and be ready; she was watching.

The four of us slipped through the door into the massive building. We needed rest, and this place was the only one that looked intact. I wasn’t sure why that was the case, but it almost looked new or at least cared for and repaired. As we moved, the dark room slowly lit up with magical lights.

I sent the undead out into the area around the building to hide. I couldn’t give them complex instructions because of my level, but I could send them away so they wouldn’t be on top of us if the lich claimed them. Of course, it was a gamble I was taking every moment that we wouldn’t be found.

We all paused for a few moments as the room lit up. It was clearly not a court building. The room we were in took up the entire width of the building and rose over a hundred feet up. There were grand white marble pillars every twenty or so feet. Across the walls were mosaics that showed harvesting in all seasons. The floor itself was made from some stone that I didn’t recognize; it almost moved and swirled if I looked at it too long.

What was the most striking, however, was that the building’s interior had no debris or sign of disrepair. Like the outside, it almost looked new almost because it had a timeless feeling even if everything was clean and perfect.

I glanced back at the door and then said. “Irwin, pull that door shut. Renfry, let’s find the bar for it and secure it. We should be able to rest for a while here.”

Kasidy wandered over to the walls and started looking at the images. I just smiled and shook my head. For some reason, I felt like this whole building was secure and safe, like nothing could hurt us here. Of course, I knew that had to be wrong since we walked in and we were in a broken city. But I still got that feeling, so I wasn’t worried she was wandering around the giant room.

The bar for the man-sized door was just a few feet away in a small alcove that seemed built just to hold it. As soon as we dropped the little bar in place, the main door clicked loudly. Then a slight shimmer fell across the doorway.

Irwin asked in a hushed whisper. “Any idea whose temple this is?”

I smiled; that made more sense than a courtroom. “Nope, but it seemed like it was the best option.”

Renfry nodded slowly. “At first glance, yes, which might get us trapped. If the lich knows we are in the city, he might come here first since it is intact.”

Kasidy turned to us from where she was standing. “This is a temple to the god of Seasons and Harvest. But it seems different from the other ones that I have seen. The mosaic is different here, and so is the writing. It’s not something that I recognize. Renfry, is this something that you know?”

We all walked over to where Kasidy was standing. On the wall was a series of pictures. Beside each image was an area with text. Once again, I couldn’t read any of it as the text itself moved around.

Renfry walked up and started to look at the text but shook his head. “I can’t read this text. I wish I knew what it said. But, there are some things that I recognize in this last panel. This glyph, in my time, meant the lordly responsibilities to a vessel or family. But even then, the symbol was old, and we didn’t have a name for it. It was just something that was on all our documents.”

I shrugged. “It doesn’t much matter, I would think. With the place being so old, I am not sure there is much significance to the art.”

Irwin cleared his throat. “My lord, if I may. I think you might be wrong about that. This is clearly a place of some power. The city is falling down around it from whatever happened. Yet this building appears new. What this place is and why it is not like the other temples to the same god may become important soon. After all, if we are able to do as we plan and remove the lich, then the castle and city become yours.”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “That is something for the future. You are right that there could be something more here. That said, we won't know what's happening here until we get someone to read all of this.”

Kasidy looked over at me and gave me a smile. “That’s where you’re wrong. While we might not have the names of the people and the details, the mosaics will let us know what the story is. This one is a terrible love story that ends with a god being thrown out and some sort of blessing being given to a dark hero. Likely a champion of the god of seasons and harvest, if not before this story than after it.”

I shrugged and then took a closer look at the pictures. The first set showed a woman leaving a building and being captured in a city that looked much like this one and taken to a castle. In the castle, she was shown as chained up with other people. Some of those people were released and hunted down others sold.

Then there was an image of a single man who had to be the hero returning to the city. Then it showed him going to the same building the woman had been in before getting captured. Finally, it showed that man becoming worried and angry.

A series of images showed the hero dressed in skeletal armor attacking another temple by himself. On the doors of the other temple were a bow and a doe with an arrow sticking out of its neck. The picture showed that his wrath was so great that he killed everyone in the temple and then tore the temple down by hand. From the temple, he picked up a map.

The next set of images showed that same hero becoming even angrier and leading an army of what appeared to be monsters to the castle the woman was in. In front of his army was a banner with a crown with a skeletal arm sticking through it. Then he broke the castle and rescued the woman. Then returning the woman to the building she was from.

The last image was of a tree from the outside door. Its roots reached through a dozen buildings with the same bow and doe. In the branches of the tree was a banner with the bow and doe. There was almost the feeling that the tree was throwing the banner out.

The last image showed the army vanishing and the hero kneeling before the tree. Finally, the mosaic showed a light moving from the tree’s branches onto the hero. Then the hero stood beside the woman, and the city prospered.

As I looked at the last mosaic, Renfry walked over to it and pointed at a glyph. “This is the one here in the light that I recognize. It shows that the Tree is blessing the hero with more than just a single blessing but honors him like a vassal or son. See how the light extends from the tree to the hero and then through his hand to the woman’s belly. I would say that whatever the text says, it’s about a promise of some sort from that god to this hero’s family.”

I shrugged. “I get that this place will likely matter. I just don’t see what most of this has to do with me right now, if ever. This is a long time ago, and from what Kasidy seems to be saying, about a forgotten promise to some long-dead hero. Let’s take a few minutes to secure a place to rest and then sleep in shifts. We have the rest of the city to get through tomorrow.”

Kasidy shook her head slightly as she tore herself away from looking at the rest of the walls. Then we made our way to the far side of the great room. When we got to the other end, there were two doors. One was the main door; it was sealed from the other side. When Renfry tried to push on it, he was thrown back by a pulse of magic and fell to the ground.

Irwin cast a healing spell, and I activated my stone air. Kasidy rushed over to help Renfry, but he waved her away and shook his head.

As Renfry got up, he said. “I just got a message that told me I wasn’t a priest of the god of Seasons and Harvest and was denied entry.”

I gave a slight smile. “You okay? It looked like it hurt.”

Irwin answered for him. “He took no damage. I acted before checking. I need to do better so I don’t waste mana in battle.”

I laughed and pointed to the other door on the side. “Think that one will let us through?”

Kasidy shrugged and then laughed. “Only one way to find out!”

With that, she headed over to the door on the side and opened it. “Looks fine this way!”

I pointed to the now open door. “Renfry, take point. Let’s see what’s through here.”

* * *