BS8 - CHAPTER 14: PLOT UNRAVELING

As they entered the inner sanctum, they found their paths sloping downward. Much of the inner area was actually underground, and throughout the entire temple.

Unfortunately, it seemed Fhesiah and Ophelia were stuck at the gates of the Wind Grand Temple. While they were definitely interested in Valora, it wasn’t enough to befriend them and have entry granted. For now, they flew around handling more Rifts, whittling the area down for eventually handling the Greater Rift.

They planned on checking and monitoring the temple to see if anything changed, and allowing them to be a Reverse Summon target for Jake to arrive, for now. The number of Rifts spawning was actually quite substantial, leading the dozen Ravenwolf Tribe parties to be quite busy. Each party was closing more than a single Rift per day, and this still barely kept ahead of the rate they were spawning.

Thankfully, closing a Rift early meant it was much quicker to close them. They didn’t have much time to spawn additional troops or build the various constructions like what they saw with the orc camp, so this meant the challenge was the only time sink.

Jake and Sati were given the tour of the inner sanctum, and that was where they learned another detail: the third and final section, called the core sanctum, was also warded separately. Only the core disciples were allowed within, along with the top people of the organization.

It was frustrating, but thankfully, Ira had found some leads when they crossed this threshold. Some areas were clearly not right, and beyond the usual warding of the place. They followed a different concealment pattern, and so they were targets for them to check.

The inner sanctum was not all that different from the outer, but there were some key differences. Within, the fire mana was even denser, nearly doubling in the thickness of the air. It almost felt like the air was on fire, a permanent heat like living inside a volcano.

And perhaps, that was accurate. The pillar of flames being released from the top of the temple was actually a permanent fire being driven from the core of the world itself into the sky and toward the moon in the distance. Jake wasn’t sure how exactly this arrived at the moon because it didn’t appear to be visible. Somehow, through the cosmic energies, the moon fed the world, and the world fed the moon.

The people worshiping were even more fervent and more powerful. Rather than just tattoo lines, it really felt like they had veins of flame, just like the Rashik and the other two. Then, there was something else that was important to their investigation that they saw.

The worship of the inner disciples included a sort of self-purging. A clearing of their channels, returning their Great Flame back into the very formations that powered the place. It was a repayment of their great gift, allowing their core to build up more to give the Great Flame. And Sati could feel that these channels were a little tainted.

Rashik asked, “Where would you like to check? We know that the taint is coming in and that we are being tainted.”

Jake said, “I don’t suppose we can check the source? Where all these formations in the walls are fed their energy. That seems like the obvious choice to me.”

Rashik shook his head. “Unfortunately, that is not an option. All formations are fed by the core flame, the one drawn in the center of our temple. We cannot allow you inside. Otherwise, we do feed into the formation during our worship, but that actually feeds back into the Great Flame itself. Any other ideas?”

Jake sent Ira to investigate the three areas. One was more heavily warded and would require it to go all out to break in, especially without being caught. Two of them were a bit weaker, so he wanted Ira to focus on those and tell him what was there.

Ira gave Jake the feeling of hunger, and enjoyment. The feeling of a full stomach and the contentment that followed. But also, an evil taint–and Jake had a hard time understanding what that piece meant.

As much as Jake wanted to just look through Ira’s eyes through their familiar bond and connection, the creature’s eyes were just too different. His Umbral Gaze was already complicated, but the way Ira’s vision worked was even stranger than that. The void wyrm relied on its senses of smell, sound, and a sort of sixth and seventh, spatial and magical sense more than its actual vision.

Jake eventually replied to Rashik, “Hm. Then, how about where your food is prepared? Let us start there.”

Tatiana frowned. “Our food? Ah yes, I see. And a perfectly normal place for us to tour potential disciples.”

They continued through the halls, and thankfully, this section of the place was smaller than the vast city of the outer sanctum.

There was a cafeteria here, unlike the outer area. The inner disciples’ lives were largely spent inside the inner sanctum, even if their family was in the outer sanctum. They would only visit them weekly or monthly in some cases.

Arriving at the cafeteria, it was rather large, and over a hundred were currently sitting and eating. It supported thousands of inner disciples per day, and it made sense to Jake that there was in fact more than one, besides.

Sati spoke to him, [The food is in fact tainted, and there are a few heavily tainted people here. Malicious. Evil. Three of them are present, and they appear to be those working for the cafeteria.]

It seemed Sati found them right away, and Jake followed her gaze. Her pure spiritual flame allowed her to sense her opposite, and this helped them a great deal here. She pointed them out to Jake, and they were simply working behind the several food lines. In truth, at this level, Jake could detect them and the tainted food just fine too, thanks to a growing sensitivity to faith energy as he mastered Divine Energy Control.

While some of the food was prepared, it did appear that a grocery area was available for those to be able to bring raw materials back to their private rooms and cook on their own.

But now they have run into a problem. How did they out the infiltrators? It seemed like the only way was for them to capture them for questioning or maybe catch them in the act of doing a criminal act. First, they had to discover the source of the taint, as if to prove the cause.

Jake asked him, “Elder Rashik, where does this food from the cafeteria come from?”

“The inner sanctum and core sanctum are fully self-sufficient. It is largely sourced in the underground beneath this temple and brought to our storerooms. Then it is prepared into meals that you see here. The outer sanctum is also supplied by these efforts with the surplus, but they are supplemented by caravans from Firewake and other surrounding cities and villages.”

Jake pointed over to the warded area. “Can we head to the storeroom?”

Rashik frowned. “It’s a little odd, but I think we’ll be able to manage.”

Within the storeroom’s wards, Ira piggybacking with Jake, Sati and Ira could feel the source immediately. The room was a lot like a mini-warehouse with some chilled magical coolers, looking almost modern, aside from everything being made of stone rather than metal and plastic. There was certainly beast meat being dried and stored, but it seemed the underground flora was actually a lot more leafy and edible-looking than the stone and crystalline plants he saw above ground.

He knew that there was still rain in the world despite the water moon and mana lost and that it might just gather in underground rivers and reservoirs.

At the edge of the storeroom was a hidden compartment or path to a smaller room, also warded. However, the taint was well within their ability to detect so near it, the wards unable to fully contain the evil divinity within.

And it was not powered by the main formation, an addition created by those who were the evil infiltrators. Probably, these rooms were used to either hide the assassins or maybe even help them carry the attacks out. It was a large room that was dug out of the rock and ran parallel on the outside of the temple. At the very least, there might be some earth magic masters among the infiltrators.

Jake looked over it with his Umbral Gaze. Currently, there were none of the silhouettes that he could normally see–nobody was inside. But there was definitely something in there, likely a similar statue to what they found back on The Mystic Expanse.

“Come here, Elder.”

“What is it?”

“Can you feel this? Get closer.”

As Rashik stood directly next to the wall, his face went slack, and he almost fell to the floor in fear before backing away from it in shock. “What…what was that? It was horrible!”

“What? I don’t feel anything.” Tatiana tried the same thing, to a similar result. She actually froze like a deer in headlights, until Jake pulled her away. “What…that’s terrible! This…evil thing is right in our temple!”

Jake nodded. “On the other side of that wall, it’s one of the sources of the taint, that I am sure of. They are using it to feed it into your food, tainting everyone. I could easily destroy it, but we have a problem. If we bust in there and do that, our opponent will almost certainly know. Then, here in your temple, I have no authority. Nobody would allow me to actually capture people just because I say they are working for the enemy, would they? Who would believe me? If we want to collect all the evidence or capture all the bad actors, I would need someone able to back me up. Is there anyone like that who we can call discreetly?”

“That’s…tough. I was considering the options before, but now… I wonder. Many of our people have been tainted, and now, they are behaving strangely, easy to anger, even more distrusting than usual.” He sighed. “You see, there’s a reason we three were the ones that greeted you. We handle all the outside communication and dealings for the outer sanctum because we’re the most open-minded, most welcoming among us.”

Jake nearly snorted. These three who nearly completely ran them off were their organization’s ‘face’ or the ones able to be most personable. “That…paints an interesting picture.”

Rashik laughed. “I know we…are very insular, and this only gets more true as you go deeper in our temple. I actually think if we try to talk to the core disciples or our leaders, they may just throw you, and me, out for even suggesting it. You shouldn’t even really be here as it is. I could just barely convince someone that Sati is worth trying to win over…there’s a precedent for that among the talented.”

Jake considered their options while watching the area leading into the storeroom in case their conversation was interrupted. “You’re not making it easy for me to help you, Rashik. The fate of the world hangs in the balance, and I can’t act due to the distrust and your people being against an outsider’s help.”

Tatiana was alarmed. “Hangs in the balance? What do you mean?”

“I hadn’t wanted to bring this up since I didn’t think you’d believe us before now. I think you can agree that there is something bad happening here, right? But who on your world would do such a thing, like trying to taint your god? At this point, the three Grand Temples have no reason to weaken another, do they?”

Rashik shook his head. “No reason at all. There may have been…a bit of religious wars in our history, and that also led to racism and hate. But when the Grand Water Temple fell in that war…we understood we had to work together. And now, as you can see, people from all of our races walk the halls of our temple, so long as they have affinity for the Great Flame. That was never the case before, but it has continued to this day, and there hasn’t been any sign of that changing.”

Jake nodded. “Right now we are winning this second war with Tartarus on this world. However, with the plots inside your temple, and perhaps the other Grand Temples, we have every reason to believe that this is meant to bring this world towards its doom. An inevitable loss against the armies of monsters, or just a destruction of the Great Flame.”

Tatiana’s eyes widened, her voice filled with alarm. “If…the Great Flame was destroyed, then the world would soon surely follow. It is already way out of balance, holding on by a thread! It barely recovered from the Water Temple’s loss; we all know this.”

Jake spoke to Elder Rashik, “So you see? This issue is beyond the temple, beyond this world. You’re going to need to make a choice. Will you help us, those that are going to do everything we can to rescue it? Or will you do nothing and maybe even potentially get in our way?”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Rashik grimaced. “What…would you have me do?”

Tatiana nodded. “Us. I want to help too.”

“Inside that cafeteria, Sati spotted three infiltrators, people who were beyond just tainted–they were aligned with the enemy.”

Rashik turned to Sati. “This is true? How can you know?”

Sati nodded. “It is. My purity allows me to detect true malevolence, a tainting of the spirit. While many in the inner sanctum are tainted, these three were far beyond that.”

Rashik seemed very interested in that detail, looking at Sati significantly again, but said nothing.

Jake added, “If we capture one or more of them, we can interrogate them, learning more about their deeds in secret. This plot has more than one level than merely tainting your food.”

Sati nodded. “Having control of the food, they may also poison select individuals or supply aid to the assassins they helped inside.”

Rashik frowned in thought. “That…okay, I think I see how dangerous this is. But you haven’t said what you would like us to do.”

Jake chuckled. “Well, it’s not a very difficult task, and I wouldn’t ask you to truly betray your people. I just want you to try to bring them to a safe location where we can question them, and then…look the other way, really. My friend on the outside, you remember her? She can sense the truth and has a way of making them speak it. I can bring her here secretly..”

Rashik grimaced, looking back at the place on the wall where he felt the taint and then at the many formations that ran the place. “I suppose…I don’t want to be the one that gets in the way of our safety. If not for your goddess being different from mine, I would have trusted you immediately. But you have proven your purity, and I can see your goodwill through your actions. What about you, Tatiana? Bringing that outsider in could cost us dearly.”

Tatiana hesitated. “I still want to help. I already feel better from the cleansing. Imagine how our failure to stop this evil is harming the Great Flame by the moment, I cannot stand it. We must do what we can.”

***

A frozen snake head bit into the cultist, the third one they were interrogating. Two of the men lay on the ground, nearly catatonic and restrained. They were now within Elder Rashik’s room, which was spacious but rather simple. It had patterned rugs and sparse furniture; it seemed he likely didn’t have visitors often or perhaps lacked material possessions.

Really, it was like the fantasy version of the average bachelor’s house.

Rashik had brought the first cultist to the room under a false pretense, and then Tatiana had done the same for the second.

But now, all of Jake’s wives and future wives of Clan Hart were all present and either standing or floating throughout the room, except for Bree and Avalara, who still stomped around near Firewake, closing Rifts and Monster Dens.

Jake had used his Reverse Summon to place an Arcane Eye in their place near the Wind Grand Temple, allowing it to be his teleportation target, before doing it again and bringing them all back.

He invested plenty of mana into it in order to give it a significant lifetime, but he’d have to teleport to renew it every few hours, or it would pop out of existence and he would lose its place. They were pretty sure they were going to assault the main location shortly, so Jake had brought the rest in.

Elder Rashik and Tatiana were also in the room, the two looking on at the situation with a bit of consternation as they sat on the couch. While the party had convinced them to allow them to summon one person, Nessa, at first–the two shocked about Jake’s capability–they didn’t expect for it to escalate into summoning even more people. And that…they would be so different and so…ready for war.

After they questioned the first person, they learned that the other location wasn’t any different from this one. Then, they even knew some about the larger plot, that there were many people within the giant chamber that Ira had detected. Not only cultists, but also people that had been kidnapped.

Nana’s voice came from the ice snake after it flicked its tongue. “There, he should be pliant in the mere moment. You should really learn to do this yourself, little Nessa. Producing many venoms is a part of what makes you a lake serpent, a power of your bloodline.”

Nessa blushed. “I’m working on it. You say it like it’s just so easy, but for me, it’s not.”

“Yes, well, maybe if you spent a little less time on your back and more–”

Nessa interrupted her speech by furiously retracting the ice snake’s head with a wave of her tail, blushing.

Jake frowned at that. “I didn’t know Nana was… so negative about our time together. I thought you said she liked me?”

“Nana does, and she…isn’t so negative about it, usually. She’s just mad I haven’t made her any great grandkids yet. She thinks mating should only serve one purpose, and our…special sessions only barely qualify as a valid excuse thanks to the strengthening. We spend time outside of that, clearly…” She blushed further.

Tanda chuckled. “I can see that. Many animals and beasts are rather…pragmatic and utilitarian when it comes to that. Still, that was a little freaky how that head grew on your tail, Nessa.”

Berri huffed. “There’s nothing freaky about that! It’s a snake. That makes it okay.”

Fhesiah chuckled, grinning from where she lounged, floating midair as she often did. “I don’t see you trying to grow a snake head on your body for you or your sister to use.”

Berri’s eyes lit up, and she raised her finger as if she just got an idea, but Blood grabbed that hand with the other and brought it down, arguing with her in her head.

Blood narrowed her eyes on Fhesiah. “Don’t give her any more great ideas. You know how hard it is for me to stop her once her mind’s set on something, and I do not want any strange growths on our body. The juicy booty is my limit, and I only agreed to that since it was for milord.”

“Aw, but I was thinking we could make those wings real. They’d be even better if we did!”

The troll male shivered, his face going slack from the inhibition reduction poison finally taking effect. It made them nearly drunk and delirious and much more agreeable and more willing to respond to questions when asked. Combined with Nessa’s ability to force them to speak the truth, it made it simple enough to interrogate most people, though, it also removed any filters.

Nessa asked him, “Ready to answer my questions?”

“Y-Yes. Suuure.” He laughed, looking around the room from where he sat on the floor. “Wow, I must’ve hit my head. You people look so crazy. Who put a woman on the end of a snake?”

Nessa’s Divine Trait was brought to the fore, but she grimaced. “Damn. I’m really going to need to restore my energy soon. I only have a few questions left in me thanks to questioning all those Obsidian Mercenaries.” She asked the troll, “Do you know what is happening in the hidden chamber?”

The man laughed again, before his expression was filled with glee. “Yes! We are summoning the great Balor! His Aspect. With this, we will finish the corruption of the Grand Temple and rule the world as we should!”

Jake was a bit surprised at this, but he understood what an Aspect was. He asked Nessa to confirm, “An Aspect? Can they do that? Here?”

An Aspect wasn’t fundamentally much different from a more powerful Beast Avatar. It was essentially Tartarus’ upgraded version of the same thing, much more monstrous and malevolent. And perhaps, more eldritch in its makeup. It would definitely require a Divine Spark in its creation and may not be limited to the same levels as a Champion, a larger investment. Thus, an equal or larger reward as well.

However, this was an odd situation. This location could not have Tartarus forces within it, or the eldritch entity would pay dearly. More than whatever it could gain from consuming this particular world.

Nessa replied, “Betrayers are certainly the one blind spot in the rules in the Contest. Monsters and Tartarus forces, such as Champions attacking the outside of the barrier or attempting to cross it, would cause a penalty. But summoned through by natives, just like how Jake brought us through these wards, don’t cause it to be punished.”

Ophelia’s owl feathers fluttered in irritation and her eyes narrowed in anger. “That’s a load of crap! How is that possibly fair?”

Nessa’s eyes looked pained. “Unfortunately, it’s just how the great Contest is designed. As the aggressor rather than the defender, it gives Tartarus certain advantages when the natives betray their own world–which it uses when it can. However, while it seems unfair, the same rules bind our enemy.”

Tanda frowned in thought. “How would that ever matter?”

“If we find enemy worlds within the dungeon, or when we face others during the War Trial–Tartarus forces will include captured worlds, worlds filled with betrayers, and other forces. In theory, we could also do the same thing. Both sides would be bound by the rules of whatever Contest is decided, but we could use our enemy’s natives for advantages.”

Jake grimaced. He kind of doubted that the Bloodwrought would have been very easy to convince to join their side and to help them. People like that were too far gone, too tainted for Jake to merely cleanse. He likened it to using acid to remove rust.

If there was too much rust, the acid would merely wash away anything left and corrode the underlying material, leaving nearly nothing left or the item to no longer serve the same purpose. And healing wouldn’t be enough to save them. But perhaps, there were races of peoples that may be turned, some that might not be too far gone. Ones that Hearthtribe might be uniquely able to assist.

Nessa asked a few more questions of the betrayer, but he didn’t know anything else valuable, other than that they had some time and that he thought the huge snake woman was kinda cute. Thankfully, the ritual wouldn’t be complete for days, even if they rushed it. Or at least, the troll thought so.

They had learned a bunch of useful details from the three people in total as to what their plan was. By building the taint in the overall system, it would slowly build Balor’s malevolence. This was what would be used to summon his Aspect; having so much corrupted Faith energy in one area, it could easily draw it in. And most importantly, similar goals were being carried out in the other temples.

However, Jake could feel Sati’s unease. “What is it, Sati?”

“I think…this is not the limit of their plots. I still feel it. I am beckoned from above.”

Rashik stood up from his seat, alarmed. “You…the Great Flame calls to you?”

Sati shook her head. “I do not know for certain. I believed it was nothing more than fate itself calling to me, rather than the Great Flame. However, what calls to me matters not. I feel the pull of where I must be. And I feel an urgency. Time is running out.”

Jake frowned. “Then, I think that we shouldn’t just play to win against this plot–to stop their ritual. We must crush them at our strongest to be ready for what happens next.”

Berri cheered. “Yay! Finally. Ever since we got here, it’s just been us sneaking around, talk talk talk talk talk. Let’s bust ‘em up, then go to the moon!”

“Not quite yet. Fhesiah will sneak around with her illusions and capture the other infiltrators, and we’ll prepare to move the idols. Then–”

Rashik rushed over to them, concern on his face. “Wait! There’s something else.”

“What is it, Rashik?”

“I want to help. I can…give you access to the core sanctum.”

Tatiana shot up from her seat, looking at him in disbelief. “But Rashik! That…you could be executed for such a betrayal! Excommunicated at a minimum!”

“I know. But…if it will help their chances at all, then I must try. If I must die to rescue the world and our god, then so be it.”

Tanda asked, “How could us going to the core sanctum help us? The ritual is taking place somewhere else.”

Fhesiah chuckled. “I can think of a few ways. Think of Jake’s Mana Font. Having access to unlimited fire mana means we could cast unlimited fire spells. And Sati, well…she’d be like a goddess. As a living flame, no amount of fire would be too much for her to use and manipulate to empower herself.”

Sati nodded. “Yes, the flame did not seem to fight me at all. As if it wanted to join me.”

Rashik had made a startled sound, and Jake eventually looked over to see his pupils had constricted and his breathing had started picking up. Tatiana still looked uneasily at Rashik and the rest of the party.

Ophelia just shrugged, replying, “That’s really only useful if our enemy isn’t strong against it though, right? But I see your point. I’d rather have access to the fire mana for battle against an evil god than not.”

Blood added, “Yes, but attempting to gain access to the core sanctum might be more trouble than it is worth. Isn’t that Ur’Rena lady looking out for us? I bet she’ll get in the way.”

Jake asked, “What do you think, Rashik. Can you really get us in?” He noticed that Rashik’s breathing had only picked up, and his hands were white-knuckled on his staff. “You alright, Rashik?”

The elder snapped out of it, coughing. “Y-Yes. Perhaps you’re right about Ur’Rena. But I think it’s worth trying. And Sati…especially, could get a significant benefit from it. She…also purified so much of that flame all at once. You said that the ritual somehow drew from it? Then, doesn’t it make sense to remove some o f it before you face them?”

Nessa responded to Jake’s concerned thoughts–Rashik was acting rather odd. [He’s definitely hiding something, but his words are mostly ringing true. He has an ulterior motive, clearly. Probably, hoping to help his god more than he wants to help us.]

Blood replied, “That does make sense. But I think it would take Sati quite some time to accomplish enough to matter, and we have limited time. It would make more sense to defeat the cultists first. Then we can all work together towards clearing the taint from the flame, something almost all of us are capable of.”

Rashik nodded and then turned to Jake. “I see. You can move to her somehow, can’t you? The moment you begin your attack, they’re going to lock things down. You may be able to convince them after the fact, but I don’t think so. They will actively try to remove you from our temple, even if they see you are saving it–you are outsiders of the temple and a part of the Framework, and there is nothing many of them hate more. But if someone got into the core sanctum first, you’d be able to go to them, right?”

Blood narrowed her eyes on him. “You were paying attention when Jake disappeared to get us. But also, you seem focused on Sati being able to enter this core sanctum.”

“I just…” He glanced at Nessa, then sighed. “I don’t want you to have to fight my people. Our numbers have already been thinned over the years, between the assassinations and more. I understand you need to do what you must, but I think Sati can make it through without blood or destruction. If nothing else, us trying to get in will be a great distraction for you. And if she gets in, maybe she can help! She won’t be at risk. My brethren cannot hurt her with their flames!”

Jake turned to Sati. “What do you think, Sati? It is you who will be at risk.”

“I am willing, if it is your will. You can call me in but an instant if you require my aid, so I do not see any downsides to trying.”

“Alright. So we are at the goal. It is time to crush this plot of theirs.”