Celestial Night

Colour. That was Mark's first thought. It was one thing to hear that the ancient temples and palaces had once been painted in vibrant living colour instead of the bone white that covered what was left of the more intact sites he had visited but it was another to see it. Bright sky blues mixed with deep blood reds and energetic greens and yellows making the figures on the walls and columns seem alive and lifelike in their movements. Heroes chased monsters around the walls and up the columns to the ceiling where ancient deities and angels looked down from ivory clouds.   Mark moved forward hesitantly, not wanting to get the sea green tiles dirty with his boots, and followed the images on one of the central pillars as they wound their way towards the ceiling telling the story of a great warrior in glimmering silver and gold armor.

This was an amazing find and one that he had not been expecting. As far as he knew the entire site had already been surveyed and documented. And it wasn't as if the doorway that had brought him here had been hidden behind a wall or fallen timbers.  Stepping away from the column Mark looked around the giant room that made up the main part of the temple. The other pillars all told similar stories of this warrior and their feats. Of victory after victory against man and monster. The monsters and artstyle were familiar enough even though Mark couldn't quite place the stories they were telling. Though in his defense he felt that after a while all of the stories about ancient heroes and their battles start to run together.

Walking past more of the large stone pillars Mark made his way to the back of the temple looking at the star lit sky painted on the ceiling. As he walked a stray thought tried to catch in the back of his mind. Something about the stars and the paint, something important that he was forgetting. Art History had never been his forte in school and one of the subjects he had passed by the skin of his teeth. So he wasn't too worried if there was some bit of random art trivia bouncing around in the back of his head trying to make itself known.

But while art history hadn't been his favorite subject in school the mythology segments had and what he was looking at now was presenting a number of questions for him. Standing on top of a raised dais was a tall bronze statue of what he could only assume was some warrior goddess. Her long black hair fanning out behind her like a lion's mane before falling around the same silver and gold armor as the figure on the pillars.

Mark couldn't place the goddess, at least not into any of the major pantheons that had been worshiped around this area. And the temple above had been dedicated not to a goddess of war but to a god of construction. Maybe, Mark thought, the temple had been built to honor some local warrior or minor demigod and the temple above had been built overtop of it. But the briefing he had been given had said nothing about sublevels  to the temple or any local myths concerning warrior women in silver and gold armor.

Looking to the bottom of the dias for an inscription or name the ricocheting thought in Mark's mind finally hit home and shot Mark's brain into the front of his skull. It wasn't that he couldn't place the artwork, it was the fact that there was artwork. Even underground most of the colours should have been faded. Instead the columns looked like they could have been painted in the last few years. And the fruit in the offering plate certainly weren't from a thousand years ago. Mark doubted they had been on the plate for more than a day.

"Ohh K" Mark let out a concerned breath and started to circle around to the back of the statue. It wouldn't be the first time he had ran into a cult or group of aristocrats who liked to dress up old temples and play make believe. And judging by the lack of blood and dead animals this seemed to at least be the second possibility. While at bit away from what passed for a city in this region it wasn't too far for some bored barons or politicians with too much time and money to come out and play secret society. Even with the security on the digsite they could have bribed a guard or two to let them by. It wasn't like these were the Emperor's elite troops.

The area behind the statue refused to give up any more details about who the figure was or who was upkeeping the temple. Giving up Mark thought that this would be something better left to the leader of the expedition and started his way back up the center of the temple and the stairway that he had come down. Counting the columns Mark rounded the seventh one and came face to face with a solid stone wall.

Stepping back past the column Mark counted the pillars leading back to the statue from where he was standing. Then just to make extra certain he wasn't losing it he walked forward to the wall and placed his hands on it feeling the dense stone that made up the outer wall of the temple. The stairs he had come down had ceased to exist, in fact the only thing even hinting at any sort of doorway was the presence of some slightly smaller stones in the approximate shape of a door.

Before he could question what was going on a loud crash echoed from the front of the temple. Turning towards the noise Mark noticed for the first time the large bronze double doors that sat flanked by two smaller statues of the unknown warrior goddess. The appearance of the doors didn't startle Mark as much as the disappearance of the stairs did. He knew that he had a problem paying attention to his surroundings when he got fixated on some new book or relic. The startling part though was that the banging was coming from what should be the inside of a mountain and as far as he knew there were no dwarves or other subterranean species in this area.

With a deafening crash the large doors split and slammed inwards knocking the statues to the ground. Brilliant golden sunlight streamed into the chamber followed by five burly men in mismatched armor. The only thing the men had in common were the blue sashes of fabric that crossed their chest and the wicked looking swords that sat on their belts.

"Well." Mark said as the five men started to walk towards him "I take it you guys aren't here for mass?" The remark didn't get a response from the men. Instead they fanned out, two of the men walking deeper into the temple as the three in the middle started to flank him. "If you're looking to make a tithe I think the offering plate is that way" Mark  said pointing a thumb in the direction their companions had gone. Either his joke was lost on them or the three men didn't speak his language.

The gruff questioning voice of what he assumed was the leader of the group quashed that theory. "Are you the priest of this temple?" The buff man asked, yellow teeth flashing behind a greasy beard.

"Hey boss, I thought they only had them pretty lady priests here?" Said a lanky scabrous man trying to work his way around to Mark's left side. Mark raised an eyebrow at that. Not the female priest part. Some women were known to join the priesthood, especially in the last few decades. But that anyone could get his blue and ivory uniform mixed up with a priest's suit. Though he supposed the dark green cloak did bear some resemblance to the more earth coloured robes some of the more traditional priests preferred for the high holidays.

"Yeah." The 'boss' said, eyeing Mark anew and moving his meaty paw towards the sword at his belt, "If you ain't no priest then what are you doing in here?"

"Well currently I'm not too sure where here even is." Mark said shifting a bit of his weight to his back foot as the third goon circled around to his right side. "All I know is that I followed some stairs down to this temple and now poof here I am," Mark said, raising his hands up to his shoulders in a confused gesture.

The 'boss' was about to reply with something when the other two men came back carrying the offering plate and stuffing themselves with the fruits. "Sorry boss." One of the men said through a mouthful of berries "There wasn't anything back there except some big statue."

"You know." Mark said, staring at the two new men walking towards him. "People usually put the food on the offering plate. Not take it out." The shorter of the two men stopped stuffing himself with an apple and looked down at the plate in embarrassment before looking over at Mark with a sarcastic smirk.

"And people really shouldn't be making smart-ass comments when they are outnumbered." The guy said, reaching for the long blade at his belt.

Mark knew where this was going. He had known where it was headed as soon as the five thugs had broken down the door and started to eye the temple like the inside of their own personal bazaar. And while he would have liked to question them about where he was he doubted that their vocabulary extended much beyond different ways of asking him not so nicely to turn over any valuables.

"Ohh I'm not the one that's outnumbered" Before the berry eating bandit knew what was happening the bronze offering plate went sailing from his hands and slammed edge first into the nose of the scabberous man that had been sliding around to Mark's right and sent him reeling to the ground holding his face. Grabbing the plate out of the air with his hand Mark swung it around and smashed the bottom of it into the face of the bandit on his other side. While the historian in him felt bad about using a relic to smash in a bad guys face, the part of him that liked his organs on the inside of his body felt just fine with it.

By now the 'boss' and the two other bandits had taken out their swords and were moving to face him. Their fear at the magical flying dish now all but gone. Contrary to his boast even three against one wasn't going to be an easy job. Though their reaction to the flying dish let him know that he was at the most dealing with normal swordsmen.

"You wanted to know who I am?" Mark said in as dramatic a voice as he could muster, hoping to buy a few more seconds to get himself centered. Grabbing his cloak around the neck he unloosened the clasp and ripped it away in what he hoped was a dramatic fashion "I am Markus Antilles, Celestial Knight in the Imperial Army."

The comment stopped the three bandits but not apparently for the reason Mark had been hoping for. Usually the revelation that he was an Imperial Knight and part of the celestial host sent shivers of shock and fear though his opponents and resulted in them running away if not surrendering. Instead the three thugs just looked at him with a confused expression.

"The who of the where?" Asked the bandit who had now managed to swallow the last of the berries he had been speaking though.  His 'boss' smiled a deep dark smile as he looked Mark up and down for a second time.

"I think our friend here belongs to that big old empire in the west that has been pushing its way down here recently. Last I heard the Mountain Lords and Rivers Folk were keeping them busy." The boss started to move towards him again with a little more warrieness in his step. "I wonder what brought one of the Empire's finest this far away from his home."

"You know," Mark said, stepping to the side so that one of the large columns was pressing against his shoulder. Reaching behind him Mark placed his palm up against the stone pillar as he watched the leader of the group march towards him. "I'm wondering the same exact thing."

The 'boss' blade was out of its sheath and going for Mark's head in an arc of silver iron faster than most humans could hope to react. However by the time the blade had made its way out of the sheath Mark was halfway around the pillar coming at the leader from the other side.

The leader of the gang felt his blade sink into the stone like it was soft clay. But before he could retrieve it from the column the stone seemed to harden again and clamp down on his blade. Refusing to panic the bandit reached across his waist to pull out the small dagger he kept in his belt and swing it towards his left. A strong hand grabbed his wrist, stopping its movement, and before he could react he felt a palm slammed into his side and what felt like a lighting bolt shot through his body.

Mark allowed the now unconscious bandit leader to slump to the ground and looked over to where the two remaining bandits were. Or where they had been. Looking at the doorway he saw the shorter one running out into the sunlight.

Smiling to himself Mark looked down at the three unconscious thugs lying on the ground. "Now usually" he said to the leader of the group as she started to undo the man's sash "This would be where I inform you of your rights and haul you off to jail. However, since I don't know if those two guys are going to be coming back with friends I think it will be best to just tie you up here and leave it up to fate. What do you think?" Mark asked as he finished tying the man's hands up with the sash. The only response he got from the injured bandit was a quiet moan.

Using the men's sashes to tie them to the large column and relieving them of their swords, knives, and money Marcus retrieved his cloak and set out for the doorway only a little less confused than he had been a moment before. Sure, teleportation was technically possible. But only in the same way that falling was technically flying. In other words, it wasn't. And yet here he was halfway around the world standing in a temple that seemed out of time.

As Mark walked out of the temple into the sunlight a woman in gold and red armor was walking into a similar looking one kilometers away. Dressed from head to toe in armor that would fit right in at the gladiatorial match from the age of myth the ebony haired woman walked quickly though the painted columns and arched ceiling paying no heed to the stories that had been left behind by her ancestors when they came to the island. Instead she focused on getting to the oracle's room as quickly as possible.

"My lady if you would just slow down" The oracle's attendant pleaded as she tried to keep pace with the slightly taller figure.

"I don't have time to waste on ceremony" She replied not unkindly "Its bad enough those pirates broke though our sea shield but now we have a report of some strange light at our most sacred temple."

"I wouldn't call ceremonies a waste Lady Jade." The Oracle said as she stepped out of her room, the smoke and fumes of the sacred fires she inhaled drifting out from behind her as she walked forward to meet her visitor. "Ceremony gives us something tangible to do while dealing with the intangibility of faith"

"Yes, revered mother." Jade said, dipping her head in deference to the older woman. Even in her haste she was not so foolish as to insult the oracle.

Taking pity on her the older woman let a small smirk cross her lips and put her hand on the younger woman's arm. "That said, I do believe that now would be a very good time for haste." That earned her a relieved smile from Jade whom she quickly led into her room and to a seat across from hers on the other side of a large silver basin that could have doubled as a bird bath for an ostrich if one had found itself into the temple and also in need of a bath.

Jade breathed in deeply letting the spiced fragrance of the air fill her lungs and spread through her body. Holding the smoke inside of her she slowly let her breath out along with a large portion of the anxiety she had been holding back. She had been on her way to lead a squad of warriors deep into the forest and kill the pirates before they could defile her goddesses temple but had been stopped by the Oracles attendant who said that she was needed at the elder womans side before departing. It was hard for her to remain still and calm while unknown men were wandering around her island but she knew that the sooner she mastered her emotions the sooner the Oracle could show her the vision and she would be allowed to leave and track them down.

"Slow is smooth and smooth is fast" She repeated to herself a few times until her heart had slowed and her senses felt opened.

"Good, I'm glad to see that your meditations have been working. A fire that burns bright does not burn long" The older woman said idly as she tossed some petals into the glassy water of the basin. The oracle and Jade watched as the petals dissolved into golden sparkles, diffusing into the water and turning it into a pool of shimmering light.

"To be honest I'm surprised the goddess would grace me with a vision just to go hunt down pirates. Heck if they had waited two weeks for the festival we would have invited them in. What can be important enough that she would deem a message necessary?"

"I can not tell you. I can only show you and interpret what you see. Our goddesses' whims are much like the cats of this temple, elusive." Jade tried to stifle the childish groan at the oracles constant mantras and catechisms. Her sister may find it fun to ponder at their meanings all day but Jade much preferred a clearer conversational partner. "Now I want you to cup the water in your hands and drink it."

Jade did as she was instructed and dipped her hands into the glowing liquid some referred to as ambrosia after the drink of the gods meant to give life and wisdom to mortals. To Jade it tasted like honey and the smell of the air after a summer's rain. The oracle also drank from the pool and let the refreshing liquid run down her throat and puddle in her stomach. Both women let out a pleased moan as their body filled with a warm sensation that sent shivers from their toes to their teeth. As one they opened their eyes and stared at the basin with pupils the same golden glow as the ambrosia.

After a minute or possibly an hour, time was of no consequence in the floating pleasurable world of ambrosia laden thoughts, a vision began to form in the water. Flashes of battle, of skin and steel  obscured the water for a moment as the sound of shouting and grunting filled the room. Scenes flashed by so quickly at first that all Jade could make out was a blur of colour. The green of the Silent Forest, the creamy white of the Goddesses most sacred temple, and then the blue and white of some sort of uniform worn by a man standing in the doorway of the temple. The next scenes came slower, slow enough for her to focus on key details. She saw herself fighting this man as well as fighting with him. Pirates, monsters, even her own sisters fell to his feet defeated and conquered. She was unsure what to make of the man until the scene shifted and she saw herself and the man standing by a waterfall she had visited many times as a child before shifting to a road and horses carrying them towards the city. Suddenly though the vision shifted and she found her body reacting in new and unimagined ways to the scenes before her.

She saw herself on the ground in tattered clothing as the man stood above her and casually removed his shirt. She saw herself and two of her sisters being led by armed guards into some kind of large floating ship. She saw herself and her sister wrapped in chains and covered in red lash marks as clouds floated past outside large picture windows. The final scene disturbed her the most. In part because of where it took place and in part because of how it made her feel. She found herself kneeling in front of her mothers throne stripped of all her clothing as the man in the blue armor casually sat with his legs spread and his hand stroking his erection. Reaching out with his free hand he roughly grabbed onto her hair and forced her head down onto his cock..

Jade gasped as she came out of the vision and where it was a gasp of shock or one of pleasure even she wasn't sure. Her face flush, she slowly rubbed her legs together as the phantom feeling of powerful hands roaming over her body started to fade into a dreamlike memory. The Oracle seemed unaffected by the vision which made a small selfish part of Jade happy and the larger part of her confused. "Wha....what" Jade tried to form her thoughts into a coherent response but failed to do so.