The Ancient Temple (Chapter 2)

Tullos and Kyros, together with Frederique go on their first adventure at the ruins of an ancient temple. What they find there remains to be seen.

“I really don't think the master is going to be pleased with me leaving like this...” said Kyros as he was following Tullos.

“Nonsense! If father is your master than I am your master as well and I say it is alright to follow me on my adventure!” said confidently Tullos as he walked towards the front door.

When the boys stepped outside, the sun was gently touching them, embracing them with its warm rays. The village was busy as a nest of ants. Everyone was moving around and doing their jobs with a smile on their face. It seemed like a really peaceful day in the village.

Kyros could see from afar the many women and men up in the big trees around the village, harvesting the tasty Suki fruits. Throughout the city woodworkers carried the barks of the Suki trees back from the forest to their shops. The traders were busy as always at the market place and the housewives took care of their homes and small children. Everyone seemed to have something to do in the village. There was not even a single man or woman that stood still and did nothing.

The Suki Village gets its odd name from the peculiar plant that grows around the village. The Suki tree forms the main trade of the village through both its fruit, which is a great food supply, as well as its bark, which is used in wood crafting. The plant is actually a tall tree and the fruit that it bares grows on its top branches. They can be harvested throughout the year and are very nutritious. The fruit itself when ripe is black and big as a cannon ball. Luckily its shell is not as hard as one, otherwise the villagers would have had a lot of trouble with it. They can make some really delicious dishes from this ripe fruit. The villagers are also very good at wood crafting, seeing as the Suki tree's bark is very sought after for its elastic properties, allowing people to make excellent bows from it as well as other items. It is even more prosperous considering the fact that they can easily remove the bark without cutting down the Suki trees. These plants shed their bark every year like a snake does its skin and in its stead a new one forms. Thus they don't need to replant entire forests to continue their trade and they can just reuse the same trees over and over again.

“Young master I have prepared the horses.”

The one that spoke was a middle aged man. His face had a gentle expression on it, showing the many years that were weighing down on his shoulders. He was dressed in commoner clothes, a simple brown vest and a pair of plain peasant pants. Behind him there were two common brown horses. The beasts neighed and shook their mane, but otherwise looked gentle and tame.

“Frederique! Delightful! I shall take that one!” said Tullos as he pointed a the horse on the right that was shaking his mane to scare off some pesky flies.

“Than I shall take the other one sir.” said Frederique as he made a polite bow to his master.

Kyros looked at the horses with timid eyes. He never even touched one before so he was a bit afraid of them. To him they were such huge beasts that they could easily trample him if they wished to.

“What of this child master?” asked Frederique.

“Oh, Kyros? He shall ride with you! Now come on! Hurry up and help me get on the back of this horse. Adventure awaits us! Hahaha!” said Tullos as he started to laugh.

Kyros gulped when he heard that he will be riding a horse. How could he do that when he never even touched one before? Did Tullos showed no fear towards such a huge beast? No, the young merchant's son held no fear towards the horse and probably even if it was a bear he would still show the same amount of courage. Because of this Tullos managed to mount on the horse with ease, however Kyros had a bit of trouble as he didn't know yet how to hold his balance on the saddle. As soon as he found himself up on the horse's back he clinged for dear life to the saddle, afraid that any moment now the beast would throw him off.

Seeing this, Frederique gently placed his hand on the boy's head and then said to him with a calm and gentle tone in his voice “Don't be afraid of the horse, he won't harm you. Just relax and let him carry you on his back, you can leave the rest in my care.”

Kyros nodded and tried to calm down a bit. It would take him a moment or two before he managed to release some of the tension that made his muscles clench tight on the saddle. In the meantime Tullos seemed more excited than ever to start on his big adventure. It was like there was a never ending fire inside of him, burning anything that dared to stay in front of his ambition.

“We are ready master Tullos.” said Frederique after he saw Kyros loosen up a bit.

“Very good! Now onwards towards adventure and fame!” Tullos replied raising his left hand up while with the other held on to the reigns.

The small group started to walk on the road and towards the south exit of the village. Tullos was in front and Frederique with Kyros right behind him. As they walked the villagers were giving their greetings to the young master and he replied courteously to all of them. Both the son and the father held a good amount of respect with the villagers here. However, no one seemed to ask where they were headed and what they were going to do. Some of their eyes moved on Kyros and when he caught those looks he knew that they were whispering something bad about him, after all he was the slave in that house and instead of walking on the ground behind his master, he was riding on the horse.

“Have a safe trip young Tullos!” said one of the guards as they saw him off.

“Thank you Barney! Have a great day!” replied Tullos politely.

After they left the village they continued to walk through the forest. Neither of them spoke a single word as the village was getting further and further away from them. Suddenly Kyros realized that if they continued like that they would be forced to camp out in the woods for the night.

“I know it is not my place to speak young master, but where are we headed right now?” asked Kyros after he managed to muster up some courage.

“To the ancient ruins south of here! I heard some people in the village tell legends of gold and ancient demons living there! Wouldn't it be incredible to see such a beast! I bet it has horns and spikes and is ugly and and... what do you think Kyros?” asked Tullos with a clear gleam of joy in his eyes.

“Young master I don't know, I hope we don't. They might be dangerous. What if they want to eat us?” he answered and then gulped at the end, clearly not a fan of the idea of ending up eaten by a starving demon.

“Of course we will! This is what happens on grand adventures like this one! We encounter demons, we slay them and then we rise in fame and meet the king and marry the princess and end up rich and... Achoo!” said Tullos who's fantasy was rudely interrupted by his sneeze.

“Young master, maybe we should head back? The air around these parts seems to be a bit cold. I wouldn't want you to catch something, your father would kill me!” said Frederique worried.

“Nonsense!” said Tullos as he wiped his nose with his sleeve. “We are marching forward! What sort of adventurer are you Frederique?” asked the boy as he scolded the old man.

“I am not sir...” replied with a sigh Frederique.

Looking up at the old man and then back at Tullos, Kyros couldn't help but wonder what was the relationship between the two. That's why before his mind decided to make up all sorts of scenarios, Kyros asked him:

“Are you a slave as well?”

“Oh?” Frederique looked down at Kyros, surprised by this sudden question. “No, thank the gods! I'm not a slave, but a common peasant that was hired by master Balthos to watch over young Tullos. So do not worry child, I won't take us somewhere dangerous. We will be back by dinner time. Tonight, mistress Sabelle, Tullos's mother will cook his favorite, Suki pie. I doubt the young master will want to miss that.” he replied with a soft smile on his lips.

His words reassured Kyros and calmed him down a bit. It was good to know that they wouldn't be doing anything dangerous, however he couldn't feel that there was something unnerving about this whole thing. Were those ruins truly harmless?

As they continued their journey to the ancient ruins, Kyros decided not to think about a possible bad outcome. This whole journey anyway was just a means for the young master to play adventurer. Probably when he would get hungry or bored they would head back home so there was nothing to worry about.

Around half an hour later they finally managed to reach their destination: The Ancient Ruins. These ruins were remains of an old temple. The stone that once formed the pillars and walls of this ancient construction were now covered by moss and scattered all over the place. It had no rooftop so the sky could be clearly seem even from inside, however the Suki trees didn't seem to grow further into the temple, leaving a small area without any trees or bushes.

“WOW!” gasped the boy in wonder of the ancient ruins. “Look at all that! There is bound to be endless treasures in there!” said Tullos excited as he galloped closer before stopping at the first ruin. “Look at all those symbols! It must be an ancient rite of some sorts!” said the boy excited.

“It actually says “Temple of Prosperity”. Young master you haven't been keeping up with your Kyoran language studies have you?” asked Frederique.

“Kyoran language is boring! Why do we have to learn it anyway? Why can't we speak our own?” asked the child as he showed a pouting face.

“Sigh. Young master, you must study it.”

“What's Kyoran language?” asked Kyros who was a bit oblivious about the subject. This was the first time he even heard about the name of this strange language and he actually wondered if it wasn't in fact that same language the slave masters and merchants were speaking in the big cities.

“You don't know Kyros?” asked Frederique.

“No sir.” came the young boy's reply.

“Kyoran language is also know as the universal language. It is said to be the only language that all species can speak and through which they can understand each other.” said Tullos and then pointed up at the sky. “You've seen it during the night right? Those lights up there? They say that's an entire land is just hanging there and the lights are not stars but in fact they are the lights from the cities of other species living up there.” said Tullos.

“An entire kingdom up there?” asked Kyros amazed as he looked up at the sky. He couldn't even dream that such a thing was possible, let alone understand how that was so.

“Not exactly a kingdom. Honestly, no one really knows since no one has ever been able to go there. Humans can't fly, that is a matter of the gods. That's why there are even cults that worship those beings as possible gods.” said Frederique.

“That's also stupid. The ancient texts speak that the Kyoran, the ancient ones that gave us this language, told our ancestors not to do that since there are no gods living up there.” said Tullos.

“Yes. Young master is right. Our people were brought here in ancient times from a distant world much similar to this one. They used impressive ships that sailed through the sky. We were then left here to live out our peaceful lives.” explained Frederique.

“It is common knowledge thought to everyone! Why don't you know about it Kyros?” asked surprised Tullos.

“I'm a slave young master, I'm not allowed to learn unless the master wants me to.” Kyros replied humbly as he lowered his head and looked down at the ground in front of him.

“Hm?” Tullos looked at him for a long moment before smirking and then speaking with his usual boosting confidence in his voice “Alright! Then it's settled! From now on you will study with me! I will help you out and then you can do my homework for me!”

Kyros looked up and blinked at the words of the young master. He was both surprised and overjoyed by this. To read and write was a privilege that a slave like himself could rarely dream of.

“So getting someone to do your homework for you is your actual plan master Tullos?” asked Frederique, sighing at the end.

“N-No! I j-just want to help him study! Yes! Now let's move on with our adventure! Treasures await!” said the young boy almost shouting all the words in an attempt to make it sound like what Frederique said was untrue, although by now everyone knew the young master's obvious plan.

Honestly, for Kyros it didn't matter if he was going to be used to do his master's homework. All that matter to him was that he was going to learn how to read and write. After dismounting, Kyros walked up to the stone where the strange characters were sculpted in the rock. They seemed foreign to him, weirdly shaped, unknown for now. He was going to learn how to read and write that. The thought of it made him smile a bit.

“Be careful young master, we don't know when parts of this place might crumble. The walls are cracked and they could fall at any time.” said Frederique as he followed Tullos closely by.

“Escape from a crumbling temple! That sounds fun!” said Tullos with a laugh.

Hearing his laughter, Kyros woke up from his daydreaming of knowing how to read and write and quickly followed them further into the temple. The whole place was covered up in grass and moss. The floor was cracked in numerous places, letting the grass sprout free. No matter where they looked they didn't find any door or secret mechanics, but the young master seemed not to be discouraged and for more than one hour they would search around the temple for “ancient mysteries of unknown that will lead us towards a grand adventure!”.

“There is nothing here young master. Let us head back home. It is getting late and your mother will start to worry.” said Frederique more concerned actually about his job and how the young master's parents were going to punish him for bringing him back home so late.

“No, let us search for a bit more...” said Tullos as he jumped up on the remains of a pillar and moved towards the back of the temple. “Hm?” he spotted something. “Frederique! Kyros! Come over here! I found something!” he said and then started to run towards the back wall.

Kyros and Frederique were surprised by the young master's words so they headed off towards his location immediately. Once there they saw him removing some of the grass from the floor. Upon a closer look they saw there were a bunch of characters written in the stone that looked different compared to those on the sign at the entrance. For Kyros however they all looked the same.

“What do you think it says?” asked Tullos as he looked up at Frederique.

“I don't know young master. I have never seen such letters before. Maybe it is a trap or someone from another land placed them here.” said the old man with a bit of worry in his voice. “Another land?” asked Tullos a bit curious. His adventure was starting to get interesting.

As the young master brushed his hand over the strange symbols, he felt something like a tingle of energy coming from them. Tullos looked down at each symbol and for a moment everything was lost to him. He could not hear Frederique as he worried about his safety or the coming nightfall, he could not hear the whispers of wind either. It was like he was trapped in another world, everything around him turned black. Tullos placed his hand on a symbol that resembled a dragon's eye and then pressed it, murmuring something that the other two didn't hear and he himself did not understood.

Suddenly there was a jolt of energy coming from the ancient writing and Tullos was woken up back to reality. The ground started to shake and he could feel the floor moving. He knew something was about to happen, but he had no idea what and why. The strange feeling he had before while looking at the text was now gone and the sensation of that energy disappeared as well. Tullos took a step back as the floor started to split in half.

“Oh by the gods! Have mercy on us! We didn't mean to intrude on your holy ground!” said Frederique as he dropped on his knees and started praying to the ancient gods.

“What's happening?” asked Kyros as he was getting scared as well.

“I don't know... the rune... just called me and I answered...” answered Tullos confused. How did I know it was actually a rune? What did I answer? these thoughts formed in the young child's mind, however no answer came to them.

The floor moved like a sliding door and where the ancient unknown writing was, now opened up a pair of stairs leading down onto a dark path. It didn't stay dark for long as small blue crystals started to shine on the left and right of the ancient corridor and thus illuminated the way in. When the shaking stopped, the path was lit up in front of them. Frederique had no words to say to such a thing and neither did Kyros, but Tullos was even more excited and full of joy. He finally uncovered a secret that no one knew about! His grand adventure actually started! Now there was nothing stopping him from finding out the secrets of this ancient temple.

“My grand adventure... Let's go inside! The treasure must be in there! I'm sure of it!” he said with excitement gleaming in his eyes as he jumped on the first step of the stairs and then started to climb further down, going deeper into the ground.

“Wait for me!” said Kyros as he gave chase after the young boy.

“Young master! Wait for me! I can't let you go in there without me! Oh by the gods, your father and mother will have my neck on a platter!” said Frederique worried as he shouted after Tullos who was already ahead of them gleaming with joy and excitement of his grand adventure.

Reviews

[Erin Winter]

It's very well written, but there are a few spots where you have sudden tense changes and swap from past to future or past to present. There are also a few spots where you could cut down on the fluff. One moment everything was going along smoothly and then BAM!!! There's a paragraph about the Saki tree and it's uses. Just try to incorporate these details, or even just a few of them as soon as you introduce a subject. It's clear you're very proud of those trees, and that's okay. You could even talk about them more in a later chapter. Right now it's just in a way where it doesn't belong. It's a wonderful story idea though, you just need to work on it's flow a little bit. Keep up the good work!

[Dragomir Cristian M]

Thank you for the wonderful review. Indeed I did want to bring the Suki trees and fruits to the reader's attention so that they can see the world as different from Earth. I will listen to your advice and see what I can do about such situations in the future. As for the swap of the verb tense I think you are referring about the same paragraph where I describe the Suki trees and fruits. I attempted with that to bring out the idea that the village exists and is still there. Maybe I messed it up... There is a lot that I still need to learn as a writer, so hopefully as I continue writing this story, I'll learn to correct my past mistakes :).

[Erin Winter]

You're doing great so far, and only the best can admit that they still have more to learn. I think with a little more practice, and some good advice, you'll be an even better writer in no time at all.