Malcolm Tent
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Wish upon the Stars chapter 780
🕑 Added 2024-12-17 21:40:52 +0000 UTCThe shark people were not friendly. This was clear pretty quickly when they started stabbing me with their spears, which thankfully were very shoddily made and broke pretty much on contact with Mornax. They were all D-rank (I was reasonably sure these were some kind of subspecies of master rank shark that had taken on partially human form on breakthrough) but the materials were shoddy for the rank, and they were inexpertly put together.
Since I was already more Impact heavy than usual and also using Mornax and Sammael in combination, they snapped like dry twigs on my skin and armor. The sharklings didn’t like that, and when I got up off the ground they hissed and backed away, the few with unbroken spears waving them in an attempt at menace. It was honestly kind of cute.
“So…this is awkward,” I said wryly. “But I’m kind of lost. Can you give me directions to…anywhere else? Like I don’t care where at this point. Not here is my only requirement.”
I noted their teeth baring at me, black and shiny, and realized that being dwellers of a poison marsh these things were probably highly venomous. Joy. The biggest one, though admittedly still only about four feet tall (albeit very stout) stepped forward. “Man-thing,” they hissed menacingly. “You seek to steal from us?”
Glancing around slowly, I cocked my head in confusion. “Steal…what? You live in a swamp.” They snarled, snapping their teeth, and I held up my hands. “It’s a very nice swamp. I’m sure it’s the nicest swamp around. But I don’t need rocks and loose mud. I got lost running away from a big group of sparrows.”
“Blade beaks,” they nodded. “They are a nuisance. They do not come here. They do not dare.”
“Yeah…that’s pretty much why I’m here now.” I paused, thinking of something. “I actually have something I’m looking for.” I pulled out the stone, showing it to him. “You ever seen anything like this?”
The sharkling (I was pretty sure he was male) stared at it intently. “It is rock. Like this,” he said with certainty. Reaching down, he picked up a stone off the ground, handing it to me.
I closed my eyes, letting out a long sigh as I took the rock. “Ok, different question, do you know what’s in that direction?” I pointed where the stone was indicating. “I’m trying to find…something important. I don’t know what it is exactly, but it should be over there.”
They all gasped (which was weird to see sharks do) and the big one stepped back. “You seek the black temple?”
“You know what? Yes, that. Almost definitely that. Because of course it is. Why would I have assumed anything else?” Gods loved their temples. Whatever the core of this world was (and I assumed I was looking for something like that) it was absolutely going to be in a temple.
Silently cursing my great grandmother, I prayed to anyone who would listen that Strakkenthar really WAS gone for good and that his daughter had taken precautions against his return. Because the last thing we needed was MORE fucking gods running around. Big shark looked uneasy (for a shark). “I can lead you,” he said finally. “But you must pay. You give us meat. Meat from outside.”
That was fair. Payment seemed like a solid demand, and I imagined the animals in the marsh tasted like ass. I hadn’t cooked in a while, and I found it relaxing. So I agreed. “Alright fine, I’m going to set up a grill here. You alright if the meat is cooked?”
He cocked his head. “You will burn the meat?”
Right. Sharks. Raw meat was probably standard. “Not exactly. It’s a special way to prepare food where I’m from. I’ll eat it with you so you know it’s safe. Is that ok?” I was curious why they asked for meat from me though. Maybe they just assumed outsiders had outsider food.
Hesitating for a second, he finally nodded. “You give us meat. I take you to the temple. If the burned meat is bad, you give us more meat.”
“Deal,” I said cheerfully, taking a grill out of my ring. I started grilling some steaks I had on hand, nothing fancy, just some E-rank Hydra meat I’d picked up somewhere at some point. Given all the poison I decided to go with a spicier seasoning, and the smell was fantastic as I slowly cooked through my supply, plating out about a hundred steaks for the sharklings.
They seemed a little wary, with Big Shark being the first to try, and to my surprise, when he decided he liked it, he tore off half of it and walked out of sight. A quick flash of Dantalion revealed where he was going.
A pool behind the nearest grove of trees. It was full of baby sharks, all much lower rank, the pool itself one of those deferred Impact areas people use to raise kids (albeit smaller than most). It was clear this was some kind of nursery or spawning pool where they kept the sub D-rank sharks before they evolved into…these.
It was a fascinating thing to see. Not only had I never seen humanoid beasts like this before (most beasts stayed beasts because it felt more natural, though D-rank gave them a chance to change as they Ascended into a new state of being) but I was seeing their young too. I wished Jessie was here, she would definitely love to meet these little guys.
Soon enough, the steaks were gone, about half shared with the baby sharks, and Big Shark was back, looking pleased. “You burn meat well,” he said solemnly.
“Thanks,” I chuckled. “Now, do you think you can show me the way to the temple?”
Nodding, he turned and walked off. It was so abrupt it took me a minute to figure out what was happening, and I followed him hurriedly after I realized we were leaving already.
The trip to the ‘Black Temple’ wasn’t too far, even by mortal standards. We only had to walk for about twenty minutes to reach it. When we arrived, I was a little shocked to see it, because it was perfectly disguised by the landscape. A short, dark building, it was pretty much invisible until you were right in front of it, not because of color or magic, but just because of the way it was situated in the marsh.
Just to double check, I withdrew my stone, walking a circle around it to check on the direction the arrow was pointing. Sure enough, this was the place. I turned to the sharkling. “Alright, you held up your end. Any advice on getting in?”
“Don’t,” he said with a shrug. I waited for him to elaborate, but when he didn’t I just rolled my eyes.
“Ok, operating on the assumption I’m going to do it anyway, if I need to get in, do you have any advice on how I might go about it?” I was staring at the surface of the dark temple, scanning the walls for any access points or ventilation and coming up pretty much empty.
Big Shark paused, seeming to mull it over, then walked up to the building. Looking down, he squinted his beady black eyes at the edge, then walked along the wall until he found a specific spot. He pointed at the ground, and I saw that the moss there was a little less dense. Pulling back a foot covered in a wood and vine make boot, he kicked the wall.
A small plate indented, and I heard a grinding sound. Five identical doors opened on the outside of the temple. He pointed. “Many entrances,” he said simply.
“Ok, which one should I pick?” He opened his mouth and I cut him off, holding up a hand. “Yeah none, I get it, but I’m using one so which one would you pick if you were me and were definitely going to go inside.”
He paced along the wall, sniffing them one by one. Pointing to them in turn. “Smells like Jimweed, bad poison. Smells like crake fish, eat bodies. Smells like swampfire, bad stuff. He stopped at the fourth one. “Smells like oil. Not bad oil. Moving oil. This one.” He stared into the dark for a second before nodding to himself, then turned and walked away, not looking back for a second.
Chuckling, I turned to the building. It was surprisingly ominous for such a squat building, like it was much bigger than it should be for its size. Not in an Ascendant way exactly, just in the sense that it was incredibly foreboding.
Not wanting to go in unprepared, I closed my eyes, triggering Dantalion. My awareness expanded, exploding out of me in a wave as all my senses were heightened. I didn’t focus on just one this time, I let Sammeal boost me to the max and tried to ride all that data, working my form for all it was worth…and got nothing.
Literally, there didn’t seem to be any building here. I could sense trees, animals, plants, even the air. I could quote the toxicity of the water, the tensile strength of the vines, and a dozen facts about slight plant species variants…but I couldn’t sense hide nor hair of the big ass black stone building.
Which I guessed made sense. This was a god’s temple. I couldn’t get proper readings on anything above my rank, and this was probably as above my rank as you could possibly get. Still, I didn’t love the idea of going into this place blind. I’d been planning to case every inch of the entrance and the area past it to give myself the best chance to advance unharmed. Sadly that didn’t seem to be possible.
Still, I kept Dantalion active. The building might be black boxing me but maybe something inside would be perceptible. With that, I took a step inside, expecting some sort of swinging blade or wall of spikes to drop on me.
Nothing came. Making sure I was balanced to be able to avoid any surprises, I took another step, and then a third…and then the fucking tunnel slammed shut, leaving me alone in complete darkness. Fantastic.
I could still see. Or rather, I had all my senses working through Dantalion. I was able to perceive the air in here still, and the dust, and all the non divine parts of the structure.
With that still going for me, I headed deeper in. As I walked, I was floored to notice that I had lost access to at least one sense. Namely, the sense of my wife that came from our bond. It had been a while since anything had blocked it, and it was jarring to be alone in the dark for real. It wasn’t as bad as the Ruined Soul Temple, but it definitely wasn’t going on my list of vacation destinations.
On the upside, the creeping uncertainty was very distracting, so I was able to ignore the unease of losing my most solid connection as I slowly made my way down the corridor. I kept expecting an attack, but nothing came. I was perfectly fine, and by the time I made it to the end of the tunnel there was even a light for me to see with.
Stepping inside, I glanced around the room and my shoulders sank. The room was fairly large, and mostly full of water. There were a series of platforms, each one with a level, and in the walls I could see carious closed off pipes. I groaned in annoyance. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I spat.
Just to make sure I wasn’t misreading the situation, I walked up to the level on my platform, taking hold of it and jerking it toward me. There was a grinding sound and one of the closed pipes higher up the wall opened, more water spilling into the chamber, raising the level of the liquid until it was right up to the edge of the platform. This was going to SUCK.
Comments
GeneralTusk
Level? Did you mean lever? Like the big switch.
Kevin McGuire
Celas that better be sarcasm.
Michelle Ray
Thank you for the chapter! 🩵
CringeWorthyStudios
You know this god is a monster when they consider water puzzles as valid decor in their temple… Thanks for the chapter!
Celas
Hurray water temple
