The chamber fell silent.
Tess stepped further inside, her boots echoing against the floor.
Every step caused the flames on the candles to flicker, like they were reacting to her footsteps.
Gabriel didn't follow.
He stood just beneath the opening, eyes fixed on the markings written across the pillars and the floor. The faint glow from the candlelight reflected in his irises.
Tess glanced over her shoulder.
"Are you coming?"
Gabriel finally stepped forward. "This isn't right," he muttered, scanning the structures with a mixture of disbelief and suspicion.
"What's not, right?" Tess replied.
"This isn't right." Half speaking to himself. "Elven temples are all Sylcathriel's. His name should be everywhere."
"Yes," Tess answered, coaxing him to carry on.
Gabriel stepped closer to her, spinning slowly as he looked all around.
"His name isn't anywhere."
Tess's mouth opened slightly. She looked like she wanted to say something, then stopped herself.
"Can you read this?" The words finally escaped.
Reading elvish wasn't unique, but it was rare for humans to do.
"Yes," Gabriel said quietly. "Sister Melissa taught me."
He didn't realise he had spoken until the words left his mouth. The architecture had lowered his guard.
"Who's sister Melisaa?" She had caught onto his words.
He pretended not to hear the question.
Gabriel stared at the Elvish centrepiece, his eyes scanning the inscription carved with near reverence.
He said the words slowly, as if trying to remember them from somewhere deeper than memory, "I Ottëa Ainu."
That can't be right.
Again, but firmer this time, "I Ottëa Ainu"
Tess frowned. "You know what it means?"
Gabriel didn't answer right away. He looked at her, not with certainty, but with something colder.
"The Eighth Divine One"
Tess's brow creased. "There are only seven."
He didn't move.
She took a breath. "You think it means…?"
He nodded barely. "If it means what I think it means, this place wasn't made to honour what we know. It was built for something else." Gabriel continued deeper into the temple. His footsteps fading.
Tess whispered, almost to herself:"The eighth Archangel"
She looked up at the centrepiece again. "But there's no mention of an eighth"
He approached the end of the temple
An altar stood there, surrounded by nothing. A single book rested on top, untouched by time.
He stepped towards it.
The air pressed against his chest, thick and heavy.
It got harder to breathe.
Another step, and his vision began to falter, the edges of the room bending like heat rising from a hot stone. The pillars blurred, the candlelight smeared into long streaks of orange blurs.
He blinked hard, trying to recover.
He stepped again.
Then came whispers, soft at first like a mother to her child.
They grew louder, dozens of voices layered on top of one another.
The whispers turned into a shout, hundreds of voices overlapping, screaming to be heard.
Closing his eyes. He proceeded.
The nearer to the altar, the louder the voices grew, the stronger he lost his vision
He clenched his jaw and opened his eyes, forcing one foot forward, even as the temple warped and the whispers pierced his skin.
He couldn't stop now.
Not with the book calling to him.
He stretched out his hand, fingertips almost touching.
Pain from the voices was almost unbearable.
Dead silence. Everything stopped.
A low voice rang in his mind, just one, and the word was clear: "Dracamere"
Gabriel's senses snapped back.
"GABRIEL!" He turned, seeing Tess sprint towards him.
A stench filled the air.
Heavy footsteps approached him from the side,
He turned towards the sound.
A tall, rail-thin monster stepped into sight, its silhouette bending unnaturally. Black eyes glimmered in the light, its brown skin clinging tight to its bones. Its head was the size of a boulder, wide and square. Twice the size of any humans.
The beast opened as it moved towards him, phasing left and right, leaving blurs as afterimages.
Gabriel didn't have time to draw his swords.
The beast was already on him.
Gabriel jumped to the side and rolled just before the moment of collision.
Using the forward momentum to jump back up to his feet.
He turned to Tess, who was fast approaching.
"Run!" He shouted whilst reaching for his blades.
That slight distraction cost him. The monster blinked in front of him.
Using a backhand swipe to knock him into the pillar he was standing next to.
The sound of bones being broken echoed as he crashed into the pillar.
He raised his head from the ground.
Seeing the creature approach Tess, phasing left and right.
She had both hands around her sword. Twisting with each blur, trying to track the beast.
The beast closed the distance in an instant, its arm snapping out, grabbing her by the neck and lifting her from the ground before she could even raise her blade
Gabriel, gasping through the pain, used his unbroken arm to reach into his robe, fingers trembling as he pulled out the Redamere essence.
Using his mouth, he uncorked the bottle.
Shit, a Voludvare.
It's too fast. She can't match it.
His hands tightened around the bottle.
Tess's feet kicked helplessly as the Voludvare's grip tightened
Gabriel poured the contents of the vial into his mouth and swallowed.
Warmth hit him instantly.
It spread down his throat, flooding his chest, a burning heat spread throughout his body, crawling through every bone like molten metal.
His heartbeat grew louder.
Deeper.
The warmth surged again, this time sharper, climbing up his spine, and behind his eyes.
His vision blurred. Then refocused.
The screams of the Voludvare became louder, sharper.
All of his senses began to heighten.
The pain from his injuries had vanished.
His irises had swallowed the whites of his eyes completely, pupils erased.
Only a solid red glare remained
He jumped up.
The beast sensed danger instantly.
It dropped Tess like dead weight and twisted away, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Gabriel stood motionless, his face stripped of anything human.
He drew one of his blades, letting it hang loosely at his side.
The Voludvare appeared to his right, within striking distance. It threw its claw upwards towards Gabriel.
He raised his blade, deflecting the blow, the momentum causing the beast to take a few steps back.
It lunged again with a piercing screech.
Gabriel ducked under its attack, pirouetting to its back
Red smoke dispersing from his hands,
The beast turned, attempting a follow-up swing
The demon-eyed adventurer raised his hands and clasped them together.
The smoke he let out had taken shape.
Two red, claw-shaped masses seized it mid-air, shredding into its flesh.
The Voludvare began shrieking, as black liquid dripped to the floor.
Gabriel attempted to drag his hands apart, but an invisible force was holding them in place.
Blood began dripping from his nose and eyes
A Pained ringing sound shot through his mind.
He gritted his teeth, body visibly shaking.
Tess appeared behind the beast, sword in hand.
Slashing at its back.
The invisible force holding Gabriel's hands together weakened for a second.
He noticed
The beast began squirming, left to right.
Gabriel answered with a battle cry of his own.
"AHHHH!"
He dragged his hands apart, like tearing parchment.
The smoke claws mimicked him, ripping the beast. The creature split with a wet, sucking sound.
Two halves of the Voludvare hit the stone floor, black fluid pouring from the mess.
Gabriel remained still, arms parted, eyes glowing red, breath shallow, shoulders trembling.
The only sound left was the slow drip of blood and bile on ancient stone.