Lord Shadow

INDIA

HAMPI

The forest is vast and the trees are tall and large, and the winds inside this forest is calming and serene. It is a forest that doesn’t seems to hide anything sinister or evil.

At night, beast comes out and in the morning they return back.

It is a typical kind of forest in the world after the Fall.

Inside this large forest, there is one small structure that many people would not realize if one just passes by this area in a flash.

On top of that structure, a flock of raven perched themselves on the ledges and the eaves, their eyes seem to be observing all.

While some of the other flock of ravens perched on top of the large and tall trees nearby. On the ground, serpent’s slithers around the branches and hides themselves among the leaves

Two person walks surrounded by green mist as they stepped over the veins of dead trees that have envelops the place that they are about to enter.

Their eyes are both excited and their steps are marked with purpose. These two people are a man and a woman.

The man is especially excited, a smile is on his face and his eyes narrowed. The woman on the other hand shows more of an innocent curiosity.

One of the serpent comes out of hiding and coil itself around the man.

The man smiles and took the serpent on his hand and the serpent was enveloped by a green mist and morphed into a staff with a serpent head.

The woman did not seems shocked and was more interested about this structure that remains standing even after the Fall. It even seems like it has not even get scratched.

‘Interesting. Very interesting’ the woman said. The man nodded in agreement.

They slowly walked inside the structure, vigilant in every step. They already got ambush by a monster horde before arriving here.

The structure that they are entering is an ancient looking temple

The man seems to marvel at the temple structure, his eyes beaming and the woman on the other hand look left and right to make sure there is no threat to the man before once again examining the Temple interior

It is hard to see the Temple because from a distance it is covered by tall hills and tall and high trees.

This Temple was not as ancient looking before the Fall, but after the Fall it was like it is transformed.

Of course before the Fall happens, there is no hills and no tall trees near this temple but after the Fall, the geography and the flora and fauna around this Temple changed as it did on many other place all over the world.

They walk inside the Temple and the man smiles. He even wanted to laugh as he could not contain the happiness inside his heart.

As he walks one could see red blood drips from his dark red robe and the boots he wears leave a blood footprint.

Leaves fallen down from the robes.

The same could be said for the woman that followed that man faithfully from behind.

Outside the temple hundreds of monsters were slaughtered, leaving their gigantic carcass to cover the area around the Temple.

Their bodies were scattered around like a mess and their blood dye the grass and the soil wet and dark

As these two people walked inside the first thing they noticed about the inside of the Temple is pillars. Lots and lots of pillars.

The man knows this pillar is not ordinary pillars. He once read about this Temple. He approached done pillar and then he wondered.

‘Is it really true?’ he muttered. His question was heard by the woman.

‘What is true?’ The woman asked, slightly looking puzzled looking at all these pillars.

The man only smiles and then he taps his fingers on the pillars and that simple and gentle tap of his finger created sound of music inside the Temple echoing and reverberating inside it.

It was a pleasant melody. A wind blows by that caresses their cheeks and the summer scent could be smell inside the Temple.

The music did not come from him but from the pillars. The wind and the summer scent is alos probably the work of this pillar.

That man smiles.

‘Musical pillars’ he said and them he added

‘Magical musical pillars’

‘Oh’ the woman said, closing her eyes and opening her ears as she started to listen to the melody before it fades out.

‘That is interesting’ she said as she opens her eyes. The man only nodded. Then he said

‘Fifty-eight pillars. Not fifty-six. That is the interesting thing’ He said to himself. The woman finally understands something. This man knows this Temple more than he let on.

So she asks

‘You know this temple, Lord Loki?’ A woman that is beside that man said.

‘Yes’ Though he did not exude confidence when he answers that question. These two people are none other than Loki and Trisha.

Loki nodded.

‘I dare not say I know it. But I heard of it.’ He added

‘All good things I guess’

Loki only smiles and Trisha knows not to go down that rabbit hole. She also did not say anything as she looks around at the temple.

Loki faintly felt a little ease now that they are here.

After knowing the location of that Orb, Loki and Trisha immediately come to the location in the Treinheim paper after finished sending off Ezzio.

The Treasury is another place while the orb is here. Why it appears here and not in the Treasury is also weird.

Because Trisha saw the orb in the Treasury.

But now it is here. Loki doesn’t want to see Ezzio again so maybe after this he would ask how that Orb appears here through some other kinds of communication device.

He needs to improve his social skills after all. Loki shakes his head after arriving here.

This area used to be a village.

A poor village but a peaceful village.

Like most villages in the world it is ordinary with a little bit of pain and some small joy of life.

The Fall changes everything

After the Fall, nobody lives around here anymore because there are many beast and monsters that roams around this area.

The village people is probably all eradicated, eaten by monster or killed by other people or by the wars that ravaged all of India during the years where warlord rules over large area.

Though Loki put his bet on monsters.

When Loki arrived here he saw hundreds of monster, all gigantic and many of them the size of a small hill.

Probably only one of them is enough to swallow all of the villagers of this village.

He then immediately kills all of them as they are obstructing him to enter the Temple. After killing all of them and the coast is clear of any ambush he and Trisha finally enter the Temple.

This Temple is the Vittala Temple in Hampi State

Though it might have a different name nowadays considering the many warlords that spring up in India after the Fall.

India in this past couple of years remains largely independent from the two great organization that have begun claiming stakes since they have been organized.

But the influence of the Republic and the World Government is slowly seeping among the warlords.

The benefits of joining them sometime even outweighs the cons

Loki could care less. After all he did not come to the past to care about matter of nation of kingdoms.

He is fighting for the highest stake.

He is fighting for the fate of the entire Universe.

As Loki walk inside the temple, he could recognize the displays of beautiful Dravidian architecture and carvings that truly speaks of those artisans of those times.

Loki grins as he recognized something.

Loki through his sensitive sense also sense some magics imbued in those architecture, in the murals on the walls, on the statue that lined ups on the outside of the temple.

It is everywhere. It is finite, infinitesimal even, but it is there.

Loki knows that many of the stories about gods in many cultures refer to those creatures that visited earth thousands of years ago.

The stories are not just stories and the myths aren’t just myths. There is a grain of truth in the old stories and old myths.

Loki look around, his eyes seems to want to burn the image of this Temple inside his mind.

Then he smiled

‘India was probably also visited by those creatures’ he muttered

To say that those creatures are God is not entirely false. At least to the eyes of those primitive ancestors of humanity they must look like Gods.

After all they could control the weather, predict the movement of the heaven and Earth, moves mountain and direct the waves of the sea with the simple matter of waving their hands.

‘It is always a temple’ Loki muttered in annoyance. Loki recognizes that after the Fall some Temple were morphed to contain some rare treasures or monster.

‘Musical pillars’ Trisha muttered in amazement.

Loki nodded and began explaining

‘Yes, musical “magical” pillars’ He stressed on the magical part and Trisha could only roll her eyes and shakes her head.

But Loki pretend like he did not see what Trisha just did and resume explaining things about the Temple.

‘It baffles people of course. From what I know a long time ago a British man tries to unveil the mystery by breaking two of the pillars but they could find nothing inside it. So, it should be fifty-six pillars’ and he smiles a knowing smile.

Trisha found this weird.

Then Trisha look again at the Temples and then she realizes something and she look back at Loki.

‘But there is fifty-eight pillars’ Loki nodded with a mysterious smile.

‘It does, doesn’t it?’ Loki said without explaining any explanation.

‘This Temple…. does it have connection with those creatures?’ Loki thought to himself.

***

Anyway, I decided to release two chapter today. Anyway, I think this month every day will have one chapter( Not promising anything. If I fall sick I won’t be posting anything)

.And before anyone is confused about why no posting for five days I address some matters on the Age of Heroes page so I am going to copy paste that note on the comment page later.

Anyway, I know I said this arc is about to end but damn it is taking time. At first I tried to skip it but then when I write it I know that if I skip it that later I need to explain some things. I am setting up when Azief becomes Sovereign everyone will get the feeling that they were at least not blindsided why Sovereign are so powerful and why they are the way they are

This chapter in particular delve into it a bit but it is subtle.

The whole chapter also deals and show what influence the Death Monarch really posses all over the world.

Since most of the time we are seeing the world through his eyes and he rarely exercise his influence, the readers might think his influence is not as terrifying but in this chapter it also talk about in the eyes of the world what a terrifying anomaly Death Monarch really is and why the whole world walk on eggshell when there is anything concerning Death Monarch

I could not skip it and instead I was forced by my own characters to write it. I need to explain some thing in details so that if there is a plot hole in mys troy it will not be that much.

I talk quiet a lot this time. Anyway, next chapter in a couple of minutes