“By the Lord of Light,” Elyse murmured as she gazed around in horrified awe. “What happened in here?”
“Do you think the earthquake killed them?” Rami asked. “From what I saw of the ruins, it certainly seems like an earthquake destroyed this town and temple. I might have thought it was a tsunami, but we are miles from any sea.”
“This was no earthquake or tsunami,” Rollar said grimly. “Look at the placement of the skeletons. They’ve all been thrown against the walls, and many of them have dismembered limbs. Others have their hands thrown up in front of their faces, as if trying to shield themselves from something.”
“And here,” I said, pointing at the skeletons nearest the entrance where we had just crawled in, “these were the town’s warriors. Many of them are still wearing armor and holding weapons. They were trying to protect the townspeople, who were all cowering near the back of the hall.”
“The whole town seems to have tried to hide in the temple,” Elyse said, still staring wide-eyed at the mass of skeletons all around her. “But from what?”
“Whatever it was, neither the warriors nor the temple could protect them,” Rollar said. “Something—or someone—with immense power did this.”
I walked across the temple floor and knelt down next to a skeleton of a child, crouched behind a broken pillar on its knees, with its hands over its skull.
“You thought you could hide here, little one,” I said to what remained of the child who had died all those years ago. I couldn’t fight off the sadness, and I might have shed a tear had my ability not been forever seared.
I reached down and touched the child’s skeletal arm. As I did, a strange energy surged through me. A vision flashed through my mind, and the sounds of screams rang in my ears, as clear as day. For a few seconds, I saw the temple as it had been before whatever—or whoever—had destroyed it. There was panic, fear, screaming, weeping. Pure terror.
I could feel the child’s fear in me, as if it were my own, and could see through the child’s eyes, watching in terror from behind the pillar as the townsfolk screamed and cowered while warriors roared out orders from the front of the temple.
“He’s coming!” someone was shouting hysterically. “Pray, all of you. Pray for your souls. Pray—”
There was a blinding flash of light. Then, the entire vision, along with the sounds, vanished. I staggered back, feeling as if I’d just been kicked in the stomach. My head was spinning as if I’d just chugged two wineskins of Yorish brandy.
Well, it looked like I had figured out what my new ability was. The memories of the dead were my own now.
Chapter Twenty
“Fucking hells,” I groaned, gripping my temples.
“What happened?” Elyse asked, coming to my side and rubbing my back.
“I think I might have time traveled, somehow,” I answered, still feeling disoriented.
“Time traveled?”
I nodded as I nursed my aching head. “When I touched that kid’s bones, I saw what he saw, in my head. I don’t know how long ago it was, but it was before Kroth fell. It was like being in a dream but being awake at the same time. I was me, but I was also him.”
“Can you do it again?” Rollar asked eagerly. “You may be able to discover what happened here!”
“Hold your horses,” I said. “It isn’t nearly as fun as it sounds. Afterward, it made me feel like a troll with a bad case of food poisoning took a shit inside my head.”
“That does not sound very pleasant,” Rami said.
“Not really, no,” I said.
As unsettling as the experience had been, I did want to learn what the hell had happened here in Kroth. Despite my aching stomach and throbbing head, my curiosity wouldn’t allow this mystery to go unsolved. I would have to take a few more peeks into the past.
I walked to the back of the temple hall, to another skeleton, this time one belonging to an adult male. I placed my hands on his skull, and again, the final moments of his life were blasted into my brain. This time, though, I received a better view of what was going on.
What grabbed my attention was not the beautiful interior of the temple as it had been before its destruction but the masses of townsfolk huddled inside it. From where the man was standing, I had an unobstructed view of almost the entire hall. It was packed with people. Two rows of warriors stood in a shield wall at the entrance. Their shields were locked as their spears pointed toward the huge oaken doors, which were barred shut.
Something hit the doors, something huge and powerful. The doors cracked, and the entire temple shook. Everyone started screaming. The warriors were yelling something, but I couldn’t make out what it was. Fear—the man’s fear–saturated my entire being. The terror of the surrounding people was also clearly evident from their shrieks and desperate prayers to the Tree God.
A force from the outside smashed into the doors again, and this time, they gave way, exploding inward in a shower of broken wood and flying splinters. A massive shape blotted out the light from outside, blanketing the hall in shadow. The screams of terror reached a feverish pitch. A blinding flash of light, and the vision ended.
This time, I dropped to my knees, with intense nausea crippling my body and making me want to puke my guts out. My head was swimming, my vision was blurry, and I could barely keep myself from toppling over. I staggered to my feet, swaying like a drunk on jelly-weak knees.
“Vance, are you all right?” Elyse asked, concerned. “Maybe you should rest before you try that again.”
“I just need to
