I looked behind me, but there was no Torii gate or Dex to be seen anywhere.
“Cheeky old bastard,” I muttered to myself, as I made a mental note to return the shove when I got the chance—, if I ever got the chance.
I dusted myself off and adjusted Grim Whisper, swapping out my ammunition for persuader rounds. If I could incapacitate Monty, I’d have a better chance of knocking some sense into him.
Provided I could shoot him first.
I moved forward carefully. Dex said the defenses were disabled, but I was still approaching this place warily. My memories of the Sanctuary were dark and unpleasant.
The last time I’d been here, Connor Montague had died.
I looked down at my hand and examined the ring. It gave off slow pulses of power every few seconds. I reabsorbed Ebonsoul, because nothing said, “Let’s stay calm,” like approaching with a drawn blade in my hand.
I let my senses expand and felt Ebonsoul’s presence easily. Whatever Kali had done had made access to my blade easier. I still missed my mala bracelet, though.
“I should’ve asked Dex for a large steaming pot of tea,” I said under my breath, as I approached the inner area of the Sanctuary known as the Second Gallery. “That would’ve been more effective, knowing Monty.”
The massive doors to the Second Gallery were open.
The Sanctuary was a series of rectangles inside of rectangles, inside yet more rectangles, and broken into small squares. The moat around the entire complex was rectangular. Each of the galleries was a rectangle, broken up into four even squares.
The Second Gallery was a large, rectangular courtyard with the temple structure located in the center. Around the Gallery wall, on each corner, stood a tall tower, matching the four towers around the center structure.
The center structure, which looked exactly like Angkor Wat’s temple, towered into the air. Realizing that Dex somehow managed to hide this entire complex boggled my brain and gave me a mild headache. To think that I was ever a threat to Dex made me shake my head at my arrogance. It was like an ant asking an elephant if it was a threat.
The little voice in my head answered: Even fire ants can sting.
Until the elephant rolled over and crushed the entire colony without a second thought. Good try, but no.
I really hoped Dex was right about Monty’s location as I took in the Second Gallery complex. Searching the entire complex for one person would take weeks, and that’s with them staying in one place. I felt the flush of warmth as my body repaired the damage from Dex’s magehandling of me.
I took stock of my situation. It wasn’t looking good. On the downside, I had a shield I didn’t know how to use, a gun I didn’t want to use, and a blade I needed to use. The upside was, as far as I knew, my curse was in full effect. That would make dying difficult. The associated downside was that if Monty went full Darth on me, he would be putting the strength of my curse to the test.
Not the kind of test I was eager to take part in.
Dex had said Monty would be giving off a massive signature in the midst of a schism. I closed my eyes and focused my breath. All around me, I felt the pervasive, ambient energy of the Golden Circle. The Sanctuary felt dormant, as if waiting for the outcome of this interaction. It felt old, primal, and powerful, magnifying how small I felt in comparison.
It’s almost as if the very stones I stepped on said, You are not a mage, but it was deeper than that. The very air of sacredness and quiet in such a large expanse of stone and power drove the point home.
You do not belong here.
I crossed the outer gallery as I entered deeper into the space. Each step I took reinforced what a bad idea this was. The immense walls were covered with symbols and runes I had no possibility of understanding.
For all I knew, they could have been words of unthinkable power, describing the secrets of reality and the universe, or the Montague recipe for tea biscuits. There was no way to decipher their meaning. What I did know, was that every symbol was imbued with a palpable power.
Other than the near sensory overload I received from the Sanctuary itself, I picked up no overt runic signatures except for one familiar source of energy…Monty.
Blazing in the center of the temple complex, like some odd runic beacon, I felt Monty’s energy signature. I understood what Dex meant about Monty not being able to mask his presence. This energy announced his location easily, almost boldly, daring to be found. For a brief second, I considered turning around and looking for the Torii gate again. Monty had grown stronger since the beginning of his schism at Kali’s.
Stronger and darker.
The energy I sensed was not inviting me in for afternoon tea, unless that tea included ample servings of pain…with a dash of death for added flavor. The thought of deadly Earl Grey brought a smile to my lips as I climbed the steps to the main temple of the center complex.
Another set of enormous doors sat open, and led to an inner stone courtyard, similar to the one Dex had recently thrashed me in. I poked my head in the entrance and looked around…empty. I stepped off to the side and followed the stone pathway to another larger courtyard. Whoever designed this place had a thing for courtyards.
The door to this section was closed. I stood next to it and let my senses expand. A force of runic backlash, like a door being slammed shut in my brain, hit me as the door exploded outward, narrowly missing me. It sailed across the courtyard and shattered against a
