The chamber fell silent as Tess stepped further inside, her boots echoing against the floor. Every step caused the flames on the candles to flicker, as though they were reacting to her presence, but Gabriel didn't follow. He stood just beneath the opening with his eyes fixed on the markings written across the pillars and the floor while the faint glow from the candlelight reflected in his irises.
Tess glanced over her shoulder. "Are you coming?"
Gabriel finally stepped forward, scanning the structures with a mixture of disbelief and suspicion. "This isn't right," he muttered, almost speaking to himself. "Elven temples are all dedicated to Sylcathriel. His name should be everywhere."
"Yes," Tess answered, coaxing him to carry on.
Gabriel stepped closer to her and spun slowly as he looked all around the chamber. "His name isn't anywhere."
Tess's mouth opened slightly as though 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 master it.
"Yes," Gabriel said quietly. "Sister Melissa taught me."
He didn't realize he had spoken until the words left his mouth, the architecture having lowered his guard enough to let the memory slip through.
"Who's Sister Melissa?" She had caught onto his words immediately.
He pretended not to hear the question and instead 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 at him. "You know what it means?"
Gabriel didn't answer right away and looked at her, not with certainty but with something colder. "The Eighth Divine One."
Tess's brow creased in confusion. "There are only seven."
He didn't move, and she took a breath before continuing. "You think it means...?"
He nodded barely, his voice low when he finally spoke. "If it means what I think it means, this place wasn't made to honor what we know. It was built for something else." Gabriel continued deeper into the temple with his footsteps fading into the distance.
Tess whispered, almost to herself, "The eighth Archangel." She looked up at the centrepiece again, studying the markings. "But there's no mention of an eighth anywhere in the texts."
He approached the end of the temple where an altar stood surrounded by nothing, and a single book rested on top, untouched by time. He stepped towards it, and the air pressed against his chest, thick and heavy until it got harder to breathe. Another step forward caused his vision to falter, the edges of the room bending like heat rising from hot stone while the pillars blurred and the candlelight smeared into long streaks of orange.
He blinked hard, trying to recover, and stepped again.
Then came whispers, soft at first like a mother to her child, but they grew louder as dozens of voices layered on top of one another. The whispers turned into shouting as hundreds of voices overlapped, screaming to be heard, and he closed his eyes before proceeding forward. The nearer to the altar he got, the louder the voices grew and the more his vision failed him, but 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 with his fingertips almost touching the leather binding when the pain from the voices became almost unbearable, and then everything stopped in an instant. A low voice rang in his mind, just one, and the word was clear as daylight.
"Dracamere."
Gabriel's senses snapped back to reality as Tess's voice cut through the silence. "GABRIEL!" He turned to see her sprinting towards him just as a stench filled the air and heavy footsteps approached from the side.
He turned towards the sound to see a tall monster step into sight with its silhouette bending unnaturally. Black eyes glimmered in the light while its brown skin clung tight to its bones, and its head was the size of a boulder, wide and square, twice the size of any human's. The beast opened its mouth as it moved towards him, phasing left and right and leaving blurs as afterimages.
Gabriel didn't have time to draw his swords because the beast was already on him.
He jumped to the side and rolled just before the moment of collision, using the forward momentum to jump back up to his feet before turning to Tess, who was fast approaching. "Run!" he shouted while reaching for his blades, but that slight distraction cost him everything. The monster blinked in front of him and used a backhand swipe to knock him into the pillar he was standing next to, and the sound of bones breaking echoed through the chamber as he crashed into the stone.
He raised his head from the ground to see the creature approaching Tess while phasing left and right. She had both hands around her sword and twisted with each blur, trying desperately to track the beast, but it closed the distance in an instant. Its arm snapped out to grab her by the neck and lifted her from the ground before she could even raise her blade.
Gabriel gasped through the pain and used his unbroken arm to reach into his robe, his fingers trembling as he pulled out the Redamere essence. Using his mouth, he uncorked the bottle while his mind raced with a single thought.
Shit, a Voludvare. It's too fast, and she can't match it.
His hands tightened around the bottle as Tess's feet kicked helplessly while the Voludvare's grip tightened around her throat. Gabriel poured the contents of the vial into his mouth and swallowed hard.
Warmth hit him instantly and spread down his throat, flooding his chest before the burning heat crawled through every bone like molten metal. His heartbeat grew louder and deeper, and the warmth surged again, this time sharper as it climbed up his spine and behind his eyes. His vision blurred before refocusing with crystal clarity, and the screams of the Voludvare became louder and sharper as all of his senses began to heighten.
The pain from his injuries had vanished completely, and his irises had swallowed the whites of his eyes while his pupils erased themselves. Only a solid red glare remained as he jumped up from the ground.
The beast sensed danger instantly and dropped Tess like dead weight before twisting away and vanishing in the blink of an eye. Gabriel stood motionless with his face stripped of anything human, and he drew one of his blades, letting it hang loosely at his side.
The Voludvare appeared to his right within striking distance and threw its claw upwards towards Gabriel, but he raised his blade and deflected the blow. The momentum caused the beast to take a few steps back, and it lunged again with a piercing screech, but Gabriel ducked under its attack and pirouetted to its back as red smoke dispersed from his hands.
The beast turned and attempted a follow-up swing, but the demon-eyed adventurer raised his hands and clasped them together. The smoke he let out had taken shape into two red, claw-shaped masses that seized the creature mid-air and shredded into its flesh.
The Voludvare began shrieking as black liquid dripped to the floor, and Gabriel attempted to drag his hands apart, but an invisible force was holding them in place. Blood began dripping from his nose and eyes as a pained ringing sound shot through his mind, and he gritted his teeth while his body visibly shook from the strain.
Tess appeared behind the beast with her sword in hand and slashed at its back, causing the invisible force holding Gabriel's hands together to weaken for just a second. He noticed immediately and answered with a battle cry of his own as the beast began squirming left and right.
"AHHHH!"
He dragged his hands apart like tearing parchment, and the smoke claws mimicked him, ripping the beast in two. The creature split with a wet sound that echoed through the chamber, and two halves of the Voludvare hit the stone floor as black fluid poured from the mess.
Gabriel remained still with his arms parted and eyes glowing red, his breath shallow and shoulders trembling. The only sound left was the slow drip of blood and bile on ancient stone.