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Spirals.

He remembered the beating. He remembered the symbol beneath the War Isle’s great tree. He remembered how felt death there, or something worse. There he felt like he was being erased from existence. The slimer shuddered at the thought of disappearing.

He thumbed the token in his hand, and looked up at the statue. He palmed it. His grip tightened as if his hand and fingers were trying to consume the piece.
He had spent days in the isles and learned their cultures, their ways, and its people. But in his gut, he felt that they were always hiding something away from them, and it was always right in their faces; hidden right in the open and cloaked thinly like the statue before him.

[one token]

Va bene, Malodore thought back, pleased. It happily folded its arm into hers. And then you must show me War, and point out to me the noses you bloodied. It allowed her to lead it out, feeling that if Riley was present, it could stay anywhere as long as she was there too...

((exit))

Man this place was kind of weird without all the priestesses. At least even though it was dark and old there was stuff going on. He was reminded of the broken, dead landscape he'd seen burning in the vision in this same room. There was a table with a book, which seemed like a nice distraction.

"The Guidance of Death," he read aloud, and his voice seemed to carry through the empty room. Maybe this would save Amrita a trip to the library? Nothing else seemed to jump out at him, except the small coin-like thing that was sandwiched between a few pages. It was discreetly pocketed after double-checking that the page it was bookmarking was indeed as boring as the rest of it seemed to be.

(( ONE CLAN TOKEN ))

[enter]

The Temple of Guidance called to Thackery once more, beckoning with all of its secrets and rituals and history. Aside from the desire to model his imaginary kingdom after the architecture here, he loved it because it reminded him so much of home. It only took one step through the entrance for him to feel that hug of familiar comfort, and he smiled, taking it all in for a second time.

The silence was almost overwhelming, but the occasional conversation broke through here and there, reminding him that he wasn't really alone here.

Though the differences from his previous visit were slight, they were immediately easy to notice - namely the pyre in the center of the temple. It previous;y gave him visions of a future he might be pleased with, but now stood quiet and unburning.

"Is everyone gone?" he mused aloud. Surely they had left some behind to keep an eye on them...right?

Something rang out through the silence, piercing it easily. Thackery looked upward, trying to locate some sort of bell or chime, but saw nothing of interest.

You obtain ONE Four Clans point

As he continued wandering through the temple, avoiding the small handful of other students that gathered, Thackery ran across a book. Excited, he leaned on the table and began flipping through it, interested to see what he might find within. There were very few pictures, so nothing particularly caught his attention right off...except a little flattened stone, a red spiral printed on one side. Why did it look a little familiar?

He held it in his palm as he ran a fingertip over the spiral, as if he expected it to answer all of his questions. It didn't, of course.

After a few more moments of thumbing through the book, he closed its heavy cover and put the stone in his pocket.

The echoing was really beginning to bother Thackery, the longer he spent time in the temple. Had that been there before? Maybe there was just enough noise to mask it on his first visit...

He almost approached another student, but shrunk back, worried that they might think he was being a little weird. Who seriously worried over some hollow-sounding rock? He was just being ridiculous, that was all.

You obtain ONE Four Clans point

There appeared to be another table with a new book on it - how thrilling! Thackery moved towards it at a faster pace, picked it up...and heard another little stone go clattering to the floor.

"I probably should have tried...to remember...what pages those were between." His realization came a little late.

The book was replaced, the little token pocketed with the others, and the Cerberus decided to just take a moment to check out the rest of the temple.

Ulmuka moved away from the book and continued to explore. The temple was large, vast, and he spent much of his time with his head craned upwards. He loved the high ceilings and wondered who had gotten up so high to carve the elaborate decorations there.

Suddenly there was a loud ringing, it echoed through the emptiness.

And then nothing.