Ram tightened his grip on the wooden cane, his small hands turning white as he leaned into it. He could feel the "flow" now—it wasn't just a ripple anymore; it was a rhythmic pulse, like a giant heart beating beneath the temple floors, thrumming specifically for him.
He stood before the dark maw of the entrance. Carved into the stone archway were symbols he couldn't read, but his attention was captured by two guardian figures on either side of the door. They looked like nothing he had seen in the forest. Ram paused, looked at the raven on his shoulder, and placed two fingers against his temples, curving them outward to mimic horns.
He tilted his head as if to ask, *Is this what they are?*
The sapphire-eyed raven gave a solemn, knowing nod.
Ram nodded back, satisfied, and stepped into the darkness. As his foot crossed the threshold, the silence of the void was shattered.
*Swoosh!* A torch on the withered wall erupted in a bright, dancing flame. *Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!* Like a line of falling dominoes, fire raced down the corridor, lighting up the ancient hall until the entire interior was bathed in an amber glow.
Ram froze, his golden eyes reflecting the sudden light. In the center of the vast chamber stood an **Obsidian Throne**. It was massive, carved from a single piece of volcanic glass that drank the torchlight. But even the throne was dwarfed by the figure sitting upon it.
It was a statue of a colossus, built with the proportions of a Greek god. His bare chest was a landscape of carved muscle and power. His stone hair fell like a heavy curtain over his face, leaving only a sharp nose and two blank, staring stone eyes visible. He wore no clothes, yet he radiated a sense of absolute authority that would have brought a Hero or a Pirate to their knees. Two massive horns, thick and curved, erupted from his head.
Strangely, the statue was missing its right foot; only the thick stone leg remained, resting near the edge of the throne.
The statue's giant hands were cupped together, raised toward the ceiling. Resting in those colossus palms was the source of the "flow": **The Tree.**
This wasn't a tree of wood and sap. Its trunk was covered in dark green scales that shimmered like a serpent's hide. Its branches didn't grow; they coiled and writhed like living snakes, intertwined in a slow, eternal dance. The leaves were a deep, void-black, each one marked with a single, blood-red dot in the center that looked like a staring eye.
Ram looked up at the tree, his curiosity finally stilled. The "itch" in his mind had been scratched. He didn't feel fear or awe; he felt a strange sense of recognition.
He began to wander, his cane clicking against the stone floor. He circled the obsidian throne, his small porcelain hand reaching out to touch the cold, dark glass. He touched the giant's remaining left foot, feeling the rough texture of the ancient stone.
Finally, he turned away from the throne and walked toward the walls. They were covered in elaborate carvings—scenes of war, of two worlds colliding, and rows of text that looked like jagged teeth. Ram traced the images with his fingers, searching. Most of the pictures were chaotic and meant nothing to his newborn mind, but then, his hand stopped.
On a section of the wall illuminated by a flickering lamp, he found the carving he liked the most.
Ram sat on the cold stone floor, his small porcelain body aching from the fall, but his eyes never left the wall.
The drawing was more than just a carving; it was a masterpiece that spanned the entire circumference of the temple. To see it all, Ram had to walk the full circle of the inner sanctum, his cane clicking rhythmically as he traced the creature's path. It was a colossal, serpentine entity—a dragon of impossible length. Its scales were depicted as pure white, shimmering even in the dim torchlight, and its eyes... its eyes were twin suns of molten gold, identical to Ram's own.
Ram looked at the raven and stretched his arms out as wide as his small frame would allow, trying to express the sheer scale of the beast. The raven fluttered its wings in a frantic, joyous dance, its sapphire eyes gleaming as if it were seeing an old friend.
Ram reached up, desperate to touch the majestic face of the white dragon, but it was far too high. He tried to spring upward, but his uncoordinated legs buckled, and he tumbled back onto the dusty floor. He didn't cry. He simply stared up from the ground, locked in a gaze with the stone dragon. For a moment, it felt as though the drawing was breathing—as if those golden eyes were watching him back, recognizing the "Anomaly" that had finally returned home.
Then, the world tilted.
**THUD.**
The ground beneath the temple groaned. Dust and small pebbles rained down from the high ceiling, dancing in the light of the lamps.
**THUD.**
A heavy, rhythmic vibration shook the obsidian throne and the massive statue sitting upon it. This wasn't the sound of the previous beast; this was something far larger, something that made the mountain-sized trees of the forest seem like blades of grass. The "flow" in the air suddenly turned cold and sharp, like a blade held against Ram's throat.
The raven let out a sharp, warning shriek and dug its talons into Ram's shoulder, its head snapping toward the dark entrance he had just walked through. Something was coming to the temple, and it wasn't here to worship.
Ram slowly pushed himself up from the floor, his golden eyes narrowing. He didn't know what "danger" was, but the shaking in his bones told him that his time of quiet curiosity was over.
The vibration was so violent it felt as if the island itself was trying to shake Ram off its surface. Just as he managed to get his palms flat against the stone to rise, another **THUD** rippled through the floor, sending him tumbling back onto his butt.
Ram didn't try to stand a third time. Instead, he sat there, his small white hands gripping the floor as he turned his golden gaze toward the temple entrance.
The "flow" coming from the doorway was no longer a pulse—it was a scream of pure, unadulterated hunger.
The creature that ducked its head to enter the temple was a nightmare carved from shadow. It was covered in matted black fur that seemed to move like smoke, and from its head grew the jagged, twisted horns of a colossal goat. But its face was the most terrifying part—it was hairless and pale, resembling an alien skull with two horizontal slit eyes that glowed a predatory, malicious red.
Its body was unnaturally skinny, its ribs visible beneath the dark fur, but its height was staggering. Even hunched over to fit through the temple's massive archway, it rivaled the sitting colossus on the obsidian throne. Its mouth was a cavern of jagged, mismatched teeth, dripping with a black ichor that hissed when it hit the stone floor.
It wasn't just a beast; it was a manifestation of **Greed**.
The raven on Ram's shoulder went silent, trembling so hard its feathers rattled. The creature's red slit eyes scanned the room, ignoring the gold-haired boy for a moment as it looked at the tree in the statue's palms. It let out a sound like grinding metal—a low, hungry hiss..
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To be continued.