Skulking amid the shadows, she made her way through the snow-bidden town until finding her path blocked by a temple of purest ice. Moonlight shimmered across it, lending a ghostly, near-iridescent glow to the spires and hard planes of rigid architecture. She glanced up, eyelashes and hair frosted with snowflakes, taking in the impressive structure, but what she sought was not outside, here at the intersection of Koar and Lumnis. A smirk quirked her lips as her gaze flicked over the signs identifying the lanes named for the two Arkati. Ironic in that her mission was to find the altar of the one linked to the both of them.
Shivering off the niveous frozen glitter, Berkana entered the temple and quickly made her way through the halls, descending down into the depths of the building. Long slender fingers traced lightly against the smooth corridors, partially aiding her guidance in the dim light, partly because of her delight in the tactile. The presence of various other altars only mildly registered as she passed them until finally, at the end of the passage, her progress stopped at her destination.
There, in the Hall of the Dark, a column of flame rose up from an obsidian altar, casting the only ambient light. The golden fire’s glow saturated the colorful hues of a perimeter mosaic encircling the floor and also danced across the faces of myriad tiny black diamonds embedded in the domed ceiling of the circular room.
The room was familiar from a time long ago, once visited when first presented though… it was different before that. Pulling her journal out from her reliquary, she flipped quickly through the pages until she found the notes she’d made at least two decades ago. Nodding slowly to herself, she recalled that the original altar for her Queen had been removed, and the new one — the one currently here — had been installed. A brief memory flitted past, a scant recollection of the initial, outraged reactions of the faithful who were tightly tied to the original structure. A quiet laugh echoed in the small chamber.
Closing the small book and tucking it away, she circled the altar, eyes riveted on the fire reaching upward, as she reached into her jacket to remove her offering, placing it reverently upon the top plane. With the palm of one hand extended toward the flame, she slowly walked around it, her lips barely moved with the chant she whispered softly, as it responded to her incantations. A smile danced upon her lips, one corner quirking up as it did, then, with a quick turn, she made her way back to the exit of the temple.
She had what she needed now, to begin her tour and presentation of the sites of Eorgina for the fealty and the curious.
==
I will be setting up a tour of the three major Eorgina sites in Elanthia while entertaining discourse on my Queen. If interested, let me know — I'll post the dates in advance.
Best,
Luminary Berkana LeJardine Faendryl, the Enigma, and High Priestess of Eorgina
==
"Yet from those flames; No light, but rather darkness visible."
