Dawn was just beginning to tint the horizon with hues of gold and violet when Richard and Elyndra began the descent down the rocky ridge toward the temple. Each step on the steep path felt like an irreversible decision, a deeper commitment to the inevitable.
Richard adjusted the small backpack that held their meager provisions, feeling the weight of the fragment of knowledge he carried. It wasn't so much a physical burden as a spiritual one; a constant reminder of why they were there, why they must continue.
"Do you feel it?" Elyndra asked, her voice barely audible over the whistling of the wind that cut through the rocks.
Richard nodded. The air had changed. It was no longer just the cold wind of the mountains, but something more... intentional. Sometimes it seemed to stop completely; at other times, it blew in impossible directions, as if defying physics itself. Small swirls of dried leaves danced briefly around them before vanishing.
"It's the winds from the temple," she continued, pausing to catch her breath. "The barrier is beginning to sense our presence."
Richard closed his eyes and activated his Echo Vision. The energy lines revealed themselves to him as glowing veins pulsing across the landscape. He saw the air currents forming a complex pattern, a sort of web stretching from the temple to where they stood.
"It's like... a spider's web," he murmured, watching the strands tighten at their proximity. "And we're the insects making it vibrate."
Elyndra looked at him, a mixture of pride and concern in her silver eyes.
"Your perception is improving. You wouldn't even have noticed those patterns before."
They continued their descent. The path narrowed so much in places that they had to hug the rock face, with a dizzying void inches from their feet. The rock beneath his hands was rough and cold, occasionally damp from small streams that trickled down from the snowy peaks.
Richard noticed that Elyndra walked more slowly than she had days before, her fluid movements now more cautious and restricted. Though she had improved since the battle, her recovery was far from complete.
"You need to rest," she said, stopping on a small ledge that offered just enough room to sit.
Elyndra shook her head, but the sweat on her forehead and the pallor of her face betrayed her.
"Time is not our ally, Richard."
"Nor is exhaustion," he insisted, gesturing to the ledge. "Five minutes. Just... five minutes."
She finally relented, leaning back against the rock with a sigh that held more pain than she cared to admit. Richard sat down beside her, letting the silence speak for itself for a moment.
"How does it work?" he finally asked, looking back at the temple. This place, the Whispering Peaks. You said it creates illusions.
Elyndra closed her eyes, as if searching for the right words.
"Temples anchor reality. They are... points of connection between this world and the Other Side." Her voice took on a lilting tone, as if reciting ancient knowledge. "But each temple has its own nature. The Whispering Peaks were built where ancient air currents converge, currents that carry the echoes of other times, other places."
Richard listened intently, trying to understand.
"Those echoes... are they illusions?"
"They are more than that." Elyndra opened her eyes, looking directly at Richard. "The temple does not create falsehoods; it reveals hidden truths. It shows what exists on other planes, other times. Sometimes, it shows what could be, or what has been. And most dangerously…" She paused, lowering her voice, "what you fear might be."
A chill ran down Richard's spine.
"And how do we know what is real?"
The corner of her lips curved into a rueful smile.
"That's the test, Richard. That's the challenge the temple presents. To discern the truth among the whispers."
They resumed their descent half an hour later. The trail eventually gave way to flatter terrain, where the sparse vegetation showed signs of mountain life: small, twisted bushes, tiny flowers clinging to rock crevices, resisting the relentless wind.
As they approached the temple, the sounds changed. The wind was no longer a simple hiss; now it seemed to murmur incomprehensible words into Richard's ears. Sometimes he thought he heard his name; other times, warnings or promises whispered by ethereal voices.
"Pay no attention to them," Elyndra warned. "It's how the temple tests your resolve."
But ignoring them proved nearly impossible. The whispers grew louder, clearer, more personal. Richard heard Emily's voice calling his name. Then Jake's, laughing. Elliot's, arguing about algorithms. Ghosts of a past that seemed to belong to another life.
Then he saw it. Between two rock formations that formed a natural arch, the path opened onto an esplanade. And there, carved into the very side of the mountain, rose the Temple of the Whispering Peaks.
It wasn't as large or ornate as he had imagined. In fact, from a distance, it could have been mistaken for a natural formation. Only upon closer inspection could the details carved into the stone be discerned: slender columns that seemed to flow like the wind itself, spiraling symbols reminiscent of tornadoes frozen in time, and above the entrance, a pediment featuring an androgynous face whose lips seemed perpetually on the verge of speaking.
"It's... beautiful," Richard murmured, awestruck.
"And deadly," Elyndra added. "Look."
He pointed toward the esplanade in front of the temple. Richard squinted to see better, and then he noticed it: dark figures lying on the ground. Bodies. At least three of them, motionless in the morning sun.
"The organization," Richard whispered, instinctively tensing.
Elyndra nodded.
"The temple has already claimed its first victims."
They approached cautiously. Richard kept "Echo Vision" active, constantly scanning the surroundings for threats. The bodies belonged to men dressed in black tactical gear. There were no signs of physical violence; their expressions, however, were frozen in grimaces of absolute terror.
"What happened to them?" Richard asked, kneeling beside one of them.
"They succumbed to illusions." Elyndra examined one of the men without touching him. "They saw something their minds couldn't bear."
Richard felt a knot in his stomach. If these trained men had fallen so easily...
"The others must be inside," he said, looking toward the temple entrance.
At that moment, a muffled groan broke the silence. One of the men they had left for dead moved weakly. Richard approached quickly. The man's gaze was unfocused, his pupils almost fully dilated.
"Can you hear me?" Richard asked, leaning over him.
The man fixed his eyes on Richard for a moment, a moment of lucidity amid the madness.
"Don't... trust... what you see..." he managed, his voice barely a raspy whisper. "They... changed the... rules..." He took Richard's hand with surprising strength. "The wind... lies..."
His grip loosened suddenly, and his gaze drifted back into space, though he was still breathing. Richard looked at Elyndra, who had heard everything.
"What did he mean, they changed the rules?"
Elyndra frowned, clearly disturbed.
"I don't know. But something tells me the organization has done more than simply get there before us."
Richard sat up, staring toward the dark temple entrance. The wind that came out of it was cold, almost icy, laden with whispers that now seemed to mock them.
"If they altered the temple in any way..." Richard began.
"Then the rules I knew no longer apply." Elyndra completed his thought. "We'll have to be extraordinarily careful."
Richard nodded, feeling the tension building in his muscles. He closed his eyes briefly, concentrating on his breathing, on the flow of mana coursing through them. When he opened them again, his gaze was steely in its determination.
"Let's go in," he said finally. "Whatever awaits us inside, we can't turn back now."
Elyndra pulled her cloak closer, her face a mask of resolve, though Richard could sense the fear she was fighting to hide.
"Remember what I told you about this temple," she murmured as they approached the entrance. "Question everything you see. What you hear. Even what you feel."
"Even you?" Richard asked, half-jokingly to ease the tension.
Elyndra's gaze turned grave.
"Especially at me."
The wind increased in intensity as they crossed the threshold, as if the temple itself took a deep breath. The whispers multiplied, becoming a cacophony of overlapping voices that seemed to come from all directions at once.
And then, as if they had crossed an invisible barrier, all fell silent.
A perfect, absolute silence, more disturbing than any noise.
The temple had welcomed them into its embrace. The trials had begun.
The darkness of the entrance hall was almost total, broken only by faint luminous veins that ran along the walls like arteries of pale light. Richard and Elyndra moved forward slowly, each step carefully measured in the unnatural silence.
Richard could feel his pulse racing in his temples, the echo of his heart pounding like a distant drum. He activated Echo Vision again, but what he saw baffled him: the temple's energy lines didn't form any logical patterns. They crisscrossed chaotically, bent at impossible angles, disappeared into nothingness only to reappear meters ahead.
"It's as if the geometry here obeys other laws," she whispered, her voice seeming too loud in the silence.
"The temple exists partially on the Other Side," Elyndra replied in the same low tone. "The concepts of space and time are... flexible here."
The corridor gradually widened until it opened into a circular chamber. In the center, a stone column rose from floor to ceiling, carved with a multitude of faces that seemed to watch them from all angles. Around it, several identical doors led to different corridors.
"A crossroads," Richard murmured. "How do we know which way to go?"
The ground beneath their feet vibrated slightly. Richard looked down and saw the dust shifting, forming circular patterns, small eddies that danced briefly before disappearing.
"The temple is reacting to us," Elyndra said, observing the phenomenon. "It's assessing us."
Richard cautiously approached the central column. The faces carved into it seemed to follow him with their gaze, though he knew it was impossible. As he arrived, he noticed the stone surface was warm to the touch, as if it held a life of its own.
Suddenly, one of the faces moved. Richard stepped back, startled. The face's stone eyes opened wide, and its lips parted, releasing a whisper that seemed to resonate directly in his mind:
"The path is revealed to one who knows their own heart."
Richard looked at Elyndra, who had also heard the message.
"What does that mean?"
Before he could respond, the face spoke again:
"Three paths, three truths. Only one leads to the heart of the temple. Choose according to your nature."
Richard examined the doors. They were identical to the naked eye, but when she used Echo Vision, she noticed that each emitted a different type of energy: one glowed with a cool blue hue, another pulsed with a warm orange, and the third emitted a serene green.
"It seems we must choose according to our... nature," she said, repeating the face's words.
Elyndra nodded.
"The temple is testing us. Each door should represent an aspect of one's personality, a way of facing challenges."
Richard assessed the doors, feeling a strange attraction to the one with the blue glow.
"I think this is it," he said, pointing at it.
Elyndra studied him appraisingly.
"Why that one?"
Richard thought for a moment before answering.
"Because it represents the analytical mind, observation. And those are my strengths. If the temple wants us to choose according to our nature..."
"Then we should follow our instincts," Elyndra added, nodding slowly. "You're right."
They headed toward the blue-glowing door. Richard felt the weight of his decision with every step. Just before he crossed the threshold, Elyndra stopped him, placing a hand on his arm.
"Richard, whatever happens in there, remember who you are. The temple will try to confuse you, make you doubt. Don't lose sight of your goal."
Her silver eyes shone with unusual intensity. Richard nodded, feeling a surge of renewed determination.
"I'll remember that."
They passed through the door together, and the world around them began to dissolve like mist in the morning sun. The last thing they heard was the whisper from the column of faces:
"The test has begun. May the wind guide your steps, or drag you into the abyss..."
And then, darkness enveloped them completely.