Tarous, стр. 67

Elfin was covered in lush green plant life. Unlike on earth, the vegetation was a little more aggressive. Cronus told me that no mammals had managed to evolve on the planet. I suspected the reason was that the vegetation had eaten them. More than a few plants, with teeth, latched onto me.

Cronus snapped his fingers and several vines that had started wrapping around my legs instantly aged into dust. None of the vines had bothered Cronus.

“You have to show them who’s boss or they get uppity,” said Cronus while tilting his head towards the vegetation. He smiled at the vegetation and I swear I saw them shiver in fear.

He snapped his fingers again and all the vegetation in every direction for a mile turned to dust. In the middle of a solid green plant filled planet, I could see a large grey circle of dust. Not even a single seed remained alive.

Just on the other side of the circle of dust, to the south, was the Temple of Death. When we arrived, I had expected to see a group of archeologists digging in the dirt. What I found was something different.

Cronus noticed my surprise and a smile inched across his face.

“Once we confirmed what Bob was telling us was true, we sent in several large teams of people. Even gods are interested in information on the God of Death. Especially lost information that predates the City of the Gods. We have a team of logistic specialists, guards, administrative people, managers, accountants, carpenters, and so on. In total, we have around two hundred people here. The ones that originally found the temple have found themselves with more money than they could possibly spend in several lifetimes.”

I looked at Cronus and let everything sink in. Cronus had been around for a very long time. The amount of wealth he could acquire would truly be a staggering number.

Crews of people were running back and forth everywhere I looked. Multiple small shacks and even a decent sized building had been built in the weeks since the discovery of the temple. There was even a tiny store settled among the makeshift town.

Three large men, each with muscles on top of muscles, hurried towards us, but Cronus waved them away. One of them still gave me a strong glare as if to warn me to behave. He had obviously never met me before or he would have known that was impossible for me.

“This way to the entrance,” said Cronus as he started off again.

I followed him until we reached the central structure, which was a large angular building made of some kind of dark gray stone with an intricately designed entrance cut away into the building. The temple reminded me of a Mayan pyramid, which made me suspect that most of the temple was still buried underground.

Words were carved into the stone all around the entrance to the temple. I couldn’t read the language, but each piece felt profound, like if someone could completely understand the true meaning of the symbols they would truly understand this temple. The symbols were wavy and when I turned my head and viewed them from the corner of my eye they almost appeared to be moving. I knew they named this temple as belonging to the God of Death, but I could sense they meant more.

The writing was strange and the temple itself gave me a strange feeling. Like the feeling I had felt when I had meditated in the graveyard. I had the feeling of peace, but also of death. I studied the writing and felt the cold intent of death radiating from the words. I also felt very strongly that this temple was connected to me.

I realized one other thing as I examined the temple. Mayan temples could also double as a tomb and a place to worship, and this was the temple of the God of Death. Could a past God of Death be buried inside? Or even the first God of Death?

Bob had received word of our arrival and met us at the temple entrance. I had been too entranced by the symbols to greet him properly. They captivated me, hypnotized me, and spoke to me all at once. I noticed Bob as he glanced at the watch he wore on his wrist and then at us and finally back to his watch. Apparently we were late arriving.

Cronus snorted and made a face as if to say that the Elder God of SpaceTime was never late, he was always right on time.

“There is a zombie behind you, Bob,” I said without taking my eyes from the symbols around the temple entrance.

Bob screamed and turned to run away. While looking back over his shoulder as he started to run he discovered there were no zombies behind him. He instantly came to a stop and glared at me. I ignored him. New ideas for necromancer spells were popping into my mind. Looking at the symbols was beneficial to me in some strange way.

Bob stamped his feet and I snickered without looking at him. That would teach him to get all high and mighty on us. I managed to wrench my eyes away from the temple. People were rushing around us, and everyone was in a hurry to be somewhere. I felt a little bit in the way as I stood still and looked around. The workers reminded me of an ant colony.

I saw that Cronus had moved a few feet away and was talking to several people at once, receiving reports, and issuing orders. He seemed in his element. I briefly thought of him as the queen of an ant colony and laughed to myself.

Bob stood not too far from me. He had remained silent since we got here. He seemed to have a lot on his mind. When Cronus was finished with his ‘royal’ business he walked back over to us.

“Has anyone learned anything about