The Acolyte Faces The Truth

For some reason, Hilda had the strong suspicion she’d be stuck in the raindrop chamber all day.
Peering down didn’t give her a sense of the bottom.

Looking up, she didn’t fancy trying to pull herself up out of the edge on her own, so the wooden pole became her emergency exit. The clay-tipped end of it she crafted was now going to be a stepping stone.

Looking down, she had a limited view of her surroundings thanks to the lightstone. The walkway was wide enough that she couldn’t make out what was below it, but not so much that there was no gap.

She looked at the gryphon statue.

Then at the gem on its forehead.

“If I dropped this… and it fell over the edge…”

She set it down before she could finish that thought.

“Hmhh… I’m going this far based on nothing but my own whim… What’s gotten into me?”

Her sandals tapped on the tiled floor as she walked, spreading her arms out, one after the other, to get a better sense of the chamber’s size.

At the very top where she dropped down from, she could feel the edges on the tips of her fingers.

Midway through, she could fall out and still not be out far enough. At the same time, the walkway had less room for error, with one false step meaning a sudden drop.

The lightstone cast the interior in beautiful milky blues, giving Hilda the feeling of being immersed inside of a lake.

At the very bottom, she no longer needed to balanced herself. Tracing her arm along the wall, it felt like at least a grown man could walk around comfortably within here, or perhaps something else…

It wasn’t as if there were a vast labyrinth underneath the shrine.

Walking to the very bottom took Hilda only ten minutes going at a slow, cautious pace, making sure to avoid falling at all.

Someone that was more athletically able than she, even utterly mundane, could clear that same distance in less than half the time.

She giggled to herself at the image. Then, the lightstone cast its glow on runes that made her stop laughing.

Acolytes often had to learn various mediums to learn from the past. Journeys could happen solely to uncover ancient secrets.

At that very moment, Hilda realized the scope of those quests, even if she’d only been pressed into it.

“For the gryphon… we have called upon you… for the… Ehh…”
Her hand stopped.
“This illness… claimed its life… we foolishly… asked a Demon to save it… now we seek redemption…?”
There was that word.
Strangely, suspecting there was a demon was one thing, but having proof one existed had Hilda read on with keener interest. The fear was replaced by curiosity.
“We… that knew… successor… of Tiva…”
The more Hilda read, the more her eyebrows arched in disbelief.
“…When Beatrice told me to use the name Tiva, was this why?”
That still didn’t answer all of her questions.
“Why is this all buried underground…?”
At that moment, two things happened.
Hilda heard the sound of something falling down and ricocheting off of the walls. Holding her lightstone up, she saw exactly what it was.
She groaned.
“D-did it have to roll down right now?”
Up until this point, Hilda had judiciously kept close track of the statue’s whereabouts. It was only ever within running distance for her. While it had been tough while it was still on the podium, she was able to manage it when things got tough.

Now she was faced with an uphill climb even if she could get to the talisman before something went wrong.

But then the light reflected off of the talisman onto a mural.
It was no ordinary mural that Hilda gazed upon.
That was a beautiful scene of a noble gryphon, with plumage in its full array.
Not the monster she’d faced off against.
It was something else entirely that echoed that which she worshiped, the Goddess.
The impression was nothing less than a messenger. They could take many forms. Sometimes, a sacred beast was one of them.
Finally, the moment seemed to end as the talisman clattered onto the floor.
Then Hilda heard something beginning to stir, causing the roof to shake.
With her pink eyes wide as saucer plates, she grasped onto the talisman and sprinted, more like stumbled, up the stairs.
In spite of her quickening fear, she felt a new thought seize her, so strong it didn’t seem possible to think about anything else.

“Up until now, I thought that this talisman was only to seal it…”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something falling down. It was huge enough to take up over half of the chamber, yet nimble enough to fit on the ramp.

It had large, jagged wings, a head like a bird that had seen sorrow, and a ragged body from withers to tail like a starving lion’s.
That was the gryphon!

Hilda fought back the urge to scream and kept stumbling forward. She didn’t know how much time had passed until now. The whites of her pale knuckles couldn’t be seen.

She gripped onto both talisman and lightstone in each hand, doing everything she could to get another inch.

This was not going to end prettily if it caught up to her.

“SKREEEEE!”
It horrifying cries filled up the room, instantly turning into a cacophony that deafened Hilda.
“Eeek!”
She was but a normal girl; the sound vibrations alone could make her head spin.
Yet all she did was stumble, without falling straight down. Her grip on the talisman remained firm, and she rushed ahead.

“Now I know… What this talisman’s real purpose was…”
As she neared the top, she could hear the sound of something crumbling.
Without looking back, Hilda knew that the gryphon was tearing up the ascent to try getting at her.

She didn’t know if such a powerful being could break through to the shrine. It was her only lifeline right now.
She would take it wihout worry.

“In the end… What you were always making me fear…”
At that point Hilda was trying to convince herself more than anyone.
Her breathing was ragged, afflicted by the magic of the demonic gryphon as much as the sprinting hurt her.
Her chest was heaving, both from exertion and from pain. It felt like she was anticipating it being smashed in one blow.
She didn’t know if she would even be able to get out in time.

Making matters worse, her grip on the lightstone loosened.
It immediately fell down.
Right as she reached for it, Hilda saw it smash into pieces, scattering fragments of light every which way. She flung an arm up to shield her eyes from the lights being plucked out of them.

“Aa-aaaaaa!”
She couldn’t protect one of her legs from getting cut deep enough that she was forced to one knee.
As she looked ahead, she saw the light of the sun piercing through.
Desperately crawling forward was all Hilda could still do. She didn’t want to give up.
All she could do was keep moving.
All the safety the pole promised was rapidly becoming a joke as her arms proved too weak to pull herself up.
“No… please…”
There was nowhere else to go within here. The cold darkness of the murky underground chamber was omnipresent, and the screeches of the gryphon were rapidly approaching Hilda.
There was nothing left that she could do besides pray with all her might.
Right then, Hilda felt it being pulled up.

When she looked up she saw, sure enough, the one person that could help her. The acolyte’s eyes lit up.

“Avessi! You came back!”

“You’re right I did, but… What are you doing down there?”

“H-hurry!”
“If you’re that scared… I’ll make sure to put it on your tab.”
Though she winked, the merchant was sweltering hoisting the pole up. Hilda saw two others grab and pole and pull up at the same time.
It was a team effort to pull the pole up and Hilda at the same time.
Finally, that part of the nightmare was over.
But Hilda, turning around to look at the hole, knew that the truth had yet to arrive.
Not even a full minute after arriving in relatively safe lands, and she was already planning to finish it all.