Traveling to a Lost Temple

Ayla glanced behind her to Lukkja and Ailen. The trees were thick in this area of the boreal forest, making it a task to keep track of others if they got too far apart. Pulling herself up over the steep incline, Ayla stood off to the side of the trail, using a fairly flat boulder to stay out of the stretching weeds so Lukkja and Ailen could pass her. 

Ailen gently tugged Ayla along behind her as they moved up. Lukkja led the way up this game trail, working their way through the dense section of forest. Lukkja pushed through the waist high undergrowth, swiping his hand through the few branches of bushes that tried to cling to his fur. 

The morning sunlight filtered in through the canopy above them, shining a guiding light upon their path forward. Promises of gold and jewels could not compare to the natural beauty around the three centaurs. Morning dew still clung to some of the leaves, glistening like crystals all around them. Birdsong filled the air and in the distance, they could hear the calling bugales of bull elk. 

Ailen lifted a hand to shade her eyes as the trees suddenly thinned out, letting the travelers emerge from their dense forest cocoon. She smiled a bit as she noticed Ayla flick her tail in either excitement or unease. It was hard to tell sometimes with the small cervine woman. 

Lukkja was pushing on ahead, fearlessly using his body earlier to force a path through the undergrowth. Now, he stood in the middle of their clearing, glancing around. Their destination was still a long way away but the day was young. Breaks from the climb like this little clearing would help the trek feel less arduous than it was. 

“Up near the Siren’s Breath is where this temple is correct?” Ailen asked Ayla who had pulled out a little map and was fiddling with it. 

The pale cervine nodded. “Yes. Behind the waterfall should be the carved directions to help confirm the left behind directions I found,” Ayla said, tucking a lock of loose hair behind her ear. 

“How big is this temple supposed to be? It can’t be that big if it's been swallowed by the forest already,” Lukkja said, looking up ahead of them where the forest enclosed the game trail they were following again. 

Ayla shrugged and tucked the map away in her little bag again. “I’m not sure. It could be just a little one or decently sized based on the old texts I could find about it. To be fair though, I think it will be small,” she said. 

“Well, in any case, I am excited to find it. So let’s keep going,” Ailen said. 

With a nod, Lukkja continued forward, leading the way along the path. Ailen urged Ayla up between her and Lukkja, the equine happily bringing up the rear and keeping a lookout in case any predator thought to chance a shot at them. None of them were too worried over the chance of predators, most kept away from groups that sized at around three or more. 

Stepping back into the forest, the three of them could feel the lingering cool air from the night hanging out in the shade. Walking through, Lukkja was relieved to find that while there were still a lot of plants growing closer together, this part of the game trail was more frequented so the male canine centaur had less to physically shove his way through, a blessed break for his poor dusk fur. 

The trail began to wind through the trees, slowly leading them closer to the mountains. Under their feet, the ground once again started to slope. Ailen’s hooves slid a bit on the loose soil underfoot. Ayla’s cloven hooves allowed her to keep a bit more balance but Lukkja’s paws had the best grip along this loose, steeper slope they were beginning to climb. 

Ayla once again pulled herself up to the side of the trail, turning to look back where they came. She could see out over some of the forest. They were climbing up along the foothills of the mountain the forest bordered. The boreal forest was massive, stretching far into the distance. Lukkja waited for Ayla to continue forward, Ailen nudging her to continue once she was able to dig her hooves into the soil for the climb. 

Climbing up to the top of this section of the foothills the boreal forest covered, the three of them found another break in the dense trees to catch their breath from the loose path up to this point. Lukkja walked over to the edge to overlook the forest they had traversed through already. 

Ayla stepped over to the soft grass in the light, pulling out her map. She spread it out, running her finger gently over the paper as she traced the old route and the route she figured they had taken so far. 

Looking over the cervine’s shoulder, Ailen watched for a bit before she walked over and stood beside Lukkja, looking out over the forest. “We’ve made it quite the distance already,” she said, noticing the village they started from in the far distance. 

The dusk coated male nodded. “We have and hopefully we are still going in the right direction. I fear the game trail has deviated since the map was created. With the date of that map’s creation uncertain, we may end up following this trail past the temple or far into the distance away from where the trail used to lead,” he said, voicing his concerns over following a game trail instead of longer living landmarks like the mountain or boulders. 

Ailen nodded, understanding where Lukkja was coming from. “I’m sure Ayla is aware of that as well. She is currently going over the map to make sure we are at least close right now. Even if wer are far off from the lost temple, going to explore the Siren’s Breath will be a fulfilling way to spend our day. It is not often that would come out to see it,” Ailen said, patting Lukkja’s shoulder, making him sigh softly. 

“You are right,” Lukkja said. 

“I think we are still on the right path. The trail has drifted a bit more to the west it looks like but if we keep following this path for another few kilometers or so, we should be near enough to Siren’s Breath to hear it and we can alter our course for it,” Ayla said as she quietly approached, nodding her head as she went over the map once more before tucking it safely away again. 

“Good. Then let’s get going. I’m excited to see this landmark with such a name,” Ailen said. 

Nodding, Ayla once more followed behind Lukkja as he took the game trail once more. As the pale cervine had said, it was not long after they started walking again that they could hear it. The rush of water that echoed with the wind to create an almost whistling noise, calling those who wander near in closer. 

Following the noise, the three finally broke off from the path. Lukkja created a way through the foliage for the girls behind him, shoving his way through as they headed towards the source of the noise. Ayla flicked her tail as the sound of rushing water got louder, the crashing of it now sounding in par with the almost haunting whistling. 

“Wow,” Ailen said as they broke through the trees once more, Lukkja standing along the sudden edge of the ground. 

Ahead of them was a towering waterfall. Water rushed over the rocks, wind and rain having shaped the stones into smooth, intricate shapes. The combination of the wind alongside the flowing water was creating this whistling noise as the mountain water ran down into the deep, open to the sky, cavern they stood on the edge of. To the left, there was a weathered pillar with etchings carved into it. 

Ailen walked over and knelt near it so she could read the stone that had sank into the soil over the decades. “Siren’s Breath, the waterfall that calls you to its stomach,” she read. 

Approaching as well, Lukkja stayed back a bit after getting a look at the carvings. He left that to the girls, Ayla quickly pulled out a blank piece of parchment and her charcoal. The cervine knelt on the damp ground so she could take a rubbing of the stone, frowning a bit as the humid air from the waterfall left the paper getting wet as well. 

“There’s more writing below it but its faded with age,” Ayla said, gently getting her rubbing as well as writing everything down in her journal. 

Ailen looked over Ayla’s shoulder as the cervine attempted to decipher the very old writing. “Wait… down into the maw of the Siren, venture down into its depths and if you can survive, the great temple will reward you with its presence,” she said, reading and making some logical guesses to what the text was trying to say between the letters they could make out. 

“So, we need to find a way down into the pit…” Ayla said, glancing over to the large hole that Lukkja stood next to. 

Lukkja raised an eyebrow and then looked down towards the abyss of the enormous sinkhole. He studied it for a while before he pointed out towards the far side of the hole. “There’s a path circling along the edge. If we are careful, and it has not eroded away, we could use that to get down it,” he said. 

Getting to her feet, Ayla brushed the dirt from her knees and tucked her things away in her bag. Ailen smiled at the determined look, their adventure had yet to come to an end.