Nature is not a place to visit 13

Chapter 13
*“Our prince is free to go his way. Off he rides, on his noble steed, a valiant figure, straight and tall! To wake his love, with
love’s first kiss. And prove that ‘true love’ conquers all!”*
*Maleficent, Sleeping Beauty*
I’d heard this place called many things – a crypt, a temple, a tomb. But as I stood at the foot of its stone steps, temple
was the only descriptor I could agree with. The structure was far too large to be called a crypt or tomb, even if it
supposedly housed the Moon God’s body inside.
Hidden in the green undergrowth, it looked like whoever had built the temple had simply left it to the test of time. The
building was all weathered gray stone, held up by Doric columns that looked like they’d seen much better days. Part of me wondered how many human hikers had stumbled upon this place over the years, and if they’d mistaken it for
someone’s best attempt at building a Roman temple. The architecture certainly looked Roman or Greek with a pedimentstyle roof, frieze, and cornice.
“Geez, this place really is hidden back here,” Luke commented from beside me. “I mean, we worship the Moon God, but
it’s like nobody wanted this place to be found.”
“Given the way it’s crumbling, I’m starting to doubt anyone has found it,” I said. I wasn’t sure what well-kept temples were supposed to look like after a thousand years, but I had to imagine they were more well-cared for than this.
Vegetation had grown into the cracks of the stone steps, and thick, green vines had wrapped themselves around the
columns like decoration.
“Yeah, let’s hope it doesn’t collapse on us the moment we walk inside,” Luke said, “But I guess there’s no mistaking we’re
in the right place.” He gestured to the two columns that guarded the foot of the stone steps. Just as weathered as the
rest of the temple, a large wolf head had been carved onto the top of each column.
“You know, maybe Marcus was right and there is something sacred about this place,” I said, “I mean, you feel that, right?”
The pull that I’d felt since the moment I caught sight of the temple had not disappeared. In fact, it’d only grown stronger
the closer I got, as if the temple was trying to pull me in like a magnet.
*This must just be a wolf thing. I still don’t buy that there’s an actual body in this place, but there’s definitely some wolf-y
magic attached to it.*
I expected Luke to immediately agree, but he turned to me with a confused expression. “What do you mean?”
I raised my eyebrow. “Come on,” I said, “Don’t you feel that? That pull? Even my wolf is going stir-crazy.”
Luke’s eyebrows knitted together. “No, I don’t feel any of that.”
“Are you messing with me?” I asked.
“Seriously, Ollie, I don’t feel anything,” he shook his head, “I mean, I’m a little nervous…but that has more to do with
what happens after we pray, not during.”
*Is all the stress and anxiety making me hallucinate?*
Nothing about the tug in my chest felt like a figment of my imagination, but I couldn’t understand why Luke wasn’t
feeling anything.
“Well, maybe I’m just more connected to my wolf side than you are,” I teased.
“Yeah, right,” he rolled his eyes, “Let’s go.”
Together, we ascended the stone steps and I tried to forget about the way my wolf had begun pacing back and forth in
my head, whining like a puppy. Whether Luke felt it or not, something about this place must’ve been sacred.
“This place must be double the size of a crypt,” Luke muttered as we reached the top of the steps, “But it certainly feels
like one. If anything, it’s starting to give me the creeps. Maybe it’s haunted.”
“It doesn’t feel haunted to me,” I said, “The closer I get, the more relaxed I feel. Like this place is calling to us. If it is
haunted, it must be a friendly ghost.”
“Speak for yourself, Ollie.”
Despite looking freaked out by the temple, Luke was the first to enter with me right behind. With the tug in my chest
literally pulling me forward, I had to resist the urge to push past him. Friendly ghost or not, the place still looked like it
might collapse on top of us if we took the wrong step.
The inside of the temple looked just as weathered as the outside. Sunlight filtered through the open doorway, but that
was the only source of light. The high ceiling was arched with several rows of Doric columns to hold them up. The temple
looked much larger on the inside than it had on the outside.
Maybe it was because the structure was hidden in the undergrowth, but now that we were inside, I could see the temple
stretched much farther back than I’d thought. Unfortunately, I could only make out so much of my surroundings. The
sunlight only reached the first ten feet of the interior – the rest was bathed in darkness.
“Wait, look at this,” Luke said, drawing my attention. I hadn’t realized that he’d wandered over to one of the stone walls
near the entrance. “There’s markings here. I think the walls tell a story. The story of the Moon God.”
Walking to stand beside him, I saw that he was right. Engraved onto the stone walls was a story told in drawings.
The first drawing was of a man standing by himself, staring up at the moon. The next picture showed him standing beside
a wolf and a man, and it looked like he was performing some type of magic.
Luke had been right – the wall told the story of the Moon God. The pictures went on to show the same man leading wolves, and those wolves bowing down to him like a king.
“Hey, do you have your phone on you?” I asked. “I can hardly see where I’m stepping. I need some sort of light.” I’d been
paying so much attention to the story on the walls that I’d hardly realized I’d been walking farther into the darkness of
the temple. My heightened wolf senses gave me better night vision than most humans, but even I was having trouble
making out anything in the darkness.
I heard Luke’s footsteps echo on the stone floor. “Sure.”
Suddenly, he was shining the bright flash of his phone flashlight in my face.
“Woah – not at me!” I said, reaching up to cover my face, “If you blind me, I don’t think praying to the Moon God will fix
it. Can you shine it at the wall?”
Luke obliged, bathing the wall in front of us in bright light.
With his flashlight shining on the engraved wall, I was finally able to make out the rest of the story. The final images
depicted the end of the story: a bunch of people surrounding a man on his knees. He was clutching his head like he was
in pain, and from the way their hands were raised, it looked like they were meant to be chanting. The witches who cursed
the Moon God.
The next picture looked like a recreation of the temple we were standing in althoug the image did include a full moon. I wasn’t even sure why I was so enraptured by the markings on the walls – it’s not as if I hadn’t heard this story a hundred
times. I knew how it ended.
*But hearing a story from some crochety elder in my pack is very different from seeing it told in ancient carvings. I’m
literally looking at history here.*
“I know neither of us really buy into the Moon God stuff,” Luke said, staring at the carvings, “But all these engravings?
They’re kind of starting to convince me there’s something to it.”
“Don’t tell me that you’re becoming a believer,” I teased, “And all it took was a little sight-seeing tour.”
“It’s certainly more convincing than Mrs. Butters telling me I needed to pray to the Moon God before bed every night
when I was eight.”
“It’s definitely something,” I said, “And there is something to this place…this pull. I can feel it. Like it’s just right to be
here. I don’t think we’re going to find the Moon God’s skeleton trapped in here, but I can feel some sort of wolf-y magic
in here.”
I ignored the tug in my chest trying to pull me farther into the darkness of the temple.
*It’s just an old temple, Ollie.*
*The Greeks and Romans built plenty of temples around gods who didn’t exist, remember? This is no different.*
“I’m still not feeling a pull,” Luke shrugged, “Hey, what’s that picture supposed to be?” He pointed his flashlight at a
picture I hadn’t seen before – the final image of the story.
It depicted the same man from the previous pictures, but this time, he was cradling a female silhouette closely.
“I think that’s supposed to be the Moon God’s mate after she wakes him uip,” I said, “See? He’s kissing her, and it’s only
a silhouette because the artist didn’t know what she was supposed to look like.”
As I looked at the image, there was that tug in my chest again.
Luke peered into the darkness. “I wish this place had some sort of light. I’d even take a nightlight.”
“Maybe there’s a shrine or something farther back,” I suggested. “There’s got to be a place for us to pray.”
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Luke nodded in agreement and shined his flashlight into the dark. Most of the temple was still cloaked in darkness, but
with the flashlight, we were at least able to make out where some of the columns were located.
The worn stone cracked under our boots as we walked deeper into the crypt, and I nearly gasped when I caught sight of
something that didn’t look like another column. “There!” I shouted, pointing to the outline of a shape several feet away.
Between two columns with wolf heads on top of them was a tomb. A literal burial tomb. It was larger than any burial
tomb I’d ever seen in my life, stretching close to ten feet in the middle of the temple.
“Holy shit,” Luke breathed, “This really is a crypt.”
My wolf began to pace inside my mind again, whimpering and whining harder than before.
*What is her deal? She never gets this upset…this place is really making her go haywire.*
For the first time since I’d entered the temple, a pit formed in my stomach. “Whoever built this place really went to the
trouble of including a tomb,” I whispered.
*And nobody goes through the trouble of building a tomb unless it houses a body, right? Unless maybe…*
*No, no, Ollie, you’re being ridiculous. That tomb doesn’t have the Moon God’s body in it. It might house someone’s
body, but it isn’t the Moon God’s body.*
Even in the dark, I could see Luke shift closer to me. He was just as freaked out as I was about the tomb.
I took a deep breath.
*Okay, so maybe this place is a little creepy.*
“Come on,” I said, “We’ve got to get closer. If that tomb is supposed to hold…You-Know-Who, then we should probably
pray over it.”
Luke swallowed. “Yeah, that sounds about right.” He shined his flashlight directly on the large tomb and we moved closer
until we were standing directly in front of them.
Up close, the tomb was even larger than it looked with a couple of stone steps that led up to it directly.
“I think we’re supposed to go one at a time,” Luke said, staring at the tomb, “We each go up and ask for the Moon God’s
blessing.”
There was another pull in my chest, this one so strong that I actually stumbled forward. “Woah! You okay?” Luke asked,
catching me before I could trip.
*Alright. I’m starting to think this temple or Moon God or ghost doesn’t want me here.*
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” I said, finding my footing, “But I definitely think you should go first. What’s that old saying about
‘ladies first’? I think we should do the opposite of that.”
Luke let out a breathy chuckle, “Fine, I’ll go first.”
I didn’t miss the way he hesitated as he took the first step of the stone stairs, but Luke was a warrior through-andthrough. He wasn’t going to back out because of a haunted temple. Plus, I was pretty sure the crypt wasn’t trying to
actively injure him like it was trying to do to me.
Luke reached to the top of the steps, pausing in front of the crypt. There was a beat of silence and then he said, “Uh…I’m
going to be honest. I’m not really sure how to ask for a blessing in battle. I don’t think I’ve ever prayed to the Moon God
before.”
“Well, I’m not exactly an expert over here,” I replied, “But if we were supposed to do something specific, I’m sure Marcus would’ve told us. I mean, the guy can’t be that picky, right? He’s supposedly been cursed for a thousand years. I bet an
eternal sleep is pretty boring.”
“Ollie!” Luke hissed.
“What?” I shrugged, “It’s not an insult. If somebody put me in a magical coma for a millenia, I’d just be happy I got
visitors at all.”
“You’re not helping,” Luke sighed, “But alright, uh, here goes nothing. Moon God, I pray and ask for your blessing over