He hung back a ways from the group of people crowding the alter. The temple was not anywhere near the size of those in Tieto and he knew very well that, with his size, he’d take up quite an unfair amount of room. He didn’t feel the need to approach the foot of the statue to pay his respects.

                Venturing into East Rendali on official business was just another excuse of his to get away from the constant activity in the Tower of Knights. Nathan had opted to travel with him as far north as the city of Endora, where the two had parted ways. This was partially on the urging of Rondun himself and partially due to Nathan agreeing to rendezvous with their mark, in his stead, outside of the city. Regardless of official title, the regional official would know the man’s status with Rondun, he would be willing to cooperate. 

                Skirting around Endora, Rondun would move farther north until he reached a small region between the city of Cliffside and the Olipi River and eventually come across the landmark of a temple to Daila just outside the city’s boundary line. Truth be told, he had his own reasons for coming this far into the eastern continent. Over a hundred years ago, he would have called these cliff-side woodlands home and while he doubted he would find anything the same as it was more than a century before, he decided to make an unscheduled trip to the local temple to pay homage to both Daila and the place he was raised.

                What he should have counted on was the confusion and surprise at the expense of  the temple’s caretakers at his coming. As expected, they were a bit taken aback at the sight of a fourteen foot Dailian Elite at their doorstep without any warning ahead of time. The same could be said for the masses of people he ran into on his way to the site, whose curious gazes and questions he could only describe as awkward at best.

It was one of those moments where his size as a Shinlai made going virtually unnoticed in a crowd near impossible.  Not that he was unused to the attention, but at least in Teito he had Adlai and Lydia to help draw it away from him whenever they left the tower. Those two soaked it up any chance they could get.

                As he was, in the center of the temple and making his way off to the side, Rondun could see all that was going on over the heads of the other Shinlai around him. In the candlelight of the temple, where the only light pollution from outside came from two rows of lancet windows high on either side of the structure, other worshipers were cautious with intrigue as they slipped past him and approached the statue.

The sculpture on its own was an ornate depiction of Daila herself, about a meter tall, and perched atop a raised angular pedestal inscribed with symbols of the elements beneath her reign. The originals at least; neither the elements of Balance nor Dark were included among the grouping.

Rondun pretended not to notice.

“My apologies, sir. We would have cleared everyone out had we known of your coming,” said a husky voiced priest who approached him from behind. Rondun turned to meet the other Shinlai. The faint rays shining down from the stained glass windows above, combined the light play of the candles, reflected in luminescent color off the elder priest’s mask as he spoke.

“No, it’s quite alright,” he said with a smile, “It’s my fault for not alerting you beforehand. Everything should go on as usual regardless; I’m just here to pay my respects.”

“As are many these days, sir.”

Nodding, he returned his thoughtful gaze back to the alter. At the at the front of the small group, toward its edge, a young dark colored pup was creeping his way over to the offering pile, unnoticed by those around him, his eyes notably keen on a small metallic object amongst the lot of goods. His paw outstretched, he attempted to snatch it out of the pile, only to utter a yelp in protest as his mother quickly seized him up by the waistline and carried him back into the throng of the crowd, chiding him all the while.

Rondun suppressed a snicker, “Better luck next time, little one,” he thought jokingly. He was the same way at that age, it did not matter where it came from, if something caught his interest as a pup, even into adolescence, he would have gone for it. Though he had come to hold thievery under much more serious terms now, he could always sympathize. The only bad thieves were the ones who were caught, and that was the way things worked in his eyes.

The few humans there shuffled their way around nearby Shinlai, some on their own, most with a masked friend accompanying them. Some even brought kids. It made Rondun wish he had let Nathan in on what he was up to. He never talked too much with his friend about his days before joining Adlai, the quelling of the plague, and the dawning of the revolution. He never thought it relevant. He trusted Adlai, in all his boastfulness, to divulge what he knew only when it was necessary and chose not to fight the many rumors which spread in his stead. 

It was then he wished he had not been so stubborn with the boy or talked him into parting ways.  But if Nathan had found out that the motivation behind his whole detour was so that he could visit a temple in the sticks out of a sense of forgotten nostalgia… Well, Rondun would not have wanted him to get bored.  

Nathan was a fairly understanding young man and Rondun trusted his reasoning. But he did not want to risk his friend dissuading him from coming this far from Teito on his own.

A shift in the still temple air caused Rondun to pick up the scent of ash wafting through the hall. He glanced over to the Elder whom had already crossed the hall and was currently preoccupied with the other caretakers, all of whom failed to pick up on the strange draft.

He began to wonder if it was just him, when a loud earthen groan reverberated through the roof of the hall. All noised hushed as a dead silence engulfed the temple. Everyone in the main chamber had their gaze upturned, their eyes locked on the pointed vaults and arches capping the isle of its interior.

An ear-splitting shriek rang out to the front of the hall, echoed almost immediately by another, and another, until a tremor wracked through the temple floor, reverberating off stone walls, old wooden beams, and heavy pillars. The alter statue at the end of the hall took the brunt of the shockwave, as the lady, Daila, herself was sent crashing to the ground.  The priceless artifact shattered into several pieces as it hit the stone floor, just inches away from the startled onlookers gathered about its now toppled pedestal.

The ensuing result was sheer chaos. When it dawned on Rondun what had happened, that the temple had fallen under attack, and what it potentially meant for those inside, the place was already cast into an uproar. Shinlai and humans both stampeded toward the great hall entrance as solid stone walls and support pillars came toppling down around them. Barking orders, he tried his best to aid those he could through the debris, watching out for falling architecture all around him while pushing aside pillars and crumbling walls alongside other Shinlai, a few of whom were of the Earth element, who were willing to hang back. But he knew what was coming.

As the DarkBlood Revolution became more organized, so did their raids on Dailian temples. Regardless of how they approached the initial shock and destruction, the temple itself would almost always go up in flames. Rondun would not let that happen. He paused in what he was doing to assess the damage. The tremors had subsided and the main hall of the temple had all but caved in on itself. Pieces of the structure continued to fall from its foundation as gravity helped to complete the rest of the job. Remarkably, many of the candles at the far side of the hall remained lit in their iron stands. Dust from the debris clouding the air turned their subtle glow to a hazy flicker amongst the rubble.

Whoever was responsible for the attack now, be it Earth, Air, or Fire Shinlai, they were doing well to cloak themselves in their elements and remain hidden. No one knew where the source of the attack had come from and it caused all the capable Shinlai to scatter throughout the hall and panic toward its sole exit. He began weighing his odds. By himself, Rondun could potentially take on a single Shinlai without issue, but he would be pushing his luck if he had to face a team of them on his own. He hated to admit that it might be too late for the temple.

Glancing around him, from where he stood toward the far end of the center aisle, Rondun realized the hall had cleared. Those whom had aided him in clearing a path and directing the flow of traffic from the temple grounds minutes before had dispersed along with its people and caretakers.

He heaved a sigh of relief, “I think that’s everyone,” he said sullenly. Turning to leave and regroup with those waiting outside, Rondun stepped carefully over a pile of fallen rubble. Identifying it as the remnants of a collapsed wall, possibly older than he was, he moved toward the pair of dual cast iron doors that marked the temple’s entryway. However, once he cleared the fallen wall, shooting out from beneath the debris, something weighted and warm careened into his hind leg with a clumsy “thunk”, tripping him up and nearly making him lose his balance. Not to mention almost giving him a heart attack as he aimed to whirl on the source of the blow, only regain his composure a moment later. 

Shifting his weight and craning his neck around, Rondun caught a glimpse of the trembling culprit. A pair of small beady eyes gazed up at him as the small dark pup from before clung tightly to his right ankle, the metallic gold chain of a medallion offering clasped firmly in his teeth.  The little twit must have taken advantage of the discord to become separated from his mother and go back for the gold, only to find himself terrified and twenty meters from the temple door once he had it.

Rondun thanked the parenting gods, if there were any, that he had met with Dagda and his rambunctious kids enough times to get used to the temperament of children. “Ah, so we do have one more left then?” he chided softly, trying not to scare the pup, “Along for the ride eh?”

The little male nodded and his trembling subsided, though his sharp claws seemed to want to dig deeper into his ankle than Rondun would have liked.

Thinking of Dagda made him think of Adlai, Lydia, and Nathan, as well and then he considered the grief they would give him later for walking into this kind of situation on his own. “Not really going to live this one down, am I?” he snorted at the thought. It was difficult enough getting those three to shut up about simple mistakes on the side. Looking back ahead of him, Rondun eyed a path to the exit, and mindful of his new passenger, moved slowly along it.

He did not get far before the next tremor hit. The quaking blow struck hard beneath the cracking isle floor and almost threw him off his feet. It shifted already fallen debris and left them strewn across any sign of a cleared path, adding to the piles of fallen wreckage with every roll. The onslaught loosened the pup’s grip on his hind leg. Turning, Rondun quickly seized him by the scruff of his neck, maybe a little rougher than he had intended given the circumstances, and started forward. Bracing himself, his legs spread wide to maintain his balance as more of the temple collapsed around them, Rondun tried his best to creep his way toward the doors before finally opting to dart around falling debris, sent crumbling down through the aftershock.

The earsplitting reverberation throughout the stone chamber, as the rest of the building lurched and threated to fall, was enough to irritate a fracture in a nearby wall and knock loose a cluster of massive stone slabs, a few times the size of Rondun’s paw, sending them hurtling down from the vaulted ceiling.

Rondun leaped forward with a start, dodging the first couple blocks, moving carefully as not to let the now whining pup fall from his jaws, when there was a loud “crack!” followed shortly by a high pitched wail, and something sharp and painful bypassed the prongs of his antlers and slugged him heavily in the back of the head. He pitched and rolled forward, colliding full on with one of the fallen marble pillars that had once held up the vaulted ceiling, and landed on his side amongst the stonework rubble.

Something—the pup maybe— began tugging desperately at his mane, biting his paws, climbing across his shoulder to dig at his ribs. But as his limbs went numb as his vision clouded, the most Rondun could do was lay there staring at the still bright flames of the remaining candles, their dancing luminosity giving him a headache as everything hazed over and he went out cold.

    “Hurry it up! We need to get out of here before this whole place comes down.”

“What about the Dailian?”

“Leave him. If he goes down with the site, Darius will reward us highly. ”

A new voice came into range, “No, Darius may want to interrogate him. He won’t be happy to hear he’d lost such a valuable source of information.”

“And what would you know about Elite concerns, new meat?” said the first speaker.

There was a frustrated hiss, the third Shinlai sounded much older than the rest. “All I’m saying is that…” The discussion faded as the group moved off into the hall’s adjoining rooms, their echoes overshadowed by thunderous cracking and popping noises, echoed and accentuated by a throbbing headache at the back of Rondun’s head.

As he came to, he became even more conscious of his surroundings, the heat and roar of the blaze signified its size and strength before he could open his eyes or fully inhale its smoldering ash. It was then he noticed something heavy pressing down on the side of his snout. Opening his eyes, the first thing Rondun saw was the face of the pup, his expression full of anxiety as he propped himself up by tiny forelegs onto the side of his mask. A pair of small eyes stared straight into Rondun’s central set and he realized the sharp whistling sound he had been hearing had been the pup’s whining.

 With a lurch, he managed to lift his head and neck from the ground and hoist himself back to his feet, side stepping the kid as he darted about his legs. The movement was riddled with a series of aches and pains everywhere from his head to his joints and lower back, where he had collided with the marble pillar. The ache in his head added an echoing sentiment to his slip up. He shook himself to loosen the tension from his joints, slowly becoming aware of slight burns and scratches apparent around his sides and flank.

Looking around, what was once a wall of candles was now engulfed in unforgiving flame. Fire appeared to shoot out of every crevice of the temple. He stooped, coughing, his eyes stinging in the smoke laden air. A glance over his shoulder and around the shattered pillar revealed to him where he was in the hall. The iron doors, left swung half open, stuck out at the edge of the hall against the flare of the blaze and the clouding smoke.

They were not too far away to make a break for the entrance without the argumentative DarkBloods noticing their absence. They appeared to have moved off for a reason Rondun could only assume would be to sack whatever stores the temple had been keeping within its lower levels.  When he was certain they were alone, he leaned down to tenderly pick up the pup, deciding to use the menagerie of shadows within the burning structure to his advantage and shroud their presence to make an easy exit. It was then when an echo rang out over the crackling roar of the fire.

“What’s this? I would have never taken you for the compassionate type.”  The bark echoed from shadow to shadow, reverberating throughout the stone hall. It was the same, aged voice from before.

It was then the shadows about him shifted. The silhouetted form of a Shinlai darted across his peripheral vision and Rondun turned toward the movement, which disappeared as quickly as he had caught sight of it. Another cropped up on the opposite side of the hall, and then another by the door, and another, each seemed to appear for a fraction of a second and vanish, one after the other. All in a cloaked form, darting and pacing just out of sight.

                The echoing nature of the voice made it difficult for Rondun to decipher its source. Placing the pup on the ground once more and nudging him in the back to have him move toward the door, he straightened and turned to where the illusion sounded strongest.

                “But then again,” it sounded from the opposite direction, another shadow trotted past from behind him, “Your entire facade has gone fairly well for you in recent years.  Lanthani was it?” there was a still pause. “Funny how just by inventing a namesake, one can deny his right to suffer for his own crimes. Some would call it a cruel joke.”

                Rondun stiffened, past experiences have had him meet his fair share of delusional DarkBloods before, but this seemed more direct than just a wronged youth lashing out and clawing about after any excuse to defy the system. They would make up their own stories and rumors just to get under Dailian skin. But this one’s words, however, had an air of truth to them. Drawing back his lips in a snarl as he spoke, he questioned, “Who are you?”

                “Someone who knows more about you than you’d like.” Rondun opened his mouth to shoot a retort, and the other Lai interjected, “No, hold on, I’ll give you a hint,” he quipped, “Though I’m sure, deep down, you already know.” The Shinlai’s tone grew spitefully serious, “They all died after you left, Rondun. The Old Man, your brothers and sisters, our Brotherhood wasn’t the only thing that weakened after your leaving.” The shadows began to race in abundance about the hall and the male continued in a low growl, “They’re all gone and you willingly chose to abandon them to their fate.”

                Rondun’s shoulders slumped. His posture, normally solid and composed, seemed to collapse in disbelief at what he was hearing and he froze, unmoving. In that moment, his thoughts for the pup’s safety and the position they were in within the burning temple had been replaced by an overwhelming sense of dread. “There was only one illusionist among us from what I can remember,” he fed, though internally he was concerned with something greater.

“Oh don’t worry, Darius knows nothing of your past. Yet.” There was a flicker of solid movement in the corner of Rondun’s vision and he finally turned to look into the hard eyes of an old friend.  “Though it would certainly be interesting to see his reaction to knowing the great Rondun Lanthani, the Dailian spokesperson for equality, traces his roots back to a family of extremist thieves every bit as radical as what the Kordeth family intended for their own revolution.”

“Marrinus!” He stepped forward and the wiry dark coated Shinlai darted to the side and into the light of the fire, laughing. Unhealthily thin, with unkempt fur and an overgrown mane that fell in tangled mats about the sides of his face, it was apparent that time had not been too kind to the other male.

“Oh I’m sorry, did I offend you?” the DarkBlood spat, “Of course, you’ve felt losses as well, however more to your pride than personal relations. Much like right now, I can imagine. You’ve always been selfish like that.”

“Marrinus! What in the world are you doing?” A DarkBlood grunt hollered down through a gap in the rafters leading to the attic and their exit to the roof. It was hard to distinguish a face through the smoke. The Shinlai coughed, “Forget him, we need to go, the place is about to come down!”

His eyes never leaving Rondun’s, Marrinus gave an unsightly grin, “Well that’s my cue to leave,” he said as a chunk of the ceiling came crashing down in a swirling pile of sparks and flame, kicking up a cloud of ash within the hall that stung Rondun’s nose and eyes to peer through. “Surely this won’t kill you. So try not to do anything too stupid from here on, I want to see this play out.” And with that he vanished into the dwindling shadows and made his escape, leaving Rondun alone with the small pup, who had been cowering behind a fallen beam through the exchange, and a load of questions he could not bring himself to answer.