Light filtered in from above, illuminating the stairs in a streaky yellow light and warming the stone steps. It gave Else the strength to climb the last section out of the mountain and into the open air temple. It was one of the smallest, as it was located on the smallest isle at the very edge of the mountain range. The circular foundation had been built directly into the mountain, looking as though someone had slammed the two together. Decorated pillars ran along the outer edge that sloped downward in height from the center and opened up to face the ocean.. In the middle was a round, stone bowl with images of the water dragon carved into its sides. Despite its size, the temple was considered one of the most important, due to the fact that its location on the far reaches meant it was the closest to their God’s den and the most likely place to spot him from afar.

She was surprised to see a pair of bare feet as she emerged from the underground. It was usually still too early for worshippers to be leaving offerings. When she finally emerged, Else saw not a devout follower come to pay their respects, but a naked girl staring at the altar with an inquisitive expression. At least, Else thought she was a girl. She looked younger than her, perhaps a young teenager, yet she was most likely the same height or even slightly taller than Else. Her body was oddly proportioned and a long scaly tail brushed the floor behind her. A spear was embedded deep into the stone next to her, making Else gasp. “You’ve damaged the temple! Who are you?"

“Suni.” The girl turned to look at her, eyes squinting in the sunlight, mouth twisted in a small frown. "Is that an adult?"

"Wha-"

"They're smaller than you said."

"What are you talking about?" Else asked, baffled.

The girl continued on as if Else hadn't spoken. "How could you forget? Maybe you [i]are[/i] getting old."

"Who are you talking to?" Else demanded. The girl titled her head and then pointed to the open ocean behind her. Else opened her mouth to speak when a huge shadow rose out of the deep, showering them both in a torrent of salty water. The entire isle became shrouded in shadow as the great dragon Else had only seen in drawings blocked out the sun. She threw herself to the ground, body trembling, as her God towered over her. She dared not look up, for to look directly at Him this close was forbidden. As she shook frozen in place, Else heard the soft padding of footsteps as the girl, Suni, approached her. 

“Hey, can you take me into the city?”

LIght once again illuminated the temple and Else dared a glance upward. Suni stood in front of her, her spear held loosely in her left hand, which Else realized, looked more like a staff with a large pointed fish hook on the end. Her God was gone, but sitting on the shoulders of the girl in front of her, was what appeared to be a miniature version of Him. He snaked around her neck, his long tail wrapped around the upper half of her left arm. “I-Is that..”

“It’s Hessen.” 

Suni did not appear to be willing to offer any explanation beyond that so Else could only nod, despite the fact she had no idea who or what a “Hessen” was. “Y-You can speak to our god?”

Suni opened her mouth to speak, then closed it, a slight frown on her face. After a long pause she shrugged, but said nothing.

It seemed impossible, But it was also impossible to deny what she had seen with her own eyes. Else studied Suni for a moment, her eyes stopping on the girl’s eyes - the same color as their gods. She staggered to her feet and wiped the salt water from her face. “Follow me.” 

The first floor beneath the temple was dedicated to prayers and worship of their god. It had the highest ceiling in the mountain and was occupied by a gigantic statue of their God in the center that had been carved out directly from the stone when the room had been created. The floor below that, contained the offices of the priests of the temple and the maze-like libraries containing everything from scriptures, histories, and textbooks to fictional fairy tales. Else took them to the floor just below, where the living quarters of the priests were located. She would have liked to take her straight to the high priest, but there was no way she could before giving Suni clothes. At this level of the city, the only thing available were the white robes reserved for priests, and  Else hoped the High Priest would forgive her for this transgression, given the fact that she couldn’t exactly parade a naked alien-looking girl with a tail all the way down to the lower levels.

Suni was quiet but stopped often to inspect the various parts of the city. Else had to practically tear her away from the libraries. She didn’t know what to make of this strange creature. She clearly had a connection of some sort to their God, but her attitude and appearance was completely unbefitting of someone of that position. It made her angry. Else and so many others had dedicated their lives to worship of the white dragon, and this ugly creature had appeared out of nowhere and somehow earned his favor for no reason. 

At the far end of the third floor were the laundry rooms. Luckily it was the end of the week, meaning that there would be a stack of clean robes to choose from. The girl was the skinniest person Else had ever seen, and the sleeves of the robes consumed her stick-like arms, but would otherwise fit well enough with a belt. She hesitated before picking one out. Traditionally, blue was for the lowest level acolytes, followed by green, red, purple, and then white. Else personally wore a red belt, one that she had worked hard to obtain. If this child could communicate with their God, then she deserved the highest tier, white, but Else couldn’t bring herself to hand her the sacred color. Suni stared at the colored bands of fabric over her shoulder and pulled out two black ones. “Wait! The black ones are for the cleaners.”

Suni shrugged. “I don’t care.” She used one to tie the robe shut. The second, she hung on the first for some indiscernible later purpose.

“We’re going to go back upstairs to see the High Priest.” Else began leading her back to the stairwell, but Suni stopped in the doorway.

“I already saw upstairs.”

“Well, yes but you need to talk to the High Priest?”

“Why?”


“Because you can communicate with our God! We need to.. We have to…” Else wrung her hands together, “I don’t know what we need to do with that information, so that’s why we have to go to the High Priest. He’ll know what to do.”

“Okay, you can go tell him. I’m going to explore the rest of the city.”

“What? Wait, you can’t!” It was too late though; Suni had already begun sprinting down the hallway. She moved at a terrifying speed and it took Else less than a moment to lose sight of her, leaving her wondering how in the world she was supposed to explain what had transpired.