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SORA

THE TEMPLE OF KNOWLEDGE, GAYA

I t takes a while for everyone to disarm themselves outside the temple doors.

We’re in a cavern under the dead forest, and yet, somehow, we turned a corner and there was a massive stone temple.

The doors are black wood—ebony, not charred—just as they were in Khitan, but they aren’t nearly as tall or ornate. Then again, this is the side entrance.

I twist my hair. Miracles and horrors. That’s what we exist in now.

We leave a pile of blades by the door. Mikail takes his walking stick, and Aeri, of course, has her relics if things go wrong. I also have poison on me.

We pass through the doors and enter a space that’s identical to the temple in Khitan.

Everyone blinks as we look around. Again, the inside is beautiful with ornate mosaics on the floor and a large fountain in the middle with an altar beneath it.

This must have been placed here by a god.

Maybe the tree was a decoy or maybe the gods replaced the burned-down temple. It’s hard to say.

The keeper and eight other priests silently move around the space. Some sit at tables, transcribing texts; some place volumes on the shelves. Like in Khitan, the shelves are built right into the stone walls. Above us is a second story, and there’s a gilded dome at the top.

“How is this possible?” Aeri asks, eyes wide with wonder. “The temple was destroyed. We saw it.”

“Alta, praise her name,” Mikail whispers. “She and the God of Knowledge.”

Braya turns and smiles. She clutches her hands, waiting.

“We need information on the relics of the Dragon Lord,” Mikail says. “What happens when they are combined and what occurs if all the remnants are placed on the same person.”

“Also, were there ever queens in Yusan?” I ask.

Mikail tilts his head just enough that I know he’s questioning why I want that information.

Three priests begin to move as Braya gestures for us to take a seat at a reading table. Mikail and Royo sit facing the door. Aeri and I take the other side.

The first volumes and scrolls they place on the table aren’t about the relics, but the history of Yusan.

According to the texts, there have been two Baejkin queens over the last thousand years.

Also in the texts are detailed accounts of King Theum invading the Temple of Knowledge in Yusan with his palace guard.

He erased the history of queens not long after taking the throne.

Although he didn’t reveal his motivations, priests noted that his sister was very popular and considered a threat to his rule.

Conveniently, she later died in childbirth.

I sit back. This wasn’t that long ago—King Joon has only been on the throne for twenty years, and his father died after ruling for only ten.

The information disappeared just thirty years ago.

There are people alive in Yusan who remember that this realm had queens. No wonder I heard whispers about it.

I give Aeri a meaningful glance as I turn the book toward her. But then the priests arrive with scrolls and volumes on the relics.

It’s far more than we found in Khitan.

I’m hopeful we can discover what is happening to Aeri and why King Joon wants all of the relics.

Except as I read, I find that most of the texts are myth and legend—pure conjecture.

The belief is that the Dragon Lord left his relics behind as gifts to the people.

But no one knows what happens when all the etherum is reunited.

King Joon allegedly had the Flaming Sword in the war with Wei, but he didn’t use it.

No other ruler has had multiple relics like Aeri.

Perhaps the five relics were left on five different lands to make it difficult.

Because if the Dragon Lord walks the earth again, that person would be imbued with god powers.

We’re about halfway through the scrolls and books when another priest returns to the temple. I continue reading, but there’s something strange in the way he’s staring at us. He looks at our table and then something in his hands, then stares at us again. His expression fills with outrage.

My stomach sinks—whatever this is, it can’t be good.

The priest pulls Braya to the side, and they have a silent but impassioned argument as the priest hits the paper and gestures at us. Mikail shifts in his seat, his eyes alert.

The man has a stockier build and thin gray hair. He strides up to our table, even as Braya silently urges him to stay behind. Mikail gets to his feet, and so does Royo.

“Leave now,” the priest demands, his round face turning red.

I’m surprised he’s breaking his vow, but he doesn’t seem to care.

“You murderers will not use our temple to hide from your crimes,” he says.

Which murders? Is this about Berm?

Aeri and I exchange glances as he slaps a piece of paper down. Unsurprisingly, it’s a wanted poster. But the rest of it is a shock.

I close my eyes as my stomach twists, a sudden wave of dizziness making the room spin. The king of Yusan is offering a million mun each for our capture. Four million mun total. Because we murdered Tiyung.