because it looked like a massive cavern had been carved right out of the mountain. Its space was lit by flaming medieval sconces, that were hammered metal strips, and held flaming rocks in their half-moon shaped baskets. These were riveted to the rock walls, making the pale stone glow and cast shadows beneath the light above. The river of lava was flowing from the great hole at the centre of the room, telling me this was where Matthias’ power had taken the hit. It travelled up, overflowing from below until it then cut off into two streams that made their way out of the cave.
Then, in the very far end of the cave, stood a lone structure, like a small temple, the size of a single-story building. It was all carved from stone and reminded me of the roman temples you would find built to house a single statue and a place for you to worship the Gods. However, there was a very distinct difference, and this was down to the entwined network of black infected roots that lay over the roof of the temple like a blanket of thick black snakes.
This root system then flowed down to the foundations below, that spread out and nearly covered the entirety of the cave floor wherever the lava didn’t flow. This naturally made it difficult to walk across. Especially for clumsy people like me and my mum. As for Matthias, he made short work of getting across the vast space of the cave, quickly getting to the temple, and snapping out his orders for us to hurry, something neither of us wanted to do.
I also noticed that the witch was hanging back slightly, and it seemed as if she was muttering to herself, making me wonder if she was casting spells. She also kept making erratic movements with her head, suddenly shaking it. Her hands would then come up by her sides with her fingers curling into tight fists. I nudged my mother and nodded to the witch so she too could take in her strange behaviour.
“HURRY!” Matthias roared out again, following up with a threat to drag us there by our hair if we didn't hurry. So, as we climbed our way through the intertwined roots that only got thicker the closer to the temple we got, it only became harder. Then, when my mum slid down one, I quickly shot out and grabbed her hand, preventing her from falling.
I tugged her up to where I was close to the top, letting out a relieved breath when we made it. Eventually we made it the rest of the way until we were at the temple steps. Then, as I walked through its open doorway, I found the reason why Matthias had named it to be his resting place. A large sarcophagus sat dead centre of the single room and one that too, was covered in roots. This meant the carved design on its sides was long gone and entirely consumed. In fact, it looked as if some tree monster had tried to swallow it whole and left only the lid askew, with a gap big enough for Matthias to have escaped from.
A lid he suddenly kicked off the top, making it crash backwards and slide down the raised dais it was sat on. If I hadn't been in my right mind at that point, I might have made a joke about vampires and their coffins, telling him that this looked like a fixer upper for sure. However, thankfully I refrained.
But it was clear now that what Lucifer had told Lucius had been true. Somehow these roots led straight to the Tree of Souls and had become entwined with Matthias. An infection that had taken years to spread, and one that had been released by Lucius the moment he'd lost his hand, sacrificing it to the Titans Keystone. It all made sense now and was why he brought us back to this place, for this would be not only where he would gain that power back that had been drained from him for 500 years, but where he would also take much more. Draining the souls from the tree itself, gaining every single one tied to Lucius.
And now came the point where I was the one that was to be forced to do this. It felt like the ultimate betrayal I had no choice but to make.
“Now, you will use the Eye to transfer the souls and give me back my power