Lod blinked the weariness out of his eyes and pulled a branch out of his face. He was in the deepest part of the forest any human had ever ventured to, his companions spread thick around him, close enough to see each other and spread far enough to not get caught in the nets the bestial men had set up for them.
He looked around the large forest seeing where they were in daylight for the first time in a long time, because they had hauled themselves here in the middle of the night, to hide themselves from the bestial men that hungered for their flesh, yearning to destroy any form of man filth that dared wander deep into their primal forests.
Lod grinned as he made a lurching step into a clearing, his face looking up at a large grandiose temple in the middle of the forest. The steps were encrusted in clear gold, and the writings of men a thousand years their age pathed their way as scripture and ancient mettle crawled up the sides of the temple. A large man's face that looked ancient now was the mantle of the temple, but it was not clearly a man, nor was it clearly a beast either.
Looking at it closely he could see the sharp fangs of a bear inside the golden mantles mouth, and a mane of a lion, making it look like the sun god of the Renri temples down south of Keledor. The mantle's eyes were clear and infallible holding unwavering faith and devotion to command its followers.
Lod grinned more, those ancient times were gone, what would've been a temple guarded by a thousand followers of this old god had become a tomb, and tomb raiders like themselves would profit from the old god's keep.
"We've found it." said a high-pitched voice from behind him, he turned around to see his companion, Trel, gazing in awe at the temple, but Lod saw the awe turn into greed.
Lod grabbed his longsword and hacked at a piece of shrubbery in front of him.
"Ain't that right," Lod said. "Set up camp 'round here. Those monsters aren't going to follow us here."
"Set up camp?!" A more irritated voice rounded the side of a tree, and Lod could see the lithe figure of his fair third companion, and playmate, Tristine, clad in brigandine armor with a shortsword to their side lurching into the clearing. "We've been walking for days now! I say we storm the temple and leave as quickly as possible."
"Aye." A fat old man agreed with her, Loide, his beard as big as his belly, and his greed surpassing everyone present showed his face. He was an old veteran of the Strein War, and also the teacher to everyone here, no one would dare look him in the face and go against him but Lod was a strict leader and knew better than to trust the old man whose greed made him lose entire squads in the past.
Lod turned and growled at them. "Oi! Whose the fuck in charge of this group 'ere?!" His voice was deep as an ocean, and when he turned to growl, his wild hair, unkempt from a number of weeks in the forest made him look big, as if he wasn't big enough as it was. He stood a full head taller than everyone and made sure to throw his weight around as the strongest, that's why he was lead, because he had a head, and muscles made to break enemies or allies alike.
"If I say we stay another fucking day in the forest then we stay another fucking day!" Lod snapped.
Redness could be seen on Loide and Tristine's faces. Lod flicked a glance at Trel who had already set down a backpack on the floor.
"Everyone understands me?" Lod looked at Tristine. It made him angry she would falter to greed at this leg of the journey; he couldn't afford to have her be convinced by Loide's small voice.
"A-Aye…" She whimpered. Lod gazed at her a bit more, she could feel the heat of his gaze staring a hole through her. "We rest here, alright," said Tristine, and she cast her gaze toward the ground beginning to unpack her tent.
"What about you, mate?" Lod turned on Loide now, approaching until the old man could feel his rancid breath press against his face.
"No need to tell me twice… mate," Loide said, probably the only one among them who could talk like that to Lod. "If your highness wants it, I'll put a small bit of traps around the area, and have the equipment ready to go in whenever you like."
"No need." Lod ignored his snide remark, pushing his longsword into its scabbard, shoving his hand into his deep pockets, to pull out a small tattered book the size of a flask into the palm of his hand. "I read about this temple 'ere, It's one of those temples that radiate mana, I sure as hell can't feel it but I'm sure Trel can."
"I do, sir!" Trel perked up when he heard his name, he was small, had short, well-kept hair, and he was a magician not one of those powerful magicians not by Lod's standards at least, but a magician who learned about the arts well enough to be able to sense mana.
"It's radiating…" Trel said, and the awe returned to his face, "I don't know how these ancients were even capable of gathering all this mana, it's like an ocean of sorts… like they-"
Tristine interrupted. "Hey don't go off on one of those tangents again! I'm tired of hearing all this crap about mana. We're here to steal a few artifacts and curtail it back to a civilized county."
Trel grunted. "Ah. Sorry. The temple has mana, and the mana kinda wards off the monsters. " Trel told Loide.
"So why didn't you use your mana to ward off those monsters back in the forest?" Loide questioned.
"Ah… I'm not that strong yet…" Trel rubbed the back of his head.
Loide grunted. "Guess I'm learning something new every day."
Trel shook his head fervently, "No, you're, an amazing hunter!"
Lod frowned and shouted. "Stop talking. The faster we get this camp set up, the faster we can rest, get the loot and leave. I don't like this place any more than any of you do. I know you want to go home, I know the forest scares the daylights out of all of you." Lod had moved to set up his tent. "But right now, we need to rest, get some food, and enjoy some quiet time. Get your head steeled, and get ready for a fight. I'm sure there will be a few ancient guards, nothing we've never handled before, but I don't wanna risk having a sleep-deprived, food-deprived, fighter fighting a skeleton that never gets tired, right?"
Everyone finally agreed with Lod's sentiments. Now that they had time to sit down and rest they realized how tired they were, how much fear kept them going. Loide was looking at his bow when he felt the weariness catch his eye, and then the gnawing feeling of frustration clouded his head, he was going to make sure he was far- far back behind them this time.
When everyone went to sleep, Lod was the only one awake. His longsword was laid on his lap, and his eyes looked at the temple with eyes filled with unwavering determination. One artifact could make him live as lavishly as a duke. That's if he sold it off, got a quiet castle far from the border, lived a simple life, and passed his legacy of money onto his children so they could squander it.
Just like all of the nobility of Shologoth. Lod smiled at the thought, but he felt a deep guilt in his stomach, it panged him and rocked him as if he was being punched. He couldn't help but think he was doing something wrong.
If perhaps he didn't need to give the artifact away.
What if he kept it for himself?
He reaffirmed to himself that he was strong. Stronger than all of them.
The longsword in his hands ached, and his muscles tensed, as his fierce face gave way for the first time on his journey to fear. His heart was greedy. Lod wrapped the chain of the symbol of his deity, a silver cross, around his hand and shakily pressed his chapped lips against the red pit of the cross. The gods would have to guide him now.
They would forgive any choice he would make right now. If any of the group members saw this they would've fled, for only people about to commit a grave sin would kiss the cross of the gods wrapped around their neck.
The fire beat behind him like a rhythmic pulse. The moonlight basked him in its ethereal glow. The temple was so far in front of him, yet, with every waking moment it felt closer, alive, as if it encouraged his rampant thoughts.
Lod closed his eyes tight, it was far too much for him. "Please, God… Please, do not let my head be misguided. " He fervently whispered, "Bless me, please. Bless me so I do not falter, and many more of my choices to come."
His thoughts ran with blood, and it scared him.
He suddenly felt a warm arm wrap around his torso, startled, he turned around and found Tristine had woken up. Her hands had wrapped around his brigandine armor still tight around his torso, and gently caressed his chest.
"You're still awake." She said in whispers.
"I am." Lod mumbled, his powerful voice was filled with shame. "Did you see?"
"See what?" She feigned ignorance, "I see you…and I see that you're taking watch for the night."
Lod was filled with guilt, he considered killing them all. It made him sick, he had fallen to temptation, and his descent was far more dangerous than anyone else's. "Are you going to tell them?" Lod asked.
"Tell them what?" Tristine with a soothing voice hoisted her body off the ground and nuzzled her head against the back of his neck. "We've had difficulties in the past."
"Not like this." Lod said.
"It was all the same." Tristine shook her head, "I would die without you and If I was killed by your hand, or by someone elses my death is the same."
Lod stayed silent, and Tristine knew he was still considering whether or not to kill them. So she kissed his cheek, and raised his chin so he could meet her eyes. "Greed infects us all." She said.
Lod turned stiff when she said that, he had told her that when she first joined him on his adventures. It was a saying he had gotten from the men at arms commander from his hometown's garrison, It was a stiff reminder that he was still a peasant, not the lord he should be, not a knight, not a soldier, but a tomb raider, how far have his aspirations fallen?
He gripped the hilt of his sword tight and looked into the moon. "Do you remember your family?"
"I do." Tristine said.
"Did your family give you any stories?" Lod asked.
"They did."
"Can you tell me one?"
Tristine smiled, and said, "Only if you lay down."
"Sure." Lod said, and placed his sword carefully back into its scabbard, turning 'round to see Tristine's beautiful face waiting for him. She was so beautiful, he thought. Nothing like the girl he had grown up to know. Brash, impertinent, and strong. At times like these she was the softest person in the group.
Lod nestled his head into her lap, feeling slightly awkward, as he saw her eyes roam his body. Then he felt more relaxed as she told her beautiful story. A story he had heard a thousand times by now.
So he sat quietly and listened to her.
When she finished, he asked her one question. "Why did you tell me that story?"
"Because it's the only one I know of." Tristine looked embarrassed.
"That's fine…" Lod felt sleep catch his thoughts. "It was a fine story."
Tristine saw Lod's eyes gently flutter close, his thoughts, far from her imagination. When she finally thought that he had gone to sleep, his eyes fluttered open, a grin carefully placed on his face, as he stroked her cheek with his calloused hands, and looked her straight in the eye.
"I'll marry you."