In this imposing temple, it was decreed that everyone who graced the temple was obliged to bow to a certain golden statue of a three horned dragon with fiery crimson eyes before entering the colossal structure. Kodesh had noticed that as he was scouring the peripheries of the great temple, desperately searching for his family. But he had also observed that they only bowed once, meaning they were only required to bow before the dragon when they first enter the temple each day. But Kodesh wasn't planning on bowing down to a statue made with human hands.
Sidling forward, his eyes lingered around the hallway, his feet quaking in his boots as he was avoiding eye contacts at all cost. He tried his best to look like he belonged there, like he was one of them but the sense of nervousness coursing through him was like a surge of rapids, rushing through him, making him look a lot out of place. The sinister presence draining his strength didn't make things any easier.
However, the priests who were in the grand temple, were preoccupied with their own affairs. Some did cast a quick glance at him, and noticed a captive bound with chains and they simply continued with whatever they were slaving at. If they could have stared at him under a microscopic eye they would have seen just how he was shaking like a leaf.
Subtly relieved that no one was paying him any attention, Kodesh continued on his way. And he soldiered on despite the intense pressure he was feeling from the uncanny spirit permeating the air.
He had seen the two survivors being led down the hallway through his vision spawn so he used the similar route.
Pacing nervously through the hallway, Kodesh noticed intricate wall paintings that seemed to depict the stories of old. The ancient history of Oakland. But it almost seemed comical and fabricated to him.
'What do we have here.' He sneered inwardly, curling his lips.
In one of the painting were men riding enormous cosmic dragons, taming them under the power of their dark magic and leading them into battle, burning cities to the ground.
Kodesh paced anxiously towards the far end of the temple, his sunny eyes scanning the ornate wall paintings. A while later his eyes rested on the most recent event that he had first hand experience of. He even had a premonition of the fateful event.
The three masked kings, were standing in all glory before the gate of Olive. And the great figure of an old man, concealed behind a mask of a fierce Barbary lion stood before the gate and knocked three times. Immediately the gate crumbled to the ground as dust rose to the air.
He had a front row seat to the gruesome scene so he came to the conclusion that maybe the stories of men taming dragons were also true. The thought sent a rush of horror through him, a horripilation of dread tingling down his spine.
'So the statues of dragons are not just statues.'
'They are monuments just like the statues around the wall.' He thought to himself as his eyes betrayed a hint of trepidation.
'I'm going to destroy this temple.'
'No I'm going to destroy the whole city and burn it to the ground and may The Most High deal with me be it so severely if I don't decimate this city.'
Glancing down the blue tunic he was wearing, his face grimaced. Having to wear that stenching tunic infuriated him even more.
Trying to suppress his roiling emotions, he traversed the vast and opulent temple and a while later he found himself at the spiraling stairway at the far end of the temple, opposite the entrance. He ascended up the large flight of steps, each step heavier than the previous one. His sunny eyes glowing as he was passing past the combusting torches along the winding stairs.
Before long Kodesh and his captive clone were in the first floor. Continuing their ascent, they soon reached the second floor. His feet could have already been exhausted from the mountainous ascent but thanks to the strength of Samson coursing through him, he was still fresh.
Reaching the third floor, Kodesh took a long deep sigh as he was staring beyond the walls. His unblind vision penetrating through the walls of the room of bondages like they were as transparent as a clear window, instantly creating a deep hole in his heart and flutters of butterflies in his stomach.
He was trying his best to put on an indifferent and unreadable image but the rush of tumultuous trepidation and swirling emotions overwhelmed him as he was seeing his mother and sister bound to iron chains beyond the white marble walls.
Emerging from the stairways into the hallway of the third floor, Kodesh's heart pounded wildly within his chest. A surge of repressed emotions threatening to outburst like a volcano.
Some distance away were two heavily armored guards but instead of swords, or any weapon of war, the men were holding magical wands. They were grayish green sticks carved adeptly. The shaft branching into three interlaced and curved wooden pieces, rejoining at the upper part of the wand where a hue of celestial lights were shimmering. For some reason, the wands gave Kodesh the creeps than any weapon of war he had ever come across.
Behind the door they were guarding, were hordes of captives, all bound to a mammoth iron chain. They were holding hands, trying to find comfort in each other in that trying moment. Their joined hands forming a chain of solace far stronger than the rattling iron chains.
His sister, Phoebe, was in the doldrums, lost to sorrow and reduced to tears. She was sobbing uncontrollably, her arms wrapped around her mother, Judit, dispirited and despondent.
Judit looked a bit collected and strong but that was a visage. It was just like one of the masks of the three kings. Deep within, she was downhearted and out of sorts. The precarious situation she was in was the worst a mother could ever go through.
There was absolutely nothing in her power she could do to save her daughter. On top of that she didn't know where her husband, Kenneth and her first born son, Atlas were. They were separated the moment they were captured. For all she knew, they were all dead.
Perhaps what was more heartbreaking was that she was going to die not knowing what happened of her son, Kodesh. She had planned a great feast for him on his birthday, a feast fit for a king but then the three kings happened.
She didn't even see his sweet son turn sixteen because the castle partly collapsed, blocking the hallway. Her life fell apart with that half collapsed castle.
She had cried herself to sleep everyday since then. The mystery surrounding the whereabouts of her son consuming her more than the fear of death.
Unbeknownst to her, Kodesh was just outside the room of bondages, glancing at them through the wooden door.
He halted before the two guards, fervent emotions washing over him.
"I have brought another captive." Kodesh spoke, his voice silvery, hiding suppressed roiling emotions.
One of the guards glanced at Kodesh and his eyes darted towards the captive and immediately back at Kodesh.
"Who are you boy and why haven't I seen you before?" The man asked, his voice raspy and rough.
"I am Kodesh, son of Kenneth of Olive."