Priests knowledge - Short story
We were running for hours without respite. We were running away without a break, and then the hours turned into days, the days turned into weeks. Perhaps we drove them right after a day, and maybe we were not even after two weeks of fleeing? We could not be sure.
We passed through the common forest paths, the large gorges that led into the mountains, the mountain paths and the large grassy fields behind it until we walked into the woods again. It is so dense, branches and wider everywhere around, no trace of the trail from times long past. There is no old road drawn in even older maps. We stopped there and for the first time we looked back. We could no longer hear the bark of their dogs, nor the trumpets that sent signals to each other. There is no sound of horse hooves. No unnatural sound has come to us, only the harmony of the wilderness. The long forgotten and unexplored wilderness of this mythical forest. In the old writings, it was said that there is an ancient Artifact deep in the central part of the forest. That's why we headed here. We were so frightened and scared that I was not sure whether we were in the right forest. But that must be the same one that we spoke with fear even among ourselves, priests.
My priesthood was the most devoted to philosophy and magic, old secrets and knowledge. The unexplored depths of the unknown, whether on paper or somewhere in a distant part of the world, always fascinated me. They fascinated me now, just like when I was a kid. Although I did not come to the Temple of Secrets with my own will. They brought me, I'm no longer sure who left me there. Did the parents or servants, who had the courage to renounce me?
I did not even know who I was before entering the courtyard of the Temple. I got a new name, and the new purpose. The deep and complete dedication that is needed for being a priest of the Temple of Secrets leaves no room for anything else in your life.
We have often been persecuted in the past, not for my life in the clergy. Most often, by our own people, although there are not an exception of an attacks by Demonic race from the Islands. We were halfway between these two opposing sides for the foreseeable future, and none of their conflicts had passed and that our Temple did not pay in human sacrifices.
Although we are searching for all these mythical works of the human mind, it is the task of our order to preservation of what we find. Knowledge is Gift and must never be lost after it has been found again.
The same kind of clash led us to this escape. Not exactly the same conflict, this was unseen by now. Destruction and chaos everywhere but this time with four warring sides. Tens of thousands of people died every day, and our brothers of the Temple of Healing failed to help anyone anymore. The destructive military forces associated with magic that can not be controlled led the world to the brink of ruin. Even the one who wins this turmoil will have nothing to rule.
During one of the robberies that are an integral part of such devastating wars, the Northern tribes inflamed and mercilessly killed half of my brothers. The rest of us were prisoners. Our Temple contained one of the largest libraries in the whole world, and each of us who survived thought only how to evade all this knowledge. Of course, it was physically impossible even with the help of that little magic that we were trained. None of us could take a load of more than a thousand tons that was the ultimate domain of our talent for Earth magic.
The Northern tribes, although ruthless and cruel, did not care much about whether we would talk to each other. They stayed in, took our food and wine and forgot about us. Closed in a small kitchen we did not use, we designed plans for further escape. The only solution was that each of us took those scripts and books that he considered best for future generations, if anything left after this war to have future.
And so we got here after this two week's chase. We ran by foot, because our horses were taken by Northern tribes. By magic, we managed to obscure our movements and it is a great privilege that we did not encounter the patrols of the second army by the way. Perhaps that's why they stopped chasing us, they were afraid to get into a foreign area.
We'll camp it here, it's a good place like every other, but it's necessary to find food and dry wood for fire and possible as soon as we can do it. We do not care about the fire because we can hide her presence with magic. Everyone knew his task and there was little need for a conversation. The night fell very fast and it was warm to us finally after a few days without a fire to warm us up. But this night we will be hungry, again.
For a further path to the center and that Artifact we need a plan. This Artifact will enable us to safely preserve all the knowledge we have taken with us and in our minds. They will also guide us to the Chosen one. The one who may save that little World that will remain. Perhaps the hardest task, but the one we knew would come. We just did not know it would come so fast.
First prayer.