Chapter Text
‘What would you do to know the truth?’
After dark, the mountain village of Flamechurch fell still and silent. For someone like Temenos, it made sense; the people of Flamechurch were a meek, god-fearing sort, each villager descended from a long line of people who worshiped the fire and the light— a long line of people who feared the night.
Sometimes, Temenos wondered if he was truly any different.
The Sacred Flame burned away on its pedestal in the center of the upper village, gentle light cast across the stone. Adherents to the order often spoke of its protection, an unending warmth gifted to them by the very gods. Temenos, too, had once looked upon the Sacred Flame with the same blind reverence his flock did. He could recall untold countless nights spent knelt before it as a child, begging its light to guide him safely through the dark, with shaking hands clasped tight and cheeks wet with the tears he’d once come to so easily. He could recall his brother’s favorite verse from the scriptures, echoing through his mind when he once more found himself in the same position after his disappearance: ‘So did Aelfric decree that his Flame shall burn eternal, that its strength may protect the weak, and its light may guide the lost, and its warmth may shelter those who wander in the darkest night.’
Temenos felt none of its warmth now.
The dark was an oppressive weight dragging him down, bowing his shoulders and forcing him to lean on his staff for a strength he couldn’t find. He was alone— and it was good, that there was no one to see him this way, and it was good, that he could hide in the dark, and it was good—
He caught a glimpse of an ashen face in the water of the drains running through the steps, half illuminated in the pale blue light of the flame that had failed to warm him for ten long years. A single haunted eye stared back.
He stepped over the reflection of his own ghostly visage and turned into the night, staff splashing into the water and sending the sight rippling away as he passed. His own shadow flicked and wavered before him before it, too, melted into the shadows.
‘What would you do to know the truth?’
He shook the thought away. Such questions weren’t worth dwelling on; to do so would be to succumb to distraction, and distraction on the mountain path down to the lower village, even during the day, was so often a recipe for disaster. Temenos could certainly take care of himself against the local monsters, but even he wasn’t quite audacious enough to presume himself immune to the ever-present danger of falling down the switchbacks. He adjusted the lantern held at his side and continued on.
The trees rustled and groaned their protests against the wind, chilling heralds of a summer storm. The telltale promises of an impending change of weather had been there since that morning for those who knew to look for the evidence: a clear, blue sky, and an unusually cool breeze for the time of year. The clouds had gathered at the horizon, clumped together like a second line of mountains had risen to further isolate their small community from the rest of the world. It was too dark to see them, now, but the lack of the usual stars painted across the night sky was indicator enough that those clouds had already crept into their next resting place, waiting for the chance to descend upon the village and let whatever weather they brought swallow it whole.
Earlier that evening, after most people had already returned to the village, the church had sent someone to snuff the candles lighting the path down the mountain with the promise to light them again once the coming storm had passed. Temenos had been the only one to stay up at the cathedral, long past his time. He could feel it in the air now: that familiar charge on the wind, the weight of the darkened sky above him— the approaching threat of torrential rain.
The closer he got to Flamechurch, the more he felt the approaching threat of… something else.
‘What would you do to know the truth?’
The question settled, heavy, in the base of his throat. The truth was all he had left. His journey and his destination, the only thing he could use to guide himself through the dark.
In the village, the only source of light came from within the homes of its residents, each little building a waypoint— a beacon of warmth against the night. He didn’t dare glance up at the windows as he passed; those shared hearths were not shelter for people like him.
A sharp gust of wind knocked the hood of his cloak from his head. The suddenness of it left him reeling, like an invisible hand had reached up and pulled it free, exposing him to the dark. He caught a glimpse of home, tucked against the chapel on the ridge, out of the corner of his eye. He increased his pace, breaths coming short from more than just the trek.
‘What would you do to know the truth?’
He didn’t know. He didn’t…
Temenos froze mere steps away from the door, eyes caught on his windows. Closed, just as he’d left them. Dark. He released a breath, the tension unfurling from him like the chill of winter from the frigid north. It was just his lack of sleep finally catching up to him in his waking hours— an illusion. There was nothing there; there hadn’t been anything there in years.
Nothing but him.
The wind shoved him forward another stumbling step, and ice settled in his veins once more as he caught a glimpse of firelight from between the trembling shutters of his own home, unmistakable.
‘What would you do to know the truth?’
The question had finally come calling, it seemed. Or, rather, the one who so desperately wanted to know its answer.
Temenos reached for the handle— withdrew his hand at the sight of his own shaking fingers, and clenched his fist at his side. The voice of his thoughts didn’t sound like his own when it said that it was unlike him to hesitate so. He should have been expecting this. He had been, in a way.
The truth was in front of him; all he had to do was find the will to reach out and take it.
He put a hand on the door. Took a deep breath.
He had his answer.
‘What would you do to know the truth?’
Thunder rolled across the night sky.
Anything.
He tightened his grip on the handle and pushed into the warmed interior of his unlocked home, placid smile fixed perfectly in place.
“Ah… I’ve been looking for you.”
The door clicked shut.