Ayden studied the words carved into the smooth gray wall after breakfast the next morning. “It’s ancient Presbelic,” he announced. “The one language that’s inaccessible to the general public. Only temple clergy are taught it.” He looked back at Sera with a smile. “Told you how important learning it was.”

She groaned. “I didn’t see the point,” she said joining him. “It’s just the language that the original texts are in and they’ve all been translated.”

“The prayers are in that language.”

“Well, those just get memorized. I forget what half of them actually translate to,” she admitted guiltily.

He chuckled. “You still passed the class though.”

“Barely.” She said, staring at the words in front of her.

Tess snickered. “The one thing she’s actually not an overachiever in and it comes back to bite her.”

Sera ignored her cousin and studied the wall for a moment. “Temple of the gods,” she read out loud, running her fingers over the words as she read them. She sighed. “I have no idea what this one is.”

“Gateway.”

She turned around to glare at Ayden. “You know what it says, don’t you?”

He grinned. “Of course. I helped you study, remember?”

“Only a little, and you’re a brat.”

He laughed.

She shook her head. “How on Kelstone do you remember this stuff?”

He shrugged. “Don’t know. So? What’s the rest say?”

She glared at him again, then turned back to the wall. “Gateway to the… Immortal Planes.”

“You guessed that part.”

“Shush,” she said, smiling sheepishly. “Only one with a…”

“Gift,” he helped.

“Why don’t you read it?”

He grinned again. “No.”

“Meany,” she said, blushing at how badly she was doing. She sighed and returned to reading, “Gift from a god may… pass. With a… touch…” She glanced at him.

“Name.”

“Name your god and… enter,” she finished.

“What a great high priestess you’ll be someday,” Tess teased.

Sera frowned. Ayden put his arm around her. “You’re fine,” he said comfortingly. “If you want, I can help you get better when we get home.”

She nodded and gave him a small smile. “Thanks. Guess I should.”

“Yes,” he agreed. He stepped away from the wall, pulling Sera with him and looked at Vivyka. “You’re up. Just put your hand on it and say his name.”

Vivyka walked up and touched the cold stone. “Brex.” Something suddenly materialized next to her. She whirled and gasped.

Brex stood there, leaning back against the wall as if he had been there the whole time. He wore various shades of deep gray materials that shimmered, with a studded belt and a black leather jacket and boots. He pushed himself to stand straight, causing several of his necklaces to cling together.

He reached out to stroke her hair and smiled. “My vixen.” He caressed her cheek. “Miss me?”

She couldn’t help but grin back at him. He turned his attention to the others, looking at them each in turn. He paused on Korin, as if assessing him. Finally, he looked back at Vivyka who was still staring at him, starry-eyed.

He took her hand and slid off the ring he had given her, returning it to his middle finger. “Need it back now that you’re done with it.” He brushed her bottom lip with his fingertips. “You can come back with me,” he offered.

A thrill went through her at the memory of the last time she was with him. When he was right in front of her, all she wanted to just be with him, to bask in his attention and the warmth and contentment he seemed to emit. But she frowned and turned her head to look at Korin. He met her gaze with the same tenderness he always had for her. Somehow, she knew that he wouldn’t hate her if she left now. If she just went, he would remember her fondly. He would understand that she was just going back to her world, to where she belonged.

She was torn.

She imagined going with Brex, and the idea made her chest ache with emptiness, as if her heart would be staying with Korin. She smiled, Korin had gotten what he wanted after all.

“Thank you, Brex, for everything,” she told the god without looking at him. “But I wanna stay.”

Korin returned her smile.

“Okay,” Brex said when she turned to him. He looked as if he understood everything. He stroked her hair and smiled warmly at her. “You know where to find me, pet,” he told her, and then vanished.

The wall behind Vivyka split down the middle and opened slowly, but she paid no attention to it. Instead, she went to Korin and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I won’t let go either,” she breathed. His arms tightened around her and he kissed her, saying so much more in his touch than words could ever say and she felt her heart swell, pushing against the limits of her chest.

After a long moment, Tess cleared her throat and the others chuckled softly.

Vivyka turned to her friends, ready for any teasing they might throw her way, but they just looked pleased for her. “Okay.” She grinned. “Going now.”

Ayden led the way into the Temple of the Gods. The wall slid closed behind them as they walked into a huge rectangle room made completely of white marble—the floor, the walls, the ceiling, even the fifteen-foot statues of the gods that lined the path leading deeper in, five of them on each side:

Daegon Malluk

Nathora Faraad

Brex Kellum

Mortalia Aryst

Chira Eolys

“I get why Ona’Ess is missing,” Ayden said, looking at the statues. Ona’Ess had been an elf that was made immortal because Nathora fell in love with her. She was commonly called a goddess, though wasn’t technically one. “But why isn’t Tandra here?” he asked, referring to the goddess of love.

“Maybe she came later,” Sera offered. “After this place was built.”

“Hmm, maybe.”

Ahead of them, on the far end of the room, was an iron door, and before that, in the center, stood a large stone slab. The place was otherwise empty and well lit by some unseen light source. The temperature was perfect, enough that the group took off their heavy coats and put them in their packs.

They walked forward, their footsteps sounding loud in the vast hall. They stopped before the stone where text and a small grid—boxes three across and five high—were engraved. The writing was in Ancient Presbelic again. Ayden stepped up and started studying it while Sera stayed where she was, obviously hoping he would do the translation this time. She gave a small sigh of relief when he did.

“It explains how the trails work,” he said after a few minutes, his voice echoing softly.

“What’s with the grid?” Tess wanted to know.

“Getting there,” he told her. They stood there silently for a while as he read it through it, twice. “Okay,” he said finally. “These are the rooms. There’s one for each god’s test.”

“But there’s fifteen,” Tess pointed out.

“That’s because the middle ones are places to rest between trials,” he explained.

Sera smiled. “That’s nice.”

He nodded. “It says that we start here.” He pointed at the bottom middle box. “Then work our way up. We have to pass one test in each row until we get to the top.”

“Don’t suppose it says which rooms are for which gods?” Matt asked.

Ayden shook his head. “No.” He ran his fingers across some words at the bottom. “Chance will choose your path to the Immortal Planes,” he read. “So it looks like we just randomly pick a door. It also says that once you touch a door you must go through it and complete that test. There’s no turning back.”

They started heading for the iron door, but then Sera stopped and turned around. “Wait,” she said, looking at Korin and Vivyka. “You’re both welcome to come, but you’ve done more than enough for me. I really appreciate you getting me this far.”

“I wanna come,” Vivyka said. “If that’s okay with you. I don’t think I’ll be much help, but…”

Sera smiled. “Of course you will.”

“I will come as well,” Korin said.

“Thank you,” Sera told them, then started for the door again.

The first room was just a twelve-foot square marble room with nothing in it except a door on either side and one straight ahead. As soon as they were inside, the door behind them closed.

“Got a coin, Tess?” Matt asked.

She smiled and took a silver coin out of a small pouch on her belt. “Heads left, tails right,” she said and tossed it into the air. The coin fell back into her hand, showing a dragons tail on the top side. “Right,” she announced. As they walked toward the door, Tess and Matt both reached for their weapons.

“We don’t know if that’s needed,” Sera said.

“Better to be prepared, Angel,” Matt told her. When he got to the door, he took a quick look at the group. “Here we go.” As soon as he touched it, an engraved symbol appeared, glowing softly. It was a rectangle with an eye inside of it.

“Eolys’ symbol,” Ayden told them with a smile. “God of Magic.”

After a moment, the door slide out of the way and revealed another white marble room, though larger. It was completely empty except for a round, solid gold table in the center. The door closed, just as the first had, as soon as they were all inside.

Ayden walked up to the table and his smile widened. “Awesome.”

The top of the flat surface was made up of six gold stripes, creating loops, each smaller as they neared the center circle. Each strip had words engraved into it, filling the length of the loop. “Inside out to continue your way,” Ayden read the text that ran along the outer edge of the center circle, written in the Ancient Presbelic again.

“What’s that mean?” Tess asked, coming to stand beside him. She touched the outer ring curiously and it moved under her finger, shifting the loop an inch to the left. They heard the whooshing sound of a fire igniting and looked around. The walls of the room were suddenly covered with bright orange flames.

Ayden grabbed her hand, and pulled it away. “Cats aren’t the only thing curiosity kills,” he told her. “No touching.”

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“What language is the rest in?” Sera asked.

“Each one is a different language,” he answered. “It’s a puzzle. I think you have to start from the center and go out. The first one’s Elven.” He pointed at the ring closest to the center.

“Woodland,” Sera said automatically, having heard the correction enough from her parents.

Ayden ignored her. Everyone other than Woodlanders called it Elven, since talking to a nymph was extremely rare. “It says; let light touch the way.” He leaned over and placed his fingers on the ring. He moved it, circling the centerpiece until the word light was directly next to way on the center circle. He glanced at one of the fiery walls. Nothing happened.

“This one’s Dwarven,” he said, studying the next ring.

“Wait, how do you know it’s working?” Matt asked.

Ayden shrugged. “I don’t, but nothing bad happened so that’s a good sign,” he told him. “This one says; moon’s silver tips the trees.” He moved the circle so that the word trees on this loop was next to light on the previous loop. Again, nothing happened.

“Why all the languages?” Vivyka wanted to know. “How’s one person supposed to actually know all of them?”

“Because that someone’s a rare freak who likes that stuff,” Matt half-joked.

Ayden rolled his eyes at him, but smiled too. “It’s because there are different branches of magic,” he told Vivyka. “The texts for them come from all over. The dwarves have created some of their own magic, so have elves, and gnomes, and so on. Knowing their languages is advantageous if you want to study magic in depth.”

“I thought the elves were into ranger magic,” Tess said.

“The Saelythian elves, yes. I don’t think they’ve ever had any magic in their blood actually. But the Shia’Lan elves did and were brilliant. Some of the best creations came from them, like the crystal lights. It’s a shame their race was wiped out.”

“More of your mom’s handy work,” Tess commented to Matt.

“He has enough of his own shit to deal with, don’t think he needs someone reminding him of his mother’s shit too,” Vivyka said.

Everyone looked at her in surprise.

“What? Just saying,” she mumbled.

Matt and Sera both gave her an appreciative smile.

She just nodded slightly and looked away.

“Sorry,” Tess said, rolling her eyes. “So, why isn’t common on there?” she wondered.

“I’m sure this temple was built long before humans came to Kelstone. All the others were here already,” Ayden answered.

“What about the Nakohans?” she asked, nodding to Korin.

“They came the same time the other humans did,” Ayden told her. “They brought their own language, just as the others brought common.”

“It is said that we come from the same world though,” Korin added. “That is why my people have always been taught common along with Nakohan.”

“Then why don’t we speak Nakohan?” Tess asked.

He gave a small shrug. “That I do not know.”

“Do you know Nakohan, Ayd?”

“No. I’ve unfortunately never found any books on it,” Ayden told her. “The Nakohans have always been able to speak common, they’ve had very few mages, and they rarely leave the peaks. So, I guess there wasn’t much need for people to learn.”

“If you are interested, I could lend you books,” Korin offered. “And assistance.”

Thanks,” Ayden told him happily. “That’d be great.”

Korin nodded.

“Do you have to know a language just because it exists?” Matt asked Ayden. “Even when it’s of no use to you?”

Ayden smiled. “Yep.” He returned his attention to the table then. “The next one’s Fairian. It says; protection of the fairy city.”

“The fairy city is real?” Sera asked.

Ayden shrugged. “There’s stories, but no real proof. According to the stories though, it’s surrounded by a silvery shield that keeps people from seeing it.”

“If they can’t see it, how do they know its silver?” Matt asked.

“Right?” Ayden said. “The stories also say you can see their golden palace from the top of the tallest mountain.” He shook his head. “Nice that they’re not contradictory,” he said sarcastically. He touched the ring and put the word protection next to silver. The walls of fire remained still.

He studied the next ring. “Gnome. I don’t know that one very well. They haven’t contributed nearly as much as the others.”

“But languages are so important,” Sera teased and Matt chuckled softly.

He smiled. “Shush,” he told her. “It’s colors: gold, red, blue… green, purple, and… wait, is that one yellow or gold? Then silver and gray, I think.” He sighed. “I’m not sure what it’s meaning.”

“Silver again?” Vivyka suggested, for the fairy protection?”

Ayden thought for a moment, then shrugged. “Sounds good.” He turned the strip, putting silver next to protection. The fiery walls moved closer, stopping ten feet from the group. “Or not,” he said, then chewed the inside of his cheek, thinking. After a moment, he rolled his eyes. “Duh! One of the few spells created by the gnomes was a mage shield, which is blue.” He moved the strip so that protection was next to blue. He glanced around and smiled when nothing happened. “Okay, last one. Dragonic, great language. Too bad the dragons got wiped out too.”

“Have there not been sightings?” Korin asked.

Ayden nodded. “Yeah, and the stories are about as ridiculous as the fairy’s secret city ones,” he replied. “People just make up stuff, like it makes them sound cool or something.”

“Great, so what’s it say?” Tess asked.

Ayden smiled and shook his head at her impatience. “Eye of the desert dragon,” he read. “Easy, it’s gold. Oh…” He groaned softly as he looked back at the last circle and the gnome words. “Of course it has to be the one word I’m having trouble with.”

“The first one,” Tess said.

“You actually know a gnome word?” he asked, surprised, even if she did spend time with Tikki every year.

“No, course not, I’m just guessing.”

He chuckled. “Thanks.”

“I don’t think guessing is a great idea right now,” Matt said.

Ayden sighed. “No choice. I’m not sure which word is gold and which is yellow.” He held his breath as he moved the ring so that the first gnome word was next to the word eye. The fire moved closer, now only five feet from them. Everyone moved even closer to the table as the encircling flames become very hot. “Guess it’s the other,” he said nervously.

“You’re positive?” Matt asked.

“Yes,” he answered, though a little weakly.

“Can you cast a shield around us just in case?”

Ayden nodded, but a second later he laughed.

“What?”

“I can’t do any magic,” Ayden told him. “Figures.”

“Then you better not mess up,” Matt said. “And be serious, damn it. Getting burned to death isn’t funny.”

“Finding it amusing makes it less scary,” Ayden told him. He turned his attention back to the table and sighed. “It has to be the other word.” With a deep breath, he turned the ring, putting eye with gold.

His breath came out in a rush as the fire vanished, the walls moved back, and the door opened.

Sera grinned as she hugged him. “You’re amazing.”

“Thanks.”

“Good thing Ayd’s so smart and knows everything,” Tess said proudly.

“I don’t know everything,” Ayden said, rolling his eyes. “I just read a lot. Do you know what reading is, Tess?” he asked with a smirk. She shoved him and he chuckled.

“Reading’s your job,” she told him. “Kicking ass is mine.”

Ayden smiled. “Let’s go see what’s next.”