A vault of ancient knowledge, a trove of forgotten secrets, and a fearsome guardian that stalks the temple halls.
The temple hidden deep in the misty woods was not always an overgrown monument to the cumulative knowledge of a long dead empire. When the grounds were occupied by its creators, it served as the single greatest depository of information in the known world. Scholars, sages, artisans, devotees of science and medicine, all of them came to make their offerings. Temple scribes laden in robes of white and blue would gratefully accept any gift of knowledge, spending hours transcribing the offering into dozens of languages before storing them away in the vault below the earth. The shadow that crossed over their desks, cutting off the soft blue crystal light was the only sign of the guardian that watched over them. Or, more specifically, over the fruits of their labor.
The scholars and scribes rarely ever saw Alesi, the keeper, with their own eyes. The guardian that stalked the halls and roamed the shelves moved in perfect silence, ducking through tunnels and hiding in the darkest corners, watching without making so much as a sound as the scribes kept their eyes cast down on their logs. Many rumors spread through the studies in hushed whispers, the most prominent being the fate of anyone that looked upon Alesi. In reality, they were perfectly safe, so long as they did not break the tenets of the consecrated ground. It was intruders that had to fear the watchful keeper.
Alesi was content with her life stalking the grounds and innermost sanctums of the temple. Most days were dull and quiet, others had a bit of a thrill when she caught someone trying to sneak in and make off into the night with sacred texts. She gave the scholars and scribes and other temple dwellers the same attention that one might give to tree branches swaying in the wind, she hardly noticed when they were gone. The numbers of the workers started to thin out day by day. She noted that the elders worked alone, without apprentices to fetch new ink or categorize their piles of tomes. Soon the dozens of scholars were reduced to one lonely dweller, and when he too had left, Alesi was left to wander the empty grounds. Time had taken its toll on the temple as the days passed. A massive tree grew through the central staircase, its roots blocking off the inner sanctum to most intruders and several walls had crumbled to block off many of the old halls. With less ground to cover, Alesi found it satisfactory to rest for a time, vigilantly guarding the dilapidated entrance.
The temple was silent for a long, long time. Truly silent. There was no sound for Alesi to investigate. No intruders, not even a clumsy assistant dropping a quill on the floor to break the nothingness that filled the air. Not until one day she heard a scratching against the overgrown, cracked tiles that used to shine like glass. The intruder was nothing like Alesi had ever seen, a little grey rodent that squeaked and chittered as it climbed the branches of a tree now growing in the heart of the temple. The keeper was prepared to follow her instincts and dispose of the intruder, but it seemed to be no threat. It didn’t even seem to be capable of grasping the knowledge hidden beneath its very feet. Instead, her eyes turned to the larger creature that had followed the rodent inside, looking to make it into an easy meal. The larger, more menacing Alesi had no trouble staring the would-be hunter down until it quickly retreated, not daring to challenge her.
That rodent soon brought others, small creatures that made their home in the now defunct temple. Birds built nests in the rafters, trees now sprouted from the marble floors, and larger animals started to dig burrows in exposed soil. Alesi spent many years learning their language. It took some time but she soon made sense of the squeaking and grunting that they used to communicate. She learned their names, their children’s names, their grandchildren’s names, and she named them all her treasure.
The day a new guest came into her temple, Alesi was prepared to revert to her old, protective ways. It had been longer than she could recall since a two legged being had walked on her grounds. The small explorer was oddly familiar, like the echo of a memory half remembered. This alone stayed her hand while she watched and studied from her resting place. When she made herself known to the intruder she had asked who they were and why they had come. In her mind she was moments away from turning them into a permanent fixture outfront to ward off other intruders. The trespasser was just as surprised to see her as she was to see them, claiming that his old notes mentioned nothing of her. So they were a scholar, then? Attacking them now seemed much less appealing, as if she was following a long forgotten rule out of nothing but muscle memory. They were content to wander the grounds, under Alesi’s supervision, they took notes, drew in their sketchbook, mentioned selling their findings to a collector, and then left as soon as they arrived.
The creatures that inhabit the temple had spent generations within its walls, hardly ever exploring the world outside of their keeper’s watchful gaze. The guest was an oddity to them, and when they left the animals chittered and chirped with questions and theories about what they were and where they had gone. The inquisitive visitor had come back many times over the years, sometimes bringing friends that wished to see the old temple. Some took notes or drawings, but all of them brought offerings for the creatures that lived there. Exotic berries and nuts, materials for building nests, one skilled craftsman even brought small shelters made of wood and stone.
When the first of her creatures asked Alesi to leave so they could explore the world like their many visitors, she wanted to decline the offer. But how could she? She was happy to spend her days in her home, but she could not force that same desire on her treasures. Alesi gifted the small visitor the winged creature and named the guest its keeper, charging them with protecting her treasure with their life.
And swore they would find themselves her quarry if they failed their duties.