Act I
An echoing chant, blazed upon the ears, as a young man stood in blatant shock.
"Ave, Hestia, tepor gratiae."
"Textrix tecum est."
"Benedicta tu inter nos qui facem tuam ferimus."
"Benedicta flamma tua, semper sacra."
"Misericors Domina Flammarum."
"Mater gladii."
"Benedice nobis qui sub foco tuo manemus."
"Nunc et in hora finis nostri."
"Amen. . ."
What the hell are these cultists chanting? What's with the hoods. . . IS THAT BLOOD?!
I tried moving my legs, trying my hardest to run away from the circle of blood around me.
But nothing, all I did was struggle as for some reason I cannot move.
Is this a Night terror?!
Looking ahead my ears twitched, as the unfamiliar words turned into the king's tongue.
"Hail, Hestia, warmth of grace."
"The Weaver is with thee."
"Blessed art thou among us who bare your torch."
"Blessed is thy flame, ever sacred."
"Merciful Lady of Flames."
"Mother of the sword."
"Bless us who keep under your hearth."
"Now and at the hour of our end."
"Amen. . ."
SHOO* "Haa!"
I screamed, the cultists! they've erupted into flames all around me.
Even before I could close my eyes they were all gone, replaced with empty white robes.
"What the hell!"
I shouted, my legs moving forward but then I stopped, realization dawning.
"I can move now. . ."
My hands moved before my thoughts, as I felt sweat dripping on my ears.
"What the hell is happening?"
I felt my legs turn heavy as I saw a room of tables, candles, scrolls and murals.
Then I realized something, I'm naked.
Ding* Ding* Ding* What is that sound?
I tried looking around seeing nothing, as I keep hearing a familiar ringing
Then I felt vibrations, it made me clutched my wrist to see a Smart-bracelet?
It's an expensive device, something I can't afford without saving for a couple of months.
I tried touching it, seeing why it's vibrating and ringing.
[Welcome!]
"What!"
I yelped in surprise as I saw a black screen with white words appearing infront of me.
"Hello?"
I asked the panel, what is this thing? I never heard a smart-bracelet can do projections.
[Mission: Leave the temple of Hestia.]
"Did I get isekaid?"
I said looking at the simple white words infront of me, as the black screen faded.
The smart-bracelet stopped its ringing and vibrations.
Thud* I felt the smooth stone on my knees, as I realized what's happening.
"Why me? Why now? Doesn't this only happen to teenagers?"
That was the only thing I could say as I grabbed one of the white hooded cloaks.
Act II
Thud* Thud* "Come on!"
A young man cloaked in a dull white hooded robe yelled as he stopped kicking open the stone door.
"Why are you not opening?"
He asked in puzzlement as he touched the art on the heavy door.
Colored dust, painted his fingers as the colors of the door dulled.
Is this place painted with water colors?
The young man tried pulling on the large ringed handle. Thud*.
In the end he let go of the metal ring, before looking down at his red hands strained from trying to force his way out.
"All the doors are like this, how am I gonna leave this temple if I can't even leave this room?"
He thought loudly to himself, before giving out a deep breath.
"Dear heavens, hopefully those survivor videos were real. . . That talking to yourself really does help you keep sane."
The young man smiled ruefully, as he spoke.
While he walked back to a table filled with paper, bread and water inside a white bowl.
"It's been so long since I came here, but atleast I have some food and water."
What is this world? Why did those Torch-priests summon me? And why did they turn to ash?
He looked at the papers infront of him, reading one of the yellow inked log entries.
[Sacrifice given this week.]
[Paise the Lady, her warm followers of the eastern district's bakers have given another lovely batch of bread. Ember Galius has already gone to them with Torch-barer Justia to give our temple's blessing to those kindly folks.]
The entire note filled half of the sheet of cloth paper, the size of an A4, the rest were filled with 90 diagonal lines.
"Why would they count with lines rather than numbers?"
The thought ate at me, but then after a time I shook it off my head.
I need to find something that can get me out of here but what?
The young looked over the stack of paper again, his shoulders lowering at the sight of them.
"Now this is why I didn't take the university assistant job, why does it always end in paper work?"
He breathed in defeat, after saying his tired words.
After that he looked over one of the papers with red ink, a grimness to his eyes.
[Marius please remember, that while it isn't going against our cult's tradition. The act of selling used letter cloth to the tailors is not appreciated. . . I will not reprimand you, but if a priest of a different cult sees our cult's holy texts used to patch anymore tunics, I will make sure you would spend the next year outside the city serving as a shrine keeper. - Torch-barer Sharmina]
"Huh. . . Why didn't this girl just tell this to Marius? Why did they need to write it down?"
Gulp* The young man looked down at the newly emptied bowl for a second, before standing up.
Plap* plap* The floor was warm for some reason.
I wonder, is it magic making it warm or an ancient roman like heating system?
"Sigh. . . I wonder if any of these scrolls actually have any magic in them, why is everything some kind of log or personal letter?"
Splash* Splash* I looked forward to see, a drinking fountain.
It was chiseled into the stone muraled wall.
A wolf's mouth spewing water, as a hole in the tub drained it.
"I bet, if this world isn't magical, this thing should be the most impressive mechanical thing in this temple."
The young smiled at his words, but then frowned as he remembered the doors he couldn't open.
"Are they locked mechanically?"
He left the bowl at the sink as he started running towards one of the doors.
Is it that easy? How did I miss this?
I could feel my smile as I reached the door.
I looked around it, my smile growing larger after I saw the candle holder.
"Yes! I was right!"
Tunk* The candle holder fell as I pulled at it.
The metal handle stayed unmoving while the metal bowl and unlit candle fell to the ground.
"HMM!"
I'm so stupid! Why did I think that would work?
The young man sat down with his hands on his face as he cringed in pain.
"Thank heavens no one is here to see that."
He stood up again after saying those words, placing back the candle and bowl.
But the candle did not stay standing as he placed it back on its holder.
I need another candle I guess.
With that thought he went to his table.
Easily he grabbed a lit candle and used it to melt the butt of the candle he knocked over before placing it on its holder.
"These things don't seem to burn out, I should light up the room some more. . .I wonder why the candles near the doors are all unlit."
He spoke his mind before lighting the candle he toppled over.
Clink* The sound of metal clinking echoed, making the eyes of the young man twitch.
"THAT'S IT! All this time and. . ."
I stopped myself, biting my lips as I pulled on the door's handles.
Creek* The heavy door easily opened showing nothing, just a white blotch in an empty canvas. . .
A clawed bloody hand appeared from that canvas, followed by its pale arm.
Thump* "What the heck was that?!"
He shouted as he pushed back against whatever it was pushing from the other side of the door.
Then he turned his head over at the candle, an idea came to him as he started blowing at the candle with all he had.
THUD* Thud* Thud* The monster kept trying to force itself in.
It made the young man even more desperate, as he blew at the candle harder, eventually ending its fire.
Clink* With that sound, the door went quiet, as the monster from the other side stopped.
Tud* "Sigh. . . Where is my harem? My overpowered cheats? Those novels lied to us!?"
Why? Why is this happening? I miss my bed, my mom, dad and even my asshat of a brother.
The young man broke down crying as he sat infront of the door that nearly killed him, just because he wanted to leave.