Unwanted Elements

Chapter Eight

Even though we were shaken, we decided to move onwards. The grass fanned out, thinning into barren dirt. The path completely blended into the dirt, and looming ahead was the temple. It was even bigger in person. It was built with dark yellow brick and stone, probably once a gleaming gold but now tarnished into a dull bronze. Carvings were etched into walls, and an intricate pattern snaked through the stone surrounding the gaping entrance.

Vines encircled the crumbling columns holding up the tattered roof. Pieces of the bricks, stone and rocks were chipping away, withering away like the vines barely clinging to the supports. Around the temple were broken stone pieces, jagged bases poking from the dirt in many unearthed spots of the land, what they once were forgotten to time. In a way, it looked like an abandoned temple, like in a movie where they're inhabited by natives, infested with traps and gaping holes leading to dark unknowns.

Swirls of white adorned the temple in many spots, entrapping the columns with coils of white. It was both beautiful and ominous, and all the while petrifying. The large, dark entrance, lacking the door it might have once sported, was like a yawning mouth, the top of the doorway lined with what seemed to be spikes, their tips weathered away with time.

It was a beast, standing in a barren field of brown. And here we were, standing at the thin border of grass and dirt, staring up at this beast we had to enter the bowels of for the first time. It became clear that none of us had any further plan of action for this. There were no signs of life, or movement, which I found odd. If there were people waiting for us, wouldn't there be some sign? Though, on second thought, if you wanted to hide from the government, throwing your victims a welcome party with open arms is a bad idea.

You're probably thinking, but Ichimatsu, if you've never been to the temple, how did you even get there?

Well, the directions to the temple were crudely sketched into the paper, albeit very faintly. That and we've learned about its location through so many olden legends about it. Supposedly, there was a reason the temple was blocked off. Before there was a forest guarding the hollow where it stands, there were homes. Little kids would often go missing inside or around the temple, and never would come out. Often, skeletons were unearthed around the temple, giving rise to the rumors of curses.

After the forest was allowed to grow with time, there were still kids traipsing through the dark hollow and path, still coming across the temple and thinking it would make for a sick hiding spot, only to never reemerge from its depths. The belly of the beast, if you will. It's what led to the cement wall. Of course, the rumors are only rumors. Nobody truly knows what's happened here.

"It's... massive...." was all I could utter, a ball of unidentified emotions running me on autopilot. "Wasn't it proven last year that there were kids, y'know, losing their lives here?!" Todomatsu yelped, fear controlling him. "Yes, but it hasn't happened in years," Choromatsu corrected, and I'm not sure if he meant for us to be reassured or absolutely petrified. "But we're adults," Osomatsu butted in, too faint to properly be heard. "That doesn't mean we're immortal, y'know!" Todomatsu shrieked back.

"Oi, oi. We're not doing this for ourselves. This is a rescue mission for Jyushimatsu. You heard the soldiers, he's waiting for us. Counting on us. We can't let him down," Karamatsu took control, and we all snapped to look at him. His blue eyes were burning with determination, and all traces of his usual painful bullshit were missing, replaced with a sheer force of leadership.

Todomatsu sighed. "Fine, but only because I don't want to let Jyushimatsu-niisan down," he replied, and that seemed to be the end of it. We began our trek, each step towards the gaping mouth of an entrance making my stomach turn several ways inside out. Darkness enveloped our bodies, the soft rub of dirt turning to hard scraping of stone and dust. It was dark. I couldn't see my hands in front of my face, and I couldn't see any of my brothers by my sides, but I could hear their breathing and feel their warmth.