WO, Ch 157 - Snowpoint Temple

Step after step, I walked deeper into the temple. Inside, it wasn’t just silent, it felt like it was more, something beyond the absence of sound as if the world itself had stopped. The only disruption of that perfect stillness came from me, from the slow breaths I exhaled to the sounds of my feet and even the beating of my heart. It was silent enough that it all seemed to echo, pushing that stillness away from me and allowing me to keep moving. But what if the sound stopped, what if the stillness managed to get me? Would I become still, frozen in movement and time, just as this temple had?

I didn’t know but I knew I shouldn’t stop. A part of me wanted to turn, to simply walk back out, but another part felt drawn in, the same strange sensation that I first felt still beckoning me.

Interestingly, despite the thickness of the walls, they seemed to be alight from within, giving off a dim glow that allowed me to see, despite their location beneath the mountain. Maybe it was just another eerie feature of the temple, or it might just be a design feature of whoever originally made these halls, I wasn’t sure and didn’t think it truly mattered. It was just a curiosity.

The further I walked, the more I noticed things on the wall. Or maybe in the wall, the walls themself were completely smooth but the combination of light coming from within and some other technique drew faint images onto them, though I wasn’t quite sure what they represented. There was a slight familiarity to them, the style was one I had seen before, namely in that strange subterranean complex near Celestic Town Wera and I had discovered. The same style of symbols and images but where they had been drawn there, here, they seemed to be incorporated into the structure. It made me wonder if the difference was merely a stylistic one or if the complex here was more important and required more advanced techniques. Or there might be other reasons, it might be due to anything from budget concerns to the advancement of technology, or even the reverse, that the other location had been built later but the techniques to create walls like these were lost in the meantime. I simply lacked information to make a reasoned judgement, not that it truly mattered. The locations were most likely connected in some way, but in what way that might be, I had no idea.

But what I could see were the images. And they had a story to tell, of that I was confident. Where the other complex had its symbols and the images of legendary Pokémon, this temple had other images, only I wasn’t quite sure what they depicted. There was a somewhat humanoid figure and it looked like that figure was crafting something. Maybe the depiction was some sort of creational myth, of a God creating the first humans or something along those lines, without knowing what the symbols around the various images meant, I could only guess. It certainly looked like that, with the initial figure creating different figures, the figures slowly becoming less angular but rounded instead, while that initial figure remain the same.

And that figure continued to appear in the images, though I wasn’t sure how realistic the images were. In one, it looked like the figure was piling up dirt like it was making some crude sandcastle, but looking at the next image, I was almost convinced that the dirt represented the Coronal Mountains, the image nearly matched the silhouette of them as seen from Celestic Town. Which would make the figure more than gigantic, it would be a true titan, large enough to move mountains, literally. I didn’t quite know what to make of that image, but just the idea was enough to send a shiver down my spine.

And yet, despite my trepidation, I continued forward. Around me, the walls of the temple slowly started to change, from the dimly glowing, white marble-like stone into something else. At first, the white stone was replaced by angular black stones, squares set into the white walls and floors, disrupting the pattern of images and symbols. It didn’t look like the white stone had been replaced after construction, it was more like there was a set pattern of black stones that was building up to something. I could only guess, but the frequency of black within white increased, making me wonder what it was signifying.

Only, the pattern never reached its conclusion. Where a black stone should have been, at least going by my impression of the pattern, sat a strangely translucent gem, glowing a little brighter than the rest of the stones, stopping me in my path. There was an odd sense of annoyance bubbling within me, the large stone was clearly part of the design and yet, its presence felt wrong. Like it shouldn’t be here, or maybe that I shouldn’t walk across it.

Hesitating for a few moments, I looked deeper into the complex, seeing that the white stone wasn’t just replaced by black but that parts of the complex further inside looked like they were made of some strange yellow metal. But to learn more, I would have to walk across the translucent gem, an idea that filled me with deep trepidation.

Intellectual, I knew that there had been countless people exploring this place, it was open to the public after all, and that there had to be hundreds of people who walked across this area. And yet, it didn’t feel right to continue.

Letting out a slow breath, I turned around. The walk through the temple had done its job, my mind felt a lot more settled than it had before I entered, as if a weight I had been carrying around with me had been lifted.

Walking back outside had a similar effect. Taking my time, I looked at the images again, studying the details and trying to figure out how they had been made. Given that I had no idea about stone-carving, or whatever techniques had been used here, it was a given that my speculation was a little wild. Anything from ghost-Pokémon being bound in the wall to clever tricks of the light was possible and as I got closer to the exit, and the eerily quiet atmosphere was starting to dissipate, my ideas got wilder and wilder.

An amusing pastime, and somehow, it helped me to gain a little more perspective. Reminding me that I maybe should take a step back, not try to wildly charge ahead and take stupid risks. That there really was no need to do so, I didn’t need to reach the League Conference this year, hell, it was incredibly unlikely that I would. Going from fresh trainer to the Conference within a year was nigh impossible and highly discouraged, simply because of the stress it brought to both Pokémon and trainer.

Just like this temple, the league would still be there next year, and the year after. Eventually, I would reach it, unless I got stupid and got myself killed. Like I almost had, by recklessly exploring the Underground alone, not only once but twice.

Travelling alone was one thing, it could be risky but it was a manageable risk. Running away was always an option and few Pokémon actively pursued a human target, especially after they won a battle. If that happened, if they managed to strike another Pokémon down, they took the time to take in the energy unleashed in the battle, it was why Pokémon fought in the first place. Pursuing a human target would only interrupt that, generally allowing a fleeing trainer to escape. There were exceptions, travelling through the wilderness always carried an element of risk with it, but compared to the Underground and its hazards? It was a lot less dangerous unless one was a fool and decided to travel in the winter. In that case, the hazards outside could almost measure up to those underground, as the cold and the difficult terrain could easily bring a trainer down, even without the influence of wild Pokémon.

Stepping out of the temple, I pulled Aura’s Pokéball back out, calling the little guy to my side.

“Thank you, buddy,” I gave him a brief hug, “I’ll do better, we’ve all got time. No trainer was strong from the start, I need to pace myself, just like I need to pace your training. Otherwise, it’ll only get one of us injured, and I’d hate to cause one of my partners to come to harm,” I promised him, or maybe I promised myself.

Either way, I wasn’t just responsible for myself and I needed to remember that before I caused one of my dear partners harm. They protected me, but I needed to be responsible for them. The situation with Su was bad enough, I needed to pace myself and make a workable plan. For training, for travelling but also for relaxing. So that I wouldn’t just charge ahead, sometimes, I needed to stop and smell the flowers. Or visit an ancient temple.