Einhart stood up from the stone moss-infested well in Almeria.
— Forgive my weakness, Lord. — He whispered.
Rubbed his ginger mustache with his brown gauntlet and adjusted his belt. The longsword it carried lifted from the ground as he did, and his cold blue eyes pierced the townsfolk who adversely avoided his gaze. Templars were not revered in Almeria as in other solar places. The people were silent, mysterious as if always hiding something and that feeling put Einhart on his nerve.
The king of Normandy had sent a few knights off to the East, looking for relics of the old gods and the new. This was to continuously boost the troop's morale as the crusade went by. It was always a delight of religious fervor to destroy an unholy artifact or to bless the water with a holy one. So there he was, off the charts, looking for any shrine with any trinket he could put his hands on and get on with it.
Search and get was never Einhart style. More like slash and hack. It was simple, direct, and piercing like the burning religious rage always fresh in his heart. He could force some answers, of course, but he didn't even know the language.
— Thank goodness! A knight of the sun god finally in these forsaken lands! —
Einhart turned. A peasant, notably malnourished with a sparkling look in his eye kneeled on his feet. It was no puzzle. He wanted coin.
— There's much work to do here, Sir... so much work...! — He added, holding the knight's leg.
— Speak plainly, brother. What is here, that the Sun might burn? — Einhart pulled the leg away. Living in such a place was already heresy, and he had no temper with apostates.
— Oh sir! Sir! please... please...! A cave to the north is filled with foul moon-like treasure. It rots the eye, I swear! but demons guard it. Horrible, horrible sight they are... — The beggar shook his head pretending to be horrified. This man had to be a bard of some sort for his terrible acting skills.
— North you say? There better be something to see or I'll take your weaning eyes for my own! —
The knight launched some suns on the floor. The coins bounced, but the beggar was quick and runned away with his prize. It had all the looks to be a deceit, but he was thankful to have something to focus his wits on. He mounted a black steed through the sands of the desert straight north, as indicated. The sound of the chain mail weaving over his body with every horse trot caressed his ears putting up the mood for a good fight.
After a few miles rock formations started to be seen ahead. More like ruins. He smiled at his cheer luck and praised the sun. Whatever trinket lay there, or even a piece of stone would be the perfect excuse to come to the capital again and enlist in the Sunlight army. The taste of beer softly reminisced to his brain boosting his fanatic motivation and as the strange rocks started to surround him he slowed the horse, watchful of any sign.
Indeed, there was something there. The rocks were obelisks, at least the ones still standing. Pointing at the sky they had markings of the wanings of the moon. Heresy, no less, even thinking about such foul feminine things! he could just smash one of these stones to bits and drag the rubble, but a sound called for his attention.
He fell from his horse and sharpened the ear. It sounded like a water stream. The knight walked on his trimmed boots and wearily slid out the longsword from its sheet. A water stream in the middle of the desert in such potent gleam of the sacred sun? Couldn't be natural. And so he saw a strange formation that looked like a big pronounced chimney that came from the ground and slightly curved into a window to face height. It was like an entrance of some sort, and the water sounds came from inside... pitch black. He fetched a torch from his mount and fired it up with a holy firing liquid he had on the belt. Steps went down below in a snail staircase, but he had to bend down a bit to go in. He whispered a pledge for forgiveness for having to bow in such a God-forsaken place and clutched his fingers. The sound grew intensely with every step he took... was he going into some sort of underground lake?
Finally an exit.
He felt a cold air surrounding him. As he pulled up the torch there was nothing the light would bounce on... it was like he was at the top of a guardian tower looking at the small figures of people at the bottom, but there was nothing but water-sounding blackness.
— Darkness... water... Foul place. — Einhart whispered. His senses sharpened. He could almost feel the heresy around him. These were all signs of moon worship. Wearily he took the steps down surrounding the stone tower. This time there were no walls to keep him so he had to measure every step. At one point the way became so corroded he had to hug the tower. Refusing to put his sword away the blade softly bounced from the stone making a bright metallic sound. To Einhart's surprise, the water sounds stopped. He froze. The silence was almost drowning before once again the flow continued. What was that? Did the water stop on its own? At last, the end of the stairs reached a bottom of solid stone, brown, wet. No doubt was a cave.
The light from his torch finally reflected on something ahead, must be the strange singing water he heard from above. It became obvious to him he was surrounded by a lake, but there had to be more. No one builds a tower underground to just hold water.
He approached the stream to find a path or a bridge. The water was strangely moving, slimy, thick. He approached to inquire about its nature and then suddenly it all stopped. The knight held a gasp when he felt the stare of a thousand eyes on him. Silver, moonlike eyes that he mistook as the reflection of the fire in the water.
He stood quiet, slowly walking backward to the stairs but something slippery, yet solid was on the way. He turned. A big, transparent creature that stood on two legs seemingly made of slime, squid head, met his stare with its big crescent moon silver eyes. Its roar sounded like a stormy river, so loud his body felt like it was about to be crushed by a sea wave. Einhart stumbled. Something was wrong. His limbs fell numb as if something inside of them were swinging madly.
— Devil... DEVIL... I DENY THE WATER INSIDE OF ME! — Einhart roared
Yes, for the sun consumes it all. But humans had water inside of them. If they don't drink water they die, but at the same time, if they do, they die as well of old. Their penance to the Sun God was to use their short life span to fight for the Burning Light until being gloriously consumed by it.
With all his strength Einhart tensed his muscles so extremely that he could put himself on his feet, jumping towards the creature. His shout filled the underground with a furious slash of his sword. He wasn't looking the whole lake was alive with creatures. The live lake swelled with creatures like the sea does by the moon tide and in a matter of seconds it came back to its abyss, leaving a deep silence that the whispering sound of water filled again.