As he stepped on the last step, the pattern lit up, and a large amount of energy entered the boy's body. The energy shook his whole body. He started glowing light-golden for some time before it stopped. He was forced to scream this time, not because of pain but because of the energy he felt around him.
Everything slowly settled in the next moment, and he felt refreshed. He suddenly felt like his body had strangely reached equilibrium. As he moved further, he discovered two long pillars. They had strange patterns carved on them, which lit up as soon as he approached them.
As he moved further, he discovered that the darkness dispersed slowly. He saw strange, two-ten-foot-long statues. They depicted strange, black-colored humanoid reptiles. They had a human-like head and body structure but had some scales on their bodies.
Each one held a spear in their hand while others rested beside them. As soon as he approached them, their eyes shone purple, revealing their presence. Rishi moved back and prepared himself, but nothing happened. He moved cautiously, making sure that they were just statues.
As he took another step, he saw that the brightness had increased. In front of him was a strange circular pattern. At the center of it was a strange well. Rishi was curious about it and looked at each thing. It was then that he suddenly heard a voice inside his head. "Human, Clean yourself before moving further.
Rishi looked around, but he couldn't find anyone. He looked at the strange pool in front of him and approached it. He understood that he had to clean himself. He removed his clothes and entered the water. This water was strangely different from regular water, shining a light purple. He entered it and felt like it was hot.
He could see little smoke released from it. He cleaned himself and found that this was very comforting. All his muscles were relaxed, and he felt light, as if he had washed away all his load and impurities. He appeared from the other side. He was about to take out his towel and cloth when he saw something appear before him.
It was a towel and a set of clothes; Rishi wiped himself and wore those clothes. They were strange ancient clothes, and he was happy he got underwear. Other than that, he received a strangely designed robe that fit him perfectly. Rishi was not going to argue with such things, as he knew from his childhood that different temples and shrines had different rules. He might be kicked out or punished if he didn't follow them.
After he was ready, he moved forward barefoot. Two more pillars appeared around him. He bypassed them and saw two statues facing him. They were identical to the previous statues, and their eyes lit up as soon as he approached them. He again felt their presence, which made them look alive, as if they would start attacking him at any moment.
He calmed himself down. Suddenly, the darkness before him started to disperse, and a giant statue was visible. It was ten meters tall. Its shadow looked very strange. Its eyes shone purple, and various runes and patterns all over its body also started shining. A powerful presence was released that didn't have any effect on him, but he felt very small in front of it.
Rishi was not distinct from this feeling; it had been a while since he had met any such being. A cold gust of wind was released, and he felt like the statue in front of him was coming to life. Then, he heard the voice again: 'Bow down, mortal, how dare you not greet the being before you?'
Rishi didn't know what to do, but he greeted it with a slight bow as a sign of respect. The surroundings calmed down in the next moment. He was looking at the strange statue when he heard, 'You are quite something human. Do you want to die early?
Rishi saw a strange feathered creature sitting above one of the pillars as he looked around. It was a black-colored beast that looked like a bird with strange purple eyes and ran all over its body. 'What are you looking at? Never seen a handsome feathered creature as me?'
He didn't know what to say; he was confused by what type of creature was in front of it.
'I am called Raven, stupid human; I am the Spirit of this shrine' The same voice appeared in his head again. The creature could be seen turning his neck. He was speaking to him without opening his mouth.
Rishi patiently listened to him, and the more he listened, the more his doubts cleared, but other doubts appeared, like, How can it read my mind? How can it communicate with me?
'It is not that hard; you might get your answers without me answering themselves,' replied the voice.
The boy facepalmed himself when he heard that. The creature in front of him was telling the truth. He was so lost in everything that he forgot to use his own mind. When he thought about them, he guessed that they might have some 'telepathy' ability to communicate and might be able to read the doubts in his mind.
'Not bad; I was right about you. It would have been hard to talk with some dumb person,' he said, using its beak to rub its feathers.
'Let's not waste any further time; I have work for you,' said the Raven, its eyes looking at Rishi as he is trying to read his mind.
"What kind of work? The only thing I am here for is business. It would benefit both of us if we made a deal," said Rishi.
'You can call it business if you want; I want you to provide me with your techniques and help me increase the number of shadow creatures. I will give you what you want in exchange,' said the Raven.
"I can share my techniques with you, but I want you to share with me all the new insights you gain from them. As for the reward, I want to become stronger and increase my knowledge of runes and shadow elements," said Rishi.
He heard a strange laugh. The body of the Raven twisted on top of the pillar, with its legs facing upwards. ' To think of everything present here, you would ask for knowledge. You are interesting. Is it because you are smart, or is it because you don't understand the value of treasures?
"I know that any treasure would help me to become stronger faster, whereas knowledge takes time to increase your strength, but I believe in believing in my individual strength. The strength provided by treasures is external. Anytime my treasure could be destroyed or stolen, it could also attract greed and envy from others. In contrast, most people would never be able to steal knowledge from me, at least," replied Rishi.
"I also believe every treasure has its uses and its limits; once you cross that limit, it becomes useless, while learning is a never-ending process. The last reason is that my strength depends on my knowledge of shadow elements and runes; learning about them can help in my overall growth."
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