An excerpt from Lawrence Watt-Evens'"The Seven Alters of Dusarra"

"Thank you. Now, I must return to my duties; I leave you to contemplate the darkness. Another will be with you, in time" The priest's hands were gone; Garth heard three footsteps. And then, without so much as a rustle of garments, the priest was gone. Garth could hear nothing of him; no breathing, no heartbeat, no movement. Unsettled, he took a few tentative steps forward; gauging the echoes of his boots on the stone floor, he judged the room he was in to be very large indeed, though not as immense as that under the dome of Tema's shrine. The air was chilly; he could feel that even through his armor and padding.
This was, then, most likely the temple sanctuary. Altar and idol would be in this chamber, somewhere --if they existed. It occured to him that there was no need of an idol to the god of darkness when this chamber was full of the presence of the god himself. Even an alter might be thought unnecessary; how would he explain that eventuality to the Forgotten King? Before he started worring about that, he told himself, he should be sure it was the case. Arms outstretched, he took another few steps.
Nothing there. A voice suddenly spoke, not a dozen feet away. "Greetings stranger. Welcome to the shrine of Andhur Regvos. I am told you seek instruction; the best instruction is the darkness itself." "What?" Garth realized his response was scarely diplomatic, but it escaped him before he could control it. "The best proof of our faith is felt in the darkness; do you not feel it? In this absolute darkness, do you not feel the sensation of supernatural presence? Does not a subtle fear, a certian respect, find its way into your heart?"
"I . . . I am not sure." "That very uncertianty is a sign of the awe that our lord inspires; you an unbeliever, feel only the lightest touch of his power. You have known only Andhur, the darkness that passes; before entering this shrine, you have most likely never even known what full darkness was like, for in the outside world the light creeps in everywhere, continuing the eternal battle. Here, though, is the fortress of Andhur, where the darkness does not pass, but endures forever. The darkness goes on, though you and others like you may leave and return once again to the light."
"You speck of Andhur; I thought your god's name was andhur Regvos?" "The two names identify the two aspects of the deity; Andhur, the lesser of the two, is that darkness which may be penetrated by light, the darkness that is external. Regvos is internal darkness, that darkness of body and soul which does not pass; you would call it blindness. As darkness comes in many forms---night, shadow, and shade---so does blindness. We, the priest of Andhur Regvos, are seekers after the totality of blindness, as we have, in this temple, achieved the totality of darkness."
Garth was becoming confused; this bizzare philosophy was distracting him from his purpose. He suppressed the urge to say he did not understand, for fear of triggering a long explaination. Instead, he said, "And what of your rituals?" "Our ceremonies are of no concern to outsiders." "Have you an idol, as do most shrines?" "No, what need we with some stone image when the palpable presence of our divinity is all around us?" "An altar, then, where the rites are performed?" "Yes, we have an altar, only a dozen paces away from you. Fortunately, our god keeps it safe from your defiling gaze. I see that you have not the makings of a worshipper of darkness; you are too concerned with mundanities."
"Perhaps you are right. Pardon me, then." Garth strode on recklessly in the same direction he had headed before, which he believed to be directly towards the center of the chamber; he hoped to locate the altar and remove whatever it held before the priest could do anything to stop him. After all,would not the darkness hinder them too? True, they lived in it much or all of the time and were fully familiar with the temple, as he was not; still, finding and stopping a thief in utter blackness would not be easy. He had gone eight paces, rather than the dozen the priest had suggested, when his leg struck a low obstruction.

This was taken from pages out of the second book of four in the Lord of Dus series.Here Garth is tasked to retrieve something from the temple of the god of Darkness.I enjoyed the books so much I took the name as my username.GARTH





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