On either side of the hall stood exquisitely carved pillars, each carved with a spiraling form of a Yuda. It was said that the building had taken over three generations to build, and the attention to detail to even the smallest aspect of the huge building had been one of the reasons.

Unlike the other structures that existed on the island, the temple was built on a stone foundation.

Overall the temple was a five storied tower, at the lowest level was the prayer hall. There was never a time when this hall had been seen empty ever since its inception. It housed the priests, who spent all their time brewing the 'elixir', a mystical component that was taken from their Yuda.

The prayer hall was a bland and plain circular room, with a central hall that remained closed to the general populace. The main feature of this room was the ma.s.sive pool of water in the very centre. The pool was linked to a conduit which was directly connected to the nest that existed below the island.

The conduit allowed for a single Yuda at a time, and this Yuda would then be led directly to the pool's center from where they would emerge.

The priests dressed themselves with the remains of the skin that these magnificent beasts shed, treated with a special concoction whose sole purpose was to calm the creature. They would then milk the fangs of the snake, collecting the 'holy milk' from these beasts that they believed to be their progenitors. At this stage the liquid was at its most potent and only the priests were able to handle them, to the rest the fumes alone would be a terrible problem that could seriously incapacitate them.

This 'milk' then be treated with a collection of other ingredients, certain parts of a sea king were known to be specially useful in the brewing process.

The result of the mixture would simply called the 'nectar' still unfit for consumption, this mixture would be aged and the final result was what was called the 'elixir'.

Above the prayer hall was the prison, some would be of the opinion that a prison at the very heart of the city was a terrible idea, but often times the fumes that existed on the lowest level of the temple would keep them in a permanent state of sleep!

The prison was a simple room, with a horde of cages that each housed a single person, at the very bottom of the cage was an open vent that allowed for the fumes to enter from the lowest level.

This fume would collect on them for a time, until the woke, naturally having their bodies saturated with the toxic fumes. At this point these people would be a.s.similated with the society of the island. At this point clear air was as toxic to them as an instant death drug!

This noxious fume could only be diluted at the second generation, if not the third, where the offspring would be capable of leaving the hollow mountain for a small period of time.

Even then they would have to constantly consume the 'elixir' at intervals for the fluid to remain in their blood at an optimum level, if not the only outcome that they could face was death!

The third floor was the priest's barracks, where the scholars of the temple lived, forever celibate.

The fourth floor was the place where the high priestess currently walked, called the floor of the general, it was the place where the leader of the island, the high priestess, lived.

She lived separate from the rest of the priests, chosen from their ranks by her predecessor whom she succeeded at the end of his time.

The priests themselves were chosen from the general populace. When one of the inhabitants saw a 'vision' upon their consumption of the 'elixir' they would be selected as a priest. Returning to the public eye only if they ever became the high priest.

The fifth floor, was a mystery to all but the high priest. Some claimed that it was her private prayer booth where she may drink her 'elixir' and ponder upon her visions in piece, other's claimed that it was the place where an idol of the island's deity was kept.

The high priestess was the defacto leader of the entire island and her host of advisors were all the priests, who apart from their milking and brewing also attended meetings at a fixed date every year to decide the way the island was run!

**************

Terrick took a deep breath as he looked at the limp form of his hostage.

At first he was not sure what she was saying, but now, The Entire Island was a f.u.c.king Pub!!

The people drank their days away, and the ones who drank so much that they started hallucinating would end up becoming a part of a defunct bureaucracy!

This place was literally ruled by a group of drunk men and women!

Terrick sighed ruefully as he asked Breta for the plans of the temple. He had to sneak into the place before the crew was forced into becoming an unconsented citizen of this d.a.m.n crack house!

"Plans, what plans?" she asked as she looked confused at him.

"You know like the blueprints of the place. How does one go from the first to the second floor? What s.h.i.+fts do the priests work? How can I enter?" He asked rapid firing a collection of his questions.

"How am I supposed to know? Do I look like a d.a.m.n priest to you?" She said sounding as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Terrick looked once more at the huge windowless structure and bemoaned his fate.

"I guess my only option is to get in there and sneak into the priests room. If I get one of those guys then all should be fine." he muttered to himself as he thought of his situation.

"Why are you even here?" Breta asked finally bursting out with the question she had been keeping to herself. Over the course of the interrogation she had noticed as his knife went farther and farther away from her neck, at this point she was confident that she could at least ask a question of her a.s.sailant even if she could not escape.

"You crack headed fools kidnapped a few of my own. So I am getting myself some revenge." he said simply.

"So you want to go to the second level?" She asked in conformation.

"If I have to." he halfheartedly answered as he straightened up looking at the huge and imposing building.

Breta looked at him in surprise and just as she opened her mouth to ask another question she could not help but hear the murmur of people get closer.

"Run!" She said as she held onto her nameless kidnappers clothes and began to run off the roof and onto another roof…