The Ancestral Shrine south of Suicide Ledge made Nichal very nervous. The building had obviously been constructed by dragons. The shaping of the stone, the colorful murals, and the stories etched into the columns all pointed to Draconic creators. But the dragons did not revere the Abriasha, since they had been liberated from the Eternal Nightmare by the Eldritch One, not the gods of people. In addition, the statue at the heart of the shrine, which was always sculpted in the shape of the creator's own people, was not a dragon. It was a lizard.

  "I don't like this place, Master Sai," Nichal said as they walked through the main hall of the shrine. Etched stone pillars lined the hall, and green, silken drapes hung on the walls behind them. The shrine felt far too familiar for someplace he'd never been.

  "Why would the dragons use a quezpal for the statue?" Master Sai asked. He searched around the statue at the head of the hall. "Wait. It's missing something." He pointed to its neck. There were marks where something had been pried from the stone. "It looks like it used to have a necklace."

  Nichal stepped up onto the dais beside Master Sai to inspect the statue. He tried to ignore the horns that were carved onto its stone head. There was indeed a place for an amulet of some sort around the lizard's neck. Nichal flicked his tongue. "Master Sai," he said, "do you remember that necklace we found in the garbage heap behind the Shadowed Citadel?"

  "I…" Master Sai started to say. "Do you think it belongs to this statue?" He rummaged through his pack and pulled out the tarnished amulet. "You might be right. Let me just…" He placed the amulet to the gap in the neck of the statue, and it snapped into place.

  "Thank you," said the statue.

  "Whoa!" shouted Master Sai, leaping back from the statue. But Nichal froze. That was his voice. Why was the statue speaking with his voice?

  "It has been far too long since anybody's cared for our little shrine here," the statue said. It did not move, though the voice was clearly emanating from its mouth.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  "Your shrine?" Master Sai asked, slowly approaching the dais. "Are you…?"

  "We are the Abriasha," the statue confirmed in Nichal's voice. "The Unnumbered Ancestors. Gods of people. And we have a request for you, our child."

  "Me?" Master Sai asked, but Nichal knew it was not to the orc that the statue was speaking. Master Sai did not seem to notice and kept talking. "I mean, yes, sure, I'll help."

  "This shrine is abandoned, which is unbefitting the gods of people," said the Abriasha. "Our shrines should be among the bustle of our children."

  "Yeah, good luck with that around here," said Master Sai. "Not a lot of people in this Vale. Mostly monsters."

  "You will build us a new shrine where people gather to be a constant reminder to our children that we are with them," said the statue. Nichal's breath caught in his throat. How was he supposed to build a shrine? That would mean carving a new statue.

  Master Sai sighed. "Are you listening?" he asked the statue. "I just told you there are no people here."

  "Surround us again with people and we will grant you a blessing worthy of our children," said the Abriasha. Nichal could feel the Unnumbered Ancestors depart.

  "Hello?" Master Sai asked, rapping on the statue's forehead. "Can you hear me?"

  Nichal's mind reeled. What people? Master Sai was right. There were no children of the Abriasha in the Vale other than Master Sai and Nichal. Not only did he have to sculpt a statue of a lizard, he had to find people to gather around it?

  Master Sai sighed. "Great," he said. "Who doesn't love an impossible charge from a god?" He began to pace up and down the grand hall. Nichal remained frozen on the dais. "Still," Master Sai went on. "It'd be handy to have the Abriasha on my side if I'm going to face Syn. I wonder if they'd notice if it were monsters bustling around their shrine instead of people. If I dedicate a statue in Somber Tune and get some nightmares to relocate…" He rapped his green fingertips on his golden arm. "It just might work."

  Nichal stared at the statue, even after he heard Master Sai leave the hall behind him. "How?" he whispered. "And why me? I can't do what you have asked. What's an ancestral statue without people? And there are no people in the Vale." His eyes widened. "You weren't talking about the Vale, were you? This is a dream from outside." He looked around the hall, seeing it for the first time. "I build this, don't I?"

  "Nichal!" called Master Sai. "Are you coming?"

  "Yes, Master Sai," he called back. He bowed his head to the statue. He searched for words, but for the first time since Master Sai had granted him the power of the Great Ones, he did not know what to say. So he said nothing, and for some reason, it felt right.