The captain of the guards sat up in his bed, feeling the sweat-matted fur on his forehead then swinging his legs over the edge to touch against the icy cold stone of the floor. It was surprising that anything on this hell-forsaken moon could be cold considering the constant cloud cover. It made the outside unbearably hot, but they were inside a mountain...
The Temple of Death, on Tselene's dark moon... The moon that had no name, but why call it anything? It was one of the most inhospitable places in the history of the realm, Fantasa. It was nothing but a dustball of midnight-black sand dunes and rock; even the sky was black with acid rain clouds. The temple itself was built into a mountain to make it ice cold instead of fire hot, Hieyiakana liked it that way. The outside was little more than a roughly triangular door with steps descending into the blackness. A statue stood on either side of the entrance, a quasi-anthro figure of a raven in a hooded cloak with a scythe on a pole. To the right, a large black lioness with tattered raven wings. The entire mountain was made of obsidian, and so were the statues.
Down the stairs one would come upon something like would be found inside ancient pyramids. Except everything was black. From the ceiling, to the walls, to the floor, to the torch holders, to the wood of the torches, to the fire on the torches. Black, everywhere. No pictograms showing scenes from everyday life... Then again, one would be happy there weren't pictograms. They'd likely be images of people being tortured to death or torn apart by wild animals...or worse.
The inside of the mountain was an endless maze of rooms and corridors. Some were sleeping areas, some were ceremonial rooms, all too many were torture chambers... It was bleak, and to those that came there against their will it was a fate worse than Hell; and even to those who came willingly it was like a living hell...
Heridos's breath was short, his mouth was dry from all the days spent in the perpetual desert and temple without water. He thought of leaving this place and going to somewhere lush and alive. It was insane, of course, to leave without Empress Hieyiakana's permission...but the constant screams of agony, the darkness, and the lack of comforts even so simple as a little drinking water had left him desperate. Slowly the captain stood and made his way through the corridors. Amazing how black light could light the hallways of obsidian, but they somehow did the trick by some trickery...
It was silent...completely dead silent as Heridos made his way through the halls of the temple. Every step of the way the fur all down his spine was standing on-end, and soon even the feathers on his wings were ruffled out. His ears flicked and turned, attempting to catch any sound--but none came. It was eerie..no, it was terrifying. After what seemed like ages he found the staircase which lead up into relative brightness. Heridos quickened his pace, footpaws shuffling against the stone of the floor.
Suddenly, it seemed like he could no longer run anymore. From his lower back down just came to a complete stop and he fell forward, muzzle smashing painfully into the floor. Lifting his head he spit out one of his top fangs, then held completely still when a realization dawned on him: he'd fallen because someone had grabbed his tail...
"Leaving, captain?" an icy voice demanded, hoisting Heridos up by the scruff of his neck. Hieyiakana swung him around to look him right in the face, eye to eye. Yellow eyes to creepy, glowing, ice blue eyes.
The Empress's host's appearance hadn't changed much...she was still a young Katri looking like a snow leopard/cheetah cross as her feline attributes and huge, rainbow phoenix wings. Her eyes, however...instead of a slightly odd but soft copper were now a sinister, glowing ice blue like Hieyiakana's own had been. Heridos swallowed hard, his entire body shaking.