### 220

It is late afternoon when you see the Temple of Ohrido, rising majestically out of the swamp mists and tangled vegetation. The sight of this towering ziggurat is so breathtaking that you are both stunned into silence as you feast your eyes on its untarnished splendour. Tier upon tier of gleaming white stone, shaped and formed into perfect symmetry, confront you. Huge foundation slabs support a level carved of golden rock, inlaid and decorated with gemstones. Above that sit strata of precious metals and then levels made up of crystal slabs, whose facets refract the colours of the rainbow. Upward climb tiers of ruby, sapphire and emerald, that offer up a wedge-shaped spire of pure korlinium crystal to the sky.

At its base the swamp has shrunk back as if repelled by the radiant goodness of the temple. A perimeter of lush grass leads to a staircase of solid amber. You follow Paido as he ascends towards a pair of huge triangular doors set into the second level. Everywhere the glitter of gemstones and the gleam of precious metals radiate a purity unspoiled by the Danarg. Paido completes the complex procedures that open the great doors, taught to him by the Elder Magi in preparation for this mission. They part and you enter, stepping on a floor of glistening gold, a floor that has lain undisturbed for seven thousand years.

Turn to 100.

Text copyright © 1987 Joe Dever.
Illustrations copyright © 1987 Gary Chalk.