Following the stairwells down deep underground, the mana grew denser. Eventually, Kindle didn’t even need to light the way anymore due to the amount of mana floating around the air. It looked like fireflies, illuminating every crevasse while floating listlessly. As they crossed the long halls to the next set of stairs on every floor they passed many empty rooms, some large and some small, all clearly looted over the years, a few with holes into lower floors, gashes in the stone that looked as though a fight took place long ago.
About a dozen floors down the overall architecture shifted, from the warm colorful painted lava rock to a more precise stonework that almost seemed seamless and consisted of marble with obsidian accents. There weren’t many side rooms like upper levels, the few there had stone doors on them that still looked sturdy and untouched by time.
The final floor, just off the stairway, was a large expansive room that stretched far and wide underneath the whole temple. They followed the obsidian path amidst the marble tiles to a room with a large archway for entry. The square shaped room was lined with obsidian and marble floor tiles in rings of varying thickness only broken by an eight pointed star similar to the sunny emblem that was outside the temple. On the far wall was a large round obsidian vault-like door that filled the whole wall. Two beveled rings on the door itself as well as the frame around it had faded and worn hieroglyphic text. The walls were horizontally ribbed marble. The ceiling consisted of lines of wide marble tiles with a small series of holes in them, resting between some extremely thin obsidian tiles.
“I didn't think I’d be seeing you lot down here so soon,” Pree’s ears flicked towards the sound as he heard their footsteps approach. He was standing just in front of the door. He turned around and greeted them cheerfully. “This door is rather fascinating. There are so many magic artes layered on top of each other and there's an intricate puzzle lock.” He turned back to face the door, “Someone went to great lengths to seal off whatever is on the other side.”
“Well, we are going to open it,” Aliya stated confidently, looking it over with her hands on her hips.
“What!?” Pree’s fur puffed up out of shock and nerves. “If something this complex has been here for thousands of years then wouldn’t whatever is behind such a door be dangerous?” His ears turned down as his tail flicked timidly, “I admit I am curious myself but I’m not so sure it would be a good idea…”
“We’ll be fine,” Aliya shrugged with a smile. “I don’t doubt we can handle it.”
“This writing is quite strange,” Zephyr leaned in observing the faded hieroglyphs, noticing there were two different sets from different ages. “Skotos symbols and Sidereus script are on here. I’m guessing this area was added just after the Age of Darkness at the beginning of the Age of Stars.”
“Can you read it?” Aliya only knew a bit of Sidereus script from what Zephyr taught her and the time she spent in ruins from the Age of Stars. She had hardly ever seen Skotos, so while she could identify it she couldn’t read it. “I know the Age of Darkness was a bit before your time, old man.”
“What are you calling me old for?” Zephyr glared over his shoulder at her. She gave him a fake look of innocence. He sighed and rolled his eyes, turning his attention back to the text on the door, “It’s a bit worn here and there, especially on the outer ring but I think I can figure it out.” He took a moment to read it over and try to process the shifting between languages and make contextual guesses on what was unreadable. “The outer ring seems like a warning on what’s inside but it doesn’t go into specifics. Something about an eternal fire forge lost to madness.”
“Sounds like a weapon to me,” Erik shrugged with a smug smirk.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Kindle looked at him out of the corner of her eye with her hands on her hips. Erik didn’t pay her any mind. He was just holding onto whatever hope he could that he was right.
“The middle one seems like it might be instructions.” Zephyr started reading it aloud, “The points of the star gather by the sword and the four corners shine the light from above. A glow that…” He paused as he struggled to read the next set of characters a bit too worn to decipher properly. “Is it 'shows' or maybe 'breaks?' Hmm, this next part is way too faded. Pretty sure the rest is about right.”
“Appears so!” Pree was able to read both languages quite well himself. “I believe this character refers to sound. Isn't it?” Pree pointed to a partial symbol among the faded ones that was barely legible but he recognized it as a Skotos symbol that was pretty unique in the language.
“You can read it too, little man?” He smiled down at the little fox a bit surprised he could read such an old language.
“Yes, siree! Once upon a time, I used to spend a lot of time in a Mirzam library learning about the world.” Pree swung back and forth on his paws with a cheery demeanor. “Eventually I decided it would be a grander time to go see it all and gained quite the passion for adventuring while doing so.”
“Well even though this one refers to sound, in most cases, it depends on the character before it.” Zephyr looked over the faded symbol Pree was referring to. “It can also mean forbidden.”
“The points of the star gather…” Aliya repeated the words as she looked at the star pattern on the floor. She crouched down near one of the points of the star and brushed the dust away to reveal a thin flap that goes into the ground with a light push. Looking inside she made note of the curvature of the bottom of the space. She smiled and had a slight idea on what to do. “Everyone, if you would, please stand in the archway. I would rather not accidentally injure any of you.” As everyone moved out of the way she dusted off the more obscured points of the large star on the floor. She stood in front of everyone with a better sense of where all eight slots were. She held her hands out and took a deep breath. “Steady is the frost, weight of the cost,” Eight glyphs appeared above each point of the star as she casted. “Nothing left to gain, Sword Rain!” Out of each glyph dropped a thin curved blade of ice that was typical of the Age of Darkness. They fit perfectly into each slot, resting at a slight angle away from the center.
“I see you've taken a page out of Lios’s book,” Zephyr wasn’t entirely surprised since she always mimicked offensive magic artes. He was a little surprised by how she made so many without effort. It had been a long time since he’d seen her and the strength she possessed seemed far greater than he thought possible from her.
“Well it's nothing compared to his forge style,” Aliya smiled as she walked over and ever so slightly pushed one of the blades to test if they moved at all. “His weapons don't break, mine can. Although, I might have the advantage of speed.” She confidently placed her hands on her hips. “Then again that could be different now. It's been about two hundred years since I've seen him use his Earth Forge.”
“You know I would like to see you two go at it, you've gotten quite strong,” Zephyr patted her head.
“Perhaps a bit of sparring once we find him next,” Aliya snickered as she turned her attention back to the task at hand. “Next step, now.” Aliya clapped her hands together and turned to everyone, “Might actually be better if we do them all at the same time to be safe. Ancient mechanisms love their synchronicity. There are eight of us, so we can all simultaneously push the swords like a lever towards the center. So everyone pick one, if you would, and wait for my mark!”
Aliya remained at the one closest to the entrance. Pree and Breyze hand already wandered curiously to her left, standing at the ready at the two closest. Erik stood by the one to the right of Aliya rather eagerly. Zephyr rolled his eyes at Erik and just walked past him to the next one. Kindle took her place directly across from Aliya with Terbius taking the ones on either side of her.
“Ready?” Aliya looked over everyone for confirmation. She was beaming with anticipation, excited to see what would happen next once they pushed the swords inwards. Everyone had their hands on one of the cold swords aside from Pree who looked like he was poised to tackle it with some momentum since he was so small. “Alright, on go. Three, Two, One, Go!”
Simultaneously everyone pushed the swords towards the center, with a surprising amount of ease, until they felt a click. In each corner, out of the ground emerged a small pillar with a decent sized hole in the side of it. Aliya was first to one with a quick skip in her step, Zephyr curiously peeking over Aliya’s shoulder, Breyze and Pree were looking closely at another one while everyone else just curiously eyed the ones in other corners. Aliya reached inside, seeing that there was finely ground material resting just inside. She picked a little bit up and looked at the black sand with little red flecks.
“What is that stuff?” Breyze tilted her head with intrigue as she also palmed a bit of the substance.
“Looks like fire sand,” Zephyr answered, noticing Aliya’s confusion at the stuff. “It’s sand mixed with ground up Fire Runes. With a little bit of fire mana applied, it glows. It’s sort of what started Mana Lanterns though nowadays people just use small Runes of any mana.”
“The four corners shine the light from above,” Aliya looked at the corner and spotted a thin slit that ran from floor to ceiling in the decorative column. She smiled at Kindle, “Kindle? Could you light them at the same time?”
“No sweat!” Kindle moved to the center of the room and held her hands out on either side of her. “Static Embers!” All four alcoves in the pillars held a small flame atop the fire sand. The thin slit in each corner began to glow, slowly rising to the ceiling. Eventually several holes in the ceiling held that same illumination as the glow spread completely through the fire sand.
“What are they? Constellations?” Erik looked up, reminded of stars as he looked at them but he didn’t recognize the pattern as any constellations.
“It does look like stars, but none of these are constellations that have been recorded,” Pree wandered around the room as he looked up at the patterns.
“They might not be stars,” Aliya looked at the thin lines in the ceiling and how they correlated with some of the illuminated dots, it reminded her of a music sheet. “I think it’s notes…” She looked over it carefully, hearing the melody in her head as a solemn expression filled her face. She took a deep breath and looked over at Zephyr who shared her expression. “Before we continue, what does the inner ring say?”
“Probably a good idea,” Zephyr returned to the stone door and began to read the inner ring. “‘Break from eternal binds. Rid the madness in your mind. Reignite your broken heart. Here is where you can finally depart. Saving your soul and mine. Stand once again right by my side. Time will always restore. Even if we can’t go back to before. Please, once again, wander this world my dear friend.’”
“Sounds like an apology letter,” Kindle stated.
“I think it’s the final piece,” Aliya voiced quietly with a solemn smile. The words matched up nicely with the melody written above them as she played through it again in her mind.
“You going to sing it for us?” Zephyr walked closer to Aliya with a hopeful expression with an air of nostalgia. He had missed listening to her singing. He watched her take a deep breath and smile warmly.
“I guess I have to if it means opening this door,” She looked up one last time to make sure she had the melody right. After another deep breath she closed her eyes. She parted her lips and a lyrical melody of the words from the inner ring reverberated through the entire floor. Aliya’s beautiful voice captivated her audience entirely as the sad yet sweet tune somehow resonated with everyone there. Even if they couldn’t relate to the lyrics, it still tugged at something inside each person there. Kindle thought the melody sounded familiar but couldn’t place it, being caught up in Aliya’s beautiful voice. After the final note everyone was speechless.
The silence was broken when the stone rings of the door began to shift loudly. Everyone’s attention was briefly averted to the door as they watched the rings spin.
“A voice to move the heart, a face to light up your life,” Erik’s smirk was somewhere between his playful attitude and a true smile as he approached her. “Aliya you are a true beauty through and through!”
“You better keep your thieving hands off my sister or you'll lose them,” Zephyr stopped his approach with a light smack upside Erik’s head.
“I feel like I haven't known good music until now,” Kindle mumbled to herself.
“Amazing, Aliya!” Terbius were both clapping with a bright smile on their faces.
“Thank you,” Aliya smiled at all the warm praise. She hadn’t sung in a long time, she forgot the effect it had on people.
Aliya approached the door, noticing it wasn’t quite open. “What is missing, though? It’s still sealed…” She placed her hand against the stone and closed her eyes. When she did she could clearly identify a stacked set of glyphs from a binding magic arte inside the stone. “This binding arte actually isn't that complex, after all! It was never multiple just one High Magic Arte, it was simply rearranged. The glyphs are in the correct order now. I can break this no problem!” She stood back eager to open the door once and for all and find out what mystery lay inside. She held out her hands towards the door and focused. “Shatter and crash, breaking like glass. The threads unravel, even the strong become fragile. Turn to vapor, Glyph Breaker!” The door cracked open and warm air emerged from the small gap. Aliya placed her hands on her hips, satisfied in her work, “Just like that! It's open!”
“Wow!” Erik clapped slowly. “I have to admit I didn't think you would.”
“Now to settle this bet!” Zephyr excitedly marched towards the door.
“Wait!” Aliya grabbed onto his wrist and pulled him behind her. She pointed at the ground immediately, “Ripple Limit!” She had caught the sound of a low growl before what was on the other side burst through the stone door in a cloud of smoke and collided with the translucent blue barrier she just made. Large black claws flexed the barrier towards Kindle but stopped mere inches from her face. Aliya tried to strengthen the barrier to bounce the beast back but was straining to do so, “Back away! This thing is strong! I don't know how long I can hold it back!”
“Damn it Zephyr was right!” Erik cursed under his breath as he drew his sword.
“I wish I was!” Zephyr looked completely taken aback as the smoke started to clear around the beast’s face. “Look at its eyes.” A faint red glow of its eye broke through the smoke and a cross slitted pupil was the striking identification of what they were really up against.
“A Celestial? Looks like I win boys!” Aliya’s laugh was strained as she maintained her focus on keeping the Celestial at bay with her hurriedly cast barrier. She knew it couldn’t last much longer since she couldn’t use the full spell when she first cast it.
“Alcor!” A booming roar filled the temple as smoke emanated from the maw of the Celestial before them. The heat emanating from him intensified and the barrier began to steam under his touch. He placed another massive claw against it bearing down on it. Aliya knew it wouldn’t hold much longer.
“Flood Wall!” Aliya quickly extended a hand behind her and a wave of water washed everyone else back towards the archway. The barrier evaporated completely into steam engulfing Aliya as she screamed out in pain. The whole place trembled under the impact. Steam filled the room entirely, aside from the bright warm glow of the Celestial, it was impossible to see anything inside the room, let alone determine Aliya’s condition.
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