This choice: Diana agrees to search the deeper parts of the temple • Go Back...Chapter #4Diana agrees to search the deeper parts of the ... by: Pseudonym   "Fine" groaned Diana, following behind Alex and grabbing her own torch "You know we're not supposed to though, right?"
"Yeah" replied Alex "But look, this is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Besides, these inscriptions are absolutely fascinating."
"Yeah but... aren't you a bit scared? I mean we're the first people to go these ways for many centuries and, I'm sure you know, the priests used to go to extreme lengths to protect the temple secrets."
"Oh come on" said Alex "What's the worst that could hap... ARGH!"
In that moment the floor around Alex's feet caved in, revealing a large pit trap underneath them that seemed to extend infinitely downwards. Alex tried to scramble back to safety but it was too late, as he found himself falling ... before suddenly something roughly caught his arm.
"You ok?" yelled Diana, holding on to Alex by one arm.
"Yeah" called Alex, his heart pounding. With his other hand he held on to the ledge, and with some effort, pulled himself up to safety.
"That was ... kinda cool" said Alex, lying on the ground exhausted.
"Whatever" replied Diana "You almost got both of us killed. I think we should turn back."
Then, suddenly, both of them saw and heard a large rock rolling towards them - and it was coming from the direction of the exit!
"I don't think going back will be an option!" yelled Alex, leaping to his feet in spite of his tiredness.
Diana looked around "We'll have to jump across that chasm left by the pit trap!" she called out.
Moving quickly, Diana went back to give herself a running start. Then, with a big leap, she cleared the distance of the pit and landed on the other side, although she nearly fell over as she did.
"I'll never make it!" yelled Alex.
"Just try!" called Diana desperately, seeing the giant round rock roll up behind him.
With all his strength, Alex ran and jumped across the pit, clearing the distance by a hair. On the other side, Alex's feet landed a little over the ledge, and he almost lost his balance, but Diana pulled him to safety just in time. The huge rock lodged itself in the hole, blocking their escape.
"We're trapped!" yelled Diana desperately.
"Only one way to go" said Alex, pointing his torch in the direction of the deeper parts of the temple.
"Hey wait a moment" said Diana "It says something here on the wall about the four elements. Can you make it out?"
Alex peered at the ancient script by the light of his torch "Yeah - it says the two gods to whom this temple is dedicated overcame trials of earth, air, fire and water... very interesting."
"The priests would have used that when designing their traps" guessed Diana "See, there we overcame rocks and chasms and such - that must be the trial by earth. Which means..."
"One down, three to go" said Alex "Then we'll see what secrets this temple holds."
"I feel like I'm co-starring in a tomb raider movie" said Diana, going off.
"You've got to admit it's pretty cool, right?" teased Alex, following her.
Diana rolled her eyes "Alright fine, just remember I saved your life twice back there."
Just then, a dart narrowly missed Diana and lodged itself in the wall on the other side of the corridor.
"Look, a dart trap!" said Diana excitedly "This must be the trial by air, since arrows fly through the sky!"
Alex looked at the Dark a little more closely. "Looks like the dart is coated in some sort of liquid" he said "I think it might be a kind of poison."
"Alright" said Diana "I guess we'll have to be careful... you check that wall and the floor for dart holes, I'll check this wall and the roof."
Working very slowly, Alex and Diana slowly advanced forward through the trap-riddled corridor, setting off dart traps just ahead of them as they went. After an excruciatingly long period, they finally passed the area where the dart traps seemed to be.
"So that's air and earth covered" said Diana confidently "So I guess the next one will be..."
Just ahead of them, suddenly, a flame burst up out of nowhere.
"FIRE!" both of the teenagers cried out.
There ahead of them was a large room, filled with small vents in the ground. Each of them was smoking a little, with the smoke rising up to a tiny chimney on the ceiling. Now and then, a ball of flame would rise up out of the vents, incinerating anything above it. At the far end of the room, the corridor seemed to continue.
"How are we supposed to cross this!?" called Diana.
"Looks like we'll have to run and dodge the fireballs as they come up" replied Alex.
Diana put on a brave face. "Alright" she said in a fear-riddled tone.
With that she ran as fast as her feet would carry her. Seeing flames ahead of her, she darted this way, and then that, before suddenly she almost ran right into a ball of flame while avoiding another one. In the last second, Alex tackled her out of harm's way. The two fell on each other.
"You... saved me..." said Diana.
"Thank me later - right now we've gotta move!" yelled Alex, standing up and pulled Diana to her feet.
Diana was in no position to argue. The two chased down the remaining distance, and as they neared the entrance to the corridor, dramatically dived into the dark hallway. As they did, the whole room behind them erupted in flame and collapsed with a sound of thunder.
Both of them breathed heavily. "That was scary" said Diana.
"You mean awesome, right?" laughed Alex "Hey look at this - more inscriptions..."
Alex held his torch up to some writing on the wall. "It says here that the god and goddess will return... and then there's a bit here missing... I've never seen that symbol before... looks like a combination between the symbol for big and the symbol for rising. Whatever it means, it says that thing will happen when they do."
"Sounds like they believed the two will return together ... and went away" said Diana "That's strange, I wonder where they went. Do you think they might be a metaphor for the seasons or something?"
"I don't know" replied Alex "A lot of the text is damaged but I can make out a few more words... that symbol there means size ... that one means young ... that one means powerful, or like a ruler ... usually you only see that last symbol in the tombs of kings. I wish I had my camera with me."
"Well let's keep exploring... I think there should be a water trap and then we'll have reached our destination."
The teenagers didn't have to walk far, as they soon came to an underground river.
"I didn't know there was an underground river here!" yelled Alex.
"It wasn't marked on my map!" shouted Diana.
The river was quite wide, but surprisingly fast-flowing. It looked much too dangerous to swim across.
"Look, over there!" said Alex "Looks like some stones we can hop across on!"
"I don't know" replied Diana "They look kinda wet and dangerous. We might slip."
"Come on!" said Alex, leaping onto the first stone "This is the last challenge. Once we get across this we should have overcome all the traps!"
Cautiously, both teens began hopping from one stone to the next. After some time, they eventually made it to the other side. Here there was a tall door with no key or other means of opening it. It looked to be made of solid rock. However, imprinted on the door were two handprints.
"How do we get through?" asked Diana.
Alex held his hand up to the door. "That's weird" he said "This looks like MY handprint"
"Holy shit ..." said Diana "That's freaky!"
"Hold up your hand" said Alex.
Diana did so, and notice that hers was also a perfect fit for the other hand print.
"Do you think... if we put our hands in there... the doors will open?" asked Diana.
"Only one way to find out" said Alex.
With that, the two teens thrust their hands forward together into the slots of the door.
A pulse of energy seemed to shoot through them, like a small electric shock, that made them recoil from the door a little. Then, with a great rumble, the enormous doors slowly started to open.
"We did it! We made it!" cheered Alex.
The doors slid a little more to reveal...  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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