Chapter 182 - 177: The Sealed Temple
For several seconds, nobody moved.
The faint glow beneath the temple entrance had already disappeared, leaving behind nothing but old stone and silence.
John continued staring at the symbol.
He wasn’t imagining it.
He had seen the light.
So had Darius.
And judging by the expressions of several guards nearby, they had seen it too.
Commander Gareth was the first to break the silence.
"Nobody enters."
His voice was calm, but firm.
The guards immediately formed a loose line between the expedition and the temple entrance.
Lythriel lowered her sword slightly.
"Was that supposed to happen?"
Gareth looked toward the researchers.
"Anyone know what we just witnessed?"
No one answered.
Darius slowly stepped forward.
"Not naturally."
Gareth looked at him.
"Explain."
Darius pointed toward the symbol.
"That wasn’t sunlight."
"I agree."
"The light came from inside the carving."
John studied the stone.
"The symbol reacted when the raven landed."
Everyone looked toward the creature.
The Soul Raven remained perched on the broken pillar, perfectly still.
Its black feathers blended into the dark stone.
Gareth frowned.
"Is the bird yours?"
John nodded.
"Yes."
"Can you control it?"
"Not exactly."
"Then what does it do?"
John hesitated.
"Usually..."
"It watches."
Gareth stared at the raven.
"And today?"
John looked toward the temple.
"I don’t know."
---
Darius walked closer to the entrance.
He stopped several meters away.
"The architecture is different."
John followed his gaze.
"What do you mean?"
"Look at the doorway."
Darius pointed toward the enormous stone frame.
"The outer ruins were constructed using large blocks."
"Simple."
"Practical."
"But this..."
He pointed at the entrance.
"It’s much more precise."
John examined it.
He was right.
The stones around the doorway were perfectly fitted.
There were no cracks.
No obvious erosion.
Even after centuries, the entrance looked almost untouched.
"It was built later."
John said.
Darius nodded.
"Or by someone completely different."
---
A researcher approached with a measuring device.
"Commander."
Gareth turned.
"We can examine the exterior without entering."
"Do it."
The researchers began working.
They measured the doorway.
The surrounding walls.
The carved symbol.
The ground.
John joined them.
He carefully sketched everything.
The symbol was approximately the size of his hand.
The three lines crossing the circle weren’t identical.
One was slightly longer.
Another curved downward.
The third ended in a sharp point.
John stared at it.
Something about the pattern bothered him.
He had seen it before.
Not in a book.
Not on a ruin.
Somewhere else.
He just couldn’t remember where.
---
"John."
Lythriel’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.
"You okay?"
He looked at her.
"Yeah."
"You’ve been staring at that thing for a while."
"I’m trying to remember something."
"From where?"
"I don’t know."
She studied his expression.
"Don’t force it."
John nodded.
"You’re right."
---
The researchers continued their work until sunset.
No one entered the temple.
The expedition leader refused to take unnecessary risks.
Even the scholars understood.
Whatever was inside could wait.
That evening, everyone gathered around the campfire.
The usual conversations were absent.
People spoke quietly.
The discovery had changed the mood of the entire expedition.
John sat beside Lythriel, Sylvara, and Aerion.
Darius sat across from them, reviewing his notes.
Finally, Lythriel broke the silence.
"So..."
"That was definitely not normal."
"No."
John replied.
Sylvara looked toward the temple.
"Do you think it’s dangerous?"
"I don’t know."
John answered honestly.
Aerion looked thoughtful.
"Everything ancient isn’t necessarily hostile."
Lythriel glanced at him.
"That sounds like something someone would say immediately before discovering something hostile."
Aerion sighed.
"Perhaps."
John laughed quietly.
The tension around the fire eased slightly.
---
After dinner, Commander Gareth gathered the senior members of the expedition.
John was invited.
So were Darius, Eric, several guards, and two senior researchers.
They gathered inside Gareth’s tent.
A map of the ruins covered the central table.
Gareth pointed toward the temple.
"We need to decide what happens tomorrow."
One researcher spoke first.
"We should enter."
Another immediately disagreed.
"Not until we understand the mechanism behind the door."
Darius folded his arms.
"I agree with waiting."
The researcher looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because the temple reacted to something."
"Something we don’t understand."
"Entering blindly would be irresponsible."
Gareth looked toward John.
"What do you think?"
John paused.
He wasn’t sure why Gareth was asking him.
But he answered honestly.
"I think we should study the entrance first."
"Not because I’m afraid of what’s inside."
"But because the reaction wasn’t random."
He pointed toward the map.
"The symbol activated when the Soul Raven landed."
"We don’t know why."
"If we understand that..."
"We might understand what the temple is designed to do."
Darius nodded.
"Exactly."
Gareth considered their words.
"Then that’s what we’ll do."
---
The meeting ended shortly afterward.
As John stepped outside, Darius followed.
"You handled that well."
John smiled.
"I wasn’t expecting him to ask me."
"You’re part of the research team."
"Your opinion matters."
John looked toward the temple.
"Doesn’t feel like it."
Darius chuckled.
"Give it time."
---
The two walked toward the edge of the camp.
The moon was high above the mountains.
The temple was barely visible in the darkness.
Darius stopped.
"There’s something I haven’t told Gareth."
John looked at him.
"What?"
Darius reached into his coat and removed an old piece of parchment.
He unfolded it.
John immediately recognized the symbol.
But there was something else.
A line of ancient writing beneath it.
John leaned closer.
"What does it say?"
"I’m not completely sure."
Darius admitted.
"It’s written in an old dialect."
"But I’ve translated parts of it."
John waited.
Darius looked toward the temple.
"It seems to refer to a guardian."
John frowned.
"A guardian?"
"Yes."
"What kind?"
Darius shook his head.
"That’s the problem."
"The text doesn’t describe what the guardian looks like."
"Only its purpose."
John looked at the parchment.
"What purpose?"
Darius was quiet for several seconds.
Then he said:
"To wait."
John’s expression changed.
"Wait for what?"
Darius folded the parchment.
"That’s the part I haven’t translated."
---
Before John could ask anything else, a sound came from the temple.
*Clink.*
Both men turned.
Another.
*Clink.*
The same metallic sound.
But this time it was louder.
Much louder.
People throughout the camp began emerging from their tents.
Gareth rushed outside.
"What happened?"
Nobody answered.
The ground beneath them trembled.
Only slightly.
Then again.
Stronger.
Several people stumbled.
John steadied himself against a nearby post.
The temple doors began moving.
Slowly.
Stone grinding against stone.
Gareth shouted.
"Everyone back!"
The guards immediately drew their weapons.
The researchers retreated.
The enormous doors opened several inches.
Darkness filled the entrance.
Nothing came out.
For several seconds...
Nothing happened.
Then a faint blue light appeared deep inside the temple.
It illuminated a long corridor.
Ancient walls.
Broken statues.
And at the very end...
A massive stone door.
John stared.
He could barely breathe.
The symbol was carved into that door.
But unlike the entrance...
This one was enormous.
It covered nearly the entire surface.
And directly in its center was a circular depression.
Almost exactly the size of John’s palm.
His chest suddenly became warm.
He instinctively stepped forward.
Lythriel grabbed his arm.
"John."
He stopped.
"I’m fine."
"No."
She looked at him seriously.
"You’re reacting to it."
John looked toward the stone door.
He couldn’t deny it anymore.
Something was calling to him.
Not with words.
Not with a voice.
It was simply...
A pull.
A connection.
As though something inside that temple recognized something within him.
Darius noticed.
His expression became serious.
"Don’t touch it."
John nodded.
"I wasn’t planning to."
Gareth looked toward the corridor.
"Nobody enters tonight."
He turned toward the guards.
"Two teams will watch the entrance."
"Nobody goes inside."
The orders were clear.
The expedition slowly settled again.
But nobody truly relaxed.
John remained outside his tent for a long time.
He kept looking toward the temple.
The blue light remained visible.
It hadn’t disappeared.
Neither had the feeling inside his chest.
Eventually, John looked at the Soul Raven.
The creature was perched on the temple roof.
Watching the doorway.
Then it looked directly at him.
For a brief moment...
John thought he understood its expression.
Not fear.
Not warning.
Recognition.
The same thing he had felt.
John quietly touched the wooden dragon carving inside his pocket.
Then he looked toward the ancient temple.
Tomorrow...
They would finally enter.
And whatever waited behind that second door had been waiting for a very long time.
---
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