Chapter 185 - 180: The Hall Beneath the Ruins
The stone door closed behind them with a deep rumble.
John turned around.
The entrance had disappeared into darkness.
For a moment, nobody said anything.
Lythriel looked at the sealed passage.
"Well..."
She sighed.
"That’s probably not a good sign."
John looked at the stone wall.
"We can probably open it again."
"Probably?"
"I hope."
Lythriel stared at him.
"That isn’t reassuring."
John gave her an apologetic smile.
"Sorry."
Darius raised his lantern.
"Let’s keep moving."
The corridor ahead was illuminated by a faint golden glow.
One symbol after another had awakened along the walls.
They formed a path leading deeper underground.
John walked at the front.
Not because he wanted to.
Because the ruins seemed to respond to him.
Every time he moved closer, another symbol lit up.
When he stopped, the light stopped.
Nobody missed the implication.
The ancient structure was guiding him.
---
The corridor was surprisingly well preserved.
There were no collapsed sections.
No vines.
No roots.
Even the dust seemed strangely thin.
John ran his eyes over the walls.
"This place shouldn’t be this intact."
Darius nodded.
"Agreed."
"Could magic have preserved it?"
"Possibly."
"But I don’t sense any active enchantment."
John frowned.
"Neither do I."
Aerion looked at the walls.
"Then perhaps the structure isn’t being preserved."
Everyone looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"The mountain itself may be protecting it."
John considered that.
"How?"
Aerion shook his head.
"I don’t know."
---
They continued deeper.
After several minutes, the corridor widened.
The walls opened into a large chamber.
John stopped.
The chamber was enormous.
The ceiling disappeared into darkness far above them.
Stone pillars stood in rows, each carved with ancient symbols.
At the center was a circular platform.
And surrounding that platform were twelve statues.
John slowly approached.
They were dragons.
Each statue depicted a different form.
One had enormous wings.
Another had horns that curved backward.
Another appeared covered in scales resembling armor.
The craftsmanship was extraordinary.
Darius walked around the nearest statue.
"These aren’t ordinary depictions."
John looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"They’re too detailed."
"The artist wasn’t simply imagining dragons."
"They had seen them."
John looked at the statues again.
That thought sent a strange feeling through him.
People had actually stood here.
They had seen dragons.
Perhaps spoken to them.
Perhaps lived alongside them.
The world suddenly felt much older than he had realized.
---
Lythriel approached one of the statues.
"This one looks different."
John joined her.
The dragon statue was smaller than the others.
Its head was lowered.
Its wings were folded.
And around its neck was a carved pendant.
John recognized the shape.
A circle crossed by three lines.
The symbol again.
"This one might have been important."
Darius nodded.
"Possibly."
John examined the statue more closely.
There were words beneath it.
Darius translated them.
"’The Keeper of the First Gate.’"
John looked toward the other statues.
"Do they have titles?"
"Most of them."
Darius walked around the room.
"’Warden of Flame.’"
"’Guardian of the Deep.’"
"’Watcher of the Sky.’"
He continued.
But one statue was different.
Its inscription had been damaged.
Only a few words remained.
Darius stared at it.
"What?"
John asked.
Darius shook his head.
"I can’t read the missing section."
John approached.
The statue depicted a massive dragon with its head raised toward the ceiling.
Its wings spread wide.
Its eyes were closed.
Below it were several lines of ancient writing.
Only one phrase remained readable.
**"The First..."**
The rest was broken.
John stared at it.
Something about the statue felt strangely familiar.
Not like the others.
He couldn’t explain why.
---
A low vibration suddenly passed through the chamber.
Everyone froze.
The circular platform in the center began glowing.
Golden light spread across its surface.
John instinctively stepped back.
The light followed him.
Lythriel noticed.
"John..."
"I know."
He slowly approached the platform.
The moment his foot touched its edge—
The entire chamber lit up.
The twelve statues began glowing one after another.
One.
Two.
Three.
Then all twelve.
The air became heavy.
John felt warmth spreading through his chest.
The same sensation as before.
Only much stronger.
He heard something.
Not a voice.
A memory.
Laughter.
Wings.
A vast sky.
Then...
Fire.
John staggered.
"John!"
Lythriel grabbed his arm.
"I’m fine."
He took a breath.
The images vanished.
"What did you see?"
Darius asked.
John looked at the statues.
"Nothing clear."
"Just..."
He struggled to describe it.
"Flying."
"Fire."
"Something about the sky."
Darius’s expression was thoughtful.
"It may have been a memory."
"Whose?"
John didn’t answer.
---
The platform changed.
A section in its center opened.
A small stone pedestal rose from beneath it.
On top was a circular object.
It looked like a piece of metal.
John slowly approached.
The object was dark silver.
A faint golden line ran through its center.
The same symbol was engraved on its surface.
Darius immediately recognized it.
"Don’t touch it."
John stopped.
"Why?"
"We don’t know what it is."
John nodded.
He waited.
Darius examined it from a distance.
"It could be a key."
"To what?"
Darius looked toward the chamber.
"That’s the problem."
John stared at the object.
The warmth in his chest grew stronger.
He knew, somehow, that it was connected to him.
But knowing that didn’t mean he should touch it.
He remembered Aldric’s lessons.
*Never let curiosity become an excuse to ignore danger.*
John stepped back.
"We leave it for now."
Darius looked surprised.
"You aren’t going to take it?"
"No."
John looked toward the object.
"We don’t understand it."
"And if it’s a key..."
He looked at the enormous chamber.
"Then I’d rather know what it opens before we use it."
Darius smiled.
"Good."
---
The group began examining the chamber instead.
They discovered several smaller passages.
Three were completely collapsed.
Two led to empty storage rooms.
One contained shelves made from stone.
Most of the objects were gone.
But a few remained.
Clay tablets.
Metal fragments.
Broken tools.
And several sealed containers.
John carefully documented them.
The expedition had originally come looking for historical information.
Now they had found more than they could have imagined.
But there was still something missing.
The three travelers.
They had entered these ruins before the expedition.
Where were they?
---
John noticed a narrow passage behind one of the statues.
"There’s something there."
The others gathered.
A stone slab had been moved.
Behind it was a dark corridor.
Fresh scratches marked the floor.
Someone had dragged something through it recently.
John crouched.
"These weren’t here centuries ago."
Darius nodded.
"You’re right."
The marks were fresh.
And they continued into the darkness.
"Then the travelers came this way."
Gareth wasn’t with them.
The commander had remained near the upper entrance with the guards.
John looked at the corridor.
"We should tell him."
Lythriel nodded.
"Absolutely."
Before they could leave—
A sound echoed from deeper inside.
*Clink.*
Everyone froze.
The same metallic sound.
Again.
*Clink.*
John looked into the darkness.
"They’re here."
Darius raised the lantern.
"We should retreat."
John nodded.
But then another sound came.
A voice.
Faint.
Human.
"Help..."
Lythriel immediately drew her sword.
"Someone’s alive."
John stepped forward.
Darius grabbed his shoulder.
"Careful."
John stopped.
They waited.
"Help..."
The voice came again.
This time it was clearer.
A man’s voice.
"We’re trapped..."
John looked at Lythriel.
"We need to help them."
She nodded.
Darius sighed.
"Then we stay together."
They entered the passage.
---
The corridor descended sharply.
The air became colder.
The walls changed from carved stone to rough rock.
The ancient construction slowly disappeared.
After several minutes, they found signs of recent activity.
A torn piece of cloth.
A broken lantern.
Blood.
John’s expression hardened.
"They were attacked."
Lythriel crouched beside the blood.
"It’s not much."
"Someone was injured."
Darius looked down the corridor.
"Keep moving."
They continued.
The passage finally opened into a smaller chamber.
Three people were there.
Two were unconscious.
The third was sitting against the wall, holding his injured arm.
He immediately raised a short blade when he saw them.
"Stay back!"
John raised both hands.
"We’re not here to fight."
The man stared at them.
Then his eyes widened.
He looked directly at John.
His face lost all color.
"No..."
John frowned.
"What?"
The man slowly lowered the blade.
"You..."
He stared at John as if he had seen a ghost.
"You’re the one."
John stepped closer.
"The one what?"
The injured man swallowed.
"The one the temple was waiting for."
John’s expression changed.
Before he could ask anything else, the man whispered:
"They told us..."
"They said someone with the dragon blood would eventually come."
Darius stepped forward.
"Who told you?"
The man’s eyes moved toward the darkness behind them.
"The guardian."
John felt the warmth in his chest again.
"What guardian?"
The man looked terrified.
"The last dragon."
The chamber became silent.
John stared at him.
"The last..."
The man nodded.
Then, from somewhere far beneath the ruins, came a sound so deep that the entire chamber trembled.
Not metal this time.
Not stone.
A roar.
Ancient.
Distant.
But unmistakably alive.
John slowly looked toward the darkness.
And for the first time since entering the ruins...
He felt something much stronger than curiosity.
He felt awe.
---
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