Chapter 282: Jungle Temple
If there was one thing more intimidating than hearing sounds of monsters fighting each other, it was the sound of nothing happening at all. That was especially true when it came to the jungle. If there were no sounds, that meant the creatures were avoiding this area for a specific reason.
They continued flying silently as they looked around anxiously. Anything could appear and attack them out of nowhere, so they had to be careful. Slimo squinted his eyes and pointed a finger at a place somewhere far ahead of them.
"There. I think I see something hiding under the brush."
Sheeby flew in closer until they settled on the ground in front of a massive stone structure. Its gateway allowed for leviathans to enter its halls with ease, vines and moss covered every inch of its exterior, and it hummed with a familiar energy.
"Should we go inside? This can’t be something that the creatures have built."
"We can go inside, but how much is there to see? It looks like the inside would end as quickly as we would enter it."
"Is this a monument then? If so, who would it be honoring?"
"There’s only one way to find out, right?"
Slimo tapped his foot and looked around the area one more time.
"Let’s go inside and investigate. It may be safer than standing out here in the open."
Slimo waved his hand forward and led the group across the cracked stone surface of the structure. As they approached the center of it, there was little to no light left to illuminate where they were walking. Slimo looked at Lidia.
"You can shine yourself as bright as you want. We’re inside so nothing can ambush us."
Lidia followed his suggestion and started glowing. The walls of the structure slowly revealed themselves as Lidia turned up her power. In the center of the structure, there were two large doors with giant iron handles in their center. However, there were also two statues towering next to each side with massive, bloodied broadswords in their hands. Scattered across the floor were dozens of dead leviathans, some of their corpses so old they had turned to nothing but bone. Everyone stopped moving and stayed as still as possible.
"Are those... Guardians?"
Slimo lifted his hand and gestured everyone to back up.
"It looks like it. They don’t seem to be in the mood to attack anything right now."
Jacob stepped a little closer, going against Slimo’s gesture.
"I feel they would have attacked by now if they were hostile."
"Does your eye say anything about them?"
Jacob shook his head.
"I don’t even know if they’re sentient until they activate. That means that they are currently nothing but statues."
Slimo cursed under his breath and tried backing up further.
"Maybe we shouldn’t try our luck. Something tells me we shouldn’t be here."
Lidia put a hand on his shoulder.
"Didn’t we come to this jungle to look for statues in the first place? What if we find an advantage so great that it would make Zalo piss himself? I think we should try it."
"Try our luck with guardians?! It’s took risky, even for us."
"Will that Plan B you have help us with this?"
Slimo hesitated.
"Maybe, maybe not. The guardians may be too powerful for that anyway."
Suddenly, Maria ran past Slimo towards one of the corpses. Slimo tried to grab her arm, but she was too quick.
"W-Wait! Maria! Calm down for a moment and let’s talk about this first!"
"I’m tired of talking. If the guardians wake up, we’ll figure it out. We don’t even know if they’re dangerous or not."
Maria picked up a bone from one of the dead creatures and tossed it at the guardians. It bounced off its flawless surface and fell to the floor, clacking around for a few moments before coming to a rest. Everyone waited anxiously for any movement. However, nothing happened. Maria sighed and raised her hand.
"See? They won’t activate if we get close to them. We’re in the clear until we reach the door for now."
Maria started walking towards the large handles. Everyone else looked at each other before racing forward to catch up. Slimo walked ahead of the group and place his hand against one of the giant doors. He gave the surface three loud knocks, each one echoing off the walls of the structure. After waiting for a moment, Slimo noticed strange words beginning to form on the surface of the door.
"I found something, but I can’t read what this says. Does anyone know what this language is?"
Squabee shoved her face forward trying to read the symbols. She gasped and covered her mouth. Everyone stared at her in awe. Slimo’s face lit up with surprise.
"Squabee, you can read this?! What does it say?"
Squabee traced her fingers around the symbol’s edges.
"I can’t believe it... I can’t read any of this!"
Slimo shoved her back and began shouting her.
"You idiot! Now is not the time to play your stupid games!"
Squabee kicked him in the shins.
"You were the one who asked me to try and read it, numb nuts!"
Sarah shook her head as she slowly backed away for more people to try. Lidia’s face appeared to have recognize something with the runes.
"Wait just a moment. I recognize these runes."
"You do? Do you know what they say?"
"I don’t, but these same kinds of symbols that were left on a card for me back in Paria Empire."
"A card?"
"Yes. Luna and I were discussing Orvo’s suspicious behavior. We were really close to finding out who he was before he betrayed us. During one of our secret meetings, we heard a knock on our door. When we opened it to see who it was, there was nothing there except this card with a small number of strange symbols on it."
Lidia’s face lit up looking at the runes.
"Wait... this is it! This line of the text is the same kind of runes that were on the card!"
Everyone leaned in curiously to see what Lidia was talking about. However, Maria and Jacob looked at one another confused.
"What runes do you all see? This is just plain text."
Slimo looked over at Jacob and pointed to the symbols.
"You can read this?"
"It’s probably because of my eye. I wonder if it works as a translator as well."
"Can you tell us what it says?"
"Sure."
Jacob walked up to the door and began to read the passage that was on it.
"This is the Temple of Lumos. All followers of Zalo are strictly forbidden from entering. Creatures of pure corruption will be killed on the spot. If ever a traitor found inside, the temple will be closed for eternity until the Queen retakes her throne."
Jacob looked back at Lidia.
"You don’t think that means you, right?"
Slimo pointed to the runes that Lidia recognized before.
"What does this word say?"
"That word? You’re just pointing to the word ’traitor’."
Slimo slowly pulled away from the door and stared at Lidia. She didn’t know how to respond.
"Hold on a moment. If someone left a note at my door that said traitor, does that mean they knew that Orvo would betray us before he did? Who could have possibly done that?"
A small silence hung in the air. Sarah broke the silence with another observation.
"I think a better question would be how that person knew this language."
Slimo started pacing.
"Someone in Paria was connected to this place somehow."
"Or they were connected to the language. Maybe they were like Lidia. Perhaps not all the Luminator’s were killed. I mean, we know Sheeby is here with us, and Sheeby’s mom must have been one too if Sheeby is."
Lidia walked up to the door and place her hand on it.
"I guarantee there’s answers inside. I will try and open it. Everyone, stay back just in case this doesn’t work."
Slimo grabbed her hand and looked deep into her eyes. He wanted to talk her out of opening the door, but it was clear they were out of options.
"Just... please be careful."
Lidia nodded her head. She walked back over to Sheeby and climbed on her back. Sheeby flew up to one of the large handles of the door and got close enough for Lidia to grab hold of it. Before she pulled backward, she bathed herself with her full power, a small, illuminated crown appearing on top of her head. With one small pull, the door cracked wide open.
Suddenly, the statues began to move. They picked up their swords and faced Lidia, staring her down menacingly behind their visors. Slimo shoved everyone away from the door and shouted at Lidia.
"Lidia!"
However, Lidia didn’t budge. She kept her chin raised while taking turns staring at each guardian. Then, the guardians lowered their sword, planted it in the ground in front of them, and bowed their heads. Warm words escaped from each of their visors as they kneeled before her.
"The Queen has returned to retake her throne. All hail Queen of Lumos. May her light guide us home."