Chapter 9: Danger Nears

  Aware of the dangers that were present in the large structure, the group continued at a quickened pace but still took precautionary measures. Before entering a room, they would throw a bundle of rope to the center to test for reactions.

  The first two times they attempted this the rope landed on the floor with no response.

  Now approaching another room, Corin and Nanaua were preparing to enter it.

  “Wait!” Simeon scolded them.

  “Simeon, we need to hurry. We have yet to encounter any traps,” Corin said.

  “Well, I said wait, so wait!” Simeon replied as he grabbed the rope.

  He threw it into the middle of the room. Upon landing, a flood of arrows rained from the walls on either side.

  “What a terrible barrage!” Nanaua said, frightened.

  The fact that she almost walked into that was something that she would not soon forget.

  The entire time the arrows rained out, Simeon stared at Corin. The noise they made as they flew by and impacted the wall was deafening. Corin kept looking at the room as the arrows poured out. Soon the barrage came to an end.

  “What say you now?” Simeon asked. “Still think we should continue without any precautions?”

  “It seems I was wrong,” Corin replied, concerned.

  Simeon threw another bundle of ropes into the room. No reaction.

  “Lead the way,” Simeon told Corin.

  Corin used an unlit torch to poke into the floor before stepping any farther.

  Nanaua and the rest of the group followed Corin’s exact path as he walked through the room. As he made his way to the center, he went to grab the first bundle of rope that Simeon threw.

  “Leave it!” Simeon shouted at him.

  Corin’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest from Simeon’s command.

  “Sorry!” Corin said to Simeon, who glared at him.

  The group exited the room. They all took a collective gasp of relief. Simeon looked back, ran to the center of the room, grabbed the rope bundle, and dashed like mad back to the group. Nothing in the room was set off.

  Simeon was breathing heavily when he returned.

  Corin could only give him a bewildered look.

  “What?” Simeon asked him.

  “What?” Corin began. “You just chastised me for trying to grab the rope and then went ahead and did it anyway!”

  “Well, we were all in the room when you wanted to grab the rope. If a trap would have been set off, we all would have died," Simeon replied.

  “Yes, but you would have died if a trap went off when you picked up the rope!” Corin shot back.

  “While you are correct, there is one small detail you are ignoring," Simeon replied with a smirk.

  “Which is?” Corin asked.

  “That picking up the rope did not set off any traps, and I’m still alive,” Simeon gleefully replied.

  Corin began to say something.

  “Come now, let’s continue,” Nanaua said.

  “Yes, enough arguing, we have other matters to attend to,” Zhi added.

  Someone put a hand on Corin’s back. He turned around and saw Livia.

  “Let’s be more cautious in the future, love,” she said as she gave him a kiss.

  Corin let out a frustrated deep sigh and continued ahead.

  While every room the group encountered could be rife with danger, there were also innumerable relics, various ornate glass panes and incredibly detailed reliefs along the walls.

  “What kinds of stories do you think these murals tell?” Livia asked Simeon.

  The reliefs adorning the walls of this room seemed to convey a full story. They depicted small beings among larger creatures. Small carvings above the reliefs were part of the alphabet Simeon mentioned.

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  “I don’t know," Simeon replied, “but it would be amazing to know.”

  “These look similar to some that we would see in the dragon temples,” Zhi said. “In the dragon temples, they would honor furtives who had given their lives in service to their titan lord. That is the only time we are worthy of praise, when we die for them.” Her tone was full of contempt and hatred.

  “In the Lord's Protectorate, we were taught that the highest honor possible was to die for our titan lord. They were called Sanbril, the title posthumously achieved by those who gave their lives in service to our lord,” Nanaua added in a somber tone.

  Livia and Simeon now studied the carvings once again. They did not feel the same admiration from mere moments earlier, now sensing something sinister.

  “Why am I not surprised?” Livia added.

  They continued moving. Along the way, they encountered several more trapped rooms and many more reliefs.

  Eventually, they arrived at a large chamber that was bathed in light. Corin was reminded of the large room he had seen in the dragon temple. Like that room, this one had a large metallic statue in the center. But this one did not resemble a leviathan. Instead, it seemed to portray an impossibly large knight clad in golden armor.

  Even compared to Nanaua, this metallic sculpture was three times her height and about as wide as five of her put together. The metal sculpture held a massive sword with both hands. The tip of the blade was thrust into the floor. The part of the blade that protruded from the ground was as tall as Corin himself.

  The knight had no shield. It seemed clear that whatever being this statue portrayed only had one thing in mind, attacking. For a creature as large and as fearsome as this, defense was of no concern.

  “I’m glad that’s only a statue,” Livia said.

  “If it was not, I would fight it and be victorious,” Nanaua roared.

  “Of course you would, my dear. But let’s be glad you don’t have to prove yourself,” Zhi said as she caressed Nanaua’s face.

  Nanaua smiled, proud of herself.

  Simeon studied the sculpture of the knight. There was a stone pedestal at the foot of the knight inscribed with the strange alphabet that none of them could decipher.

  “So what do you think this says?” Corin asked Simeon.

  “I would like to think it says ‘marvel at our amazing skill in crafting statues,’ but I have a feeling this is not meant as a display of artistic ability,” Simeon said as he carefully studied the sculpture.

  “Surely you don’t think this is meant to portray a real living being, something that would be here?” Corin asked.

  Simeon only looked at him.

  “That’s absurd!” Corin laughed.

  “Need I remind you that we are in an underwater temple, where no water is able to come in, built on the orders of a leviathan. Do you think that is not absurd?” Simeon shot back.

  “Well let’s hope you are wrong on this account,” Corin said as he continued across the room to look at the different items scattered about. The rest of the group had already begun looking at the curiosities strewn about.

  Stone pedestals with precious gems, small sculptures of different leviathans, reliefs of the ocean. Corin could not believe the number of precious artifacts that could be found in this temple at the bottom of the sea, where no being could ever come to.

  If only we were able to bring some of these with us.

  “Did you say something, Corin?” Nanaua asked from across the room.

  “What?” He turned around, confused.

  “AAAAH!” Shouts came from all around the room.

  From above, a large number of creatures landed across them, quickly surrounding the different adventurers.

  Corin looked around him. Two had surrounded him. They looked exactly like sirens, but something about them differed. They seemed more feral than any siren Corin had ever seen, and they were completely white, from their scales to their eyes. Even the armor made of the moesar teeth was completely white.

  “We are not here to fight!” Corin shouted at one of the pale sirens.

  “You have come to your death!” Nanaua shouted across the room.

  The pale siren yelled at Corin as it lunged at him. It had two large daggers, one in each hand. The creature was faster than most opponents Corin had ever faced, save for one, Nanaua.

  Thanks to his sparring sessions with Nanaua, Corin was able to see the creature’s intent before it attacked. He saw as the creature led with his left hand but held the right behind his back. The creature came up to Corin and swung the left dagger at his face.

  Corin deftly sidestepped it and was prepared for what came. As he moved out of the first dagger’s path, the second dagger already moved toward Corin.

  Corin parried, throwing the pale siren off balance and kicking the creature away. The second creature lunged at Corin.

  “Corin! Do not hesitate! Fight!” Nanaua shouted at him.

  This pale siren jumped at Corin with a large spear. Its movements almost reminded Corin of Nanaua’s swiftness with her pike yet not as refined.

  Corin avoided the siren, who swept the large spear across. It was a move that Nanaua had hit Corin with many times, and he knew how to counter it.

  Corin held up his blade and stopped the arcing spear. Upon impact, Corin pushed back, stunning the pale siren.

  “Good, but not good enough!” Corin yelled.

  The stunned pale siren started tumbling backward on its feet. Corin stabbed through its exposed throat. The creature fell dead. He turned around to see a dagger flying at him and quickly moved out of the way. When he turned his head he saw the pale siren already in the air coming toward him.

  “Damn!” Corin yelled.

  He picked up his blade, but not fast enough. The siren aimed right at his chest.

  Thwack!

  An arrow struck the pale siren on the side of its head. The flying corpse tumbled onto Corin, toppling him to the floor.

  “Corin!” Livia shouted.

  “I’m fine!” he yelled back.

  “Then help!” Livia yelled back.

  BANG!

  Corin heard Livia’s rifle go off as he shook off the dead pale siren.

  He got up and saw two more coming at him.

  “No hesitation this time,” Corin said as he pulled out his pistol.

  Undeterred by the pistol, the two sirens lunged at Corin.

  BANG!

  The right one crumpled to the floor, and before the remaining one realized what happened, Corin had already let loose his second shot. BANG! Both collapsed.

  “AAARH!”

  He turned around to see another of the pale sirens coming at him with a spear.

  Corin avoided the spear and kicked the siren in the chest. The siren hit a wall behind him, and Corin stabbed the attacker.

  Corin turned and saw two more sirens approaching, each with a blade above their heads, prepared to strike him down.

  Corin held his blade in his hands, ready to fight, but he did not have to.

  Crack!

  A splitting sound tore through the air. A large bolt of lightning struck the blades of each of the pale sirens. The sirens screamed in agony before promptly dropping to the floor.

  “Die!” Nanaua shouted from across the room.

  Corin could see her lifting a pale siren with her pike and then proceeding to slam it onto another. The two pale sirens crashed into each other, going limp. Nanaua pierced them with her pike.

  Corin turned his head to see Simeon, who was deadly accurate with his arrows. For each arrow he let fly, a pale siren collapsed on the ground.

  BANG! Livia’s rifle fired. A body dropped.

  The air once again split as the flashes of lightning filled the room. Creatures around the room yelled. Corin smelled burning flesh from the pale sirens. With each loud noise, more bodies hit the floor.

  There was a pause in the carnage. Corin breathed heavily as he studied the room around him. The once chaotic scene had come to an end, and Corin could only hear the panting of his companions.

  The ground around them was littered with bodies. Some sizzled from the impact of lightning, their bodies twitching. Some had small pinpoint holes around their head. Some had multiple arrows sticking out of them. Some around Nanaua were in multiple pieces.

  Corin saw Livia kneeling next to Zhi and ran to them.

  “Are you okay ?” he asked as he spoke to Livia, parting the bloodied hair from her face.

  “I am. It’s her I’m concerned for,” Livia said as she looked at Zhi, who struggled as she breathed. It was obvious that the fight had taken a lot out of her.

  Nanaua came running over. “My dear!”

  “I’ll be fine,” Zhi weakly replied as she looked at Nanaua.

  Nanaua came up to Zhi and held her hand tenderly. Zhi smiled back at her with loving eyes. If it wasn’t for the gory display around them, the scene would have been very heartwarming.

  “You are truly amazing,” Simeon said as he stood over the group.

  Corin looked at Simeon, who spoke to Zhi.

  “In all my years of life, I would have never expected to see a furtive wielding magic,” Simeon began, “yet you command the elements with such vigor that for a second I truly believed a titan was in the room fighting with us.”

  Simeon knelt in front of Zhi as he brought out some dried fruit for her to eat.

  Zhi grabbed them and took several bites. Using magic required a lot of energy and quickly left her hungry.

  “Do you want any more?” Simeon asked.

  “No, I’m fine now,” Zhi replied, sounding better.

  “But I truly mean what I said. The gift you have is amazing,” Simeon said.

  Zhi was taken aback from the compliment. “It’s nothing. Certainly not a gift, more like a curse.”

  “You are wrong,” Simeon said.

  Zhi seemed insulted as she looked back at Simeon.

  “It might seem like that for you, but these powers you have are our only hope to fight back against the titans. You may not see it as a gift, but I do. And I know other furtives would see it that way as well,” Simeon said.

  “He’s right, my love. What you have is a gift, it gives hope to other furtives when faced with the titans” Nanaua added.

  Zhi looked at Nanaua.

  “You are unique. That much is true,” Livia said.

  Zhi was touched by their replies. She smiled at the support of her companions.

  Corin held his hand to help her up. Zhi gladly accepted his offer. She stood up and looked around.

  “Let’s not keep wasting time, we are near to the artifact, I’m sure of it,” Zhi said with renewed vigor.