The Temple (Friesha's note 57)

After hearing from Pruina about the existence of an ancient temple which might be a lead towards the Tomb of Origin or could be the legendary place itself, Felgard and I dispatched ourselves the next morning. Pruina too came with us to be our guide deep within the forest towards where it was located. We passed by towering trees which looked like they were going to devour us with their mouth-like roots opened wide. Through rocky areas, steep slopes, and cliff rivers, the terrain was nearly brutal as the three of us deepen our breaths out of exhaustion. Well, I mean two of us as the airhead didn't look exhausted at all. After a few more bumps on the way finally...

"Look here you two..." Pruina called out to us.

"Are we there yet?!.." I got so tired that I was being held by Felgard on his back. "I sure am tired..."

"What a pain, are mages this physically weak?!" he didn't seem tired at all,. even one bit. Maybe he is that stupid that even his body doesn't know he's tired.

"Well sorry for the late news, but that's how it is..." Magic is a mind training business. A mage must have the enough brain capacity to think and analyze how things work. We rarely indulge ourselves with physical training. But of course, I trained myself to match standard human martial arts.

Felgard then put me down after a long walk when we came to Pruina. She then pointed her finger towards a slight distance, just about a few walk away. There underneath the canopy of humongous trees, was the foot of an ancient ruined temple. Well, I can't really say it's the foot since it looked like it was buried halfway to the ground. I immediately ran towards it in excitement, forgetting my state of tiredness. The two then followed behind me.

I stopped near it and observed with my own two eyes, the architecture was exactly the same as the one in the book, as well as the weird carved designs on it.

"So, how do we get inside?" Felgard looked around for an entrance. "It doesn't even have windows..."

"This looked like it wasn't burnt down, I see no signs of it..." Pruina came closer and touched the tower. "Eh? It's made of limestone?"

"Levitation!" I then floated on air to examine the top. It only barely managed to pass by the canopy of trees. There was but a huge mark which resembled something like a bird in sunlight. "There is no entrance here either!!" I shouted down to them.

"So what now?" Felgard was stupidly trying to remove a slab with an owl figure. "This won't budge... So this isn't an entrance huh?.."

As I levitated back down, Pruina was staring at something. I came to look as well.

"This owl figure has only one eye..." She was tracing her finger along the owl carving in one of those slabs. "Pretty weird, all the other owls have two eyes yet this one..."

"Well obviously it means this is some kind of code..." I then placed my hands on the figure and closed my eyes. For some reason, I cannot read the realea inside this tower. "Maybe something must be done to this figure..."

Suddenly before I could let go of it, there was a small earthquake that shook the place. The source seemed to have been from Felgard's side where a door mysteriously opened while he was still holding on to that slab which somehow was pulled back.

"Wha- how did you?.." it was completely stunning to see Felgard find something out on his own.

"Turns out your friend has some senses too," Pruina then walked with towards the opened entrance. We both looked at the slab Felgard used.

"Interesting," Pruina looked at Felgard. "How did you find out?" Surprisingly, the owl figure on that slab had two eyes like the rest. Was it to confuse anyone who might enter? How did he figure it out?

"I don't know. It just felt like that owl was staring at me and it got me irritated..." what a reason... Seriously, this dude... Well he did manage to find the entrance.

Pruina stared at the owl figure, "Indeed, if you look closely, this owl seems like it's looking at you. The rest are looking from afar."

Well, at least it's open now but... the opening seemed to be lower on the ground. Which emphasized that this tower was buried a little bit underground. Still, the opening was big enough for us to enter.

"So let's go in," I just cannot hold my excitement. Truth is, I had already been excited since last night, which was why I couldn't sleep well. Until now, I've been trying to hide my excitement, or that's what I thought...

"Look at you, all giddy up to enter," there's Felgard's irritating half smile again. I just wanna punch those inside his stupid face.

"Well you can't blame her," Pruina already jumped inside the completely dark temple. "She's been all up to this.."

"W-will yes, I mean if this is a step closer to finding the Tomb of Origin, then... I mean," I meant what I said. I was sure focused on just walking towards where the sun rises. In fact the world is big, it could be above where I was looking or below. I could be walking towards the location but not accurately. With a link like this, if it is, then it'll make things easier for me.

"Huaaaahhhh!! It sure is dark in here. I wonder if there's treasure somewhere..." Felgard sure was expecting great things as he got down.

As for me, I installed a small barrier only enough to detect anyone who might come in before I went inside myself. The moment I stepped in, I already felt power from within the temple. Although it was dark, I can clearly sense everything around me. Still it would be hard to walk in the dark.

Suddenly, it became bright inside as torches lit up on their own, revealing a wide space with huge pillars inside.There seemed to be nothing but a door with a weird three-headed bird mark. Felgard and I looked at Pruina who just pulled a lever-like object.

"Let's go you two..." Pruina then walked first as the two of us tailed behind her.

We then came face to face with the three-headed bird marked door. Like last time, there was no means of opening the. door. I stared at Felgard, and so did Pruina as well.

"O-oi, That was an accident. I can't possibly be the one to open everything, can I?" Felgard backed away a few steps as I glared st him. "Okay, okay!! I'll try!!!"

Felgard then looked around at the entire area hoping to spot a link to opening this door.

"So it's hopeless for him afterall," Pruina sighed and began examining the door. "Could this door be actually a trap like the entrance door."

"I think so too" mages or not, these people have clearly made such a nice pla-...

Suddenly the torches went off and everything went dark again. Pruina and I turned and despite being dark, we can see a bit because of the light from outside. It turned out Felgard played on the lever-like object.

"What do you think you're doing?!?!" I got enraged of his airheadedness as I walked towards him.

"W-w-w-wait!!! Felgard then backed away. "I just thought that everything was run by magic since the torches lit up on their own. So if I turn this off then..."

Suddenly, I turned my head towards the sound of something opening. Pruina simply pushed the door open with ease.

"Looks right he was right. Try opening pulling the lever again," Pruina then passed through the door.

Felgard did as told and everything went bright again. The door though, immediately closed the moment the light went back with Pruina on the other side.

"indeed, this place is run by a magic system," Purina's voice was a bit lower behind the door.

"Are you okay?" I called out to her and she responded fine.

"Ahh, have the boy do the same thing again," with Pruina 's words, Felgard turned the brightness back out and the door immediately opened up.

"So, should the place be dark forever? I mean, there must be something down here which requires magic and could harm us," I began to question our safety. "Also, someone must go over there to turn the magic system on to brighten the place again..."

"No worries," Pruina then took out an item from her belt bag and pointed that to the lever-like object. The object let out a baaaang!!! A bullet pushed the lever-like object backwards, which then made the place bright again.

"Hooo? So you have one of those noble items?" I remembered that item which could release a small steel object in great strength and speed. Based on what I have read, these were items only nobles could have.

"Please, don't misunderstand me," she placed the item back inside and walked down deeper into the temple with Felgard and I following her "These may be noble items but, they have prices. As long as you have the money, you can defeat a noble."

"Ah, so money is a human's real power then,?" I looked at Pruina with seriousness while she only looked further below.

Just then we reached another open space with nothing but pillars of weird humanoid designs. After looking around, the ceiling sure do have a weird three circle mark. With each circle having different marks at the center. On one circle was an eye, on the other was an ear, and on the third one was mouth.

"Now what should we do?.." Felgard sat his butt down the ground.

Just then, three doors appeared from three sides of the place. These doors had the same marks as the ceiling.

"So should we like, enter?.." Felgard looked at me in curiosity.