Trap

Continuing their journey through the mountain and drawing closer to the distant structure, Kiara and Calli gradually discerned the imposing silhouette of a vast temple emerging from the landscape. Despite its evident state of decay, the temple remained an awe-inspiring sight.

At last, the two women beheld the temple in all its grandeur. It stood, flanked by two colossal statues of a phoenix. Each one stood tall and proud, with its wings spread wide and its fiery feathers glowing in the sunlight. 

The details of the statues were incredible, with intricate feathers and fierce eyes that seemed to watch over everything around them.

The women were captivated by the beauty and power of the phoenixes. They couldn't help but wonder what they represented and why they were so important to the people who had built this temple so long ago.

"I thing we're here!" Kiara said with delight. 

When they entered the temple a giant cathedral-like structure unfolded in front of them and on the end of the room was a giant red window from which light flooded the room.

The walls of the cathedral-like structure were decorated with beautifully crafted pillars on both sides and statues of three meter tall knights stood at regular intervals on the pillars or held them when the pillars were broken down.

The armor of the knight statues closely resembled the characteristics of a pheonix. Their helmets shaped like the head of a pheonix, the rest of the armor like the body.

Under the large window on a raised podium stood the last stature of the cathedral-like structure, a phoenix three times the size of the statues of the knights and a small altar in front of it.

Calli and Kiara watched in amazement unable to fathom the true size of the temple. The two approached the stature of the pheonix at the end of the cathedral-like structure, looking at every statue. Every statue looked a bit different, wore a weapon or had a different body.

When the two reached the end of the room, about to reach the podium, they heard a sound coming from behind them. Small stones began to trickle on the floor and dust fell from the ceiling.

Suddenly, from the shadows above, a wired, grotesque creature descended with an unsettling grace, its twisted form contorted and mutated beyond recognition. 

Its flesh appeared melded with metal, sinewy cords snaking through its misshapen limbs like veins of pulsating machinery. 

Bulging eyes gleamed with an unnatural fervor, set deep within a distorted visage that bore little resemblance to anything human.

With a guttural growl, the mutant lunged forward on all fours, its movements disturbingly fluid despite its monstrous appearance. Calli and Kiara, caught off guard by the unexpected assailant, braced themselves for the impending attack.

Calli swiftly summoned her scythe, swinging it towards the mutant with all her might. "Stay back!" she yelled to Kiara, her voice laced with urgency.

But before her strike could find its mark, a colossal stone sword intercepting her blow with a deafening clash.

The source of this intervention emerged as a towering figure, one of the statues adorning the cathedral walls, seemingly coming to life.

Calli and Kiara, momentarily taken aback, hadn't noticed the statue's approach in their focused on the mutant.

"Who... what are you?" Kiara asked, her voice trembling with a mixture of fear and awe.

Silent and unmoving, the statue only positioned itself between them and the mutant, as if taking a protective stance against the monstrous intruder, leaving us to ponder its mysterious motives.

Suddenly, the columns held by the statues began to collapse as the statues began to move. Giant parts of the temple began to rain from the ceiling and the temple began to collapse. 

In addition, the three meter tall statues started to move towards Kiara and Calli, ready for battle.

A stature with a bow in its hands was insatiately flattened by a gigantic rock that fell from the ceiling and others damaged.

Kiara and Calli were not unaffected. A giant rock fell in the direction of the two. Kiara attempted to smash it into peaces with her flaming fist but her plan succeeded only partially. 

The still quite large parts of the rock smashed the ground underneath the two and they fell a few meters, landing in a small lake which was not so deep.

The statue wielding the world fell with them down into the lake and threatened to attack the two. It slowly approached the two, slowed down by the water with its halbert in it's hands. 

They both readied their weapons as the statue came closer. When it raised its arm to strike nothing happen except that the sword fell to the ground. 

This knight state too, was smashed into tiny peaces by a giant rock falling from the ceiling.

Kiara and Calli taking the opportunity, fled deeper into the dungeon to avoid getting hid by the debris but got lost in the catacomb like dungeon just as quickly as they had fled into them.

Kiara slid with her fingers over the walls of the dungeon while gasping in astonishment. "What is this- no, where are we? How can this place be so endlessly vast?"

"I'm not so sure myself," Calli replied.

They penetrated further into the dungeon. They went through a maze of pillared corridors in which at regular intervals were holes in the walls through which small streams of water ran into the corridors and flooded the ground making them walked through ankle high water.

Metal grids were attached to the arches of the corridors and all corners were infested with spider webs. The only light source underground in the dungeon were the mysteries torches that still lit after all the years of decay.

"Don't touch anything!" Calli said in a stern tone which made Kiara tremble "We don't know what this place is or what dangers lie hidden in it."

"Who do you think built this and wh-" Before Kiara could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by a sudden noise. "What was that Calli?"

Calli just opened her mouth to answer as bats flew in masses in the direction of the two. Kiara cried slightly in fear as the bats got bigger and bigger until they were taller than Calli.

"Jesus Christ, what was that?" Calli's tension was palpable, mirrored by Kiara's.

"I need to get out of here fast. Let's hurry and find what I'm after," Kiara urged.

Once more, the duo heard the eerie noise, this time louder and closer. They raised their weapons, bracing for the impending encounter.

Within moments, a shadow emerged, swiftly approaching. It turned out to be a mere bat, nothing more. However, just as they relaxed, a spider's web shot towards Calli, ensnaring her scythe.

As they turned to face the threat, horror dawned upon them. Before them stood a grotesque spider mutant, with humanoid hind legs and a conjoined mass of human-like heads forming its mouth.

The mutant charged towards them, poised to attack Calli, but Kiara intervened, severing one of its legs with her sword.

With her weapon freed, Calli swiftly dispatched the creature, slicing it cleanly in two.

"What's with these creatures in this dungeon? Are they all this repulsive and grotesque?" Kiara exclaimed in horror.

"We need to move quickly," was all Calli could muster in response.

After a few minutes of traversing, they reached a narrowing in the passage leading to a shaft. Inside was nothing but a ladder ascending into the darkness.

"You go first, Kusotori."

"But why me?" Kiara's tone dripped with irony.

"You know why." Despite Calli's instruction, Kiara didn't climb the ladder conventionally. Instead, she dropped to her knees, propelling herself upward with a powerful leap that shattered the ground beneath her. She soared through the air until she reached the exit, landing near its edge.

"This area feels different from the rest," Kiara's voice echoed down the shaft to Calli. "You have to see this! There's natural light streaming in and an exit!"

"Wait!" Calli shouted, but Kiara was already too far to hear. Kiara dashed towards the exit, which connected to the entrance room via a staircase.