Entering the Palace

...

9 July

Berry woke up early this morning. He had no nightmares, no illusions, and no confusing delusions of his own, at night. He looked around. Others were still in their tents.

He looked at the sun; it was slowly rising. And this time is the best time for exploring a tomb or ancient buildings. The morning rays wash away all the bad omens and bring peace to the wandering souls. But before any work, it is important to respond to nature's call. 'I'll wake everyone up after I am done from this, he thought and walked a little further away.'

After about fifteen minutes, he was back. It didn't take him fifteen minutes solely to respond to nature's call, but he started playing with birds and then went to look at lilies blooming peacefully and beautifully there. Doing this, he almost forgot the way back.

When he was back, he saw everyone already up, doing their own stuff. He walked to them and greeted everyone morning. Everyone's way of responding to his morning was a whole definition of diversity in personalities.

Zale, as expected, wished him back with a polite smile.

"How do you feel now? Need something?" That is what Zale asked him.

Orion behaved like a typical principal of the school. He looked at him and nodded while brushing his teeth. (it's the 21st century, even raiders take care of their hygiene.)

Liam greeted him back casually, busy cooking.

And it surprised Archer that someone actually wished him morning. He tried to stay tough, but his face said almost everything.

"Same to you. And don't you catch a fever again, it's troublesome."

After about another fifteen minutes, they were all ready to enter, but the problem was that the door was not taking the name of showing what was inside it.

"Hey, Zale, why don't you give it another try? I think you are gonna make it this time."

All of them looked at this seemingly small building, with no more than a ground floor. It was out of the understanding of each of them.

Zale walked towards the building slowly and thoughtfully. Maybe because he had that gut feeling of something wrong from the very beginning, he wanted to give up the idea of searching for this place. Still, he can't back out after so many years of hard work.

He walked up to the door. It was a gigantic door, almost 9 feet tall and 5 feet in width. It was beautifully built and had inscriptions of one tiger and one colorful bird on it. The bird was the only colorful thing. Zale, instead of running his brain on the door, took a walk around this palace. After walking around, he realized that its area was as big as a normal-sized apartment in any big city (I.e.; it was small to be referred to as the king's palace.) There were the same cravings on all the walls. On both sides of the door were two small pillars like cylindrical, hollow structures, about the height that reached Berry's knees. The door was bronze shaded and the rest of the building, along with the pillars, had gold inscriptions on it.

"Did you find something?" Orion was getting anxious about it.

"Let me think, first."

He went back to the foot of the door and touched the right wing of the bird. An arrow came shooting from the mouth of the tiger. Zale dodged it efficiently.

"I get it."

"What?"

"This bird here is the queen," he said, pointing towards the innocent-looking, carefully inscribed bird. "And the tiger is the king. The entire palace's outer walls are inscribed with these two animals everywhere. So it's obviously the king and queen. But something is not okay. There is one small withered lily flower craved in every corner. What does that represent? I don't think they had a son. There is no record of him anywhere at all, and why is it withered."

"Don't waste time thinking about this stuff and tell us how to open the door."

"I am not sure" he touched the feet of the bird and there was a crack in the middle of the door. This crack was irregular, and it slowly widened. The pillars at the sides started filling with a watery liquid and it emitted a sweet fragrance.

"How did you open it?! And how the hell is this liquid still fragrant?" All of them were surprised.

"This bird is the queen; according to the myths, the king loved the queen a lot. So when I touched the wing, it looked dis respective, and an arrow came down shooting. Whereas the way to open the door is to give her respect; I mean, touch her feet. And this fragrance most probably is for the welcome of the queen."

"Ok, Ok, enough with the theory. Let's go in."

Berry still felt that something was wrong and hesitated to go in, but his curiosity made him follow them.

Orion led the way, followed by Zale and Berry in the center and Liam and Archer at the end. They all had the same awestruck expression as they the magnificent building in front of them. Who would have thought that there were entire 7 floors in form of corridors on the basement level in this simple and small-looking building?

But Berry was more scared because the interior was exactly the same as the temple which he saw in his illusion. He stepped back and stumbled into Zale.

"Is something wrong?"

Should I tell him? Will they even believe me? He was still thinking about it when the door closed behind them.

"Who closed the door?" He asked in a trembling voice.

"Don't be scared. From my speculations, it should be part of the safety mechanisms set by the king to protect his wife. The door closed slowly after we entered. It ensured that they left no one out, but at the same time it closed automatically, stopping people from entering who had an intention of sneaking in."

"Then how will we get out?"

"We are well prepared. You just enjoy seeing us find the secret, but be careful. This door, the fragrance, and the arrow make it clear that the traps and mechanics are working intact."

Berry gave in to tell them. He can't do anything at all and he is well aware of it. Over that, he is not sure if his mind is just making the dream now or did he really see it.