THE TEMPLE
PART 2
The descent into darkness was a long and unsettling one. The stairwell went on and on, going deep underground. There was almost complete and utter silence apart from an eerie wind that ebbed and flowed, almost as if the temple were breathing. The walls, pristine and looking as if they were brand new, were covered in carvings of disturbing images. Images of men being torn apart by demons, being cursed, falling into pits of spikes, and being devoured by serpentine dragons.
"Wow, they really wanted to keep people out of here, huh?" Mabel said.
"Looks that way", Dipper said, a shiver going up his spine as the breath-like wind rose up again. "This is one of the most important sites in all of Thai history, after all. I mean let's just think about what the Celestial Dagger is supposedly able to do".
"I guess the whole "slicing through the fabric of reality itself" thing is a pretty big deal".
Onwards they went, their beams slicing through the thick darkness. The eerie draft grew louder the further along they went, the temperature slowly going lower.
"Just how deep is this place?" Dipper muttered to himself.
The corridor grew narrower and narrower, until eventually they were forced to walk single file. At long last, they reached the bottom of the staircase, where they were met with a circular door. It was decorated with an ancient painting depicting a battle between an army of dragons and an army of demons. At the centre of the piece, the largest dragon was depicted with its long body coiled around the largest of the demons, the monster succumbing to the dragon's efforts. The door had no way of opening it.
"Alright, what to do about you?" Dipper said to the door.
Mabel stood beside him, pondering it herself. The door gave no obvious clues as to how it opened. Dipper, meanwhile, attempted to push the door open, but it didn't give. He tried rolling it to the left and right, but still to no avail.
"Didn't think that would work", he said.
"Hey door, mind opening for us?" Mabel said.
"Certainly", the door replied in a calm, smooth voice.
It lit up a bright blue, then vanished from existence.
"Hey, it worked", Mabel said, beaming.
Dipper's eyes bulged.
"Seriously?" he said. "You just have to ask it? That's it? No puzzle or anything?"
"What can I say bro, manners will take you far", Mabel said, sniggering at Dipper's expression, which she reckoned was halfway between bafflement and rage.
"I mean seriously?" Dipper muttered to himself, drawing further laughter from his sister.
The two of them entered the doorway, the door phasing back into existence behind them. For a few moments, there was nothing but yet more pitch black darkness, their beams revealing very little of the space before them, when all of a sudden, an azure light filled the entire room. The twins gasped in awe. Before them was a truly enormous room, the ceiling far above them. Around the room were yet more murals of dragons and ancient, mythical times, seemingly things lost from modern records. At the centre of the ceiling, there hung a gigantic blue crystal, bigger than a house and the source of the light filling up the room. The floor was nothing more than a gigantic metal grate, allowing them to look to the chamber below, a room flooded with water. Dragon statues in the top room pumped water through the grate into the room below, and yet more crystals submerged beneath the water revealed that the chamber was seemingly bottomless. They could see doorways leading to corridors and rooms that could never be accessed, at least not by them.
"Oh my god, Dipper, this place is beautiful", Mabel said, her eyes all but sparkling as she took the room in.
"Yeah, it… it really is", Dipper replied, taking in what was probably the greatest archaeological discovery of the century. This entire temple was a marvel.
"It's a lot less creepy than that stairwell would have lead me to believe", he said.
"Ah yes", came a new voice from thin air, causing the two of them to practically jump out of their skins, "the stairwell has turned back many a frightened explorer, not that there's a way to get back out".
"Who the heck said that!?" Mabel shrieked.
"Please don't tell me this place is haunted, too", Dipper groaned.
"Oh, I do apologise", the disembodied voice said. "I appear to have rather startled you, yes?"
"Um, somewhat", Mabel said, clutching her chest. "Who… are you exactly?"
"Oh, yes, I do appear to not have taken on any semblance of form", the voice said.
Then, a spectral image appeared in the air before them, taking on the form of a man in a robe of scarlet and gold, a plum coloured Mian-guan hat atop his head.
"I am Professor Zhao Guanlong", he said, "China's foremost scholar on all things Dragonological. Or rather, I am a representation of the professor".
"A ghost?" Dipper queried.
"No, nothing of the sort" Guanlong said. "I am simply an enchantment, an artificial intelligence as it were. The real Professor Guanlong is long dead, but I have his personality and every last drop of his knowledge, so I am as good as the real thing".
"So how can you speak English?" Mabel said. "And why is a Chinese professor in an ancient Siamese temple?"
"Well, as an enchantment, I can detect and imbibe the language of any with whom I interact, thus making my job far easier than it would otherwise be. And yes, I am indeed a Chinese professor, or my originator was, at least. I was from Guilin province originally, but I moved to Siam at about the middle of my life to study the dragons of this land before the last of them vanished. I became so ingratiated with the dragons who lived in this country that they insisted I be part of the last temple they were to build before their departure from this world".
"Okay, so, what's your job?" Dipper said.
"I am to be your humble guide, good sir. Of course, I can't help you with the trials, but I can be a friendly presence, and gift you with knowledge, provided that it's knowledge that was contained within the head of the original Guanlong, of course".
Dipper and Mabel exchanged glances.
"So, about the trials", Dipper said.
"I mean, we were kind of expecting trials, but, we don't know anything about them?" Mabel added.
"Did you not see the writings on the temple's entrance?" Guanlong queried.
"Yeah, but, you know, we can't read ancient Siamese", Dipper said.
"Oh, of course", the professor said, lightly tapping his forehead. "Well, I can tell you that to obtain the treasure of the temple, you must complete five trials of human durability. They've been magically preserved along with the rest of the temple for just such an occasion. I must warn you, they really are terribly dangerous".
"We can handle it", Mabel said. "Me and my bro's middle names are danger, or they would be if they weren't our parents' names".
"So, the two of you are experienced?"
"Very", Dipper said, perhaps just a little smugly.
"Good, good, it's very nice to see such zest. Especially considering you're the first visitors I've had in over a thousand years".
"Wait, really?" Mabel asked.
"Oh my, yes", Guanlong said. "Knowledge of this temple must have become rather obscure over the years, no?"
"That's true", Dipper said. "It was only through coming across a scroll hidden away in Cambodia that we know anything about this place at all. It's definitely not common knowledge these days".
"As I suspected", Guanlong said. "Time tends to have that effect, especially on secret places such as this, and it has always been a well-kept secret. Every time someone opens the temple, the pieces of the altar scatter across the world once again, each going to a different location. I'm assuming it must have taken you a while to find the pieces?"
"Eh, a month, maybe two", Mabel said, discreetly fist bumping Dipper.
"Oh my, really?" Guanlong said. "That's never actually happened before. I must commend you on such a triumph. But anyway, I'm off on one of my tangents. You wanted to know about the trials, correct?"
"Basically", Dipper said.
"What can you tell us?" Mabel asked hopefully.
"Not much, I'm afraid. As an enchantment, I am physically unable to tell you anything the dragons don't want you to know. The reason given to me by them is that "only the worthy may survive the trials", and that's it. Rather vague. Dragons do have a flair for the dramatic, I'm afraid. But, what I can tell you is that the trials are named thusly: trial by fire, trial by water, trial by stone, trial by heart and trial by darkness".
"Well, that doesn't tell us much", Dipper said, somewhat disappointed. "But, it gives us something at least. Thanks, I guess?"
"Your thanks are much appreciated", Guanlong said. "Now come along, onwards we must go".
With that, the professor dissolved into a white light and zipped to the back of the gigantic room into the next doorway. The twins turned to look at one another.
"Well, he seems nice", Mabel said.
"Yeah, I guess it's nice to have someone be polite to you when a place is gonna try and kill you".
The two of them made their way across the room and went into the doorway. After traveling along another corridor illuminated by yet more crystals, they came to a door with a fire symbol upon it. The white light that Guanlong had transformed into was floating before it.
"This way, this way", he called.
He entered the centre of the fire symbol, and much like the doors before it, it vanished into thin air, reappearing as soon as they entered the next room. Before them was an extensive pit, full of spikes at the bottom. Every so often, great plumes of fire rose up into the air from holes in the ground, and what the twins could only assume were fire spirits flew throughout the room. Several metal platforms levitated up and down through the air, long, dangling metal chains attached to the bottoms of them.
"Well, this is certainly cosy", Dipper said.
"I think it looks nice in here", Mabel said. "Really got that whole "fire and death" aesthetic going for it".
Guanlong rematerialized before them.
"Ah yes", he said, "welcome to the trial by fire. Like I said, the dragons always did have a flair for the dramatic. You'd think the fire would be enough, but no, they insisted upon the spikes and fire spirits".
"So, what do we have to do exactly?" Dipper asked, not seeing any door on the other side of the room.
Guanlong grimaced apologetically before pointing upwards. The twins looked up, and to their immediate horror saw that the next door was far above them.
"You've got to be kidding me", Dipper said.
"I'm afraid not, my dear boy".
Dipper groaned.
"Come on bro, we can handle this", Mabel said encouragingly.
"I know, but come on", Dipper said. "Let's just get this over with".
"Yes, probably for the best", Guanlong said. "Just to let you know, I'm rooting for you".
"Hey, thanks", Mabel said.
"The pleasure is all mine. Oh, and, good luck. You'll need it; few have managed to get past even this first trial".
He pointed down into the fire pit, and upon looking down, the two of them saw that there were many skeletons, several of them lying impaked on the spikes. Dipper couldn't help but curse the fact that shit like this was how they got their kicks. He'd really rather not end up skewered or burnt alive. Sighing, he glanced at Mabel. They each gave a brief nod to one another and leapt deftly to the first platform. The ancient metal surface almost seemed as though it would give way beneath their weight, forcing them to grab hold of one another for balance until the platform righted itself.
"You okay?" they both asked one another.
Before either could answer, however, the fire spirits burst into action, letting loose hideous, ear-splitting shrieks as they descended upon the twins. Eyes widening, they instinctively leapt to the next platform as the spirits followed in tow, coming at them from all angles. The spirits, the two of them noticed, were comprised of living cow skulls wreathed in fire. In effect, they didn't look all that intimidating compared to some things they had come across, but appearances can be deceiving, as the spirits moved faster than anything either of them had seen before, their snapping jaws barely missing them as they jumped from one platform to the next. A fire spirit got a little too close; Mabel lashed out, punching it square in the face and shattering it.
"OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW HOTHOTHOTHOTHOT!" she yelled, shaking her singed hand.
One of the monsters clamped down onto Dipper's leg, and almost instantly he felt his tendons searing from the flames. He swatted it away before stomping it into the platform.
"Son of a bitch!" he hissed as he briefly stopped to rub his burnt leg.
Just then, a great plume of fire reared out of the pit, directly beneath their platform. Dipper burst into action, grabbing Mabel and throwing both of them to the next platform, which raised itself just a little too high. He only barely managed to catch onto the edge with one arm, and with every ounce of strength he could muster, threw Mabel up onto the platform with the other.
"Wow, nice moves bro!" Mabel yelled over the roaring of another nearby plume of fire.
"Thanks", he gasped.
Then, his sweat glands betrayed him as his clammy hands caused him to lose his grip on the edge. He fell, and it was only with very quick reflexes that he was able to grab a hold of the dangling chain below it.
"DIPPER!" Mabel yelled.
"Oh shitshitshitshitshit!" he yelled as his grip continued to falter.
Mabel grabbed the edge of the platform and dropped over the side. She swung herself beneath the platform and reached her hand out. Dipper reached back out to her, but just as he did so a fire spirit swept between them, singing Mabel's hand. She hissed in pain, but reached her hand out again, just a second too late as Dipper slipped further down the chain.
"Shit!" he snapped.
"Don't worry Dipper, I'm gonna get you outta this!" Mabel said.
"Might wanna hurry that up", Dipper said, anxiously watching as fire began to flicker directly beneath them. Any second now it would rise up into a blast of flame. Mabel noticed anther platform a little lower down. She knew what needed to be done. Taking a deep breath, she waited a few seconds for it to be in the perfect position, before she swung herself, let go of the platform, grabbed Dipper, and held onto him as both of them tumbled to the lower platform, crashing into it hard, forcing an "Oof", out of both of them.
She had jumped not a second too late, she realized as the blast of fire rose up behind them.
"Thanks" Dipper wheezed.
"Don't mention it", Mabel huffed.
The two of them recovered as quickly as they could, then began their ascent upwards once again, jumping from one platform to the next. The fire spirits began their assault afresh, occasionally singing them, but for the most part they managed to dodge the creatures.
"We're getting good at this", Dipper noted, laughing as he almost fell on his back whilst avoiding a particularly aggressive spirit.
"This trial is our bitch!" Mabel yelled, laughing along with him.
Finally, they reached the top. It was still going to be an almighty jump to reach the doorway though. It looked barely within reach.
"Alright, just one more jump", Dipper said. "You ready for this?"
"Oh, I'm ready baby", Mabel said, shooting him a big grin as she wiped the sweat from her brow.
"I'd hurry it up if I were you!" Guanlong called from below.
They looked downwards, and saw that the entire pit was coming to life, the entire thing flickering with flames, looking fit to burst at any moment. The twins made the leap, and they just about managed to catch a hold of the edge, dangling over the fiery oblivion beneath them. Dipper looked down and saw the gigantic fire growing ever more volatile.
"GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO!" he urged.
The two of them made a desperate scramble, pulling their aching bodies up over the edge before, with a massive explosion, a single, gigantic blast of fire rose up from the pit, rearing all the way up to the ceiling. The heat was too intense to bear, the light forcing them to cover their eyes, until finally, the enormous plume died away into nothingness. The two of them flopped onto their backs, panting like their lives depended on it and drenched in sweat. Turning to look at one another, they started laughing like maniacs.
"That… was the worst!" Dipper said through his laughter.
"Fun though" Mabel wheezed.
"You okay sis?"
"Been better. A little singed. Not bad overall. You?"
"Pretty much the same. I guess… only four more trials to go… and I'm already feeling exhausted…"
"Don't worry bro-bro, we can pull this off… after a little rest".
"Agreed", he chuckled.
Guanlong drifted up to meet them at the top, applauding.
"Bravo!" he cheered. "That was a superb performance if ever I saw one".
"Thanks", Mabel said, her voice tired and slurred.
Dipper only managed to give the thumbs up before his arm flopped back down to the ground again.
"Truly, one of the best displays I've ever seen", Guanlong said. "Though, judging by your appearances, would you perhaps like to rest a little while before you take on the next trial?"
"Yes please", Mabel mumbled, her eyes drifting shut.
"Very well", he said. "I shall see you at the trial by water. And I should warn you… you'll need your strength for this next one".
With that, he turned into a white light once again and zipped off through the doorway.
A/N: Okay, so first off, my apologies for the ridiculously long wait on this chapters. Secondly, I was originally planning on having this be a two parter, but then when I wrote this, it seemed to fit the story better to have a few chapters, so there'll either be one or two more after this, I'm not entirely sure yet. Either way, see you in the next chapter!