It had been way easier to find the alleged temple than they'd expected.
Then again, finding a glowing building at night wasn't that hard anyways. It had been pretty close to the outer edge of the jungle, in a pretty different location than Ivor had told them. Not that any of them were complaining; that made the job easier. They had set up camp at the edge of the jungle, then made their way towards the temple, splitting up strategically as they did. After all, there was no telling what kind of monsters they'd find; jungles weren't known for safety, after all.
And, as they had anticipated, there had been monsters. Lots of them, at that. There were hundreds of zombies, skeletons, creepers, and spiders, all milling about and looking for something to fight. Somehow, though, they all managed to miss the humans all spreading themselves out around the edge of their territory.
Olivia was hidden behind a machine she had thrown together at the edge of the clearing, managing the feat quickly enough to not be noticed by the mass of mobs. Again, she had no idea how they were so oblivious.
They had standard strategies for this; they would circle the area they needed to, and when Jesse gave a signal, usually consisting of just beginning to attack, they'd start fighting off the monsters. She rarely got into the fray, staying back with machines and traps and usually pretending to try and one-up them. Half of the time, she actually did so, but no one really cared too much.
Her thoughts were broken by what she had been watching for; Jesse. The brunette was slicing easily through zombies that came her way, her sword- heavily enchanted like all of their weapons, courtesy of Ivor- needing no more than a hit to take them out. As the group began to thin due to this, Olivia placed a button on the dispenser at eye level, keeping an eye on the clearing and waiting for a good time to press it.
Jesse stopped in the middle of the clearing, suddenly tensing and turning around. Two skeletons at the edge of the clearing had taken notice of her, and drew back, aiming straight for the brunette. Before she could really react, though, a shout echoed down from above.
"Look out!" Petra had gotten into a smaller jungle tree, perched in the branches. She let out a cry as she jumped down, landing squarely on one of the skeletons and knocking the other towards Jesse. Jesse easily knocked it away with her sword, causing it to poof into smoke and leave an arrow in its place.
"Thanks." She nodded to Petra as she ran up, who grinned and nodded in return.
"Hey Jesse!" Across the clearing, Axel had gotten ahold of two zombies, holding them firmly in a headlock in each arm. "Check this out!" Jesse and Petra both turned to him, Petra quirking an eyebrow. Axel began squeezing the zombies harder, causing both of them to flash red. "And three, two, one, pop!" As he yelled the last words, the zombies disintegrated into smoke; Axel straightened, sending a lopsided grin Jesse's way. "Pretty cool, right?" He snickered a bit, then flexed somewhat dramatically, completely ignorant of the zombie moving up behind him. "You can try it, too, if you-"
"Duck!' Jesse hadn't even finished speaking when she suddenly darted towards him. He flinched in surprise, then glanced behind him. Upon seeing the zombie, which was way too close for comfort, he ducked down low enough that Jesse could jump up, roll across his back, and slam her sword into the zombie, knocking it into a wall and causing it to puff into white smoke.
Axel straightened, glancing at the wall, then at Jesse, before breaking into an excited grin. Olivia moved out from behind her machine, folding her arms and leaning against it as the remaining monsters began to line up. "Dude, you're getting pretty good at this," Axel practically cheered, holding up a hand to Jesse. Jesse grinned lightly back, returning the high five.
Olivia rolled her eyes lightly as the others glanced towards the remaining mobs. "You guys are working way too hard!" She grinned as she called to them, catching their attention as she muffled a laugh and rammed her elbow into the button, instantly sending arrows flying out into the remaining group of monsters. It didn't take long; within seconds, an arrow wedged itself into the head of the final mob- a zombie- and the machine turned off. Olivia began hauling the thing apart as Jesse smiled lightly, barely hiding an eyeroll.
"You're always looking to one-up us, a-aren't you?" She shook her head slightly, seemingly oblivious to a stray zombie moving up behind her. Olivia retrieved the last dispenser as Axel opened his mouth to say something, but Jesse silently shifted the sword in her hand to face backwards and jabbed it through the zombie's torso before he could say anything. Axel closed his mouth again.
Olivia trotted over with her materials stowed away as Jesse and the others put away their weapons- Axel was an exception; he used his fists- and moved to get a better look at the temple.
"Wow," Jesse breathed, scanning over the temple as Olivia reached them. "This is one seriously cool temple."
"Yeah, points for Ivor, I guess." Petra nodded, placing her hands on her hips. "This was a good tip."
There was a moment where none of them said anything, all of them taking in the sight of the temple. After that moment, Olivia placed a hand on her hip, glancing at the back of Jesse's head. "So? What's the plan?"
Jesse took a moment to respond. "Easy. We go in there and get the treasure Ivor told us about."
Axel pumped his fist into the air excitedly. "Treasure!" There was a pause as the rest of them glanced back at him, Petra and Jesse sharing a glance while Olivia fought down a grin of amusement. Axel lowered his fist a bit. "What? C'mon, show some excitement, we're treasure hunting!"
There was another, shorter pause in response to this, before Petra shook her head, her own amused grin fighting its way onto her face. "Alright, on three." Axel grinned wider, and Olivia rolled her eyes, giving in to the amused grin that forced its way onto her lips. "One, two, three-"
"Treasure!" Axel cheered again, though this time, he was accompanied by his teammates. They weren't nearly as enthusiastic, and their fists only made it to be parallel to their heads, but it seemed to satisfy him, as he nodded to Jesse with an excited grin still plastered on his face. She smiled lightly in response, then motioned to the group before turning and taking off towards the temple. Petra followed first, Olivia close behind her and Axel taking up the rear. They all hopped easily up the short staircase and into the temple, where they all pulled themselves to a stop so they could look around in awe.
The inside of the temple seemed a lot more open than the outside let off. There was a large three-foot-deep indent in the center of the room, leaving a walkway around the edge. Across from the door, as well as adjacent to the door on either side, were odd fountain-like lava channels, though the lava itself was blocked off by stone and sticky pistons. The lava was the only thing lighting up the room, so it was light enough to see, though still dimly lit.
Olivia wandered to the left side of the room, watching the channel in that wall thoughtfully. Axel followed her, while Petra and Jesse found their way to the other end of the room. She took notice very quickly of a lever on the wall, and once she was close enough, she pushed it upwards. The pistons in the channel opened for about a second, then closed again. She made a face, stepping back and placing a hand on her mouth in thought.
She had a slight feeling that Ivor would love this place.
"So much for treasure," Petra spoke up from the other side of the room; Olivia glanced back to spot her approaching Jesse. "This cupboard is bare."
Jesse shrugged mildly in response. "Y-you know how these work. There's never treasure out in the open. A-and if there is, it's way too easy." She glanced around briefly. "L-let's fan out and search the place." Petra nodded in response to this, moving towards the far corner. Olivia turned back to the channel, while Axel sat down against a small hunk of rubble nearby.
Olivia glanced back at the other two channels, quietly trying to put the pieces together in her head. There were three channels, each of them having a space in the floor where the lava would likely flow through under the floor towards the indent. Maybe that had to fill up with lava for something to happen? She didn't see any openings in the sides on the other side, so maybe not. Either way, the fact that there were three seemed to lead to a puzzle. Maybe they just needed to flip the levers and open the channels in a certain order?
Jesse was already on top of it, moving towards the channel in the wall parallel to Olivia. She flipped the lever easily, and the channel opened. Olivia half expected it to close again, but it stayed open, allowing the lava to flow down and into the floor. Jesse watched the opening in the floor for a moment, then nodded, satisfied. She made her way over to the channel across from the door, reaching for the lever. As soon as she flipped it, the lava began to flow down, and the channel stayed open. The first one, though, snapped shut, cutting off the lava. Jesse made a face at it, then moved over to where Olivia was standing, passing her to flip the third lever. The channel didn't stay open this time either, and the still-open middle channel snapped shut again.
"Huh…" Jesse tapped her lip thoughtfully for a moment, then turned and glanced at Olivia. "I-I guess that wasn't the pattern."
Olivia folded her arms and shrugged. "I think you were onto something with the one across the room being first." She glanced back at the far channel, then looked back to Jesse. "I tried that one first and it didn't work."
Jesse hummed. "Maybe…" She trailed off, looking at the channel, before looking to Petra, who was leaning against another hunk of rubble on the far end of the room, sharpening her sword. "H-hey, Petra?" The redhead looked up at her. "Can you hit that lever?" Jesse pointed to the channel at the opposite end of the room.
Petra followed her motion, then shrugged and stood. "Sure." She trotted over to the lever and flipped it, opening the channel again. She glanced at Jesse again. "Like that?"
"Y-yeah, thanks." Jesse nodded to her. Petra returned it, then moved back to her rubble to continue working on her sword. Jesse turned to the channel beside them again, flipping the lever experimentally. The channel opened, then shut, and the channel across the room shut again. Jesse sighed, turning to look at Olivia. "D'you have any ideas?"
Olivia tapped her lip in thought. "I'd suggest trying to flip all three levers at once, but considering that one stays open, I don't think that'll work." She glanced over at the other channels, then shrugged and turned to Jesse again. "You were onto something with that first one; beyond that, it's trial and error. But, I bet if you get all of the channels open, something cool will happen."
Jesse nodded, folding her arms thoughtfully. There was a moment where no one spoke, before Jesse glanced at Olivia again, this time with a mild, friendly smile. "How's treasure hunting treating you?"
Olivia hummed lightly before actually answering. "If you asked me when we first started out as the New Order, I would've probably said that I didn't like it. But this has been really fun. Which is kind of surprising, honestly. It's definitely easier to get your hands on things to build with now."
Jesse nodded slowly. "A-anything you're hoping to find?"
"Uh, not really." Olivia shrugged. "I'm working on something that could use a couple more dispensers, but those aren't the hardest things to make myself." She thought for a moment. "Cocoa beans might be cool though."
Jesse blinked. "Why cocoa beans?"
"There's lots of stuff you can do with 'em. Most of it is dying things." Olivia glanced at her. "I've been thinking about trying to use some in an automatic farm or something. Then we wouldn't have to wait around for Lukas to make cookies, since he always seems to have some."
"True," Jesse agreed, amusement heavy in her voice.
"I like the sound of that," Axel piped up from nearby. "I personally want emeralds so I can finish that floor." He paused, face falling. "I think I should've not left the hole really close to the door like I did."
"Yeah, well, now you know for next time," Olivia responded mildly. "Y'know, if you ever actually try this again."
"Don't underestimate the power of impulsive decisions and little self-control." Axel grinned at her, and she snorted and rolled her eyes. Jesse smiled to hold down giggles, turning to look at the channel again. She then turned to glance at the first one, then trotted across the room and hit the lever to open up the first channel.
After examining the other two channels, Jesse moved to the middle channel and hit its lever. The middle channel opened, but like the last time, the first channel snapped shut again. Jesse hesitated, then moved back over to the first channel and tried opening it again. It stayed open, surprisingly, as did the middle channel. With a satisfied grin, she trotted back over and opened the last channel, which stayed open as well.
After a moment, once the lava started to flow, the floor began to rumble. Olivia threw her hands out in surprise to try and keep her balance, and Axel pushed himself to sit straight up in surprise. Petra had jolted to her feet, and Jesse had grabbed ahold of the wall.
The indent in the floor suddenly jolted open a bit, stopping for only a moment before jolting again, opening bit by bit in a repeated process. Slowly, they all became accustomed to the jolting, slowly lowering their arms, Axel pushing to his feet. As the floor fully opened, they all approached to look into the new opening.
A spiralling wooden staircase circled three different lava falls, each seeming connected to one of the channels. The bottom was a ways down, though not so much as to be too far to see the floor. The walls were patterned with weird egg-like shapes all the way down as far as Olivia could tell. There seemed to be something at the bottom, as the walls didn't go all the way down. Vines covered almost all of the walls.
Jesse shared a glance with her, then with Petra and Axel, before starting down the steps. Olivia moved up to the staircase, allowing her a few steps of space before following.
"I think I would've been disappointed if the floor didn't open up into a dark, creepy passageway," Axel commented. Petra started down the steps after Olivia, and Axel took up the rear.
"It kinda reminds me of when you guys found the Order's temple," the redhead added lightly.
"How do you know what happened enough to make a connection like that?" Axel questioned.
Petra snorted. "I've heard stories."
"That feels like it was a million years ago or something," Jesse spoke up, shaking her head. "W-we've done a lot since then."
"And to think…" Olivia grinned lightly in reminisce. "That was just the beginning."
"Yeah," Axel responded. "That was before we'd fought Wither Storms, hung out with Endermen, reunited the Order…" He trailed off, then sighed. "So crazy."
They reached the bottom easily, Jesse beginning to glance around as she reached the end of the staircase. Olivia followed her off of the steps, glancing around as well. The lava falls fell into a pit that stretched past the floor they found themselves on, and Olivia notices spires acting like supports to hold up the ceiling. She couldn't see if there was anything on the other side of the lava, but Jesse could, and she spotted something quickly.
"Bingo," she called. Olivia followed her gaze to a set of chests on the other side of the pit, all in a sort of cross formation and facing away from each other. The group trotted over to them, Jesse humming lightly as she moved to the one closest to the lava. Olivia approached the one to her right, while Petra found the one across from her and Axel took the last one.
They opened their chests almost in sync, and Olivia took a moment to examine hers' contents. It was mostly empty; the first thing she saw was a wooden shovel. She reached in and grabbed it, pulling it out so she could examine it.
"Oh, there's a cake in here." She glanced over at Jesse as the other pulled a cake from her chest. Olivia almost made a face of disgust, but then noted that the cake looked surprisingly fresh for however long it had been down there.
"Aw, lucky," Axel nearly whined. Jesse glanced at him, quirking an eyebrow as Olivia went back to digging through her chest after pocketing the shovel. "It's just… I really love cake."
"That thing is probably hundreds of years old, Axel," Petra pointed out. "If it looks as good as it does, it's probably not real."
Jesse hummed. "No, i-it feels pretty real." She glanced at Axel. "Y-you can have it, if you want."
Axel perked up. "Really?" Jesse nodded, standing up and moving over to offer the treat to him. "Oh man, oh man, thank you!" Jesse smiled and nodded as Axel took the cake, pocketing it quickly as she returned to her chest.
Olivia pulled out a handful of cocoa beans as Jesse retrieved a pumpkin. After mumbling something about Endermen, Jesse started to reach for something else, then froze. Olivia pocketed the cocoa beans and glanced at Jesse, shutting the now-empty chest in front of her.
"What'd you find?" She pushed up as Jesse did, moving over to look over her shoulder.
In Jesse's hands was what looked like a set of flint and steel, except it was glowing blue with some sort of crazy enchantment.
AN: w heeze its 2 am
sorry about the wait, school is hell
until next time!