Chapter 29
The Secrets of the Temple
When color bled into the darkness, both Zero and Furno knew that things were different. Almost immediately, they noticed that the oppressive air that was custom within all mystery dungeons had vanished, replaced by a steady calm. The room around them appeared to be just that, a room. They weren't in any sort of cave, forest, or even a beach, they were in a single room with four walls and a window. Two bookcases leaned against the walls adjacent to the window.
"What? Where?" Furno was at a loss of words. "Is this still the dungeon?"
"I…I don't know," Zero admitted. "I don't remember any of this, do you?"
"No."
"Then I guess that's our answer," Zero said, glancing around. The room, while very large, was rather bland in appearance, with only a few bookcases, a large desk, and the stairs that they had just come from. "I guess this is the end of the dungeon."
"But we were only in the upper spiral for one floor!" Furno exclaimed.
"Yeah, well, I'm not really complaining," Zero commented. He made to walk around but stopped as pain stabbed through him. A strained cry left his mouth and he almost fell over.
"Zero!" Furno exclaimed, gently helping the Riolu to the nearby wall, allowing him to rest against it. He tehn grabbed their remaining four sitrus berries and handed Zero two. "Here."
The Riolu gratefully took the two berries and all but scarfed the, down, sighing in relief as his injuries began to heal. Furno sat next to his friend, eating his own berries at a more sedate pace. The two sat in silence for a few minutes, simply allowing their injuries to heal. Mostly healed, Zero glanced up at the window above them, noting the orangish-red light of the setting sun.
"Time gets all messed up in mystery dungeons, right? How long do you think we've been in here?" he asked, getting to his feet and looking out the window.
"I'm not sure," Furno said, standing next to the Riolu. "We were traveling for about five days, but outside…there's no telling."
The duo was silent for a while, simply looking outside at the forest. Outside, the sun was just beginning to set, creating an array of colors over the horizon and, after everything they had gone through while in the dungeon, it was peaceful.
"…so, what now?" Furno asked after a few more seconds of silence. "Orion said that they would catch up when they could, but…" He glanced around, "this could be a good opportunity to find this temple's secrets. Especially now that we aren't in any danger."
"That's true," Zero said, taking note of the bookcases. Each one was chock full of books, all of which looked incredibly old, most likely having never been touched since the temple became a mystery dungeon. "If there really was some clue about the silver soul within the temple, then it would definitely be located here."
"Then let's get searching!" Furno cheered.
Zero watched as the fire type scamper off towards one of the bookcase. He knew that Furno was just putting on a front to keep Zero from knowing how much their separation from Orion and Stride had affected him, but Zero could see it in his eyes. Furno was scared, not only for them, but for Stride and Orion. While both Pokémon were strong in their own right, they would be going against foes that would be at, or close to, their level, and a lot of them. The duo's chances of getting back to the stairs were…
Zero shook his head. He was worried about Stride and Orion as well, but he couldn't think the worse. He had to think positive and trust that they would make their way back to Zero and Furno.
"There are so many books!" Furno exclaimed, grabbing Zero's attention. The fire type was staring up at the bookcase with a lost look in his eyes. "Where should we start?"
As Furno fretted over the plethora of books, Zero found his attention taken by something that he hadn't noticed before. There, against the wall opposite of the window, were three lines of tiles, each square plastered with letters that were a dead ringer for the strange squiggly words that he had seen when they first came to the temple. In the arrangement they were in, they didn't spell anything other than gibberish.
Zero reached out and tentatively touched one of the tiles, noting that it slid a little on the wall in any direction he chose. "Weird."
"Zero?" Furno questioned, noticing that his friend was staring at the wall.
"I think I found something," Zero said, not taking his eyes from the wall. As Furno came over, Zero pointed to the tiles. "See? These things have letters on them."
"Letters?" Furno questioned, eyes narrowing at the wall. "They just look like squiggles to me."
"Well, I mean, they're a bit crude, but they're still letters. I mean, look." Zero pointed to one of the tiles at the top. "That's a 'R' and that's an 'O'."
"'R?'" Furno repeated as if it were a foreign word. "What's that?"
Zero balked at the fire type. "Are you serious? It's a letter in the alphabet!" Zero exclaimed. Furno just stared blankly at the fighting type. "You know, the 'ABC's?'"
Furno shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."
"Come on, it's the same letters we see every time we grab a mission from the job board," Zero said, growing slightly irritated.
"Zero, I hate to break this to you, but those aren't the same letters that are on the mission sheets," Furno said slowly, as if speaking to a child. "I've never seen those kinds of symbols or heard of the letter's you are saying."
All of the irritation Zero had been feeling disappeared instantly as Zero realized that Furno was sincere. He really didn't know what he was talking about. His mind was racing, trying to comprehend the new information. As Zero was having an existential crisis, Furno took that time to walk over to a bookshelf and grabbed one of the books.
"Here," Furno said, showing Zero the book. "The words are different."
Zero took the book and held it up to the wall, comparing the two languages, specifically their letters, side by side. At first glance, both sets of letters looked exactly the same as the other, albeit one was slightly cleaner. However, as Zero continued to focus, as if an illusion was being lifted, the words on the book began to warp and rearrange themselves into a series of symbols and patterns, similar to footprint runes. Despite this change, Zero found that he could still understand them.
"What the heck," Zero mumbled, completely bewildered. "How…? How can I read this?"
"Maybe it's because you used to be human," Furno suggested.
"I guess…" Zero still frowned, slightly annoyed that another mystery had been added to his past.
"But this is a good thing!" Furno exclaimed happily. "You can read this stuff! Come on, what does it say!"
"Nothing," Zero said with a shake of his head. "It's just a bunch of letters that don't make any…" Zero paused, the gears in his mind working furiously. "They're jumbled!"
"What is?"
"These lines!" Zero excitedly gestured to the three lines. "They make up words, but the letters are scrambled!"
"Well, what do they say?" Furno asked.
"I don't know," Zero said, shaking his head. "It could be anything."
"Well it would have to be something pertaining to the temple, right?" Furno said. "How about…memory."
"No, there's no 'M'," Zero responded.
"I don't know what that is, but how about…dreams? Shaman?" Furno suggested.
Zero shook his head, none of the words fitting. There were several 'R's, 'G's, 'I's, and 'E's, along with other letters, but Zero couldn't think of any word that used those letters. No word he knew used those—
A memory of three Pokémon and the orbs they left behind flashed within the Riolu's mind. As if struck by lightning, the answer became apparent. Quickly, the Riolu rearranged the tiles to spell out three words, or rather, three names: Regirock, Regice, Registeel.
The second Zero slid the last tile into place, the entire room began to rumble and shake. The strange letters on the tiles began to glow with the intensity of a bolt of electricity. The duo stumbled back, shielding their eyes as the light grew to greater heights and filled the room. Several seconds passed before the rumbling stopped, the room returning to its previous calm state. When Zero and Furno opened their eyes, they saw that the wall that had held the tiles was now gone, revealing a spiral staircase that led to a higher floor.
"You did it!" Furno cheered, bouncing in excitement. "Come on! Let's go!"
"Wait, Furno!" Zero's shout came too late as Furno had already rushed up the stairs. Zero sighed heavily before following his friend, leaving the room and their pack behind.
-Resistance-
"Whoa," Furno gaped when he reached the top of the stair well and stepped into the room. The room wasn't so much of a room as it was an enormous cavern, complete with a splattering of stalagmites and stalactites. Lined along the walls were several stone torches like the ones that they had back at the Latios Division.
"Furno, wait up!" Zero called, coming up the stairs behind the Chimchar. He made to say something else, but the words died when he saw the room. "Whoa."
"I know, right?" Furno said. He looked up at the ceiling and saw that it was slightly spiraled. "We must be at the very top of the temple."
"Furno, look at this," Zero said, urgently grabbing Furno's arm. The fire type turned to see what had gotten Zero so worked up, only for his jaw to hit the ground yet again.
The walls, unlike the floor, appeared to be tiled. It was almost unnoticeable, as the tiles were the same color as the rest of the building, but that wasn't what grabbed the duo's attention. What drew them was the giant, tile-style depictions of the three regis that were emblazoned on the wall. A raised dais situated in front of it with an altar resting on top.
"It's the regis," Furno said.
"Just like from outside," Zero muttered.
"Huh?" Furno asked, not understanding what Zero was talking about.
"Outside, near the slots where I put the orbs, there were three drawings like this of the other regis," Zero explained, taking a step closer to the drawing.
"There were pictures outside? Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Furno asked.
"I was a little preoccupied by the dungeon we got trapped in," Zero commented.
"Fair enough," Furno admitted. "I guess this means that the regis are tied into this place. Though that was rather obvious considering that those orbs we got from them opened the temple."
"Speaking of which…" Zero, now standing directly over the altar, saw that there were three very familiar orbs inserted within. "The orbs are here."
"What?" Furno dashed across the room, coming to a stop next to the Riolu. His eyes widened when he saw the three orbs. "How is that possible, we used them to get in this place."
"Who knows," Zero shrugged. Tentatively, he reached out a paw to touch one of the orbs when all three suddenly pulsed. "Huh?"
"So, you have come," a seemingly source less voice boomed, startling the duo.
"GAH!" Furno yelped in surprise, nearly falling off of the dais had it not been for Zero grabbing him.
"Who's there?!" Zero demanded, looking around for the source of the voice.
"…I am the guardian of this temple and its secrets," the voice said after a few seconds of silence. "It has been nearly a millennium since anyone has entered these halls. So long that the ravages of this world were able to take hold, turning this once sacred structure into a twisted nightmare of memories. It was for this reason that I sealed this place, sending the three keys across the continent under the protection of my guardians."
"Your guardian? You mean the regis?" Furno asked.
"That is correct. It was my hope to spare others from being forced to relive memories that have been twisted into horrible reflections of what they once were. The ability to hide this temple's secrets was just a bonus." The voice paused. "Now, that begs the question, why and how did you seek out my guardians."
Zero and Furno glanced at one another, unsure of how to answer. After several seconds of silent communication, Furno spoke up. "We…didn't exactly try to find the guardians."
"In all honesty, we just happened upon the," Zero explained.
"Well, except for Registeel, we got teleported to them-OW!" Furno rubbed his side where Zero had elbowed him.
"The point is," Zero stressed, glaring slightly at Furno, "we didn't mean to find the regis, or take the keys. It just…happened."
"Yet you saw fit to use these keys to enter the temple and come to this room," the voice said, clearly not believing the duo.
"Well, the Pokémon we're with were looking for a way into this place. We just happened to…run into them," Furno tried.
"Not only that," the voice continued as if it hadn't heard Furno, "but you solved a puzzle that should have been impossible to decipher unless you were trained in reading ancient runes. After all these coincidences, you expect me to believe that you did not have the intention to find this place? I find that very hard to believe."
"But it's the truth!" Furno exclaimed. "Sure, the ones we are with wanted to find something here, but we didn't actively seek out the regis!"
"And we haven't been trained in reading runes," Zero added. "I just…knew it."
"You just happened to know the language of the Unknown, the language used by humans?" the voice questioned, the scoff of disbelief clear in its voice. "If you are going to attempt and lie, at the very least come up with a more convincing one."
Zero's heart felt like it had stopped at the mention of humans. Next to him, Zero could feel Furno's gaze on him, the fire type's surprise clear as day. Zero swallowed thickly, forcing his mouth to work. "That language…is the language of humans?" Zero asked.
"Of course," the voice answered. "After all, the many of shamans that cared for this temple were humans, some of the last of their kind. It was them who sealed this place off, assigning myself and my guardians to protect the temple and its secrets."
Zero felt as if the world had been pulled out from under him. Humans had made the temple, his people. They were the ones to seal this place from the world. The former human moistened his surprisingly dried lips. "How…what happened to them?" Zero managed to choke out, his heart running a mile a minute.
The voice paused and Zero had the distinct feeling of being regarded by a curious eye. After what seemed like an eternity, the voice spoke. "…The same thing that happened to all humans. They were eradicated."
Zero felt his stomach drop, his legs shaking as the fighting type's strength seemed to be siphoned from him. He had known that humans had been extinct since he first met Furno, but hearing it then made it feel more real. He really was alone in the world. The very last of his kind.
"Why do you hold such an interest in the humans' fate?" the voice questioned.
"Please, sir," Furno said, stepping up to speak in place of Zero. "My friend, Zero, or Atlas, he…" Furno glanced at his friend. "He used to be a human."
"?!" There was no verbal response, but both Zero and Furno could feel the voice recoil in shock. "Human? He used to be human?!" the voice erupted, its intensity causing both resistance members to jump back in surprise. "How is this possible?!"
"We don't know!" Furno shouted as if pleading for the voice to understand. "I found him in Shrouded Forest almost a year ago. When he woke up, he had no memory aside from the fact that he used to be human."
There was silence for several seconds, the voice seemingly processing what Furno had just said. Once more, Zero felt the feeling of someone watching him, looking through him to see if their claims were true or not. Several seconds passed before the feeling passed.
"Such a claim would normally be seen as preposterous…However!" the voice suddenly said as Furno opened his mouth to argue. "I have seen many things in my life. Things that could, and still cannot, be explained. Having said that, I will choose to trust your words and believe that your friend here is, indeed, a human, albeit former."
Furno grinned, thankful that the voice believed him. Next to him, Zero still had a conflicted expression, the reaffirmed knowledge that his people were gone weighing heavily on his mind.
"However, this does not answer the question as to why you are here," the voice added.
"Like we said, we came here with others," Furno explained. "They came here because…" Furno hesitated, not sure if he should answer.
"Well?" the voice demanded.
"They heard that something related to the silver soul was here," Furno said tentatively.
"I see," the voice said, their tone even but tense. "Under normal circumstances, I would be inclined to inject you and your compatriots from this tower and seal it once more, but, seeing as there is a human amongst you, I feel as if it is their right to obtain both the knowledge and the means for locating the silver soul."
That immediately grabbed Zero's attention. The voice had said that it was his right at a human to receive the information of the silver soul, but what did that mean? Why was it that a human was privy to the information while others weren't? Furno, meanwhile, was oblivious to the Riolu's thoughts. He, instead, was through the roof that they would be getting information on the silver soul, the very thing that they had risked their lives to obtain. He was about to thank the voice, when he was cut off.
"That being said, I cannot give what I have to just anyone," the voice said. "You two may have defeated my guardians and taken the orbs, but I believe a second test is in order."
At this, a palpable tension filled the room. A heavy weight seemed to press down upon Team Dawn Breaker as the voice suddenly sounded more threatening. Furno gulped, not liking where the conversation was going. "Wh-What kind of test?" he asked.
"I wish to see the strength you two possess. I want you to prove to me that you can protect these secrets better than I."
The orbs within the altar began to flash brightly, pulsing with an unknown power. Startled, both Zero and Furno took several steps back, moving down off of the dais and away from the orbs. The orbs continued to shine, each burst flashing faster and faster, the light they were giving off intensifying. Suddenly, the orbs exploded with light so intense that it encompassed the entire room. A second later, a shockwave burst outward, knocking the duo across the room.
Groaning, the duo made it back to their feet, only slightly disoriented. Upon regaining their bearings, the saw that, not only was the light gone, but they were no longer alone. Before them was a sight that they hadn't seen since they first joined the resistance.
"No way," Furno all but whispered, fear coloring his voice as he stared up at the familiar figure.
"I guess we should have figured that we'd have to face this guy after fighting the other regis," Zero said through gritted teeth. "Though, I had hoped that we wouldn't have to."
The duo's apparent foe stepped off of the dais, its large foot cracking the stone. An unseen wind seemed to blow through the room, ruffling the bushes on the Pokémon's shoulders. On its face, the cross-like pattern of dots on its 'face' flashed in a random pattern as the large, normal-type titan released an earth-shaking, mechanical screech.
The battle for the temple's secrets was on.
