One minute had passed since the self-destruct had been set off. Samus charged through doors as they opened, as was making good time. She was almost out of the ruins by now. Luckily, there were no pirates or danger in her way, for she had been weakened in the recent battle. She still had enough strength to fight off a few foes, but she was lucky that none got in her way. The last time she had done this was when she infiltrated a Space Pirate ship on the outskirts of Brinstar. That time, she barely made it out and acquired a wound on her back from a sharp and red-hot chunk of metal. The wound still remained there as a long, crimson mark below her shoulder blade.
She raced through the stone corridors the way she came, her heart pounding and lungs demanding air. She would have liked to stop and rest, but now was not at all the time. The red rays of light began to shine though the walls, a sign that the Hunter was almost out of the ruins. She ran up a staircase, second of the two she took to descend, and found it almost completely covered by a fallen piece of the sandstone ceiling. From the hole above, the pale, reddish light came through in an almost blinding haze. The sandstone block from the ceiling was cracked in two in a pile on the floor, but Samus could make out unusual markings on its smooth but fractured surface. She stood there for a second and stared at the strange yet somehow familiar symbols. However, a sharp quake distracted Samus from her examination. It was then that she realized that there were thirty seconds remaining before the ruins would self-destruct.
Climbing over the sandstone rubble, Samus pulled herself up through the hole in the ceiling that was barely big enough for her to fit through with her Power Suit. After getting out and steadying herself on the roof of the temple, she took a second to look around the red and orange landscape in case there was a surprise attack waiting for her. Certain that there was none, the bounty hunter dashed over the ancient stone roof.
Ten seconds. Samus fled over the uneven sandstone and blasted through a pillar. As she did so, small chips of it crackled off her visor like hailstones. Close ahead, she could see where the roof ended, near the entrance of the ruins, and another huge column blocking her path. It was the same column that Ridley had used as his shadowed perch. Five, four, then three seconds remained. Samus sped up her pace as her heart throbbed, and just as she came to the pillar, she leapt an inhuman height and flipped twice in midair before landing in a kneeling position on the cracked earth. When she landed, a ring of dust flew out from beneath her, and more cracks formed at her feet. It was then that Samus heard the explosion behind her, slightly muffled from behind her helmet. Red streaks and golden sparks shot out of the temple amidst flaming rock and searing metal. The force of the explosion shook the ground and scattered nearby pebbles. Soon, the area that Samus was in was raining with fragments of what was once a Space Pirate laboratory and ancient ruins.She looked behind her in just time to blast a huge chunk of rock that had been projected from the explosion. The call was too close. The stone would have surely smashed her skull had she not turned just then.
Fatigued and sore, Samus breathed deeply to replenish her lungs with air. She had moved non-stop for the past few minutes, and this was her first time to rest since she got there. The instant of combustion had ended, and now only a few scraps of metal rolled past the Hunter. After she caught her breath, Samus stood up and turned all the way around to look over the ruined ruins. None of the building had survived. Something tall caught her eye in the distance, though. Something had survived the explosion. It was likely to be a Space Pirate, so she kept up her guard. Whatever it was did not move. It was still, like a statue. The figure was tall and thin, possible taller than Samus. She approached it with caution. As she neared, it did not move, and it became clearer to Samus that she was in no danger. However, she never once lowered her arm cannon.
Slowly, she walked over the mess from the explosion, stepping past shortened walls of charred metal, some still slowly melting away. The clouds in the horizon past the figure ahead were moving faster than the ones overhead, and were almost coal black with signs of a fierce storm. It occurred to Samus that she had little time to stay in the area if she wanted to survive. Despite this, she came closer to what stood before her, too curious to see what it was that had survived the violent explosion. To her surprise, it was a statue. However, it was definitely not a normal statue. There was something more...spiritual about it. It was a statue of some creature with talons for hands, and spikes down the back of its head. One of its hands was down at its side, while the other was cupped, as if it had been holding something. Its hand was cupped in a way that it would hold Samus in her morph ball state perfectly.
Samus almost gasped with realization when she saw it. This was a statue quite similar to one that Samus saw when she awoke in the caverns after her brutal battle with Ridley hours, or perhaps days, earlier. She had no memory of what happened since the last part of the battle, when she was thrown against a molten rock in a pool of acid. She had been knocked unconscious, and Ridley finished her. Why was it though that she was still alive? It became more clear when she saw this statue. It was a statue of a Chozo. A statue of one of the ancient, spiritual race that took care of Samus in her youth. She was not completely sure, but it was possible that the energy from the statue was what saved her life, or even revived her.
She then looked at the lowered hand. One of its talons was outstretched, but the statue was broken here, and the talon had broken in half. The talon pointed to the ground, littered with trash from the destruction, and what seemed to be part of another, similar statue. This one was lighter in color, and only the head remained of it. Samus stepped towards it to take a closer look, and her foot sank into something weak. When she looked down, she saw that she was standing in the melted flesh of a dead Space Pirate that had clearly failed to escape on time. Beside its claw was the stone head of the statue. The head was older than the still-standing statue, but definitely done with the same style and care. It was also definitely a Chozo. The eyes were what attracted Samus's attention though. They were red, and boiling with some kind of energy. The left eye was cracked, and the hot substance leaked out, but the right eye glistened in a deathly stare. The eyes looked like gems or smooth stones, bright red in color.
Slowly, Samus knelt down and touched the jewel. Just as she thought, it came free from its socket, and she was able to pull it out. She stood up, and held the object in her hand. It was hot, and she could feel its energy pulsing through her. Glancing to her right, she saw that her arm cannon was blazing with light. Symbols appeared in her visor that translated into meaning that the strength of her gun had dramatically increased, and a deadly new type of weapon had been equipped known as the Plasma Beam.