Chapter 5 :: An Ancient Temple
-----------------------------------------------------Come to me, Mithos.
"Who... who are you?" Mithos asked. He stood in his dream surrounded by a vast array of shining lights. A silhouetted figure stood at the edge of his vision, distorted by the glowing lights.
I am an empty shadow...a lost soul...
-----------------------------------------------------
"Mithos, up!" Kratos shouted, lifting the youth by his hand right out of his sleeping bag. The sun was well over the horizon, though covered by a blanket of clouds, and his companions had already finished breakfast.
"Here, Mithos," Martel said, giving him a slice of bread. Still weary, Mithos only nodded before he saw that Solstice had transformed to his dragon form. With the other three onboard, Solstice soared into the morning sky. They glided east to a valley with the ancient Balacruf dynasty burial chambers. A Mayan style temple as tall as the peaks themselves stood between two mountain ranges. Its stone terraces showed years of wear from war and weather alike. By the time they arrived, a light drizzle came down from the overcast heavens.
"Our first time in an ancient ruin," Mithos remarked. Though a door of stone sealed the entrance, Solstice placed his hand on a pedestal in the front.
"Gods of the wind, hear my call. Open your gates to those who protect light," Solstice said. The slab immediately retracted, opening up a deep inner chamber. "Beware. Though the ancient ones passed from here long ago, they still guard their dead from would be thieves."
"And that means no touching anything, Mithos," Kratos said.
"Yes, master," Mithos replied. Martel's shooting staff provided the light for them while they were inside the dark corridors. Every few feet, spider webs obstructed their way, though the spinners were strangely absent. As they passed down one hallway, Kratos grabbed Mithos' collar. A pair of venom tipped spikes shot from the tile he was about to step on. "Thanks, master."
They climbed a spiral staircase to the second floor of the mausoleum, discovering a burial chamber with seven coffins arranged neatly in a circular formation. Once everyone was inside however, massive stone walls sealed the passage behind them and the doorway ahead.
"Why do I sense a battle coming?" commented Mithos.
"Here they come!" Solstice warned. The lids on the caskets opened and seven skeleton soldiers rose from their sleep. Enchanted by magic, these swordsmen guarded the temple from those who sought to pillage its treasures.
"Divine Storm Blade!" Mithos yelled, slashing through a foe with his Starsword. "What the heck?!" Though his attack severed the skeleton in half by the spine, the undead monster reassembled itself.
"It's times like these I wish I had the undead banishing Azure Dragon Flame Potion with me," Martel said. She tried her best by firing light bursts from the tip of her shooting staff. He blasts stunned the enemy but failed to inflict any damage.
"You can't possibly reassemble when I do this! Diviner!" Kratos stood back a few feet before lunging forward. Not allowing the enemy to counterattack, Kratos stabbed, retracted, and stabbed again all within the blink of an eye. Each time he attacked, Kratos selected a new position, thus creating the illusion that he attacked every single point simultaneously. The skeleton came out of the attack dazed, but Kratos had given him a more fatal blow. The magic charm on his neck shattered, rendering the foe nothing but a pile of dried bones. "Aim for the crystals."
"Firas insirr terra... Firebird Strike!" Solstice held his hand forward and send a bird shaped flame apparition into the nearest skeleton. Struck by intense heat from the fire, the charm around the skeleton melted and it too fell defeated.
"Two down, five to go," Mithos said, giving one opponent a swift stab through it magic amulet. "Four to go."
To the rear of the room, Martel struggled to fight off a pair of skeleton soldiers. Her shooting staff, though lightweight, proved to be an effective tool to block sword swipes. SHOOM! A blast of white light shot from the end of her rod and into the gem around one foe. The other one, however, retaliated with a slash to her arm. Martel fell wounded, grasping her bleeding injury.
"Divine Storm Blade!" Kratos dispatched that skeleton with his signature move.
"Martel, are you all right?" Mithos asked. Martel winced from the pain, but nodded.
"I'll tend to Martel, but you have to deal with the others," Solstice instructed.
"Divine Storm Blade!"
"Dragon Ascension!"
"Divine Dragon Ascension!" Kratos and Mithos said together. Kratos lifted the duo of surviving skeletons by ramming one into the other and leaping to the ceiling. When he slammed them into the ground, Mithos finished the unison strike with a Divine Storm Blade that severed both charms simultaneously.
"How is she, Solstice?" Mithos inquired, nervously.
"She shall be fine. I gave her some Water of Life potion she had with her," Solstice answered. He bandaged Martel's arm and helped her back to her feet. "You shouldn't move that for a while."
One of the defeated skeletons left a blue crystal, which served as a key to the mausoleum's chambers. They proceeded down another corridor and into a room where five windmills stood. Fortunately, the crystal they acquired allowed them to pass through up a final flight of stairs to the very top of the temple. The rain had turned from a drizzle to a downpour outside, so all of them got soaked when they came to the mausoleum's top level.
"So is someone going to greet us or what?" Mithos asked.
"I would assume that the Sylphs are waiting somewhere," Kratos answered.
"Solstice, it's been a while," a high-pitched voice said. Three beings with wings on their backs materialized before them. The leader, a sylph with four bird wings, held a sword almost too big for her to carry. Two younger ones followed her, a butterfly winged sylph armed with a bow and a petal winged spirit who carried a gargantuan shield.