Chapter 6: The Eyes Have It
"Good job, Joe Sparrow," Sprig assured, giving the giant bird a pat on the head as he landed in the explorer's camp. Not that this was the most the bird had ever carried – other than Frobo, his passengers were pretty light-weight – but it had been a very long distance, and his wings were exhausted.
Not that the group planned on going back anytime soon. There was quite a bit to explore here, especially if Valeriana's premonition of doom had any weight to it.
Two of the expedition's personnel, the toad doctor Garth and a newt naturalist named Nate (try saying that three times fast) were waiting at the camp when Joe Sparrow landed.
"You're back," Nate noted unnecessarily.
"Good thing, too," added Garth. "We've a bit of a situation here. The temple seems to have a habit of… vanishing."
"…saywhatnow?" Sprig responded. He didn't know much about temples other than the few he'd visited with Anne during the gem quest, but one thing he was certain of was that temples tended to stay where there they were. This was new territory.
"It's the craziest thing," Nate continued. "The whole thing just sorta – blinked out of existence."
"Was there any sort of warning?" asked Ivy.
"NO!" Soggy Joe shouted, suddenly bursting from the shrubbery. "One minute it was there, the next… gone wivvout a trace, it was. And it took Bella wif' it!"
"Whoa… Soggy Joe… dude… you gotta stop doing that. You're gonna give someone a heart attack some day."
"I have to agree," Maddie added. "It's creepy. And this is me saying it, so…"
"But it's me thing."
"Dude, seriously. Think about it. Anyway, what happened?"
"Well… one o' them odd little mammals grabbed Bella's binoculars an' ran inside the temple. Grabby li'l blokes they are. One of 'em made off with me beetle jerky. Anyhow, Bella ran into the temple an' all of a sudden, it's just gone. As if it was never there in the firs' place."
"Can you take us there?" Sprig asked.
"Well, yeah, but I'unno what good it'd do."
"See? There ain't nuffin' here."
The party looked over the clearing. Sure enough, where the temple had once stood, there was now only an empty pit.
"Maybe it's invisible?" suggested Ivy. "Like that robot assassin you told me about?"
"If it's cloaked, Frobo should be able to detect it." Polly pointed out. "How about it, Fro-bro? You see anything?"
"NO-STRUCTURE-DETECTED", Frobo answered, shrugging. "SORRY."
"Maybe it's hidden by magic, not technology," suggested Maddie. Her eyes suddenly glowed white as she whispered a phrase in ancient Olmish while waving her staff. "It's not here, but I am sensing something… as if somewhere else was somehow overlapping our own reality in this spot."
"Are you saying this place is... two places?"
"Basically, yes." Maddie confirmed. "Long ago, using the power of an ancient music box, Amphibians discovered the existence of other worlds. The royals travelled to those worlds for the purpose of conquering them. For this reason, the box came to be known as the Calamity Box. But it wasn't always known by that name. At one time, long before the Leviathans came into its possession, it was known as the Discovery Box. And an order of scholars used it to journey to many worlds. From one of those worlds, one formed from the carcasses of dead gods, they came to learn the secrets of magic. Eventually, they came to be known as The Order of Discovery." She indicated the hourglass symbol on ger cloak's clasp. "Our order. When Argus Leviathan stole the box, he hunted the Order to extinction… or so he thought. One survived. To preserve our order's ancient knowledge, they sought out an apprentice… who, in time, sought out their own apprentice… and so on over the millennia, until we get to me."
"Well, that's all useful exposition, but how does it relate to what's going on over here?" asked Sprig.
"The box was able to breach dimensions artificially, but what we're dealing with here is a stationary dimensional overlap. I don't know if there's an outside cause, or if the dimensional barrier is just weak in this particular spot, but it's causing the temple to shift between the two –" She stopped short. "Something's changed. I… I think it's coming back."
Confirming her premonition, the temple suddenly reappeared before the gathered frogs and robot, its door gaping wide in front of them.
"Holy frog," marveled Polly, "It's like something right out of those Illinois Smith movies. I bet it's loaded with all sorts of traps and treasures and maybe even a mummy… or mummies… We gotta go in!"
Maddie eyed Sprig and Ivy curiously. "Maybe Polly, Frobo and I should handle this one. You guys are parents now. If something should happen…"
Sprig was staring into the doorway. "Maybe you're right, but… I don't know how to put this… I feel like I'm supposed to go in there. Like it's… I don't know… destiny?" He shrugged. "It's probably really stupid, but when has that ever stopped me?" He held his hand out to Ivy. "Well? Ready to do something stupid?"
"When I'm with you? Always. *beat* That… was supposed to sound a lot more touching than it did."
They stepped through the entranceway to find themselves in a vast chamber. Luminescent crystals were set at strategic intervals; though they didn't generate enough light to fully illuminate the interior, they did give off just enough to give it a sort of eerie otherworldly glow.
"Turn on the high beams, Frobo," instructed Polly. The robot's eyes flared to maximum brightness in response, revealing more of the chamber's interior. The walls were covered with a variety of strange pictograms. In the middle of the chamber was a raised platform, with what could be some sort of ornate altar. "Yep. Definitely seeing a high chance of running into a mummy at some point.:
"A mummy would be pretty cool," agreed Maddie.
"See? She gets it," said Polly, hi-fouring her.
"Uh… guys…?" Ivy had happened to glance back at the entrance, simply out of habit. She'd naturally expected to just see the jungle exterior through the door. She certainly wasn't expecting to see anything else… and must definitely not an empty black void. "That… doesn't look right."
"Hmm." Sprig walked over to the entrance. "Yep. Empty void. I'ma stick my hand in there." He inserted it into the entrance, or tried to, but found it blocked by an invisible barrier. "Yep. We're stuck in this place. You know, the old Sprig would probably be running around screaming and flailing his arms right now, but I've grown and matured since – ah, what the heck. WE'RE ALL TRAPPED!" he shouted, running around with his arms flailing in the air.
"Probably with a mummy," added Polly mischievously.
"PROBABLY WITH A MUMMY!" echoed Sprig, before stopping. "Actually, that's very therapeutic."
"Well… we were going to explore this place anyway… looks like now we have to," Maddie noted.
"Do any of these picture-dealies mean anything to you?" asked Sprig.
"No… I've never seen anything like them," admitted Maddie.
"I was joking before, but they really do look just like the ones from "Illinois Smith and the Forgotten Tomb," Polly noted. "What'd they call 'em… hieroglyphics?"
"Yeah. We saw stuff like this in that museum back in LA, too. I wish we had Dr. Jan with us right now."
"Who?" asked Maddie.
"Oh, she was this cool museum lady who knew a lot about ancient history. Maybe she could've read this stuff."
"You would've liked her," Polly added. "She was all about dead things."
"I'm guessing this thing in the middle is important, seeing as it's on a raised platform and everything." Sprig stepped closer.
"Maybe we should stay back," Maddie advised. "Since we have no idea what anything in here is…"
"Relax. The Sprig who used to compulsively touch everything he could find is a thing of the past, and – " His eye fell on an eye glyph on the altar. "Hey, what does this do?"
"SPRIG NO!" the others shouted in unison even as he touched it.
"Huh. Nothing happened. I guess it was just some sort of decoration…"
"Uh… Sprig?" Ivy warned, forcing him to turn to the walls, where among the many glyphs, eye-shaped ones in strategic locations were beginning to glow.
"Well, that's ominous."
Meanwhile, on Earth…
Apparently, the monkey had decided that Bella's hat wasn't fashion-forward enough, because it had discarded it right next to the huge pit that the mystery temple occasionally occupied.
"Well, that's one problem dealt with," Bella remarked.
"Uh, Bella, I wouldn't put that on right away," warned Anne. "That monkey's head was probably crawling with lice, ticks-" Bella, in response, whipped her tongue out about a dozen times in rapid succession, probing the interior of the hat, before putting it back on.
"Thanks," the newt biologist replied. "I was getting a little puckish."
"Right. Amphibians. I of all people should know better." Anne chided herself.
"So," commented Sasha, "this is where you said the temple was."
"Kind of obvious," added Marcy, leaning in close. "I mean, a pit this size, just sitting here in the middle of the jungle? It's way too regular to be natural. Something must have occupied this -."
"Whoa!" Anne interrupted, yanking her away from the perimeter. "Careful, Mar-Mar. This thing could reappear at any time, and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to be occupying the same space when it does."
"S-sorry," Marcy responded nervously, blushing a little. Try not to think about how cute she looks, Anne reminded herself. It doesn't mean anything. "I just… well, you know how I am."
"Yeah. I know," assured Anne. "And it's okay. Just… be a little more careful. I've already lost you way too many times." ACK! Why did I say that? That sounded way too sentimental! You'll make her uncomfortable! Stupid stupid stupid!
"I'll try to be better," she said, squeezing Anne's hand. "Hey, do you hear a weird humming noise?"
"Probably just mosquit-" Sasha was cut off by the sudden return of the temple.
"Okay, I see what you mean," Marcy admitted. "If I was still there, my head would be like, SPLTTTCH!" She mimed an explosion. "Wow." She got a thoughtful look on her face. "Wow."
Don't remind me, Anne thought. Seeing her die once had been enough for an entire lifetime. The last thing she needed was to see anything like that ever again. And yet, here they were, about to venture into the unknown once again. Anything could happen.
By all logic, the group should give the temple a wide berth. Study it until they were absolutely certain it was safe to go in. But on the other hand, this was pretty much their only opton for getting Bella back where she belonged; besides, she'd already been in the temple and she'd come out okay, so it couldn't be too dangerous in there, could it?
"Do you remember anything from your time in there?" Anne asked the newt.
"Not really," replied Bella. "I was too focused on catching that stupid little mammal to pay attention. The only thing I'm reasonably sure of is that the entrance I came out of wasn't the same one I went in."
"Well… we're not gonna learn more out here," suggested Marcy. "I think we'd better go inside."
Well, that was one vote. Anne glanced at Sasha. "Whatever gets this whole thing over with faster." Made sense; she actually had someone to go home to. As far as Anne knew, Marcy wasn't involved with anyone; come to think of it, she didn't think she ever had been in her memory. Just as well, really. There probably wasn't any more to these feelings she was experiencing than the rush of nostalgia. Yeah. That made way more sense than the thought that she could suddenly be developing feelings for Marcy after all this time. When this mission was over and the two of them parted ways again, this feeling would probably fade away like last week's late-night Hot Pocket-induced nightmare about the two-headed business cow.
"Well, then… let's go inside."
"Is it just me," asked Sasha as her Mag-lite – one of several pieces of equipment loaned to the group by Mr. X to facilitate the expedition – illuminated the chamber's interior, "or does this place seem… bigger on the inside?"
"Hmm," remarked Marcy. "It could be our eyes playing tricks on us… then again, this temple is in a state of dimensional flux, so it's entirely possible that the interior space could exceed the exterior if you consider the tesseract principle…
"…and now my brain hurts," Sasha responded sarcastically.
"I'm more curious about these pictograms," Marcy continued, examining the wall.
Anne shrugged. "Aren't Heiroglyphics normal for pyramids?"
"First… these aren't Heiroglyphics. Those are specifically Egyptian, and we're in the Amazon. The symbology is similar, but distinct. For example, both systems use an eye glyph, but these are completely different." She blushed again. "I may have been taking a few symbology courses online."
Anne found herself drawn to those eye glyphs in particular. Was it her imagination, or were they starting to get brighter? Probably nothing, just some optical illusion. She turned her attention back to Marcy.
"And another thing," Marcy continued, before her face suddenly froze. And not just in any position, but one Anne knew well. An expression of shock and betrayal. For, once again, a burning blade had burst through her chest.
Behind her, as if he had coalesced from nothingness out of the shadows, stood King Andrias. Not as he was on that day, but as he was the last time they had seen him. Left arm and leg gone, tail broken, a gash in his side, all revealing the biocircuitry that had unnaturally preserved his life all this millennium. The crown on his head had changed; it was black now, horned, with seven orange eyes open on its face. Tendrils had grown out of it, digging into the flesh of his forehead; as he spoke, the mechanical voice of the Core could be heard over his thundering bass.
"You didn't think this was over, did you, Anne Boonchuy?"
A.N.: *evil laughter* It wouldn't be an Amphibia story without a sudden gut punch, would it?
Gregorian: There will be reunions… eventually. And I promise they'll be better than this one. As for Anne's Journal, I want to get at least to the point where the two groups in the temple finally meet before I get back to that, but I do hope to start season 2 as soon as I can!
Jose: Thanks, as always
Tall T: True.
Next: Eyes On Me