The Twice-Enchanted Blade: Part 20

After a brief dramatic pause, the story continued.

Civet: “The temple belonged to no civilization I was familiar with. It was a hexagonal structure, built out of the same volcanic rock as the road we had been following, crowned with a dome. On the side we were approaching, there was a flight of stairs, and above them an entrance. The massive gate was ruined by the passage of time, so there was nothing preventing our entry. Flanking it were two statues of men from waist up, serpents from waist down, wielding curved blades. They had in the past been ornately decorated, but the weather wasn’t kind to them, and the only remaining decoration was a single ruby lodged in the left statue’s right eye. I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed – there I was, hoping to discover something wholly unfamiliar, but it seemed what we found were the remains of just another snake cult”.

Spiridon: “We prepared some torches and carefully went inside. I took the point initially, progressing slowly, taking frequent pauses so Iocasta could sketch a map of the area. The place was a veritable maze, all the corridors seeming wider and taller than they needed to be. We discovered numerous rooms whose purpose we couldn’t discern, since none of the furniture seemed to have survived”.

Civet: “Typical of many cultures, which couldn’t provide enough manpower to defend objects of importance from intruders. The layout was confusing on purpose, so you couldn’t find your way around unless you knew every inch of the place”.

Iocasta: “Soon enough, we ran into another intruder measure, as Civet, noticing something on the wall, urged Nixon to halt”.

Civet: “The entire time I was paying close attention to the walls, and eventually I spotted what I feared we would find. There was a small relief, at around waist height, circular in shape, about the size of a button, with – you can’t accuse these ancient people of being imaginative – a shape of a snake in the middle. Immediately, I checked out our surroundings and, mere inches in front of Spiridon, spotted two things. The first were three vertical slits in the wall, placed one above the other. The second was a long, narrow stone that was slightly protruding from the floor below them. I got on my knees and, remaining behind, pressed on the rock with my hand. A mechanism was activated and three rusty iron blades sprang from the slits”.

Spiridon: “I grew pale. The trap had been well hidden, and there was a good chance I would’ve gotten skewered if it wasn’t for Civet”.

Civet: “It helped that I knew what to look for. These types of traps have been observed among multiple distinct cultures, hidden well enough to be able to eliminate intruders but with subtle hints to help keep the locals safe”.

Iocasta: “Throughout the temple, we found multiple of these traps. More spikes coming from the walls, floors, and ceiling, swinging blades, and arrows. There were some that didn’t work, but Civet said they used to be fire traps. We did not deliberately trip all of them, of course, but I did take a note of them on the map”.

Spiridon: “We seemed to have explored the entirety of the temple without finding the ruby idol, so we went outside to regroup. Civet observed the map Iocasta had scribbled, and pointed out that the central part of the structure was suspiciously unexplored. He marked several corridors on the map, which he thought were likely to contain secret doors”.

Iocasta: “Civet told us to pay special attention to drafts, no matter how faint. At the first dead end we checked out, we found out nothing, and the wall towards the center of the temple seemed exceptionally thick. Once we reached the second designated area, however, I noticed a weak air current, and we did a much more thorough sweep”.

Spiridon: “On the right wall, I felt a loose rock with my fingers and pushed it. A bellowing sound came from within the wall, and the dead end opened into a passage, leading into a large central chamber”.

Civet: “It was by far the biggest room in the building. The ceiling was supported by numerous half-serpentine caryatides. The said ceiling was positioned between us and the dome, and at the time, it was unclear to me why it existed in the first place, as the hall would be much more imposing if it weren’t there. In the middle of the room, there was an elevated segment with a pedestal, and on the pedestal, the ruby idol was placed. Getting to it wouldn’t be straightforward, however. The floor was covered in tiles, and a good part of them had the familiar snake symbol in a corner. Each of the marked tiles had four barely perceptible round holes in it”.

Spiridon: “There turned out to be a singular, winding path towards the pedestal. One last surprise to anyone trying to loot the place, though I thought it would be easily noticeable to anyone who made it this far”.

Iocasta: “Civet warned us that the pedestal itself may well be trapped, so I created a lasso out of a piece of rope, threw it around the idol, and pulled it towards us. At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then a sound came from somewhere above us”.

Civet: “There was indeed a trap, more devious than I could have imagined. The dome turned out to be a secret room within a secret room, and out of it crawled the temple’s guardian. Which foul magic kept the creature alive for millennia, I know not. It moved above us, from pillar to pillar to pillar, and soon we were able to glimpse its hideous form in the light from our torches”.

Iocasta: “It was a snake-human hybrid, but not in an elegant manner, as in the statues throughout the temple. The overall shape of the creature was that of the serpent; it was somewhat thicker than a man’s waist, and I never managed to take in its full length in the darkness. It was covered in pallid human-like skin, and from its sides, at regular intervals, protruded numerous arms which it used to grab onto the pillars. But the most disturbing part of it was the head – it had a generally reptilian shape, but the eyes and the teeth were uncannily human”.

Spiridon: “After thousands of years of lying dormant, the monster was on the prowl, and we had another obstacle to consider on our way out of the booby-trapped temple”.