Excited, Miko cries out, “And look in the center, that must be the main one.” They look to where he’s pointing, and sure enough, there lies a pyramid that’s proportionally larger to the ones on the outer wall of the pool, as the main pyramid is to the ones on the perimeter.
“But what do we do now?” Jiron asks.
“Not sure,” he replies. He begins to closely inspect the designs, pushing and pulling at them but nothing happens. Then suddenly, the plaque he’d seen in the upper room flashes to mind. What if it wasn’t showing the skull pyramids at all? What if it was in fact showing the designs on the edge of the pool?
What did it show exactly? he asks himself, as he pauses a moment to recall the details. A power grid, that’s what it reminded me of. Maybe it’s a lock only a mage can open.
He turns to the others and says, “I think I may know how to gain access to it, but you both better step back, just in case.”
“What are you going to do?” Jiron asks.
“Not sure,” he says, “just watch.”
After they’ve moved back, he turns again to face the pool and begins to concentrate. In his mind he pictures a sphere of magic hovering above each of the outer triangles. He opens his eyes when he hears Miko gasp behind him.
Five red, pulsating spheres are hovering above the five triangles. Nodding in satisfaction, he again closes his eyes in deep concentration. He needs to get this just right and when he’s ready, he completes the spell.
Opening his eyes, he sees a thread of energy shoot out of each of the spheres and connects simultaneously above the triangle in the center of the pool. When they connect, the combined beam seems to be drawn down to the larger triangle engraved in the bottom of the pool. The ground begins to shake slightly as the pool slowly begins to rotate.
Maintaining the spell, he watches as it continues to turn and is startled when a bottom section of the pool drops down into the ground. At regular intervals, more sections drop down into the ground as it continues to turn. After turning halfway around again, the pool stops. Where the bottom of the pool had been, now lies a spiral staircase descending down into the complex beneath the ground.
James releases the spell, halfway expecting the pool to begin closing again, but is relieved when it remains still.
He creates his glowing orb and steps over the edge of the pool. “Shall we, gentlemen?” he asks over his shoulder as he begins to descend the stairs. Miko and Jiron come over and follow him closely as he descends the stairs down into the darkness below.
Nervous, he continues down until he reaches the bottom where a corridor extends away from them. The air is stale, as if it has been bottled up here for a millennium. The light from the glowing orb reveals carvings upon the walls, people going about unknown tasks.
The first room they come to is on the right and a brief glance within shows it to be empty, the walls having the same designs as the corridor had.
“What was this place?” Jiron whispers, nervous about disturbing the silence.
“I don’t know,” replies James as he continues further down the corridor. “But we better be careful. Whoever set that trap that ensnared us might have others down here as well.”
Miko looks around nervously as he continues following James closely.
At the end of the corridor they’re following, they find another one running perpendicular to the one they’re in. James shines the light to the left and right but only sees more corridor going in either direction.
He turns to the right and makes his way slowly down it. After twenty feet, the corridor makes a ninety degree turn to the right and after another five feet, opens up into a room.
This room holds a large table that’s in remarkably good condition for its age. Six chairs sit around it. The walls of this room are plain stone, no image marring their surface. A doorway in the wall opposite where they entered is the only other exit from the room.
“Looks like a meeting room,” guesses James as he enters and comes over to the table.
“Or a war room,” suggests Jiron.
James nods his head and says, “Maybe.”
Miko stays close to James as he walks around the room, looking at everything. “What are you looking for?” he asks.
Shrugging, James says, “Not really sure. I’m hoping to find something or some way to turn off the barrier so we can get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.” And the constant prickling of magic has become decidedly annoying.
“What’s in that other room?” Miko asks, indicating the doorway they haven’t gone through yet.
“Let’s see,” he says as he moves in that direction.
A solid wooden door stands open and they pass through into another room, this one having shelves of books upon them. When James touches one, it crumbles into dust.
“Must’ve been here a long time,” Jiron says when he sees the book crumble.
“Perhaps,” James says, “or it could be the result of being exposed to magic for a long time.” He turns to Jiron and admits, “I’m not sure.”
Not finding anything of use here, they return past the ‘boardroom’ and hurry along the hallway until they come to the intersecting corridors. Continuing straight this time, they follow the section they haven’t been in yet.
Forty feet down, they come to a door on the left while the corridor continues past. James tries the door but it doesn’t open. He turns to Jiron and says, “Locked.”
Moving out of the way, he watches as Jiron comes and inspects the lock. Pulling out a knife, he sticks the point within the lock as he begins manipulating the locking mechanism. Suddenly, a ‘click’ can be heard and he swings the door open.
On the other side is a flight of stairs leading down. He starts to move down them when James stops him. “Let’s continue with the search of this floor first before we continue down,” he says.
Knowing James to be the expert here, he nods his head as he follows James further down the corridor.
Another fifteen feet and the corridor turns to the right and the prickling sensation begins to grow. James slows his speed as he moves cautiously closer.
“What?” asks Miko when he sees him slow.
“I feel magic ahead,” he whispers back to them.
“Bad?” Miko asks fearfully.
Shrugging, he replies, “Don’t know.” A little further more and the corridor again turns to the right where it ends after another ten feet. It opens upon another room.
As they move closer to the room, the prickling becomes more intense, like ants crawling all over his skin in spiky shoes. When the light from the orb illuminates the interior of the room, they can see another of the pyramid of skulls, similar in size to the ones on the perimeter.
James catches his breath for he can almost see the magic moving upward from this pyramid. “I think we’re under the main pyramid of skulls that was in the courtyard.”
“What makes you think that?” Jiron asks.
James steps into the room and replies, “I can feel, almost see, the magic flowing upward from this pyramid. It would just make sense for the magic to be going up to the other one.” He turns back to them and adds, “My guess would be that this is the source of the magic keeping the barrier in place.”
“This pyramid here?” asks Miko.
Shaking his head, he says, “Probably something further down, I would imagine. Though, who knows?” He reaches his hand toward the flow of magic and pulls it back suddenly when his hand begins to burn like he’d stuck it in a fire.
“Damn!” he curses.
“What?” asks Miko excitedly.
“That burned,” he says as he looks at his hand but doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
“Let’s go back to those stairs leading down,” Jiron says.
Nodding, James turns and follows him back. Once at the stairs, he again takes the lead as they proceed down to the next level.
