The jungle terrain was thick with vegetation, making it difficult to traverse. The air was humid with an overbearing heat pouring down onto us. Both Simon and I are carrying machetes, allowing us to cut the thick vines and other bushes and plants in our way. The jungle pressed close around us, thick vines, sweating heat, air so heavy it felt alive. It has been two days since my conversation with Count Alister. It was yesterday that I came to the realisation that I had no gift worthy of a count's daughter. Considering that the most important figures of the aristocracy within the South African principality would be present, I could not afford to bring something mundane. This inevitably led me to this rift, the rift of the lost temple was one of the few rifts containing pieces of a foreign civilization. My plan was to try and find something within the lower levels of the temple that would serve as an adequate gift for a young lady. The largest problem with this was the fact that it was a D-rank rift that had never been closed. It has already had three incursions prior to our entry.
The cry of birds filled the air before the flutter of wings. My eyes met Simon, who gave a silent nod as we got into fighting positions. Simon activated the aspect of the gorilla, while I summoned my spiritual armor to defend myself. The jungle grew eerily silent as we stood in tense readiness, until the silence was broken by the snap of a twig to my left. We spun facing in the direction of the noise. Only to see two green eyes staring back at us. "Ooh, ooh, ooh." The creature called only for the call to be repeated from two other directions. A giant macaque stepped forward, looking more like a strange great ape. The veins on its muscles were as thick as rope. Its muscles bulged underneath its pelt, snarling at us, exposing its sharp canines. The macaque bellowed a roar before pumping its chest in a display of dominance, before jumping forward.
Strong legs carried it from the ground as a heavy arm collided directly against my spiritual armor. A loud crack resounded through the jungle as the fist broke through my defense and slammed me back into a tree. The impact robbed the air from my lungs, as I gasped for breath. Simon struck out with his spear. The tip of the spear impaled into the coiled muscles of the macaque's shoulder, drawing blue blood from the wound. Before he could capitalize on the ape's distraction, another macaque jumped down from the trees, bringing its two fists down onto Simon. His improved instincts allowed him to react swiftly to the new enemy as he rolled to the left, avoiding the blow. At that point, I was already back on my feet, my left hand raised as I sent blazing spears of soul mana into the first macaque. The spears targeted the macaques' joints, as that was the only weak point within their muscular defense.
The spear cut through the flexor muscles, destroying the monster's ability to move its limbs as the fire began to consume the ape. That singular display of power drained more than a quarter of my mana reserve. Before the fire could spread too far, the macque retaliated by releasing a burst of darkness mana, drowning my fire and stopping its spread. Concern wormed its way into my heart when the macaque quenched my fire, but I crushed it mercilessly, returning my focus on the enemy. In front of my very eyes, the macaque began to regenerate its torn muscles, standing up again. The only wound that did not heal was the dry and cracked skin of my fire. How am I even supposed to beat this thing? Doubt formed in my mind, but I could not focus on it as the macaque stepped forward with a growl. Darkness surrounded its large fists like black mist.
I created two swords of soul mana surrounded by my fire in an attempt to save mana, and I met the macaque in melee combat. I was at a severe disadvantage as my enemy had greater physical strength. Blade met bone; my arms trembled from the contact. My fingers hurt from struggling to maintain my grip on the handles. By sheer strength of will, I held on.
For a moment, I saw my own reflection in the dying light, something wild staring back. The enraged macaque fused more darkness into its fists before attempting to strike me again. I barrel rolled out of the way, my instincts warning me that death would be a certainty if it made contact. I used myself as a distraction; the macaque's full attention was focused on me. Right after another clash, we separated to reset for another attack. The monster never even saw it coming. How could it? When needles made from my mana stabbed through its green eyes, piercing the brain. The macaque's body convulsed in its death throes, as I fell to my knees, my lungs screaming for oxygen.
I hardly had enough time to breathe. Simon was still locked in combat with the second macaque. Darkness trailed behind every one of its blows, but no matter how the beast tried, it could not even touch Simon. He was in perfect control of the fight's tempo, and not even this monster could disrupt that. His movements were perfect and precise, and when he finally saw the opening he had been waiting for, he struck out with his spear. The blade pierced through the macaque's open mouth directly into its spine and severing its head. Blue blood spewed out like an open faucet. I was watching all of this, taking in slow breaths of smoke from my pipe. Simon turned away from his felled opponent and walked towards me with a look of displeasure. "You know I do not like the fact that you started smoking, that shit will kill you someday." He spoke.
I laughed in response to his words. "I already died once, cousin. What is wrong with living a little?" I said with a sincere smile on my face. Simon has been more grumpy ever since I woke up. Those two weeks have clearly left their mark. Putting out my pipe and storing it back into my backpack, I got up and put on the mask once more. "Let's go," I said as I walked past him. Our trek led us deeper into the jungle, and the oppressive heat was only amplified within his mask. So much so that after another hour of travel, he finally could bear it no longer and took it off.
After opening three more of his gates, my mana regenerated twice as fast as before. So, within that hour, I was almost fully recharged. We encountered the macaques four more times, but now that we were aware of their abilities, it was far easier to put them down. They were always in groups of either two or three. During these fights, our teamwork grew in leaps and bounds. We systemically dismantled our enemies, marching ever forward into the unknown. It was only after three hours of travel that we finally came across the ancient temple. We almost missed it entirely if I had not tripped on a piece of debris, falling to the ground. I saw the strange contours within that area of the jungle. After getting back up, I called Simon over to help cut away some of the plants when we found a hole in the wall leading into the temple.
The inside of the temple walls was covered with vines and moss, making it blend in with the monotony of the jungle seamlessly. Cracks lined the inside of the wall. The temple itself gave off an ominous energy mixed with a sense of timelessness that made it a sight to behold. We found ourselves within a corridor leading further into the temple. I took out a flare from my backpack and lit it to light the way. But the darkness barely receded; the flare only lit up a few feet in front of us. The darkness felt alive, ever watching, ever waiting as we walked along the corridor. We walked for what felt like hours, every step seemingly taking us deeper into the earth. I am unsure how I knew, but my instincts told me we were walking on a downward slope. The corridor twisted and turned in the form of a spiral. There were no doors, no rooms. Just a path that led further down, the longer we walked, the stronger the feeling of being watched became. After two hours, our flare ran out and we had to light another. The air inside the temple was stale, as if untouched for centuries. The living darkness crept ever closer, the field of vision provided by the flare grew smaller and smaller until we could only see a single meter in front of us.
But just as it felt like the darkness would consume us, the path led into a spacious room. Lit by green torches, bathing the throne room in a sickly green light. The light only put me more on edge, for the brighter the light, the darker the shadow it casts. And the shadows within this room were as dark as the abyss. Memories of my time at death's door flashed through my mind; the only thing missing was the all-consuming mist. A carpet led to the center of the room, but in place of a throne stood a large pedestal with a rose made from pure darkness on top of it. The side of the carpet was littered with imposing statues of stone, depicting strange warriors in full battle regalia. These warriors had four arms, and everyone of them was as thick as my thigh. Their faces looked like a mixture of a man and an ape. With sharp tusks jutting out from their bottom jaw. Every arm wielded a different weapon, from swords, spears, to maces and clubs. The statues were extremely imposing, but my focus was entirely on the rose of darkness in the center of the room.
I had done my research before deciding which rift I would enter. I had called Alister to find out more about his daughter so that I could bring an adequate gift. Understanding the necessity of my request, he helped me as much as he could. Alister was a traditional man, so he had kept most information about his daughter hidden. This was done so that she could be kept from the public eye until she reached the age of twenty. The main thing he told me was in regards to her gift that it was of the darkness element. Which eventually prompted me to choose the lost temple.
I turned towards Simon he had uncertainty in his eyes. "I don't like this; something feels wrong about this room." Placing my hand on his shoulder and squeezing softly, I gave him a reassuring smile.
"No matter what happens, I want you to stay here ready to run. And by no means should you enter that room, okay?" My voice was stern, but that was only a mask to hide my own fear. This place was suffocating.
Taking in a deep breath, I stepped onto the carpet. The second that I entered the room, all thirty of the statues turned towards me. Their eyes lit up with the same sickly green as the torches. The hair on my body stood on end, and every single one of my muscles was tensed as I walked towards the pedestal. The aerie eyes of the statues followed my every step, the silence of the room was suffocating, only broken by the sound of my footsteps as I continued walking. When I reached the base of the pedestal, I began unfusing mana into my muscles until they could not take any more. With my body half turned towards the exit, I grabbed the rose made from pure darkness. It was cold to the touch the second my fingers clasped around it. I felt a foreign presence within the throne room, green eyes as large as my body opened behind the pedestal from within the darkness. The pupils were slit as the slumbering creature began to awaken. The statues began to crumble and turn to dust as the newly awakened creature laid its eyes on me. A rumbling hiss reverberated through the room. In that moment, I forgot everything and began belting across the room with the rose still clutched in my hand. The room began to tremble, and large cracks began appearing in the walls. Reality itself seemingly began to tremble in the presence of this creature. What the hell is a monster of the caliber doing in a D-rank rift?! I ran faster than I thought possible as I left the room. The world shook as the creature smashed against the walls.
I did not even have to tell Simon anything; with eyes full of fear, we began running back through the winding corridors. Dust and rocks fell to the ground as the enraged creature began banging against the walls, breaking free from its stony prison. We ran at full speed for hours, even when my body failed me, I did not stop running. We escaped the confines of the temple just in time to see the imprisoned god escape its tomb. It looked like the spitting image of Quetzalcoatl. It was an absolutely massive feathered serpent with green and black scales, massive feathered wings stretched out towards the heavens. Just the image of this creature instilled me with primordial fear. The serpent threw its head back in a roar; it was so powerful that reality itself quaked and began to tear. The tear in reality grew larger and larger until the creature escaped the rift. I did not see any of this as we ran back to the rift we had entered from.
More and more tears in reality began to appear as the world within the rift began to crumble. I saw one unfortunate macaque as a tear appeared on top of it, ripping it to shreds in an instant. The entire time, I never let go of the rose of darkness. Right as the rift was about to implode on itself, a shockwave pushed us forward directly into our exit. The wave of vertigo hit as we traveled through space. Only now did my adrenaline begin to fade, and the realization of what I had just survived hit me. The realization that it was never a temple to begin with, it was a prison that shackled a forgotten god