1 | No Holds Barred [Among Thieves]

Eighteen

Chapter 18 | The Path of Light

YOU REACHED THE END of the corridor and stopped to marvel at the scene that lay before you. Saying that the cavernous main chamber of the underground complex was impressive was an understatement.

It was hard not to notice the massive stone heads adorning the walls and the immense phurba hanging over the chest of a statue lying on its back in the center of the room.

"Holy shit," you muttered, eyes taking in the view.

As you entered, the large dagger's blade split open into three individual blades that ground and groaned as they slowly raised into a new horizontal position near the cavern's ceiling, far above.

"Well, this must be the place," commented Nathan as he walked up beside you.

Chloe pointed to the giant phurba. "Hey, that thing looks like the Phurba dagger."

Nathan glanced up, seeing a beam of light shining down from the cavern's distant roof. "These lights must activate it somehow."

You walked down the stairs and came across a mirror on the platform below the room's entrance. It was reflecting the beam of light Nathan noticed. Looking around, you could see there were more mirrors.

"There's more to this room than meets the eye," you muttered, grabbing hold of the mirror.

Directing the light to hit the third eye of the small statue face across the room, you said, "Guys, we just have to bounce the light around the room."

Following Nathan down another set of stairs, you walked around the giant statue and to the small one. Panels inside the statue's mouth opened to reveal a small opening. You noticed it was the same as the opening on the Vajrakilaya in the chamber above ground.

"Huh . . . let's see." Nathan inserted the dagger into the triangular hole and repeated his actions from earlier.

A section of the giant Phurba dagger's blades lowered, a mechanical sound echoing throughout the chamber.

"I think that worked. It looks like it lowered the first blade into place."

"One down, two to go."

Chloe crossed her arms, staring at the giant blade. "What do you reckon, we're gonna have to climb that thing?"

You climbed onto the statue, wincing as a sharp pain ran up your leg, and made your way over to the blade.

Just as you were about to climb up using the shiny handholds that started at the bottom of the blade, you felt a hand on your shoulder.

"Uh, what do you think you're doing? You're not climbing with that injured leg of yours."

"Seriously Nate. I'm fine," you replied as you turned to face him, doing your best to hide your pain.

He had one hand on his hip and a stern expression that said he wasn't buying any of your bullshit.

"No, you're not. I know when you're lying. Your voice tends to be a bit higher and you look to the left. You even bite the inside of your cheeks."

You stopped biting your cheek. Fuck. The pitch of your voice went up as you exclaimed, "What—I do not!"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and I love clowns."

"We'll get this done faster if we both climb," you retorted, feeling a twinge of frustration. "You'd have to keep coming down each time!"

"Not gonna happen."