Logan Esmer, and the Temple's Truth | Book One [Being Revamped]

Chapter 4 - Symbols

We entered the temple, and walked down halls of gray stone. We would walk for ages, following the magically lit hallways, in its twists and turns. My excitement dimmed every few yards. Until, a final turn led us to a large, inner sanctum.

"Woah..." Said Sally, looking around the large room. Mounted at the front was a huge, detailed map of Orbis Terrarum, the name of the realm we live in. A large alter dominated the room, perfectly positioned at the center, it was surrounded by eight pedestals that had familiar symbols on them.

I brushed my fingers on the alter, a layer of dust was apparent. Another thing that was apparent that this place was really, and I mean really, old.

"I really wonder what this place was used for," spoke Ace, as he glanced at the map. I instantly noticed a small crystal mounted on a small pedestal, separate from the others. Right behind it was a small lamp. I walked forward, there was an old, webbed switch on the lamp, I flipped it, and it burst to life.

Instead of having a blast of light, it beamed a concentrated amount of light at the crystal. And the crystal refracted the light into seven beams, each of these beams landed on a separate place on the map.

"What is this...?" Asked Josh, walking forward, towards the map.

"Those beams, they point to something..." Said one of the students that escaped with professor Nio. She walked forward. "Those beams seem to point to the eight original cities, according to your lessons, Professor Nio. I cannot remember the names off the top of my head..."

"And who are you?" Asked Sally, a bit forcefully than needed.

"O-oh, me?" Asked the male student, hesitating. The other student, which was a girl, stepped forward, and patted the male student's shoulder.

"Oh, I'm Yaeru, smart one," the girl said, smirking slightly. Is it just me, or are all the girls salty today?

The boy did not reply, instead he backed away, and stepped next to Professor Nio, who was examining runes on the walls.

"Amazing... I've never seen anything like it!" Said Professor Nio, as he touched the runes with his finger. I had walked over to the map. The beams of light were still lit, and touching the map. I looked over to the weird alter-like object behind the lamp. I walked over, and examined it closely.

On further inspection, it looked more like a forge. It was tracked with black likes which were smooth to the touch. These smooth black lines seemed to lead to each of the pedestals. Which on further inspection, had a symbol on each one.

"Hey, Prof, do you know what these symbols mean?" I asked, something about these symbols were familiar, they kept coming up. Professor Nio walked over, and took a hard look at them.

"They resemble something, I'm sure of it..." He said, thinking. "They look awfully similar to the symbols of the artifacts... But this place is way too ancient to contain..."

"The artifacts were given at different times, some, ridiculously ages ago. But the most recent had to be seven years ago. I mean, it was rumored." Professor Nio rambled. Somehow, pieces of this puzzle began to flutter in my head.

"Well, maybe it has to do with an old story about a god-became-man. The story stated that before the god became man, it reached into the sky, and took a star out from the heavens... They called the star the Eight Prophet's Star... The story said this god cracked the star into eight pieces... And disappeared with the star pieces. Later to emerge as a man. And then to disappear again into the world..."

As Professor Nio said this, a quiet clapping noise vibrated in the room. A cold draft entered, as the clapping got louder, and louder.