Shrine of Ithnur | Guardians of Ethereal - Book 1

Chapter 1: Excavation

The wind whistled through the hollowed out mountain carrying the sound of water dripping upon the stalagmites at the base of the cavern. In the distance, the sound of clanking could be heard faintly as the grinding of the drill made its way deeper into the cave.

After several days of drilling, the wall gave way beneath the repetitive motion of the drill's impact causing a cloud of rubble and dust to fly into the air with the sound of a loud crash.

"STOOOP!" yelled the foreman who flailed his arms repetitively next to the machine.

One of the men operating the drill stopped the machines progression and backed away from the rubble to provide access to the cavity. With various light sources, a group of five to six people began inspecting the integrity of the opening to see whether the drill caused any structural damage to the supporting walls.

In the background, the sound of static could be heard crackling from the two-way radio as someone shouted from the device, "CARDIGAN, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!?"

The foreman grabbed his two-way radio from the side of his belt and pressed the button on the left side of the device before replying, "it's nothing to worry about we've just breached the outer wall of an irregular passage. Our team's investigating the integrity of the opening as we speak."

"Alright, be careful; those machines aren't cheap you know," replied the man through the static noise of the radio.

Cardigan replied with affirmation in his tone, "Roger that, we'll keep you posted." Displacing the device onto his belt, he turned towards the open cavity where one of the inspectors gave him a sign that it was safe to enter.

With wide eyes and a full grin, Cardigan shouted, "LISTEN UP!" causing everyone to stop what they were doing and gather around him. "WE'RE GOING TO PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION. GATHER ANY MATERIALS YOU MAY NEED AND MEET BACK HERE IN FIFTEEN! YOU'RE DISMISSED!"

Without any further questions from the crew, the group dispersed to gather the materials needed for their spelunking excursion.

Some time had passed before feet could be heard scraping across the cavern floor as people carrying tents, flashlights, backpacks, and containers entered the opening of the cavity surrounded by rock and debris.

The further they progressed into the irregular passage the more light they could see projected from an unknown source. The closer the group got to the light source the more extensive the shaft became before halting at the edge of a ravine surrounded by bio-luminescent fluorite and geodes. At the center of the cavern stood a large willow tree whose skewed roots spread deep into the surrounding waters that flowed in the cardinal directions of north, east, south, and west.

Cardigan removed the two-way radio from his belt and spoke through the device while clasping the left side button, "Professor Haddock you'll never believe what we've uncovered."

"Cardigan... did," replied the professor through intermittent radio static.

"FUCK!" yelled Cardigan in anger as he forced the radio back on his belt in aggravation causing several people around him to jump.

Cardigan yelled, "YOU!" while pointing to a man wearing a yellow hard-hat on his unkempt head of hair and gray sweat-laden t-shirt untucked from his dirt-covered cargo pants which hooked over a pair of steel-toed boots. The person Cardigan was directing his anger at looked from left to right before pointing to himself with uncertainty in his eyes.

"Yes, you," replied Cardigan with an agitated shake of his head. "I want you to head back to camp and find the professor. Tell him about our recent discovery and that all communications are down. " With a hint of understanding, the man turned on his heels and left towards the direction of camp in post-haste.

Meanwhile back at camp, a disheveled man wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and cargo pants was frantically flipping through the frequencies of the radio transponder while yelling, "CARDIGAN, CAN YOU HEAR ME!? WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" as he was desperately trying to get in touch with his team on the other side of the cavern.

After several frustrating minutes without any response from his team, Haddock slammed the omnidirectional microphone down on to the transponder before taking a drink from the silver flask located to the right of the radio.

Throwing the flask across the tent out of frustration, he grabbed his mud-covered boots from the ground and secured them tightly upon his feet before roughly placing a bag onto his back. Displacing the white hard-hat from the transponder, he exited the tent before putting the hat onto his head for protection. With an ugly scowl, the professor went to locate the cause of the radio interference. More importantly, what was seen that could have caused the radios to go haywire?

After Haddock was halfway to the excavation site, he spotted one of his students hastily heading towards his direction. Partially out of anger and frustration, the professor yelled out, "HECTOR, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? WHY CAN'T I REACH ANYONE OVER THE RADIO?"

Hector came to a halt as he approached Haddock and spoke with a slight pant in his breath, "The foreman sent me to update you on the situation since there was interference on the two-way radio. We've found something extraordinary beyond the cavity; from what we can see the cavern looks exactly like the scripture depicts. 'Beneath the mountains of ice and snow stands a tree of everlasting...'"

"Woah, slow down Hector and catch your breath," interrupted Haddock as he was trying to comprehend what Hector was saying. "Wait! What is this about the scripture?" he retorted with a furrowed brow.

After temporarily catching his breath, Hector replied, "That's what I'm trying to say. We've found the temple of the ancient god Ithura, and it's more than we ever could've imagined."

Satiated by Hector's comment, the professor proceeded to walk towards the direction of the dig with a grin planted across his face. After a short distance, he looked over his shoulder and said with a tone of impatience, "You coming!?"

"Yes, sir! Give me a minute," replied Hector as he gestured while crouching to catching his breath. After a few minutes of rest, Hector led the professor to where the others were gathered.

Thirty minutes passed before the two came upon people surveying the land around the ravine for a way to safely descend the side of the cliff and into the gorge below.

Close to the entrance to the irregular tunnel stood three industrial-sized tents with a constant flow of people delivering samples and reports from their analysis to the people inside the temporary shelters. Turning toward the professor, Hector respectfully said, "Wait here. I'll inform the foreman of our arrival," before he left to locate Cardigan.

While the professor was waiting for Hector to return, Haddock slowly lifted his pack off his back and gently placed it on the ground before producing a monocular from one of the side pouches. Stepping closer to the edge he lifted the monocular to one of his eyes to get a better view of the gorge.

Through the lens of the monocular, he saw the willow tree protruding from the epicenter of an onyx citadel engraved with a gold paisley design and surrounded by many bio-luminescent species of plants that crawled the onyx walls. In twelve-foot intervals around the building stood several elongated statues that depicted various humanoid creatures from unknown origin with a different symbol etched on each of their heads.

Carefully examining the structure and its surrounding plant life, he noticed slight movement coming from the shadows around the base of the citadel. Zooming in on the figure lurking in the darkest part of the building, a yellow flash appeared along the surface of the forestry causing the ground to shake beneath their feet.

"GET AWAY FROM THE EDGE, IT'S ABOUT TO COLLAPSE!"

Before the professor could react, the edge of the ravine crumbled beneath his feet causing him to lose grip of his monocular and fall several feet before hitting many branches that caressed his body uncomfortably as he fell.

Unbeknownst to him, the professor extended his arm to grab one of the limbs as they sped past him in an array of shape and color while unconsciously trying to prevent himself from plummeting to an unsightly death.

The professor eventually grew closer to the bottom of the ravine where he ultimately landed with an exorbitant thud causing a cloud of dust to wallow up from the field around him as a cascade of rocks, leaves, and branches fell on top of his motionless body.