Sofia and I took our position at the front of the group and the led them down the stairs. The further we went down the more the area around us began to change, the lanterns somehow lit the area as we reached them.
Once we reached the bottom of the room we were greeted by a giant metallic door, with the same symbols on it. But just like outside, some of the symbols were missing.
Sofia reached into the bag and hand me the journal, grabbing it, I began to try and decipher it.
After figuring out the missing symbols, I realized the door was metal, so there was no way for me to carve the symbols. Besides something like that was unlikely to be the answer to such a thing.
Looking over to Sofia, I was about to ask if she had any idea but she had already left my side. Sofia was at the end of the hall examining the lanterns, it confused me at first. I just assumed she simply wanted to know how the mechanisms worked.
Sofia was instead showing her own brilliance and problem solving skills, before I could even realize it.
Before I could ask for her assistance, I watched as she lightly traced her fingers onto the side of the lanter. A small click reached my ears, as I watched her pull something form it.
The flame on the lantern began to change in color, the flames color slowly became a dark beautiful blue hue. Without a word, I watched in wonder as she did this a few more times before coming back to meet me.
"Here, should be one of these, right.?"
Showing me her hands there were pieces of metal in them, and on those pieces were the same symbols written on the door.
I smiled at her, as I took the pieces and turned back to the door. I shuffled through the pieces until I found the ones I was looking for.
Placing them onto the door one after another, a mechanism could be heard clicking into place.
We all took a step back, as the door groaned as it's locks were released, and it began to open. Everyone readied themselves for the worst as it opened, no one knew what to expect from the otherside.
As the door slowly opened we were greeted with by the lights of a great hall, more, brighter lanterns filled it, giving a dark yet beautiful look.
Sofia and I looked to one another before taking a step in, as we walked the hall we couldn't help but admire the craftsmanship of it.
There were large pillars leading up to a throne, in front of those pillars stood statues of knights in beautifully crafted armor.
The statues stood guard as we walked past them, some of them wearing prestine white armor, while the others, shadowy dark.
Behind the pillars, the walls were painted with beautiful murals. On them seemed to be angelic beings as well as what looked like demons.
Some of the beings looked like creatures you could only dream of, while the others looked just as human as the rest of us. But what they all had in common were their beautiful wings, as well as their halos and horns.
It was a sight to behold, I stared in awe trying to comprehend it all. Sofia took out her camera, documenting it all, with recordings and photos.
'All of this, sitting here for god knows how long. Strange runes and symbols, images of demons and angels. Even the monsters and creatures we've seen since retrieving the sword and shield. It just seems so.... unreal.'
Looking over, I could see Chandler examining the knights and their weapons, more closely. He and I hadn't spoken much since the plane, but I knew just from the small interactions, he was a smart guy and was more than capable and deserving of being here with us.
It made me smile watching as his eyes glowed passionately, as he examined the well crafted sword of one of the statues.
Ray was also admiring the room, but I could tell his mind was slightly more occupied with my movements and the expectancy of danger.
He was as vigilant as always, trying to be a step ahead of any potential threat. Even if the potential threat was someone under his watch.
Looking up at the ceiling, I expected some glorious painting depicting the history of how this place came to be, but instead there was only darkness.
It wasn't just any kind of darkness, like the paint on a wall, or the deep shadows that hid from the light. This darkness felt deeper than that, more ominous, more disturbing.
It was an unsettling thing to look at, it sent chills down my spine. I could feel a sort of tightness gripping my heart as I looked at it, it felt like there were millions of eyes looking at my very soul.
I shuddered as I forced myself to look away, before my mind was consumed by it. I shook my head trying to get the image out of my head, as I walked over towards the throne.
My movements were noticed by Ray, once more. He took a look at the ceiling then followed behind me, on my right I could here light footsteps, as Sofia rushed to catch up to me.
The rest of the group kept close, as they too, made their way.
Reaching the throne, we could see another statue sitting on it. This one was that of a handsome young man, he had long hair that reached his lower back and a dark crown on his head.
The man wore no armor, and instead wore a simple white robe. The man had no weapons, simply watching, and waiting.
The man sat in his seat with his face resting on his left hand, that was leaning against the arm rest.
Beside him to more statues stood, one on each side. One was a young woman, she stood on his right with no weapons and only a white robe as well. She stood with her hands placed in front of her, and behind her were the beautiful white wings of an angel.
On the left of him, another woman stood. She held no weapons as well, but the color of her robe was black in color. She stood with her arms folded, as if she wore bored or slightly annoyed. Behind her, she had deep black wings, that could only mimic the darkness of the ceiling above. There were also dark horns on her head, the same color as her wings.
We all stood and admired the three, they were a beautiful sight to behold, almost mesmerizing, even. I couldn't help but imagine the great beings they depicted, such beauty could never truly be completely copied.
As I stared at the young man, I could see Chandler moving towards the young angel. He admired her every feature, being caught up in the wings more than anything. I couldn't she was a beautiful sight, and the wings only made it even more true.
After a few moments of looking he moved closer, readying his hand to touch her wings.
"Hey, look at this. She's holding something."
Everyone turned to the sound of Sofia's voice, she was looking at the demon woman. We all walked over to see what she was talking about.
Getting closer we realized just how much taller than us these beings really were, they were like small giants looking down on us. Watching Chandler, he only stood slightly above the angel's abdomen. Now looking at Sofia she too stood at the same height to the woman.
She pointed towards the neck of the woman, looking up we could see a small object dangling from a small chain around it. She ushered for two of the guards to come over to help her, they lifted her up high enough to where she could reach it.
We watched as she tried to pull it over her head, but the stone hair was blocking the exit. Instead she yanked on it as hard she could, it took a couple tries but eventually the chain snapped, almost causing her to fall. The two held onto her tightly, trying to keep their balance. Once it was in hand they brought her back down.
Everyone crowded around her, trying to see what she held. Opening her hands, she held a key the same size as them. The key was black in color and seemed to be made of obsidian. We all looked at it in amazement, after all this time, it was still unharmed.
I slowly turned to the man on the throne, although his gaze was empty, I couldn't help but feel he was really there, looking at me.
I slowly turned and walked over to him, although the other two were like giants, he on the other hand seemed no taller than a human. Taking a closer look at him, his face seemed no older than I was, with a small confident smirk covering it.
Looking down I noticed his right hand sitting in his lap, and in his palm sat another key. I hesitated as I looked at it, it was black in color with white swirling around it. Or maybe it was the other way around, it was hard to tell, my eyes couldn't quite come to a choice.
I looked back at the man and his smirk. Without breaking eye contact, I slowly reached to grab the key. I slowly placed my hand on my gun as I cautiously moved, waiting for him to reach out and grab my arm. His smirk seemed to mock me the more I stared, but in the end he remaind as I grabbed it.
With the key in hand, its colors still messed with my eyes but I noticed that the large key was quite heavy. With the material it was made from, that was to be expected but it seemed heavier than it should've been.
To my left Ray walked up holding a white key, it was hidden in the hands of the angel. Although it was easier to reach, he had to pry it from her grasp.
We all came together showing the keys to one another:
"Alright, now what?"
Sofia asked as she examined the other two.
"Now we find the lock."
"Well duh, but I mean, where do we start looking. This place is huge, it could be anywhere."
As she spoke she rubbed the black and white key trying to feel its texture.
"How about here."
The voice wasn't one that I'd heard often, but it was just enough to recognize it. We all followed the voice to see Chandler standing behind the throne.
He was standing looking at the floor, on it were three key holes, all marked with an image. One was dark wings, the black key, the other white wings, the white key. And the last one was that of the moon.
'Convenient, hide the door behind the three powerful monsters. No one could possibly reach it.'
Without hesitation Sofia reached down placing the key in the hole, with Ray following suit. They both looked up at me waiting, I sighed then placed my key.
"Here goes nothing."
The others around us readied themselves as we turned the locks. The lights behind us went of one by one, and re-lit themselves with the same dark blue as the door before.
As the ground rumbled we expected the floor to open up infront of us, but instead the wall began to split apart in front of us, leeding into another downward staircase.