Alkimiya - A Fantasy Mystery Series

TWENTY~SEVEN - Darkness

It was impossible to determine what material was used to construct the pyramid from the outside alone, with it encased so fully in salt and tinted a whitish-blue, but once inside it was clear the pointed structure had been built using massive white granite blocks. Each rectangular piece was so large it was the size and length of a city tram. Beyond the initial entry sprawled a vast and intricate network of hallways that led off into different levels of the pyramid. Though they passed empty chamber room after empty chamber room, their findings remained anticlimactic.

Mimi led the way, her moonstone amulet providing enough light to encompass the huddled group. White granite, Zenetra learned, was reflective. The light intensified, creating a long stretch of the illuminated pathway ahead.

"Stick together everyone." Though Mimi said it lightly, her words ricocheted off the walls and traveled deeper into the pyramid without them, where they transformed into a hundred wraithlike whispers.

There were positives in entering the pyramid. The further they traveled inward, the more out of range they become of the snapping cold. That did not stop Zenetra from shivering under her many layers of clothes. A chill had seeped so deeply into her bones that her marrow had turned to ice and her blood to rivers of slush. She wished she had brought along at least one of Nibbs' firestones, but then again, she would not have been able to lug around an incendiary rock shard and hope to return to the airship unburnt.

They journeyed down the corridor after Mimi's echoes. Half an hour of walking later, the noise from the rising water faded out, the cold wind stopped wailing through the hallways, and the walls fell away from the light.

Mimi stopped at the threshold with wrist outstretched before her and whistled.

On the walls were massive rectangular panels inset into granite blocks. With her arm stretched high, Mimi spun as she entered an enormous chamber room. Shadows in the near vicinity retreated as white rays spread far and wide.

The panels came into view one by one, revealing metal murals inlaid with gold and bronze, and trimmed with silver. Some were of buildings that told stories of construction and an island exploding with resources, while a larger panel portrayed a city jam-packed with people. Their images were flat and simplistic as they collectively worshipped a star.

High above on angled ceilings were giant plaques of stars within circles. Their silver paint glimmered as the effects of Mimi's moonstone ghosted over them. An elaborately decorative floor of colored glass tiles formed spiraling designs of stunning beauty beneath their feet. Instead of tiles meeting walls, however, there were two thick lines of gold trim—a frame for the floor.

The gold stunned Zenetra. The trim in her family mansion was mahogany, the sign of an affluent home in the UDF. To use gold as decorative trim was downright excessive.

In a voice a hybrid of exhaustion and amazement, Scarlett said, "This is alchemic temple."

"How can you tell?" asked James.

With her neck craned upward to see the stars and circles on the slanted ceiling, Scarlett breathed out, "Because I have been here before."

Zenetra studied Scarlett's face. "Earlier you told me this was the one building you never explored."

"Just so." Scarlett blinked the glossiness of tears from her eyes. "And yet I have been here before. You see, Temple of Heironymux the Elder is exactly same layout as this pyramid."

Carver swiped his hat from his head, wrung the water out onto the tiled floor, and tucked the wet piece of fabric into a pocket. "Didn't you say this was an alchemic-styled pyramid, Cadet? Five-sided and all that?"