Chapter 23 #2
She rolled her eyes in aspiration. “Fine. But if anything else happens to us on this cursed planet, I’m blaming you and your shady theft.”
“Go right ahead,” he suggested with a deep chuckle. Holding the fiery torch high, he moved around the room. “More stairs.” He pointed the torch in their direction. “That must be the way out.”
Kendra offered a sincere ‘thank you' to the designers of the temple.
As they headed towards the stairs, Kendra noticed a flickering light bouncing off the wall of one of the spoke-like passageways. “Reyne, wait. There is a light down this corridor. I think the grobets are here.”
Kendra sprinted down the passageway, her excitement building with each step.
The walls on either side of her were adorned with intricate hieroglyphics, mysterious symbols, and strikingly vivid painted illustrations.
In the middle of that chamber, stood a carved pedestal that held a hovering smoky moonstone.
In the adjoining chamber, a torch held by a sconce, illuminated more hieroglyphics and crude drawings. A small wooden ladder leaned against the wall. The pedestal in the middle was empty—most likely in wait for the moonstone, or rather the archive, dwelling in the inky well.
Reyne followed her, the light from his torch further illuminating the painted illustrations.
Bright red paint caught her eye, immediately drawing her attention to an illustration beneath the unmistakable symbol of Valeria. She stepped closer, studying it. The image depicted multiple bodies covered in a thin hazy red line that seemed to shimmer. Beneath each body lay a fallen silver crown.
This scene appeared to represent the murder of the royal family, her family. The moonstone's first call to the keepers.
“Reyne, look. It’s the wedding massacre.” Kendra swallowed a sudden lump as tears burned the back of her eyes. Reyne moved beside her and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. His gesture made her want to weep, but she fought back the burning tears.
After regaining composure, Kendra moved to the subsequent illustration.
Beneath the symbol for Talear, an image captured a vessel rising above sweeping dunes and an imposing black fortress.
This must have been the moonstones’ second call.
But why Reyne’s departure would have been considered important enough to record was beyond her.
Turning her attention to the next drawing, Kendra recognized the symbol of Calypsta positioned above the illustration. This scene portrayed a spacecraft that had crashed amid a stand of tall trees. Beside the wreckage stood two figures, their forms rendered with simple, crude lines.
She gasped, her eyes widening in amazement. “Reyne, it’s us. You and me.” She whispered, pointing a trembling finger at the two figures representing them. “They have painted our image. Here. On Calypsta.”
Reyne held up the torch and scrutinized the drawing. A deep frown marred his brow. “This doesn’t look anything like me.”
His childish expression made her chuckle. “Come now. It’s not that bad. They got your hair color right. And they even sort of drew your armband.” Her finger hovered above the small silver smudge on the stick figure’s limb.
“It’s on the wrong arm.” He said with an annoyed grumble.
She laughed at his saltiness. “So, you have been memorialized in the temple of the archives, and you are seriously going to complain about a minor detail such as that?”
“What can I say?" He shrugged without apology. “I’m a stickler for details.”
She shook her head and rolled her eyes. He was being ridiculous. She touched the figure of herself—the one with long reddish hair and a silver crown clutched in her hand.
She jumped when she realized the paint wasn’t dry. “Still wet,” she proclaimed in stunned disbelief while she held up a finger smudged with bright paint. “They must have painted this yesterday.”
Reyne's lips tugged into a smirk. “You think?”
The wretch was teasing her. Suddenly feeling childish, she smudged the paint on his forehead with a giggle that turned into a laugh when he shot her a feigned glare.
Kendra tried to smudge him again, but he grabbed her hand, placed a brief kiss on her knuckles and without letting go, he said, “come on. We need to keep moving.”
Despite her desire to continue searching for a living breathing grobet, Kendra acquiesced and followed Reyne from the chamber. Together, they ascended a steep flight of stairs. At the landing, an open doorway led directly outside, offering a welcome escape.
Reyne dropped the torch into an empty bracket and strode into the light.
Together, they stood at the summit of a towering pyramid, gazing out over the ruins of Lux.
While most of the ancient plaza’s structures were either crumbling and covered in clinging vines, or had given in to complete deterioration, the temple beneath them remained unmarked by vegetation or decay.
Its pristine surfaces, a testament to the Keepers diligence and dedication.
“Do you think the grobets know Calypsta is ready for recolonization?”
Reyne began to descend the steep steps in a diagonal zig-zag pattern. “At this point, I would assume they know everything.”
Indeed. Who could argue with that?
Unlike Reyne, who descended the steps with ease, Kendra sat and scooted down one step at a time, uncaring how long it took her to reach the bottom of the temple.