There was a subdued excitement within the group as they ate breakfast the next morning. By some unspoken unanimous agreement they had decided to eat and clean up their camp before exploring the top of the pyramid in the light of day. After shoveling down their food and quickly packing up their campsite they split up, wandering around and inspecting their surroundings, this time with an eye for detail. Levi wasn’t sure what he thought they would find, but he knew they would find something. He could just feel it. The dungeon he had been in before might have tried to kill him, but he didn’t get the sense that it was in any way impossible to get through. This dungeon felt the same way. He knew there was a way forward somewhere, and this felt like that way.

Despite the top of the pyramid being infinitely narrower than the base, it was still rather large, large enough that you would need to shout to hear someone speaking if both people were on opposite sides. Each of their party members seemed to have their own idea about what part of the pyramid to inspect, and they set about it with gusto. Levi chose to inspect the top of the temple. He didn’t really think there would be anything on the roof, but it was better to get it out of the way beforehand so that he could then start inspecting everything else.

Gathering his power, Levi jumped, his leap easily making the seven or eight meters distance to the temple roof. Once up there, he had figured he would look around to confirm there was nothing there. Instead, he found himself slack jawed, staring at a huge mural all made in bas relief. It covered the whole temple roof, and Levi wandered over it in awe, trying to take everything in.

It seemed to depict one scene, but the scale of that scene was immense. It showed a battle, one that appeared to have four sides. There were three different armies made up of various humanoid figures and they all were fighting a mass of tentacles and darkness. Levi got the feeling what they were fighting wasn’t what was literally depicted, but rather the relief was a representations of some greater power that was unable to be etched into stone.

For the sheer size of the mural the detail was impeccable, and Levi found himself lost in the story the relief was telling. Each small section seemed to tell a tale all on its own but also seamlessly blended in with the greater whole. He had never been to any famous art museums, but he had seen pictures online, and he had a feeling nothing on Earth could compare to what he was looking at. The roof of the temple had to be at least the size of a small sports field, the scope of the mural truly mind boggling.

It must have taken him hours to take it all in, and he got lost in his appreciation, completely forgetting what his original purpose was. When he finally remembered why he was there he had painstakingly looked over the whole mural. It was a beautiful piece of art, but thinking back over the whole thing there was nothing that seemed helpful for their dungeon run. Sighing, Levi jumped back down from the roof, joining everyone else in their search.

While he had been on the roof no one else had any luck, and as Levi came down he saw them all still searching for any clues. Duane was off towards the edge, while Sam was inspecting the pillars that held the temple roof up. Alex and Mia were towards the center of the temple, inspecting the floor. Levi decided to join them there. The temple was barren, the part of the pyramid under the roof just as flat as the rest, but he figured if there was a clue it would likely be in the center. Or at least that was as good a place to start as any.

“Find anything up there?” Sam said, looking up from her inspection.

Levi shook his head. “Nope. There’s an amazing mural, but nothing that seemed like it had any clues about the dungeon.”

“That’s too bad,” Sam said. “So far it’s the same down here. The art is amazing, but so far no secret doors or convenient directional signs.”

Levi nodded and continued on his way over towards Alex and Mia. He wasn’t discouraged in the least by no one finding anything. He was sure something was here, they just had to keep looking or it. Just as he was thinking that he heard Mia mumble something.

“Huh, these holes look kind of strange. Almost like something is missing here.”

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Levi would have missed it if he didn’t have improved senses, but Alex who was closer was able to hear it more clearly. Mia was clearly talking to herself, but Alex responded anyway.

“Missing? What do you mean?” He wasn’t even paying any attention to what Mia was looking at, focused on his own section of the pyramid.

“I mean these circle things here. If you compare it to the pattern everywhere else doesn’t it feel like there should be something in them?”

At this point Levi joined her, taking a look at what she was talking about. Similar to the roof of the temple, the top of the pyramid was covered with inscriptions and sculpted murals, and although the detail was a bit more subdued, it was still impressive and a lot to take in. The part Mia was talking about was almost in the direct center of the temple, making it close to the center of the whole pyramid. Levi could understand why she was focusing on this part. It would make sense for something of interest to be located here. Or at least sense to a human. He wasn’t sure the System would agree.

The specific things she was talking about were three circular depressions, spread in a perfect position to form an equilateral triangle. This part of the pyramid had more detailed designs, but there were plenty of other locations where there were rises and falls in the sculpting, so Levi wasn’t quite sure what Mia meant.

“Can you explain more?” Levi said, taking a look at the three depressions. “Is there a reason why you think something is missing?”

“It’s just a feeling,” Mia said. “Just something about the pattern makes me feel like there should be something there. It doesn’t make sense for there to be three perfectly round circles in the ground and for something not to go in them, right?”

“You mean like blood or something?” Levi asked. “Maybe we have to perform a human sacrifice to fill each hole with blood.” He was thinking back to the Aztecs. Maybe the four-sided pyramid was the clue?

Mia shook he head. “No! I mean like something should go in them. Maybe some sort of sphere or something.”

“You mean like an orb? Now that you mention it, I think I saw something about three orbs on the roof of the temple.”

“That’s it!” Alex shouted, running over to them. “Of course! It’s so obvious!”

“What’s so obvious?” Mia said, scowling. “You can’t just shout “it’s obvious” without telling us what it is.”

“You’re absolutely right, Mia,” Alex said, his excitement radiating off him in waves. “These holes are the key. I should have thought of it sooner. Those perfectly circular holes are too suspicious. I bet we have to collect three orbs and fit them in the holes, opening up some secret tunnel or something.”

By this point Sam and Duane had noticed the commotion and came over to join them.

What’s all this about?” Sam asked, looking over the three depressions.

“It’s the key!” Alex said. “I’m sure of it. All we need to do is find the three orbs which will unlock the secret tunnel!” As he continued speaking he seemed to grow even more sure of himself. Sam wasn’t convinced though.

“Uh-huh,” She said. “And what makes you so sure of this? It sounds like you would have us go off on a wild goose chase. And how are we even supposed to identify these orbs anyway?”

“I think he’s right,” Levi said. “I saw something on the roof that might be a depiction of the orbs we need.”

“What are we waiting for?” Alex said. “To the roof!”

The group made their way to the temple roof by way of Levi tossing them up there before he led them to the center to the mural.

“Look, right here. This is the main scene. There are three armies fighting some monster of some sort. Right here, here, and here, look, each of the commanders has an orb.”

When he had looked at it before the orbs didn’t appear to be that important, appearing as merely one of the many things the generals were carrying. But now they appeared more mystical, powering the weapons each of the three generals were holding, producing the power to fight off their foe.

“So we just need to take these orbs down to the holes below?” Mia asked.

“No, I think these are only depictions,” Levi said, as Alex moved forward to take a closer look at the orbs. He inspected all three of them, before activating his defensive skill and giving one a good punch, resulting in some stone flaking off of it.

“Levi’s right,” Alex said. “It looks like these are just sculptures. We need to find the real thing.”

“And how do you propose we do that?” Sam asked.

“There should be a clue somewhere,” Levi said, looking around. “If we really do need to find those orbs, and I think we do, this seems like a test by the dungeon rather than some impossible task. There must be clues as to their location hidden somewhere. I’m not sure if it’s up here or down on top of the pyramid, but there should be something.”

“Let’s split up and start searching then,” Alex said. “Look for anything that might have a relations to these three orbs.”

The five of them split up, now with a clear goal to pursue. But even with an idea of what they were looking for the area they were searching was vast, and the amount of detail they had to sift through could drive even the biggest hidden object fan crazy. Just as the light was dimming and they were about to have to call it quits for the day Duane called everyone over, saying he might have found a clue.