Yui says "Alright."
Leaving Kechara and Asuna behind Bones and I follow a sprite down into the basement of the tower. The place is massive, not what I had envisioned at all. You could fit three stories in here easily, but instead it is a cathedral of columns and arches.
It is also very brightly lit, where I was expecting dim lighting. The floor is made of the bare rock of the mountain and has been left mostly rough. The only exceptions are a path leading to what should be the temple and a single room in the middle of the basement.
While the room makes me curious, I continue to follow the sprite as it heads the opposite way. The path leads to the temple entrance, which is carved directly into the peak of the mountain. The door and the stone around it are covered in beautiful carvings.
Yui says "This is the Temple of Wind. I can tell you how to open the door but nothing beyond that."
"Thank you, Yui."
Yui says "You should be careful. There were mages who went in and never came out."
"I understand, but this is something I have to do."
Yui says "Alright, good luck!"
As I step up to the door I spend a few minutes just admiring all the carvings. From birds and flying monsters to leaves blowing in the wind, every carving is exquisite. They are so well done that when my eyes move the carvings give the illusion of movement.
In the center of the door is a small square of movable tiles, Yui walks me through the puzzle. It is a good thing she does, otherwise it would have taken me hours to figure it out. When the last tile is in place the door slowly swings open revealing a plain corridor.
The plain walls inside the door look strange when compared to all the carvings outside. As I step through the doorway I feel a strange tingle across my skin. When Bones tries to follow me he disappears, a little worried I step back outside.
'Summon Bones!'
Luckily, he reappears instantly and doesn't seem to have been injured. It looks like there is a spell on the doorway preventing summons from entering. So I order him to go back upstairs and join the others, looks like I am on my own.
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After entering and taking a few steps the doors swing closed behind me. After only a few more steps I find my first trap, the hard way. Luckily, my reflexes are good enough for me to dodge the arrows that come flying at me.
The deeper I go the more complex the maze becomes and every single passage looks exactly the same. The only way I know I am not going in circles is because I keep running into different traps. The worst part is I have the music from Indiana Jones playing in my head on repeat.
Eventually, I make a wrong choice and find myself at a dead end, but when I turn around the path has changed. What was a straight hallway when I came down it, is now a T junction. With no writings or other hints, all I can really do is wander randomly and hope.
When I finally take a break to eat some food I am disappointed by the fact I don't have any griffon jerky. After eating I go back to wandering and a few hours later I find myself back at the entrance. After staring at the closed door I sit down to meditate and think.
Sad to say it takes me over an hour to realize what I missed, and that is the name of the temple. This whole time I was paying attention to the walls and the traps when I should have been feeling the wind. Setting off to try again, this time I follow the movement of the air.
Choosing corridors based on where I can feel the air coming from I find the going much easier. It turns out that the maze itself is all just one big trick, there is no answer to it. The airflow leads me through an illusionary wall and out of the maze.
If I hadn't stopped and figured it out I could have wandered the maze forever. Once out of the maze I find myself in a straight passage with carved walls. The carvings form a mural showing what looks like the creation of the world.
Unfortunately, it just tells the story of creation, it doesn't explain who built the temple. I was hoping to learn who the 'First Ones' that the elves referred to are. Of course, that is just to satisfy my own curiosity, it has nothing to do with my mission.
The grand hallway ends and I find myself stepping into a huge room that looks too big to fit under the tower. You could easily fit four or five football fields in this one room. At about the halfway point of the room there is a wall of wind stretching across the room.
As I approach the wall I can feel the wind pushing against me and it actually takes effort to move forward. When I reach the wall I first stick a hand in but all I feel is cold. Pushing my way through the wall takes a bit of effort but nothing more than that.
On the other side the air is completely still and I can finally see the rest of the room. At the far end of the room is a large altar and on it is a huge green orb. Between me and the altar is a humanoid figure that seems to be made up of lightning.
As I move forward the figure, which I'm guessing is a lightning elemental, watches me. It is only when I get closer to the altar that the figure moves, it moves between me and the orb. When I continue to approach the thing takes a swing at me, but it doesn't hurt me.