Chapter 6
Welcome to the labyrinth new students
Ken and Saiko enter the temple. the large stone doors close behind them, covering them in complete darkness, but the darkness only lasts a moment before sunlight enters the temple illuminating it
Ken looks around in utter shock
~ how is the sunlight reaching inside the temple ~
Saiko shrugs her shoulders and looks at him
_ I don’t know magic, doesn't sound like a big deal to me _
~ no, magic has rules and laws. it doesn’t break the laws of physics. how is light from the outside reaching us here when there are multiple feet of solid rock between us and it~
_ dude, we just watched a multi millennia old building reconstruct itself, and you are surprised by some light _
- that’s different that could be explained-
Ken messes up his hair in frustration and gives up
- whatever let’s move on -
Despite its grand construction, the temple was rather small, it had multiple pillars with various ancient inscriptions on them.
the pillars as well as the walls had various depictions of a man with the head of an ibis bird sometimes holding a scroll and a pen, and sometimes holding a scale.
there were also various depictions of baboon monkeys and ibis birds but the most significant one was a large statue of a baboon with the head of a dog wearing a crown with a moon disk on its head.
Below the statue lies a stone plaque. Inscribed on it in an ancient language, similar to the one used on the key and yet different, are the words
[ LORD OF EL ASHMUNEIM ]
Ken looks at Saiko with a blank expression on his face
~ you can read this right ~
_ yep, I certainly can _
~ why can we read this?~
_I don’t know _she responds while shrugging her shoulder
~ and why do I know that El Ashmunein refers to this place? I didn’t know that before reading, better yet, why can I tell you exactly where this name came from and how it came to be ~
_ I don’t know _ she shrugs
~ aaaaaarrrhhhh~he groans in frustration ~ I can tell this place is going to drive me nuts ~
Ken sighs looking very irritated
_ oh, hey I think your key goes there _
Saiko smiles and points to a round depression below the statue that seems to match the shape of the key
Ken takes out the key and places it in the depression
- looks like a perfect fit-
RUMBLE RUMBLE
the ground shakes as the statue moves to the side revealing an underground tunnel
Ken looks at the tunnel and then at Saiko and bows with a smile while pointing toward the tunnel with his hand
~ after you my lady~
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Saiko rolls her eyes and enters the tunnel
_oh, how knightly of you _
~ hey you are objectively more durable than me since you have Argus~
Ken chuckles and follows after her then the statue moves back sealing the tunnel behind them
***************
_ wow this is one long tunnel how long has it even been _
a jovial Saiko chuckles and turns to look at a half dead looking Ken who is barely able to drag his feet along at this point.
~ 49 hours 32 mins 27 seconds ~ he says with a raspy and weak voice he answers
- heh, you are even counting the seconds how dedicated _
~ how are you so jovial about this ~
_ not like panic would help us at all _
~ WE HAVE BEEN WALKING FOR TWO WHOLE DAYS~
_ no, we took rests and we slept _
~ NO YOU SLEPT HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO SLEEP IN A PLACE LIKE THIS ~
_ oh, I have been through worse_
Ken squints at Saiko skeptically
~ I will ignore how dark what you just said was ~
_ oh look! looks like we arrived _
~ oh ~
Ken runs to catch up to Saiko and is met with a large stone door with an ibis bird carved on each side, and a moon carved on the center top of the door.
below the moon, there are depictions of various humans sitting in cross legged positions and writing on boards
RUMBLE
the moon splits in half as the large multi ton door opens seemingly by itself.
when the door opens, Ken and Saiko are met with seemingly endless halls with massive pillars and many rooms, the walls and pillars are all filled with writings and inscriptions with not an inch of space wasted.
the rooms are filled with papyrus scrolls somehow perfectly preserved. the whole building is so marvelously designed with no seams as though it’s all carved out of one single piece of rock
after some walking Ken and Saiko come across a massive statue, the statue is of the man with an ibis bird head they saw earlier in the temple.
he is wearing a crown with the moon above it, he holds in one hand a large staff with the head of a Jackel and in the hand a feather pen and a papyrus scroll
Saiko smiles standing in front of the statue and admiring its magnificence
_ I guess that’s their god, the lord of el ashmunein Thoth _
Ken chuckles a bit and looks at her with a smug look on his face
- there is no such thing, gods don’t exist they are just fairy tales ancient people came up with to make sense of a world they didn't understand and depend on in the face of an uncaring nature they feared and felt weak against-
Saiko raises an eyebrow and gives him a skeptical look
_ does it look to you like these people, the people who built this, didn't understand nature and felt weak against it? _
Ken is about to answer then pauses for a minute to think
~ a……. Okay I give you that point, but still, gods aren’t real maybe these ones didn’t come up with them just inherited them from people who were more primitive from an older time, when people haven’t yet learned magic. doesn’t matter~
Ken walks to the statue and knocks on it smugly
~what matters is this dingus doesn’t exist. there’s no man with an ibis head, there are no half fish women in the sea, no bird man is carrying the sun on its head, and there’s definitely no old man in the skAAAAAAAAAAAAY-
Ken gets lifted in the air and starts to chock as though an invisible person is holding him by the neck
~ o, okay I believe in you I believe in you l, let me go ~ Ken exclaims as he chocks
- what was it again? Ah, right guard my mouth so that it may only speak the truth. since you came here, you have only been speaking none sense-
a body starts to slowly materialize in front of Ken floating in the air and holding him by his neck.
Ken looks at his assailant with terror. his body was transparent at first, but it slowly became more visible till it became like looking at colored glass or water …no that’s wrong
'it’s like FIRE '
Ken looks more terrified as his brain tries to make sense of the entity he is looking at.
his body is light blue, like a shimmering blue flame his body sways in the air, with bits of white light that flicker in and out of his body like stars in the night sky, and a beautiful dancing blue smokeless flame crowns his head where hair should be and emanate from his feet and shoulders.
Violet eyes with yellow glowing slits stare down at Ken, no, they were looking at something else, something fundamental.
'he is looking into my soul '
Ken never believed in such a thing, but for some reason, that's the only word he could think of to describe what he felt under the gaze of those eyes.
Ken clasps his hands together and begins to pray
~ please Mister Thoth, I mean god Thoth please spar me ~
- ENOUGH WITH YOUR LIES -
the entity shouts then throws Ken away slamming him against the ground
~ ow ow ow~
- I can tell you are lying; if something like that was enough to change your beliefs, then your faith is weak and your mind is weaker -
~ heh well since you know I am lying I guess my mind isn’t weak ~
the entity looks at Ken, and then Ken’s body gets slammed against the ground again.
Ken tries to get up but is unable to move, his body feels many times heavier than before as though gravity itself changed for him and him alone.
~ how is this possible? why do impossible things keep happening today? ~
- they are not impossible your mind just can’t comprehend them - the entity retorts
~ ahh well I guess I have to grant you that, I really can't comprehend it ~
Saiko walks in front of the entity
_ please Mister Thoth, let him go, he is quite foolish but he is not that bad of a person_
- don’t worry young one I won’t kill him, he just irritated me, also I am not the god Thoth -
- HA I KNEW IT -
the Entity waves his hand and Ken gets dragged across the floor, seemingly by nothing but the laws of the universe itself, and slams into a wall with a loud thud
- Thoth was my master he unfortunately is no longer among us my name is Naoi I am the guardian of the labyrinth welcome new students-