บท 331: Stars in the ceiling
The group prepared to defend against any incoming attacks. Whatever the naga said didn't sound like a friendly greeting, and having the door lock behind them wasn't a good sign. For a full minute, the group just stood there, waiting for something to happen while looking for any signs of what was about to come. Another minute passed in complete silence, the naga still staring at the group without showing any signs of a response.
"Hello?" Shane asked, but there was no response.
"Are we sure this is a trap?" Bonnie turned to the explorer.
"Not really, but what else could it be?"
"A planetarium?" Alex pointed to the ceiling. In the dark stone that covered the chamber, one could see several constellations spread around.
"Is that Ursa Major?" Hera asked.
"Yeah, and that is Lynx, right?" Helena pointed to a constellation above what Hera pointed.
"I think so. I never thought about it, but are the constellations here just like the ones we have on Earth?" Bonnie asked.
"They are, but each room would share constellations with a different place. It's not weird to see starts that we would only see on the southern hemisphere in a room and constellation from the northern hemisphere on the next one," Shane explained.
"Sooo… are we in a trap or just some elaborate classroom?" Blue asked.
"No clue, but it doesn't seem like something is going to jump at us," Mylo replied and took a step forward.
The naga started moving again. They all raised their right arms with their palms up and waved them in a U shape. Following that, they all placed one hand by their chests and lowered their heads, vanishing from their bed. Only a single naga remained, the one with the same arrow markings as the door behind the group. However, going against the hissing that came before, their face seemed happy and welcoming. The same type of expression that the statues in the entrance of the temple had. It started hissing again, which still sounded angry, but the face was still friendly and happy.
"Can you understand anything?" Bonnie turned to Shane.
"I can read their writing, but I never heard them speaking," Shane replied.
"So… any ideas how we can understand what they are saying?" Blue asked.
"No clue. I hope that they start to use some images to explain things so we can at least make something out of it," Shane sighed.
As the naga continued to speak, the group spread around and started to look for something. During all that time, the naga continued to talk while looking at Mylo, who was the first one to step forward. Most of the room was made out of that black stone, and there weren't any lights aside from the constellation on the ceiling. Hera and Helena used their lights so everyone could see something. They spent about 30 minutes in there with the naga still talking. Bonnie kept watching the projection, but it didn't make any other movements. It just kept hissing as if it was giving a lecture.
Hera kept looking up to the ceiling. The constellations in there bothered her, something seemed off, but she couldn't wrap her head around what it was, "Is anyone here really good with stars?"
"I know a little," Bonnie replied.
"I know some, but that's not my specialty," Helena shrugged.
"I used to visit a planetarium all the time when I was a kid," Alex said with a smile. She was also looking at the stars.
"So, do you feel something off about this too? I can't wrap my head around it, but something seems wrong. Doesn't it?" Hera asked.
The four of them looked up, but Bonnie and Helena couldn't see anything wrong with the constellations. With a shrug, they gave up and went back to looking around. Alex, however, also felt like something was weird.
"Hey, do you remember if Draco's head is pointing to Ursa Major or not?" Alex asked.
"Draco? Honestly, I don't even remember what Draco looks like," Hera sighed.
"So, Ursa Major, is that right? Those four forming a box, and then the next three forming kind of like a tail. At least those are the major stars of the constellation. There is Dubhe, Merak, the… something, and I don't remember the rest," Alex pointed to the stars while explaining.
"Yeah, that I remember. Sort of," Hera nodded.
"Ok, then right above it and a little to the left. Those starts that make a small box and go around, but I think they are in the wrong position," Alex said.
"Hang on," Hera pulled up her tablet and took a picture, "Can you draw the constellation?"
"Sure," Alex nodded and drew the lines to connect the stars.
"Where are the wings?"
"Wings?"
"Yeah, doesn't the Draco constellation have wings?" Hera asked.
"Not every representation. Most of them only have the body and the head. I only remember that because that's one of my favorites," Alex replied.
"Right, but there is something off about it. Do the head of the dragon and the head of the bear face the same direction?" Hera asked.
"That's it! Draco is facing the wrong way. It's flipped over!" Alex gasped.
"So, what does this mean?" Hera kept looking at the top.
"I have no idea. Shane, did you hear our conversation?" Alex turned around.
"No, I didn't. What's up?"
The group gathered around and heard the explanation about the constellations. Shane looked up and walked under the group of stars that were in the wrong position. She looked down and started to walk, following the shape that Draco formed. Looking around for anything that could be out of place.
"Look for spirals. Maybe there is a triskelion somewhere. That might be the theme for this," Hera suggested.
"That's a good call. Although calling a theme might be a stretch, there was just one thing with those spirals around," Shane chuckled.
"I'm just trying to help," Hera shrugged.
"I appreciate it, don't get me wrong," Shane looked around, but there wasn't anything around, "Maybe this is not the right way to go about it. Where should the constellation be?"
Alex looked around and tried her best to remember the exact position of Draco's constellation. It took a while but after taking a picture of the ceiling and editing the image to put the stars in the right position. Shane tried to follow that new path. At this point, the naga had not just stopped talking but also vanished from its bed, and the sound of something unlocking came from the door. It seemed like no one would be able to leave the room while the projections spoke.
Wanting to be sure about that, Blue walked to the door and pushed it open. Thankfully, it wasn't locked, but the stars vanished when the light from the corridor came through.
"Blue, can you close that. I need the stars to guide where I'm going," Shane asked.
"Sorry, I just wanted to be sure that the door wasn't locked," Blue closed the door again, and the four nagas appeared on their beds. That same roar echoed through the chamber, and it was followed by the rest of the speech, including their odd greeting where all the naga waved their arms.
Shane stopped at a point and just stared at the projections, "I think I got something."
"What is it?" Helena asked.
"Hang on. Can someone open the door again? I need to see the start of this speech," Shane asked.
"It's locked. We need to wait for the snake people to stop speaking," Mylo said after trying to open the door.
"Then we wait," Shane replied.
At first, everyone waited patiently for the naga to finish their speech. When it was over, Mylo opened the door and closed it again to reset the projections. The main issue was that Shane still wasn't able to find exactly what she wanted. It was only during the hand movement that the spirals seemed to form, but the angle she was looking at wasn't right. After the third try, the rest of the party joined in. They all spread around the right position of the constellation and tried to find the triskelion hidden in the room. Everyone decided to help because each attempt to find took around fifteen minutes and if they left that up to Shane, who knows how long it would take for her to find the correct position.
On their 7th attempt, Mylo, who was running back and forth between the door and the area under the constellation, caught a glimpse of the triple spiral. He tried to go back and see it again, but it was too late. Shane got really excited, and the entire party clumped up together to try to see the shape. On the next attempt, Shane managed to see the whole triskelion. Directly in the middle of the three spirals, it seemed like something was on the other side of the wall. It was a small point with a lighter shade of black that only showed the difference in color after when two of the see-through naga would overlap.
"Someone stay here and keep your eyes on that spot. Let me know when I got close," Shane asked and walked over to the hidden mark.
With some help from the rest of the party, it didn't take long for her to find the location. However, the place was just like the rest of the wall. The stone was smooth and clean. Even when using her radar, Shane couldn't feel anything special coming from that spot. She tried a few different ways of making it react, but nothing happened. Even after drawing a triskelion with her finger, the stone was cold and unresponsive.
"Maybe there is a password or something," Shane mumbled, "Hey, what was the name of that emperor again? The one from the hidden tomb," she turned to Hera.
"It was Lantra," Hera replied.
"Lantra?" Shane asked to confirm, but her hand was still touching the wall.
When the name came out of her mouth, that small piece of stone changed colors to a dull grey, and a large piece of the wall shifted, revealing a passage down. Unlike the current room, this hidden path had soft blue walls with light, a light red floor, and a ceiling with the same shade of red, which gave the area a much brighter appearance. Everyone gathered around to see where it would lead. The tunnel kept going down in a spiral, but neither Hera's pulse or Shane's radar could see anything beyond the walls in the room. It was like there was still solid stone in front of them instead of a passage.
Shane was the first to enter the tunnel, with Mylo following right behind her. One by one, the rest entered the passage, and they kept going down. Almost twenty minutes went by while the group kept heading down. By Bonnie's estimate, they should be almost 200 meters deeper, and there was nothing to identify if they were actually moving or just stuck in some sort of loop. To remedy that, Bonnie was using a pink lip balm she had on hand to mark the areas they passed by to be sure they weren't walking in circles.
When they got about 250 meters deep, the passage stopped its descent and opened to a small chamber with about a dozen pillows and a pillar in the middle. This pillar had paintings, dolls, and other knick-knacks of a different naga. One with a triskelion on their shoulder. Behind that, there was another door with the same symbols as the ones they saw in the statue. Unlike that version, there was no spell circle around them. It looked like just a design as decoration.
Shane walked over to open it, but she stopped the moment her hand touched the door. With a big smile, she turned back to the group, "Guys. We found the legacy!"
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