At first, Lyren was dumbstruck. The first thoughts being that he had stepped on a trap. He looked at the golden glow and it appeared he was standing right at the middle of where it was coming from.
"Dumb ways to die…" he thought as the light engulfed him.
He was so caught in his thoughts of the looming death that he did not even seem to notice the changes that were taking place, starting from his feet.
The golden light seemed to breathe life into everything. The ground beneath him changed, marble tiles emerging where damp stones had been.
This golden light seemed to stretch outwards and everything it touched seemed to undergo a transformation and started looking new. As though time was being rewound. The statues' heads on the ground seemed to float on their own and were all flying back to their original position.
Lyren's mind cleared and when he saw the changes, that were taking place, he felt a chill that threatened to freeze him.
He could feel it...
A glare.
His gaze was dragged to the now restored hall against his will. Its true form a majesty, a vision of power so absolute his mind couldn't contain it.
A searing pain shot through his eyes, warmth trickled down his cheeks. He stumbled backwards and the floating statues' heads fell down and he got a chance to witness the once marble tiles he was stepping on. He wiped his cheeks and looked at his palm.
'Blood!?'
The statue's head that was the cause of all this turned to golden vapor. The golden vapor vanished and the warmth it had brought with it fizzled into the darkness. The grand marble dissolved back into damp stone. When everything settled down, his chest expanded as his lungs demanded for as much air as possible.
'I had forgotten to breathe…'
A violent gasp tore through his chest. He did not know how long he had stopped breathing for but it was obvious that it was for a long time. It was because he was breathless that he had stumbled backwards and had freed himself from the illusion.
He was taking in deep breaths and his heart was rushing and even he felt like it wanted freedom from its cage. He could hear his heart beating in his head and realized just the level of danger he had been.
He had been reckless.
'I was naïve… it was way too easy…'
He felt sweat drop from his forehead and his knees suddenly became weak. He fell on his knees and used his arms to support himself. He was foaming from his mouth as though someone had been strangling him.
He coughed relentlessly but that only hurt his once torn throat but he could not stop himself. His fingers were shaking and the chattering of his teeth filled his ears as though he was in the snow, with no covering.
Lyren who had fallen to a crawling position looked up and stared at the hall and he saw a flash as his imagination filled in the missing sections. He could not believe that all that happened from witnessing the original hall.
It took a while for him to fully calm down and he had been lying on his back, a hand resting on his forehead. He stared at the empty darkness above him as he fell into deep thoughts. Things here were not as simple as he had expected and he had learned the hard way.
He was sure that was not a trap but with what he had just witnessed, he could not afford to let his guard down. He felt a shiver as he sat up and looked at the surroundings. He was having a hard time averting his gaze to look at the hall.
The thought of it alone seemed to make him turn pale.
"Huff. So, this is what remains of you… all that prestige… reduced to vengeful ruins…" Lyren spoke aloud hoping there would be a presence but all was calm.
The only sound in the vicinity being his breathing. He stood up and looked at the hall once again as he checked where the statue's head had fallen. It must have triggered something.
He crouched and took a better look but the floor had fallen victim of time and aged thoroughly. He used his fingers to feel and there it was.
Faint patterns almost nearly invisible to the naked eye. Smoothed out by time. These were not writings of some hidden language but actual patterns which were also on the verge of being eroded.
He traced the patterns carefully so as not to set off anything. The more he studied the patterns which he could not even memorize, the more he realized they held a certain depth in complexity and it was like these patterns were all intertwined, covering the ground beneath him. Like roots from a single tree.
He looked back to where he had come from and as he traced the patterns, he realized they were all originating from the very part he had dropped the statues head. He reached for the short sword on his back and started scratching on the midpoint of the patterns but there was no scratch.
That was to be expected. This place was probably hidden for a long time and the fact that these patterns were still existent was proof of how hard the ground was. He sheathed the sword back and stood up once again not heading towards the hall but sideways to one of the statue's head.
He bent to pick it and he studied it thoroughly but it had no marking on it or anything. Even its face had already weathered. He reached for several heads and they were all the same. There was something special about the statue he had kicked then.
He went to the bodies of the statues and they were all weathered and with no distinct features.
'This is pointless.'
Lyren stopped studying the statues and went to the cracks that appeared here and there all over. Whatever caused these cracks was obviously not natural. He could tell that even the cracks were also being eroded with time.
Looking closely, he realized that they were not just random fractures. The edges were too clean and the angles sharp.
'A blade's edge!'
His blood ran cold from this thought. To his young mind, this was inconceivable. Was it even possible cut the ground? He could not even cause a scratch on the patterns that were obviously weathered yet someone had managed to leave blade marks on the same ground in its prime.
'This is true strength. Maybe a god did it…'
He stared at the cracks that were almost a meter deep each. He looked at the layers of the ground but there was nothing of note. He realized the only thing that stood out were the patterns which all had a single source.
He steeled his mind as he looked up and stared at the hall standing before him. He felt that even if he went to another direction, he was not going to find anything of importance. The only thing he could do was go forward and see what was inside the hall.
This thought left him frozen for a long time. He recalled the glare and also the fact that something or someone had called him here. Whether he wanted to find out was up to him.
Did he have enough guts to walk into the depths of the unknown?