Chapter 5
1010words
Elias had to slow down, carefully making his way down the stone steps. The edges of the steps had been worn smooth, clearly many people had walked here before.
The rock walls on both sides of the passage continued the previous murals, but the content had changed. No longer the twilight of the gods, but depicting human life - some farming, some hunting, some building boats... Finally, these people all came to a door, behind which was a bright light.
"Perhaps this place wasn't built for gods, but for people," Elias thought.
After walking for about ten minutes, the passage suddenly became flat. Elias found himself in a long hall with stone statues lining both sides.
These statues varied in form - some resembled warriors, some priests, some commoners... But they all had one thing in common - their faces were expressionless, their eyes staring vacantly ahead.
The floor of the hall was filled with traps. Elias moved forward cautiously, occasionally stepping on loose tiles that triggered falling rocks from above or spikes springing from the floor. He relied on clues from his grandfather's notes and his own intuition to avoid danger time after time.
Upon reaching the middle of the hall, Elias discovered a huge map carved into the floor, seemingly depicting the layout of the entire underground complex. Several important locations were marked on the map: "Hall of Judgment," "Trial of Ice and Fire," "Celestial Temple"... The last location was covered by a massive rune, making its name unreadable.
While he was studying the map, he suddenly heard a noise behind him. Elias whirled around to see a stone statue with eyes flashing red, slowly walking toward him.
He was startled and hurriedly stepped back, gripping his dagger tightly. The stone statue moved slowly, but each step caused the ground to tremble slightly. Elias realized that he had triggered some kind of mechanism.
He turned and ran, with the stone statue pursuing closely behind him. The other statues in the hall began to awaken as well, their eyes glowing red, blocking his path. Elias dodged left and right, relying on his agility to avoid the statues' attacks.
Reaching the end of the hall, Elias discovered three exits, each carved with the same runes as the stone door earlier: "Wisdom," "Strength," and "Sacrifice." Without the slightest hesitation, he rushed through the exit marked "Sacrifice."
Behind the exit was a narrow passage that could only accommodate one person. Elias ran wildly until a small door appeared at the end of the passage. He pushed it open and found himself in a circular stone chamber.
In the center of the stone chamber was a stone platform with an ancient book on it. Elias stepped forward and carefully opened the pages. The pages were made of some kind of animal skin, with text written in runic script.
He recognized it as the Edda from Norse mythology, but the content differed from versions he had read before. This book recorded not stories of gods, but the history of people — about how a group of ancient Norse people survived, fought, and believed in this land... Eventually, they built this underground complex as reverence to nature and their ancestors.
"So that's it..." Elias suddenly realized, "This isn't a temple of gods, but a monument to humans."
Just then, the door to the stone chamber suddenly closed. Elias was startled and turned to pull the door, only to find it was locked tight. He looked up and around, noticing many small holes in the walls of the chamber, continuously pumping smoke inside.
The smoke grew thicker, and Elias began to have difficulty breathing. He realized this was another test. He recalled a line from his grandfather's notes: "True sacrifice is not giving up your life, but giving up your attachments."
Elias took a deep breath, placed the ancient book back on the stone pedestal, then sat cross-legged on the ground, closed his eyes, and began to breathe deeply. He no longer tried to find an exit, but instead focused on his breathing, allowing himself to calm down.
After about ten minutes, the smoke began to gradually dissipate. Elias opened his eyes and discovered a new door had appeared on the other side of the stone chamber. He stood up, walked over, and pushed it open.
Behind the door was a long corridor with light shining at the far end.
Elias quickened his pace, walked to the end of the corridor, and found himself facing an enormous underground canyon. There was no bridge across the canyon, only a narrow rope spanning between the two sides.
The rope looked very old, and it was uncertain whether it could still bear the weight of a person. Elias hesitated for a moment, remembering his grandfather's words: "Some paths appear dangerous, but only by walking them can you see the truth."
He took a deep breath, grabbed the rope, and began carefully crawling toward the opposite bank. The canyon was deep, pitch black below, with the faint sound of flowing water. Elias didn't dare look down, focusing only on the rope in front of him.
When he reached the middle of the canyon, the rope suddenly began to shake violently. Elias was startled and quickly tightened his grip on the rope. Looking up, he discovered many openings in the canyon walls on both sides, with arrows shooting out from them.
He dodged left and right, trying his best to avoid the arrows' attacks. Several arrows flew past him, grazing his body and tearing his clothes. Elias gritted his teeth and increased his crawling speed.
Finally, he crawled to the other side, collapsed on the ground, gasping for air. He looked back at the canyon and saw that the arrows had stopped firing.
After resting for a few minutes, Elias stood up and continued forward. The road ahead would be even more difficult, but he was prepared.
He knew he was getting closer and closer to the truth.
