Elysia ran her fingers gently over the ancient runes, her curiosity piqued. "We should find a way to translate this. Who knows what secrets it holds?"
Fortunay agreed, his mind racing with possibilities. "I might not fully understand it, but I can try to record as much as I can. Maybe in the future, someone from the Realm of Gods will be able to decipher this better."
As they moved further into the temple, they came across an enormous chamber. From the beginning, they had maintained caution but they didn't come across any traps, which surprised them even more.
All of them entered the Chamber, one after another.
At its center was an altar, and on top of it lay a peculiar artifact - a gemstone unlike any they had seen before. The gemstone emitted a soft, ethereal glow, pulsating with energy.
Eris, the most impulsive among them, couldn't resist reaching out to touch it. "This is amazing! I can feel its power."
But as her fingers made contact with the gemstone, an unexpected surge of energy shot through her body, causing her to stagger back in surprise. The gemstone's glow intensified, and the entire chamber seemed to respond to her touch.
"Be careful!" Fortunay warned. "Don't touch anything here!"
Eris frowned, her excitement tempered by caution. "What do you think it does?"
"I can't say for certain," Fortunay replied, "but it must have some significance tied to this in this temple. We shouldn't take it lightly. It might even be a trap. Don't move out of its place for now."
Before they could delve further into the gemstone's mysteries, a deep rumble shook the temple. Dust and debris fell from the ceiling, and the Young Gods realized that their exploration might have triggered something ancient and powerful.
It was too late for Eris to be cautious since she had already touched it.
"We should leave," Elysia suggested urgently. "If this place collapses, we won't stand a chance."
"The walls are made from something that even our Divinity can't stop. This place is definitely made by an Ancestor of the Forgotten Era. Even our Divinity is restricted now!"
Reluctantly, most of the young gods stepped away from the mysterious gemstone and quickly made their way back to the temple entrance.
Fortunay was the last person left behind. However, he didn't follow after the others. His eyes shifted to the gem in the distance.
"To hell with it! Not like we can return here! The trap is already triggered as well!" He ran toward the Gem. His heart pounded with a mix of excitement and apprehension as he reached out to touch the gem.
He didn't touch the gem this time, and directly kept it in his Spatial storage, before running away to catch up with the other young gods. No one saw him take the gem.
As most of them reached the exit, the ground beneath their feet trembled violently, and the temple started crumbling around them.
Without hesitation, they sprinted through the collapsing ruins. The temple seemed determined to bury its secrets, and the Young Gods knew they had to escape before it was too late.
The Young Gods pushed their limits, using everything to leap over debris and dodge falling stones. The ground shook beneath them, and the roar of collapsing walls echoed in their ears. The temple was falling apart rapidly, and they had to get out before they were buried alive.
Fortunay's heart pounded as he ran, keeping the mysterious gemstone securely in his Spatial storage. He knew that what he did might have consequences, but the allure of the artifact was too strong to resist. He couldn't bear leaving behind something so ancient and powerful without knowing its true purpose.
Finally, with a burst of divine speed, they made it out of the crumbling temple just in time. The structure collapsed behind them, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust and debris. The Young Gods were gasping for breath, relieved to have escaped the collapsing ruin.
"What were you thinking, Fortunay?" Elysia scolded him. "You took the Gem, didn't you?"
It wasn't hard for her to guess why Fortunay was so late to catch up to them. She knew him better than anyone and understood what might have delayed him.
"Because of your momentary greed, you could've been buried under the temple!" She exclaimed, as if scolding the man before her.
Fortunay's expression was a mix of relief and fascination. He didn't mind her sharp words. He was only happy that he brought something so special with him.
"I couldn't help it. There was something about it that called to me, as if it held answers to questions we haven't even thought of yet."
Eris, who had touched the gemstone earlier, looked at him with a mixture of envy and anger. "All that after you told me to not touch it. So shameless!"
Unfortunately, she couldn't do anything about it.
They decided to put some distance between themselves and the collapsing temple before taking a moment to catch their breath. The gravity of their discovery sank in, and they couldn't help but wonder just what this temple was, that even their Divinity was restricted inside suddenly.
What was even more surprising was the fact that the Temple came crashing down as soon as the gem was touched. Most of them wondered about the person who made this place, wondering its purpose.
"Should we inform Caen about this?" Elysia suggested. "He might know about the temple and the gemstone."
"No," Fortunay interjected. "Not yet. Let's find a safe place to rest first. We'll need to take time to understand the ancient inscriptions and symbols on the walls and decipher their meaning. We found this treasure."
"We should find a way to use it ourselves instead of handing it over to someone else," he further added. "As the heir, it's not like he lacks any treasures. So why don't we keep this to ourselves this time."
The greed in his eyes was clearly visible.
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