Symbols: The Lost City

by Silver Inkwell

Chapter One

Symbols: The Lost City

Once they all finally got inside the city a magical barrier activated sealing them inside and shutting whatever was out there too as well. “Well then, it looks like whatever is out there is locked out, but we’re also locked in now too as well.”

“Why would there be a security system to lock something inside?

“That’s a very good question Helena, but I think that weren’t just trying to keep something outside by locking their city up, but also to keep something inside as well too, something very old, ancient, powerful, dark, and dangerous.”

“But why? Why would they ever do that?” Quentin said then now.

“Fear Mr. Mallory, that’s why, it’s always fear of something that does this.”

“Well it’s a bit larger than I ever expected it to be,” Kronos said now then.

“Yes, well nothing is ever as you really expect it, is it now then?”

“No, I guess not, but has any pony else noticed the energy beam from that big hue wide vast temple in the middle of the city?” Kronos said now then.

“Yes, I did,” Daring Do said looking at the bright blue beam of energy coming from it, “That must be where the city’s main source of power comes from, and if any place is going to have the answers for us it’s going to be there, so come on, let’s go right now,” she said picking up her stuff and things and started to go before with his time powers. “Wait,” he said then now, “Shouldn’t we tread very carefully around here? After all, if something very ancient, dark, and powerful and dangerous is in here then shouldn’t we have a plan of attack first?”

“We should and we do, the plan is simply this, attack,” Daring said now then.

“No, firstly we need a spot where we can all meet up in case we get lost or separated instead, how about that building over there?” he said pointing out towards what looked like it had been a church once before now then.

“Yeah, sure thing, okay then, now we have a plan, can you let me go?”

“No, not yet, but don’t you hear that noise?” he said now then.

“What noise would that be exactly?” she said trying to hear it now then.

“Just shut up and listen for once in your life,” Kronos said now then and with that said they all did and eventually they could hear very faint sounds of what could be described best as scuttling now then. “That’s certainly no pony sound that I have ever heard before,” Quentin said now then. “That’s because it’s not pony, it’s something else completely different, and they’re all around us, and I would highly recommend that we start running towards the temple right now.”

“Why would that be exactly?” Daring said now then.

“Because if they’re hostile they’re going to attack us anyways, but for now let’s just try to remain calm and go there at a normal regular pace and speed just in case our movements wake them up, but if they do then you can really run.”

“Well of course, duh,” Quentin said then now as they slowly moved towards the temple. “So what great wide vast treasures do you think are in the city?”

“Gold, silver, rubies, gems, knowledge, and they’re probably at the temple too if it’s the main source of power and is at the center of the city.”

“And what if it’s not? What then? Do we comb the whole entire city?”

“Well yes actually, we’ll have to make sure that it’s safe for other ponies to come here and study and examine it, so yeah, this might take us a very long time.”

“Well so long as nothing attacks us I think that we’ll be just fine.”

“Please stop jinxing us already,” Daring said as the sounds increased in volume now them. “Do you think that they’re starting to wake up right now?”

“It’s very possible yes, if they detected food in the nearby are then they could have alerted the others just in case depending upon the size of the prey that they had.”

“And let me guess, we could be the prey, right?” Quentin said now then.

“Yes, you are very correct indeed, I am very glad to see that you’re learning.”

Suddenly one pony stepped onto something very gross and sticky and wet.

“Ugh, gross,” they said, but suddenly Kronos stopped them with his powers as he looked very closely at the substance before him then now. “Yep. That was an egg sac that you just stepped on, congrats, you just killed their babies, and if we weren’t prey before we definitely are now because they’ll kill us just to avenge their babies, so every pony, get ready to run.” And with that said they all ran towards the temple as thousands of spiders started to converge on them, but these things were very huge and big, almost like a dog or wolf instead.

“Oh crap, these are the deadliest ones we have, they’re the biggest and meanest and they won’t ever stop hunting their prey until it or they die instead, and their venom is very powerful, it’ll kill you almost instantly after causing you a whole lot of pain, so I would highly recommend not getting bitten.”

“Yeah, we already get that Kronos!!!” Daring said shouting back as she flew over all of them now. The spiders were very fast and the temple was very far away and there was no way that they could ever make it, they needed more time.

And with that Kronos turned towards the wave of spiders and made them slow down to half their speed. “Keep going,” he said now then struggling with it.

“I can’t hold this for every long since I’ve never dealt with so many living creatures at once, go now before I lose control,” he said now then. And with that said they did and once they got far enough he let go of the spider and used his powers to speed himself up to catch up with the group now then. “I don’t know if I will be able to do that again, there’s just too many for me to handle at once.”

“That’s okay, you did your very best, that’s all that really counts.”

And with that said they very quickly made their way to the temple as the spider very slowly started to gain on them, but even magic wasn’t enough to stop them now. And once they finally got to the temple base they stopped suddenly.

“Well, it was a nice run and getting to know all you,” Daring said now then.

And with that said they waited for their eventual demise and end to come.

But it didn’t they were somehow spared and saved from their deaths.

When the spiders came within range of the steps they were on suddenly a magical force field came up between them and fried and sizzled away at any spiders who dared to touch it. And apparently this force field was made out of the same blue light wave energy that was protecting the whole entire city.

“Why did this force field come up?” Quentin said then now.

“I have no real idea, but maybe it’s protecting us now, or the spiders could just be really bad for it instead,” Helena said looking at it now then. “Well it doesn’t matter why so long as we’re safe from the spiders for now, but come on, we can’t get out unless the spiders go away since I would assume that the magical barrier and force field would only go away once the danger and peril has finally passed.”

“Well maybe, but we won’t know for sure until we go in to check, won’t we?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” she said slowly approaching the doors of the temple now then.

“They’re all locked tight,” she said circling around the back and closely checking and examining each one and then finally coming back again, “There’s no way in.”

“There’s always a way in, you just have to be smart enough and clever to figure it out of course,” Daring said also looking at the doors now then too.

“You think that you can really find something that I didn’t?” Helena said then now. “Yes I do, and I think that I already have,” she said turning something around and then suddenly the doors slowly opened up for them. “There we go, I told you that there was always in, and I just figured out that there must be a keyhole if there was a lock, or at the very least a door handle, and I was right.”

“Good job, but do you have any idea of what we might face or encounter in there?”

“No idea at all, so let’s go in and find that out, shall we?” she said then now.

And with that said they slowly went inside ready to explore a whole new entire place of wonders and wealth. “It’s surprisingly enough more illuminated than I could have ever possibly imagined it,” Kronos said looking at the very brightly lit room now then. “Yes, but what’s with the artificial light?” Daring said pointing to the walls which glowed blue with the magical energy and highlighted the markings on the walls too as well. “But what’s with the torches on the wall exactly though?” Helena said then now. “I don’t know, but I have my own theory about them, but to test it out I’m going to need some water first though.”

And with that said she was handed a bottle, “Thank you,” she said pouring it unto the fire, but it didn’t go out. “Just as I suspected, an eternal fire fueled by magic to always keep the flames alive and therefore a backup lighting system.”

“Why is it backup exactly if it’s still fueled by magic?” Kronos said.

“I don’t know exactly, maybe it’ll still run even after all the magic is gone and drained away in theory. But depending upon the power source it may never really truly drain away, but if that were true than what is powering it exactly?”

“That is a very good question, but it is one that should and will have to wait until later, but until then we’ll just have to go deeper into the temple since there’s no current way out, and I don’t think we want to face what’s outside of it.”

“Yes, but what if there are dangers and perils inside of it?”

And with that said suddenly the doors behind them closed as the lights in this room slowly illuminated to show them a round circular door in the middle.

“I wonder what could be in there.”

“I have no idea, but let’s find out, shall we?”

Slowly they went up to it and pushed the center of it and the doors slowly opened up to reveal a whole entire chamber filled with treasure and untold riches.

“We found the treasure, but it can’t be this easy, surely there would be traps?”

“Unless it was a very peaceful society which I doubt then I would say yes, but there’s only one way to find what the trap is exactly,” Daring said flying inside and landing on the very first floor tile and nothing happened.

“Tread carefully, only step where I go,” she said.

And with that said they did so as she went towards one big huge purple and blueish gem that stood in the center of the room which clearly meant that it was the most important. “If you’re going to take something don’t take the gem in the middle, it probably activates the trap,” she said staring at it.

Very carefully they started to pile the gold into their bags, but as they did so they heard the very soft sound of scuttling and turned to see that four doors, two on the left and right were very slowly opening with every piece of gold they took.

“Wait, put the gold back, I have a theory,” she said.

They did so and instantly the doors shut.

“So the trap is only activated if gold is missing, or any treasure, well then, I would rather have it over and down with right now,” she said taking the purple gem from its center place. As she did so suddenly she heard a very large roar as two doors in front of them to their center slowly opened as well as the doors to their left and right, but their only exit was now closed off completely.

“Stand together!” she shouted as a big huge beast came through the doors.

“Leave the gold, leave this city stranger and never come back,” it said.

“Wait, you can speak our language?” Daring said.

“Yes, I am the very last of what remains to protect this city, but the spider ponies and guards should be coming very soon, and we will do anything to protect the gold unless you can pass a test, one that requires strength, wit, bravery, intelligence, courage, knowledge, and many more various random skills and special talents, after all, the city is dead and it needs new guardians to protect the treasure and wealth and riches, and as for me I have always been here since this city was, you can call me Anczia, or in other words the Ancient One instead.”

“What tests do we have to pass exactly for the gold?”

“That depends, but if you fail then you will die.”

“Alright, fine then, fair enough but do you mind starting now?”

“No, we will wait for the guards.”

And with that said they waited until they saw stone statutes of ponies come out.

“Just one quick question, what’s keeping you alive and fills you with power?”

“That would be the Heart of the Jungle or Temple as we call it, or Jahara or Jahari, or Teheran, the name varies depending upon who you are, but it is our most valued thing that we have, even more so than the Royal Gem that you hold right now.”

“Do you always answer the questions of strangers so easily?”

“Yes, my last instructions were to inform any and all intruders found within the walls of these temples, and I was known to be the judge between if a criminal lived or died, the ponies here worshipped me as a god when in reality I was just a beast, a monster, a creature that didn’t deserve it, but I still accepted it nonetheless. And now you will face the test to determine your fate.”

Slowly the floor underneath their feet glowed blue and the floor suddenly started to raise. “No way, this is so cool and amazing and radical and awesome!”

“How advanced is your technology?” Daring said as they all slowly raised up.

“Oh, it’s not advanced, it’s just forgotten ancient magic, good luck.”

And with that said suddenly the floor locked into place as they were now in a higher part of the temple. “So this is what’s in the upper levels, very neat indeed.”

“Kronos, admire later, focus on surviving right now,” Daring said.

“What? I can be an admirer of natural beauty and construction and very ancient technology and magic that seems very advanced.”

“Yes, you can be, but the real question is if you should be of course.”

And with that said suddenly the room illuminated to show many inanimate stone statues in the room that stood six feet high tall. “This is the first test, of both body and strength, use what force you might to defeat our stone warriors, and you only need to defeat one each using whatever powers you wish, but magic is strictly forbidden even if it wasn’t effective against it, that is the only rule here.

Pick a warrior to fight and when you have all chosen the battle will begin.

Only those worthy and strong enough may advance to the next test.”

And with that said they all went to stand in front of the warriors, and once they did their eyes glowed blue and thy started to move and draw out their weapons.

Daring tried to her classic standard normal regular ordinary kick on them, but when it finally landed against the wall it got back up as if it felt nothing.

“Wow, these things are tough,” she said continuing to battle it.

“These are our very best training dummies, they’re filled by the magic, life, and power of the Jahara, they are almost invincible.”

“Then why are we battling them?”

“To test your endurance and strength of course.”

“What should happen if we disobey one of the rules?” Kronos said.

“Oh, don’t even think about it for the many bad things yet to come.”

And with that said they all did their best to try defeating them, but it was to no avail. “You know I see why they said no magic, because it would definitely make this a whole lot easier for all of us.”

“Yes, and these tests are not meant to be easy, they’re meant to be very hard and challenging.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured that already, thanks a lot.”

And with that said suddenly Kronos did something very stupid, foolish and crazy too as well, he charged one of the statues with his horn and very surprisingly and shockingly enough it went through like it was paper.

“Guys, aim for the center with something very sharp.”

The unicorns followed his way and quickly dispersed with the stone statues, all of them. “It looks like we passed your test,”

“Yes, you have, but now we will just have to see how well you will go against.

“Besides, there are still many more tests left, plenty of chances and opportunities to die,”

“Well there might be, but we’ll pass all of them, right?”

“Yeah, sure thing, whatever.”

And with that said another set of doors slowly started to open up.

“The next challenge is one of the mind, good luck.”

They all entered the next room to see two boxes there.

“What’s in these boxes?”

“Open them up and you will see it soon enough.”

They did so and saw that in both the red and blue box that there were two buttons, one green and purple, one labeled Life, the other Death.

“One of the buttons will kill you all, another will kill anything not in the temple, another to kill anything in the city, but only one will let you move on forwards.”

“But which is which? Are we supposed to just guess it and get lucky?”

“No, use your mind, think, use your logic and reason.”

“I think that I might know the answer,” Kronos said, “There’s nothing inside is there now?”

“You’re right, you have passed the test, and rather quickly might I add if I must say something to add on now.”

And with that said another set of doors slowly opened up.

“The last and final test is of heart, mind, and soul, good luck.”

They entered the room to find it completely empty except for one mirror.

“Look into the mirror… and then tell me what you see in there…”

They all did so.

“Thank you, you have all passed and done quite well.”

And with that said the floor slowly lowered down until they were back in the treasure room. “Take what you want and need, but no more, or else.”

They did so as they watched the creature very carefully.

“What are you called anyways exactly?”

“I don’t know what I am anymore, sorry for that.”

“Where is the thing that powers this temple?”

“The Jahara can never be taken away or the city will be lost, you can look at it and know our language too as well, but the most deadly thing out there, that’s what we call a Urunkanti, but the whole entire city is cursed, the ponies are not sane anymore, they are not regular or ordinary or normal, they are crazy and insane, they are infected, shadows, echoes of the past, the city lives because of the heart, but if the heart is infected then the whole entire city will all be sick.”

“But why? Why would it be infected?”

“I do not know, why do you think that we are called the lost city?”

“Do you think that we could figure it out for you now?”

“Maybe perhaps, I hope so, if not, well then at least you tried to help out.”

“And at the end of the day that’s all that matters, right?”

It nodded.

“Yes, indeed, it truly really is so.”

And with that said yet another set of doors opened up for them.

“If you want answers it is in there, the Heart of the City and Jungle, but beware, you might not like what you find, so be very well warned indeed.”

And with that said they slowly entered the chamber room, and they saw a very big huge gem aligning the wall that was of so many various random colors, it was beautiful and wonderful, just like a rainbow.

“So what’s this powered by anyways exactly?”

“We do not know, but it protects us from our enemies,”

“What else is in this city other than wealth?”

“Knowledge.”

And with that said yet another set of doors slowly opened up for them.

Inside this chamber were so many books.

“This contains a complete record of the ponies here, tread carefully.”

“Oh my, this is amazing, it’s so wonderful.”

They all went in and started to take books down and then suddenly Kronos gasped. “I can read these, and that message that we received, it wasn’t what we thought it was originally, it wasn’t an invitation, it was a warning instead.

Here is what it reads.

Stay very far away from this city if you want to live, do not ever come here for your own safety, do not put yourself in danger or peril or harm either instead, for my many treasures which while I hold right now will eventually fade away as do all things eventually do, for time eats away at all gold turning it into dust at last. Stay very far away and never come here for your own safety, this is your first, last, and only warning, there will be no more second chances for you now.”

“If it was a warning then we should really leave here like right now.”

“You can’t leave, not yet, stay here and be safe, go out there and die.”

“Why is it safe in here?”

“Because the enemy that the ponies have fought for years, they’re out there, and they are very real, they are not of myth and legend anymore.”

“I think that we’ll take our chances.”

“Very well then, good luck, stay safe and don’t you die on me either.”