"So let me get this straight. . . you lot are all here because she was having weird visions and one of those visions showed a desert and another one kept telling her some numbers which just happened to correlate with the name of this planet and so you all decided to travel halfway across the galaxy to reach said planet and now you're here?" Spatch asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Uh. . . yea. . ." Fischer hesitantly stated.
Spatch nodded his head slowly and puckered his lips, clearly not buying in to the whole visions thing.
"It's complicated. . . right now we're just basically looking around for anything that might give us some clues to what exactly is going on in her head. This is the closest we've come to finding any answers," he continued.
Spatch looked over at Ko who was holding one of her arms timidly and doing her best to avoid any eye contact.
"Well, that's certainly an. . . interesting. . . story to say the least. I'm assuming I would be correct in assuming that you all aren't too familiar with this place either?" He asked.
The others all nodded their heads.
"Well then. I haven't been here too long myself so it could be nice to have some company. And as I'm sure you're all aware, strength in numbers is never really a bad thing," he continued.
"I guess so. How deep have you been?" Kori asked as the group regained their momentum and headed towards the stone sculpture's chest hallway.
"Not much further than this. I heard arguing and headed back as soon as I could. Just as I got here I saw Quin take a dive and. . . well you know the rest."
The group entered into the hallway when all of a sudden, torches on the walls lit up by themselves, blue and orange flames dancing down the tunnel.
"Woa woa. . . what the hell?" Quin stuttered.
The group looked on down the hall, none of them quite sure what to make of the scene they had just witnessed.
"Am I seeing things? Or did. . . did those torches just ignite on their own?" Fischer asked with a nervous chuckle.
Kori and Spatch both walked up to one of the torches and began investigating it. Waving his hand over the top of the flame, Spatch let out a small yelp and immediately retracted his arm as he confirmed that it was in fact real fire.
"Yea that's not creepy at all," Quin stated.
"So. . . I guess we go that way?" Kori shrugged pointing over his shoulder.
Ko stood there in silence as she tried to take in everything that was going on. At least she was fairly certain now that it wasn't just her head playing tricks on her. This was about as real as it could get.
"Hey, Blue. You alright?" Kori asked as they walked. She nodded her head but avoided any eye contact.
He turned to Fischer and shrugged slightly with a frown plastered on his face. Fischer figured that Ko really wasn't in the right mood or state of mind to be discussing any of that right now, so he looked for topics that he could change the subject to.
"So. . . Spatch. What were you even doing all the way out here anyway?" Fischer asked.
"Well, honestly I kinda just stumbled across this place. I've always had a thing for the Rift. My father used to be a great adventurer, he travelled all around the galaxy in search of uncharted and remote planets to document and all that. So in my spare time, I like to do a bit of the same. I was just cruising honestly and happened upon this planet here. Flew around for a bit, spotted the entrance to this temple which really peaked my interest and thought I'd take a bit of a look. It's not every day you discover a long lost temple in the middle of dead space. I'm pretty sure this hasn't ever been documented either. Or not to my knowledge at least."
"So what do you do for a living then?" Quin asked.
"Oh I'm a tug pilot. No shortage of busted up ships out in the middle of nowhere."
"Right, gotcha. You found many other planets like this?"
"Oh hundreds. I can't say they've been very interesting. Most are just lifeless rocks. Air isn't breathable either so there's no point in staying there. This is honestly my first big score. And what a score it is!" He exclaimed, filled with glee.
Fischer looked over at Ko and couldn't help but feel Spatch's excitement was rather misplaced. She was still panting because of the hear but her lower jaw was trembling like crazy and she never walked more than two meters away from anyone in the group, especially him.
He walked up to her and rested his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. At first she was caught off guard and jumped a little, her nerves getting the better of her. But she calmed down and embraced his comfort as they walked a little further.
Noticing his actions, Spatch leaned a little closer to Quin.
"What's that about?" He whispered carefully.
"Oh, that's nothing. Apparently," She grinned and gave him a playful wink. A cheesy smile spread across the veranah's face as he realised what she meant.
"Ko isn't exactly the brave type. Fischer likes to keep her company. I'm pretty sure it's to keep himself sane as well. They make a cute couple but they'd never admit it," she continued quietly.
The crew walked for a little longer until they eventually reached the end of the hall. It opened up into a larger cylindrical room with the same pillars holding it up as before. The ceiling was around ten meters high, not as tall as the room with the ravine but still enough to make you dizzy if you stared up at it for too long.
On the floor, a strange circular pattern was carved from stone. It seemed to carry a strong sense of importance, reminding Fischer of old Norse runes. Across from where they stood lay a huge stone wall with different symbols and patterns carved into it. The wall had a large indent in the middle where a piece of metal sat with a sentence carved into it.
"Wow, this place is incredible," Quin marvelled. Gazing around, she noticed what looked almost like cave paintings on the walls. It was hard to decipher what they all meant but one of them looked like a figure of some sort holding a clock in one hand and a strange object in the other.
Fischer walked up to the indent in the wall and began to inspect it. Soon enough, he realised he could read and understand the symbols that were carved into it.
"Hey guys. . . look at this," he said. The rest of the group approached behind him and peered over his shoulders.
"I have a face that does not frown and hands that do not wave. . .I do not walk but move around. You look at me when the need arises. . . without conflict I strike. . . and I command your days and nights," he read from the tablet.
"It's a riddle," Spatch stated with confusion.
The group took a few steps back. "Why on Earth would there be a riddle hidden away in the middle of a deserted tem-" Fischer stopped himself when he realised what was going on.
"Ko. . . you said you heard riddles in you head. . . didn't you?" He asked.
She looked up at him with fearful eyes. "Y-yea. . . I did. None of them said anything like this though," she mumbled.
"Well. What could the answer be?" Kori asked, scratching his chin.
"I have hands that do not wave. . . well what doesn't wave? Is it some sort of animal?" Quin questioned.
"I don't know of any animals that command days and nights," Spatch said.
"I dunno. Some religions are based around things like that. But what animal doesn't walk but move around? A snake maybe?" Fischer guessed.
"What's a snake?" Spatch asked.
"Oh right, uh, I'll explain later."
"A clock. . ." Ko muttered. The group turned around to see her looking up at the painting of the figure with the object and the clock in hand.
"Sorry Ko?" Kori asked, puzzled.
"Look, a face that doesn't frown. Clocks have faces. Hands that don't point, it commands our days and nights. We base everything we do off of time, clocks tell the time," she attested, pointing at the wall.
"No no, she's right. What else could it be? Without conflict it strikes, the clock strikes at the hour. Nice one Ko!" Fischer complimented.
"Ok, that's all well and good, we have an answer, but what do we do now? It's not like we can write it down anywhere-" Quin was interrupted by a the floor suddenly rumbling and a small ring of fire surrounding the ground, taking the shape of the pattern that was carved into the floor.
"What the hell, what's going on?" Fischer yelped. He instinctively grabbed Ko's arm and held her close, something she wasn't in any mood to oppose.
"I think you got it right!" Kori yelled.
Suddenly, the wall with the riddle in it began to split apart, covering the group in a shower of small rocks and dust. The wall slowly retracted into the side of the room and began to reveal a hidden chamber behind it.
"Holy shit. . ." Fischer cursed as he looked on, dumbfounded.