Chapter 25: The Temple of Lompoc

The Lompoc Earthquake of November 4^th was a powerful one. Striking off the central coast of California, the Lompoc Earthquake was a magnitude 7.1. The damage, however, was one that many did not need to worry thankfully. It struck approximately 16 kilometers from the shoreline. Powerful two-meter tsunami’s hit the shoreline, and two ships were tossed around by the massive swelling waves. Amazingly with something as powerful as the earthquake was, the damage was not that bad. A highway was cracked, and a railway was thrown off alignment, but there were no deaths or fatalities from it. The only real victims of the earthquake were the dead fish that began to hover to the shorelines.

While humanity stood watching something as trivial as a powerful earthquake, deep underwater, the temple sat waiting to be explored. Rocks, stone, and sand were shaken loose from the quake to reveal the massive structure. Shaped like an enormous dome with a series of tunnels that connected, the temple was in the middle of nowhere. Only the most hardened of explorers with the right equipment could ever reach this place.

Inside by the entrance of the temple, a white flash appeared that illuminated the tunnel. The already illuminated tunnel got even brighter as the white light revealed four figures that began to materialize. As the light faded, the four figures walked away from it.

Ariadne, Ptah, Toha, and Theo began to see a new location appear from the new place they arrived at. Ptah was the first one to step forward as he got in front of all three and turned to look at them.

“We are away from all human public. We can assume our normal forms here,” Ptah told them. The words were directed more towards Ariadne, Theo, and himself rather than Toha.

“We can be normal here?” Theo asked.

“Yes, we can, sweetheart,” Ariadne told her.

Toha closed his eyes as a bright light emitted from Ptah. Ariadne and Theo followed suit as the tunnel was illuminated again. He cringed his teeth a little bit as his eyes were trying to adjust to the dark caverns.

When Toha opened his eyes, he looked upon his wife that now stood as the eight-foot walking minotaur once again. She was different than she was before. Instead of wearing the tunic that she wore before, she now wore the signature armor that she wore back in World War 1. The armor that lined her shoulders shimmered with the bright bronze color as it did before. She looked like an ancient Greek soldier as her four fingers gripped a trident. Her hooves clunked on the stone as she resituated herself to look at her husband.

Toha smiled as he looked at his daughter. She was once again the four foot walking black and white fur minotaur. She was wearing the same dress as her tail wagged a little bit in the air. She patted herself as she seemed to give a sigh of relief that she was no longer in human form.

Toha then looked at what was ahead of him. Ptah was no longer what he was but different. The most significant difference was that his skin was green colored. He still had the Egyptian features that stood out as before. His beard also stood out a little bit like it was longer. He wore most of the same clothing as before, but now he wore a blue cap that covered the top of his head and hair. His cane that he had earlier was now a unique looking staff. Simply known as the Scepter of Was, the staff had an ankh on it and dyed symbols on it that went down the bronze metal frame. Interestingly, Toha noted that Ptah was still using the staff as some sort of walking cane as before.

“I didn’t know you are a human mythic,” Toha told Ptah looking at him. “There seem to be so few of the human gods that ever made it.”

“Indeed,” Ptah replied as his brow lifted. “Of course, I am not entirely human.”

“I always found it funny that you had green skin,” Ariadne commented. “I always wondered how that cat fell in love with you so long ago. How is Sekhmet anyways?”

Ptah turned around as he gestured the group to follow him as he spoke. “She is doing well. We are currently taking a break from each other for a few hundred years. She said that she wanted to ... explore humanity for a little while longer.”

“Are you happy about that?” Toha asked him.

“Sekhmet and I will always be married, but a few hundred years is a flicker of time compared to you humans.”

“Besides,” Ariadne whispered to Toha. “He uses the breaks to go spend time with Bastet.”

Ptah and the group followed him. The long tunnel had two exits. Theo would occasionally use her fingers to touch the wall-mounted crystals that provided illumination to the tunnel itself. The tunnel was nothing spectacular. Stone lined the entire structure. The sounds of hooves from Theo and Ariadne made a reverberating sound as they walked. The smell of seawater was all around them. The area was still damp as if the ocean water was drained from the place.

“What can you tell me about this place?” Ariadne asked, Ptah.

“Behind us is the exit that leads to outside to the ocean. Rocks still cover the entrance behind us that prevent entry and the ocean water from coming in. We can still obviously teleport in because the magical seals are not in place here compared to further inside. Ahead of us is the room that leads to the locked door. My partner should be inside there, waiting for our return.”

Toha would notice the ceiling would occasionally drip water inside to let him know this place was deep underwater.

“Are we in any danger of the place falling apart and having water rush inside?” Toha asked.

“You would be in danger,” Ptah said the obvious. “However, we can teleport you out immediately if it does. I will state, though, that if this place were going to collapse or try to crush on top of us, it would have done it by now.”

“Yeah,” Ariadne added. “The earthquake would have shattered the temple. Who knows how long this temple has been up? How many earthquakes it must have taken just to upheaval it.”

“Didn’t you tell me that Daiyu went through a temple before?” Toha asked.

“Yes, she did. She is often embarrassed to tell the tale, but her, Xuanwu, and Sárkány, did explore a temple awhile back.”

“One of our first cases dealing with a sleeper temple,” Ptah added. “We got two mythics to join back with the Coalition of Deities again because of their deeds. She has nothing to be embarrassed about it.”

“Yeah, but it was something else she avoids telling me the last time I asked about it. Whatever the case is, finding these temples have been amazing to find.”

“We get to find sunken treasure!” Theo said as she smiled at the group.

“That is quite possible, but don’t get ahead of yourself, my dear child,” her mother told her.

They reached the door in front of them. With a simple wave of the hand from Ptah, the door opened up in front of them. The inside of the temple revealed a massive circular room. It was filled with empty space all around them. For the group, it was like stepping inside of a large dome. Stone continued to perforate the walls all around them. As they stepped inside, the stone doors closed behind them.

There were a couple of things that were inside the room, though. For one, there was an individual inside the room and a large sealed door in front of that person. The individual did not notice the group walking in as that person’s attention was focused on the door.

“Mom, who is that ... dragon?” Theo asked as she tried to figure the individual out.

“Ah, that would be my partner,” Ptah stated.

“Oh no ... that isn’t who I think it is,” Toha commented.

“Ha,” Ariadne chuckled and smiled. “Nope, it isn’t him, but it is a person just like him. She is one of Sárkány’s first to join his cause of creating the great circle of dragons so long ago. That would be Vibria.”

“Ugh...” Toha commented as he facepalmed. “Not another dragon. Last time we had Sárkány at our place, he killed Theo’s pet rabbit. That was supposed to be a gift for her 7^th birthday.”

“Oh ... that is why you didn’t have a gift for me that day,” Theo commented as she put her finger to her furry chin.

“Yeah, that dragon destroyed your present. Even Daiyu had to calm him down. I wish I knew what got him so upset with rabbits in the first place.”

Vibria heard the distant voices from the other side of the room. She yelled at them at a distance.

“Lord, Ptah! It is good to see you again! Have you brought additional help?” She said in a stoic voice. Her accent gave off a Portuguese accent.

As she came walking up to them, Toha had a good chance to see her as she approached. The dragon was like the others. She stood at 8 feet in height. She wore silver-like armor that reflected from the lights from the crystals in the room. The armor surrounded her from her chest down to her abdomen and legs. She was a little different than the other dragons he had seen so far. Vibria’s legs were a little bit skinnier than the other dragons. She had two arms that had wings attached to them. If anything, it looked like all she had to do was flap her arms, and she would start to fly in the air. The wings she had were more prominent than most dragons of her height to compensate for the fact that they were not really a part of her back.

Vibria’s hands were a little bit smaller but still had four digits, including a thumb with tiny claws on each one. Her head had the same two protruding horns on her head that most dragons had. Her scales gave off a green color, much like Sárkány’s scales. One thing that was obvious to Toha was the size of Vibria’s chest. Her breasts were quite large, bigger than Ariadne’s ever were, and the armor she wore did not do enough to hide that fact. All in all, the dragoness could be described more as a wyvern than an actual dragon. Her tail was sleeker but still had an array of spikes on them.

One of the other big things that Toha noticed was that Vibria had a massive long sword that was strapped to her back. Unlike the legendary Clarent sword that Sárkány had, Vibria had a two-handed sword. Toha himself had already heard it many times from the dragons that Vibria used the two-handed sword very well.

Her claws from her feet clicked and clacked as it tapped the stone beneath her. Vibria almost immediately gave a stoic feel as she approached them. Her wings naturally flexed with her body as her arms swayed back and forth. Her snout and face gave a look of fearlessness and happiness at the same time.

“My biggest welcome to you meus amigos,” she said, bowing herself to them as she stopped and stared at the group. She extended her hand as she bowed with her other hand to her chest. She then put her hands to her waists as she looked up at them. The wings flexed and pointed upward as they followed from her arms.

“Hello, Vibria,” Ariadne said as bowed her head to them.

“I have not yet had the chance to meet the other members of your family yet, lady Ariadne! This must be the Toha, your great husband that fought with my lord Sárkány, the undefeated! It is an honor to finally meet you face to face.”

Toha seemed happy to hear what she said. Vibria’s voice was dynamic in the room as her voice echoed throughout the room. She had a way of putting praise to everyone she spoke to.

“It is an honor to meet you too Vibria, nobody can fight better than Sárkány can,” Toha said. He realized too quickly that his words carried a particular cheer to it that he promptly toned it down in fear of it becoming embarrassing.

Ariadne forced a tiny chuckle as she held it back. Toha heard it, though.

“And this! What glory to finally meet the progeny of lady Ariadne. The great and future warrior Theoxena!”

Theo almost clapped her hands together as she ran up and extended her hand to the tall dragon above her. Vibira lowered her hand as the two shook hands together.

“I prefer to be called Theo. Is that is alright?”

“But of course!” Vibria’s voice got loud. She turned her head as she gave a stoic look as her hands returned to her waist. “I am the great Vibria! Honor bound to defend the land from all that bring harm to mankind. I will be your honorable protector. None will stand in my way.”

“We are happy to have you with us,” Ariadne told her. “If it is alright, though, we came here to help you and Ptah on trying to solve the mystery of this temple. We will need some peace as we begin to search in this temple. If it is alright, can you watch our daughter for us?”

“But of course, lady Ariadne! I will not fail in my quest to watch and protect us.”

Theo got excited by Vibria’s energy. Her dynamic range and power that she projected naturally got her more wound up than usual.

Toha stepped away as Ptah and Ariadne went and walked to the walls. Ptah was already pointing to one of the walls that had the drawings that Toha and Theo could see. This left the small minotaur girl with the dragon knight that stood before her. Vibria crossed her arms as the three left her. Theo looked up at her and kept smiling.

“Can you fly?” Theo asked her.

“Why, yes, I can!” Vibria held up her hand in triumph. “My flying is better than any of the dragons that you can see.”

Theo stepped forward as she touched the long thin wing of Vibria. She looked at the minotaur with a surprised look.

“I met uncle Sárkány and aunt Daiyu,” Theo said. “I don’t know much about you, though. Where did you get such a big sword?”

“Ah, the flamberge!” the dragon looked back at her massive sword. “Perhaps you don’t know the tale of the great Vibria?”

“No, please tell me!”

“Very well,” the dragoness gave a happy look on her face. “My name is Vibria Coca, perhaps you have heard of my legend ... the legend of a hero by the name of Saint George?”

Theo shook her head, no.

“It is a fantastic tale,” Vibria explained. “Long, long ago near the city of Silene in Libya, I made a home by the river. All was peaceful and beautiful. One day a group of humans discovered me, and they, of course, ran away in fear at the sight of my presence. Days later, I found that the city was sending sheep to me in hopes to make me happy. I could not understand what the humans were telling me, so I sent them away. Days later, I find they were now bringing me, children, as if they were trying to make me happy somehow. At the time, I could not figure out why they were doing this. Confused, I took the children to my cave, where I took care of them.”

Theo looked over to see her parents and Ptah had reached the wall as she turned her head to look at the dragon continue her story.

“One day, a man on a horse came to me. He pulled out a sword and threatened me with his weapon. I tried to tell him that I was no threat. He tried to attack me, but I overpowered him quickly. My desire was to have peace and quiet. I then gestured to him that the children brought to me were fine, but I noticed that the children were getting sick. I made an agreement with the man to the best of our abilities that it was not my goal to kill him. He pointed to the water and pointed to the children, and it was there that I learned that my breath was the cause of the suffering of the children and the land itself!”

Vibria held her finger up as if she was insulted and sad.

“What did you do next?” Theo asked.

“At the time, I could not understand George, the human, but we had a language established quickly. He could not return empty-handed. The children were to be returned, of course, but I felt horrible. I did not know I was poisoning the people! It was there that I knew justice had to be served to those people for my actions. I agreed to return with George to the city to face my crimes. The man was happy as I was carted into the city where I was brought to the people. All feared me, and I learned that the king wanted me dead. A deal was struck by George, where I would be spared, but he would be made the hero for his actions. I felt the actions were just, and I was released by George himself. The people considered me dead as I escaped into the night and flew far away from the city. The river turned pure once again. My friend George was made a Saint for his heroic actions.”