Jessica went back to look at all of the eight carvings, seemingly with more thorough after she decided to name the ancient structure as 'The Temple of the Volcano God'. It took her quite some time in looking through each of the carvings, and therefore I finally decided to sit down on the floor and leaned against one of the walls before I also proceeded to do the same. Since seemed to look at them from left to right and so I followed the same manner.
The first carving showed a large sized ball with a lot of stickmen figure around it, numbering no less than twenty stickmen, and seemed to be either dancing or running away from the ball. Also, behind the large ball was another large-sized triangular shape, but I could almost instantly tell the complete different of that figure when I compared it to the pyramid carved on the first artifact, making myself sure that it most likely be the mountain that we had to go to. If there was one more thing that attracted me on that carving, it was several lines that were carved above the large ball.
Then, I slowly glanced towards the second carving, which showed the seemingly very same triangular shape but with a slightly different size – somehow I noticed that it was carved a little smaller than it had been on the first carving. On its upper right side, were a couple of small octagonal shapes carved with only a little gap between the two of them. Some numbers of stickmen were also carved near the base of the triangle, although fewer.
The third carving was the one that suddenly picked up my interest. It showed the very same two octagonal shapes, but on a much larger size and around those shapes, were some numbers of another kind of stickmen. The different kind of stickmen had roughly twice the size of the first kind, and strangely seemed to also have something like an x-shape carved onto their backs. Based from what I saw, apparently the smaller stickmen were running away from the larger stickmen.
As I began to have my interest on the carvings built up, I continued to the fourth one. It showed me again the same triangular shape, more or less with the same size as it had been drawn on the first carving, and on the tip of its peak, there were also countless curved line carvings sprouting out of it. At first I could not take any rough guess on what it might be meaning, but then I came across a random thought that it could be how they interpreted a volcano into a carving.
The fifth carving might be the strangest of them all. It showed me the ball from the first carving, but in a much larger size, and apparently also with some added features on it. First of all, it had four large holes in a row near the center part of it but just a little bit upward.
As if that was not strange enough, several spots around the ball also had many other protruding dull spikes, mostly carved on the top side of the ball, but a couple of spikes were also each carved on the middle part of the ball. I became all the more dumbfounded when the smaller stickmen seemed to be running and going inside the ball through the holes.
The sixth carving was also as confusing as the fifth one. It showed me the same large ball, apparently with the same size as it had been carved on the fifth carving, and strangely with approximately ten stickmen standing on top of it. Based on what I saw, I guess that each of the stickmen supposedly was holding on to the dull spikes protruded out from the ball.
But, something also intrigued me on the sixth carving. It was the disappearance of about a quarter of the ball's lower part, like it had just been cut off by something. Aside from that, dozens of the larger stickmen seemed to have also been carved under the surface, and all in the position of lying on the ground. If anything, I could only assume that all of the larger stickmen somehow died but with reasons and causes unknown.
The seventh carving was thankfully rather easier to comprehend, at least for me when I looked at it after I finished with the sixth one. It showed me the figure of the same ball, no longer with a quarter of its lower part, and with countless smaller stickmen surrounding it. There were so many stickmen carved there, that I ended up did not bother to count them one by one, although I supposed it was safe to assume the numbers of them reached fifty in that carving. As far as I could see, the stickmen seemed to be all bowing towards the strange ball.
The eighth and the last carving, was the one that made me understand deeper about the origin of the structure in which we were currently standing on. It showed me the figure of a flat and small trapezium shape in the middle, and countless stickmen carrying rectangular objects surrounding it. I noticed right at that moment that it must be the process of the construction of the temple. It should also be noted that on that carving there were also the same triangular shape and the ball in the distance as well.
When I had done looking at all of the carvings, I knew for sure that the temple was constructed by the very same people that had built the underground room that we had found by accident earlier in the afternoon. I kept myself minded however, that I still had yet to know what the ball might be if the triangular shape was indeed the same mountain, and I also wondered if there were actually some parts of the temple that had been buried under the ground outside, because it had been ages ago since the temple had been built.
I then turned to Jessica, who obviously had a lot to say to both Billy and I, but as I wanted to ask her about it, she suddenly laughed as if she had just realized something funny, or maybe also foolish, slightly creeping me out as a result.
"He… hahahahaha…" she laughed all of a sudden with a joyful expression that I had never seen before.
"What is wrong?" I asked her curiously, "….with you?"
"Um… that is…" Billy butted in, before Jessica laughed again and unintentionally cut off his words. "Yeah well, back when we were still in our college years, there comes a time when she will laugh like that once she comes across something extremely funny."
"Ahahaha… ehehe… sorry…" Jessica continued, and finally stopped laughing.
"I just never thought that she would burst out like this here and now, off all times and places…" he ended, with a slight grin towards her as he shook his head which somehow triggered her to laugh again.
It took us about ten more minutes afterwards, just to wait her calmed down completely. I actually did not mind at all, but Billy apparently was rather a little annoyed by her laughing fit. Whereas I, I actually found her laughing fit to be somewhat… adorable… although I could not explain why I felt that way. When she finally had calmed down, she began to tell us what she could interpret based on the eight carvings on the wall around us.
"Long ago, thousands of years before our present time where humans probably have just acquainted to metals like bronze and copper, and tools were still mostly made out of stones, a large meteorite fell onto the earth, creating a pretty large crater around it as a result. The location upon which the meteorite fell, was what we know now as a part of a region in Western Java in Indonesia, and more precisely near the mountain that we are supposed to head to now.
The people of the prehistoric past had no idea what the meteorite that fell out of nowhere from the sky was, so they decided to leave it be and considered it just as a random large-sized ball. What they did not expect at all, was that shortly after the meteorite impact on earth, something else emerged out of the sky.
It was a couple of spaceships, both with the same shape of octagon, and supposedly were following the meteorite. For whatever reason, the spaceships wanted to take the meteorite back to where they came from with any means necessary. Since as soon as they landed near the meteorite they also attacked the prehistoric people, it can be assumed that they saw the people as their obstruction. Their attacks created panic and despair in the process because their tools of defense at that time were obviously too inferior compared to the aliens' technology, but then, some sort of a 'miracle' followed after that.
The mountain of which was drawn on the carvings were still active back at that day, and by some chance it also erupted on that very same day. The people panicked because they were then facing not one, but two threats at the same time and in their last ditch effort and desperation, they decided to shelter themselves inside the holes and on top of the meteorite, hoping that they could be saved from both the aliens and the lava.
On the other hand, apparently the aliens were at first not afraid of the lava that had erupted out of the volcano, and so they just focused on ridding the people out of the meteorite. However, as the lava was flowing closer and closer to them, they began to realize that it would pose as a threat to them as well. By the time they wanted to evacuate themselves from the flowing lava, it was all already far too late for them, resulting in a total wipeout for the aliens, getting burned alive by the lava or maybe even sunken inside it, and their spaceships completely destroyed by the lava as well.
No one knew for sure how long the volcano eruption lasted that day, however by the time the lava around them cooled down and the eruption stopped, all of the people that took shelter inside the meteorite apparently survived. On the aftermath of the incident, the people considered the meteorite to be some sort of an incarnation of a 'god' that arrived on their land, giving them a warning against an imminent threat from another world, and giving them a place to shelter while it purged the threat. Hence, since that day forward, they began to worship their so-called 'Volcano God'.
The population of the people might not be that big at first, but as time went by, their numbers increased, and generations continued, they began to construct a temple specifically built to give offerings, and also perhaps sacrifices to the volcano god. There are still no proofs on where around the mountain area they found the megalith stones at, but it is possible to consider that stones were originally the cooled down magma. But the matter on how they could be cut down with such precision and polished with that excellence is still unknown for now…"
"Wow…" Billy said, obviously impressed by Jessica's explanation.
"I have to admit that I am feeling like there is some part for the rest of the explanation still hanging there, Jess." I said to her, completely astounded by her interpretation.
"There is no other addition for it I am afraid…" she responded as she shook her head. "Unless, I can find some more proofs."
At that moment, I also recalled that the mothership that I had infiltrated back in three years earlier in Chicago also had an octagonal shape. I realized right away that the purpose of the alien invasion in the current incident might also possibly due to the same reason. If that was the case, then that would mean that the crater that we had come across earlier belonged to the very same meteorite, which would also mean that deep beneath the center of the crater was an extraterrestrial large rock from thousands of years ago.
With that thought in mind, another question occurred in my head. It was why the aliens decided to go and try to take it at the current moment instead of some times in the past or perhaps on a later time than at the present?
I had initially guessed that it was because of the earthquake that had happened several days earlier which perhaps created some sort of a small but very deep crack on the center of the crater, resulting in the revelation of some of the bottom parts of the meteorite and made the aliens detected it again and decided to 'extract' it for the second time. Although, when I thought about it again, what were the chances of such possibility?
"There is not even a single carving on the second floor, except for that strange stone statue like I mentioned to you both earlier." Jessica continued as she gestured her flashlight towards the second floor.
"Maybe that stone statue will give you some sort of more clues or hints about anything when seen from a different angle?" I responded to her with a question.
"I highly doubt it." she replied almost right away as she shook her head. "At least, not during these time of hour where there is no sunlight to help me see more, and perhaps revealed something that we may have missed…"
The moment she stopped speaking, I looked at my watch in a hurry, and I was very surprised when I realized that the time was then 09.45 p.m. It seemed that we really were completely attached to the lost ancient temple and how it was built thousands of years ago. Since there were no other things of interest whatsoever at that moment, I quickly suggested if we should rest inside the temple for the rest of the night.
I had to admit that it kind of felt not quite right to sleep through the night inside what used to be a sacred place for a specific community, but given our situation I also supposed that we had no other choices. And as I had thought, both Billy and Jessica agreed with my suggestion, shown through their actions of immediately putting their backpacks on the floor.
"Travis…" Billy then approached me and talked to me with a lower voice. "I owe you an apology for getting angry to you like that just now…"
"It is okay…" I responded to him and smiled. "If anything, it is I who should mind what I said to my partner the next time those kinds of situations happen."
He then quickly lent me his hand, and I shook it, as a symbol of a complete trust restoration between the two of us. I also patted his back before I shared with him what I thought about our current disconnection with the communications system.
"You are not alone, Bill." I continued. "We still have each other here. I am also sure that Commodore Quentin is still doing something for our own good right now."
With the atmosphere around us fully returned to its calm and composed state, I was also relieved that I finally managed to sooth and calm someone by using my own words, which was something that I was initially difficult to do. And with that, I went outside of the room, and into the surroundings of the opened platform again before I looked up to the sky above and released another breath of relieve.
'Now, what should we do tomorrow…' I thought to myself as I leaned against one of the walls…