His body immediately stopped moving. A sense of amazement and bewilderment mixed in Asher's mind, leaving him speechless. He simply didn't expect that the temple would be this big and magnificent.
"Hey, Ash what are you doing?" Persea turned around and looked at Asher who was frozen like a statue. "Come on, you still have to go through these stairs before reaching the temple."
Hearing Persea's words, Asher immediately furrowed his brows. "Wait, how many steps do I have to pass?"
"Probably around 100 steps. I never counted them either," Persea said as she rolled her eyes upward, trying to remember the exact number of steps.
"Wait, 100 steps! Geez, that's a lot." Asher rounded his eyeballs, a tense look on his face.
"Yes, about 100 steps." Persea nodded her head casually. "Hey, don't complain so much, it's only a little. Come on, we have to keep going." She patted Asher's shoulder, trying to encourage him.
"Yeah, it's easy for you since you have wings," Asher grumbled, a frustrated look on his face.
Asher just sighed, looking at the neatly arranged stairs in front of him. To be honest, he was lazy and had doubts that he could pass all these steps, but he had to do it. He had to push himself if he didn't want to continue to be a burden to Chronos.
"Argh, alright, let's conquer these stairs!" Asher shouted, trying to encourage himself.
Sweat was pouring down Asher's face as he made his way up the stairs one by one. He wasn't used to walking up so many steps. He felt his leg muscles begin to tighten, making his body feel like it didn't want to go any further. The feeling of giving up kept crossing his mind, but he kept ignoring it.
"No, I can't give up!" Asher took a deep breath, trying to regulate his racing heartbeat. "Argh, just a little more!" He patted his cheeks, trying to raise his spirits.
With all the energy he had left, he continued to make his way through the remaining steps until he finally reached the top of the stairs. The relief on Asher's face was obvious and he immediately laid down on the ground.
"Welcome to the temple of Fotiana." Persea smiled, revealing her neat row of teeth. "Come on, now we have to go inside the temple." She flew like a bullet.
"Geez, finally." Asher sighed, his face reddening. "Per... Persea let me rest for a moment. Oh, God." He said breathlessly.
However, Persea did not hear the answer to his question at all. Dammit, it seemed like Persea had left him in this place. Annoyance flashed through his mind, but he tried to ignore it. He then breathed deeply, gently stood up, and continued his journey to find Persea's whereabouts.
Moments later, Asher finally saw the temple standing firmly in front of him. The temple had a hexagonal shape and there were large white pillars at each point supporting this large temple, thus making it look more solid.
"Wow, this temple looks amazing." Admiration was evident on Asher's face. "Wait, hey Persea, what are you doing there?" She furrowed her brows, a look of confusion on her face.
"Argh, I'm trying to open this door, but I can't touch it at all," Persea grumbled. "There's some strange energy blocking this door." She furrowed her brows, a look of annoyance on her face.
Asher, who had heard Persea's words, immediately walked closer to the surface of the door, trying to confirm for himself whether Persea's words were true or just a lie. However, it turned out that Persea's words were true. There was a strange purple-colored energy blocking the surface of the door, so no one could open this door.
"Strange, what exactly is going on? "We must remove this barrier, but how?" Asher stroked his chin, a curious look on his face. "
Asher moved his eyeballs, trying to see where the energy was coming from. After a closer look, it turned out that the strange energy was coming from three animal head statues sticking out from the surface of the door. The heads looked like dogs but with frightening looks on their faces. However, there was something strange. The mouths of the dog heads were facing the same direction, to the sealed door.
"Wait, there's something written on one of these beast heads. Damn! Can't see it clearly, it's too small. "Asher squinted his eyes to try to see the writing. "Hey Persea, can you read this?" He grumbled, frustration evident on his face
"Wait, I'll try to see it." Persea flew over quickly, trying to see the writing for herself. "It says 'The three gazes of the guardian creatures of the underworld will form a barrier'. Wait, what does that mean?" She furrowed her brows, a fine frown appearing on her face. "Argh, I hate this kind of thing."
Asher was silent for a moment. His brain began to think about the meaning of that sentence. Perhaps they mean the animal heads attached to the door? Maybe we should take one of the animal heads, but how?
He looked back at one of the statue heads more clearly, and suddenly he saw something. There was some sort of small disk attached to the bottom of the statue head. That meant the statue's head could rotate. So without lingering, he tried to turn one of the statue heads.
"Argh, this is so hard. Oh crap. I guess it's probably because the plate has rusted" Asher turned the statue with all his might until slowly the statue's head moved. "Ugh, Persea, help me turn it."
Persea soon helped Asher rotate the statue's head with all her strength until it finally spun back into the other statue's head. Shortly after, the energy that had been blocking the door slowly dissipated.
"Asher, we made it!" Persea smiled, a clear look on her face. "Come on, we have to turn the rest of the statues' heads around now." The excitement was clear on her face.
The two of them turned the two remaining statue heads until the barrier of all energy blocking the doorway finally disappeared completely. Good. Relief flashed on Asher's face, it felt like his efforts were not in vain. Afterward, the two entered the room, confirming what was inside.
The atmosphere inside the room was quiet and dark. Strange. There was absolutely nothing to see, except for a small altar in the center of the room. Without much delay, the two of them decided to approach the altar, trying to get a better look.
"Asher, there seems to be something written on this altar." Persea approached, trying to see the writing with her eyes.
Asher slowly brought his face closer to the altar and saw that there was writing there. However, the writing was completely covered with a layer of dust, so he was rubbing the surface of the altar to remove the dust until he saw the inscription.
"The guardian creature of the underground world, Cerberion. Strange, what does that mean?" The wrinkles on his forehead were visible, curiosity evident on his face. "Persea, do you understand what it means?"
However, just as Persea was about to answer Asher's question, a strange vibration suddenly appeared and instantly closed the door to the room. Persea quickly flew towards the door, but it did not open. Darn it. What the hell was going on? Was this a trap? Asher's face instantly stiffened and he had no idea what to do.
Not long after, a strange portal appeared from behind Asher and tried to pull him into it. Persea tried to hold his hand, but she was quite far away from Asher. The portal finally pulled Asher in and soon he disappeared with it.
"Asher!" Persea shouted, a look of disbelief on her face.