Wisdom's Guestion

"Hey Francis, you knew how to open the door, so you should probably go first," Anna said as she backed away.

"Haha. If you say so, I really don't mind," I replied, taking slow steps into the well-lit room.

As I ventured deeper into the corridor, I couldn't help but notice the walls adorned with portraits of Greek figures. Upon closer examination, I realized that these paintings depicted Socrates and his journey through life.

Lost in thought, trying to piece the images together, I unknowingly activated a pressure plate with my foot. In a matter of seconds, the floor began to shift and enormous razor-sharp blades appeared. They followed a pattern of disappearing and reappearing every two seconds, moving at lightning speed. One brush with these blades and we'd be sliced in half. Clearly, the ancient builders hadn't intended for their temple to be easily accessible.

"Oops," I muttered, turning to the others. Their expressions ranged from disbelief to frustration. My luck seemed to have taken a turn for the worse.

"Well, maybe we should consider going back and dealing with the vampires. If they manage to retrieve the artifact, we'll have twenty covens ready to confront them," Suho suggested.

"Yes, that might be the wisest option," I agreed and started to retrace my steps.

Unfortunately, as I turned around, the temple entrance began to close, and to make matters worse, the swinging blades appeared at the entrance to the corridor where the rest of the group was waiting.

Ignoring the danger, I began to sprint towards the entrance with all my might. To my surprise, the guys yelled at me to stop. It seemed they knew something I didn't.

"We're coming to you! It seems the vampires got here faster than you expected!" Lucas shouted as he and Anna cautiously approached the moving blades.

Suho and Robert were the first to jump and clear the trap. Anna and Lucas, however, still had to summon up the courage to dodge the slashing blades, and they had to do it quickly because the entrance was closing fast.

All I could do was watch anxiously as they leapt over the deadly obstacle and landed on the other side unharmed. Just before the entrance was sealed, we could hear the sound of the first door to our prison chamber being breached.

Why did the vampires arrive so quickly? I thought we had successfully concealed our escape, and the information I'd received seemed credible. Perhaps they had gone to the temple the same day they received our letter? This meant that two days had passed between their receipt of the letter and their arrival. Today was the day reinforcements were expected. I cursed my own stupidity.

"Is everyone okay?" I hurried over to check on the others. To my relief, no one seemed to be injured, which was the only positive development of the day.

"Yes, but we still have to navigate the other blades, so don't relax just yet," Robert warned.

We moved slowly towards what might be our end. We lined up, relying on my luck, and I was the first to attempt the jump. Holding my breath, I waited for the blades to disappear. When they moved under the ground, I jumped over them and landed safely on the other side. Anna, Lucas and Robert followed.

But as Suho prepared to jump, one of the blades grazed his arm, slicing through a thin layer of skin like an apple peeled by a razor-sharp knife. Suho landed with a muffled hiss of pain and we rushed over to examine his wound.

"Your skin is scraped, but there is no serious damage. Your bones are unharmed. Lucas, could you use one of your healing spells to mend Suho's arm?" Anna asked as she supported the injured arm.

Lucas nodded and held out his hands, wrapping Suho's wound with one of his silk scarves. He was a veil witch, a rare type in the western world. Veil witches were more common in Asia, and Lucas' power was extraordinary, even for a veil witch. They excelled at healing and could become formidable when they mastered their abilities, even capable of controlling the bodies of others.

After Lucas performed his magic, he informed us that the wound would heal in a day and even replace the missing skin. There might still be a scar because Lucas hadn't fully mastered his powers, and skin replacement was an advanced technique.

"Well, now that Suho's arm is taken care of, we should enter the temple before the vampires figure out how to follow us," Robert urged, leading the way.

We followed him carefully, hoping not to activate another pressure plate that could lead to our demise. Suho was strangely quiet, seemingly affected by his injury and perhaps a dent in his ego. It was unusual to see him without his trademark grin; this injury seemed to have shaken his confidence.

"Don't worry, it might give you a cool scar to impress the ladies," I joked, nudging Suho as we walked together. He chuckled and shook his head.

"Funny that you think I'm only interested in ladies."

I gave him an understanding look and continued walking silently next to him. Suho laughed heartily.

When we left the corridor, we entered a chamber decorated with statues of armor, shields and spears. They all seemed to represent Socrates. At the opposite end of the room, we spotted double doors decorated with images of ancient Greece and made of marble.

"I have a feeling we have to find a switch or solve a puzzle here," Anna muttered, inspecting the statues and the door.

"Yes, it looks that way. This may require some investigation," Lucas replied with a sigh.

As we approached the door, we noticed a text inscribed on it - a golden question.

"What is true wisdom?"

"It seems to be a riddle, but the answer seems easy to find, probably even on the Internet. It's probably another trap because it's too obvious," Suho said, looking at the statues.

"We know that Socrates participated in the Athenian wars, probably in a phalanx unit. That's probably why the statues all have spears and shields. Each of us should examine one statue, and then we'll decide on our next move based on the information we've gathered," Robert suggested as he walked toward one of the statues.

I joined him and chose a statue to examine. The one I chose depicted an elderly Socrates wielding a golden spear with a shield bearing a Hydra design. He appeared stooped, looking more like a sinister figure than a philosopher. This statue seemed unhelpful and probably another deceptive trap designed to lead us to our doom.

"Anyone find anything interesting yet? My statue feels more like a trap. We'll have to proceed with great caution," I inquired, scanning the area for any clues or potential traps.

Before I could find anything significant, the ground began to shake and an explosion echoed. It seemed the vampires were trying to break into the temple. Unfortunately, the explosion set off something inside the temple that blocked our exit - another stone gate slammed shut.

And as if that wasn't challenging enough, water began to pour from the ceiling. This trap was probably meant to be activated if we failed to solve the puzzle.

"Damn it, we have to solve this puzzle before we drown!" Lucas shouted, frantically searching the statue.

Desperate cries from my friends snapped me out of my daze and I focused on the matter at hand. We had found the right statue, but there were no buttons or clues to guide us. It seemed that the only way to move the statue was to change its position.

"Try to move the statue towards the entrance, the way we came in," I shouted as I tried to swim towards the others.

The water was rising faster than we expected. We couldn't touch the bottom anymore, at least Anna and I couldn't, and it was only a matter of seconds before the water reached the ceiling.

Robert replaced Anna and started to turn the statue towards the entrance. As the statue moved, the water escalated rapidly. In a matter of seconds, the water enveloped all of the statues and the boys were forced to dive in to manipulate the heavy object.

As I suspected, the gate began to open and the water gradually stopped flowing from the ceiling. The room cheered and I was overwhelmed with relief and happiness. We wouldn't have survived this trap if my friends hadn't summoned the power to manipulate the statue while underwater. After a while, we were able to touch the ground again.

The feeling of wet clothes and especially wet socks was unpleasant, but at least we'd have a chance to dry off in the next room.

"Let's move on before the vampires find a way in here, too," I urged, and the others followed me into the next possible trap.

In front of us was a small temple within a temple - a structure that resembled a Mayan pyramid. At the top we could see a parchment.

"What kind of artifact is that?" Anna asked, stunned.