It seemed like pure luck that the group of six made it into the house just in time to close the door behind them.
Thud
The sound of the komodo dragons slamming into the stone wall filled the room, followed by the eerie echo of reptilian claws scraping against the door.
They all took a sigh of relief, even though it took more than a moment for their hearts to stop racing.
"Agh." Kai felt pain shoot up from his ankle, trying to hold it without touching the open wound.
"I've got it." Amora rushed over to the boy, holding her hands above the wound as her signature rainbow light filled the dark air above her.
The small house was made of only one room, with broken wooden chairs occasionally breaking empty, vine ridden stone walls and floor. It seemed as though someone had left in a hurry, or tried to.
"Slim and Biggie stepped back, wary of the shards of rainbow glass rising from Amora's hands.
"Relax. It heals." Akilah spoke between tired breaths as she sat down on the rough stone floor.
Crack
The stone slab underneath Akilah broke into two, letting her fall into a small empty space under it.
"I didn't know you were that heavy." Chase let out a small chuckle, too tired to expel any more energy.
"Shut it." Akilah responded, just as tired as Chase.
She looked into the small space as a small golden shine below the stone caught her eye.
Amora's rainbow light evaporated after a few more seconds, allowing her to let out a sigh of exhaustion just as Kai sighed from the relief.
"Thanks." Kai said, moving his ankle in a circle.
"Hey… Guys…" Akilah held a leather box with a golden trim, opening it to reveal a rolled up piece of paper.
The group all leaned in as the room went silent once again, except for the constant scratching of the reptiles outside.
Akilah unravelled the piece of paper, revealing writing in a language she could not decipher. She turned it around to find the translation, glossing over it with a curious yet concerned expression.
"Well? What's it say?" Slim asked.
"When we awakened, there were only a few of us who knew how to use it." Akilah read. "But we used those few brave soldiers to protect our independence from the United Nations. There was no way in hell we would submit to such powers."
The group glanced at each other as Akilah continued to read.
Thud, thud
More dragons seemed to have joined the feeding frenzy outside.
"We knew we would have to sustain ourselves from now on. Farming our own food, building our own houses, we were ready for it. But, then came the problems." Akilah lifted the paper to reveal the rest of the writing. "When our first Spirit users died, the dragons did as they always had, they dug up the bodies and ate them. Over the thousands of years that we've lived on this island, we've never been able to stop them. And now that Spirit was involved, it was urgent."
"Just like when we got here." Kai muttered.
"We didn't know Spirit could be transferred. When the dragons ate their bodies, they became stronger, they consumed their Spirit." Akilah paused, her confused eyes peering through her thick glasses.
"It's like the lab…" Chase thought, scratching his head. "Hendrix wasn't lying."
"You alright, Chase?" Amora noticed Chase's twisted expression, snapping him out of his train of thought.
"Oh… Yeah." Chase said, nodding.
Amora and Akilah looked at each other, both verifying that the other was thinking the same thing.
"He knows something." Amora thought. "I'd know that face from a mile away."
Akilah cleared her throat before continuing.
"We tried everything we could to protect the bodies, but it was no use. Before long, they had gone from eating bodies to picking off children on the outskirts of the village." Akilah read. "So we invented a weapon that could defeat them. Mulyadi, the strongest to ever grace the presence of this island, created the Spirit Celurits. Through his years of service to his people, the weapons only grew stronger, and once he retired, his son took up the mantle of the Celurit user. Now, children, I tell you this so you will have pride in this small yet mighty island. When the dragons prowl, or when oppressors wash ashore, we will have the power of the Celurits on our side."
Akilah checked the bottom of the paper, making sure she had reached the end before examining the back of the paper to see if there was any extra information hidden in the foreign language.
"So that's what Rat girl's looking for?" Biggie said, leaning against the rough stone wall of the small house they were trapped in.
He could feel the rumbling of the feeding frenzy outside, scratching at the stone desperately.
"Once she gets it, we'll have a clear way out of here, right?" Amora looked around the room for an affirming face.
"We'll be alright." Chase shook his girlfriend's shoulder with one hand before wrapping it around her.
"Yeah, we'll just stay here. There's way too many of them out there." Akilah put the paper back inside its leather and gold box.
Kai nodded, trying to forget the excruciating pain of the komodo's bite.
Inside the temple:
Ratu led the group down a set of dark stairs, spinning around a wall of stone slabs displaced by overgrown vines.
After what felt like an eternity, they finally made it to the bottom of the staircase.
Hendrix waved some spiderwebs out of the way, trying to recognize his friends' faces through the darkness.
Suddenly, the kids felt Charlotte's arm stop them from going further.
"Hold on, just a second." Charlotte whispered, looking into the black void in front of them.
Through the faint light that they had, the teens saw Charlotte put her hands together in front of her mouth, as though she were trying to warm up her hands.
Woosh
"Eek!" Vida felt shivers run through her body as the fluttering of wings filled the air, along with high pitched squeaks from all directions.
The rest of the group was startled, but calmed their nerves after they realized where the noises were coming from.
Bats the size of a forearm flew from wall to wall, squeaking at random as they made their way through the pitch black passage.
Ping
Through the darkness, they saw an arrow fly across the room, pinning one of Charlotte's bats against a wall.
"Oh no!" Vida exclaimed, saddened by the sight.
"It's alright, they're just manifestations." Charlotte said. "I wouldn't put any of my real pets in danger."
"You sent them out as bait?" Vida asked.
"I didn't even realize there would be traps." Taro added.
"All of these old temples have traps, just like the movies." Charlotte answered.
"Good thinking." Ratu said, taking a step into the darkness as Charlotte's bats set off trap after trap.
"Don't think you're off the hook." Charlotte grabbed Ratu's shoulders. "If any of those kids don't make it back on the boat, you're never coming off of it again."
Ratu's blank expression broke, just long enough for Vida to notice.
Vida almost wanted to laugh. It was like a mom scolding her teenage daughter. It reminded her of the Frewins, and all those conversations just like these.
"Alright." Ratu answered, plainly. "Let's move."