The group continued to follow the old man, where some, after walking in silence, without hearing or feeling anything strange, thought that the old man's words had been nothing more than mere ravings. Until he started, they all felt it within themselves, that there was nothing normal around them and dozens of voices seemed to sound in their heads. Some calling and others pleading for their attention.
But just as the old man had instructed, they followed their strange chant, which seemed to sound louder than any voice around them. Only Markin could tell that their song was similar to those he had heard on the way here. After that came complete silence, an absolute silence in which none of them could hear even their footsteps or breaths.
-The Emperor is great and strong. Someone in the group had begun to pray, but his voice was abruptly silenced.
-We will soon reach the chamber. Once there, things will be back to normal, but you must be very careful about your prayers in this place.
-Be prepared. I don't want to run into an ambush of demons after all this time - Emil's orders reminded the whole platoon that they still had an enemy to face more dangerous than the strange place they were in.
Just as the old man had said, half an hour later they arrived at what looked like a chamber that seemed to have been brought from a totally different place. Not only had the landscape changed, leaving behind the hard rock floor to a smooth and molded marble floor, with walls of a totally different rock than the one seen before.
It almost seemed as if the chamber had been brought from somewhere else and had been embedded in the same mountain, replacing the previous material and taking its place as if it were something natural.
"It is still too early to be surprised. We still have to advance a little more," said the old man, lighting his lighter and bringing it closer to a part of the wall. The fire came to life throughout the room.
It is a very old lighting system. Have you found out how many years it has been here? Vendria seemed excited, looking around and watching as the fire spread throughout the room.
-Scholars from all over the world have tried to figure out what it is and where it came from, but they all contradict each other in their conclusions about it. As a young man, he listened to some of the debates, and they all seemed just as lost as the simple miners as to what it was. -The old man, though he must have been used to the view, had a wistful smile on his face as he looked around the chamber.
The chamber was immense, with hundreds of pillars all leading a path to the center of it. Each pillar seemed to have the utmost detail and care.
-Who is that old man? -Rodrik pointed to a statue at the side of the path, the figure of a beautiful and serious woman. It almost looked as if she was born of stone and would speak to them at any moment, so detailed did her figure appear.
-No one knows. Some believed she was the goddess to whom this construction was given, but it was ruled out because she was not the only figure there.
-You say there are more of these works? They would pay fortunes in any hive city for just one of these no matter who it is. -Vendria put her hand on the statue, while admiring all the details of it.
-You're not the first to think so, but no one has ever been able to take anything from this place. Rumor has it that the Inquisition itself tried to destroy the whole place with explosives, only to see the futility of their attempts.
-They are all beautiful. - They had arrived at the hall of the statues, or so the miners called it because of the great quantity of them and the great variety that there was in all, without a clear relation of them.
-Here are some soldiers or warriors. I have never seen uniforms like these, but it is obvious that some of them have an imperial aesthetic. -Aaron noticed that he was looking at some of the statues, which had armor and weapons from different eras. -They also look like some poets or saints of the empire or perhaps of much older times.
-That is where many believe the problem lies; for many in the empire, humanity only followed heretical gods in the history before the emperor. -This time, it was not the old man who had expressed his opinion but Emil, who was leading the march.
-So you think we are in something from the time before the empire. -For Vendria, it seemed to be a good idea. However, she was no scholar; she knew what a mystery the history of mankind was before the empire's founding, and all records of it seemed to be carefully guarded by the inquisition. So it would make sense why she was interested in these ruins,
-I don't think so. Although it is said that the technology of that time is still better than today's, it is impossible that we can't recognize a part of it in their constructions.
Emil's conclusion seemed to have convinced everyone, since they began to explore the temple they had not seen a hint of a machine, the whole building seemed rudimentary but at the same time modern. Which only left each one of them with more questions and they seemed to understand how those scholars who had decided to discover more about this place felt.
-Listen... that sound is the sound of battle.
The platoon began to run towards the constant gunshots and screams that could be heard. The light from the camera, although enough to see the surroundings, did not help to see what was happening in that direction.
-Shit old man, you promised we'd get there before any group.
-We'd get there before that group of demons we saw their trail; they may not have been the only ones.
-You're right. That sounds like bolters. According to the records, demons don't have any such weapon. -Prepare for contact,
-There's one floor down after you go down some stairs; that's where the shots come from; it's the end of the ruins.
___________
Finally, after a short time, the platoon made contact with the hostiles.
The enemy combatants were armed men in bulletproof armor covered by improvised combat uniforms, demonic cultists who had taken over the place and seemed to have been there for days. But the platoon had not faced the bloody battle they expected.
They had all died once they arrived, with their severed and destroyed bodies all over the place as evidence that they had ever been here. Their faces of terror were something none of them could get out of their heads even if they looked away from them.
-What the hell happened here? It's only been about fifteen minutes since we heard the shots.
-Hey, a gear and weapons like this would have wiped us out in a matter of minutes, and yet they didn't stand a chance.
-Be alert; whatever it is, it's still here. -Emil's order returned the platoon to their training, and everyone got ready.
Silence fell all over the place, while the whole platoon barricaded themselves in their places as much as they could, waiting for the attack of whatever was lurking around them.