The Temple of Thoughts and Memories

Chapter 7 - In The Dark

Luz and Amity pushed open the metal door with difficulty. This one seemed to be heavier than the others. They clambered inside the room and heard an extremely loud thud of metal against metal. The two spun on their heels to see the door shut.
Amity went to open it, but she had no luck.
"Looks like we're locked in here," Luz said, trying to stay positive, but it was clear she was worried.
Amity nodded, who looked stressed as well. The two decided to explore the room, seeing as they didn't have much choice. There were a lot of objects in this room, unlike the other ones. Cabinets, shelves, desks. It was almost as though someone once lived here.
Luz scanned the area, not seeing a way for them to get out, until she spotted a silver key on the desk.
"Amity! Look!" Luz exclaimed, pointing to the key.
"Oh, we can probably use that to get out," Amity said reasonably. The two walked over to the desk, and Luz grabbed the key.
She yelped as the room covered in inky-black darkness, similar to when they first entered the temple. Except this time, Luz and Amity did not glow.
They both heard a very strange noise coming from behind the door--or atleast where they presumed it was.
It sounded like someone was walking up the steps, very loudly. The noises were very fast, as though it had multiple legs. Luz couldn't help but imagine a giant caterpillar going up the stairs.
Amity had instinctively jumped behind the desk when they had heard the footsteps. Luz had no idea where she had gone, and when she felt nothing where Amity used to be, she shouted, "Amity?"
Except she was cut-off by Amity dragging her down behind the desk with a, "Shhh!"
Luz could tell this was Amity by the sound of her voice, and kept quiet as she ordered. Luz now noticed she could barely see her hand, but still could. This meant there was light somewhere nearby. Possibly in the room where Amity turned on the lights.
The footsteps got louder and louder, presumably meaning whatever the source of the noise was was coming this way. Luz stayed laying down, extremely anxious.
There was a sound of the door opening with a lot of force, and the two of them heard a clang nearby. The noises of the footsteps went around the room, until they got as loud as they possibly could. The reason Luz knew this is because she could see the source of the noises.
She stared at the hulking, giant monster, and stifled a scream. It was walking on four legs, like some kind of gorilla. A huge, terrifying, inky-black gorilla without any facial features. It kind of reminded Luz of the guardian from King's castle.
If it was similar to it, though, then that means it was dangerous.
Luz watched the thing walk towards them, and impulsively closed her eyes, awaiting to be inevitably found. Except the monster seemed to pass them, judging by the sound of the footsteps. How it didn't see her and Amity, Luz had no clue. They heard the monster go back down the stairs, and the darkness went away. The darkness presumably followed the monster wherever it went. Luz looked over at Amity, who looked terrified. The two of them were both so shocked and scared that it took them a few seconds to realize they were laying next to each other, and, even though Luz blushed, she didn't really care, and neither did Amity it seemed. They were both just glad to be alive. Luz stood up and went to brush the dust off herself, but found none on her.
Wow, Luz thought. This place is pretty clean.
Luz looked over at the door to see it smashed open, the door over where they heard a clang. Luz expected to not have to use the key, but suddenly the door magically flew itself to the doorframe and locked itself back in, almost like a puzzle piece.
Luz held onto the key. She noticed Amity had just gotten up and was calming herself down. Luz made to open the door, but a piece of paper on the desk they hid behind caught her eye. There was a photo of presumably a scientist on it with dark brown hair and a lab coat. Luz wondered who they could be.
She picked it up and read it aloud, but quietly.
"Day 1 of Experiment 247: Mixing with the magic of darkness.
Success! The monster I've created is extremely powerful and deadly. I'll call it Grometheus, it seems like a fitting name. Day 2: I have now figured out the monster can turn into your biggest fear, making it even more deadly. I have to keep it in a special chamber, or it may reek havoc wherever it goes. Experiment still a success.
Day 3: I am now going to add more properties to Grometheus, but I am forced to enter the chamber to add them. Fortunately, it is currently sleeping..."
Luz saw the last entry and found it very hard to read. Whoever wrote this was clearly in a hurry, or in danger.
"Experiment failed. I have been locked in the chamber, Grometheus has escaped
If you are reading this, I must warn you I will predictably be turning into another form of Grom, a less powerful one. I will probably be deadly and may have other attributes/weaknesses. I presume I have 10 minutes left. My left leg has already transformed. If you read this, you need to leave. Run."
Luz looked at Amity, whose expression was quite mortified as well. Luz noticed one tiny bit if writing left.
"I have 2 minutes. The least I can do is name myself, and give the monster I may transform into a name as well. I am Felix Farseacher, a scientist, and I suppose I'll call the monster just 'Farsearcher'. Maybe then some people could remember who I once was, not based on who I am now. I have noticed I can look deep into a rat's thoughts and project them. Once my head transforms, I will lose all memory of who I am, and be thirsty to kill. I have already noticed these tendencies, and I-"
The writing had ended there. Luz could mostly only process one thought. This monster was a person, and wanted them dead.
"Wow," Luz said, forgetting to keep her voicd quiet.