Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [29]
He gives the interior a quick once over as he moves around within the building. Poking through the rubble, he finds nothing but stone and a wooden crossbeam, which looks to have once been used to support the ceiling.
Glancing at the other two, he shakes his head then leaves the building. He then makes his way the short distance over to the next one. It’s a two story building, half of it having collapsed, leaving a section still standing. He goes up to the opening where a door once stood, though is now long gone, and looks inside.
The floor is choked with rubble, but off to one side, he sees the remnant of the stairway leading up to the second floor. It’s not in the best of condition, but he figures it’ll hold his weight. Making his way through the room over to stairs, he begins climbing to the second floor. Two small sections of the stairs are missing and he has to stretch across them in order to continue.
When he finally reaches the top of the stairs, he comes to a hallway. The entire right side has fallen away leaving only a foot and a half span still attached to the left wall. A room lies further down, and the only way to get there is by walking upon the broken section of the hallway.
He looks down to see Jiron and Miko there looking up at him. “Be careful!” Miko hollers.
Waving back in response, he steps out gingerly upon the narrow section of hallway still usable. Cautiously setting his weight upon it, the board creaks but he finds that it will hold up under his weight. One step at a time, he slowly makes his way across.
He begins to think that maybe he shouldn’t be doing this, what with his leg in the shape it’s in and all. But he’s only a dozen feet away from where the collapsed section ends and the hallway once more is whole.
Taking it slowly, he makes it to the other side. Pausing a moment as he glances briefly down to the others waiting below, Miko gives them a smile and a thumbs up. Turning his attention back to the hallway, he quickly moves down to the only room left intact on the second floor.
He comes to the doorway and enters the room. Over upon one wall is a large bronze plaque. Crossing the room to where it hangs on the wall, he realizes that it’s engraved with a picture of the five small pyramids along the outer perimeter and the larger one with the buildings next to it.
There are lines coming from the smaller ones leading directly to the larger one in the courtyard outside. Must be showing a power grid or some such, he reasons.
He looks around further, but doesn’t find anything else of interest. Casting another glance at the bronze plaque, he leaves the room and comes back to the broken section of hallway. This time he steps out upon the broken section with more confidence.
When he’s almost across, a section of the floor cracks and falls away beneath him. Crying out as he falls, he reaches out and manages to catch hold of a section of the broken floor. Hanging there, he tries to keep his hands from slipping and dropping him down to the floor below.
“Hang on!” he hears Jiron yell as he bolts up the stairs, easily jumping the missing sections as he comes to his aid. Coming to where he’s hanging precariously, Jiron kneels down and holds out his hand. “Take it!” he says as he stretches his hand further toward him.
Afraid to lose his grip with the other hand, James shakes his head and says, “I can’t!”
“Yes you can,” Jiron assures him as he tries to stretch his hand even further toward him.
James tries letting go and grab Jiron’s hand but in so doing, causes his other hand to slip. With a cry, he plummets ten feet down to the rubble below. Landing awkwardly on the broken stone, his side is punctured by a sharp rock and severely cuts open his side. Crying out with pain, he grabs the wound as he tries to stop the blood from flowing.
Jiron gets up and rushes down the stairs to his side, but Miko is the first to reach him.