Thread: The Temple [JessieDlux/Carnal]

The chamber continued to widen - and heighten - as the stonework gave way to a larger pyramidal structure. Rays of light from the surface far above filtered down through the dark, dank corridor through networks of tree roots that sprawled out at the base of the jungle. Josh's feet splashed through murky puddles as he trudged along through the temple, waving the bright headlamp from side to side as he peered with a tourist's fascination at the artwork lining the deep corridor's walls. Josh was not a student of Maya or Olmec or any antiquities whatsoever - he had no expectation of finding some ancient Mesoamerican temple at the end of his subterranean adventure. He stood for a while before a strong, ancient stone pillar climbing into the darkness far above, his gaze - and the shine of the headlamp - winding down the finely-carved figures that wrapped around it in a thick, twisted writhing orgy of ornamentation. The place was eerily silent, save for the drip of water, the sound of Josh's own feet clapping against the stone surface beneath him, and the low curl of a subterranean breeze that coiled between the stone pillars of the temple from the surface. The long journey ended in front of something appearing like an altar Josh found himself bathed in purple light raining down upon him from the strange windows surrounding the altar. He was more fascinated by the bizarre light that came upon him than the strange figures which, indeed, lay everywhere in this place carved into the walls. The man's eyes finally gazed up to the pillar, where he saw a figure of radiant feminine beauty suspended in a thick net of vines or wires or strings or... He stared up at her for a great while, thinking she was a sculpture, the bright LEDs of his headlamp shining on her far above him. He was surprised when he saw her move, and then when she cried out to him - Help me! - he was duly alarmed, stumbling back a few steps and giving a sharp cry of his own. How could there be someone else here? Josh quickly started to get his bearings again, looking back up to the damsel in distress atop the pillar. I'll...I'll be right up there, hold on! came his voice, a neutral, generic sort of American accent a husky, masculine baritone that befitted someone as athletic as he. He pulled an arm out of one sleeve of his backpack and started pulling climbing implements from it - a hammer and a handful of pitons which he started beating into the stone pillar one after the other to get up to the girl at the top. I'm coming, I'm coming... the man cried out to the woman, How did you - he shouted, hammering against the stones, - how did you end up here? he asked, just as he put a muscled forearm over the top of the pillar, grunting hard as he pulled himself over alongside her. Once there, he knelt down with his backpack, and started digging through it again, placing the hammer back and pulling out a machete, still green with the vines he'd cut through as he wandered through the jungle to find the strange chasm that led him here. He started sawing and cutting away at the material holding her in, careful not to hack at the girl trapped inside. Don't worry, I'll get you out of here - he said. There was no time to think about the strangeness of the situation.