The temple inside was dark while the atmosphere in the center was quiet and peaceful. The temple had a long darkened hall that led to another section. As they went down the hall, Dala looked towards the walls of the temple and noticed the unique artwork. She paused for a moment and stared at it, wondering what it could mean. There were depictions of a pile of treasure and gold with several people around it, presenting it towards some sort of ocean. The girl wondered if the people here worshipped or at the very least, revered the element of water in some way. 

"It seems this temple was made for worship or at least storage." Dala commented, "What do you think Mira?'

She was asking Mira rather than Briar, since Briar had already shown she was only interested in treasure and selling artifacts. Dala needed someone who held an interest in history and knowledge to interact with and help get new ideas from. Meanwhile Briar was just standing around impatiently, seemingly becoming irritated with the delay. Dala noticed this but chose to ignore it, as the history behind the temple was more important. 

Once they discussed the mural, they moved onto the main room of the temple. Dala's eyes widened when she realized that there wasn't a single drop of water in this room. All the water of the ocean was being pushed outwards. The floor, the walls, and even the ceiling were all bone dry. At the center of the room was a large golden cube with several words written on it, words that Dala couldn't read. But when she looked at one of the pillars towards the edges of the room, she spotted a spell carved into it. A spell with words she recognized and what seemed to be keeping all the water out.

"….Someone else has been here before us." Dala realized. "This spell doesn't belong here. It's elvish." 

Mira drifted a long, taking in the atmosphere of the long-abandoned temple. At first the place was unfamiliar, then she started to notice parts that she recognized. For some reason it felt…smaller than it used to? She had the impression that the place would be much, much bigger. The murals and wall art caught her attention immediately, and she spent a long time admiring the pictures. When Dala asked for her thoughts on what this temple was used for, the young girl gave an unexpected answer. "Really, you think so? It feels more like a place where people hold ceremonies to me. There's a lot of empty space with no chairs, the openings in the walls let in natural light. People would probably climb the steps back when it wasn't underwater." As she rambled on, it became clear that this was too specific for a guess. Stopping in front of one of the murals, she floated up to get a better look. "They're giving  thanks to the ocean for protecting them and giving them life. But where's the dragon? Did the paint fade away?"  

They chatted awhile until they went to explore the main room of the temple. When they entered, Mira's bubble was pushed back and she tried to hold it in place only to realize there was already air in the room. That was strange; why was this place dry? "Why is that shining box in the middle? That's not supposed to be here." Something like that never existed back when…back when this temple wasn't flooded. It didn't belong. Fear and worry formed in her stomach when Dala mentioned somebody else had gotten down here before they did. Maybe that's why this place felt more empty than usual. "Did the elves already take a look? I thought they didn't care about things in the sea." A thought entered her mind. "Hey Briar…did anybody else know about the stuff you found before you asked us to come?" As far as Mira knew, there should only be four people who would know about their plans coming here: the captain, Dala, Briar, and herself. Somebody must have snuck in while she and Dala were coming to meet Briar in Sidhiel. And whoever they were, they could read and write in elvish.

"Nobody else knew." Briar said walking up to the strange golden box, "This thing seems to be elvish too." 

Briar walked up towards the box with her hand raised, as though she was going to touch it. Dala quickly snatched Briar's hand to stop her. The redhead seemed slightly displease but gave Dala a nod and stood back. Their hunting for knowledge would have to stop until they could discover what really was going on. Dala instead began reading the inscriptions carved into the box, which were also in elvish. The inscriptions were a sort of seal that circled around the entire box. 

"The seal roughly translates to sealed until the touch of a person." Dala said, "Or it could mean doom awaits inside. I'm still learning elvish." 

"Didn't that mural display a bunch of gold and treasure? If this is a temple meant to give treasure to the ocean…then where is the treasure?" Briar asked. 

Dala paused for a moment, starting to question if they could assume such a thing. There was a display of treasure but it could equally be some sort of metaphor. Then there were those pile of artifacts lying outside people's doors. There were only artifacts. No table or any larger furniture, nor was there any toys that a child might have. Just expensive pots and jewelry. Maybe there were people before them… who were looking for only treasures. 

"Mira, Briar, I think we need to get out of this temple." Dala said with a sudden look of concern, "I don't think its safe here." 

"Wait but we can't leave without finding the treasure!" Briar exclaimed. 

"Look around! Where are the elves?!" Dala asked, frustration burning in her eyes, "I don't know when they were here but at some point they were! If they found all these artifacts, this city, and went back up to the surface then they would have told somebody! They would have taken those artifacts with them!" 

Briar had grown silent with realization. 

"Either they are still here… or something else got them." Dala stated. 

Dala was right. There was nobody here, no signs of the people who used to live here or anybody else. But nobody had mentioned people had gone missing, so it seemed like they were the first to explore this deep. Mira couldn't figure things out, so she moved on. Dala really wanted to leave now, especially since she was worried something was out there. While Briar still wanted to find any treasure that might still be left, Mira was reluctant to leave so soon. Looking at the main room she began to remember something from a long time ago–back when she was barely awake.

She would sit in a room all alone most of the time. But once in a while, people dressed in robes would come bring her out. They would carry her to a woman seated on a throne with a staff in her hand. As the woman held her, she would see people standing in the great hall of the temple, decorated with banners that shone when the sunlight came in through the windows. The windows never had glass in them. Vaguely she recalled the images of a blue dragon with a long body and no wings on those banners, wrapped around a circle. The woman on the throne would stand and raise her staff to the sky as everyone in the hall chanted praises to the Sea for its blessings, protection, and another prosperous year. Gifts of gold, crystal, and a precious white material were presented to the lady who had the staff. Mira didn't remember her face but she knew she was wearing something on her head made of gold and shells…

"I think we should be safe in here as long as we don't touch the magic box. If the people who made it are still here, then we should try to find them." She said, her face serious. Mira hugged her orb tight as she added: "They won't be able to last very long without air. It's not easy to swim so far down. And…I don't think there's any treasure in this temple anymore." The most precious thing that should be here probably had left long ago. If the banners she remembered seeing weren't here, then who knows how long everything had rested at the bottom of the sea? For some reason she kept wondering about the missing dragon on the wall. The people who lived here wouldn't remove something so important to them like that. What happened to this place before it sank?

There was something that Dala felt she wasn't seeing, it was almost in her face and yet she couldn't quite grasp it. Both Mira and Briar wanted to stay, so Dala sighed and gave them both a nod. If they wanted to stay, then she would do her best to defend them from whatever killed or happened to those elves. Maybe they were still around hiding somewhere? They weren't in this room, that much was certain. Dala had her hand on her dagger while Briar was still staring at the golden box, seemingly entranced by it. Dala carefully pulled Briar away from it and started investigating the other side of the temple. 

"Lets find these elves as quickly as possible. And maybe we can find out what happened." Dala said. 

Mira clearly knew this place from her references on what was supposed to be her and her knowledge. If this was a chance to help her friend discover more about her own past, then Dala would stay and do her best to protect them. She found an entrance at the back of the temple, a small hall that lead to another section of the temple. For some reason, this part also held no water. There were the same elvish spells that they had seen earlier. 

"I'm going to stay in this main room. I want to have another look at that first spell." Briar declared. 

"Fine. Just don't do anything stupid." Dala said before turning to Mira once they were alone, "If its okay to ask, what is this place to you? Did you once know of people who lived here or somethin?"

Finding out more about the connection to Mira and the temple might be the key to discovering what happened. 

The tension in the air let up a little as Dala took her aside to talk. Things had started out fine in the beginning but now there was friction between everybody. There were more spells keeping the temple dry further in leading towards a place she knew she recognized. Now that they were by themselves, her friend asked her some questions. Dala was wondering why she knew so much about this place, since this should've been their first time here. Mira understood that it would seem weird, but it was hard to put everything into words. Crossing her arms as she thought, she did her best to put into terms that would be easier to grasp. "Well I guess you can say that I used to live here–but back then I wasn't really 'alive'…" Those memories were still faint as they were long before her awakening in the dragon's lair in Baltil. Anything past the time she was in this temple was a complete blank. "Mama never told anybody outside of our family, it's supposed to be a secret. But I think I should tell you." She trusted Dala, and felt that it was important to let her know.

She pointed at herself. "This isn't me–this is just a moving picture I made to protect myself. Even if I get hurt I won't bleed at all. And that's because it isn't my real body, my real body is…" Mira held up the purplish blue orb that had the same color as her eyes. "…This." She gave her friend a few moments to let that sink in. In retrospect it made sense. No matter where she went, Mira always had her orb with her. Even when she put it down, it would never be far from her. She was always carrying it in her arms or let it hover close by. People might have thought it was like a toy or security blanket, but in fact the truth was much deeper. It wasn't that she didn't want to be separated from the orb; she couldn't. The orb wasn't following her, it was the other way around. "A long time ago, the people who lived here kept my orb in a room in this temple. It was only taken out a few times during the year for important events by the queen. Only a certain people could touch it directly, everybody else had to carry it on a cushion or in a box. That's why I said there wasn't any treasure in the temple." The most important artifact hadn't been in the temple for hundreds of years. 

"I don't know why, but somehow I ended up in a dragon's treasure pile where the dwarves live. I probably stayed there for a long time until one day I woke up."  

The teenager silently listened to her friend speak, never interrupting and listening to every word. Her eyes widened with surprise when she said she used to live here. The temple and the city were old relics, perhaps 400 or even 500 years old. This new information made Dala realize one important thing. Everybody was older than her, even Simone's children! She was hoping to be the cool auntie of the family but now she realized that she was possibly younger than the majority of her best friend's children! It seemed everybody she knew was on some level extra-ordinary. Her parents were ex-gods, her previous teachers were either the undead or a goddess, her best friend was a super special phoenix, and another one of her friends was a magic orb! Dala didn't even know if she had any human friends! 

Remembering this wasn't about her but about Mira, the teenager pushed those thoughts aside for some other day. She kept her face as calm as she could and listened to Mira's story. The explanation explained Mira's protectiveness of the orb and why she always had it with her. It explained why Mira was able to use water magic so well and her unique language that didn't seem to exist any other place in Revaliir. This was originally where she was from, though her memories of the place were fuzzy. Dala leaned against the wall, her mind deep in though when her friend finished her story. 

"This… well its very surprising." Dala admitted, "Not in a bad way! But it wasn't what I was expecting." 

Dala walked over to Mira and embraced her friend in a warm hug. It was the only way the teenager could think of to show Mira that nothing had really changed. She knew more information about Mira but her friend was still the same person she grew close with a long time ago. Pulling away from the embrace, Dala gave Mira a sort of half smirk before she started walking again. 

"Not gonna lie, I originally thought you were a magical princess from a far away kingdom." Dala joked, "And that magic orb would help you reclaim your birthright or give you a magical transformation…. Or maybe I'm just reading too many books." 

Dala then paused for a moment and looked towards Mira. 

"So how do you feel about this temple?" She asked curiously. 

"That's not a bad guess! I bet those sort of things happen more often than somebody being the a magical object." Mira was worried about how Dala would react, but she realized there was no point in worrying at all. Her friend wasn't somebody who wouldn't be friends with somebody just because they were different. With that now behind them, Dala shifted the conversation to a more serious topic. It had been ages since the last time Mira had been here in person, but she was determined to do her best to come up with information that could help. Looking around at the architecture that had sat beneath the waves for years, she put a hand to her chin in thought. "I don't think there should be any traps here, since this was more of a ceremonial place than a place to store valuables. Anything that would have value is already gone or turned to dust. But if somebody else has been down here for a while, then I can't say if this is true anymore. Like that magic keeping the water out." 

This temple wasn't magical, it was just a building. There didn't seem to be much change in the structure and walls so it wasn't like there were hidden traps. Generally speaking, this place should be safe. However the mural back in the earlier parts they visited kept coming to mind. "…Oh. Um, actually there's something that's been bugging me for a while now after we looked at the paintings on the wall." Her voice was nervous as she was almost afraid to say it. "The people who lived in this city didn't just worship the sea. I remember they also worshiped the creatures that lived in it–like a sea dragon." Dragons lived for a very, very long time. Even if after the city fell, that didn't meant everything about the kingdom was dead. Come to think of it, they didn't run into any large sea predators on the way down, only schools of fish and turtles. "A-as long as we're inside, we should be okay. I think…" 

"Ah, so there are dragons…WAIT WHAT?!" Dala spun around and looked Mira in the eyes, "A sea dragon?!"

Of all the things she had been prepared for, a sea dragon was not one of those things. Yet it made sense. The murals, the temples, all of it. They had to be worshipping something. There wasn't a mention of any deity with ocean connections in most of her history books, so it had to be the dragon Mira was mentioning. Dala took a moment to breathe in and out before looking back to Mira, slightly calmer this time.

"Well, we at least know what we're up against. As long as we don't do anything stup-"

Suddenly, there was a loud clicking sound coming back from the main room. Dala's eyes widened and she turned back towards the main room. She raced in there and spotted Briar standing next to the box, her hand still lingering in the air.

"Didn't I tell you to not touch it?!" Dala shouted.

Briar ignored her and walked closer to the box. The golden box in the center began to vanish, as though it was made of nothing at all. Another spell perhaps? Gold, treasure, and a variety of relics was the only thing that remained of the box. Dala's eyes widened in realization as she saw the treasure that had previously been hidden in the room.  Briar drew closer to the glittering gold but Dala ran in front of Briar, blocking her from the treasure.

"It's not just treasure. It's a ceremonial offering!" Dala argued, "We can't take this!"

"I'll take what I want!" Briar said before shoving Dala to the floor, "Thanks for helping but I will do whatever it takes to survive. If that means stealing some stupid old temple's gold, then I'll do it. Besides everybody who lived here is dead. Who cares about them?!"

Before Dala could explain herself or stop Briar, she reached down and started grabbing the gold coins. The second her fingertips touched the treasure, her body began to glow a strange blue shade. A flash of light surrounded her and her body began to shrink. The light faded away and a red fish dropped to the ground. Dala's eyes were wide with shock.

"I…I wasn't expecting a fish spell." Dala admitted.

Her heart skipped a beat when she heard the clicking. Running after Dala, she caught a glimpse of the two girls arguing before the older girl pushed the blonde aside and greedily started grabbing the old offerings. Mira looked on in horror as Briar was transformed into a fish, falling the floor with the coins surrounding her. Immediately she scooped the red fish up with a sphere of water in a panic. Her purple-blue eyes were wide, and she was hyperventilating for a bit until she calmed down. "Whew…" Even though she wasn't on the best terms with her, seeing a fish flailing around out of water made her act out of instinct. She stared at the pile of items, speechless. "Good thing we didn't touch anything. I didn't know this would happen." In a way it was a very cruel form of punishment; as the original people of this kingdom could just toss the transformed thieves into the sea. Survival in the ocean was far more dangerous if you weren't able to protect yourself.

While Briar would be fine for now, that raised the question on what happened to the people who arrived before they did. A lump formed in her throat as Mira shuddered at the thought. Turning into a fish after they made the spell to push out the water… "Maybe we'd better start looking for the other people?" Hopefully they were turned into something that didn't need to be in water to breathe–like crabs or a turtle. Suddenly the inside of the temple went dark as something passed overhead, blocking the light. Then it was gone. Maybe this underwater trip wasn't a good idea after all. Mira didn't know much about dragons; as far as she knew they liked collecting things and got mad if somebody tried stealing from them. But normally the dragons would be close to their stash pile so they could keep an eye on it. Was the temple like a fancy storeroom for the sea dragon's offerings? Did the sea dragon care about the treasure at all? She didn't want to find out.

"I think I still remember the path from the place I was kept and some of the temple's rooms. I never got to see the offerings because they were kept in a different place, so I don't know what else is in here." She looked down at the red fish swimming inside the water bubble in her hands, frowning and shaking her head. "We'll get you fixed after we get back on shore, so sit tight and keep swimming." Mira's tone said she wasn't mad, just disappointed.