Amon Awakened Us From Our Delusion

The Temple of the Forbidden Archives was not as dim as Augustus had imagined. Instead, it was bathed in the gleaming light cast by arrays of obelisks and jungle-like clusters of Kydarin Crystals. Countless passageways crisscrossed the place like a maze, and one could only determine the way forward by following the currents of air and the markings.

The bedrock road beneath his feet stretched endlessly, as though it connected to an age long forgotten. The silver-gray walls around him shimmered with strands of pale green fluorescence, their texture exquisitely smooth, like riverbed sand repeatedly washed by flowing water. Fine carvings covered them, resembling the veins of stems and leaves and the spirals of seashells.

"This temple feels alive," Augustus said as he passed through an archway crowned by an elegant, slender spire and entered the radiant temple hall.

Here, tens of millions of crystals shone in brilliant colors like gemstones, arranged along either side like blades and swords. Countless stone formations made up of hexagonal crystal-inlaid pillars lay shrouded in the soft white glow of an energy matrix. Incredibly, lush moss and vines even grew upon the temple walls, their roots driven deep into the stone walls and pillars. Clearly, the materials used to build this temple belonged to nothing known to humanity.

The temple's resplendent dome stood at an unimaginable height above the ground, far beyond reach. Hundreds upon hundreds of niches had been carved into it, as if giants had once meditated, conversed, and lived within such halls.

One could imagine how awestruck the Protoss must have been when they first entered this temple. When grand works beyond their understanding or ability to create stood tangibly before them, reverence for gods was only natural.

Like the Xel'Naga temples Augustus had seen on Aiur, this place was absurdly