Although a lot of the citizens had travelled with them to the Dungeon, only Zop'a the Witch Doctor came with them to the Lihzahrd Temple. He was eager to visit his people after having been trapped outside of the temple for who knew how long, despite their differences in belief.

The entrance turned out to be high up in the temple wall, at a point where the wall started sloping inwards, like a roof. Sid was expecting some sort of grand entrance, with an intricate door-opening system that would trigger when the key was inserted, like in some adventure movie from the real world. But instead it turned out to be as small as a regular old wooden door, and when William put the Temple Key into it, its lock just disappeared and it could be opened and closed just like any other door.

"Well, we should make up for the door's lameness by having a dramatic entrance of our own," Sid said, then charged inside, fully ready to snap his whip at anything that might pose a threat.

He was not expecting a click as he stepped on a raised section of floor, or for a volley of darts to shoot out from a far wall.

He was struck, and poisoned.

"Musket balls!" he shouted, keeling over from the pain.

Meg ran inside and brought her pickaxe onto the pressure plate.

"When are you going to learn that charging headfirst into everything doesn't solve problems, it makes them?" she asked.

Sid sighed.

Ever since his battle against the Twins, Retinazer and Spazmatism, he'd been contemplating how to best go about strategizing and keeping his cool, so that he wouldn't keep on making mistakes that would make Meg mad. But no matter how hard he tried to put himself into this new mindset, some situation would always pop up that would make him impulsively, almost automatically, mess up. Like when he'd prematurely smashed Plantera's bulb. Or blown up the Prismatic Lacewing that had caused the Empress of Light to attack William and Meg.

He still thought the whole world was a video game. He knew that, despite what Meg thought. But that mindset made Sid play a lot less like there were lives on the line and more as though it was just a video game. Meg and William, on the other hand, seemed to understand the value of the citizens' lives and their own safety. He could understand too. He just wished he could truly feel like he could say that to their face.

"Okay," he said finally. "New plan. We move slowly. Check every wall for traps, and every part of the floor for pressure plates."

He was expecting Meg to look surprised, maybe make some snide remark like "Who are you and what have you done with Sid?" Instead, she just nodded and took a couple of steps forward, her eyes to the ground.

"Why are there traps?" Sid heard the Witch Doctor murmur. "This is a place of worship. Not a stronghold."

"Keep your eyes peeled," William said. "Zop'a, let us know if you sense anything."

The temple's corridors were oddly constructed, with several sections of the floor suddenly jutting upwards or downwards. From the natural way Zop'a climbed up and down sections of wall on all fours, Sid presumed the architecture decisions made sense, being designed with Lihzahrds in mind rather than humans. Sharp wooden spikes lined some of the walls, kind of like the similar metal spikes in the Dungeon. Some tables and chairs built from the same dark orange as the unbreakable brick of the temple were scattered about in some rooms, along with some statues of what Sid presumed to be some Lihzahrds, including some with strangely empty eyes that were holding spears.

"I found a chest," Meg said, pointing at a large lidded object. Its sides were flaked with gold, and its front had two red jewels that looked like eyes.

"Careful," Sid said. "What if opening it sets off a trap?"

Meg glanced around. The blocks that shot traps out were visually distinct from the rest of the bricks, but couldn't be broken with their pickaxes. The pressure plates could be removed, but if the chest was rigged, it couldn't be removed without first emptying it, and they couldn't do that without triggering it first.

"Cover up the trap blocks with stone," Meg said.

"Good idea," Sid replied.

Once the traps were covered, Meg stood in front of the chest, but hesitated, looking uncertain as to if she should open it.

"I'll open it," Sid said.

"Sid? Are you sure?"

"If something triggers that we didn't account for, I'll take it," he said.

Meg looked like she was about to say something else, but she just nodded and stepped back.

Sid stepped towards the chest and heaved it open.

Nothing happened.

None of the blocked traps around them even sounded like they'd fired.

Maybe it hadn't been rigged at all. But regardless, it was better to have prepared for nothing than gone in impulsively and died.

He took a look at the chest's inventory. There were the usual potions and gold coins, but there was also an item named the 'Lihzahrd Power Cell.' Its label just said that it was 'used at the Lihzahrd Altar'.

"Something's off about this place," William said. "It's... emptier than I was expecting."

"I agree," Zop'a said.

They soon came to a spot in the temple that dropped straight down, into a completely dark chamber. There was no way of knowing what was down there without light.

Which, Sid realised, they could bring.

His first thought was to shoot a rocket down there. The explosion would create a bit of light, but it would only be fleeting. Besides, it could blow something up that they'd rather not blow up. Like a cage filled with Prismatic Lacewings.

He held out a glowstick from his inventory and threw it down. It lit the chamber in an eerie green light, mixing with the orange of the brick to create a substantially darkened look, but still visible.

"Looks like it's safe," William said, then dropped into the hole, spreading his wings so he could take care not to land on any pressure plates. Once down he placed more torches to light up the area and smashed the pressure plates with his pickaxe. Sid, Meg, and Zop'a dropped down once he was finished. From there they began heading down another jagged corridor.

"Where is everyone?" Zop'a said, sounding worried. "Somebody should have come to greet us. Or at least yell at us angrily. The fact that neither has happened is more worrying."

"Maybe they're all really deep in prayer at the moment or something," Sid said. "Is it Lihzahrdian Sunday or something?"

"Every day is Sunday in here," Zop'a said. "My people worship an idol of the sun."

Sid exchanged a look with William and Meg.

That was when they heard a strained hissing.

"Flying Snake!" William shouted.

Sid glanced around and saw them – green snakes with yellow bellies and grey demon-like wings attached to their sides, shooting from a dark corner in the opposite corner of the room. He cast his summons and sent them forward, but the snakes numbered many. One of them landed a blow on Meg and knocked her to the side, where she landed on a pressure plate.

Some spears shot down from above, which stabbed her and dealt a considerable amount of damage before retracting back to the ceiling. Luckily, they also skewered the Flying Snake that had attacked her, shredding it to pieces.

"Be careful!" William shouted, stepping forward.

Sid saw the pressure plate in front of him before he did – his accidental step triggered a wall of flames spurting out from the left wall. He flung out his grappling hook and latched onto the ceiling, his body now on fire.

Sid stayed still, firing his Rocket Launcher at the oncoming snakes, but they just wouldn't stop coming. They soon began swarming around them, and he switched to his Morning Star whip to try to snap them away. Another trap must've gotten set off by someone in the chaos, as soon spiky balls were bouncing all over the place. Many hit the snakes, but that did little to slow the horde.

Sid did an almighty swing with his whip, knocking back all snakes in a 360-degree radius, and took flight towards where they were coming from. They seemed to be emerging from a small nook in the corner of the room near the ceiling. He got out his blocks of stone and began placing them, but the flow was strong. Many landed powerful blows on him, but he soon managed to plug the hole.

He watched William, Meg and Zop'a mop up the last of the snakes that remained. He managed a grin before groaning and falling to the floor.