Treasures of the Forgotten City (Ultimate Ending Book 1)
Page 2
Without thinking you rush him. You're not sure why, but for some reason it seems important to have the element of surprise. The figure does absolutely nothing as you approach. Either that, or he doesn't even see you...
At the last possible second you realize your mistake. You change direction, and rather than slam full force into the pillar itself you go sprawling headlong into the fire pit. Dust and dirt fly everywhere. You also enjoy the distinctly new sensation of getting sand up your nose.
You're brushing off the last of the charcoal as Waif runs up to you. He's laughing.
"He's over there," he points. Off to your right, the statue of a scholarly man stands tall on a worn pedestal. "If you hurry you can still catch him!"
You return Waif's humor with a twisted smirk. The figure on the pillar was nothing more than a shadow!
"At least you searched the fire pit," Waif quips. "Come. We haven't checked these roads yet."
Two very broad avenues lead away from the fire pit.
If you take the west road, TURN TO PAGE 124
If you head east instead, GO TO PAGE 103
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You look at Waif and laugh. "You're being silly, man. We could use some luck."
With that you flip the quarter high into the air. It catches the sun for one gleaming instant, then drops into the four-thousand year old well. The two of you look at each other, half expecting something to happen. Nothing does.
"I didn't hear it hit bottom," Waif says.
"Probably landed in the sand."
The two of you lean over the well shaft one last time in an effort to see something. As you do, Waif's torch illuminates three distinct symbols carved side-by-side into the stone: an owl eating a snake eating a rodent.
"What's that about?" you ask.
Waif shrugs. "I don't know. Circle of life?" He seems a lot more relieved now that the coin-toss is over. "Say, what did you wish for anyway?"
You laugh again, this time patting him on the back so hard he almost falls over. "Can't tell you or it won't come true."
Hey, a rule is a rule. Now TURN TO PAGE 33
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The avenue you're walking widens into a broad concourse. Soon a structure looms in the distance, tall and impressive and leaping up toward the sky. The shape is unmistakable. When you were young, your grand-uncle must've pointed it out to you a hundred different times on Murdoch's map.
"The Ziggurat!"
The massive, multi-tiered pyramid is a darker stone than the rest of the city. You wonder where the giant stone blocks were cut from, how they got here, who built the thing and why. Too many questions. Too long ago.
"Your map has one of the star jewels next to the Ziggurat," Waif says. "Perhaps it's inside?"
"That's what I'm counting on," you tell him. If Waif were to look down at your hands right now, he'd find your fingers crossed. "Alright, let's get climbing."
There are a series of stone steps leading up all four sides of the pyramid. The south side seems to be the least dangerous. Your climb is slow, the slope uncomfortably steep. The steps are mostly covered in sand, which makes it difficult to get any sort of decent footing.
"C'mon," Waif calls back from ahead of you. "We're almost there."
A rock-slide of small boulders rumbles past you as Waif nears the top. It takes some maneuvering, but you manage to get out of the way in time. The last quarter of the climb however, appears exceptionally treacherous. Many of the stones look cracked and loose. Then, something catches your eye.
"Hang on, I think I found something."
There's an opening in the Ziggurat's face. You stare into it and see nothing but blackness.
"There's a room here," you call up to Waif. Smaller and lighter (not to mention a better climber), he's just about at the top. "Maybe we can use it to gain access to the upper chambers?"
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If you decide to call Waif down and try to find another way up from inside the Ziggurat, FLIP TO PAGE 114
Then again, you're almost there. If you want to take a chance with those last few steps, GO TO PAGE 73
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There's something you like about the horse glyph... something innocuous and non-threatening. For some odd reason, it just seems like it would be the right choice.
"Let's try this one," you tell Waif.
Together you pass beneath the horse symbol, into the shadows. The hall continues onward for a long while, curving left as you go. You pass several side-corridors, but all of them are caved in. Perhaps they once went somewhere, but right now they're packed with nothing but rubble and cobwebs.
Side by side you continue walking, sticking to the main tunnel. Eventually, the corridor ends. The room ahead is total darkness. You step forward and enter it, heart pounding...
This is it! This must be--
"We're back in the same room!" Waif says. The torchlight reveals the hexagonal chamber exactly the same as you left it. Waif looks absolutely stunned.
You take the torch from him and hold it over your head. Directly above, the serpent glyph stares down at you. It looks poised and ready to strike.
"We walked in a circle," you say. "The horse and the snake must be the same corridor. They're connected."
Waif scratches his head. "Well at least our odds just got better. We eliminated two possibilities."
He's right! There are only four exits left to choose from.
If you pick the exit marked with the DOG, TURN TO PAGE 146
If you pick the exit marked with the CROWN, TURN TO PAGE 99
If you pick the exit marked with the CAT, TURN TO PAGE 156
If you pick the exit marked with the HAWK, TURN TO PAGE 160
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Here the street widens into a long, broad concourse. Large granite statues tower over both sides of the avenue, each carved in exquisite, painstaking detail. They appear to depict the Sultans, Khans, and many rulers of Atraharsis. None bear weapons. Most bear scrolls, staffs, and even tools in some cases. All of them look distinguished, amiable, and wise.
You've passed at least two dozen such statues, including more than a few women, when you finally turn to Waif. "How many leaders of Atraharsis were there?"
"These are not the leaders," he corrects you. "These were the scholars, the teachers, the passers of knowledge. There was a time, long ago, when they were revered even above kings and queens."
At the end of the avenue, a lone statue presides over the center. A series of glyphs are carved deeply into the base. Waif impresses you by translating them roughly:
Gold, jewels, armies, land -- false tenements of true power
Cities fall. Kings perish. Dynasties crumble. Linage ends
These things are constructs of man. Always fleeting
Only knowledge is forever
You let out a long breath. "That's deep."
"Deep?"
"Yeah. These people were gravely serious about their culture. Whatever happened to them?"
Waif shrugs. "Perhaps they were conquered. Or the aquifer running beneath the city finally dried up. There are many such theories." He pauses, then points up to the distant cliff face. "But the best ones involve that obelisk."
You squint up in the direction from which you came. The obelisk is nothing more than a tiny dark finger against the sky.
"Well if you're right, then we need to hurry."
You can continue on through the city by TURNING TO PAGE 111
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The giant jewel sparkles in the torchlight. Waif sets to it with his knife.
"Hey. Um..."
He already has it loose! It's the biggest, most amazing jewel you've ever seen. You step forward to help him...
BOOM!
The wall collapses outward. It knocks Waif to the ground, but then he's swept up in a torrent of rushing water!
"The river!" you exclaim as icy water rapidly fills the room. "The underground aquifer that once fed the ci--"
Your sentence is never finished as your mouth fills with water.
It surges into the room, thousands upon thousands of gallons, filling the cave in mere seconds.
"Waif!" Your scream is little more than a gurgle. But it's too late. He's already gone. You try to fight the current, but the river drags you along the cave with unrelenting force. It pins you against the ceiling...
As the water keeps rising, you realize this must be
THE END
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Carefully you slide, push and prod certain areas of the green crystal case, being careful with its delicate, four-thousand year old components. Waif looks on in amazement as you make your way through the puzzle box. You might as well be pulling off the greatest magic trick of all time.
At one point you stop. A small silver needle protrudes from one of the slides near the bottom. You ask Waif for his knife, and with the tip of the blade, you pry the needle out and toss it to the sandy floor.
"What was that?" Waif asks.
"Nothing good."
A few more minutes go by. Then, just as you're about to give up and stuff the box into your rucksack...
CLICK!
The crystal box swings open on tiny silver hinges. Inside, resting on a crushed pillow of red velvet, are two snake-sculpted rings of bright yellow gold.
"Pick one," you tell your partner. Reverently Waif chooses the ring with aquamarine eyes. He leaves you the one with eyes of diamond.
"We're ring buddies now," you tell him as you carefully tuck the box into your pack. Waif looks back at you utterly confused.
"Never mind," you smile. "Let's head up and get what we came for."
Not a bad job!
Now climb to the top of the tower by TURNING TO PAGE 122
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"Remember when we saw this constellation before?" you say. "Back in the city square?"
Waif nods.
"It was missing two stars. The second and the fourth." You examine those two gems on the wall. They're both red. Garnets, maybe rubies. "Here, give me your knife."
Using the point of the blade, being very careful not to chip the gems, you pry the jewels loose from the surrounding sandstone. To your surprise, they pop out rather easily. You turn around and hand them to Waif. "Do your thing."
Your friend smiles. Climbing the statue is child's play for him. Waif shimmies up the neck, straddles the head, and places the two gemstone into the serpent's eye sockets. Nothing happens.
"I don't know what--"
Without warning a slab of stone directly in front of the statue grinds to one side. Simultaneously, the snake's head dips down, until its nose is pointing directly at the newly-formed hole.
Waif hops down and shoves his torch into the darkness. Another chamber lies just beneath you, not far down.
"Well I guess that's the way," he shrugs. He hands you the torch, hangs from the lip, and drops down easily into the new room. "Come on, it's all good."
You throw Waif your rucksack and look back at the serpent one last time. And for one brief instant, you'd swear that its eyes glow.
Glad you didn't have to take any of those other corridors? You should be.
Now HEAD TO PAGE 142
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The top chamber of the Ziggurat is a perfect square. Two tunnels lead into the room from the east and west. Your eyes however are drawn instantly upward, to where a deep red light streams into the dusty chamber.
"The star ruby!"
Nestled against a hole in the ceiling is a breathtaking, fist-sized gemstone. It refracts the sunlight streaming in from above, bathing the entire room in shimmering waves of crimson and scarlet.
"But how do we get to it?" Waif asks. "There's no way up."
He's right. The stone is set into the dead center of the ceiling, a good thirty feet overhead. There's nothing in the chamber to climb on. The only features are two enormous stone blocks, one above either exit, and what looks to be a crude lever next to each. They appear to act as counterweights for some sort of gate or doorway.
"What does your uncle's journal say?"
"Grand-uncle," you smirk. You pull it from your rucksack and flip through the timeworn pages. "There's not much here, only a single line. It says: In Darkness all Will be Revealed."
"That doesn't even rhyme." Waif actually sounds disappointed.
You think for a moment, then re-examine the room. It's still very early morning. Sunlight streams in from both exits. Maybe if you closed one...
"We need the room dark," you tell Waif. "Help me close one of these doors."
If you pull the lever on the east side of the chamber HEAD OVER TO PAGE 120
Or maybe the lever on the west side would be better. If so, TURN TO PAGE 148
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You stare first at the blue sapphire, then at the red lense. A thought occurs to you.
"Purple."
Waif raises an eyebrow. Striding past him you pick up the red sphere and mount it directly in front of the star jewel. Sunlight passes through the both of them, turning the room a beautiful violet color.
CLICK!
Deep in the floor somewhere, a mechanism activates. The room fills with the loud grinding of stone on stone as the granite door is lifted slowly back into position, clearing your exit. There's another click as it locks into place.
"Purple is the color of royalty," you explain to Waif. "Blue and red make purple."
You move to the mosaic and carefully close your palm over the star jewel. It rotates a quarter turn to the left, then pops easily into your hand.
Great job! You just recovered the star sapphire of Atraharsis!
A rumble somewhere off in the distance drags you back to reality. It's nothing like the first tremor, but it's a sobering reminder that your time here is limited.
You wave the big jewel in the air. "If we want to keep this thing we'd better get moving." With that you place the gem securely in your rucksack and lead Waif out of the temple.
Your adventure continues when you TURN TO PAGE 116
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"We're here to explore the city," you say simply. "Not rush blindly through it."
With that, you step forward to where several broken buildings are marked with a series glyphs and symbols. Very few of them are recognizable. Not even from your grand-uncle's journal.
One however, you manage to translate as a pair of words: The Serpent. Above the inscription are a large number of star-shaped dots, all painted in blue. They're arranged in a vaguely snake-like pattern.
You squint at it for a moment, and then it comes to you. "Wait, I know this. This is the Hydra."
"Hydra?"
"Yeah, it's a constellation." A fond memory flashes through your mind; you and your grand-uncle laying in the field behind his manor, staring up at the stars. "Back then I'm sure they called it the serpent, but that's what it is."
Your friend looks at you skeptically. "Are you sure?"
You trace the dots with one finger. "Yeah, totally. The number two and number four stars are missing, but the rest of it is unmistakable."
Waif considers this. "It makes sense I suppose. The founders of Atraharsis were said to have been great astronomers."
"Great engineers, great stonemasons, great astronomers..." You can't help but laugh. "Is there anything these people weren't great at?"
"Yes," Waif answers. He scoops up a pile of sand and lets it slip through his fingers. "Longevity."
The rest of the area is empty. Keep on exploring as you TURN TO PAGE 21
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"Gold and red... gold and red..." you repeat the words out loud. "That sound about right to you, Waif?"
Your partner nods. Together you each grab one of the levers, count down from three, and then pull. For a long moment nothing happens. Then a loud grinding causes you to whirl to the right, where a stone door has retracted into the floor.
Warily you head inside. The room is slightly smaller, the walls polished smooth on all sides. An astounding layer of dust covers everything, thicker than anything you've seen so far. It's obvious no one has been in her
e in... well, forever.
"Oh... wow." Before you know it you're holding Waif's torch. Using only his shirt sleeve, he wipes four thousand years of grime from one of the walls.
You sneeze violently, several times. "What is it?"
Scrawled over the walls, on every side of the room, are a series of elaborate diagrams. Beneath them, etched in perfect detail, is a large scale map of Atraharsis.
"Look here." Waif traces a finger along the wall in several places. "The river originates beneath the cliff face. And these are access points, where water is funneled to different parts of the city. Fountains, wells -- here, this one goes all the way up to the obelisk."
Again you sneeze. Through watery eyes, you watch Waif point out many different aspects of the schematics. "Impressive," you tell him. "But does it say anything about the Hall of Kings?"
Waif turns back to the diagrams. As he does, a low rumble shakes the chamber. You both freeze, bracing for a rush of water that never comes. Dust floats down from the ceiling like snow.
"We need to hurry," you say. "We've already been down here way too long."