Blackstone - The Temple of Trials

In the Jungle

The lights in the Arena seemed brighter than usual, but the roar of the crowd was the same. I materialized on the sand. David was right behind me. The crowd stood on its feet and gave us a standing ovation. I bowed, and the crowd loved it. Roars of adoration issued from the stands.

"Look who has joined us. Our two young lovers," Father K's amplified voice boomed throughout the stadium. His platform zoomed down from the heights of the stadium until it was at our level. Father K leaped off and bounded towards us. He thrust his microphone into our faces, "Are you ready for Round 3?"

"As ready as we'll ever be," David said.

"Good because Round 3 of the Temple of Trials is where the true tests begin," Father K said.

The other jump doors opened and the other contestants emerged. Father K zoomed off to interview them.

I turned to David. "You feeling all right?"

"I've been better, but I'll make it." David said.

Father K finished his interviews with the two remaining teams. The Alpha Draconians looked unstoppable. The prisoners from Rigel looked a little worse for wear, but they seemed full of confidence. There were only six of us left. Everyone else had died or was stuck on whatever hellish planet they couldn't get off of.

Father K jumped on his floating platform and rocketed to the center of the Arena. "Ladies and Gentlemen, let the third and final round of the Temple of Trials begin!"

Jump Doors opened in front of us. I looked at David. He nodded at me and we walked through them.

***

We emerged into a lush jungle. Overhead, a thick canopy of branches shielded us from bright sunlight. The sounds of birds echoed through the jungle and the warm, wet smell of vegetation greeted me. It was hot and humid here, and I started to sweat.

David took out his razor phone and began scanning.

"I don't know what planet we're on, but we're on a large continent in the tropical zone."

"Any signs of habitation?" I asked.

"Abundant life form readings, but no cities. Nothing that I can pick up anyway."

I looked around at the vast jungle. I couldn't imagine hacking my way through this dense brush. The jungle seemed impenetrable.

"What are we supposed to do here?" I said to David.

"I don't know. Wait a second, I'm picking up a large stone structure. It's about two miles in that direction," David said and pointed through the dense brush.

I whipped out my etheric knife and ignited it. I hacked away at the creeping vines and leaves. "Then let's go."

It took us most of the afternoon to hack our way through the jungle, but we finally made it through. We emerged from the jungle, tired and sore from hacking at the vegetation to find ourselves in a clearing where a massive stone pyramid temple stood. The pyramid reminded me of the structures that the Aztecs and the Mayans built in Mexico. Large stone steps led to the top where an altar was.

David moved towards the pyramid, "Let's check it out. Maybe we can find a clue to our mission in this Round."

Just then, a dozen humans emerged from the jungle. They wore elaborate feathered costumes and carried wicked looking spears. They saw us and became very excited.

"What do we do?" I shouted.

"Our primary objective with primitive alien cultures is to avoid all contact. We must not harm them." David said.