Lost Ruins: The City Of Gold

Chapter 3: Romeral

    They made their way to Colombia and they packed their gear. Arthur put on tan cargo pants, a black shirt, combat boots, and his backpack full of gear. He has his pistol on his right leg, his shotgun on his back, his knife on his right boot, and extra ammo on his belt and pockets. Olivia had on black shorts, a white flannel shirt, black boots, and her backpack with books and tools. "Here take this," Arthur demands. He hands Olivia the revolver, ammo and a holster. "Remember how to shoot from when I taught you?" he asked.
    "Yes of course," she answered. She took the revolver and put it in the shoulder holster. She pulls out a map and Carer gives her a look as he wonder where she just pulled a map of Colombia from. She shows Arthur and points on the map.
    "Here we are, where we just flew in. We need to get to Romeral volcano here," she says to him as she points again.
    "Okay, we need to head north-east. Let's get to this little town in the half-way point for food and to gather ourselves," he demands.
    They rent an old jeep that looks like it's thirty years old and has been through hell. They start driving through the back rough roads of Colombia. Both of them look in awe at the beautiful plants, trees, and wildlife. They come to the little village and get out of the jeep.
    "Hand me the map. I'm going to ask around and see if anyone knows how to get to this volcano," Arthur stated.
    "You speak Spanish?" Olivia asked him.
    "Yeah, of course!" he replied. Olivia walked around and looked through some tiny shops.
    The village was small, contained huts and small shops, and no tourists. The resorts were far away from this place. Across the way, a man stared at her. Olivia noticed and looked puzzled as he looked familiar. She wiped her eyes and he was gone.
    "Liv!" Arthur came up and touched her shoulder. "You okay?" he asked.
    "Yes, fine. I just thought I saw...never mind. What did you find?" she said.
    "A man pointed out a trail that will take us directly to the volcano. Only after giving him my watch," Arthur groaned.
    "Nice, lets go." She said with excitement.
    They started on their way through the jungle. Large plants and vines covered their way. The sounds of birds and other animals echoed through the trees. Arthur pulls out the map a few times to check their direction. Olivia stares with lust at Arthur as he takes charge and his muscles showing through his tight shirt while he cuts down vines and anything in their way. She trips over roots from not paying attention and Arthur rushes over.
    "You okay Liv?" He asks with worry in his voice.
    "Yes I'm fine," she replied with embarrassment.
    "You are always so clumsy! Come on I can't carry you," he chimed. Arthur helps her up and she calls him an ass under her breath, but smiles at him again. As she wipes herself off she notices something.
    "Look at these" she walks toward a small ancient rock stone structure no more than three feet high. "You see these Arthur?"
    "What these rocks?" He looked over.
    "Yes!" She exclaimed. This might be the one in Sir Walter Raleigh's journal. Trust me, we need to follow them this way." They travel a few hours through the jungle and finally come to the volcano. Arthur then follows Olivia.
    "The entrance should be this way," she insisted. Arthur stares at her and smiles. He likes that she is taking charge and admires her intelligence.
    "I'm not even going to ask how you know that," Arthur stated.
    They come to a stone entrance that goes into the volcano. It's small and it's only a few feet to the back wall. On the back wall is a round hole and carvings similar to the ones on the medallion. There is writing on the outside of it.
    "It reads, tomb of desire," she beamed.
    "You read that ancient language?" Arthur asks.
    "Yeah, of course!" she responded with a smile on her face making Arthur roll his eyes.
    "So what now?" Arthur asks. "Looks like a dead end."
    "Wait a minute," she says with wonder in her eyes. She pulls out the medallion and puts it in the hole. It fit perfectly. She looks at it puzzled and turns her head. "It's like a puzzle, the lines must match and complete the design in the markings." Olivia turns the medallion on the wall then there is a large thump. Dust flies everywhere, and the back wall opens as if on a hinge.
    "Holy shit, that's awesome" Arthur says with amazement.
    They walk in and turn their flash lights on. Arthur has a light on his left shoulder and Olivia has on a headlamp.
    "Wait, I'm going to take the medallion just in case," she says. She takes it out of the wall and puts it in her backpack. Suddenly the door slams shut. Arthur dives for the door.
    "No!" he shouts but it was too late as the door shut. "Damn it! Now we have no sure way out."
    "The only way out is forward now," she spoke and began to walk into the darkness as Arthur mocked her under his breath. They continue through the tomb, which is filled with dirt, vines, cobwebs, and bugs.
    "This place is hundreds of years old and we are the first one to enter since! Isn't this amazing?" she asks.
    "Yes wonderful," Arthur mumbles as he steps over a snake.
    "Look at this amazing statue!" Olivia yells. The statue is four feet tall and of a man holding a sword. She walks up to it and touches it. She feels the arm can move so she pulls on it. The arm lowers and there is loud clanking.
    "What did you do!" Arthur shouted.
    "Nothing!" Olivia screams back. There is rumbling and the floor starts to break. Pieces of the floor begin to fall into what looks like a never ending pit.
    "Run!" Arthur belted.
    They run but the floor disappears too quickly. They see a ledge and they are just about there, but the floor underneath them crumbles. They begin to fall but Arthur grabs a vine and Olivia's had at the same time. She screams extremely loud.
    "Look at me! Liv, I have you!" he shouts. They look into each other's eyes. "Climb on to my back," he demands and she does so.
    He climbs up with her on his back but struggles, "I'm going to swing. Then when we get close I'm going to let go and land on that ledge," he tells her.
    "I trust you," she whispers in his ear. He swings and swings again. He lets go and lands them both safely on the ledge. They breathe heavily, sit on the floor, and look at each other.
    "You just had to touch. You always have to touch," he grunted.
    "I'm sorry! Really I am," she cried.
    "Come here," he says to her. He hugs her and closes his eyes. "It's okay Liv. Lets keep going."
    They get up and walk further through the tomb and notice that it keeps getting hotter. They come to what used to be stairs, but all that's left is a hole with a few rocks sticking out.
    "Well I guess we aren't walking down," Arthur added.
    "What do we do?" Olivia asked.
    "We will scale down using the rock climbing gear," Arthur answered. He attached the nylon rope to heavy rocks and secured it. He helped Olivia put on her harness. "Don't worry it's easy. Kick off, let go, then squeeze, kick off, let go and squeeze again. The harder you squeeze, the slower you move."
    "Okay, I got this," she responded.
They began to scale down and then came to the floor beneath hem. They remove their harnesses and make their way further and came to a long eerie corridor filled with sarcophaguses. Olivia reads some inscriptions.
    "It looks like these men gave their lives protecting whatever is in here." They continue walking and reach the end. They reach a door with a large lock.
    'How do we get through that?" Arthur asked.
    "It looks like the lock is a puzzle. I think I have to complete the pattern." Olivia begins moving the blocks to complete the puzzle. "It looks like a serpent." Olivia finishes and the lock opens.  Arthur goes to pull the door open, but it is stuck.
    "I got this," Olivia rejoiced. She opens her backpack and pulls out a small hammer and chisel. Arthur rolls his eyes.
    "I've had enough of this place," Arthur hissed. He pulls out his shotgun. "Cover your ears," he tells Olvia and she does so. He fires a few times at certain spots where the door looks stuck. Then Arthur pried at the door and it bursts open.
    "Well I guess that works too," Olivia grunted. They walk in and come to a room with a shrine. On the shrine is  a large blue stone. "This must be it! It has the same markings as the medallion," she stated as she reaches for it.
    "Wait!," Arthur demands. "Before you start grabbing things, what does it say on the shrine?" Olivia walks around the shrine scanning the writing with her eyes.
    "It basically says, 'taking this stone will wake it's protectors'. Oh come on! That's impossible." She grabbed the stone and put it in her backpack. Suddenly they heard huge thumps and things falling. The noises grew louder and louder.  They turned but saw nothing. Then a mummy jumps out of the dark frightening them. Arthur quickly draws his pistol and shoots it. Mummy parts fall to the ground. Mummys bearing swords and wearing armor come out of everywhere.
    "What the fuck? Run!" Arthur screams. They run down a corridor but stop quickly, because magma is pouring out of the wall.
    "Back, back!" he yells. "I thought you said it was extinct?"
    "I said dormant, not extinct. There is usually some magma beneath a dormant volcano, and none beneath an extinct volcano, and" Arthur cuts her off.
    "Now is not the time for a lesson!" He shouts.
    They run back. Bam! Bam! Bam! Arthur starts shooting every mummy he sees. One come out close to him so he punches it and it fell into another mummy. He shoots them both and kicks another. Arthur reloads. Olivia pulls out her revolver and shoots as well. Bam! Bam!  Arthur finally notices another corridor. "This way!" he orders. They both start running as Arthur shoots behind him.
    Arthur sees a large pit in front of them. "Jump Liv, jump," he yells at her.
    They both jump and can feel the extreme heat from the magma below. They hear what sounds like a door opening. They continue running and turn a corner and another. Some mummys jump out tripping them both. They can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Arthur gets up with a mummy on his back and whips it off. Bam! He shoots  it and then shoots three more. At the same time, Olivia screams and a mummy is on top of her snapping at her. She knees it in the crotch, punches it, then shoots it.
    "You taught me that," Olivia shouts as Arthur looks at her. The door ahead begins to close.
    "No, no no!" Arthur shouted.
    He grabs Olivia's arm to pull her with and they begin to run. The door is falling faster and faster. Arthur grabs a huge piece of stone and dives. He slides and the huge stone catches the door. They crawl through and Arthur kicks the stone just in time. The door falls shut on a mummy's head. He grabs Olivia and holds her close.
    "Are you okay?" He asks with worry on his face.
    "Yes! That was crazy. You're crazy," she says.
    "II didn't know how tough you are," he says to her. He grabs her face and looks in her eyes. "We are safe now," He rejoiced.
    "That's what you think!" A man's voice stated. Arthur and Olivia both look up and see Dr. Walters with the same two security guards pointing their guns at them.
    "Dr. Wieners, how nice of you to join us," Arthur smirked. One security guard punches Arthur in the face. Arthur spits blood.
    "Speak English now don't you," the security guard snarls.