The Explorer's Quest

The Fortress

The group docked the ship and got on the dock. Johnny looked up the stone steps, staring at the double black doors at the top. He had a bad feeling about this, and the fog only made it worst.

Once everyone had gotten off the ship, they walked up the stairs. With every step he took, Johnny felt more and more unsure about the whole thing. He looked up at the doors again, and noticed as they taunted him with their dark, evil look. They gloomed down, pressuring Johnny with dreadfulness.

They made it all the way up to the top of the stairway, up close and personal to the evil doors. Four mercenaries set their hands on the doors and pushed with all their might. With ease the men were able to open the doors. "Hey that might've been the easiest time we've ever opened a door on this journey!" said one of the men with a smile on his face. The rest of the group laughed out loud, they looked around at each to share the light-hearted moment. Johnny and Grant both noticed this was the first time they had even laughed since they started this expedition.

When the laughter had died they all entered the interior of the fortress. The floor was a jade green, the walls were cobblestoned, the ceiling went higher and higher. Just like the Passage of the Great Khan, the torches were still lit and generating a lot of light. Grant noticed how the layout to the fortress was vaguely similar to the layouts of the Scorpion Temple and the Mt. Everest temple, but combined into one.

Inside there was a large lever, and two stairways next to the lever going down. Each stairway led to its own door, each door had a big lock on it.

"What happens if we pull the lever?" asked Hugo.

Brutus looked around to find something that might answer the question but found nothing. "I don't know. I guess we're just going to have to find out," he said. He snapped and pointed at the lever and a mercenary walked over to it.

The mercenary situated his hands around the lever and pulled it. They all heard something happening, but didn't know where it was happening. The mercenary looked above him, and saw a pile of stone bricks falling straight towards himself. The pile of bricks were falling fast, but not fast enough. The mercenary dodge-rolled back towards the group just as the bricks would've smashed him to the floor. He just barely escaped.

Bricks weren't the only thing that fell out of the ceiling however. A rope ladder rolled its way down to the ground as well, giving them all a way up to the floor above them.

"Johnny, Hugo and Grant come up with me. Everyone else stay down here until we come back," commanded Brutus. Hugo gave a slight and shaky smile, I actually get to help this time? He thought to himself. Brutus led the way, climbing the ladder first. Johnny followed, then Hugo (who tried as hard as he could to hide his joyfulness), and finally Grant had all made it to the upper floor.

It was torchlit up here just as well as it was down below, but it was only a small room. There was a chest by the cobblestone wall. Grant tried to walk over to the chest but his foot fell straight through the floor. Johnny and Hugo helped pull him back up while Brutus helped himself to whatever was inside the chest.

"What's in it?" Johnny asked. Brutus showed him two black keys, and a few more of the gold coins they had seen earlier on the ship.

"Those keys must go to the doors back downstairs," said Hugo.

Brutus nodded, and then travelled back down the ladder. The trio lookd at each other, wondering why Brutus was so quiet all of the sudden. 'Maybe he feels what I feel. Maybe he senses something strange and creepy about this place,' Johnny thought.

The trio climbed back down the ladder to see Brutus and one other man placing the keys into the opposite doors. They unlocked the doors, opened them up and revealed another winch-like system identical to the one at the Gate. Brutus signaled to the other man to start turning their wheels, and as they turned the whole fortress shook. Gears began to grind, as the wall in front of them began to move down into the floor. A glorious light awaited them from behind the moving wall, and when the wall had disappeared completely they all cheered.

Brutus raised his fists high into the air and shouted, "We did it! We found the gold!"

The group cheered even louder. Johnny even caught himself smiling as he too was excited to see the treasure room finally opened.

"Now go in there! Get yourselves as much gold as you can carry!"

The group rushed into the treasure room and began filling their pockets and satchels with gold coins. Grant, Hugo and Vanessa were hesitant at first, but they did end up going into the room to admire the treasure.

Johnny walked into the room with Brutus and he found himself amazed at how much gold was inside. The room itself was enormous, and there were huge piles of coins, trinkets, armor pieces, weapons and jewelry. The entire room was brightened by the reflection of the torches on the gold. Johnny noticed many stone warrior statues lining the circular wall of the room, giving off a menacing look of trouble. At the center of the room was a large, black and gold dragon statue.

And in the dragon's hands lay a bright, milky blue pearl. The Chintimanni Stone. Brutus walked right up to it, Johnny followed. They stared into their own reflections on the Stone. It had a glazed, marble look to it, sparkling and shiny. Johnny had never in his life seen an object of such beauty. There were no imperfections to it, a perfectly round stone with no divots or scratches. Not even a single fingerprint was on it. The Stone was definitely something no man had crafted. Maybe the legend was true; perhaps it did fall in a chest from the sky.

Brutus gazed lustfully at the Stone, his fingers twitching. Johnny saw an opportunity to take the Stone and get away before Brutus could, but he couldn't. He found himself to actually be scared to challenge Brutus, he knew what the man was capable of. But he wasn't going to let his fear get in the way.

Johnny pushed Brutus away, snapping him out of his hypnotized state of mind. Johnny reached for the Stone, nearly grabbing it and taking it into his possession, but he was suddenly pushed down to the ground. His body hit the floor, and then he noticed Brutus walking angrily over to him. Johnny tried to get back onto his feet, but before his hands even touched the ground Brutus slammed his foot into his face.

The world went black, Johnny's ears were ringing, his face hurt badly. He touched his nose, it stung. Broken. Blood dripped down into his mouth, he swallowed, the salty taste went down his throat. His head suffered from migraines, the indescribable pain flowing throughout his brain, pressing on every sensitive spot.

He was being shook now, there were hands on his body and his shoulders. Johnny opened his eyes. Hugo and Grant were waking him up, shaking him, screaming at him to "Get up Johnny!" They grabbed his arms and pulled him onto his feet, helping him stand as he regained consciousness. He could see what was going on now, and he understood slightly.

Brutus laid his hands on the Stone, grasping the globe-shaped pearl with care, the only time he had ever handled anything carefully. He picked it up and turned around, held it high in the air and grinned devilishly. The veins in his neck began to glow, and his eyes changed to the same color as the Stone.

He had the Chintimanni Stone, and everyone could already see the power flowing through his arteries.