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The Desert Temple? Yeah, I’ve been
there. Not much too look at now, but back in the day, it was the place for
treasure hunters to find their fortunes. Pilfer and plunder? No, it’s nothing
like that, we’re like archaeologists, we just sell to the highest bidder. Sure,
we did go overboard, and that’s why the temple isn’t in the best shape anymore,
but we didn’t know that would happen. Maybe I should explain what happened from
my perspective.
It was a long time ago; I was young,
attractive, and more than a little reckless. The temple was still rife with
treasure, and everyone wanted their share. The biggest prize was the golden
beetle, said to be a holy relic back for the civilization that built the
temple. Most were skeptical of the beetle’s existence, or at least if it still
existed. Some say it was stolen centuries ago, others believed it was buried
under tons of sand. Even more, claimed it was destroyed along with the old
civilization. They were all wrong, it existed, at least it did when I was
young.
You see, I went on an expedition
into the temple to find the beetle, it was a pretty big one too. All the
prominent explorers, treasure hunters, and archeologists were there. Mr.
Munney, the guy who funded the whole operation, and owned about every other
artifact to come from the temple. Wasteland Warren, a guy who could cross the
desert with nothing but a knife and a flask of water. Sandy Joe, the guy who
had explored the deepest parts of the Desert Temple already. Dr. Schneider, the
leading expert on the temple at the time, there wasn’t one inch of the place he
didn’t know about. About a dozen others with equally significant
accomplishments to their name. Then there was me, some young punk looking to
make a name for themselves.
The going was pretty smooth at
first, we hopped through the upper levels with ease. Although, that’s mostly
because the traps had all long since been sprung. It was the lower levels that
got dicey.
It started with simple foolish
mistakes, an overzealous and greedy guy tripped and fell into a deep chasm. A
careless idiot wandered into a trap. Some young researcher got too close to a
shiny gem and paid the price in a terrible curse. I’ll spare you the details,
but it wasn’t pretty to watch.
Then it got really bad; we lost a bunch
of men to an arrow trap right when we entered the second-lowest level. Then
Wasteland Warren tried to navigate us through an elaborate trap room and got
skewered when Mr. Munney tried to rush him through it. Dr. Schneider went next,
he tried to warn us of an impending trap, but in his panic got ensnared by a
different trap. God rest his poor soul.
By some miracle, we made it to the
end of that floor and found a sizable treasure room, which also contained the
golden beetle on a high pedestal. Of course, the second Mr. Munney went to grab
it, the beetle’s descended through the floor. It probably ended up in the
bottom level, but I never learned for sure. Not the best result, but we had
enough treasure to more than make up for it. I snagged more than my fair share
of shiny trinkets, but it wasn’t enough for good old Mr. Munney. I was ready to
leave, but Sandy Joe agreed to scout the next floor for a safe path, even took
a couple guys with him. That left me, Munney, and one last guy to wait in the
treasure room.
About two hours later, Mr. Munney
was at the end of his patience. As for me, I had a hunch that we wouldn’t see
Sandy Joe again. I told them we should split, he spat in my face and dragged
the last guy with him downstairs.
I left them to their fate and ran like
hell out of there. As I headed for the surface, I could hear the temple begin
to cave in on itself. No idea why it started, but it seemed to originate from
down below. I barely made it out of there in time as the entrance collapsed
behind me, along with most of the temple.
Needless to say, Mr. Munney was
never heard from again. One of the guys who Sandy Joe took with him did make it
out, though. He stumbled out of the temple, through a hole created by the
cave-in, a few days later. The poor guy was half dead and muttering to himself.
All they got from him is that Sandy Joe saved his life, and the golden beetle
was lost. He passed away a few days later, thankfully, in a more peaceful state
of mind. No one figured out why the temple collapsed, but I have a few good
theories.
I know that story probably sounds
ridiculous, doesn’t it? Well, believe what you want to believe, I saw it with
my own two eyes. The treasure? Yeah, I still have some of it. I sold off some
of it for early retirement, but I kept a few pieces as mementos. No, you can’t
see it, it’s more of a private collection. Don’t want to get cursed now, do
you?
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A simple story of greed gone wrong? Could be, but it's only one side of the story. Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy
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