Tracing the relic

The sun was shining as you stepped outside of your house and started your day. Traffic was light, and within an hour, you made it to the airport. Flight was delayed for several hours, but you arrived at the destination airport in good time.

The plane ride to the Peruvian jungle was short. You flew over the Amazonian forest for a short time before the plane stopped, lowering the stairs so you could disembark. Here, you would proceed through a series of checkpoints to make sure you weren't bringing any explosives or weapons, and of course to make sure you weren't bringing any terrorists. After several hours of walking through the jungle, you finally arrived at your destination, a small ancient temple. This temple was entirely abandoned and there was no clear path to the entrance that didn't require finding a different way around in the middle of a maze-like forest.

According to reports, there were no signs or footprints indicating any prior visitors. As you took a deep breath, preparing for the unsanitary conditions you'd find with the temple, you made sure your weapon was secured, and that you were ready for anything.

The temple was larger than you imagined.

The walls were carved with vivid ancient carvings and the floor was formed of smooth marble – but there were no markings or remains of anything residing here.

In the center of the room was a stone giant. It had a large, round head, with human-like features and a gaping smile, as if it was laughing.

In the center of its round forehead, there was a hole that led directly into its head.

You got closer and surveyed the incredible craftsmanship of the head, but there was something you noticed that made your heart skip a beat.

In the throat of the stone giant was another circular hole, and within it, there was a small metal key. You fished it out and examined it: It had a unique symbol engraved on it. It was circular in the center and had a chevron at the top, bottom, and each side of it.

It was the insignia of a cult.

You cursed yourself for not paying closer attention to the strange symbols, as you wondered how you couldn't notice this. Now, you saw a writing covered up on one of the walls of the temple. You saw that it was a strange, foreign text written with an enigmatic alphabet.

You took a closer look and no longer saw any writings.

"What can you say?" you thought, "Nothing in its plan can succeed if we didn't look into it!"

After a few more minutes, you looked around the room until you found a chunk of wall, uncovered by nature. You discovered that the writing was in a square format, like a math table. As you read the writing, your mind was completely wiped of everything that was happening around you.

"I've found my first piece of the puzzle at long last," you said, relieved.

You were so caught up in your discovery, you ignored your surroundings and focused on the writing. Calculations were splashed across the wall like a bright, neon display. The math was being done in the form of an extremely complicated equation, marked with symbols and circles. You ran down the calculations, certain that you would stumble upon the answer, encountering no errors, but after a few minutes, you were finally done.

An entryway you hadn't noticed was the key to solving this. The key was a number, and several columns appeared before your eyes.

You scrambled to piece it together, getting a new perspective on the puzzle. The pattern was suddenly so obvious you didn't see it at first. You knew that time would be everything, and you kept your focus.

Using some kind of machine, you were able to decipher the ancient language and confirm your breakthrough. By converting the symbols into letters and using the tablet found in the largest chamber, you noticed that the symbols converted into numbers.

You turned your attention to the letters. They each had specific meaning and were placed in a specific spot at the table. The letters were arranged in a 3 × 3 pattern and were separated by several columns of math. The rows were separated by another math table that was not as complex. Each row of letters corresponded to a math table value that was the passkey to a door in the 3 × 3 pattern. They appeared to be written in shorthand.

Finally, you realized the door you walked through to arrive at the temple was the door the key fit into. As you walked through the doorway, you noticed that the door you entered led to a small chamber. In this chamber, there was a metal chest in the corner of the room.

You took a deep breath and worked quickly to open the metal chest. In a novel, you would have opened it slowly and seen all the riches of the treasure inside. In real life, though, things like this rarely go that way. You opened it quickly, facing the same type of frustrations and troubles as other people. You never learn.

When you finally took a look into the treasure chest, the last thing you saw was the glittering of a silky red cover, and then the quiet darkness overtook you.

You woke up in an unfamiliar place. You noticed that you were lying down on a hard stone slab. As you sat up, you saw that around you, there were people – lots of them – all wearing the same clothes, gathering around the same things.

There was a stone slab much like the one you sat on. In the middle of the slabs, there was a glowing, golden altar of sorts.

"What's going on?" you asked the person closest to you.

"A sacrifice," they replied shortly, matter-of-factly.

"What kind of sacrifice?" you asked.

"Human," they responded.

You noticed several people were stepping out of the crowd. You felt the same feeling – but you couldn't remember what happens now.

You saw a shadowy figure in the corner of your eye. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and had a red scarf wrapped around his face. His arms were crossed and you saw that he was walking towards another person preparing to be sacrificed, a young girl.

You wanted to do something, but you couldn't remember how.

"What are you doing?" you asked a priest standing nearby.

"Preparing to sacrifice that girl," he responded.

"Well, why?"

"For the good of humanity," he replied.

The priest said he had the girl calm down, then started the ceremony. He stopped her from moving and pinned her to the stone. A bright red cloth was draped over her. You noticed she was struggling miserably, but she became calm. After about 15 minutes she was completely still. The priest kept saying the same word over and over. According to him, it was to appease the gods.

The priest poured something on the red cloth covering the girl, then said a few more words. The girl trembled. Suddenly, the cloth burned, but the girl did not. She screamed, but her mouth did not move.

Her body began to glow and the soft light slowly faded, but the girl was trapped in a hot, burning cocoon that covered her.

Her pets suddenly began wailing. On a stage, an object appeared, floating just above the stone slab where the girl lay.

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