With a swipe of the machete, the curtain of vines fell to the ground. Gabe’s eyes widened as a grin slowly extended across his face. Years of stories, research, travelling; it all led to this moment. He had finally found the Lost Tower of Phaedos.
The Tower stood in the epicenter of a paved circle. Gabe smiled as his hand gripped the machete, his intuition kicked in. With a step onto the paved area, the ground began to split open, skeletal hands began to reach out into the air from their graves. Pushing themselves up from the chasm, revealing their rock like armor across their skeletal bodies. Their armored appearance did not take shake the archeologist one bit. He had prepared for this since his youth. The stories he heard, the legends he long researched about: “For the grounds of the tower shall forever be guarded by the bones of those who’ve fallen upon it.”
Gabe did not hesitate one bit. He ran across the ground, and with the speed he slid across the ground, swooping the dust in the air as his machete cut the air and through the knees of one of the warriors. The body collapsed into the ground as the body began to glow a light indigo and disappear.
“That was too easy.” Thought the Explorer as the sound of his machete clanged against the blades of the fallen warriors. A kick into the armored torso. One by one the warriors fell and disappeared in a purple glow.
Breathing heavily, the archeologist walked toward the door of the tower. Suddenly, a hand grasped his ankle. “WHAT?!” he shouted as the hand pulled him underground.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
The sound of his scream echoed as he continued to fall in the surrounding darkness until THUMP, his body smacked against the stone ground.
“Hnnnnn,” he groaned as the pain reverberated throughout his body. His eyes slowly opened, torches were lit underground, illuminating a stone mural that wrapped around the room he was in. With a moment of realization, Gabe immediately forgot his pain, jumping up as he stumbled toward the stone mural. Gabe placed his hand on the stone. His fingers ran across the outline of his lineage. Carved into the stone were the creatures, representative of warriors past. He grabbed a torch and guided his torch along the wall as he followed the corridor.
Suddenly, a strong gust threw him back. His torch blew out as hid body smacked against the ground. He groaned again as his already aching body ached further. His eyes slowly opened once more. A soft white orb of light appeared before him, it’s energy humming. To Gabe, it was as if it was calling to him. Extending his hand toward the orb, the ball began to move away. The Explorer slowly got up and began to follow the ball. It was as if it were playing a game with Gabe; just moving around and leading him down a corridor.
Gaining his focus once again, the Explorer began to chase the ball. Reaching his hand out as he ran in what felt like a never-ending corridor, twisting and spiraling upward. The orb began to slow down, Gabe’s fingers just about grasped the light, until the orb suddenly shot downward into the ground; darkness once more.
The sound of a door slammed shut behind him. Lines from the spot of the orb began to form, extending to the walls in what seemed to be a high ceiling room. Bright white lines climbed the walls as it slowly began to display an array of colors. Red, Blue, Yellow, Black, Green, Pink, White.
“Gabriel Hart… you show the attitude as warriors past. Will you accept the power as your forefathers before you?”
Without a sense of hesitation, “I do.”
In an instant, the orb echoed the growl of a tiger. Floating into the hand of the Explorer, instantly transporting him back outside of the tower. His eyes swelled with emotion before taking a deep breath before opening his palm and holding a golden coin; emblazoned with the claw of the White Tiger.
Gabriel closed his eyes; an aura of white light enveloped him. He felt the aching of his body slowly dissipate into nothing. With a quick flash and stardust-like material sprinkling from his body. White Armor began to cover the body of the explorer, a white and golden helmet encased his head, a golden chest piece formed around his torso, and at the center of it, the same symbol on the coin.
“One down… over a hundred to go…”
His body, engulfed by the white aura, shot to the stars, leaving the planet Phaedos, and back to Earth.
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