### Altar of Death - 1 ###

Zero woke up in a world of pain, he gritted his teeth and surveyed the surroundings. To him it seemed like he was inside the dark damp cave. Water dripped from the ceiling seeping into the rocky floor, some of it trickled out from the rocky bowl, flowing towards to outside world. Outside he could see the sun had set, and based on the position of the moon he determined that he was asleep for at least a couple of hours.

He was relieved to find Lina sleeping besides him, and wondered to himself how he got inside the cave. His last known position was approximately 600 meters from the cave entrance and Lina did not look like she had the strength to drag him back here.

"But it must be her... I wonder how many secrets she is hiding under the hood of weakness.", he smiled deciding to give her the time and trust she needed to reveal all the secrets.

Zero then opened his stats window and found that he had gained 7 levels. He allocated all of the unallocated points onto agility, his training and stats combined made him a speed type fighter which suited him perfectly.

Zero examined his own injuries. He had a dislocated shoulder, a charred wrist on the left hand. He also could not move his ankles the way they were supposed to. Mythica gave each player an automatic heal function which meant that all injuries could be healed with longer duration of in-game time, which was also true for severed limbs and broken bones. The heal time of an injury was directly proportional to the severity of the injury, for an example it took a person quarter of an year to fully regrow a cut off arm, naturally. Using medics and anti-biotics the healing process progresses magnitudes faster. But Zero not having access to any medicines or medics was put at a severe disadvantage.

Zero took a deep breath and readied himself for what was coming next. He then leaned on the wall of the cave bracing himself with his partially burnt left hand and pushed the right hand onto the socket. Blinded with intense pain he bit his lips till blood came out. He then laid down near the wall panting for breath.

'FUCK! that hurt. At least now I can move the damn hand.', he thought to himself.

He came out of the cave and walked towards the Jackalope. Now that he had the time to admire his opponent, he found that the rabbit was frightening and beautiful at the same time. He carefully cut down the horns, which still gave off a tingling sensation, to show Lina. The then carefully skinned the creature expertly cutting out huge chunks of the poison and wounded area. He then segregated the meat according to the tenderness with the toughest portion saved up for future use safely in his inventory.

Zero then went in the jungle to find whatever edible herbs he could find. Once he had identified and collected a portion of the herbs, he started collecting small amounts of dried leaves and twigs and piled then up into a small heap; with the smaller pieces and leaves going onto the bottom. Picking up a couple of dried twigs he cut a notch in one of them and starting rubbing the second portion against it thereby generating small sparks frok friction. Within a span of couple of minutes he had a fire to grill the meat on. He poked his sword onto the prime rib and used it as a grilling rod, all the while reminding himself never ever to show this video to Seven. He reckoned when Seven said he wanted to see the sword in action this was not how he imagined it would be used (See Ch:9 for the details).

A sleeping Lina was woken up by the delicious smell of grilled meat. Drooling ever so slightly she went out of the cave to find Zero sitting in front of a fire slowly twirling the meat in front admiring the view in front of him. She sat besides him on the rock, awed by the moonlit jungle. From their vantage point she could see glitter of the moon's reflection on the flowing river, so peaceful and divine. Once the meat was done they grabbed the pieces of skewered meat and ran back into the cave to find a relatively safe spot, to enjoy the dinner peacefully.

Once finished Lina squealed in delight, "That was exquisite. You are a good cook mortal."

"Meh... that was nothing, you should try my Mother's meat loaf. That's what true grilled meat is.", replied Zero humbly.

"Oooh then it must be really good. So what's our plan of action now.", asked Lina; but frowned when she saw Zero staring at the cave's back.

Zero had noticed a couple of oddities about the cave which Lina had not. What drew his attention was the fact that even though they were sitting facing the cave's entrance he could feel a slight gusts of wind on the nape of his neck, and then he noticed the flow of the water trickling down the ceiling. At first glance the flow of the water was even passing through the vein of rocks but more he noticed more it became clear that instead of a straight line the water was flowing in an arc as if deliberately trying to avoid a certain area. He got up from his squatting position and moved nearer to the water's flow.

"Hey Lina, come here and stand exactly in this position, can you feel the breeze on your face?", asked Zero once Lina had followed him.

He ran his fingers through the rocky outcrops and grew bewildered, all the outcrops were almost of the same size.

"I am pretty sure this part of the cave is man made. What do you think?", asked Zero.

"I have to agree with you. I can sense a faint amount of energy coming from surface of the wall and it does not seem to be natural.", nodded Lina.

She then went ahead tapping and prodding the section of the walls with her tiny little fists and at one of the portion she exclaimed, "Here Zero. Right here, there's a hollow sound I can also feel a slight indentation in the rocky surface."

Zero ran over to her, his heart beating wildly, he had come to a realisation that the cave was just a front. He began beating, prodding, pressing the section of the wall but to no avail. He then took out his sword and inserted in the small gap and tried to use it as a lever but the wall did not budge. Lina joined him and tried to push and pull the rocks but her feeble strength did little.

Both Lina and Zero were frustrated now

"So near and yet so far.", exclaimed Lina, "How the fuck are we supposed to open the damn thing. Grrr!!!"

Both of them were sweating now, exhausted they went back to the dinner and sated their appetite. Then a light bulb went on in Zero's brain. He hurried to different portions of the cave and started pressing the corners, jumping on clearer floors, he had read enough history to know that cave based civilisations relied on pressure plates; so he was hopeful that it would be the same case here. Then suddenly a section of the wall sunk in and the section of the wall where they were breaking their heads slided down the floor.

"AWESOME!!! looks like you are not just muscles after all!", screamed an ecstatic Lina.

"Hee Hee. Now bow down little fairy."

He stood in front of the door and bowed down one arm under his chest inviting Lina in, "Ladies first."

Zero took out his sword and proceeded closely behind her, bumping onto the fairy almost immediately, "What the Hell...", he said rubbing his nose.

Lina paid no heed to Zero, she was busy staring ahead. What Zero saw took his breath away.

The cavern was gigantic, he could not even make out where the cavern ended. Faint streaks of moonlight were coming from the top dimly illuminating the cavern in a faint white glow.

"Wow!!! Whoever made this must have excavated the entire mountain to make this place", he thought out loud.

"HUH?", Lina had broken out of her reverie now, "What are you looking at you idiot. Look over here.", she said sticking her arm out.

When Zero followed her gaze, his mouth fell agape, if it was possible his jaw would have dropped to the floor. What he saw was heap and heaps of gold coins, bars, rings, crowns and all things glittery. It was literally a mountain of gold. Lina shot out like a bullet from a gun and buried herself in the gold, swimming in it, smelling it. Zero thought he saw dollar symbols on her eye, but ignored it thinking it a figment of his imagination.

Zero walked towards the treasure when he got the familiar blue pop up

Welcome traveller!!!

You are the first person to discover the ancient Mayan Chamber of Death. This chamber was used to bury the bodies of Mayan kings of the past.

If you can pass the trials then all the riches and glory can be yours.

If you fail you will lose the right to challenge the guardian of the Chamber and expelled from the chambers forcefully.

Do you wish to proceed?

"Yes" "No"

If you want to proceed then proceed towards the Altar of Death

"Ye...", he was about to reply.

"Yes of course, he accepts.", replied Lina faster than Zero could think.

"Listen mortal you have to pass the trials even if you die. Do you understand? All this gold must be mine!", she was shaking Zero's collar now advising him.

"You meant 'Ours' right?", asked a doubtful Zero.

"Ah...", was all Lina replied.

"Oye! you didn't deny or accept it. You meant 'Ours' right? What's with the shifty eyes?", asked Zero with a dubious expression on his face.

"..."

Lina was looking away now avoiding Zero's eyes.

"Greedy Bitch!!! since when have we started behaving like a married couple.", Zero muttered to himself softly and took a step forward.

He could see a huge throne in front of him and assumed that it was the mentioned altar. He was barely halfway there when a voice called out to him.

"Stop!!! I can help you with the trials.", boomed the voice.

Zero turned towards the voice and saw an old man supporting himself on a gold coloured cane.

"Before you go onto the altar, can you riddle me this

I am a lonely pilgrim, wounded with iron, smitten with war-blades, sated with strife, worn with the sword-edge;

I have seen many battles, Much hazardous fighting, oft without hope of comforts or help in the carnage of war, Ere I perish and fall in the fighting of men.

The leavings of hammers, the handiwork of smiths, batter and bite me, hard-eged and sharp; the brunt of the battle I am doomed to endure. In all the folk-stead no leech could I find with wort or simple to heal my wounds; But day and night with the deadly blows the marks of the war-blades double and deepen.

What am I?"

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PS: I do not own the riddle. I actually found it on the web. First person to solve it gets to name him :)

I also want a bit of help. It has been mentioned that my summary sucks. Yes these were the actual words :)

After going through the summary I cannot help but agree with the person. So anyone with a better summary please post it on the comment section.

Also a brief explanation on why the chapters are short. I try to write a little almost daily. But i hardly find more than a couple of hours for it due to real life circumstances, so instead of making you guys wait I try to cut off a chapter when it reaches a logical conclusion.

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As always Thank you for reading. Your comments,follows and favourites are highly appreciated.

Please do point out if you see any direct plot holes or errors. Since this is my first time writing a fanfic so reviews are always welcome.

Ch12 ETA 21st Feb