It'd been a cruel week to Jim, his arm were tired, his legs were exhausted, he was thinking at a snail's pace. He'd reached his limit wandering for days in the desert, and he'd begun to lose hope he would ever make it back to his wife and children.

He collapsed onto the desert sand, too tired to move on. He thought about how he got into this mess...

It was a cold day, in mid July, a rarity for Jim in his home of Nebraska. Nebraska Jim is what all his friends called him. If there was ever a man who represented what Nebraska meant, it was Jim. He finished his beer that he was sharing with a few friends when he agreed to hear this newcomer out on the proposition of making big money.

The man said that he read legends of an ancient aztec treasure that had been exported to the present day United States by raiders or explorers. Who was Jim to argue? He had never studied that hard in school, and to him it didn't matter where his next paycheck came from. He had lost his job a week ago, and was struggling to make ends meet as it was. He took the man up on his offer, and the next thing he knew, he was parachuting from a helicopter into the Mojave Desert.

Once he landed, he walked for a few miles until he got to the point on his map where the odd man told him to go. He saw a door in the ground, not dissimilar to a bulkhead. He walked cautiously over and lifted the door open. He reached his head in and a thousand bats rushed him. He closed the door in relative fear. Jim didn't like bats, and they swarmed him. He thought about just going home, but he decided he had nothing to go home to without money this time. So he braved opening the door and walking down the dimly lit stairs into the Earth.

Jim went down the stairs for what seemed like an eternity, the air was getting thin, and there was no end in sight. Nevertheless, Jim kept going. And going. And going. After a while, he decided to rest on the stairs and take a drink of water. He pulled the canteen from his hip and drank a small portion. He pulled out his cellphone to see if he could get reception. No such luck this deep below the Earth. Jim packed up and moved down some more.

While he walked, he thought of all the things that led to this. Maybe telling Mr. Applebee his tie looked stupid wasn't the best way to lose his job, but who was Jim to complain? That tie really did look stupid. Like one of those ties you'd wear if you were a clown, never in public to be serious.

He was lost in thought until he hit a wall. He finally reached the bottom of the stair case, and now it was clear what he had to do next.

Jim was one man, but he needed to have Superman like reflexes to get past the trap in his way. Instead of braving it, he decided to take the American way and go around the obvious trap. He ducked under the arrow trap holes and he stayed on the side of the wall in the divets when the wind started blowing.

The further in he went, the more modern the traps were. He saw traps that shouldn't be possible in our current time plane, and began to wonder if the treasure was worth it. YEt he kept moving on, knowing he needed the money from this venture.

After hours of trap dodging, Jim came to a dead end. Did he go the wrong way? He paced for a while till he remembered that the odd man said this would happen. The odd man seemed to know a lot about this ruin. He squatted against the wall, places his hands underneath the tiny crack visible, and lifted with all his strength. It just wouldn't budge. He tried for hours and decided to take a break. During the break he noticed the air was getting thinner and thinner. He could only last a bit longer down here. All the traps were triggered, and he could make a mad dash once he got the treasure, which he would need to do anyway for all he knew, he didn't think it would be a stretch to think a boulder, 7 cheetahs, and shotgun wielding nazis would appear once he grabbed this treasure he was seeking. So he thought and rested, until an idea hit him.

He pulled the block of wood the odd man had given him from his backpack, and studied the writing on it. It looked a lot like the writing on the wall. He saw that on the bottom of the block it said some odd word, that looked like English. He rotated his head and the wood till he saw it. The word was just upside down. The word read "This way up", so he rotated the board till it was pointing up.

Jim looked at the symbols and deduced they were in code. An alphabet. No two symbols were alike, and there were 27 of them. The first symbol was an apple, so he deduced that the last one would not stand for a letter. He left it blank as he coded the wall.

The wall was big, and had numerous symbols on it. It could take an average man days to code a wall like this, but Jim was able to figure out the code in only a few minutes.

After he finished supplanting the alphabet into the wall, the wall read,

"You were very clever to figure out the code good job you must be thinking this will help you open the door dont you well you are in luck just push this block right here and you will open the door to the treasure room claim your prize brave one"

He figured out after that the mystery symbol had to have been a period, but it didn't matter, for he knew how to open the door. He pressed the block of stone underneath the symbols for here, and watched as the door opened.

The room was misty and dank, and he could hardly see left from right. He looked at his feet and saw the bones of a skeleton by his side. He walked forward and felt the crunch of bone against his foot. Where these people who died in here? How did they die? What caused all this to happen? He didn't see one dead body on his way here, but now he felt hundreds of them. He heard harp music and the closing of the door he had opened.

He knew he wouldn't be going back that way, the people must have died because they couldn't get out. He kept moving till he saw a part of the room, ablaze with light. There was an elevated pedestal, with a golden dagger on it's prominence.

He thought this had to be a joke. All this effort for a dagger?

He grabbed it and walked away, just wanting to go home now. The mist was clearing. He saw the bodies reveal themselves. Hundreds upon hundreds of dead bodies, just piling against the walls. He thought of how this room could be his tomb as well as he looked for an exit. The air kept getting thinner and thinner.

He walked over to a clean path of the room and saw another wall with code on it. He coded the wall, and it said

"Be not afraid adventurer. Panic causes the death of the stupid. Be still in your heart and mind, and know the way out."

In blood below the ancient text was a new message, looking as if it had been made a week or so ago.

"Don't listen to the code. It's a trap."

Jim thought he was pretty screwed until he remembered something his wife had said before he left. Of course. He pulled out the note she wrote him, and read it's contents. After reading, he knew the way out.

He walked up to the pedestal and stood on it. He stood on the pedestal as it launched upwards at a startling pace. He knew it would work. The note told him that treasure is good, but value is not equal to it's weight in gold. He thought about what true treasure was, and that was his love for his family that caused him to do all of this.

He kept ascending until he reached the center of the light. And then all was dark.

When he awoke, he was in the Mojave Desert. He didn't know how he got back out, but he knew that he had to make it to the extraction point. He had enough service to tell his wife and the odd man that he was coming. The odd man told him where to go and that they would wait for him. His wife tearfully told him to come home safe.

He walked into the day, realizing he wasn't through yet.

He awoke from this reminiscence of how he got into this mess, and remembered he still had to get home. So he kept walking into the night, fueled by his desire to be home.

Beautiful story Leggy, great details.
I believe you have a talent for making stories.
I hope you make more stories so I can read and enjoy them.

Snowdeath :

Then how did Jim escape? =3

I am happy you read it, its something I worked hard on, and I want to write a sequel soon.

Now that's a great story. I really enjoyed how Nebraska Jim went through all that just to get a golden dagger, but that note from his wife what helped him out in the end and now he haves to do more? Nice. I look forward to reading the second part. A great story with great detail. Kudos as they say. Great job.

legacyme3 : That part was well written too, but it was really complex, hard to imagine, but Jim escaped because of his wife, his love, not because of the greed. (That's the idea I got.)

Snowdeath :

Well basically that's the point. Jim needed the money, but he knew he'd never make it out unless he cared about his life and happiness, so now he's gonna stagger home alone, only with the will to be with his wife like he should have from the beginning.

legacyme3 : Well, then you got it written right! 

There's going to be a sequel? Personally, I don't exactly see the point of a sequel, because the story in-self is purposeful and full of 'themes'. 
If you do decide to have a sequel, I'll be the first one to read it =P

Snowdeath :


I haven't made one yet, because I haven't made the overlying theme yet. This was that love conquers greed, but I need another powerful meaning I feel for it to be a short story worth reading. I'm sure I'll think of something so it's on hold for the moment.

legacyme3 : Well, I'm just throwing ideas out here. 

What about this: Love conquers all, but you do need to balance it. 

(For example: If you just love, love, love, where's your essential supplies to survive? How do you get the money?)

Snowdeath :

I have an idea actually now, and it's PARTIALLY thanks to you. No spoilers yet, but I think it'll be an enjoyable thriller.... hehehe

Love is important, and there does need to be a balance.

legacyme3 : You're partially welcome. =P

Oooh, a thriller... I must say, I'm looking forward to this!