The Lost City of Achyaxi

I never want to see a jungle again. Mira Halpine swung her machete with all the strength she could muster at the vines and other green annoyances in her way. Ephriam was a few steps ahead of her and silently carving his own path through when he saw it. A large carved stone face poking though the vines. "Mira, looks like there's a statue ahead." With renewed vigor they chopped through the overgrown weeds and it came into clearer view. There was a stone head with a detailed face that was just a bit taller than a person. It's lizardlike features resembled the people that built it. It wasn't what they were looking for, but they both felt that it must mean they are on the right path.
"What do you think he's called?" Mira asked as she warily sauntered over to the stone face. "He looks like an Angelo to me." she said with a sly grin. Ephriam did not respond to his wife's attempt at humor. With a sigh, Mira set her pack down and took a seat on it next to their new stoic friend. "Darling, you should take a picture of me with our discovery!" Ephriam sighed and pulled out the camera. Mira posed for the picture with the best smile she could muster, but even she couldn't hide how tired she was feeling. Her long pointed ears drooped down ever so slightly as if they too wanted a nap.
"We've got maybe an hour or two of good light left" Ephriam said as he put the camera back in its protective case.
"Do you want to make camp here?"
"I'd rather keep moving, but it wouldn't be smart."
"I know, we aren't here for fun, but would it kill you to smile?"
"No, but I won't. Not until we find Verne."
"We can't help him if we get hurt ourselves."
"Fine. I'll set up the damn tent."
Verne. Does he really think of me as dead weight? Was he just upset? Did he ever really like me or did he just pretend to because I married his brother? Is he even still alive?
"Mira."
What if we never find him? Will Ephriam be okay? Would that be better or worse than finding his corpse?
"Mira."
If he is alive, what am I going to say? I shouldn't have to apologize to him, he's the one with the problem... Mira's train of thought was suddenly derailed when Ephriam placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Mira, can you stop sitting on your bag so I can get the stakes out of it?" Mira silently stood up and pretended to examine the statue they found. She thought she saw something move from the corner of her eye. Her hand flew to the grip of her revolver as she spun to confront the large shape, but she could no longer see anything. It must have been in her head, Ephriam was too busy with the tent to notice, so she bushed it off without a sound. Her initial instinct was right. Something was watching them. The beast's fur blended in perfectly with the jungle and it chose to wait. Its prey was too on edge to strike now.
Several hours later the pale light of the twin moons gently poured over the campsite. The beast decided that now was the time to strike. It carefully creeped toward the tent, nearly completely silent despite its massive size. It came to the side of the tent and cicled around it, trying to sniff out where it prey was at and find the best place to strike. Ephriam was fast asleep, but Mira was having trouble quieting her thoughts. The light of the moons cast a large shadow of the beast on the wall of the tent. Mira held her breath and watched it circle around. She slowly reached for the shotgun they always slept with. She hoped it would just leave if she was as quiet as possible.
The massive claw of the beast came down on the canvas of the tent, but the material was slightly tougher than it was expected. The fraction of a second delay gave Mira just enough time to raise her father's shotgun swiftly into position. When the hole was large enough to see the shape of the beast Mira fired. In the heat of the moment she rapidly fired all 5 shells using the same technique her father taught her, the same one he cleared trenches with in the war. The first shot was a bit too low and only grazed it's underbelly. Shots two and three slammed into the beasts chest. The last two peppered the beast's face and neck with buckshot. The beast roared and thrashed about. Was it still alive? Or was it just in its death throes? Mira scrambled over to her bag and hastily pulled a box of shells out. She spilled the box onto the ground and grabbed a fresh shell to load. Six shots rang out as Ephriam, now thoroughly awake, fired his revolver at the beast. The monster stumbled backwards out of the tent despirate to escape. It tried to roar, but the only sound it could make was a hoarse gargling as it choked on its own blood.
The remainder of the night passed without incident, but neither one of them managed to get must rest. Mira took some time to examine the monster that attacked them while Ephriam made their breakfast. It was like an oversized tiger, but with two long fangs. Its fur was various shades of green that blended in with the jungle well. The locals had tales of an invisible beast that would take people away when others were not looking. If this was the same kind of animal as the Stalking Beast, Mira and Ephriam are the first known survivors. In her notes she gave the beast the name Halpine Panthera. She felt that they earned the right to name it after themselves.
They continued on their journey and along the way they saw more statues like the first with increasing frequency. After 6 hours of traveling through the jungle they finally found it. In front of them were crumbling stone walls were covered in vines, but even in this state it was hard not to be impressed by the skill with which it was originally built. The remains of the carvings on the outer walls of the city have intricate carvings that tell the story of its people. Just outside the gates of this Lost City was a small stone circle with the ashen remains of a campfire. Ephriam inspected the site. "Looks recent..." His eyes caught a glimpse of something metallic on the ground nearby. It was a lighter with the initials V.H. carved into it. "It was Verne, he dropped his lighter."
Ephriam pushed the large gate of the city open. It was clear that a war had taken place here as the stories had claimed. The bones, armor and weapons of the dead were scatters about the entire city. On the streets and in the remains of the homes there were remains, the bones bleached and metals rusted. Most everything else had rotted away.
A large stepped pyramid towered over the city from its center. The pair found themselves drawn to it. Mira almost forgot to take careful notes of the city along the way. They quickly climbed up this temple and at its peak found that it had yet more stairs for them, this time down into an impenatrable darkness. Between gasps of air they heard the faint sound of stone grinding against stone and something else. Holding their breath they could just hear in the silence a person grunting with effort. With a renewed vigor they hurried down the steps, nearly falling down them. At the bottom they saw him. Verne was trying with all his might to turn a large crank handle that jutted up from the floor, attached to some hidden mechanism that seemed to grind forward slightly before stopping. The mechanism reset itself each time he was no longer able to push.
"Verne." Ephriam said between ragged breaths.
"Brother!" He spun around with a smile on his face. "Here I was, just about to think y'all got lost or eaten."
"What? Didn't even cross your mind we might have just abandoned you?"
"Still mad at me then, Mira?"
"Yes, but I'm glad you are alive."
Verne was about to say something when Ephriam wrapped his arms around him. He sqeezed him tightly, the first time the big man had done so in a long time. Verne thought about that time he ran away from home when he was 7 and it was Ephriam that found him. Ephriam did not like to show his soft side even to family, but could never help himself in these situations. Verne patted his brother on the shoulder until he was released.
"One big happy family again. I've been trying to get this big door open, but I don't know why it keeps getting stuck."
Mira examined the room, walking over to the large stone door. It had somethign written on it, but it was difficult to make out. Time had not been kind to the inscription and it was written in a strage dialect that she was only slightly able to understand. "I think it says something about teamwork?"
"What about that lever there?" Ephriam pointed to the upper corner of the room, just off to the side of the door.
"I think I can climb up there to look." Mira set down her pack and scrambled up the wall. There were well camouflaged handholds built into the wall that made it easier than she thought to climb. "Ok, I think I need to hold this down while you two push that crank around." The boys pushed and the crank turned much easier than they were expecting. The large stone door that was in their way slowly rose up into the ceiling. Mira released the lever when they could push it no farther. The system seemed to lock in place. Mira came off the wall and picked up her gear.
To their collective dismay, on the other side of the door was yet more stairs. Deeper into this place they delved. The beams of their flashlights danced off the intracate carvings on the walls.
"Fascinating! I think this is the history of some great king of theirs! It seemed he was a mighty conqueror."
Verne gave a deep sigh "Mira, you really know how to ruin a discovery with science."
"What? What does that mean?"
"I don't know... just... are we going to find treasure here or not."
"Really? Did Ephriam get all the braincells in the womb? How can you be that short sighted?"
"I'm short sighted? You two have a mansion, four children, and a live in staff to do the parenting for you. All with your fair share of the money we make selling the treasures we find. No one pays me for science."
"We make plently of money from the book sales of MY scientific notes! Just beacuse you can't settle on one woman to save your life doesn't mean you should mock our family!"
"Shut it, both of you."
The next room held a pair of troughs that were filled with pitch. Verne reached for his lighter but found it to be missing. "You dropped this earlier." Ephriam said with a smug smile. "Be more careful next time." Verne laughed as he flicked its wick. "Me? Never." and lit the black tar on either side of the room. The flames danced throughout their troughs and lit the room.
There were two statues, each with an inscription that Mira read. The statues held with them two bowls and the text seemed to be asking for each one to be filled with a specific kind of potion. Ephriam pointed to the wall of labeled jars "So which of those do we need?" Mira closely examined the shelf, but shook her head. "These are all ingredents, and the texts on this shelf have alchemical receipes. Looks like we have to make it ourselves."
"No. That's too dangerous. We should go back."
"No, there must be some treasure here, why would they put this here if there wasn't something valuable in there? What you don't think Mira can figure it out?"
"I'm sure there's plenty outside. Whatever is in there isn't worth risking her life."
"Hey! I think I can do it! I've read plently about alchemy."
"Its too dangerous, you should know that."
"But..." Mira was cut off by the sound of the massive stone door slamming to the ground.
"Looks like we don't have a choice anymore."
"Mira... be careful."
Mira carefully cleaned the space she would be working in, any contamination could be catastrophic. She meditated for a few moments to clear her mind and took a small sip of whisky so settle her nerves, any stray thoughts might be the last thoughts she ever has. The first of the potions was likely to be the easier one. It only had a few steps and ingredients to follow. Much to everyone's surprise, it went flawlessly. She covered the jar she brewed in in and handed it off to Verne who stood as far from the workspace as possible with it. They did not know if it being too close to the other one when brewing would do anything at all, but it wasn't worth the risk.
The second potion did not look so easy. From Mira's estimates, there were only enough ingredients for two of the potion in question. She did her best to not worry and worked carefully on the potion. She did everything right, exactly as written, but the whims of magic decided against her and while waiting for the mixture to cool down, it continued to bubble fiercer than before even after the heat source was removed. Everyone ducked for the nearest thing to hide behind. Mira found a safe place just moments before the potion she was working on violently exploded like a budle of TNT. Mira drank what remained of her whisky and cleaned up the area.
Her final attempt was, luckily a success. This success was not without concequences. When the potion's roiling had ceased, Mira quickly ran over to her husband.
"I did it Ephriam! Look the potion is done!"
"Mira... Your eyes... they aren't green anymore."
"What? What happened to my eyes?"
"They're purple now, a really bright purple."
"Could be worse you know." Verne cut in. "Your soul was marked by the potion as you made it, but it could have ripped it from your body if you got unlucky."
Mira and Verne poured their respective potions into the statue's bowls. The large stone door slid open and the party quickly moved through it, unsure how long this one would stay open. The next room had in it three switches and a large door. They each grabbed a switch and flipped them on the count of three. Instead of the door opening, the floor opened beneath each of them putting them in their own slide further into the depths.
TO BE CONTINUED.

---

Sorry for ending on a cliffhanger, but it's really late on like the last day for me to work on this for Adventure April.  Also, it felt really long at over 2500 words!