The artifact

Trigger warning! {Fire, loss of parents}

I woke up, sweaty, eyes wide, and burning, my left arm asleep, and unable to move. Like when you take an afternoon nap, and you wake up at 3 A.M., I sat up, and I looked around, and quickly realized. This wasn't my house. The ground was solid under me, and I couldn't see much, as there was very dim light from the night.

I was underground, in a temple-like place, like how I imagined some sort of mythical hidden place would be, one from a more primal age, with no technology. Like Egyptian times, I stood up and called out, "Is anyone out there?" No response came, but I felt a weird pull.

The pull was to go into the place, to go further. I walked forward, going deeper, and felt a stick under my foot. I looked down and saw a wooden rod with cloth at the end of it. I leaned down and grabbed it. I then saw a metal glint; it was a lighter. I grabbed both and lit the torch,

I held the torch up and walked forward, down this hallway of sorts. I knew that if the torch went out suddenly, I would have to run out of the tunnel. But it didn't, and I reached a turn. I knew I wouldn't get lost easily and I went to the right, the only way I could go.

But as I was turning, I saw a red marking on the wall, and I stopped. I turned, and it had arrows, and markings. The arrows went, Right, Then a skull. left and a checkmark. Below it, was the opposite, and the one below, was the same as the second one.

I paused, right, left, left. I heard something growl behind me, and I turned. It was an alligator. I didn't know how to fight back but I knew someone once said that zigzags could confuse an alligator. Was that info correct? Well, I was about to find out.

It started sprinting at me, and I ran the other way, running as fast as I could. Right, left, left. I turned right, but heard the alligator shuffling behind me. It was gaining very quickly. But I knew that alligators wouldn't have great endurance, carrying its 800-pound body with such small limbs, at such a fast pace.

I took the next left, having run for 20 seconds. These hallways weren't the longest, but not the shortest either. I turned my head, too look at it, and it was right on my heels. I slammed the torch down on its face, and it went still for a moment, the brightness and the heat startling and confusing it, giving me a chance to run.

I took the next left, and I realized it hadn't given chase again. I looked in front of me, and saw a cauldron. I stepped up to it, and peered inside. Seeing purple viscous liquid swirling around, a soft heat emanating from it.

Suddenly, I had a vision. I felt as though I woke up in front of a volcano, the smell of brimstone and sulfur attacking my nose, the heat from the ground was clear but not burning. I looked up, and heard a voice, "Boy! You have been brought here because you are the one to save the world."

I exclaimed, "What?!" The voice responded, "Did you not hear me?" I shook my head, "No! I mean, what the fuck!?" The voice quickly tried to respond, "Uh, you're gonna save the world? Find an artifact, and place it on an altar, but be sure it's the right one, or this volcano you see before you will erupt in one week, causing another ice age. However this one will be lethal, and will wipe this earth dead."

I interupted, "Hold up, why me? Im 17! I can't even fight! Let alone save the fucking world!" The voice went silent, "Well, uh. You were chosen at random! So, uh. Yeah." The voice seemed as though they didn't know what their own job was.

"Just, do the thing! The maps on your phone. Cuz technology will help you." I paused, "There's no fucking way this is real, if this is real, I'd wake up with a fucking shield and sword or something! Or like, a cloak of invisibility! "

The voice paused before saying, "Alright, done." I froze, "I can't even use the sword! I don't know how!" The voice groaned, "Fuck this. Here, you now know how, on an expert level. You also have a license for this shit, and yada yada yada! You have a great car, go and save the fucking world!"

"Alright, what the fuck? If you're so strong and powerful, do it yourself!" He chuckled, "Um, no? This is to entertain me. I do this every 20 years, so either you do it, or you fucking die. Alright?"

I stood there for a second, "So, I have a week?" I asked, quickly deciding to call him the game master. The voice chuckled, the sound reverberating through my body, "Yes, now go, child." I interupted, "Hold up! I don't even know how to get out of here!" The voice scoffed, "Oh whatever, I'll teleport you out like i did to get you in. Bye!"

I woke up in my room. Suddenly I smelled smoke, and heard coughing. I saw a light under my door, leading to the hallway. I jumped out of bed, seeing smoke rising up through the door. I ran to the door, and grabbed the handle, only to be met with a searing pain.

I yanked my hand back and kicked my door, breaking the handle off somehow. I grabbed the hole, and swung my door open, the missing handle making closing the door impossible. When I swung the door open, fire swung past my face as well.

My door was on fire, thats why it was so easy to break. I ignored it, and ran forward, the fire burning my legs, catching my pants on fire and licking my face with an intense, painful heat. I saw my parents room, closed, and burning.

I yelled, "Back away from the door!" and I swiftly slammed my shoulder into it, breaking it open, and that's when I saw my parents also on fire, but their skin was melting off, and they were on the ground, no longer moving.

I couldn't hesitate, and I grabbed them, picking my mom up with my left arm, and my dad my right, I ran to the front door, feeling the smoke burning my throat, and lungs. My legs most definitely having 3rd degree burns.

I kicked my front door, which had already been severely charred, and broken. It crumbled, and I threw my parents forward, and collapsed in front of the house.

I woke up, in an ambulance. I sat up, and saw two body bags. Full. I spoke, my voice was raspy, hourse, and barely there, "Are they dead?" The paramedics immediately asked me questions, like, "Whats your name? How old are you? What day is it?" I answered, but then yelled, my voice crackling, "Are my parents dead?!"

They went silent for a moment, before one of them nodded. "Yeah, I'm sorry you saved them for nothing." That sentence hit me, hard. "The fuck do you mean, for nothing?" One of the other paramedics smacked him upside the head"

He winced, and complained, "Ow! What did I do?" I sat up, seeing my legs, charred skin, and black. "Why doesn't it hurt?" One of them responded, "We gave you some pain medicine, honestly I don't know how you're awake right now." I sigh.

"Can I walk on them?" The parimedic stumbled over his words, "Wh-I. huh?! What, like now?!" He seemed incredibly shocked, and clearly unsure how to handle the situation. But I simply nodded, "Well, I mean, i possibly, with severe pain, and with your skin like that, you're bound to get an infection or worse!"

I raised my eyebrow, "So I could?" I asked inquisitively, he sighed, "Yes, maybe. Your skin isn't exactly broken, its charred. It'll fall off pretty soon, but. Hmm." I cut him off, "This sounds like bullshit. I need something that will keep me alive for at least 7 days. That's it."

He looked at me skeptically, "What do you mean?" I groaned, "Just, wrap it, alright? Give me your strongest pain meds that won't make me drowsy." He shook his head, "That's against protocall." I scoffed, "I don't care. Listen, this is gonna sound absolutely insane. But I have to. Fuck never mind"

He cut me off, "No, you have to, what?" He was staring at me with an unexpected intensity, "Go on, tell me." I responded with a question, "Hold the phone, why do you look like that? So. Intense?" He groaned in frustration, "Tell me if you have to save the fucking world!" He exclaimed loudly.

I felt my eyes widen, my slightly burned forehead scrunching together. "How did you know?" He poked my forehead, "You have that mark." His voice was lower, and more intimidating. His face had grown cold, and calculating, "Mark?" I asked, hoping he would explain.

He reached into his pocket, and grabbed his phone and took a picture of my face, before giving it to me. I saw the "mark" he was talking about, it was in the shape of a fire of its own. A fire that was a circle, like how I imagine the sun would look. While I was looking at the mark, the man had grabbed some sort of drug, and bandages.

"Alright, these pills, take two every 6 hours. You'll get a little tired, but not enough to put you to sleep. Trust me, in about 30 minutes, your legs will hurt like nothing else. That drug we gave you doesn't last that long. Take those when it starts hurting.

I nodded, and he began to wrap my legs loosely enough to move with. "You'll never understand how sad I am for you. The journey ahead of you is a painful one. I nodded, "As long as I save the world. I only wish I could've saved my parents too." He interupted me while shoving the pill bottle and my phone into my hand, "Don't think about that. Go."

I saw him open the door, and I realized we were still moving, "You don't expect me to just jump off, right?" He grabbed my shirt collar, and threw me out, "Sorry about this! But you need to go, now!" I slammed into the ground, hard. I rolled, for a couple feet, groaning in pain. But quickly getting up, and running out of the road.

"You fucking bastard." I muttered. I turned on my phone, which now only was a map. I groaned, "Are you kidding me?!" I tapped at it, trying to move it. But it wouldn't do anything. It showed my position, and the 50 miles I had to travel to get to where I needed to go.

I felt my legs start to sting. I fumbled for the drugs, knowing that if what the man said was true, I would be in a world of hurt. I took two pills, and shoved the bottle back into my pocket.

I pulled up my phone, and looked down the road I had to travel down. I was glad he had thrown me out, or my trip wouldve been much longer. I began to run down the road, adrenaline flowing through my veins from the fall.

I felt a weird energy about me, still. After 3 minutes of running, I wasnt even starting to feel tired. I knew this was because of the Game master. He gave me energy, or extra endurance, or something.

20 Minutes later, I reached the end of the road. I paused, there wasn't a road past this, so how did they get to my house from here? I checked my map, and realized, there were no roads. I turned around, and only saw dirt.

I felt my hands grow shaky at the confusing sight. How did I get out of that? I looked at the map. I quickly came to a conclusion. I was sent back in time to do this, or something like that. I wasn't sure how this was working, But the road was gone, and the map is unchanged, aside from the roads, and houses being gone.

I started walking towards the location I needed to go to. I didn't know what exactly I would find, but I knew I had to go there. So i ran. Suddenly, I felt a weight on my back, and I threw myself forward, bending down, to use the momentum to throw whatever it was off.

I felt it lighten, and I heard a clank. I looked up, it was a sword. I stood all the way up. I sighed, walking forward and grabbing the sword. Re-sheathing the blade.

I felt the bandages disapear, and I looked down, my pants had changed, to armour. I blinked, and the rest of my body was armoured too.

I grabbed the helmet, and I threw it off, not liking the vision impairment, and the claustrophobia of it all. I looked at my hands, which were now wearing leather gauntlets. But I still held my phone. I yelled out, "Why are you changing this shit up on me?!" With no answer I started to walk to the location, the armour weighing me down significantly.

I trudged along, "Fuck this shit." I mumbled out. When I heard a voice, "Hey! Put your hands up!" The voice was of a child, and I turned around. Upon seeing a kid weilding a crude spear, I sighed. His clothes were tattered, torn, and muddy. His eyes were a blue, and his hair was a dirty blonde. He couldn't have been older than 14.

"Listen, kid. I'm a guy in armour, you're a skinny twig with a twig." He frowned, "Well screw you!" I paused, "Hold on, you aren't talking of this day in age." He scowled, "Neither are you!" He then froze, realizing what that meant.

"Hey hold on a second! Are you one of them?!" I stepped back, "One of who?" He glared at me, "Them." His voice was lower, more solid, and his eyes had become a cold stare. I stuttered, "I-I still don't know what that means."

He groaned, "One of those saviors! Or whatever." I nodded, "I think? I don't really know." He nodded, "You are. Go, now!" He yelled, sounding hurt, and frustrated. But I quickly turned around and ran away, as fast as I could. Which wasn't that fast, maybe 9mph.

3 hours later, I reach the location, having been sprinting the entire time. Thanks to that infinite endurance from the game master. Well, I almost reached the location. In front of me was a mountain. At least half a mile high.

I contemplated removing all of my armour, or maybe just the chestpiece. I Wriggled my toes, and came to the understanding that I no longer had shoes.

I reached behind my back, and fumbled to remove this armour. finding something, I yanked as hard as I could, and it fell off me, all in one go. Leaving me shirtless, but with pants, and leather gauntlets, I looked down in front of me, and saw the part I yanked on.

It all fell off becasue I broke it. I stepped forward, and began climbing, the phone tucked inside one of my leather gauntlets. I climbed the first 10 feet, and realized, I didn't have infinite endurance with climbing, and I assumed fighting anything.

I climbed 20 more feet, before finding a little anchor hold that gave me a little spot to rest a little. 1 hour later of relentless climbing, I reached the top. My arms and abs burning intensly. I pulled myself over the edge and just laid there for a second.

I looked up, not getting up, seeing a temple. I stood up. Wondering why I needed a whole week just to get to here. I walked inside, my muscles quickly becoming less sore. Inside, I saw a pedestal, holding an artifact. The artifact being a stone statue of a dolphin. But it was blocky, and clearly built in a way to be durable.

I walked up to it, and paused. What if there was a trap? I grabbed it, and got ready to run. Instead, I heard the sound of a notification. I set the artifact back down and pulled my phone out, looking at it.

It showed a new location, 79 miles away, with the words at the top of the screen, "Bring the artifact" I let out a small cry of anguish. But I started walking out, and looked down the mountain. I looked around, looking for some rope, or something.

Suddenly, the ground below me shifted, and I felt myself starting to fall, I let out a yell of surprise, containing the word, "SHIT!" I grabbed on to a rock, and felt my body hit the side of the mountain painfully.

I reached down, trying to grab the artifact before it was too late. But it was too late. I watched it fall, and hit the wall, tumbling down, and then I watched as it hit a rock that made it explode.

I let out a soft, "No." Before pulling myself back up. I heard a voice, my mom, "Son, finish this game, and you'll see me again." There was a pause, "Oh, you lost the artifact. How are you ever gonna save me now?"

I cried out, "I can't undo it! I don't know how I'm supposed to fix this!" Suddenly, the game master spoke. "Last chance, look at your map." I did, and I saw a new location. 125 miles away. "No." I said, quietly, in disbelief.