“Next one. Diamond eye mushroom.”

The whoosh of a sling, the tink of stone on glass, and the Glyph flared up in a vibrant, undeniably negative crimson that slammed the Treasury back shut from the inches we’d managed to pry it open.

“Dude…”

“What? What’s a ‘diamond eye mushroom’, Mitch?”

“How am I to know what these things are called?” Mitch’s words boomed off the temple walls. “It’s the two slots clockwise from the one you shot.”

“That’s a Skull.” I struck the heart-shaped Glyph and the hexagon one from before, then the Skull. Or, as Mitch calls it, the ‘diamond-eyed mushroom’ while he figured out the next Glyph. The chains holding the Treasury door rattled loose with each step in the right combination. Don’t even get me started on how we managed to get this far.

“If you’re gonna call it clockwise… *hic*,” Izi spoke from a distance behind us, “why don’t you just call it out by the clock?” Her keeping a lookout as we tackled the Treasury door might’ve boosted our confidence, if she would keep her nose out of a health-up cocktail for more than a few seconds at a time.

“Next one’s easy,” Mitch finally had it. “The one like a bird at the top!”

“That would be twelve o’clock,” continued Izi, taking another gulp from her tall, flower garnished cup. “The other one clockwise is half past one, going round is three o’clock…”

Another tink on a Glyph as I let my slingshot fly. Shooting the fifth and final one soon after, the chains rattled as the combination flashed around the door. The reality was quietly dawning on us, as the Disciple visage carved into the door unlatched and fell away to reveal the hoard of chests, trinkets and gold behind it. We’d truly made it now, a few moments more and the Artifact would be in our packs.

None of us heard the clip of our Traversers warning us of enemies nearby, just the hum of the Artifact waiting to be looted. By the time we noticed the glint of his metal mask flashing gold in the torchlight and the clip of a Goodfella loaded for action…

I turned in time to see the flash of gunfire just as a wall of jelly splashed up to block my vision. Perhaps more importantly, it stopped the bullets headed right for me.

“Get inside!”

“We’ll be trapped!”

The ladle empty at her belt, it was Izi who grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled Mitch and I along in a rush round the chamber. Last we saw (or rather heard) of the Treasury was the detonation of grenades and the explosion of loot bouncing about the stone walls, each one a reminder of what could have been in our pockets.

No time to count, we turned a corner and dove through the passage, crashing to the floor in a heap just in time to miss the swinging axe as it swept across the way. There was nothing but ancient temple corridors ahead of us. Another turn? How did we get inside in the first place?

Stamina low, we pressed our backs to the wall to catch our breath. Whoever that was, we must’ve lost them, as all else was silent but for the last echo of a coin dropping in the distance.

“Please tell me you got the Artifact.”

Mitch didn’t wait for me to reply. I hadn’t even stepped foot in the Treasury. With a disappointed groan and a “I should’ve queued solo,” under his breath, he extended an arm padded with a falconry glove.

The Recon Raptor dove from the ledge above us and swooped round the corner towards the Treasury chamber. The bird did it’s work, calling out no sign of danger – just a hoard of coins and, indeed, the Artifact.

“It’s baiting us, *hic*, dude!” Izi tried to stop him, but Mitch had already seized the chance and was gone.

I heard his footsteps as they fell back to the Treasury chamber, soon covered by Izi gulping another health-up cocktail down. Where does she find them? I had no time to ponder as the chain of bullets ripped out to the periodical explosions of grenades. There was the faintest shred of a guitar solo, but it soon fell silent to the Goodfella’s never-ending clip.

Mitch was gone.

But the thing was still there, and now it knew exactly which direction we’d scampered off to.

I heard footsteps approaching. Was I wrong? Had Mitch made it? When next came the sound of breath muffled by a metal mask. Looking at Izi beside me, she’d heard it too, but I raised a finger in the universal sign for silence. Whoever it was, they were right around the corner now. They hadn’t yet seen us, as we leaned flat against the wall and hoped the shadows might help to hide us. I felt the ice of cold metal beside my face, its breath right by me.

Then, as I grew all too aware of the air I’d kept trapped in my lungs for fear even exhaling might give us away — the footsteps began again, falling back from where it came. Either it hadn’t seen us, given up, or just lost interest…

*hic*

I turned to glare at Izi. But last I saw was the look of apologetic terror as she grabbed hold of her Fringe Fader and vanished before my eyes.

The rip of a Goodfella came before he did, rushing round our corner. Nowhere to run, I drew my Traverser and whipped it to the ledge. It zipped me upwards as my Shield sizzled from the impact of grenades exploding below and the bullets bouncing off its defense. Reaching the ledge, I scrambled further in for cover and just hoped my Shield would hold up for a while longer. 

Surely he had to reload at some point? But the bullets just kept coming, clipping the temple walls and sending the dust flying. I’d managed to find an angle where they couldn’t reach me, but if there was anything to understand about this masked psycho, it was that I had to keep moving, or eventually they would.

Blinded by the dust, there was nothing else I could do but unclip my Traverser and hope for the best as I sent out its hook. Taking the chance as it latched on to something, I zipped off the ledge and felt a sense of relief as I rose high enough for the bullets to no longer clink against my Shield. The gunfire stopped soon after, and a glance down midway told me that the shooter was nowhere to be seen. But I quickly shrugged off that mystery as I looked forward and found a ray of sunlight streaking in straight ahead.

Scrambling onto another ledge, there was the windowless frame leading out of this death trap of a temple, and I jumped through without a care for the specifics of what lay beyond. The psycho nightmare, whoever it was, could have the temple, the treasury, the loot, the lot of it. All I want is to get off this island, and apply for a permanent station on the Riftwake, so I’d never have to venture out again. Surely someone’s got to be responsible for maintaining the pool area.

Feeling the fresh air, and the open space up to the blue sky above. I’d made it out, to the hill that housed the Disciple settlement we’d cleared to get through to the Treasury. Leaving the temple and its horrors behind, an extraction point lay right across from the waterfall cascading from its mountain seat up ahead. Just a jump down, and I’d be on my way.

I froze as gold flashed in the corner of my eye. My Traverser buzzed to warn me and I knew, much as I could wish it was, it certainly wasn’t the coveted glint of a stray Hawk coin. Grenades landed under my feet as the Goodfella roared.

Do as you will, loot if you dare, but just hope to whatever forces govern this island he doesn’t find you.