Beautiful, yet so grim. The ruins were labyrinthic, intricate and almost majestic in their design, but there was no denying that if the walls had a voice, they would scream or wail. The natives of the island, even if primitive, were great craftsmen. It was a real shame that they used it in ways that could instill nightmares.

Olve had ventured deep into the ruins, and the more he advanced, the more he regretted the fact that he had fallen into that pit. At first, he had shown bravery and determination in his expression, but now he could not avoid but grimace as he entered each corridor.

The first statue was easy to ignore. He considered it a simple decoration, of which he caught a glimpse in the distant shadows. It was not close enough for him to pay mind to it, causing him to walk away through a tunnel.

The next he found did catch his interest, for all the wrong reasons. Not one but three stood at a crossroads. Each preceded a passage, taking different postures. The right one was bowing towards its tunnel, the middle one was outstretching its arms at its sides, while the one at the left was reaching out at its opening.

He would have simply taken a path and kept going, but instead he stepped closer to the one at the middle. A concerned scowl soon grew on his face, while his hand reached to caress the statue’s features. It was uncannily realistic.

The molten rock that composed the sculptures had been mixed with precious stones and metal, giving them a soft and vibrant tonality, which shined with the distant glimmers of magma that reflected on them. A priest would say that they had been crafted by angels, for it replicated humanity perfectly.

Something was wrong, indeed. His mind was alarmed by the sight of the statues, but he could not pinpoint why. He marched through the middle path, only to discover how the natives managed such precision in their artistic crafts.

When he stepped into a bigger chamber, he slowed down his strides. He gaped at the rows of statues, all lined up on podiums that surrounded the center of the circular room. There was a strange mechanism there, huge, and apparently void. Edgings decorated every wall and floor, all directed towards the contraption made of stone.

Upon further inspection, he guessed it was a furnace. What made him shiver was the fact that it had an open entryway, and the space past it was big enough for a person to stand in. It did not take him long to recognize that those small edgings were meant to direct lava into the furnace, poured down from the upper floor.

With that realization, he slowly turned around, eyeing the statues with a blank expression. A shiver ran down his spine, for he caught how one the upper ones was slightly shattered. He did not want to, but he found himself stepping closer to look.

Olve contained a gag once he peeked into the gap on that stony face. Past the metal and rock, there was clearly a skull, scorched and decayed. Magma had been poured onto that former living figure, encasing it completely.

He promptly retreated from the sight, but it was much worse to see the other statues around him, which had not broken down with time. Corpses were hidden inside for sure; their grim stances now made much more sense, some of them reluctant.

“Gods almighty…” This ritual disgusted him, to no end. He left the chamber, deciding to find his way out as soon as possible. The mural he had seen depicted the pouring of magma onto a victim, but he had not wanted to suspect that the sacrifice was meant to produce such memoirs. “Never thought creativity could be so malicious. Those savages hide their beautiful crafts, deep where no one can see.”

He wondered what kind of greed compelled their hearts to such acts. There was no apparent utility to this ritual; although he was curious, he did not wish to lurk and find out more about it. He kept looking for an exit, unknowing that he was just sinking deeper into the dangerous guts of the ruins.

————

 

She had no choice. All ever slowly, she took off her long red coat, to then lay it down gently by the entry of a long passage. She brushed the sweat from her forehead with a snarl, glaring ahead with evident resent.

There was no apparent way out of these ruins. She scouted every nook and cranny of the upper floors, and it was undeniable that he had gone deep. Lava flowed now everywhere, inside stony canals that the natives had dug centuries ago.

“The heat won’t deter me…”

Her green eyes fixated again on her dear old coat, which she stole from a rival pirate years ago. Wearing it always gave her confidence and pride, for it reminded her of the day in which she beat that scallywag, who once tried to sink La ostra roja and steal all the loot she had acquired.

That coat always hanged loosely over her, two sizes bigger. Too warm. She had to let it go, at least for now. However, she did not want to part ways forever…

“I’ll be back.” She grabbed her long black hair and tied it angrily into a ponytail, glaring ahead with annoyance. “He can’t be too far off.”

She took the first step through the arc in front of her, the entrance to the real depths of the ruins. Her heart was racing, and not only because she searched for a long while. She had come across that chamber with the furnace as well.

As a pirate, she always heard gossip and rumours. Her kind had to avoid land often, and in those long and tiresome journeys, the crews had to exchange tales to kill time. Most were nonsensical legends, but a few were based in reality, at least partially.

She truly did not want to keep venturing. Each step she took now was a gamble, for she could come across any Basaltians. Or as they called themselves in their native tongue, Grazh’lons. They were not kind to strangers, and that was saying something, considering how they treated their own. No, she could not end up like one of those statues.

I am beautiful, but I would rather immortalize my image in a painting.

Those fiends were desperate in their traditions, and they would take any given chance to practice them, hoping for a miracle. They truly were foolish in their endeavours and persecutions, for they would never reach their objective.

Barbara mocked the natives’ wishes mentally, quite unaware of the irony. She was much viler in her killing, because while they wanted to bring to life their supposed benevolent deity, she simply followed her avarice towards a trinket.

She knew her soul was rotting. It was a fact that every pirate had to admit. Sadly, it was a way of life that was rarely chosen, unless one preferred to perish. Hardship and misery could lead one to dark paths, which were not easy to stray from once taken.

Life had roughened her skin, much like the beasts that dwelled in the pits she ventured into. Her green eyes narrowed as she passed a bridge over a chasm, because something moved below. A huge shadow emerged slowly from the flowing pool of magma, to crawl onto a patch of black rock.

“I had enough with those damn ants.”

Scoria lizards, well named after their dangerous instincts. The one down there leaned its long neck and body to look up, letting its sharp eyes gleam under the multiple layers of solidified magma that covered it.

They knew how to climb, but it did not make a move to reach the bridge she stood on. It merely leaned again and rested down on the heated rock, to lay there for hours. Moving would cause the heated lava over it to disperse, and it needed to add another dried layer on itself.

These animals followed a continuous cycle, in which they used their coatings to swim, drying the scorching liquid once they emerged. No beast on the island could strike past that mechanism of defence, making them apex predators that only needed to fear their own means of protection.

They lurked here, something she knew beforehand, thanks to the many years of searching through islands where to stash her loot. A common sailor had much less knowledge of the world, for the need of exploration never raised, always bound to orders.

Olve knew he could not go back now, yet he was very reluctant of advancing. By the time he caught a glimpse of those lizards, it was too late to retreat out of the depths. He had entered a big hall, full of what he considered more statues. They did not have a human form, and they were immobile, so he truly thought that they had never been alive.

They did move once he walked past. He tensed and looked back, only to see how those rocks leaned slowly to observe him. Multiple sharp eyes opened, past the thick stone that surrounded them.

“Oh, come on…”

All ever slowly, they moved closer, like a spider edging towards a trapped fly. Their huge maws opened to take deep breaths, like if they had not done so for months. It really looked like if they awakened from a long slumber, for they were not hurrying in their advances.

He did not want those sharp teeth or big claws on top of him, and it was clear that their very long bodies and tails could tangle fiercely even if encased by stone. If they did not have four legs, they would look like pythons. They shared the same hunger.

He sprinted off through another arch, running down some stairs as one lizard leapt sharply and bit the air where he had stood. Their dashes were sudden and fast, contrasting greatly their lethargic stances.

A floor above, Barbara heard Olve’s steps and the sound of multiple lizards hissing. She let out a muffled curse, knowing well what it all meant. In no time, she was running too, because lizards of this size had a common way of dealing with their prey.

“You fool, I can’t cut open these things!”

Indeed, the lizards were trying to snatch him and tangle around his body, to crush him and swallow him whole. If they managed, she would never be able to get the necklace from their guts. Digestion took weeks, which she could not spare.

He certainly ran out of time. No matter if he evaded the beasts efficiently with fast dashes and calculated manoeuvres, there was nothing he could do against an ambush. He was forced to run through a path when two lizards crept out of the shadows, blocking his planned route. He bolted into that alternative passage, and sadly, there was a flow of lava at its side.

A loud gasp escaped him when a huge maw burst out of the magma, and he would have been burned if he had not leaned away at the last second. Those teeth only bit into air, yet he was not unharmed. As he stumbled for a second, another lizard saw its chance. Having crept slowly, it suddenly lunged, latching its long tail around his right leg. He realized that fact quickly and did not waste time.

Olve swung the black tusk he carried with all his strength. It did nothing but scratch the stone that covered the tail. Soon enough, the whole lizard was on him, tangling around most of his body. His torso and arms were free, and he kept trying to stab the animal, but to no avail. It was unfazed by his efforts, much more concerned by the other lizards that inched closer.

A loud hiss came out from those huge maws, causing him to cringe and hear a ringing noise afterwards. The other lizards growled and leaned, but none dared come closer. The one that had him pinned would not share. Knowing this, all retreated to the shadows or magma, back to sleep or to lurk.

All that only took seconds, and in an instant, he was dragged along. He yelped in pain as the tail tangled more fiercely, to keep a hold of him while the beast moved away. It did not do so as slowly as it normally would, keeping a middle speed while it dashed to deeper shadows.

It took three minutes for the lizard to stop rushing, and although they felt long, he soon wished they were longer. While dragged along, he had been more or less upside down. Now, he was leaned up, straight. The reason made him shiver.

“Oh no. Gods, no.”

Somehow, being cut in half by those ants did not seem as bad now. He had been pulled into a very deep tunnel, and what laid in it was truly haunting. There had been statues here, once. Their pieces laid broken all over the stony floor, because the lizards had broken them to access the scorched bones that rested inside.

They were hungry, able to go without sustenance for years. A chance to feed again would not be allowed to pass. Those sharp orange eyes were fixated on him, looming as the lizard tensed and arched up.

He snarled and raised his arm to sink down the tusk again, but it only caused the lizard to lash out. That maw opened, and even if it did not close around his head and torso, it did bite down. A scream escaped him as the teeth brushed him, some sinking into his hand.

Much like the panther, this thing had brains. Although the tusk did not offer much protection, it was something it deemed a nuisance. Olve only managed a choked gasp when the lizard took away his weapon and proceeded to swallow it, as small as a toothpick in its mouth.

Breathing was not easy now, for his body was being crushed by the slender yet large tail, and those claws were pinning his arms downwards. He wanted to scream in anger and fear when the maws opened again, this time over his head, with clear intentions. Any snarls he let out made him exhale, and the pressure would increase as his chest gave ground, not allowed to raise back.

Part of him wanted the stony weight to make him pass out or even kill him, because what was coming was worse. He imagined being eaten alive by the beasts of the jungle, but not in this manner. He closed his eyes with a deep scowl, seeing the open maws surround his head. They would have closed around him, to then proceed to swallow him whole, if not for one thing. Both he and the lizard tensed, because two sharp echoes reached them from above.

The beast leaned back and closed its mouth slightly, gripping him a little tighter as it looked back towards the tunnel it dragged him through. It recognized the angered hisses of its kin, while he realized that the echoes had been shots.

Above, Barbara growled deeply at a lizard that eyed her from the shadows. After having seen her shoot at two while she advanced through, it knew to keep its distance. The shots did not pierce their scaly flesh, but it did crack the stone they worked so hard on piling over.

She moved forward as the animals crept away, not wanting to deal with something that could fight back, even if only slightly. Little did they know that she only had one bullet left. She would have to use it wisely, and she knew exactly for what as soon as she descended some stairs that led to a decrepit tunnel.

Her green eyes widened, much like his blue ones, for their gazes met. The lizard let out a deep hiss and tangled its tail even tighter, which only caused him to let out an even more pained gasp. It opened its maws to bite down and swallow him, fearing losing its prey to something else… and she dreaded the very same thing.

There was another shot, impulsive and fast. The lizard leaned back sharply as the bullet struck the gap of one of its eyes, growling in pain and surprise. Olve panted as he dropped to the ground, huffing as the tail hit him while it flailed.

Meanwhile, Barbara did not waste time. She unsheathed her sword and lunged towards Olve, intending to dodge the flails of claw to reach him. He knew she only intended to save one thing, and it was not his life. Nonetheless, she could not grasp what she wanted if there was a dangerous beast biting everything in hopes of tearing them apart, so killing him would have to wait. He had moved away a little, but she reached him with ease. While she pointed at him with her sword, she nodded at the nearby passage, commanding coldly.

“With me or that thing. The choice is clear.”

He could not disagree with her. With one last glance back at those sharp teeth, he began to run, unable to do so very far off from her sword. The lizard heard their steps fading away, and so, it began to dash towards their direction. It was blinded, but it could smell and hear them. She did her best to keep it behind, yelling for him to follow.

“This way!”

He ran beside her while she directed their moves, not having many alternatives. His eyes widened soon enough, however, because she led them both to a chasm. They halted there, and he only needed a second to understand she intended to jump over the drop to reach the edge ahead.

“Are you crazy?!”

She gave him a very fierce and inquiring stare, judging him and his reluctance.

“Are you suicidal?” She snarled, seeing the lizard gain ground in the tunnels where they left it. It would be on them in seconds. “If you want it to eat you instead, give me the trinket so I-“

She was not surprised when he took a few steps back, to then jump off with an angry shout. He almost did not make it to the edge, but he managed without dropping to the deep flowing magma below. A sigh of relief escaped her, which she quickly became aware of and resented.

She denied it promptly, but she had not dreaded the necklace falling into the lava, but him. As well, she truly did not wish him to perish eaten alive. Both were horrible ways to go. Those sentiments were buried deep as she focused, knowing she had to make the jump too.

With a few steps back of her own, she dashed fast. Her jump was much more agile, more precise, and less forceful. He cringed as she leapt, for the lizard had reached them. It opened its maws and tried to bite her down as she soared… but it did not grasp her.

Barbara huffed and rolled on the ground as she reached the other side, while the lizard plunged down in its attempt at tackling her. Both she and Olve panted and leaned at the edge, seeing it fall deep below. In a few seconds, there was a loud splash coming from the magma. They did not bother to ponder if it was lethal, because the lizard would not manage to reach them even if it survived.

“T-that…” She stopped panting and stood tall, to then glare him down with her sword pointed at him. “That could have been you. Running foolishly will only bring you to a horrible death. Now, be the obedient dog you’ve been trained to be and hand me the necklace. I will spare you if you make it easy, because I’m very tired of all this-“

As she said those words, she had inched closer threateningly. He had obviously taken a few steps back with his hands up, not having a tusk to counter that sword. Sadly for both of them, their troubles were not over. With one of her steps, there was a soft click, a stone giving in under her weight.

Both tensed again, forgetting their quarrel for a moment. Even she paled when she recognized the sound of mechanisms stirring awake inside the walls. The edge where they stood only had two open sides, the one that ended at the chasm, and the tunnel ahead.

It was very subtle, but walls had begun to move. The tunnel and their only way out was shrinking… and it was very long. She looked down, noting then how she had stepped onto a pressure plate.

“Me cago en todo lo que-“

She could not finish her swear. A snarl escaped her when he bolted off through tunnel, knowing that he would be crushed if he did not hurry past it. This time she could not blame him, however. She sheathed her sword and sprinted as fast as he did, breathing heavily after all the chasing and running beforehand. They both were now fleeing for their lives, having set off a trap they both needed to dread.

“This is all your fault!”

“I was not the one to start all this!” He did not bother to glare at her as he accused her, focusing on running in front of her. “You attacked our ship!”

“And you-!” She could not reproach that he ran off, so she simply resorted to petty insults. “You stupid son of a bitch, ojalá te hubiera atravesado una jodida bala de cañon!”

“Shut it, will you?!” He hated how the walls were now inching all too fast towards their bodies, rumbling as they moved. “If we end up crushed by these walls, I won’t be the one going to hell! So, save your breath!”

That, she did. The walls were now brushing their arms, and they needed to lean slightly to keep running. It was a relief that they soon discerned the end of the tunnel in the darkness, a little ahead.

It wasn’t as nice to realize that the trap not only involved the walls of the tunnel, but the floor of the next chamber as well. There was a huge door at its end, and it was slowly closing, while the slabs that composed the ground before it were lowering.

They did not say anything, for time was of the essence. The slabs were lowering and sinking at different speeds, and they knew to dash through the long chamber when one plunged down, shattering as it reached the lowest point. Below the room flowed a lot of lava, and some inevitably poured out from the new gap that the slab left.

Each took a side of the room, jumping from slab to slab, doing their best to keep up. She gained more ground towards the door at first, much more agile, but luck was not on her side. Perhaps it was karma, maybe simple chance, but the fact was that she found her path blocked.

Barbara gasped in alarm when the slab that she was about to jump onto crumbled before her. If she had leapt a second before, she would have fallen with it and into the lava that surged out. She could do nothing but step back and begin to look at other slabs onto which to leap and run on; meanwhile, Olve zigzagged his way onto the ledge that preceded the door.

He had not looked back as he rushed, but when he reached the opening with one last strong leap, he did. His heart skipped a beat, seeing that there was no longer any ground on which to run. All slabs were now on different altitudes, and that was making it even more difficult for her to reach the door.

Her jumps became desperate and urgent, for she knew she was losing time and ground. He looked at the door and noted how it was now halfway closed. There was temptation in his mind, to go through it and simply leave… yet he found himself doing something instead when he heard a yell.

Barbara had leapt, finally at the last slab that preceded the door. Sadly, it was below the edge, sunken far too much for her to jump with ease. As the stone collided with the lava it had covered, she had no more ground to stand on, and she would perish if she did not grasp the edge.

Her fingertips brushed the edge above, but not enough to grasp it. She gasped as she lost drive in the air, feeling how her body fell prey to gravity, in a slowed moment. Her life would have flashed before her eyes… if a hand did not suddenly dash and grasp her wrist, at the last moment.

Both huffed, in surprise and strain. She hanged under his hold, looming over the lava below. The fact struck the two of them, for he did not decide to reach for her. He simply… acted. They pierced each other with their gazes, one glaring inquisitively, the other staring in grim thoughtfulness.

While he pondered the fact that he could simply let her go and be done with it, she seemed to remind him of her dangerousness with her expression. She was not showing any fear or hints of dread on her face, just defiance. The door was closing, and a choice needed to be made.

He had reached for her… The decision was made already. If he let go now, he would be a cold-blooded murderer like her. Due to it, he cursed himself, for he knew he should have let her fall on her own.

She was not surprised when he heaved her up, dragging her to the edge. Although she wanted to mock his naïve stupidity, she was grateful deep inside. There was another factor that kept her quiet at the moment: the closing door.

As she stood tall, she pushed him forward, urging him to dash. The two needed to lean and crouch, but they made it under the lowering stone. It hit the ground and sealed the door loudly, leaving no light to reveal in what kind of chamber they were now. They stood still for a few seconds, waiting for more traps to tear them apart. They could not see a thing, so it did not take long for him to speak up.

“Uhh, do you have any-?”

He did not need to finish. She procured a match and lighted it promptly, to then glare past the small flame to see what surrounded them. Both were about to say something, but neither managed to voice their concerns, far too shocked by what they discerned. The glimmer of the light reflected on something shiny; better said, multiple shiny things.

Both stared at what could only be a pile of gold and gems, at their feet. There were many shadows ahead in the chamber, and judging by how still they were, they quickly realized that they were hoards of treasure.

They had reached the chamber where the natives stored any metal and gemstones they found, to use them in their dreadful furnaces. The sight of such bounty would have made any pirate swoon, yet she only felt fear for the fact.