"This mechanism seems to be designed to activate only when there's just one person on this side of the platform." Uriel observed as he leaned forward to study the altar closely, but its design was simple and there were no carvings on sight. "This is an amazing finding! It is known that this Cenote was used as a place of adoration where the ancient Mayans offered gold and precious gems to Xibalbá, but it seems they also performed dark rituals in here."

"Dark rituals?" Nika scratched the back of her head.

"He means human sacrifices." Flanagan respectfully explained.

"That is correct." Uriel studied the altar from all sides with a dubious expression. "But something doesn't add up, I mean, human sacrifices were made a celebration and it was supposedly performed in front of everyone. Why would they put an altar in a place as secluded as this... it's almost like they were trying to hide something."

"Maybe this place was for special sacrifices." Nika said without a hint of interest or curiosity, she just wanted to get all of this boring research over with.

"Special offerings... Mayans usually offered warriors, maidens, even kids..." Uriel said.

"Wow! These guys weren't nice people."

"No, but they weren't necessarily bad people either. They were just scared by famine, sickness and all sorts of natural disasters. They needed to appease their gods somehow and... hang on, appease the gods! Why aren't there any sculptures or carvings portraying any gods in here?" Uriel asked to no one in particular.

"I don't know, maybe because this place wasn't meant for the gods." Nika replied.

"Miss Nika, perhaps if you let him work this could be faster." Flanagan, who was almost as excited as Uriel, commented.

"No, wait, she might be on to something. I mean, this place is sacred, so there must be some sort of god somewhere in here but it's not in a sculpture, then the only other alternative is... Xibalbá!"

"You know, Mister Sage, you always say stuff like that like things are obvious, but none of us even know that dude."

"Xibalbá is not a dude, Nika, it's the underworld!" Uriel excitedly replied to Nika's remark. "That's why there aren't any god statues, sculptures or whatever, because this is the place that leads to the underworld where all the gods are supposed to live, in other words, I believe we just found the entrance to the underground structure."

"So, how do we go in there? Do we need to take a swim?" Nika asked, now a bit reluctant to dive into the stagnant waters.

"I don't know, there's nothing else to go with... I just hope we don't need to sacrifice someone."

"If that were the case, that wouldn't be a problem at all. I could ask for an inmate with a death sentence and..."

"Wow, seems like you're one to judge Mayans about morals." Uriel glared at Nika, yet she remained completely unfazed. "But sacrificing someone to open a door doesn't seem like a good idea. Even if this is a sacred place, opening a door by sacrificing someone is too inefficient. Besides, this mechanism only activated after I was left alone on this side of the platform."

Stolen novel; please report.

"But this is an altar, the whole purpose of altars is to either place an offering or an idol." Flanagan, who had some basic knowledge of archaeology stated.

"That's true, but this place is odd in so many ways. Mayans believed that being sacrificed wasn't a punishment but a true honor, why is there no place for a public then? Unless... this isn't actually a sacrificial place but something entirely different."

"Like what?" Nika asked just so Uriel could continue speaking.

"What is related to the other world, but not to sacrifices?"

"A tomb?"

"Precisely! Chichén Itzá has always been translated as 'Well of the water warlock' But what if the proper word isn't well, but tomb? We might be in the final resting place of the water warlock himself!" Uriel spoke in an increasingly louder voice that echoed into a disfigured voice.

"Yeah, sounds great and all but, why the altar then?"

"You're missing the point," Uriel said as he made his swiss army knife appear on his hand. "In the old Mayan religion the gods attempted to create humans out of clay, corn even wood, but the ones made with clay were stupid, those made of corn were too frail and the wooden ones lacked emotion, in the end the gods settled with something different... They made men from blood." He spoke solemnly and then proceeded to cut the palm of his hand with the knife spilling his blood on the altar.

The cut was deep and the copious amount of blood that should have started pooling on the stone surface of the altar was absorbed instead. Then, as if by magic, the top of the altar moved to the side revealing that the altar was actually a tomb. Instead of a corpse, though, what they found was much more alluring.

There was a huge treasure inside the tomb, it was composed of some old looking coins with a figure of the sun in one side and a human face on the other, there was also a dagger, some vases, cups and even a very rich jeweled bracelet. All of the items inside the tomb had one thing in common, they were all made of a strange metal similar to copper but a lot heavier.

"Is this the strange metal the POI's are made from?" Nika said after rushing over to admire the treasure.

"I don't think so, it looks very different but it certainly possess certain similarities." The female engineer who acted as a bodyguard stated.

"What are you waiting for, pack it all up and bring it to camp!" Flanagan commanded, but before they could even lift a finger they were stopped by Nika.

"As per contract, my client is allowed to take first pick on any item he desires."

Uriel was ecstatic and really excited about the treasure thinking that maybe he would be able to store some artifact inside his trait, only to be left disappointed testing each one. Everytime Uriel passed his hand over the jeweled bracelet Flanagan seemed to get anxious and started sweating cold, making it clear that he feared that the young student might choose the most expensive artifact from himself. But that wasn't the case, he chose to keep the dagger.

"Of all the incredible treasures n front of you and you pick a knife! and a blunt one at that!" Nika facepalmed, she more than stunned by his poor choice. "You could have picked the bracelet, or the big vase. An unknown metal like this is bound to be incredibly expensive!"

"Artifacts aren't valuable for the material they're made of, but for their cultural value. This is a sacrificial dagger, its name has been lost to time, and although the Aztecs named them Tecpatl I'd love to be the first one to find out its true name." As Uriel picked the dagger up, he noticed it was hot to the touch and it gave off a strange feeling. It was nothing like the sensation he had whenever he picked an item he could store in his museum, it was a nostalgic feeling that gripped his heart and clenched his throat for a glimpse of a second.

When the Mapple corp. employees finished packing up the treasure, they left the place with the satisfying sensation of a job well done. Although they weren't able to enter the structure as Nika expected, at least they found what seemed to be the entrance and that alone was a huge breakthrough. Now they only needed to figure out what steps did they need to follow in order for the entrance to be revealed.

All in all, they were in a cheerful mood and took their time enjoying the walk back to camp across the Amazon rainforest, where Chichén Itzá was located.