"No matter how you put it, this is just a small pond." Nika said as she was taking off her shoes to take a swim in the water.

"No, it's not a pond, it's a Cenote! they're usually pretty deep and can be dangerous to go in if you don't know them well." Uriel explained.

"You're going to tell ME about Cenotes!? I was born in Mexico and I'm an ascended so I can take good care of myself." Nika scoffed and jumped into the water from the height they were in which was about thirty meters.

"You really don't need to worry about her Mister Sage, she's a heavenly rank after all." Flanagan added.

"I know, it's not really about safety in this case, it's just that..." Uriel was cut short by a loud shriek coming from below. When Nika's loud yelling and cursing subsided he continued. "The water of 'Ik Kil' has been stagnant for years."

Everyone, even the most serious of the bodyguards, let out a chuckle taking advantage of the fact that Nika was at a distance but suddenly a hideous figure emerged from the shadows, its hair wet and covering its face. It resembled a human but, at the same time it did not.

The eerie creature moved awkwardly in short and abrupt bursts, climbing out of the shadows resembling a scene from a horror movie.

"Did you know the water was dirty!?" Nika asked in a deep growl after using her trait to emerge from Uriel's shadow. "I'm talking to you, Mister Sage..." The gritting of her teeth was so loud it made everyone flinch.

"N-no I didn't... Ok I did, but I tried to warn you." Uriel said scratching his cheek. "Anyway, we need to hurry up, we're losing daylight and we're far away from camp."

The group started going down the stony stairs to reach water level led by a very upset Nika. Although the water was crystal clear on the surface and it was really beautiful to look at, it was stagnant and had a lot of vegetation on its bottom.

The water was crystal clear and it looked beautiful, but just as Uriel pointed out the water was stagnant and there was a lot of vegetation below the surface.

There was a platform slightly above the water that lead inside the cave where some carvings had been discovered by the archaeologists and what Uriel found was more than promising.

[To hear the message of this sacred place

You need no soles, no padded leather.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

All you need is to walk with grace

and the path will come together.]

"That's more like it!" Uriel exclaimed in contentment after discovering his first ancient riddle, the kind he always dreamed about. Of course the 'emergency exit' one didn't count because he made it up. "Take off your shoes, now!" He commanded before even explaining what he read.

The group of professional bodyguards proceeded to comply without asking any questions, except for Nika who was already on her bare feet after taking a dive on the Cenote. Uriel walked around while Nika was pointing up the gas lantern all over the cave, but there weren't any more carvings.

"Is there something wrong?" Asked Nika after noticing Uriel's frustration.

"I can't see any paths or carvings." He complained and then told them the riddle he just read a few minutes ago.

"So, this is a sacred place, huh." Nika pondered.

"Uhm, yeah."

"And we're supposed to walk with our bare feet." She lingered for a few seconds. "And then what?"

"What do you mean and then what?" Uriel didn't follow Nika's reasoning.

"It says we need to walk with grace, but what does that even mean?"

Due to Uriel's excitement after finding out that he needed to take his shoes off, he completely omitted everything else.

"Walk with grace... It could be dancing." He tried to remember each and every Mayan dance ever recorded, but that didn't help because there were no exact records of any that lasted to this day. "If we take it literally..." He muttered different kinds of theories while staring at the stone platform he was standing on.

The platform itself wasn't that interesting, it was made so people could access the cave near the Cenote without the need to wet their feet.

"Walk with grace... this Cenote is sacred... huh..." Uriel pondered as The sound of Nika's wet steps resounded in the silence of the cave. He took a short walk across the platform when something strange happened. It was faint, but there was a glimmer coming off from the platform just below Nika's feet. "That's it! We need to wet our feet and walk on the platform and then the path will come together!"

"Uh? That doesn't make any sense, since when is it graceful to walk with wet feet?" Flanagan was dubious.

"Grace doesn't refer to elegance, but the divine grace! It's this sacred water!" Uriel was in absolute glee as his odd theory proved to be correct. The group wet their feel and proceeded to walk all over the platform until they were able to hear a strange mechanism click below their feet, but nothing else happened.

"It sounded like it was about to be activated, but then failed." One of the bodyguards, a female engineer said after placing her ear in the floor.

"Should we crush an essence orb?" Said Nika after taking a small purse from her belt.

"I don't think so, I mean, we don't know what will happen if we do so. I chose to investigate the Cenote because it's far from the site, it's about 3km distance. Should something happen we won't be able to get any backup."

"What worries you, Mister Sage?" Nika asked in suspicion.

"I fear that one of the structures is in charge of keeping cryptids away from the site, we can't just go activating stuff just because we can. Thankfully, there's no need to rush things."

The group started to retreat, leaving only Uriel behind on the farthest point of the stone platform. When the rest of the group were at a distant the mechanism clicked again. Nika's first instinct was to use her trait to reach Uriel, but he quickly raised a hand signalling her to stop.

Then a stone altar slowly raised from bellow, right in front of Uriel, the grinding sound of stone gears resounded in the previously silent cave.