“We made it inside!” The sound of tyres rubbing against solid surface reverberated throughout Pyramid-13. This indicated that Angelina and her gang managed to cross over the borders of their pyramid before the Sandal Gang could steal their artefacts.
“Dammit! They made it across the barrier.” The leader of the Sandal Gang was displeased with himself. He wasn’t able to beat down the Shackle of Death members before they entered the force field that protected their pyramid.
Each pyramid was built with a transparent barrier that only allowed a specific team of Tomb Riders to pass through. Since the Shackle of Death Squad were members of team 13 and their pyramid was 13, they alone were allowed safe passage. Other teams couldn’t enter their pyramid, also they couldn’t trespass on other’s pyramid. This allowed for a safe transaction of the artefacts.
“Come on boys, let’s find someone else to rob.” Realizing that they have lost their target, the Sandal Gang turned around from Pyramid-13 and went off in the distance.
“They are gone now.” Hard Steel looked over the Sanctuary of Pinnacles from within the barrier of Pyramid-13. There he didn’t have to fret about any surprise attacks.
“Those scooter freaks almost overpowered us.” Said Cockroach while coming off his motor. “Now that we made it inside, where do we place the artefacts?”
“Over here, guys.” Angelina called out to the rest of her gang. She was standing before a very large door that seemed over 50 metres high. It was almost as tall as the pyramid itself. There was also a small body of glowing water which separated them from interacting with the door.
“What is that huge door?” Coming over to where Angelina was, the others were taken aback by the shared extent of the monolith door.
“There seem to be various slots that are shaped like the Grace of Pinnacles under those mystical engravings.” Hard Steel observed.
“Try placing one in.” Angelina suggested.
“Alright, here goes.” Rooster took the initiative to place one of the artefacts that he had under his control into a vacant slot. As Rooster inputted the Grace of Pinnacles into a random slot, the rest of them saw a blinding beam of light rose out of the glowing body of water and shot into the air.
“Ahf!” They took a couple of steps back so as to not be bombarded by the vertical beam. Sometime later, they all saw the light beam calmed down and returned into the body of water.
“So this is what happens when we saw those light shooting out of the other pyramids.” Angelina continued to observe the monolith door until she saw the artefact that Rooster placed inside began turning.
“The artefact is now moving around.” All of them stood in front of the door for some minutes, observing the rotation of the artefact. “Is something else supposed to happen?”
“I don’t know. Probably not.” Answered Hard Steel.
“Well, we can’t stay here forever.” Angelina spoke up. “We’re only wasting precious time by staring at it rotating. Hurry up and put in the other artefact so that we can get out of here and continue our search.”
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“You’re right.” Hard Steel inputted the other aftereffect and the exact same procedure followed as the first one. Lights flashed into the air then the artefact began rotating.
“Let’s be on our way now.” The gang obeyed Angelina’s instruction by following her outside of the pyramid. When they came out, they separated again into groups of two. They decided that this method would be less time consuming on locating artefacts, on the other hand, it would be a lot more dangerous with only two persons in a group. So Angelina came up with a compromise for them to not venture too far from a rescue-able distance of each other. That way if either group found themselves in an inescapable situation, the other group would be liable to help.
“I’m with you again.” Cockroach decided to pair up Angelina again, leaving Hard Steel and Rooster together once more. This time they didn’t mind all that much, they grew accustomed to each other.
“Alright let’s move out. Cockroach and I will go this way… Huh?”
As they were about to go their separate way, the Shackle of Death crew along with all the other Tomb Riders present in the desert, heard a loud bang and saw the sky split open.
“What the hell is happening?” As they all wondered, they saw a large monitor appeared into view with a familiar face for all to see, followed by a well-acquainted voice.
“Attention all Tomb Riders.”
“Look! It’s the Initiator. What is he doing showing up here?”
“Did we run out of time already?”
“I don’t think so. Let me check the timer… huh… no, we still have an hour and a half remaining.”
“Ahem.” The Initiator garnered the attention of all Tomb Riders across the desert. Even the ones who were too busy to pay attention paid attention. “Attention All Tomb Riders. Now that we are approaching the last hour of the tournament we decided to throw in a favourable development.”
The monitor depicting the Initiator now switched to showing a unique map of Scorching Dunes. “We, the Administrators have updated the blueprints of the desert. If you would all kindly take a look at your maps you will see that the locations of all teams participating are now revealed for all to see along with the whereabouts of all existing Grace of Pinnacles and Soul Insignias. This is an opportunity for those teams who haven’t managed to secure an Artefact yet. Do your best Tomb Rider, we hope to see a more spectacular show.”
After the Initiator finished speaking, the monitor disappeared along with the crack in the sky. Hearing what the Initiator had to say made a lot of Tomb Riders unsettled. Mainly because their positions were now visible for all to see and if they are in possession of an artefact everyone would know.
“Oh my god it’s true!” looking over the updated map, Cockroach confirmed what the Initiator had just said. “This changes everything. Look, there is an artefact close by here and over here as well. We drove past this area on our way here and surprisingly missed it.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Lets’ go get it.” Rooster was excited to go on the hunt.
“Wait.” Angelina realized something. “We’re not the only ones who spotted it. Look here. Another group of Tomb Rider is already on their way there.”
“So what? We should just stand around and let them collect all of the artefacts?” Hard Steel didn’t understand what Angelina was getting at.
“No, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t chase after artefacts but we should be smart about this.” Angelina gathered the gang closer. “Listen, by now almost every Tomb Rider will be hunting after the artefacts or stealing them from each other. While they are busy doing that I suggest we amass as much powerful Soul Insignias as we can carry so that we can easily steal from everyone else when they come back to place their artefacts in their pyramids.”
“Wow! You really are a screaming genius A.J.” The rest of the gang was amazed by Angelina’s plotting. Guess it is true what they say. Women are naturally born manipulators.
“So should we still split up or ride together?” Rooster asked confusingly.
“I was wondering the same thing.” Everyone looked at Angelina for more answers. They were growing accustomed to their decision making.
“Guys I think that splitting up is still a good idea. Hear me out.” Angelina commenced sharing the rest of her plans with the gang. When she finished, they all got ready to leave in separate locations. Rooster went by himself to where a lot of Tomb Riders were gathering; Hard Steel went to look for Soul Insignia’s by himself; Angelina also went her separate way with Cockroach trailing way behind her from an indiscernible distance.