"Niko, wake up Niko!"

Letting out a soft yawn and slowly opening her eyes, Niko found Hannah close enough that she could smell her faint sweet perfume.

"Huh..what is it..?"

She looked around, slightly confused at the sudden change in her location.

"I don't remember getting inside the car..?"

"Oh yeah, Shoki carried you in when you were asleep, we didn't want to wake you up"

Gary passed by the the open side door of the Jeep, carrying a small bag that most likely contained his Portable computer.

"Eh...Shoki carried me..?"

She felt her face redden slightly at the thought of Shoki carrying her sleeping unaware self.

"Niko are you okay? you look a little red, the heat is probably getting to you, you should drink some water!"

Hannah immediately took out a water bottle from nearby and force fed Niko as one would a small child.

Niko was unable to resist due to being fairly unprepared to have a bottle of water stuck in her mouth, forcing her to reluctantly drink the water.

Quickly realising that she was indeed quite thirsty, she began to drink more obediently, until her thirst was quenched.

"There you go, that's a good girl, now put your hat on, we've arrived at the base of the mountain"

Hannah unbuckled Nikos safety belt and headed towards the front of the car.

"Wait, we're already there!?"

She hurriedly plopped the nearby safari hat on her head and jumped out onto the soft sands.

The entire area they had stopped at was covered in dark shadow, so much so that Niko almost thought that it was night.

The enormous shadow was created by the setting sun hiding behind the large single mountain standing in the middle of the desert.

The Mountain was a single giant rock that seemed as tall as a common skyscraper. Certain parts of the mountain were made up of some sort of slightly red coloured rock, whilst the rest of it was generic grey stone.

The most impressive thing about the mountain was not its height, nor the fact that it stuck out as a sore thumb in this empty wide scenery, but the fact that the side of the mountain which was facing them contained a giant rectangular hole, where an entire building seemed to have been sculpted out of the mountain itself.

The carved building looked somewhat similiar to a church design, with a single tower in the middle, and a short building supported by pillars around it.

It was however difficult to tell, as the building seemed to have eroded with time, with the edges and details of the building being filed away by the sand carried in the strong winds.

"Well, this is pretty fancy for a shrine..."

She stood in momentary awe, before regaining her wits and walking towards the rest who stood infront of the car, similiarly observing the sight infront of them.

"This quite impressive, almost as beautiful as temple back in Japan."

Zatoichi nodded thoughtfully to himself, observing the sight infront of him with great interest.

"It's really pretty..."

Hannah stared at the mountain with the awe of a tourist.

"This is...weird...i can't find anything about this building being here...nothing on it at all, almost like the nomads were the only ones who knew about it...."

Gary sat on the front of the car with his computer infront of him, frantically typing away as he usually does.

"No, the weirdest thing is that you can actually get a signal around here..."

Niko looked at him with doubtful eyes.

"Sattelite signal Niko, i can get a signal anywhere as long as i'm outside, try to keep up with the times, would you"

He looked up form his laptop for a single moment before continuing to type away.

His comment was rewarded with a swift kick to his shin, his computer almost falling out of his grasp as he yelped out in surprise.

"Damnit, Niko!"

"Hmph, but what you did say was kind of weird, if you really can't find anything about it, maybe it was hidden away by the goverment of Egypt for some reason..?"

She attempted to rationalise how such a large landmark could go undetected except by a small group of nomads.

"...If that were true, then they would attempt to establish some sort of security incase someone did come across it..."

Niko jumped at the sudden voice coming from behind, now noticing the previously missing Shoki behind her.

"Ah, yea, that's true..."

She nodded quietly, before shrugging.

"Well whatever the reason, it doesn't matter to us, since we're already here, so let's go inside and find the recipe for reviving my greatness!"

She declared and headed towards the large opening in the mountain temple.

Gary quickly packed up his computer and headed inside with the rest, his suit getting increasingly yellow with sand.

Whilst Zatoichi mostly worried about the sand getting into the scabbard of his sword, trying to cover his sword with his kimono as much as possible as he walked thorugh the sands.

--

Light footsteps echoed through the empty hall within. Each and every miniscule sound getting deflected back by the thick walls that were part of the mountain itself.

The darkness was pushed back by a dim lightsource, revealing large pillars inside the strange structure.

Niko was holding her phone out, attempting to illuminate her path with the help of the dim lighting it provided.

Fortunately enough, the rest had managed to catch up with her, providing much needed noise and lighting, which this place seemed to have a dreadful need for.

"Niko, don't go running off like that, it could be dangerous!"

Hannah grabbed Nikos hand, preventing her from escaping further into the building.

"Nooo, you guys are too slow!"

Complaining, she attempted to escape from Hannahs iron grasp.

".....We should look around without rushing into things... otherwise we risk missing an important detail...."

Shoki added from just outside the area illuminated by the group.

"I guess you're right..."

She sighed, letting Hannah have a proper grip on her hand so as to make sure she never left her side.

"Well, shine your flashlight onto the walls so we can see better already!"

Niko snapped at whoever held the flashlight, causing the light to shakily shift towards a nearby wall.

"...I have no idea what this says."

Her face was blank as she attempted to desipher that strange symbols.

"Well luckily, i did remember to download a beginners guide for ancient hieroglyphics"

Gary took out his portable computer with pride.

"Damn geek..."

She scoffed at him.

"Damnit Niko, i'm trying to help and all you do is make fun of me!"

He complained, beginning to type away at his machine.

"I'm just messing with you, where would we be without our head nerd, but do you really think you can translate all of this with just some guide you found online..?"

She looked over at his screen, observing the incredibly simple translation guide, that seemed inadequate compared the to the large walls filled with symbols.

"I guess i can help too, i did take some courses in ancient scripts back in the day"

Hannah offered her help, which was gratefully accepted by the already confused Gary, and together they began the slow process of translating the walls of the building.

"Ok, Zatoichi, you stand guard here, whilst me and Shoki go explore further inside"

She whispered to him, low enough that Hannah could not hear, not that she would be able to with how absorbed she seemed to be in her and Garys translation.

"Hm, if you want alone time with boy, only ask and i will make sure no one bother"

He nodded towards her with a kind smile, leaning down slightly in order for his whisper to not reach the two who were busy translating.

"Wa- N- No!"

Her face turned beet red as her stammering grew worse.

"No no no, it's not like that all!"

She forcefully denied it, her eyes wide with panic as her blush reached her ears.

"I- i mean, how could you say something like that, i don't consider men attractive anyway, so it's not like i can like a man, and even if i did like men, i wouldn't like him, i mean he did save me a few times, and he always helps me when i'm in trouble, and he's kind of charming in his own special way...but, but it's not like that okay!"

She threw out excuses and denials that seemed to do the opposite for Zatoichis opinion of the situation.

"Yes, yes, of course, i will keep secret, you go explore with boy!"

He walked further in towards the entrance of the building, patting Nikos head as he walked off.

"It's not like that, geez!"

Pouting, she turned around to head further inside, causing her to bump her face into Shoki who was standing right behind her.

"...What is not like what..?"

He asked, looking down at her short figure with melancholious eyes filled with a slight curiosity.

"N-nothing, i just said to Zatoichi that i thought he should wear his sword on the other side, but he didn't agree with me, so that's what it was, yea!"

She blurted unconsiously, coming up with an awful excuse due to her surprise.

"...I see...it is best to wear the sword where it is more comfortable not where it seems best..."

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

He adviced, reassuring Niko of Zatoichis supposed choice to wear his sword as he does.

"Ahaha, of course, of course, you're right, well let's go see what's further inside!"

She attmpted a hearty laugh, which came off fairly awkwardly, as they headed further in the dark stone corridors.

Niko walked slightly infront of Shoki, so as he would not see her face, which was still flushed, although now at a less obvious pink shade. Her thoughts filled with what Zatoichi had said earlier, robbing her of her ability to concentrate.

'He's just being funny, i'm a guy, no way do i think of stuff like that, i only chose to go with Shoki becuase he's the one i'm more comfortable being with, i mean he never bullies me, and i can always count on him to drag me out of trouble, that's why, i'm sure thats the only reason!'

She attempted to convince herself internaly.

The light from the entrance grew darker.

--

Niko and Shoki slowly explored the insides of the large mountain stone building. Their only source of light being a small flashlight that Niko had snatched from Gary, which was Shakily moving around the place as Niko attempted to illuminate everything at once.

Shoki had no need for any sort of light source as he was used to operating in the dark. Removing your enemies sight by destroying the light source was an effective strategy, but ultimately useless if one was also robbed of sight.

The walls further in were no different than the ones near the entrance. They were all covered in Ancient writing, strange symbols, and strange drawings of men being killed in various ways, anything from getting slashed with a sword to being fed to hungry rodents.

The graphic peculiar drawings of men being killed was not the strangest part of the drawings however. It was the fact that all the men who were killed in the drawings seemed to be wearing a serene happy smile, as if they were finally recieving a well awaited reward.

"Uuuu...."

Niko quickly pointed the flashlight away from the disturbing images, instead focusing it on the ground infront of her.

As she pointed the flash light down onto the ground infront of her, she noticed something that they would have most likely missed, laying in the middle of their path.

It was a simple brown metal plate. In it lay various dried fruits and meats, accompanied with a the rare glitter of a coin.

Nikos eyes were immediately drawn towards the glittering inside the plate. Upon closer inspection, she found that it was a golden coin, printed with the faces of unknown kings, in an unknown language.

She quickly pocketed the coin, her inner instincts getting the better of her.

Looking up from the plate forced her to fall onto her behind, letting out a fairly embarassing scream.

"Kyaaa!"

"...It is fine...it is simply another..... drawing..."

His words trailed off after he got a proper look on what Niko was surprised by.

A few meters away from where the plate stood, the corrider ended in a smooth wall.

The wall itself was made up of the same material as the rest of the walls. This one however was much smoother than the rest, as if extra care had been dedicated to it.

The middle of the wall was covered with a large drawing of a woman, with a headdress in the shape of a small house with a basket resting at the top of the house.

The painted woman looked the very definition of beauty, as she stood, facing serenly side ways in the typical egyptian style of drawings.

Around the woman, the image of each and every man who they had seen in the previous drawings rested at the feet of the woman. Their bodies seemingly withering the closer they got to her.

What surprised both Niko and Shoki, was the fact that these dead men, were not simply mere paintings, each and every one of them had very real eyes embeded where their eye sockets would be.

The reason they knew that they were real eyes was simple.

The eyes were following them, blinking and twitching at certain intervals.

"S-Shokiiiiiii..!"

Scrambling back, she hid behind Shoki, who was strangely calm, even calmer than he usualy was.

The eyes stared at them, their glare painfuly obvious as what little light Niko had, reflected off their glossy eyes, causing them to shimmer lightly in the dark.

"W-we should go back and come back with the rest...yeah...let's go Shoki..."

She tugged at Shokis sleeve from behind him, attempting to catch his attention.

He was however completely entranced by the sight before him. Not the living eyes embeded in stone paintings.

He was mesmerised by the sole Drawing that did not posses anything strange about it. The image of the godess who stood in the middle of the horde of painted men.

"Shoki, let's go, this is getting weird, Shoki, something weird is happening, let's go Shoki please, Shoki!"

Tugging harder and harder still, she began to get desperate as the scene before her began to change.

The Painted mens eyes began to move more eratically, Looking in random directions as if searching for something, before their eyes rested upon the simple plate that still lay in the middle of the corridor.

"Uhm...you hungry for some dried fruit..?"

She peeked from behind Shoki.

She accidentally locked eyes with the horde of painted men, feeling slightly light headed as she felt she couldn't look away from within their bloodshot eyes.

Everything except the eyes became blurry and insignificant.

Gathering what little willpower she had left, she slapped herself as strongly as she could, her eyes watering in response.

She was succesful however as she was now able to look away from the strange eyes.

Daring a small peek back at the wall, she made sure to not look upon their eyes.

The wall was completely empty except for the drawing of the godess woman, whom Shoki seemed unable to look away from.

Blinking a few times, she began to see the images of strange withered men with bloodshot eyes begin to slowly become more visible around her, as if she had simply failed to notice them earlier.

Glancing upon the strange men, she realised that all of them had various wounds all over their bodies. Wounds from either heavy cuts, crushed limbs or whole bitten off chunks of skin and flesh.

All of the wounds were fresh, and they were all bleeding profusely, causing the ground to become coloured red in a matter of seconds.

"W-w-w-w-w-w-wwhat is this!"

She stepped back, before looking upon the strange bleeding men again, and hiding behind Shoki.

"T-the great Niko can easily h-handle scum like you, s-so you better go back to being weird paintings or i'l...i'l make you wish you hadn't m-messed with me!"

She attempted to intimidate the strange bleeding men infront of her. But alas, she held absolutely no persuation power as she stuttered from behind Shoki, not daring to even peek from behind him.

"Tsk-Tsk...."

One of the men with a crushed right hand tsked towards her, waving his disgusting strangely bent pointing finger to each side, making uncomfortable cracking noises with each movement his hands made. Before pointing towards the small plate on the ground.

"E-eh...is this about the coin..i'l put it back, i will, i'l even put in some extra, more valuable currency, so please...go away!"

She begged them, clutching tightly onto the uresponsive Shoki who still had a blank look on his face.

The same man gave Niko a crooked smile, saying something in a tongue Niko had no understanding of, yet she somehow knew the exact meaning of his words.

"Too late"

Some of the men took out the various weapons embeded in them, such as daggers, swords and short spears, and brandished them sloppily towards her and Shoki. Whilst the rest of the men simply opted to cracking their jaws, green saliva flowing out of their open mouths as they did so.

They began to inch closer and closer towards them, cutting off Nikos escape route as they surounded them.

"Shoki come on, do something, please, Shokiiiii!"

"...Hey...You're blocking my vision...."

He nodded towards a nearby man who was standing infront of him. He was more muscular than the rest, and brandished a heavy rusty looking sword, which he swung around whilst he yelled loudly, blood gushing out of his open wound in his side. The rest of the men joining in with their own Howling and laughter.

"....So annoying...can't concentrate..."

Shokis eye twitched, which was the last thing Niko saw before she was pushed away by Shoki.

Hitting the floor hard, she was forced to momentarily close her eyes due to the pain.

Upon opening them again, Shoki was already putting his knife away, a pile of cut up bodies lay around them in an arc.

"Wh-whaaaaat..."

She gasped in amazement, the bodies slowly beginning to disappear, along with their blood, as if they never existed in the first place.

"H-hah! T-thats what you get when you mess with the great Niko, and i'l keep this coin for myself, because you guys suck!"

She showed her tongue to the last disappearing figure, which groaned in annoyance before they vanished.

"Good job Shoki, that was good thinking of you, to wait until they lowered their guard to attack, you almost had me worried for a second there-"

"Be quiet."

Niko shut up upon hearing Shokis unusual forceful tone.

Walking up to the painting of the woman, he began to observe every detail of it, as if he was looking for something.

"Shoki...what are you looking for...?"

She whispered to him, afraid to anger him.

"Anything."