Chapter 37

Rushing to cut off the live stream, Zhu Jin thrashed his fingers along the recorder trying to turn it off, but it was far too late. Reading the texts and videos from the chat room, Chin Jang knew he couldn’t keep it a secret anymore. “Damn it! Why did I have to live stream the video?” “If I would have known this was real, I would have never let other people know it was here.” Thinking of what to do, his mind raced thinking of ways to maximize his profits, before the crowds of people started showing up. With his mind racing, he turned towards Eain, and asked, “What would it cost me to take the altar?” Smiling, Eain answered the question, “Everything is for sale, but I have warned you of the costs.” “If you desire to forever hold the altar, then you must ask and accept its costs.” “Though I do not think you have the ability to pay for it.” Looking more and more frantic, and obsessing over missing the opportunity to attain wealth and immortality, he began frantically looking around the area, before going back to the Altar and calmly asking Zhu Jin to record the inscriptions.

Recording the inscriptions on the altar, Chin Jang snuck up behind him and grabbed a nearby rock. Once he was fully enveloped in recording the altar Jang swung the rock at the back of Jin’s head. However, much to his surprise, Zhu Jin ducked the rock and swung the camera in a twirl, smashing it into Chin Jangs head. Taking the large camera, he bashed his head in, over and over, until there was nothing left, but a pile of mush. Watching the Altar in front of him, absorbing his former best friend’s flesh and blood, it began producing gold and gems, deeply saddening him. Holding up the massive gold nugget and examining the rest of the materials coming from the Altar, he turned towards Eain and asked, “Are you not going to stop me?” Smiling like usual, Eain responded, “Like I told your friend before, I am here to protect the altar, and ensure its place here.” “Other than that, I do not care what you do, or who you do it to.”

The altar began vibrating as the former Val came back from the grave. Looking at Eain, she began whispering something towards him, and me, still hidden in the outskirts of the area. Once the young girl was finished, she disappeared into the ground under the altar. Nodding in understanding, Eain began speaking to Zhu Jin. “Please, continue your live stream for me to speak to the people who will be coming here.” With a deep acquiescence, the camera man began his live stream once more. This time he showed the altar, and bloody clothing of his best friend, along with his newfound wealth and then recorded the giant guardian. Looking into the camera, Eain began his speech. “This altar is open to all who seek it, and can offer many things.” “It can offer wealth, like the man who is filming me has procured,” Eain said as the camera veered to the stack of new gold and gems on top of the altar. “It can also give life” Eain said, as he snatched a nearby bird sitting on a branch. Taking the bird, he snapped his wing and continued speaking, “It can also heal, when nothing else could.” Taking the now crippled bird, he placed it on the altar, and whispered like before to the young girl, when the bird’s wing suddenly popped back into place, and it shrunk into a new chick.

Gasping In surprise, Zhu Jin could not help but think of his best friend, and how he had just killed him. If he had known it was possible to heal him, would he have taken the opportunity to? Unsure of his feelings, he continued recording as Eain spoke, “The rules here are very simple.” “Everything can be attained, but not everyone can afford the price.” “This young man has just fought off his best friend, and ended up sacrificing him to the altar, earning him quite a lot as you can see.” “But, if he were to sacrifice a stranger, he would not receive nearly the amount he has now.” “The reason is simple, it’s the bonds and emotions that you have to break for the sacrifice, that make the price rise.” “Though, you do not have to use it like these men have.” “Any dream you may have, can be fulfilled, but I will warn you all not to be too greedy.” “Some dreams aren’t worth the price.” “Other than this, there are only two rules here, do not attempt to destroy the altar, and do not attempt to steal the altar.” “Though, like this man’s former friend, you can attempt to purchase it, as your dream, for the right cost.” “Other than these few rues, I will not interfere with anything going on around the altar, and will certainly not interfere in your affairs.”

After wrapping up the live stream, the camera man stayed around for a few hours, ultimately disappearing from the area, and going who knows where. After the new uploads, word rocketed around the country of a magical Altar, and its ability to grant immortality and immense wealth for a sacrifice of important beings to you. The internet went wild with theories and conspiracies on the reality of the whole thing, and ended with dozens of streamers, my tubers, and curious citizens, coming together to find out the truth of the whole thing. They decided to call the whole thing, “rescue con” and purported to be partially organized to find out the truth of the semi famous my tuber, Chin Jang, and his camera man, Zhu Jin who have both been missing since the initial filming. They even brought dozens of security forces and a few off duty police officers, along with being armed with everything from knives, bamboo canes and pepper spray to bows and arrows and pistols from the police.

Making their way to the geo cache mapped on GPS, it was fairly straight forward and didn’t prove to be difficult. Getting out of their four by four rand rovers, they gathered and began trekking up the mountains and terrain. Finally, after a few hours they had arrived at the geo cache GPS, but did not see the giant “Guardian” Laughing and now feeling less nervous, they began speaking about how the previous video was probably a publicity stunt. Combing the area, it only took a few moments until they heard a scream coming from one of the girls. Still streaming, they rushed towards the noise as one of the girl Mytubers came into view pointing at an area and screaming bloody murder. Examining the spot she pointed at, was the altar they had been looking for, and a set of bloody clothes that looked identical to the ones Chin Jiang had on when he was supposedly, “Sacrificed to the altar.”

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Immediately, the off duty police began inspecting the area, and the clothing, believing them to be part of an elaborate publicity prank being played on the group. Picking up the cloths after taking pictures for their video thumbnail, they bagged the clothing and decided to investigate it thoroughly once they returned. For now, they wanted to concentrate on the main object, the altar. The largest and most muscular and fit chines man of the group spoke first, “We should start the video by showing a close up of the altar, and then show us making a sacrifice on it, and end it showing it doesn’t work and it was all a publicity stunt.” The first to respond to him was a young man who had come once he found out they were searching for the altar, and knew exactly where it was. His name was Johnny, and he was originally from Africa, “What should we do if it’s real then?” “Shouldn’t we at least test it first?” Staying silent as the group began to chuckle and laugh at him, the muscular man, Chang, replied to him, “If you are really that dumb, and think it’s a real magical artifact, then be my guest and sacrifice something, but I’m warning you, we were planning on using fake animals and blood, so nothing gets hurt. If you sacrifice something and later on get cancelled for it, it was not our fault.

Thinking of what Chang had said, he made up his mind nonetheless. Before coming to this country, and working everyday, doing menial and dangerous jobs, he had a family back at home. He was a happy and blessed man, with three children, a loving wife and dog, and caring and kind parents. One day, two years ago, his daughter had been caught up in a vicious, terrorist attack, and was paralyzed in the aftermath. She was only four years old at the time, but he had an opportunity to send her to the states, for a breakthrough surgery, if he could find a way to pay for it, and cure his daughter. Staying at home would not give him enough money to pay for the surgery, so he left his home, family, and country, and began searching for any and all jobs in China to pay for her surgery. Fate is quite cruel though, as only six months ago, his mother was found to have a problem with her heart, and would not live long, if she did not receive an expensive surgery, and costly medication for the rest of her life. Feeling like he was falling into despair, he heard of this altar, and knew he had to at least try. He had prayed to every idol and god that he knew of, and none of them answered. He had made up his mind before coming here, that if he found real magic, he would beg the creator of the altar to follow him and save his family. Without missing a second, Johnny got up, and pulled out a lobster from his backpack.

Looking confused, some of the group began to laugh at the man for bringing a lobster to the trek, but Johnny explained, “I do not wish for wealth or money, I only want to know if it is true, and if it is, to make a deal with its creator. Grabbing ahold of the lobster in his hands, he walked towards the altar, placing the lobster on the newly stained, and partially red, grey stoned altar. The second he put it down and it touched the surface, the lobster began convulsing and using every last bit of strength it had fighting to get away from the area. Seeming to instinctually know what was going to happen.

Looking at the inscriptions on the altar, they somehow changed, and the man was now reading the hidden inscription that I had originally seen, hidden on the bottom corner of the altar, but was now on the top of the altar, easily readable, and large, along with the words, “Oblate fortuitous.” “The only difference was in the carvings of the illustrations. In the true version, it showed someone taking their family member into the altar, and the altar healed the family, because of the selflessness of the person. But, this illustration, showed a family member bringing someone here to heal, and sacrificing themselves for the miracle. However, under that depiction is another one, showing the killing of six close friends, of a few dozen strangers, and receiving a huge amount of money along with the healing of the family members.

Unsure of what he should do, the lobster began quieting down and stopped struggling from the exhaustion of being placed on the altar. Taking out a bowie knife, he heard the gasps of different, mytube stars screaming and yelling at him to stop on camera, all to make themselves look better and profit from the drama it might produce on the site. Slicing into the lobster and cutting his head off, the mytubers went wild and some of the girls even began crying and screaming about how cruel he could be. Looking back at these same people, he could see the smirks on their faces, underneath their fake facades. “These people barely even qualify as humans, they know nothing of understanding and kindness.” “I miss my country, and family.” “I just want to go home and know my family is safe and well.”

Getting distracted, he did not notice the blood and fluids getting sucked into the altar, until he felt the body being pulled in and absorbed. Surprised, he stood at the same spot with his mouth ajar, and watched the body of the lobster disappear. After it disappeared, a small golden nugget grew in the spot that it disappeared from. Picking the nugget up and biting into it, he realized, “it’s all true!” Watching the dark skinned man grip ahold of the golden nugget and biting into it, the entire group went wild with excitement. However, much like their predecessor, would immediately regret using the live stream on their discovery. “Damn it! How the hell could we know this thing was the real deal.”