The millenia old brittle stone work instantly gave way to the miniscule resistance Christine pressed upon it. She stood with a torch in her hand, behind her were a few armed crew members armed with muskets, swords and other deadly weapons.
The light from Christine's torch pushed away the darkness that had consumed this old pathway for centuries. Looking forward Christine saw a straightforward pathway with huge stone walls on both sides, both walls had been cracking and crumbling for ions, the path was so long that one couldn't see the end and covering the ground were hundreds of tiny scorpions.
"Captain, Remind me why we're here?" One of her men asked
"Yeah, what is this place?" Another added
"A lot of old temples had secret underground treasure rooms. The Goddess Sofier came to me in a dream and told me that the treasure in this temple was ours for the taking if we could get it." Christine answered
"Will we get to keep the treasure this time Captain?" One of the crew men mocked the last time they went for treasure.
"Very funny." Christine said in reply
The crew continued down the pathway, crunching a few scorpions beneath their feet, the further they went down the path the louder some ambient whispers got.
One of the crew members gripped the musket he had been holding,
"What was that?" He asked
Christine turned to her few crewmen and said
"Arms at the ready lads, it appears we aren't alone here."
They eventually ran upon a giant golden door layden with gold.
One of the men who was shaking in fear suggested
"There's a lot of gold on that door. We can just take the door and get out of here."
"Well we're a democracy, so do you all agree with that?" Christine asked the rest of the crew.
Before they could answer a deep gravelly voice could be heard from the other side of the door saying
"I think I heard voices coming from the other side of the door."
All of Christine's crewmen then agreed,
"Plant the explosives and just blow the door off its hinges." One of them whispered.
Christine and her crew then proceed to plant explosives on the door hinges before lighting it and standing back.
The explosives were so loud and so violent, it shook the surrounding area, the walls began to crack and crumble as the doors blew inwards towards the room.
The pirates rushed into the room to retrieve the bounty. Standing in front of the fallen door were three men covered in traditional wizard robes with hoods covering their faces.
Christine then walked into the room to see the three men immediately recognizing them as members of the Sorcerers Guild.
"Oh look intruders." One of the Sorcerers said
"Shall we kill them." Another asked
"Don't kill us, Sofier gave us permission to get the treasure here herself." Christine informed them
"Sofier? We don't bow to oppressive Gods." One of the Sorcerers said
The magicians then summoned up small fireballs in the palms of their hand, the fireballs then transformed into longswords completely made up of flames.
"Prepare to die!" The head magician said
Christine pulled out her staff as her crew pulled out their cutlasses.
"You're outnumbered!" She yelled
"But you're outmatched!" A magician said in retort
The three men charged at the crew only to be met with musket fire.
All three of the men instantly fell dead upon the floor. Their magical flaming swords vanished from their cold lifeless hands.
Christine broke a stress sweat and began to breathe deeply as she walked closer to the bodies of the men.
"I know you usually chastise us for killing Captain, but this time it was in self defense." One of the crewmen said
Christine wiped her forehead of sweat and
"Yeah." She said in reply "Let's get these doors and get out of here." She commanded
Christine and her crew were then nearly startled out of their boots when they heard another voice coming from the dark corner of the room.
"Aren't you the one Sofier sent?" The voice said
The pirates then fixed their guns and the dark corner.
"Come out lad! Come out slowly or we'll shoot ya." One of them ordered.
Slowly emerging from the darkness was a White man with a full black beard and silver knight armor. As he completely came out of the darkness they noticed this man had angel wings on his back.
"What in Sekivo's name are you?" A crewmen asked
"I'm the guardian of this temple, Sofier has foretold of your coming for quite some time. You're the one she wishes to possess the Golden Scepter." He said
"Golden Scepter?" Christine questioned
"It's a magical scepter that can turn any metal to gold." The knight answered
The crew began to cheer
"We could retire from piracy!" One of them shouted.
"I'm going to buy a house in Bathbay!" Another shouted
The knight walked up to Christine and said
"My name's Alel. I will guide you to the treasure and protect you from these evil witches and wizards."
Christine shook his hand and said
"I'm ready."
The group then proceeded down the path to the treasure. As they went they could hear the soft whispers of other hostile sorcerers in the chambers. As they grew ever closer to their objective the whispers got louder and louder.
Alel pulled out his bow,
"You use a bow, how are we expected to succeed against magical enemies with such outdated weaponry?" One of the pirates complained
Alel then pulled out a bow made entirely of light.
"They aren't the only ones with magic." He said
Once they reached the final chamber they discovered what must have been three shiploads of gold.
The room was dimly lit from a hanging chandelier from above, thus no one noticed when one of the wizards came from the dark.
"Take a good long look at all of my treasure peasants. Bask in my new found wealth, for it will be the last thing you ever do." The Wizard's deep voice.
The crew turned to the man to see a pale skinned frail old man with dark crimson colored eyes.
"Gatalax! Should've known you'd be behind this." Alel yelled
"Who else but the master of the Sorcerers Guild? Did you think me underlings would just do this of their own volition?"
"What do you even need money for?"
"Not everyone knows me as Gatalax the dark sorcerer. Most people know me as Francis the socialite. I enjoy the joys of high society and high society ain't cheap. Now hand over the scepter and the gold and die."
"Never!"
"Very well. Deal with them my underlings!"
As soon as Gatalax said that he vanished into a cloud of gray smoke as his henchmen appeared in every corner.
The pirate crew unleashed a volley of gunfire on the Sorcerers, downing many of them in rapid succession.
Alel then unleashed multiple arrows in many different directions taking down several enemies.
Several magicians summoned up fire swords and rushed the group.
Christine unschiffed her staff and her crew unleashed their cutlasses and they charged each other. The pirates and magicians meet each other in a clash of steel and flames. One of the enemy's took a swipe at Christine so she parried it with her staff, she then swiftly kicked her assailant in the groin sending him to the floor.
She then swung her staff at his head smashing it against his skull knocking him out. She then took another swing at another hostile who was preoccupied with one of her allies. She smashed the goon in the back of the head, sending them into a deep sleep.
Another sorcerer rushed at Christine with their flaming sword in hand, to which one of her men shot them in the head with their pistol.
"Thanks." She said
"No problem Captain." He said in reply
Alel took out his sword made entirely of light and rushed the enemy, he swung his sword slashing the throat of one magician, then continued the swing until he struck another in the side of their neck, decapitating them.
Next he used his free hand to blast small balls of light at the incoming enemies vaporizing them.
Eventually the enemies stopped coming and it was all silent until, Gatalax's voice boomed over the room like a loudspeaker, yet the fiend was nowhere in sight.
"Useless! You're all useless! Ah! You may have bested me this time but I will have my revenge."
"Show yourself coward!" Alel screamed, as he tightly gripped his light sword in his hand.
"Looks like you'll have to find another source of income." Christine mocked
"Sure, maybe I will sell your sister into sex slavery." Gatalax retorted
"I will fucking kill you!" Christine shouted.
Gatalax's voice then faded out leaving then all alone with the treasure. A wall then collapsed shining the bright light of the sun into the room, out at sea Christine could see her ship with two other pirate ships waiting in the distance.
"Those your guys?" Alel asked
"Yeah, and we got a lot of work to do."