Ch. 7 Tomb of The Undead King Pt. 1

Zephyr and Orion drove down the dark road up to the mountains. They'd left Ash at the hotel since, according to Zephyr, "A lady shouldn't see this kind of thing."

Orion was excited, he'd read about magic artifacts like the ones Zephyr used, so this was the perfect opportunity to search for some. If not for his own bucket list of owning hundreds of them, then to save his brother from certain doom. Either way, it was a win for Orion.

"A couple more miles and this car's gonna break down," Zephyr said with a sigh, running his hand on the dash. "Nice ass rental though."

"You like it? I can always give you one," Orion said nonchalantly. 

"Thanks, but I'd rather not delve into your illegal copyright activities, don't need to be fined billions of dollars..."

Orion shrugged and they continued in silence until, like Zephyr had warned, the car shut off, coming to a safe halt and parking itself on the side of the mountain.

"You'd think with all those millions of satellites they'd be able to keep the E-Cars connected even at this altitude," Orion said, unimpressed with the shoddy craftmanship of his country.

"Let's go, it's just a 20-mile hike from here," Zephyr said excitedly, pulling out a huge knapsack from the trunk.

"Yeah, you're hilarious," Orion said, cringing at the thought of hiking through the woods for that long. He liked the outdoors, but not that much.

"I have my hoverbike, we'll just take that."

Zephyr shook his head. "Nope, as an adventurer I could never submit to the shortcuts of modern technology, the most important thing about finding an artifact is the journey to the artifact.

"Cool, I'll meet you at the tomb," Orion said with a shrug, jumping and materializing his hoverbike before taking off.

"Hah... Jack, your brother really is an asshole."

***

"Huh. This looks about right," Orion mumbled to himself as he surveyed the entrance of the underground tomb. According to an explorer's map he'd found in a forum of adventurers, the location of the tomb was rather mysterious. Many theorized that only one's worthy could find it, but Orion thought they were superstitious nerds who didn't want to admit they couldn't find the entrance.

"Zephyr?" He called out behind him, but with no answer, he shrugged and walked toward the gaping opening. "He'll catch up..."

Orion walked into the tomb, squinting his eyes as it became hard to see. If it weren't for his upgraded hearing and unnatural reflexes, he would have been sliced apart by two axes that swung down on him, nearly ending his short life.

"That was close..." He murmured. "Qece, begin a scan, if there are traps within a 50 foot radius, let me know," He said before continuing to stroll deeper into the tomb. 

As Orion made his way through the darkened tomb, a strange vibe permeated the air. The dark green walls were eerily quiet, a stark contrast to the beautiful surrounding up above.

Suddenly, a shrill scream pierced the air, surprising him. Instinctively, his eyes glowed blue, two pistols materializing in his hands.

As he listened intently, the faint sound of snarling reached his ears. A pair of glowing red eyes materialized out of the darkness, quickly getting closer as Orion widened his eyes, realizing it was rushing toward him in the darkness.

"What the fuck?!" He yelled, jumping to the side as the weird looking creature jumped at him, its sharp claws outstretched.

He felt the sting as they cut into his flesh, black blood flowing from the wounds. Before it could get another attack, Orion disentegrated it with a few shots from his weapons, looking angry. 

"Qece, scan the area," Orion said, looking behind him for any more of the zombie like creatures.

"Uhh Orion, I did scan the area? There's nothing."

Orion listened as dozens of red dots appeared in the darkness all around him. 

"I see..." He whispered, his eyes glowing as he turned on night light protocol, allowing him to see the dozens of zombie creatures crawling on the walls all around him.

"Guess it's not The Tomb of The Undead King for nothing huh?" He said before rushing away, running faster as the shrill screams followed close behind him.

"I should have waited for Zephyr!" He yelled as his voice echoed throughout the tomb...

...

Meanwhile, Zephyr smiled as he enjoyed the fresh air. It was rare nowadays to smell anything in the air besides gas or the electric smell that came with lightning. It was one of the main causes of humanity's destruction in 2090, but even now, nothing has changed. 

'Hope Orion is waiting for me, I forgot to tell him about the Zoms in that place... Heh, he's not dumb enough to rush in there alone... Right?'

Though he trusted Orion completely, Zephyr picked up his pace. 'Please don't be enough to rush in there alone!'

...

Orion jumped over a Zom, shooting both blasters and disfiguring it's face. He'd made the weapons when his mother had been mugged, they had three levels he could control with a switch on the side. Stun, kill, destroy. 

With both on destroy, Orion ripped apart the Zoms, but there were dozens upon dozens chasing him from both sides as he tore through the tomb, cursing himself for being so cocky and not waiting for the seasoned adventurer he'd traveled with.

"Protocol light year 1789," He said, blue light shining on his shoes as suddenly he moved at impossible speeds, breaking through the wall of Zoms, not caring about the many scratches he was getting as he did so.

Soon enough, he saw a light at the end of the tunnel, diving for it, he threw the blasters behind, sliding into the opening where there was light, but not before saying a special phrase. 

"Abduction Protocol, 33489."

Orion slipped into the light, stopping at a crevice as he quickly tucked himself inside. The next second, a loud boom echoed through the chamber, and the heat of highly concentrated plasma burned through the shrilling Zoms.

He sat for a while, catching his breath as their cries died down. Once they ceased, he popped out of the small crevice, looking at his charred up arm with a frown. 

"Damn it... What a mess..." He muttered to himself before looking around. The light didn't seem to have a source, the room was simoplky light. And at the end of the room, there were four more opening.

At the top of the open caves were letters Orion didn't recognize. 

"E...E- fuck, what shitty ass language is this. Qece can you translate?" He asked.

"It's old English, stemming from that of the UK, it reads. 'Enter if you dare, choose the door to your destiny, or perish chasing your dreams' "

"I'm starting to get annoyed with all the bullshit that I have to go through, is Jack that important?" 

Despite his words, Orion dusted himself off, his charred arm back to normal and all the scratches healed as he walked up to the middle left cave. 

"Welp... Let's find this blade..."

As Orion entered his chosen door, a man awaoke deep within the tomb, his blue eyes shining in the dark as his glistening gold sword was the only other thing that could be seen.

He sat in his throne, his crown crooked as he looked at his loyal subjects. 

"Silence the distrubance... I wish to not be bothered," The undead king ordered.

"Yessssss Your majesssty," The Zoms hissed, thousands of red eyes lighting up in the dark as they rushed out of the throne room...