I Just Want My Stick Back

[How could you possibly think that this is a good idea? This is definitely just a bout of insanity.]

"Shut up weird voice. You just don't want me to have my legendary equipment anymore."

[My god, is there anyway I can get you to believe that it is actually just a random stick you picked up in the woods?]

"Nope."

Charley was currently climbing down the seemingly endless dark hole with a torch in one hand. Despite all of his injuries and evident exhaustion, his eyes were focused and his movements had no hesitation.

[Let's take a moment to think about this before you get so far down that you can't physically climb back up.]

"Don't try to stop me now. I'm determined."

[Yes, I can see that, however dumb it might be. But just think about this for a second. Let's say that you are fighting through a dungeon. After many hard fought battles you finally reach the boss and even defeat him. So you then head to the treasure room. In that room, you see two objects: one is a treasure chest filled with gold, weapons, and anything else of the sort, and the other is just a random stick that somehow got into that room. Which do you choose?]

"Oh please. There is no way a normal stick would get into the treasure room of a dangerous dungeon, let alone stay there for a long period of time. What? Do you think they never clean the treasure room? Or do you think one of the monsters placed it there as a practical joke?"

[Um ok, well let's think about it like this instead. Let's say in the middle of the forest there is a dangerous beast that is guarding a similar treasure chest. Yet, there are many trees around and many sticks have fallen everywhere, even close to the treasure. Are you telling me that even in that situation you would choose a stick?]

"Why would I just pick up a random stick? That doesn't even make sense."

[Yes! Exactly! I knew you could listen to reason. So in much the same way, why would you bother picking up your stick once again? There is a lot of treasure to be had on your adventure and that stick can't even compare.]

"Again with that adventure nonsense huh? You might have come up with a reasonable argument this time, but you left out some important details. You have all but confirmed that my great staff is a piece of legendary equipment and I've seen its power first hand when it saved my life."

[...]

"How could I possible leave something like that behind? It's as if I'm holding on to a key that guarantees a happy life. Would I just shrug my shoulders and walk away if it fell down into a hole? No, I would get it back at all costs."

[Right after I say you can listen to reason, you spout out this nonsense. Fine, use the last of your energy to finish climbing down this hole. I'm looking forward to laugh at your misfortune when you realize that you have chosen death to save a random stick.]

"Oh we will see, Mr. Voice. We will see."

After climbing down for a dozen more minutes, Charley was finally able to step on horizontal ground once more. He waved his torch around to get a better idea of his surroundings and found that he was in a sort of cave that got larger the further forward he went.

[What in the world have you found now?]

Charley continued to search his surroundings for his treasured staff, but as the cave widened out, an ancient looking temple appeared within view. Hieroglyphs covered the sides of the structure and a set of stairs led up to the top. The stairs were even lined with strange green fires that never seemed to go out. However, instead of appreciating the view, Charley gave it one glance and then continued to search for his stick.

[Don't tell me you actually stumbled upon a buried shrine of the ancient Atzotl.]

"Atzotl? Are there Aztecs in this world or something?"

[Aztecs? What is that? I'm talking about the ancient Atzotl civilization. They had one of the greatest empires in history, but you weren't supposed to know about them until you were roughly 80 percent done with your journey.]

Charley was constantly moving rocks around and searching under everything as he said, "Wow, sounds pretty scary. Was there supposed to be some final boss in these ruins or something?"

[Don't make it sound so trivial. They were regarded as having some of the strongest magic techniques ever created. It's a shame they weren't able to survive the Great Reckoning. One can only imagine what their civilization would look like now.]

After searching his immediate surroundings, Charley began to spread out more and eventually found himself at the base of the pyramid.

"So are there sentient people here or what?"

[One never really knows what they will encounter in an Atzotl shrine. Of the few that have been uncovered before, some were heavily guarded by magical contraptions and others had strong immortal beasts.]

"Hmm, do you think I could get any of those things to help me look for my staff?"

[...]

[You have to be absolutely insane.]

"Sigh, if you are just going to be mean about it, then forget it. I'll check it out for myself."

[...]

Charley then proceeded to walk up the steps lined with green fires until he finally reached the top. There he saw a mural etched into a wall with a coffin directly in front of it.

"Definitely pretty spooky."

Charley hesitated for only a second before approaching the mural, however the lid to the coffin shot open and a green mist began to form into the shape of a humanoid stopping his approach.

"What the hell? There are actually ghosts in this world too?"

Soon the mist completed the process of forming into a person.

"What hast thou come here for mortal?"

The ghost looked down on Charley with eyes that seem to pierce through his very soul.

"Well, I sort of lost my stick somewhere down here and was hoping to ask for some help finding it. It's about this long and is kind of skinny."

"Interesting. I can see thou has not come here with the intention of thievery. Very well, I shall fulfill the prophecy and impart to thee the knowledge of our lost world and fulfill one of thy wishes to the best of my ability."

"No, see that's fine and all, but I really just want to find my stick."

"..."

"Our lost histories will surely be of great benefit to thou. It is as they say, 'knowledge is power'."

"Ya, no. I get that, but could you help me look for my stick? I can even help you out with something in return."

"Thou is a very strange one, mortal. Very strange indeed. Very well, if I help thee with thy request, then I will also count it as thy one wish."

"Hmm, that seems reasonable. Alright I accept."

[What! You are given the chance to request something from the ghost of a grand priest of the Atzotl Empire and you ask it to help you find a stick?]

"Oh shut up weird voice."

[...]

"Very well, I will help you find thy stick, mortal, but thou will be required to hear of our story afterwards."

"I understand, please proceed."

After a nod of its head, the ghost extended out his arm and materialized a ghostly staff. Following some movements and a chant in an indecipherable language, large runic circles began to appear all around him. The air itself seemed to become dense and the ground began to shake as more and more runic circles appeared.

Finally, a bright green light shone and all of the circles vanished at once. A few seconds later, a green hand shot out from the top of the temple faster than the eye could see. It shot out in the direction that Charley had entered from and a few seconds later, came back with a pitiful looking stick.

Having the hand hold out the stick to Charley, the ghost nodded its head and said, "Now thou will hear of our story."