The Way Home is Through Divinity

*BOOM*

Maybe throwing a grenade inside a narrow stone corridor is not the brightest idea I ever had, but hey, it did stop those blood-sucking insects from killing me… Looking intently at the huge stone rubble that followed after the cave collapsed, I searched for signs of the little basters passing through the crevices while getting ready to run again, but after a minute it became clear it was safe.

Sliding down on the stone wall until I reach the floor, ignoring the mud and dirt as I sit down to have a breather. Finally taking a moment to rest after running inside this godforsaken place for the past two days. Reaching for the bag on my back, I feel for a few moments until my fingers Found the water bottle and pulled it out, after a few sips I put it back.

"How the hell did it end up like this?? An easy job he said! Simple in and out, he said! No more than a few rusted traps, he said! You know what?? Damn you, buddy, that's what I say!"

Grumbling in anger, I stand up with a deep groan after resting enough as I arrange the night vision goggles on my eyes more comfortably, I move on into the darkness.

While moving I make sure to do an equipment check to see what's I have left, all the while I can't help but wonder how I got into this mess.

Being an ex-special OPS soldier from one of the most fierce and feared units in the world, It didn't come as a surprise I found the free mercenary world more appealing than normal civilian life, feeling in the shadows like a fish in water. Only I wasn't a simple fish, I was a freaking white shark!

Kidnapping, assassination, corporate sabotage, covert espionage, snatch and rescue, bodyguard protection, etc. Any kind of job you might need a mercenary for, the first name to come up was mine, Eric Moor. I'm the best money can buy, and I take great pride in that.

All around the world just the mere mention of me being hired to do a hit, bring about huge waves and frightens the underground boss to their very core. And for a good reason, I never fail. I have a 100% success rate...

So to keep me and my family safe, I only work through a few trusted contacts. And even they only know me through my alias.

A week ago, one of my contacts, someone named David, reached out to me and offered an easy job to retrieve a supposed 'mystical artifact' from an ancient underground Egyptian temple that was recently discovered, I accepted without thinking twice.

In hindsight, the large pay for the supposedly easy job should have raised a red flag. I mean, seriously, who pays $2 million for a simple in-and-out job?

The intelligence package I received From the client did say all those who entered before me never came out, but I just assumed they were incompetent and didn't prepare right for the operation, oh how wrong I was. Breaking into Fort Knox was easier than this, I know 'cause I already did it…

Since the moment I entered this shit hole, it was one deadly trap after another, and not just any normal booby traps, they were Indiana Jones style traps!

I don't want to sound arrogant or something, but I do know what I'm worth and I hold a pretty high opinion of myself, and let me tell you, in order to take control of this place you will need at least a highly skilled military platoon numbering at least a thousand soldiers. And even then, it can be expected that less than 5 percent of them will survive...

I was shot at with poisons darts, a granite tunnel ramp nearly dropped me into a snake pit (how did they even survive for so long for god's sake??), sharpened bamboo poles moving at a hundred miles an hour trying to skewer me. Oh, and let's not forget the swinging stone pillar or the crossbow mechanism, pools of poisonous mercury, or turning slates on the floor. And of course, there was even the iconic huge stone bolder chasing me down narrow corridors!

In fact, most of my ammunition and gear haven't even been used, they were lost as I accidentally dropped them when I dodged one deadly trap after another…

I was burned, cut, stabbed, almost crushed to death, half my shoe is missing from what I can only assume was an acid liquid. And I have not slept more than two hours in the last 3 days. frankly, none of this is worth it!

I can get easier assassination jobs with no tangible danger and better pay...

'Sigh, if it wasn't for my perfect reputation I would have gotten out of here already... But when I do get out of here, David and my boot are gonna have a serious conversation!' Thinking of ways to relieve some stress when I am finished here helped to calm me down.

Running my hands over my bag and pockets, I first made ammunition inventory count. The result does not bode well. Only two Mags, one stun grenade and a hunting knife remained. My food supply has also shrunk, but if I eat stingily I can survive for another two days, but no more, or I might grow too weak to respond to the various death traps in here.

After making sure everything was in order, I moved on in the only direction I could, forward.

I'll spare you the small details, but let's just say that after a few horrible hours I managed to find a chamber that looked like a throne room.

Not stupid enough to enter directly, I briefly examine the room from the entrance only to find at least half a dozen deadly traps. And these are just what I was able to notice at a glance ...

After another grueling hour of neutralizing the traps, I finally decided that the throne room was safe enough to explore.

Walking between ancient stone pillars carved in all sorts of animals with human bodies and animal heads, I studied the beautiful mosaic paintings on the walls as I walked towards the throne.

'If not for the dangerous traps everywhere, this place could have been a pretty nice museum' I thought to myself as I got in front of the throne, and on the seat, I find the item the client hired me to find.

"With all the protection on the place, you could expect the throne to be at least made of gold, adorned with diamonds and precious gems, but noooo, it's just made of simple white stone ..."

Shaking my head in disbelief, I reach out to pick up the item and examine it more closely. (after making sure there is no weight mechanism attached, you can never be too paranoid in this place ...)

In my hands, I held a 12-inch by 5-inch silver book made from what appeared to be a certain type of metal. I say some kind because even after so long the book has been sitting here, I find no signs of rust or decay on the book. The only thing I can be sure of is that it's not silver.

On the cover were engravings in a certain language I didn't recognize and a picture of what appeared to be the two parts of a brain.

'This… doesn't look like much? Why would someone pay $2 million for this? I've never heard of a book antiquity with this description… Maybe it's for the material it's made of?' Playing with the book in my hands, I couldn't help but speculate the nature of the job I was hired to do. One of my many shortcomings as I discovered was my curiosity. I know, I know, the curiosity killed the cat, but I just couldn't help myself.

Exerting strength with my fingers as I tried to open the book, But I quickly noticed the pages seemed to be glued together with no way to separate them from each other.

After several failed attempts I was about to give up but decided to try again one last time. I placed the book in front of my chest with my two thumbs on the glued pages and my other fingers on the cover and the bottom, using all the force I could muster I tried to pry open the old thing.

Halfway through what appeared to be a vain effort, my middle finger slipped accidentally right at the book's corner, scratching the finger and drawing a few drops of blood, sliding across the silver pages.

"Ssss shit!"

Stopping immediately, I throw the book under on the floor and put the finger in my mouth to suck the blood.

"Jesus Christ, even this stupid book is out to get me!!"

Watching the scratch on my finger, I noticed the wound was pretty deep, which quickly gave rise to my rage. Lifting my foot I was just about to kick the damn book in anger when the floor started to shake.

"Wha-"

My hand immediately grabbed the throne in an effort to stabilize my footing, and then I noticed it wasn't only the floor that was shaking, the entire place seemed to be shaking.

"Shit!"

Turning around, I snatched the silver book from the floor and started running with all I had to the chamber's entrance which was also the only exit.

Unfortunately, I only managed to take 2 steps before the ceiling collapsed and buried me and probably the whole temple deep underground.

I died almost instantly.

Or so I thought...