***********************************Prologue*****************************
He stared out the window as the single engine plane carried him over the small Tibetan village
that he was going to be traveling to.
A friend told him of an ancient ruin in which a prophecy foretold of a mystical gem located in a sanctuary.
It only giving it's divine abilities to someone worthy of it.
"Hopefully this prophecy is a load of Elderly Wives-Tales and that the place is just booby
trapped." he thought.
He was feeling confident, wearing a dark blue t-shirt underneath a dark grey fleece jacket.
He wore his jacket open, despite the cold. Living in northern Maine for most of his life, he was
used to the temperature, also some grey baggy jeans, not sagging at his knees, just loose for
legroom, the top at his waist.
The plane would be landing in a small airport a little while away from the actual village, and
he'd spend the night in a hotel, heading to the village by jeep in the morning.
*************************Part 1: The Next Morning********************************
The alarm clicks on at 5 a.m.
The man's arm exits the blanket and comes down with with a bang on the desk missing the clock, backpack, and
finally, the alarm clock clicking it off.
He mumbles sleepily, "Louder than Xing Fon's car speeding by at 4 in the morning.."
After taking a nice warm shower, even though by the end of the day he'll be covered in dust, he
gets dressed in his same clothes from yesterday and slides his backpack on checking out of
the hotel. He also threw on a parka, gloves, and ski goggles for the colder mountain weather.
The rental jeep's engine igniting, smiling to himself as he turns on the heat. It always felt good
to have nice warmth on your face, it didn't matter, before he entered the ruins he'd end up
having to trek up a mountain and the cold would hit there.
After reaching the village after a 1 hour drive, after checking his bag for all the provisions he
brought, he stepped out of the vehicle and greeted the guides.
"Greetings young man, are you ready to start the hike up the mountain?" said the first Guide,
who's name turned out to be Fifet.
He had a large brown beard, along with a muscular build and a brown fur jacket along with
some normal looking pants.
The young man replied "Yep, let's get this show on the road."
He was handed a climbing harness and a snow climbing pickaxe as he followed the guides.
He was led to a very subtle path that lead up the mountain, the only reason it was there is
because of the guides surveying the path previously.
The footprints weren't very fresh, he thought. "Probably from yesterday, surprising that the new
layer of snow didn't cover them up."
They followed the path up for about 12 minutes, exchanging stories of previous expeditions to
unknown places. Fifet told of a cave he once ventured into where he found a small broken box
in a corner next to a corpse that held 5 crude cut, quarter sized, gold coins, which he used to
buy food for his family and the village.
Though stories, the young man learned much of Fifet's village, while the second guide stayed
quiet. Fifet told the young man that the village was very closely knit, like one big family. They
looked like very happy people.
The young man remembered when he was settled down and not on a crazy adventure for a
magic crystal that may not even exist, he would hang out with friends, dated a couple of girls,
enjoyed life.
That is until he ran into the problem of money and his stumbling one day led him to find a
golden skull in an Egyptian Excavation area. It was always his dream to be an archeologist,
and once he was given the chance to go on his own expeditions, it was quickly taken.
He questioned himself, "I'm going through all this effort just to look for a damned mythical
crystal that may or may not even exist...well..if you don't try, you'll never succeed."
When they finally arrived at the Cave Temple, they all sighed and laughed
They packed their pickaxes and decided to make a small fire and rest up for a little before the
guide began their ascent down the mountain, they wouldn't be accompaning him back down.
Not much words were heard when suddenly the blizzard picked up. The snow quickly put out
the fire and separated the 3 men.
The man thought "I can barely hear myself think, let alone see my hand in front of my face.
AGH, this damned blizzard is going to take me off my feet if I don't find the entrance, if I don't,
I'm as good as another victim of gravity."
A ball of hail soared past his head, a golf ball sized piece of ice hit him in the stomach, the
winter coat he was wearing blocking most of the impact.
One of the guides is seen rolling past, he runs after the tumbling figure despite his own
troubles. With each step becoming increasingly more difficult., he continues.
Suddenly the guide disappears, the thud thud thuding stops, and a descending fall is heard
as the young man doubles backwards in fear of repeating the mistakes of the guide.
Blindly, he turns around and rushes foward, the strength of the wind picking up, causing him to
trip twice, the snow burning on his cheeks.
The winds stops suddenly, the air feels musty and the crashing of the man on the floor echos.
"Hello, Temple. Least the poor guys' efforts weren't in vain.", the man thought to himself.
He felt selfish, two men died because of him and that was the best he could say, he frowned,
but decided to take off his coat, packing it into his back carefully to conserve space.
Reaching into the side pouch of the bag, he pulls out a waterproof flashlight, clipping it to his
belt, and another larger flashlight which he turns on via an orange glow in the dark button.
Sliding the backpack on, he ventures on into the temple, examining all of the remaining
ancient scriptures, pots, jars, etc.
He thought, "How amazing that this temple was so well preserved, the snow and ice must
have kept it hidden from looters for all these years."
While walking through the catacombs, he was so captivated by the greatness of the temple,
that he nearly took an arrow to the chest when he blindly stepped on a pressure plate.
If not for a clicking noise, he might not have immedietly threw himself on the ground to dodge
the barage of arrows.
Each step after that moment was taken carefully, yet he still managed to appreciate the work
put into the temple.
His eyes sparkled as he beheld a cracked door with a small gem on 1 of 6 pedestals. The rest
were empty, all but the middle one.
The crystal was a jagged oval-like shape, about the size of a large coffee mug from what he could observe.
He was shining the flashlight on it examining it bit by bit. It was a dark color, a mix of a red and a grey, but it seemed to change based on light level.
As he held the beam as straight as he could, focusing his light on the crystal, it turned a whitish shade, then as he moved it back, faded back to it's old hue of red.
The pedestal was of an old design, made of solid, crumbling, stone. The other ones were in a severe state of dismay, two of them even crumbled into a small pile of rubble.
**************************Part 2: The Sanctuary******************************
He takes out a small camera and takes several pictures at a distance, although...
As he approched it, it started to glow. Which fascinated him even more.
This discovery was groundbreaking to him, as he was not world renouned nor did he care to
be, but just a small locally known man.
As he moved in, he carefully moved his hand towards it, and once he touched it, he was
surprised. It started to glow vibrantly, and a gust of wind started picking up.
Dust flew around the room, he took a step back as the flaps of his jacket started to knock
about, crashing into his sides repeatedly.
The bottoms of his jeans smashed against his ankles and legs, dust gets in his eyes, and he
falls to his knees placing his sleeves over his eyes.
Stones from the crumbling room start to fly around, and one catches him square in the
shoulder blades.
Another impacts directly with his forehead.
He let out a scream as the whirlwind engulfed his body, he looks up one final time at the roof
of the ruins as everything fades away...
**************************Part 3: Where am I?*******************************
A voice is distantly heard. It says, "Hmmo, hmmo, wk....p".
He starts to regain consiousness very slowly as the voice grows clearer. "HEY! ARE YOU
OKAY?! GET UP!"
His eyes snap open, screaming as he sits up. "HEY HEY, Calm down, who are you, are you
alright?" says the voice.
It's feminine, it sounds sweet, not very demanding, it doesn't fit the voice. He freezes, trying to
gather everything in.
He starts to examine where he is, thats the best idea for the moment. It seems to be a library,
his eyes shooting open from a lazy appearance to a surprised one.
Shouting, he pulls back a bit, falling on his back from loss of balance. Before him stands a
cartoony looking cheerful pony, her hair purple with a shade of pink hightlights.
Also, standing next to her is a small creature, he has scales and an oddly shaped tale, he
seems to look like a dragon, at least, thats what he thought from the stories he's read.
"Err..what the...I-I don't know.." he said.
The pony spoke again, "Well, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is Spike". The small dragon waved.
Twilight asked again, "Please think harder, do you remember your name?"
My name...my name is...I can't remember.." he responded.
Twilight asked a different question this time, "Can you remember your friends? What did they
call you?".
He was able to repsond quickly here, "Banx...friends just called me Banx.."
She smiled, "Well it's nice to meet you Banx. Now can you explain why you appeared on my
observatory?"
Banx tried his best to recall, he thought "I don't even know where I am and I'm being
interrogated..wonderful"
Spike poked at Banx "Your wing's in bad shape, what happened there?"
Banx snapped to turn "Wing?! What the-" He stared at the wing and winced in pain as Spike
touched it, indeed there was a white wing with a few small cuts on it, dried blood sticks some
of the feathers together.
While looking, he also notices a small marking on his lower body. "It seems to be what looks
like a pouch full of valuable looking objects, an amethyst, a golden skull with glowing blue
eyes, and a couple other gems" he thinks to himself.
"Where am I...what am I...am I dead? Am I just imagining all this from my hotel room? Oh god
this can't be happening" Banx says to himself.
