Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure I'm not Disney, which means no I do not own Star Wars. Or anything affiliated with it.
Okay, this is my first ever attempt at creating a fan fiction writing. Therefore, reviews about what is liked and what is disliked is highly appreciated. Thanks.
P.S. : Thank you to CherryXButterfly for being an awesome co-author!
Chapter 1: Of Terrible Drivers & Mysterious Archways
"Don't tell me we're lost," Brian said.
Rainah, an 18 year old girl with brown, wavy hair looked at her friend in the rear view mirror.
"No, we're not lost," she replied.
Her friend merely looked back at her in response; not a flicker of emotion on his face. Typical. The dude had only one expression his face knew how to use: the face of emotional detachment. Any other expression just didn't look natural.
"Oh good, because I'd be rather annoyed if we were."
Rainah knew her friend better than anyone, and so was not fooled by his casually sarcastic tone. He was definitely irritated….. and probably amused too.
"Shayla, you're sure that your facts are accurate, yeah?" Brian turned to the girl across from him.
Shayla, an 18 year old of Spanish and English decent, glared back at him with her startlingly dark brown eyes.
"Yes. I confirmed it with the manager of the hotel we left. We should reach the Geoglyphs sites any minute now."
"And yet, we're still not there yet, even after all this time."
"Guys, don't start fighting again!" Rainah glared at them fro the front, before Shayla could retort.
Rainah was really starting to regret putting her two best friends in the back of the jeep, but she wanted to be able to sit next to her boyfriend. In hindsight however, maybe that hadn't been the smartest decision she had ever made. One of the two by themselves was fine, no problems, but the minute Brian and Shayla had met, they had been fighting and annoying each other nonstop. This would have been fine, manageable… were it not for the fact that they happened to be on a summer-long vacation traveling all around the globe. Dealing with their constant bickering for 2 whole months was starting to get a little wearing. Mason, Rainah's boyfriend, looked back at Brian and Shayla from the passenger seat.
"C'mon guys. We left the others behind for a reason. Can you at least try to get along for a couple of hours? Please?"
Brian and Shayla glared daggers at each other for what seemed like days…then turned away in a huffy silence.
Mason smiled, "Thank you."
"Shut up," both of them snapped.
Rainah sighed. This trip was the last trip they were going to have together before college. The four of them, along with a group of their friends, were supposed to having fun as they toured Europe, Asia, and currently, South America. But the rest of their friends had been slowing them down, bickering about where to go next, what to go see, where and what to eat, and just about anything else they could get into an argument over. Two of them in particular, Kyle and Nick, had just been arguing whether or not to have a guide with them when they went on a hike into the jungle that afternoon. Unable to stand the arguing any longer, Rainah, Mason, Shayla, and Brian rented a jeep and went off in search of geoglyphs that were supposedly nearby. Except that was two and a half hours ago.
"Huh," Mason looked up, "According to the map, we should have been there one and three quarters of an hour ago."
"Three quarters of an hour?" Rainah repeated, "Why not just say 45 minutes?"
Mason shrugged.
"It would help if he was reading the map the right way," Brian commented dryly.
Mason looked down at the map, then slowly turned the map the right way up.
"Do you mean to tell me," Shayla said slowly, "That we've been driving the wrong direction in a South American jungle for the last two and a half hours?"
Mason looked down again, his face somehow whiter than usual. Brian had said that Mason's face couldn't get any whiter … apparently he was wrong.
"Mason!" Rainah shrieked, "How did you not realize that you were reading the map upside down? Didn't you even check?!"
"Well clearly not, otherwise we wouldn't be in this particular predicament," Brian said.
Rainah looked over at him. That bastard was smirking. When this jeep stopped she was going to slap him soooooo hard.
"That's just great!" Shayla threw her hands up in the air, "We were supposed to be looking at some cool geoglyphs in a nice airplane, but nooooooo. Apparently all we get is a boring as hell, 2 and a half hour drive to the base of the Andes!"
"Look, guys, I'm sorry!" Mason said, "Let's just turn around and go back. Maybe we can still salvage the rest of the day."
"Don't worry dude," Brian said, "At least you have the comfort of knowing you can't screw up any worse than you already have. Besides, it's not all bad; just look at this beautiful jungle scenery!"
'Oh. My. God.' Rainah thought to herself, 'When I get out of this jeep I am going to beat the both of those two idiots into a coma!'
Mason glared at Brian and opened his mouth to retort, but before he could utter a single word, the front of the jeep suddenly plunged into a deep depression in the ground. Everyone heard a loud 'Clunk!', and even as the jeep climbed out of the hole, it started to shake violently. Not even 2 seconds later smoke began to gush out from under the hood.
Rainah swore very vehemently, pounding her fists on the steering wheel. The four friends piled out of the damaged vehicle. Mason and Brian went up to the front to see what happened. Mason made the mistake of leaning too close when he opened the hood, and got a face full of car smoke. He jumped back with a yell. The others started to laugh hysterically; Mason now looked utterly ridiculous. His hair and eyebrows were singed, and somehow the smoke made it look like he had poured an entire bottle of jet black make-up all over his face.
Mason scowled, and stomped to the back looking for a rag. Brian shook his head. Mason was having a really off day; normally he was a lot more focused and not nearly as much of an idiot as he was currently being. Brian gingerly lifted the jeep's hood, and peered through the black smoke.
"Well, this thing is now officially as useful as a laptop without a circuit board," he announced, "Power steering fluid's leaking, possibly the battery too, and somehow Rainah is so talented at wrecking stuff that the drive shaft is broken."
"Can you fix it?" Shayla asked.
"Are you kidding me? I know absolutely nothing about car mechanics or engineering, and even if I did, I don't have the tools or the parts."
"So, basically what you're saying is we're stranded out here?"
"Unless you feel like trekking a good 100 or so miles back through the jungle and somehow do so without getting lost? Yeah."
Rainah leaned against a tree, her arms folded.
"We're screwed. The others aren't going to come looking for us for at least three days, and by then all four of us will have been eaten by bugs or some wild carnivorous animal."
Shayla began to take their gear out of the ruined jeep.
"If we're going to be stuck out here, we'd better at least make sure we can survive. If we're careful, we'll be able to make it out of this perfectly fine."
The others began to help unload their things, making a makeshift camp near the wreck.
"I wish I could say I share your optimism," Rainah said.
"We'll be fine," Shayla repeated, "All we have to do is ensure we have the three basic necessities, and rely on each other. As long as we do that, everything will be okay."
Brian started to walk away through the underbrush, into the jungle.
"Um, where are you going?"
"I'm going to gauge our surroundings. See what the terrain is like, maybe find a good place to make camp for the night."
Brian soon disappeared into the foliage that surrounded them. Rainah and the others began to discuss their situation.
"We've got food, enough to comfortably last for maybe two days," Rainah said.
"Yeah, but what about water? We've got like, one water bottle each. What are we going to do when that runs out?" Shayla interjected.
"We'll have to find water somewhere and find a way to sterilize it."
"Alright, that's cool," Shayla nodded, "Assuming we find water of course. What about shelter though? We didn't bring tents or anything."
Rainah shrugged. This was beginning to look impossible. The three of them made themselves busy, grabbing things out of the jeep, sorting out their things, and setting up a camp. They chatted about random things, trying to keep their minds off their current situation. This went on for…. they didn't even know how long. Minutes? Hours? Time seemed to be moving so slowly; an hour seemed to take days. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the rustling of leaves signaled Brian's return.
Brian was somehow grinning ever so slightly when he walked back into their camp. The fact that somehow he could be happy at a time like this was just asking for Rainah to punch him.
"Well? Did you find anything interesting?" Mason asked him.
"Yeah, actually I did," Brian nodded.
"Well, what is it?" Shayla asked.
"I can't tell you; I wouldn't be able to describe it properly. You just have to see it for yourselves."
Shayla shook her head, "We are not going to trek into the jungle just to look at some random thing you found that may or may not look cool."
"C'mon. Trust me, it's worth it. I promise."
Mason walked over to Brian, "Well I'm in. The sun isn't going to set for a few more hours, and besides, what else are we going to do?"
Rainah looked over at Shayla. Her friend shrugged, and walked over to the join the guys. With an exasperated sight Rainah got up and followed suit.
For fifteen minutes they followed Brian deeper and deeper into the jungle.
After wandering into the jungle for so long, Mason finally asked Brian if he knew where he was going.
"Yes I'm sure," he replied calmly, "Don't worry, I promise this'll be worth it."
"Okay good, because if I didn't know better, I'd be wondering if you're just leading us into the jungle to murder us."
"Haha. Relax man, we're almost there."
Behind them, Rainah and Shayla were having a hushed conversation of their own.
"Well, at least Jared won't be able to track you here," Rainah said quietly.
Shayla suppressed a shudder. Jared: her obsessive, manipulatively controlling, abusive ex-boyfriend. Near the end of their relationship he had grown extremely possessive and paranoid; reading her text messages, and even hacking her email and Facebook accounts to see what she was doing and who she was talking to. If he saw something he didn't like….well he got rather unpleasant. Now, even months after Shayla had dumped him, he was obsessed with regaining control over her, and the whole group was convinced he had been following them since the start of their trip.
It hadn't always been like that. Before, he had been a caring, thoughtful person. He had been a great boyfriend to her, supportive, loving, protective, and had an immense sense of chivalry. It was only recently that his personality had turned so horrible. It was as if something had broken inside his mind; like a part of him just died. It pained Shayla greatly to know that the man she knew and loved had gone past the point of return. Knowing that he had become psychotic and dangerous, and that there was nothing she could do to help him. But Rainah was right, how could he possible track her all the way through this jungle?
"Guys, we're here," Brian called.
He beckoned them all through a tall patch of ferns. They went through, and were immediately stunned at the sight before their eyes.
"Well Shayla," he said, "You said you wanted to see the sights of South America, so here you go. I hope you find this satisfactory."
Shayla nodded mutely. Before them was a huge stone construct, roughly pyramid-shaped. The stone was weathered, and it had plant life growing all around it, like a ruin would normally look, but somehow the scene looked perfectly natural. As if the builders had designed for it to be one with the trees and plants that surrounded it. A wide cobblestone road led up to a great stairway, similar to the design of the Aztec temples in Mexico. Two large, rectangular pools made of marble flanked both sides of the road, in the middle of each there stood what was left of a statue-the remnants of the fountains that once fed the pools. The trees had grown over the whole area, making the light bend in odd ways as it shone through the canopy's leaves.
'It's beautiful,' Shayla thought.
Mason started walking towards the road.
"Where are you going?"
"Gee, I don't know. Big mysterious ruin just begging to be explored- how could I possibly resist?"
"Dude, that place could be dangerous. Is exploring it really the smartest idea?" Shayla asked.
"Well I sure hope not," Mason said, and with a smile he set off down the cobblestone road. Shayla had to admit, she was curious to see what was inside too. With a moments hesitation she followed Mason down the road.
"Hey Shayla, looks like we solved our water problem," Rainah nodded her head at the pools as they passed by. Shayla peered into one of them. The water was stagnant, and absolutely writhing with mosquito eggs and larvae. She nearly gagged, and shook her head. That was most certainly not a solution.
The four of them cautiously made their way up the stairs. As they made it to the top, they turned back for a moment, just to enjoy the view.
"I thought bats were supposed to fly out of the creepy building's entrance when people walked up," Mason said.
"You're an idiot," Brian returned.
With that, they entered the building. They found themselves in a long, dark hallway. The stone corridor was narrow, and cobwebs/spider webs clung to every surface. Rainah was trying desperately to avoid touching them; she absolutely hated spiders. The hallway went on, and on, for what seemed like miles without any sign of change. Then, without warning, they were out. The four friends stared in shock.
They had walked into a massive chamber, easily big enough to fit two Olympic-sized pools side by side. The center of the room was dominated by a massive circular archway, ramps leading through it on either end. The only light came from narrow beams from small holes in the high, vaulted ceiling. The way the light shined, it gave the place an eerie impression of a ruined cathedral. Mason whistled. Everyone else jumped as the sound echoed around the room.
"Don't do that!" Brian hissed.
Shayla looked around. They were on an elevated balcony overlooking the room; curved stairways led downward to the chamber floor on either side. She walked forward, stopping at the railing on the balcony's edge. Wait. Railings?
"Strange," she noted, "I don't remember ancient civilizations having railings."
Brian walked over.
"They didn't," he said, "They would be made of wood, which means these should have rotted centuries ago. These couldn't have been made by any ancient civilization; they're made of metal. Look."
He motioned them closer.
"It's rusted," Rainah remarked, "How is that possible though?"
"I don't know," Brian shrugged.
Curiosity piqued, Brian made his way down the stairs to examine the room further. On closer inspection, the floor he had assumed was stone was actually also made of metal. The dirt and dust had created a hard stone-textured crust that covered it over the millennia of disuse.
Rainah went to examine the archway in the center of the room. It too was made of metal, though that didn't help determine what it was there for. Maybe the stuff in the back of the room had something to do with it. No light shone in that area, making it difficult to make out what exactly was over there.
She walked into the dark area, trying to discern what it was that was over there. It looked like a big pile of boxes from back here. She inched closer and closer, moving slowly and carefully; she didn't want to trip and set something off by accident. She found herself rather suddenly right in front of one of the boxes, close enough that she could just reach out and touch it. The lighting still sucked however, and though she could make out small shapes on the box, who knew what they were or what they did. They could be small scorpions or some other vile insect for all she knew.
Finally, she gathered the courage to test out what it was those things were. Really quickly, she rapped a large bare part of the box above the little shapes. Her knuckle bounced off with a loud 'tink!'. That sounded like glass. Was it? 'Tink!'. Yes, yes it was. She touched it, this time with her fingertips.
As if it had been waiting for her to do just that, the square beneath the glass lit up. The sudden flare of light momentarily blinded her. When she lowered her hand from her eyes, she saw several shapes lit up on the screen. There was a touch screen…..in the middle of a ruin in South America that had been abandoned thousands of years ago. Could this get any weirder? With the light from the screen, she saw a little switch with two symbols; one was a sun, the other was a moon. Judging how the switch was on the moon currently, she guessed this was the building's light switch. Of course se had to test this new theory, so she flipped the switch up to the sun symbol. The sudden increase in the light level, along with the surprised yells of the others, confirmed that yes, that was indeed the light switch.
The lights were mounted on the top of all our walls, hugging the ceiling.
"Wow," Shayla said, "That was rather unexpected."
Brian walked over to Rainah, examining the mysterious shapes they could finally see.
"This stuff is incredibly high-tech," he remarked, " This is like, current military grade technology."
"Maybe an expedition team was excavating here recently," Mason suggested.
"Maybe, but they wouldn't just leave such expensive equipment behind."
"Besides," Rainah spoke up, "This stuff has like two inches of dust on it. There's no way it could have gotten that dusty so quickly. This stuff must've been here for years."
"But that's not possible," Brian shook his head, "Just look at this stuff. There's almost no wires, everything's touch screen, this stuff here is plasma technology; this is stuff we're jut starting to develop. The only way this could have gotten here is- Mason don't touch tha-!"
Too late. Mason had pressed a very interesting/suspicious looking red button on one of the computer screens attached to the wall. Instantly, blue lights on the inside of the big circular archway lit up, and the hum of something big powering up filled the room.
"Dimensional gateway active. Standby; warp fields stabilizing," a computerized female voice spoke from the computer Mason had just touched.
"That can't possibly be good," Brian said.
"Scanning genetic biosignatures. Positive biosignatures detected. Warp gate is now online."
"Nope, definitely not good at all."
"Warp rift now opening. Prepare for immediate dimensional jump."
"Mason," Brian looked over at his friend, "I am going to kill you."
With a bright blue flash, all four of them disappeared.
"Dimensional jump successful; warp rift now closing. Dimensional gateway resuming standby."
The blue lights in the archway faded, and the room grew dark once more. A figure stirred in the shadows of the entrance hall, still unsure about what had just occurred.
