Prologue
~ An Ancient Legend ~
Hidden in the middle of dying empire and buried in forests at the edge of the mountains lies a group of villages that are largely unknown to the rest of the world. These inhabitants of these villages are largely unaware of the greater happenings in the wider world, and the assassinations of kings, the rise and fall of kingdoms, the achievements of man, and the destruction and rebirth of entire continents are unknown and uncared for. They exist in isolation, dealing with each other as they may, and fighting against the inhabitants of the forest for survival. Their greatest enemies is the tiger, the bear, and the snake. At least, their greatest enemies that reside completely in the physical world.
They have many traditions and many ancient stories, undiluted by the influence of other cultures. It is of one ancient legend that gave birth to the occurrences you are about to read, and how bold youth, unaware of the danger they were about to put themselves in, test the story of an ancient tablet.
The tablet, it is said, holds the key to communicating with a being that could only be considered a god. This god, through the tablet, challenges a group of five to a game. There are nine rounds to this game, and if you are skilled or lucky enough to survive you are given a great and wondrous prize. However, due to the fact that none ever return from wherever the tablet takes you, it has become forbidden to ever accept that challenge, and the tablet itself is said to be hidden deep within an ancient abandoned pyramid.
So five young ones dared to enter this pyramid and claim the tablet for themselves, for any prize that comes from a god must be worth having, no matter the risk...
No matter the risk...