Six years later
July 2035
Mesa Verde, Colorado
Cassie climbed the mountain with no safety equipment. She felt no adrenaline rush through her, which was good because she had to remain as calm as possible while climbing a tall mountain. Reaching for another handhold, she yanks herself up with one hand to the top. Thrusting her foot on a foothold, she reached the top and pulled herself up.
Now at the top of a mountain, she decides to gaze at the view. Mesa Verde national park was absolutely beautiful. She was amazed by the scenery. She looks down and see Derek. She bends over to lend him a hand.
"Need a hand partner?" She asks in a cowgirl voice.
"Yeah." Derek answers in a cowboy voice. He grips Cassie's hand and she yanks him up. "Thank you parner." Derek said. He turns to look at the view. Amazing.
"I know, I can see my house from here." Cassie says. She reaches into her back pocket. What she had pulled out was a map. A map of Mesa Verde. In the center, ruins were circled in red. That was their destination. She shows Derek before putting the map in her back pocket.
"Okay then, let's get a move on." Cassie told, leading the way across the mountain.
"Lay on, Macduff." Derek says, following.
At a distance, Cassie and Derek were being observed by somebody. He watched them through a pair of binoculars.
"I have both targets in my sight." Was all the person said.
Cassie waited for Derek, stopping to sit on a log. Derek had tripped on a rock and landed on his stomach, while his crotch landed on a rock. Right now, he was taking a leak.
While she was waiting, she had an idea of whipping out her phone and taking a picture of the view while it was still beautiful. She looked at the picture. It was one for the books.
When she looked up from her phone, Derek stood there, with his curly brown hair, hazel brown-eyes, fair skin and five o'clock shadow. He had an athletic built, six-foot-one, and was at the age of twenty-one, being several months older than Cassie. He currently wore a blue henny shirt and jeans and had a gun holster at his armpit.
Cassie had gotten rid of her glasses and now had contact lenses. Her wavy and dirty blonde hair still reached her neck and she still had fair skin and hazel-green eyes. She was now five-foot-nine and twenty-one years old. She wore a white henny with and had khaki pants on. Like Derek, she wore sneakers.
"You ready to go now?" Derek asks.
"Yep, let's go retrieve the artifact." Cassie puts away her phone and stands up. She looks around her environment to see if she could remember the path she was taking. "Follow me Derek Lowell."
"Lead on Cassie Drake." Derek follows Cassie. They began jogging through a rocky trail. They were so close to their objective.
Cassie and Derek were in Mesa Verde because the local natives hired them to retrieve an idol hidden somewhere in the mountain. They provided them with a map and told them to be careful as they would be walking into unknown territory, which is widely believed to be cursed as to why nobody goes up there.
"So, Cassie, the local natives really believe this place to be cursed?" Derek asks while following her.
"Yeah, according to the natives, a lot of people have come into this mountain and none have come out." Cassie answers.
"Oh, they are afraid to come up here, but they have no problem with hiring two people barely old enough to drink to get the job done?" Derek asked. He was actually insulted that the local natives would be alright with sending both Cassie and himself to their possible deaths.
"Look, the locals natives said that they believe people are cursed because this certain artifact has failed to have been destroyed. So the natives want us to find the artifact and destroy it." Cassie explains.
"We destroy the artifact." Derek repeats.
"We sure do Derek." Cassie nods. She jumps over a fallen tree. She stops in her tracks. She points to something hidden in the trees. It was a falling branch.
"Destroying an artifact. Okay then, what did they say this artifact looks like?"
"The locals said it looks like a skull, but made of gold. Has silver teeth and about the size of...skull." Cassie detailed.
"Gold skull about the size of a skull and has silver teeth, thank you." Derek says, partially sarcastically.
"Don't mention it." Cassie says. She continues jogging through the tree environment. While following close behind, Derek was staring at Cassie's rear end. It looked pretty.
Cassie had a feeling that Derek was looking at her rear end, but it didn't matter, she had done the same to some guys while in high school. People staring at her actually made her feel attractive. But too much staring would just come off as creepy.
Cassie stopped jogging when she came to an edge. She chances looking down. Boy we are high above the ground? Cassie whistles. "Boy, we are high above the ground." A jump from this height would be fatal.
"Man oh man. We have to be at least a couple thousand feet in the air." Derek says. He looks around the ground to see if he could find anything. He picks up a large rock and holds it out. He opens his palm and the rock falls six thousand feet. Both wait to see if they could hear anything, but nothing.
Cassie looked up at the clouds. They were moving really fast, and began blocking off the sun, leaving them in a more grayish environment. "Just stay calm D-Man."
"I am calm!" Derek shouted.
"Okay then, well, let's see if we can shimmy across this narrow gap." Cassie suggested. She puts her back to the wall and moves very carefully across the narrow gap, with Derek following just inches behind. Derek looked down. A rock at his feet was kicked off and it disappeared as it fell to the ground.
"Move slow and watch your step." Cassie said in a reassuring voice.
"Excuse me Daughter of Nathan Drake, I have been doing this just as long as you have been." Derek remarks.
"Then you do not need any comfort or reassurance." Cassie says. Her chuckling came to an end when the narrow walkway came to an end. She looked all over the wall for any handholds, but found none. "What do we do now?" Cassie asked herself.
Derek spots a handhand just a few feet above him. He reaches out to try and grasp it, but he was too short. "Cassie, do you want a boost?"
Cassie shrugs. "I don't know. Is that what you will say when we sleep together?" Cassie laughs. They have never actually slept together, although them sleeping together is somewhat a pipedream to her.
Cassie nods and Derek crouches down while staying very close to the wall. Cassie was very careful to stepping on Derek's shoulder. She didn't want to hurt them or want either of them to go plunging to their deaths.
She grabs the handhold with one hand and puts her other hand on another handhold. Once she pulls herself so she could grab another handhold, she glues her feet to the wall and with one hand, she reaches down. "Let's go Derek."
Derek stood at his full height and grabs Cassie's hand. She struggled to pull him up. He was so massively heavy. She felt like she was lifting a two hundred pound bag of sugar with one hand. She felt her face reddening and her veins began protruding.
"Oh my god, what have you been eating?" She struggles to say to Derek.
"Oreos, day and night." Derek answered sarcastically. He saw that Cassie's eyes were glued shut and her face was red. He was obviously too heavy for her. He quickly grabbed the hanhold and released his grip from Cassie's hand. Her hand and arm, especially her arm, felt painful. She thought her arm was going to be torn off, like some kind of zombie.
"Goddamn that hurt." Cassie says to Derek. She had no idea he weighed that much, that was the first time she actually pulled him up with one hand.
"I am so sorry." Derek apologizes.
"How about you drink milk from now on fatty?" Cassie tells. She turns her attention to the handholds and begins climbing. Hand over hand, foot over foot, she felt like she climbed for a while. But she had only been climbing for thirty seconds.
When Cassie was hanging by one hand, and was almost at the top, she sees something to her right. "Hey Derek, I think I see the ruins."
"Really, you looking in the right place?" Derek asks while below her.
"Are you looking in the right place?" Cassie asks. She knows that he was looking at her pretty rear end again.
Derek jerks his head to the right and saw what Cassie saw. Ruins. "Well, now I am looking in the right place."
"Good, then stop staring at my ass." Cassie told.
Derek was utterly embarrassed. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to."
"It's alright, but I will admit, it makes me feel attracted." Cassie told. She begins climbing across. Derek stole one last quick glance at Cassie butt. He felt adrenaline rush in him, and it was definitely not from the mountain climb.
Derek caught up to her and they both climbed to the right, staying as close to the mountain as possible and reaching for as many handholds as they can. Then, there was a gap. A large gap in the mountain that was about six feet.
"Hey Derek, there's a large gap here, so you might want to watch it." She warns. There was a handhold on the other side of the gap. Plus, she could make the jump. "I'm going for it."
"Be careful." Derek told.
"When am I never?" Cassie asked.
Derek stared at her with a mischievous grin. "That little fiasco in Republic of Congo two years ago." Derek answers.
"That was an accident and you know it." Cassie rebuts.
"Exactly, it was an accident because you didn't pay attention." Derek reminded.
"Shut up D-Man." Cassie takes a deep breath. She catapults herself. She grabs the handhold with her right hand, but slipped. Her life flashed in an instant, she began her plummet to the earth. However, while falling, she manages to grab a handhold that stops her from falling.
She now hangs from one hand, regaining her balance.
"What did I say Cass, not careful." Derek says.
"Yeah yeah." Cassie pulls herself up and begins climbing back up. She waits for Derek to jump across before she continues climbing to her right, this time, she followed Derek.
"Lookie lookie, a branch." Derek points to a branch coming from a large tree that was blocking their path. Although his vision was obscured by the branches, he could barely see a narrow walkway that they could use. He looks at a different angle and saw solid ground.
"Cassie, if we could swing across this, we will be back on solid ground in no time."
"Good, there are no handholds that lead upwards." Cassie says.
Derek reaches for his belt. On his right side, a coiled up grappling hook was hooked to a belt loop. He grabs the front of the rope and tosses it forward. It wraps itself around a large branch. Derek tested it to make sure it was strong enough. He didn't exactly want to plummet to his death anytime soon. He releases his grip on a handhold and goes falling to the earth. He gripped the rope tightly. Once the rope reached its limit, it sung Derek forward.
He swung toward the other side and landed on his feet on solid ground. He quickly untangles his rope and recoils it before putting it to his belt loop.
"Okay Cassie, it's safe! You can swing across!" He shouts. He patiently waits for Cassie to swing across. He saw the rope wrap around the branch and saw Cassie subsequently falling towards the ground before swimming across the branch.
The branch broke off and Cassie went falling. Luckily, she was just several feet above Derek's head, but she fell right on top of him. The rope was still attached to the branch as it fell, and Cassie was being dragged with it. Derek lunges forward and grabs Cassie with one hand just as she was about to fall to her death.
"Don't worry Cassie, I got ya." Derek says, pulling her up with his one hand. "Take back what you said, cause I am all muscle." Derek told once he pulled her to safety.
"Okay, for your sake, I take it back." Cassie says, patting him on the back once she stood up again.
Derek pointed to the ruins. "I think we have reached our destination."
Cassie looked in his direction. "I think we have D-Man. Just a hop, skip and a jump away." Cassie mutters follows Derek.
Just when they had reached another edge, there was a steep hill covered in mud that they could slide down that would take them directly towards the ruins. "Ladies first." Derek nods.
"How sweet of you." Cassie smiles. She sits down at the edge and carefully plants her feet, making sure not to slip on accident. "See you on the downslide." Cassie puns. She slides down. The seat of her jeans were getting all muddy, but it was better than sliding down on dry rock. Once she was at the bottom, she signalled for Derek to slide down.
He carefully plants his feet, he accidently slips. He began rolling on his side, getting mud all over him and throwing him off his equilibrium temporarily. When he reached the bottom, he went crashing right into Cassie's feet. Cassie went falling face first into the ground. She was not seriously injured, just a bruise.
"Ouchie." Derek says.
"Yes, ouch." Cassie says back to Derek. "You almost killed me Derek." She rubs the bruise on her forehead. "Just like in Iceland."
"We would have froze to death." Derek rebuts.
Derek was now using all four of his limbs to regain his stance. Cassie helped him out. Whenever Cassie starred in Derek's beautiful hazel-brown eyes, she felt love. Derek and her have been friends since they were in fourth grade. She never developed feelings for Derek until she was seventeen, but she never admitted. She was afraid of Derek not loving her. That she would push away her best friend. She didn't want that.
"So, are you going to stare at me like I am some kind of exotic animal, or are we going to the ruins?" Derek asks her.
She snaps out of it. "Sorry, let's go." Cassie led the way. The ruins was just a couple of meters away.
The ruined structures looked Paleolithic. "These ruins look like Paleolithic." Cassie speaks. The two building weren't very tall, just maybe ten feet tall each and made of old and rotting wood. It was the sight of something archaeological. They were at their destination, but where was the golden skull.
"We are at our destination, but where is the golden skull?" Cassie asks Derek.
"Who knows, but let's look around, it's either in one of the houses or maybe it's buried." Derek told. "How can a golden skull kill people?"
"That's what I asked. The locals said that some time in the twelfth century, an occultist placed some kind of curse on this greedy man and when he died, his skull turned gold and with that, his spirits roamed the mountains and killed anyone who tried to steal in this mountain. Maybe the people who died were graverobbers." Cassie said.
"Yeah, well that explains a lot." Derek says sarcastically. "So destroy the skull, and we destroy the curse.
"Yep, the usual." Cassie began searching the first house for any sign of the skull. Derek searched the other.
Cassie scoured the whole house, inch by inch to look for the skull, but nothing. She was starting to feel like this whole thing was a wild goose chase.
"Found something." Derek shouted from the building he was in. Cassie quickly rushes over to the house to see what Derek found. She hoped in through the window and saw Derek caressing something.
"This here is a picture of the skull, it was buried in between these two buildings." Derek says before showing her a piece of cloth of the two buildings and the gold skull in between.
"So it is buried out here. Good, once we find it, we destroy it." Cassie escorts Derek outside.
"So um…" Derek stutters. "The skull should be right where we are standing."
They both looked down at the ground at their feet. Their shoes were slightly submerged in mud.
"It has to be underneath the mud. Let's start digging." Cassie commands.
"But with what?"
Cassie takes out the end of her grappling hook, and gestures to the sharp part. "Use the sharp part of the hook." She crouches down and starts digging through the mud. Derek helps her.
The two were covered in mud and the more they dug, the deeper their shoes sank into the ground. They can both feel mud seeping into their shoes from the inside. They felt their socks and they felt moist.
When Cassie stabbed the ground, she heard a clunk noise. "Stop." She tells Derek. She puts the hook to the side and pushes her fingers through the mud. She felt something smooth. She wraps her fingers around the smooth object and yanks it out. She couldn't exactly see what it was cause mud covered it. Derek pulled out his canteen from the back of his belt and poured it on the object. The object was showered in the water and the mud was wiped clean. Neither one could believe their eyes. It was the golden skull.
Derek Lowell
Born: January 6, 2014
Hair: Brown
Eye: Hazel-brown
Height: Six-one
Weight: One-ninety
Relatives: Erica Lowell (Mother), Richard Lowell (Father)
Nationality: American
Biography: Derek Lowell is an only child to Erica Lowell, a former technician for the United States Navy and Richard Lowell, a photojournalist. Derek grew up traveling around the world with his parents where he developed a love for globe trotting and ancient history as his father mostly took him to temples. Derek gained a love for archaeology and painting. The first day of fourth grade was a rough one, but when he met Cassie Drake and learnt about her keen interest and exploring the unexplored, all's well that ends well. As Derek and Cassie grew up, they became inseparable and sharing the same ideas of where to go treasure hunting. Both Cassie and Derek went to University of Hawaii in Maui at the ages of seventeen to major in Archaeology while Derek minored in Art history. Along their adventures, Cassie and Derek encountered numerous adventures involving the supernatural, most notably Easter Island, Mongolia, Iceland and the Bermuda Triangle where they found remains of the actual lost city of Atlantis...and the existence of an actual Megalodon.