Where are you going?

I don't know anymore...

How long have you been going on?

Hours, maybe days.

Aren't you tired?

I am so tired.

Then why don't you stop?

Because I can't...

Step by step, tense tendons, dull pain. The soft ground beneath my feet, the darkness that swallows me every meter more. I have no idea which wing it is, or where the rest of my expedition is. When I was a child I loved Indiana Jones, I forced my father to take me to the cinema and I got lost in the vision of those films as distant as another era. As an adult I finally satisfied my need to explore and I became a field archaeologist, looking for relics especially in Peru, where Cuzco has become my second home. I have been working here for five years and I found, together with four other collaborators, a temple dedicated to Supay just outside Cuzco. The excitement for the discovery was drained by the thousand obstacles that we found to enter, obstacles alternating with traps worthy of the best adventure film. We werenìt put off, however, and continued our story. "Michael! Michael, John's injured!" a voice suddenly shouted; and that was the beginning of the end.

"I'm fine, it's just... Ugh!" John replied, interrupted by a twinge of pain. The doctor from the small expedition team grabbed him by the elbows and sat him on the ground, leaning his back against the moldy wall. I watched the drops of sweat bead my companion's face and suddenly I realized how much we were under pressure. "His leg is broken," muttered the doctor, leaning over him. "I need... I need something to splint it, give me something," he continued without looking up from his unnaturally bent leg. I took the backpack off my shoulders and began to rummage inside, recalled only by John's scream of pain. "Here, everything is ok," he was reassured professionally, while Teresa handed him something. "Try these," she said with a worried look as I already turned away. "We have to continue..." I murmured thoughtfully, immediately earning Teresa's protests. «We can't leave John here, Michael! I don't want to be separated from him or Fred!" she exclaimed in a voice too lamentable for an adult woman. I was already about to answer her when John's voice caught my attention. "Hey buddy, go," he said with a smile that, because of the pain, looked too much like a grimace. «Don't worry about me, after all the idea of this expedition was yours. Go Mike, go and be careful," he said with a confident look. I didn't even listen to Fred and Teresa's words: he was my partner, he was the one who encouraged me to do it. It was him, him and no one else.

How long have I been going on? Hours, maybe days. After finding the way out for the last tunnel, I found a collapsed wall overlooking the jungle, preceded by...
"Supay's Idol!" I exclaimed, excited by the discovery. The God of Death represented in that solid gold statue, raised from the ground on a marble base about six feet high, intimidated me. I walked slowly towards the idol, then touched it on the top. The statue showed no sign of age, despite five hundred years having passed since the construction of the temple. I was enraptured by that vision, and without thinking of any dangers I raised the idol to bring it to others.

I shouldn't have done that! A deafening roar stunned me, a scarlet and sweetish smoke took my breath and sight away for what seemed endless minutes. I found myself lying on the ground, with the idol away from me. I got up on my knees and reached out to pick it up, but it was out of reach; as soon as I got to my feet a horrible screech creeped my skin: beasts rushed at me, screaming and with bloodshot eyes. I shook one of those things from my left arm and, in pain, I threw myself outdoors: the dense jungle and rubble of a civilization that had long since disappeared stood out before my eyes, while I gasped in trying to free myself from those that -judging by the terrible screams I can hear- seem to be large apes hungry for human flesh.

I don't know how long I've been going, it's all so confusing. Maybe I'm dreaming? I can't wake up anymore.
I stumble, fall, hit my head on a root and wait for the end.
I feel the flesh tear, hot breath on my body and fire in the limbs.
I shake my head, my legs snap, I see the idol shine on the ground and the jungle in front of me.
When will this infinite loop end?
Where are you, John?
I can't stop.
Where are you guys?
I am afraid to continue living, there are no eagles to devour my liver but primates that tear my flesh.
Where's the rest of the world?
I am stuck here, between the temple and the Peruvian jungle to escape from the sparkle of a golden idol.
I want to die, I want to die, I want to die.
Will I stay forever a... temple runner?