An Adventure Worth Writing About

      Day 4, 5th day of Running: I'm here in the Lost City (is it really lost anymore?) of Geraptiku. I'm an archaeologist, see, digging always for the truth behind Neopia's greatest and most ancient mysteries. I'm here today in Geraptiku, trying to find the secret behind who and what built this ancient place.

      Now, I've been here for several days already, and by the Lupes (of which I am one. A glowing Lupe, in fact!) is there a lot of information to take in. First, everywhere are these mysterious grass huts. And they're all abandoned! Ah look! *points with right forepaw to one of the largest huts* Let's go in there!

     *walks over to hut quickly, practically running*

      If you'd like to take a look around, you'll notice that there seems to be food left over from when the people of Geraptiku left their fair city. Also, *points into center of city, where there is a tapestry being propped up by wooden stumps*, the paint on that tapestry seems rather new. It is like the people of the city left so recently…or they are still here…

      Well, we will just have to continue our search of the city and try to find out something new.

      Day 5, 6th day of Running: We seem to have discovered something new! On the right side of the village, to the north, there seems to be a petpet stall. Kind of like the Petpet shop in Neopia Central! The thing is, though, the Petpets are all locked in a pen (rather big actually, about the size of a GIGANTIC one floor neohome!) and are still rather healthy. How this is possible is unknown to us, but we suspect that someone comes and plays with them every once in a while. Otherwise, they would get quite lonely. Also, instead of a shopkeeper, there is a mysterious bucket that contains Neopoints. All attempts to take out neopoints are blocked by a mysterious shield, but for some reason, all Neopoints that are dropped near it mysteriously appear inside of the bucket. Very mysterious indeed.

      That bucket seems to have a connection with the pen and the petpets. When you drop so many neopoints inside of it, the pen mysteriously opens and one of the petpets walks out. When it is completely out, the pen slams shut, as if to bar the petpets from escaping. Not that any of them try though.

      Day 6, 7th day of Running: Today marks a great occasion in Neopian archeology. After exploring the entire city, we have decided to explore the ruins of Geraptiku. The gigantic pyramid with multiple tiers seems to be an abandoned tomb, as far as we can tell by the symbols running along the bottom most tier of the pyramid. If anything, it was a tomb of great kings of the past, and is probably heavily guarded to keep the curious and the greedy from finding the treasure that lies inside (all kings have treasure, no?). So, journal, we have decided to explore the tomb and find out what lies inside. If I do not come back, the magic I have set on you will transport you to the Faeries, and from there, the Library Faerie will add you to the gigantic collection of books in the greatest library in Neopia!

      After that, there seems to be nothing but blank pages in the rest of the journal. While some might throw the journal down and consider it rubbish for not ending in a better way, your curiosity gets the best of you, and you decide to go to the Lost City, and discover what happened to Gorlak the Archaeologist of a Lupe.

      Now some would call you foolish for undertaking this task, but your Neopet curiosity is something you cannot withhold. So, on the 10th day of Relaxing, you reach the Lost City and proceed to the Abandoned Tomb, the ruins of Geraptiku.

      Amidst all of the palm trees and overgrown shrubs, you find the door to the tomb. It opens for you right away, as if it knew you were there. It seems dark inside, but that's what you took a torch for, right? As you walk, the tunnels seem to spire ever on and twist in so many different directions. But you are confident that the way you are going is correct, and that finding Gorlak is your goal. That is what keeps you motivated and stops you from stopping and turning back.

      You hear a noise, and then stop suddenly. You think that someone is near you. Very carefully, you move over against the wall and blow out your torch. Just in time, it seems, because just then a ghostly monster moved into the corridor, and started to head up the way you came. It seems as if there are guards in the place and they could stop you, ghostly or not! But you are courageous and continue on your journey, ever deeper into the tomb.

      Soon, you come across a brightly lit room, as there is a ray of sunlight peeking through the ceiling. In the middle of the room is a large circle of mirrors with a symbol on each of the mirrors. The mirrors point in the cardinal directions, and all around the room, on each side are mirrors with the same symbols on them. This bugs you for a few minutes as you ponder how to complete the puzzle. There is no way visible way out of the room (besides the way you came) so it seemed as if completing the puzzle has something to do with it. As you sit thinking, you realize that you must have to line up the symbols with each other in a way that caused the sun to reflect against the mirrors and between them. Try as you might though, the large circle will not move. So you search the room for a visible switch that would move something. Suddenly, it comes to your mind that you could move the mirrors on the circle around and move the mirrors around the room somewhere, so that it has the perfect fit with the puzzle. You line all of the mirrors up, and then you hear an explosion. You look behind you and in the direction the way you came. It was as if there was a different path there now, as if solving the puzzle changed it.

      You continue along the path, which is surprisingly narrow and straight, with no turns or side paths. At the other end of the path you can see a light in a room. It is very faint, but still visible. As you head towards that room, you hear heavy breathing and so you start to run. You enter the room. 'Just in time,' you think, because as you enter the room, you see a glowing Lupe! Gorlak!

      It seems as if Gorlak was frozen in time, just inches away from grabbing the treasure on top of the pedestal. It is a golden bowl filled with golden coins and dubloons! One look at it, and you can tell that it is worth several million Neopoints! But your main goal is rescuing Gorlak, and then you can take the treasure. As you move closer to Gorlak, the tomb starts shaking! Pieces of debris fall everywhere, bombarding you, Gorlak, and the treasure.

      You grab Gorlak by the paw, and when you grab him, he seems to unfreeze from his position.

      "Where am I? What am I doing here? Who are you?" Gorlak asks you. "Why is the ceiling…" He doesn't finish, because a piece of debris nearly falls on him and you, but you run out of the way in time. You grab a few dubloons and gold coins and pocket them, and then you run with Gorlak as fast as you can out of the tomb. You reach the puzzle room, where there is a mysterious glowing circle. A portal, you think. You have nothing to lose, so you and Gorlak run into it.

      The portal transports you and Gorlak to the mouth of the tomb, but blocking your way are some of the Ghostly Snake Guards.

      "Pleasssse, return the treassssure and we sssshall let you go from here," the Guards hiss. Having no other choice, you hand over all of the treasure to the Guards. You finally reach solid ground outside of the tomb, and you suddenly feel heavier. You look into your pockets, and there is all the gold you had taken, plus more. There was a note with the treasure and it says that the guards are grateful for your willingness to give away something to save another.

      It was then that you realized that Gorlak has disappeared. You know now that everything was just a test, and that Gorlak was never a real Glowing Lupe. Finally, you realize that you want to use your newfound wealth to donate to the Money Tree and to fund a career in Archaeology.

The End