Hannah and the Temple of Midas

     As the blazing sun fell below the horizon of the Lost Desert and the accompanying darkness descended upon all its residents, Hannah was in no mood to stop. Having trekked across the golden sands to find her missing friend, Armin, she and her travelling companion Kanrik had finally arrived at the ancient Temple in the mountains that the Bori had been exploring when his regular letters to the Usul had mysteriously stopped. Fearing the worst, the Adventurer would not rest until she was sure that he was safe. Meanwhile, the leader of the Thieves Guild was secretly just pleased to be away from Tyrannia for a few days and in the company of his closest friend. He didn't exactly have many left.

     Confronted with a metalloid hemisphere the size of a small building sticking out of the side of the so-called Mountain of Gold, the duo only had its engraved instructions to follow: Knock first. Exhaling loudly, the brunette nervously obliged. Three loud, dull knocks reverberated around the mountainside. Followed by a silence. Kanrik was underwhelmed. Perhaps whatever they were staring at was too old to work? Hannah wasn't so sure. She had surmised it was Kreludan. That meant it either ran on solar energy - abundant in the sunny Lost Desert - or Kreludite... which was not something to be taken lightly. The Thief spoke first. "Maybe there's another way in?"

     Before Hannah could respond, the metalloid hemisphere began to glow. In its centre, a bright, rectangular light the size of a coin materialised and gradually grew to the size of a pet. When the light faded, an open doorway was in its place. The two travellers looked at each other before heading inside.

     Through the entrance and into the half-light lay a wide corridor, lined with gold-coloured metal sheets riveted together on all four sides, that led both deep into the mountain and onto other corridors that seemed to lead to different rooms in the Temple complex. Though the word 'Temple' was probably a stretch. "This doesn't look like any Temple I've seen before," Hannah noted as she and Kanrik slowly trudged down the hallway, "If I didn't know better... I'd say the decor reminds me more of the spaceships I used to get to and from Kreludor."

     The dark Blue Gelert was on edge. Having never been to space nor experienced anything like this structure, he really didn't know what to expect. The Usul had written him letters detailing her exploits on the moon but a lot of it had been hard to get his head around. He couldn't help but hold his breath. Whilst his eyes darted around the walls and floor on the lookout for any potential traps, the Thief muttered mostly to himself, "As long as this place doesn't blast off with us insid-"

     "Shh!" Hannah interrupted, grabbing Kanrik's arm.

     He was indignant. "You did not just 'shh' m-"

     "Ssshhh!!" she insisted, covering his mouth with her paw this time, "I can hear something!"

     He growled softly. This was beneath him.

     But she was right.

     Somewhere deep within the Temple complex and echoing down the metallic corridors to greet them, an almost whispering sound could be heard. Slowly removing her paw, the pair then froze on the spot as they tried to decipher the noise. If this really was a spaceship, was it the engines turning on for the first time in however long? Or perhaps some sort of inbuilt defensive capability to protect it from intruders? The Adventurer's ears twitched. That was nothing mechanical. That was a voice. It had to be. "ARMIN!" Hannah yelled before bolting off at full speed in the direction she thought the sounds were coming from, "Stay right there! I'm coming!!"

     "What is the matter with you?!" blurted out a shocked Kanrik before attempting to catch up with his travelling companion. As far as he was concerned the Usul ought to have known better than to run off in the middle of a strange place that was bound to be full of surprises for unwelcome visitors. Though how she was able to dash off at such speed following the journey they had made together whilst carrying a heavy backpack was beyond the dark Blue Gelert's comprehension. Following her down two similarly decorated corridors, he took a sharp right into a chamber she was stood just inside the entrance of. Before he was able to catch his breath, he gasped, "Masila?!"

     The cloak-clad Green Acara cackled.

     Hannah gritted her teeth as she surveyed the scene. In the centre of the gold-coloured metal sheet-covered chamber stood Masila, former member of the Thieves Guild and some pet who was once quite close to Kanrik. By her feet sat the missing Armin, tied up tightly with the ropes he had been using to explore the Temple complex but otherwise not too worse for wear. The Usul was furious but she tried not to let it show. Their foe didn't deserve the satisfaction. Kanrik was incapable of such restraint. Pointing at his former ally, the leader of the Thieves Guild barked, "Get away from the kid!"

     Masila laughed once more. "Oh, settle down Kanrik," she smirked, crossing her arms loosely atop her intricately-designed purple and navy cloak, "If I'd wanted to hurt the fool, I would have done so by now." Armin scowled at his captor. Clearly, this wasn't the first jibe that had been directed his way in the past few days. "No," she continued, almost bragging at this point, "I just wanted to get the attention of you and that little Usul friend of yours."

     It was Hannah's turn to scowl. She was no 'little Usul'. "Well," the Adventurer retorted, lowering the Thief's arm for him, "congratulations then." Raising an eyebrow, she remarked, "You've wasted only Fyora knows how much of your own time planning a convoluted way to drag us to the other end of the Lost Desert for your long-vaunted revenge. I can only hope it was worth missing out on all the actual worthwhile things you could've done instead."

     "Hrm." The Green Acara's smirk faded. "Don't flatter yourself, Usul," she responded in a somewhat petulant tone, "I'll have you know I've moved on to bigger and better things since dropping your friend over there." The dark Blue Gelert snorted. "I have a much more fitting circle of friends and a far more dignified leader than the Thieves Guild could ever muster," Masila spoke pointedly while looking at an oddly shaped ring on her finger, "No. You can thank the fool here for your misfortune. I was strolling in the Market when I overheard him asking about the mythical Temple of Midas and Mountain of Gold. You can't blame a girl for being intrigued."

     "So, what..." Hannah queried, "...you've been following Armin around?"

     "With his mouth?" the former Thief laughed, "I didn't need to." The Bori blushed as it dawned on him just how much this was all his fault. "When I saw he was sending you a map to the Temple," she explained, "I knew it would only be a matter of time before you showed up. When you didn't straightaway, I thought I'd force the issue." Turning to the dark Blue Gelert, the Green Acara remarked, "And where you go, some pet else tends to follow. I'd say you're going soft, Kanrik, but for a self-declared loner, you've never operated particularly well by yourself. You will be found out by the Guild. One day."

     "You've had your fun, Masila," he growled in response, "why not just take your gold and leave?"

     "I would," she sighed disingenuously, "if there were any." The Thief was confused. The whole Temple... spaceship... whatever-it-was was seemingly covered in golden sheets. If this was the home of Midas it should be full of gold! His counterpart explained, "Any gold this place contained was looted centuries ago. Though frankly, I'm not convinced there was any actual gold. The only thing I was able to find here that remotely matched the myth of Midas was this." Taking a step backwards, a button the former Thief was standing on activated. Dropping down from the ceiling, a ray gun-like device pointed at the pair of pets. "And unfortunately, I can't take it with me. Though I can leave you two here, like the golden idols that little Usul likes to pinch."

     Hannah's eyes narrowed as she pulled her cutlass out of her backpack.

     "I believe you're thinking of Jake the Explorer."

     "No matter," cackled Masila.

     She stepped on the button again.

     Steadying herself, Hannah was ready to deflect the gold beam with her blade as it headed towards her - only for Kanrik to push her away and take the full force of the ray gun himself! As she lay on the metallic floor, the Usul gasped as she watched her old friend turn to gold. As a golden cloud dispersed, the leader of the Thieves Guild resembled a statue. The Adventurer was in shock. Unable to move, she watched as Masila quickly made her exit. The Green Acara knew it would take a while for the ray gun to charge back up - and she wasn't waiting around for that. In the corridor, she smashed a control panel that lay hidden underneath a secret covering in the wall. The door to the chamber came crashing down. It was time for her to leave.

     -----

     "Hannah?" piped up a small voice in the now total darkness.

     With the chamber's door now firmly closed, any ambient light from Kreludor and the stars from the sky above no longer reflected along the metal sheets of the hallways to light up the inside of the Temple complex's room. Not even Kanrik's now golden sheen could be seen in the pitch black. Yet the Usul's eyes lay transfixed in his direction. Until the small voice snapped her out of her bleak reverie. "Armin!" she realised, quickly scrambling to her feet. Dropping her backpack to the floor, the Adventurer rooted around inside it before pulling out a large lantern. Switching it on from its base, the glow gradually filled their surroundings.

     With her cutlass in one paw and the lantern in another, Hannah rushed over to Armin before giving him a somewhat awkward but much-appreciated hug. Slicing through the rope with a single swipe, the Bori quickly untangled himself as his old friend queried, "Are you alright, Armin?" The concern in her voice was evident. "Masila... she didn't hurt you, did she?"

     "No, no," the Explorer reassured his old friend as he straightened out his plaid shirt, more worried about the journey she and Kanrik would have had to endure to reach him. If he was being completely honest, the only thing that was hurt was his pride. He'd grown up a lot since the days of the conflict in the Ice Caves and had spent the last few years exploring far-flung parts of Neopia just like his hero. Days like this though made him realise he still had a fair bit to learn. "I don't think I would've been much good to her otherwise." The Bori sighed, mostly from relief. Having to guide the Green Acara around to find things to plunder had not been a pleasant experience.

     Hannah felt a weight lift from her shoulders. "That's a relief," she said with a smile.

     Placing the lantern on the ground, the Usul returned to her backpack and dragged it over to the both of them. Returning her cutlass from whence it came, she pulled out a water canister and handed it to her old friend. As grateful as the Bori was for everything, he himself was unable to smile. He took a drink before speaking. "Look, I'm... I'm so sorry for everything..." apologised Armin, his eyes drifting over to the statuesque figure of the now golden Gelert as he spoke, "This is all my fault." Hannah stood up, placing her hands on her hips. "I just wanted..."

     "To impress me?" the Adventurer smirked.

     "Kinda...?" he trailed off, just a tiny bit embarrassed. When the brunette went off to explore the Caves of Kreludor, her old friend had been looking forward to joining her in space on the next shuttle flight. Until Hannah's first letter arrived. Upon opening it, Armin developed a terrible case of D'achoo - triggered by the moondust that had a habit of getting everywhere on Kreludor. Unable to go, he was forced to plan his very first solo expedition to the section of the Ice Caves that led to Tyrannia. It had been a lot of fun... but missing out on exploring Kreludor had hurt. He missed hanging out with his hero.

     The Usul's face crumpled as she suppressed a laugh. "You don't have to try so hard, you know?" she pointed out before giving the Bori a big hug, "I'll always be proud of you, kid." He knew. He just couldn't help himself sometimes. Hannah turned to face her other oldest friend. "Him..." she remarked before sighing, "...not so much." She didn't know what she was going to do with Kanrik. Figuratively, that is. She had met a fair few Grundo Scientists whilst exploring Kreludor who would probably be able to turn the dark Blue Gelert back to his delightful self. His apparent overprotectiveness was not a problem modern science could solve, however. "We can't really let the Thieves Guild see him like this or they might try to auction him off to the highest bidder or something."

     Armin was less perturbed. "They'll be disappointed if they do," he said with a slight shrug. The Adventurer looked confused so the Explorer elaborated. "Masila was actually telling the truth, if you can believe it," he laughed before getting more serious, "There was never any real gold in this 'Temple'." His old friend looked more confused than ever. Pointing to the device in the ceiling, he continued, "That ray gun seems to enclose the target in a gold-coloured stasis field. So it looks like gold on the outside... but really the object is kinda just put into a sort of hibernation on the inside." Hannah had heard about this sort of technology from the Grundos. "I mean, hibernation isn't great... but Kanrik is fine."

     "Huh," she said simply. Apparently, ancient Grundos were far more advanced than even she had believed. In any case, the Grundo Scientists she knew would definitely be able to rescue Kanrik from his slumber so there was no need to worry about him. The duo had more pressing matters. "Well," the brunette instructed, "I guess we'd better focus on getting out of here then."

     The Explorer nodded before heading over to the chamber's blocked entrance. Just like in the corridor, a secret panel next to the door concealed a hidden control panel. Pressing the panel, Armin expected the buttons to appear... but they refused. Shaking his head, he crouched down before attempting to slide the door back up but to no avail. "Masila must've broken it," he grumbled before turning to Hannah, who had yet to join him. She was too busy searching her backpack for something. Walking back over as the Adventurer pulled out her unburied treasure, he couldn't help but blurt out with worry, "...is that dynamite?!"

     Yes. Yes it was.

     "You can take the girl out of the Pirate Caves," Hannah grinned, much to Armin's concern, "but you can't take the Pirate Caves out of the girl."

     Seeing that she'd already made up her mind, he wasn't going to argue.

     Scooping up the pieces of rope that had been used to bind the Bori, the Usul tied them together then onto the fuse of the red cylinder before carefully placing it at the base of the broken door. Trailing the now extended fuse from the entrance to the other side of the golden Kanrik, the duo took shelter behind their old friend. Pulling out her cutlass for one final time, the Adventurer scraped its blade along the metal sheeting of the floor to create a spark to light the rope's end. With it alight, they watched the flame snake away before bracing for the impending impact.

     BOOM!

     As the black smoke slowly settled, it was pierced by the starlight that was once again reflecting down the corridors of the Temple complex. Peering around their statuesque friend, the pair of pets saw that Hannah's plan had worked - the door to the chamber had been blown clean off! The metal slab now languished in the hallway outside, broken into several pieces. She couldn't help but cheer loudly. It reminded her of simpler times. Whilst she gathered together her items and returned them to her backpack, Armin noticed that the door wasn't the only thing that was broken in the loud explosion. Pointing to the golden Kanrik, he remarked, "Uh... Hannah?"

     The Usul looked up and was surprised by what she saw. The explosion had caused the golden sheen that had enveloped the leader of the Thieves Guild to crack along his back and legs, to the point that his tail was sticking out! He really had just been gold-plated - and not particularly well. Stasis was supposed to protect space-going pets during long journeys but the age of the ray gun must have played a role in this coating being quite flimsy. At least it made the Adventurer's task much easier. Rolling up the sleeves of her robe before swinging her backpack back over her shoulders, she stated determinedly, "Right, come on."

     Without any further instruction, the duo went to the 'front' of the statue and began pushing it out of the chamber then down the first debris-strewn corridor. The golden coating hadn't added much weight but Kanrik was hardly the lightest pet to begin with so the going was tough for his two tired friends. During the first of many breaks before they had reached the second corridor, Armin managed to query whilst catching his breath, "I hate to ask... but... what's the plan here?"

     "We're going to roll him down the foothills," an exhausted Hannah said bluntly.

     "That could work."

     Inching forward at times, the Adventurer and the Explorer slowly pushed the statuesque Thief down the first then second corridors with plenty of effort as well as plenty of breaks. Eventually reaching the mysterious entrance to the entire Temple complex, the pair gave one last strong push to send the golden figure over the edge and rolling down the gentle, rocky foothills of the Mountain of Gold. Shedding cracked golden pieces as he went, Kanrik came to a rest beyond the snow line and instead on the sandy desert floor. Perhaps catching a third wind at this point, Hannah and Armin managed to reach their old friend as he was coming to his senses.

     "Ugh..." the dark Blue Gelert, still covered in flakes of gold, groaned loudly before holding his head in his gloves, "now I know how Hanso felt..." Not really. The former member of the Thieves Guild had been turned to stone. What Kanrik was feeling right now was the dizzying effects of tumbling down a hillside. ... But he wasn't really the sort of pet you would want to correct. So... anyway. Gingerly sitting up, he looked over to his approaching friends and felt a small sense of relief. Clearing his throat in an effort to compose himself, he addressed Armin in a stoic tone, "...you alright, kid?"

     "Yeah," the Explorer smiled, pleased his old friend wasn't angry, "I'm good."

     The Thief almost smiled.

     Until he caught the Adventurer's eyes.

     That was when his face dropped.

     "Just don't," Hannah advised with a sigh, not wanting to hear it. Or anything at this point. It had just been one of those days. Lending her paw, she helped Kanrik to his feet before picking off some of the remaining flakes of gold from his cloak. He appreciated it - but he probably wouldn't appreciate the discussion about boundaries that were to be had on another day. Honestly, if the Adventurer had listened to the Thief then they'd still be stuck in the chamber, destined to become another chapter in the myth of Midas. He wasn't exactly a fan of her reliance on dynamite. It just wasn't subtle enough for him.

     Turning to the eastward horizon and the distant silhouettes of the Gebmids that pierced the purples of the early morning sky, Armin took one last deep breath of the cool night air before it faded away once more. It had been a while since he had seen daylight. And it was not something he was looking forward to. "The sun will be rising soon," he observed with a frown before turning back to his friends, "we'll have to set off for the oasis soon if we want to get there by mid-"

     "NO!" barked Kanrik loudly, causing his two old friends to jump. The dark Blue Gelert had had his fill of adventure for the time being. "I have been travelling for two days straight," he growled unrepentantly before declaring grandly, "I am not moving from this spot."

     Hannah suppressed a laugh as best she could. "That's a bad idea," she impishly responded with a wink, "and you know that." An act that did not improve the Thief's mood but did wonders for her own. "It has been a long day though, Armin," she addressed the Explorer whilst pointing at the Mountain of Gold, "I think we're better off sleeping in the Temple until dusk falls again." With the Bori in agreement, the duo began to retrace their route up the gentle slopes and towards the complex's entrance. The Usul couldn't resist a final remark though, yelling from afar at the Thief, "You coming or not?"

     Kanrik sighed heavily before following his old friends back up the hillside.

     The End.