The Greys

"My ancestor once showed me a picture of one of the oldest known enemies of mankind. They are simply called The Greys. These creatures are humanoid in shape, but the similarity ends there. They have grey skin and it seems all of their species cannot put on muscle, hence always looking like they are starved. Half of their face is taken up by their eyes, which have no pupils and are completely black. It is said that there is no escape once you look into those terrifying depths.

Their skull is elongated in the back, and the nose and mouth are very small. My ancestor told me that they are a very early species that visited us long back, before the first ancestors even began the IE program. They only saw humans as playthings, and abducted many of us to study our DNA. Thankfully, they did not return when the IE station was being built. When they returned, it seemed they were shocked and scared by humanity's progress. Deciding that it was better to wipe us out rather than take the risk that we would one day rise and overcome them, they became our war enemies.

The grey I saw had massive control over sand. I glimpsed its surroundings and it seemed to be inside the pyramid somewhere. We have to be very very careful. I don't know if all of us can even put up a fight in front of such power at such a distance. Its better to avoid it if we can."

The greys. Lance had heard about them in his prolonged studies about the paranormal. Only, he had never known that there was such a feud going on. All he knew was that such a species was rumored to abduct enormous amounts of humans each year for experiments.

Hearing that it was better to avoid them, Lance agreed and nodded. Why take a risk if you can avoid it? Only, if a confrontation did occur, he would let the Grey have a concentrated blast of the condensed energy that he had stored before coming on this mission. Then they could see if the 5 of them could put up a fight or not.

Yu Yan soon woke up. She had seen a similar image. Still terrified, she wept for a bit on Yu Ying's shoulder before gathering up her courage. She had after all been sheltered for most of her life, unlike Yu Ying who frequently ran away.

The team was ready to proceed. After another search through the treasures, they each selected a weapon that they could use.

Lance only chose a shield studded with many precious gems that he hung on his back. Entsy had taken the long dagger that Lance had found. As for the girls, they had only chosen small knives for self-protection. The shields were too big for them to carry.

Darius was the most peculiar. He had 5 shields on his back, which he had slung on him god knows how. He also had 6 knives, which he claimed he could throw with the speed and precision of a bullet.

After ensuring that the weight didn't slow Darius down, the team proceeded to the end of the room. Here, a fork was there which lead to 5 routes.

Heiroglyphs adorned each entrance. Lance had no idea what they meant. All that the information on the dossier said was that they would have to reach the top of the pyramid first to remove the real capstone-the top of the pyramid. The gold capstone which was originally said to have adorned the pyramid was thought to be long looted by burglars. The truth was that it had been hidden by a mechanism designed to seal the pyramid and its secrets.

Lance asked Entsy to scout each entrance. They only needed to chose the one which went upwards.

The first and second caverns both sloped down. The third went evenly, and seemed to end in another block like the one they had come in through. The team marked this as their possible exit.

The 4th and 5th both sloped up. They needed to choose one to go through all together. Lance did not want to risk splitting the team at any cost.

In one of the heiroglyphs of these two caverns, Lance spied a triangle shape. He knew that the capstone was a pyramid which was represented as a triangle in heiroglyphics.

Thinking that this was probably an indication for the room they needed to go, Lance chose this room.