48. Preparation

So, a few hours of travel and they found themselves in the second temple. If the first temple was in the depths of the jungle, this one was on the surface. It was hard not to notice him, because he was…

[ BANG ! ]

.....in the damn volcano ! Yes, this temple was located in a volcano. Adam didn't know why and why someone decided to build a temple in a volcano, but it was only to his advantage.

" Damn it ! How hot it is here ! "

" Who even thought of building a temple in such a place?! "

"No idea girlfriend, no idea. "

While Adam was admiring the active volcano, ash and flowing lava, the girls behind him were dying from the heat. Adam looked at the volcano because he was interested in it and not at all because the girls decided to undress and put on more ....open clothes.

The girls took off their armor and clothes and dressed in sportswear. And it would be fine, but the weather here is much hotter than under the sun. Therefore, they were sweating profusely and the sweat gave Adam a wonderful view of their .... shapes shining through their tops and mini shorts.

Adam didn't care about the heat. He embroidered several temperature runes on his clothes, which maintained a cozy temperature depending on the environment. He wasn't worried about the heat, he was worried about things... closer and more dangerous to his heart.

"Adam, how far do we have to go? We are dying, and the water will soon run out. " – Sasha was sweating and pulled the strap of the top, trying to cool off

"Be patient a little longer. We'll be there soon. " – Adam carefully looked at the local landscapes

" Soon ? When is this?! You said that an hour ago ! "

Ann stood in front of him and bent down. Adam felt a rush of blood in his nose and abruptly turned away. So as not to see the notch in her chest.

"Take your time. Soon, that means now. " – he pointed with his finger

The girls followed him. A passage appeared before them. As they approached, the passage was covered with ancient runes and slowly opened.

" Hallelujah ! We 've reached it ! " – Marcie went inside, straightening her shorts

Marcy was followed by Ann and Sasha, who settled comfortably against the wall and started drinking water. They also spilled a little on themselves, trying to cool off. But the local heat quickly evaporated the water, causing the thin clothes to become even thinner.

Adam closed his eyes, counted to ten, and followed them. He walked along the wall, reading ancient hieroglyphs. Basically, the temple itself was described there, as well as its trials. Even a fool could guess that this is the temple of the Body aspect.

"So, ladies. As you probably already understood, this is a temple for Sasha, namely for her strength. "

" Great ! " – Sasha got up

" Let 's go those ! I can't wait any longer. "

She walked past Adam into the temple. Marcie and Ann followed her, and Adama walked behind, trying not to take his eyes off the beautiful ceiling.

After going inside, they saw the most colorful entrance to the temple that they had ever seen. In front of the entrance there were huge statues of frogs, which have the body of a body builder. They stood in various poses while lava flowed over them.

Some statues also held huge stones, but still managed to get up in beautiful poses. The most revealing entrance, you can immediately see whose aspect it is.

The whole team looked around the statues with a strange look before going inside. Before them was the first test. As soon as they entered, the door closed behind them and an inscription appeared in the ancient language. Adam read it and easily translated it to the girls.

"The point is to take those hammers over there..." – he pointed to a box with them in the corner

"And walk all this way. " – he pointed to a huge road

It was a thin strip of traffic, with lava surrounding it on each side.

"Um... and why the hammers? " – said Marcy bending down for a hammer

" Ahem ! You'll find out now. " – Adam turned his head away

Marcie smiled imperceptibly and winked at the other girls. Do you think he just undressed like that? Of course it was their plan. In fact, they could also cover themselves with power and not feel the temperature, but Marcie decided to go a little different way

And seeing her brother's reaction, she was very pleased.

Marcie and Ann each took a hammer when Sasha took two at once. As soon as they entered the road, a huge scolopendra jumped out of the lava.

" Damn it ! " – Sasha instantly raised the hammers and crushed the insect 's head

" Lava millipede, that's why you need a hammer. Now come on, chop-chop, time is running out. " - He pointed to the lava

They looked at the lava and noticed that it was gradually rising. They were slowly rising, trying to flood the road ahead.

"Girls, follow me! Go ahead! Otherwise we will turn into a grilled chicken ! "

The girls walked forward, killing every fucking centipede that came out of the lava along the way. Gradually, the lava level began to rise faster and only at the very last moment they managed to move to another room before she burned them alive.

"Well, it was easier than I thought. " – Sasha immediately threw away the hammers

" The trials in the temples suck so much , " - Marcy said

"Yes. We need to find the grave of those who build it and ask why they suck so much " – Ann wiped the sweat from her face

The next test was... a fucking barbell ?!

( What the fuck ? I can understand chess and a rubik's cube, but a barbell?! Didn't you have any ideas at all?! Uh, hello! ) – Adam shouted to himself

" Pfft ! It's easy. Adam, back me up. "

Sasha came over and did a bench press. Adam stood behind her and tried not to look at her top while he insured her.

" Aaargh in so ! " – Sasha made one approach, after which the door to the next room opened

" Easy as pie ! Wooh ! I 've been pulling these since I was a kid ! " – Sasha showed off her biceps

They went into the next room. It was a huge empty hall, in the center of which stood a statue of a pumped-up frog.

" Oh ! This is the boss room ! Well, finally something interesting. " – Marcie drew her sword

The girls followed her example and entered the arena. As soon as their foot entered the arena, the statue's eyes lit up. She trembled and immediately began....pose ? The statue changed its position several times, after which it strained its biceps and the pressure began on the girls.

Literally. They felt their body getting heavier.

"The more he poses, the stronger the gravity! So hurry up, otherwise you will become a tortilla! Even your strength will not help here ! " – Adam decided to tell them by reading the runes on the walls

" HMMMM ! " – the statue grinned and changed its position, increasing the pressure

While the statue increased gravity, a red glow appeared around the girls. Step by step, Sasha approached the statue. Why only Sasha ? Because Ann and Marcie had been pinned to the ground for a long time and could only watch.

Adam decided to help and pulled them to him, right into his arms. They fell into his arms, pressing their bodies against him. He took a quick breath and pushed them away. They smiled and watched Sasha anxiously.

Sasha came close to the statue. And although gravity pulled her to the ground, she clenched her teeth and continued to approach step by step.

" HMMMM ! HMMM!!! " – the statue was not satisfied with this arrangement and she tried hard to conquer Sasha

Sasha was at arm's length, but couldn't get any closer. Therefore, she squeezed her sword because of all the force. She pulled him to her and grabbed the sharp edge with her other hand. Her hand turned red.

She ran her hand over the sword and the blade turned red. He began to tremble when she lifted him above her.

"Get. Out. Of. My. Way ! " - she lowered her sword

[ WHAM ! ]

The sword went through the body of the statue like butter. A red trail appeared in the air, and then the statue stopped. The feeling of pressure is gone. Sasha slowly sheathed the blade, and then..

[ BANG ! ]

The golem's body split into two halves. Sasha walked through them and headed to the final room.

Runic ribbons went from the golem's body. They enveloped the passage and a pedestal with a form came out of the floor. Adam immediately came over and handed the gray stone to Sasha.

Sasha carefully took the stone, then sighed and nervously inserted it into the mold. The whole room was instantly covered with runes and the same thing happened as in the previous temple. The stone was filled with energy and flew out of the mold, right into Sasha's hands.

"There are two, there is one left. " - Adam took the stone and inserted it into the box

"The last stone and we can go home. " Ann exclaimed joyfully

"Not so fast, dear, it's not that simple. " – Adam hid the box

" What are you talking about ? We got here when all three stones were burning. Then Ann opened the box and we were enveloped in bright light and " boom " ! You're already in the Amphibian. " - Marcie crossed her arms over her chest

"You ended up here because the box pulled you in on its return. The box doesn't belong to your world, it was just coming home. " - he lightly stroked the lid of the box

"So you're saying we're just random guests? " - Sasha raised an eyebrow

"If it makes you feel better, then yes. The box just dragged you here on your return, so you shouldn't be here. " - He put the box away and headed for the exit

Marcie's eyes widened. She turned and burned Adam's back with her gaze.

(If we got here by accident....how did you end up here ? " – her eyes were squinting

(If you think about it, Adam was here much earlier than us. Then how long has he been here ? ) – a thought flashed through Ann 's mind

(Everything is much more complicated than we thought. We made it so that we were sucked in here. But Adam, how did he get here?)

Three girls have just realized that not everything is as simple as it seemed. Now they have an additional riddle, the answer to which can only be given by one person.

And he's not going to talk about it.

-----------------------------------

"Oh, yes, I feel like I've been here all week," - Adam said as he pulled a yellow crystal out of a small crater

[ INHALE ! ] – he took a deep breath

"Oh, there's nothing better than the smell of sulfur at night. This baby will really wash me in the future. " – Adam tossed the sulfur crystal and put it in the bag behind him

As soon as he and the girls returned back, Adam waited for night and returned to the temple. But for now, he wasn't going inside, but was outside and getting a very rare ingredient for his future plan.

Volcanic sulfur.

"To think that in the past, I gave a lot for you there. Although you 're like dirt here ! " – he picked up a lot of sulfur crystals in his hand

" And now it 's all mine ! For free! Hahahahaha! "

Adam laughed happily and scattered the crystals around him. On an active volcano, there were a lot of these crystals. So much so that he could bathe in a huge tub of sulfur.

He calmed his solemn self for a while, after which he sighed and approached the temple.

"So, the second one went. "

Adam held out his hand. Instead of the usual gold, it was covered with green. A projection of a huge glove appeared on his hand. He pulled his arm back and.

[ BANG ! ]

....the closed passage abruptly became open. Adam shook his hand and went inside. Lately, he has been learning to control the power of the Mind.

Wisdom itself did not give him much strength. Lightning, memory and Solomon. He had mastered his power perfectly, so he transgressed to Mind training.

The stone improved his psychic powers a little, but he could not read thoughts or lift objects into the air like Marcy. Reason gave him another power, the one he had long dreamed of. Namely, the creation of weapons.

Adam could pour Wisdom into a weapon and strengthen it, or direct it into a blow. But he could not create weapons. With the advent of Reason, it became available to him. Now he could create any weapon, except for some reason firearms.

Cutting, stabbing, crushing, blunt, any weapon except shooting. But even that was enough for him to cheerfully shout like a boy who was given a typewriter on the control panel at Christmas.

Adam went inside. By his doubling, all the statues were gone. The ones that were standing at the entrance, it was as if they were not there. He made a mental note to himself and moved on. Having broken through the next wall, he ran the first test without any problems.

In the second, he also broke the wall using a barbell. But for the last test, he was pretty surprised.

Instead of one golem, there was an entire army standing there. And they have already been activated.

" HMMMM ! HMMM! "

" MMMMM ! MMMM! "

As soon as he stepped inside, the golems all simultaneously exerted gravity around him. The ground beneath his feet immediately broke and a crater formed around him. The golems smiled contentedly, but the smile quickly disappeared from their faces when Adam calmly walked towards them.

"Sorry guys, but I prepared in advance. " - Adam pointed to the feather rune on his shoes

"Rune lightness, bitches. So your gravity bullshit doesn't work for me. " - He grinned and crossed his arms over his chest

" So....It's time for you to bye bye. "

[ BANG ! BANG! BANG! BAM! ]

Two huge green hands appeared behind Adam. They began to violently destroy the golems to a state of dust. Leaving nothing. Soon, all the golems turned to dust.

"Well, well, it's time for me to get another power. "

Adam walked through the golem tours, straight to the pedestal. He took out another gray stone and put it into shape. He stretched out his hand and closed his eyes.

Sasha appeared before his eyes. He remembered every moment of how she used the force. All her efforts, mistakes and successes. Slowly, his hand turned red, transferring the energy into the stone.

The stone spun and began to absorb energy abundantly. After a few minutes of such intense charging, the stone turned completely red. Adam opened his eyes and took it.

"There are two, there is one left. "

Adam pressed a small button on his glove. The sound of gears was heard and another empty place appeared in the glove, where Adam inserted the stone.

Red lines immediately appeared on the glove. They went from his hand to his body and covered him all over. A second later, they disappeared, giving him a sense of relief.

"Well, let's go. "

[ BAM ! ]

Adam covered himself with Wisdom. He broke through the ceiling of the temple and flew out through the mouth of the volcano, but the lava did not cause him any damage. She stretched out her hand over the temple. It slowly turned red.

[ CRACKLING ! ]

The ground began to shake. Before Adam's eyes, the volcano began to take shape like an accordion. Layer by layer, nothing was rushing from the temple and the volcano. In the place where he was, there is now a smooth and clean ashy glade.

Adam slowly descended to the ground and picked up his bag full of sulfur. There was a satisfied smile on his face, another bastard was missing. Now Adam has almost silence in his head. Almost.

"The last one is left. " – he raised his head to the starry sky

"The last one and I will be free. "

Adam reached into his pocket and took out a small piece of paper with a few notes.

"Soon so many doors will open in front of me that my eyes are already running away. " he smiled and hid the paper

"In the meantime, watch. Enjoy the show. Trust me.... " - his eyes flashed in the dark

"....the finale will surprise you very much. "

One man, one God, one outcome. The future is predetermined, there is no going back to the past, and the present is coming now. The things we do affect us right now.