Abandoned Temple

Deep inside the Amazon forest, there was a massive ancient temple. Just looking at the temple was enough to tell that it had been there for ages.

But the strange thing was that this was a place in the Amazon forest where humans had not set foot until now, despite having modern technology and satellite navigation.

Nobody knew who created this massive temple or why it had remained hidden from the eyes of the world until now.

At this time, many men dressed in military uniforms had completely surrounded the temple from every possible side.

All of their expressions showed that they were vigilantly guarding against an army of soldiers they believed were hiding inside the temple.

Pant... Pant...

From inside the closed bronze door of the temple, Alvin looked outside through a small peephole, panting in pain.

"It seems like there's no escape this time," he muttered, shaking his head with a wry smile.

Alvin was a six-foot-tall man with a muscular build and imposing features, but now he was weakly leaning against the door like an 80-year-old man nearing the end of his life.

Although he was wearing a black hoodie that made him look like an assassin, in reality, he was a highly skilled special task agent trained by the Asian Alliance from a very young age of five.

This time, the mission of his team was to destroy a bio-weapon research lab jointly operated by various foreign countries.

According to the intel sent back to the Alliance by their secret spies, if this research was successful, it would spell doom for many Asian countries, killing millions of people.

Thus, the best soldiers from different Asian countries were grouped together into a team and sent to the Amazon, undercover as tourists to accomplish this mission.

But things didn't go as planned. Just as the team took action, they were discovered by the opposing military, and in the ensuing gunfire, all the team members were killed, leaving Alvin as the sole survivor.

Despite being shot in the shoulder, he some how escaped into the forest.

He managed to survive in the wild for two days without food or water, all while killing more than 50 soldiers who were chasing him.

Eventually, he was cornered due to exhaustion and blood loss from his wound.

That's when he saw the ancient temple at the center of the forest. Without hesitation, Alvin pushed open the door and entered the temple.

The only reason the soldiers surrounding the temple hadn't entered was because they were wary of an ambush hidden inside.

Inside the temple, Alvin remained silent for some time with furrowed brows. Then he sighed to himself, "Maybe it's time for me to rest. It's not like there's anyone in this world who'll cry over my death anyway."

Alvin was an orphan with no friends or family, despite being 35 years old.

When he was sure of his death, he calmly accepted it with a smile.

"Come out and surrender yourself. We will spare your life!" The amplified voice of a soldier echoed from outside.

Alvin ignored it and walked deeper into the temple.

'What a joke. Do these idiots take me for a five-year-old? Spare my life... as if I'd believe that.'

As he reached the temple's main hall, Alvin was astonished to find a large hall filled with strange statues and an empty golden throne at its center.

Upon approaching the statues, Alvin noticed they were all bronze statues of warriors holding different types of weapons. What confused him was that all these statues had the faces of monkeys, despite looking otherwise humanoid.

Alvin didn't dwell on it, as he had no interest in uncovering the reasons behind some historical creation at the time of his death.

He walked up to the golden throne and sat down in a relaxed manner.

That's when he noticed a golden book lying open on one of the throne's arms. Curious, he picked it up and opened it.

As soon as Alvin opened the book, words began appearing on the blank pages as though by magic:

"Sacrifice your life to awaken the guardians of the Simian Temple. They will serve your soul for eternity."

"You will inherit the legacy of the Dream Goddess and become her child from then on."

Alvin's mouth twitched upon reading this. He didn't think much of the words that magically appeared in the book. Living in a technological era where people communicated through holograms, this simple trick didn't astonish him.

He placed the heavy book on his lap and leaned back against the throne. Taking a peaceful nap, Alvin soon fell asleep, exhausted from the constant chase and running.

About an hour later, the impatient soldiers outside finally barged into the temple and found Alvin sleeping on the golden throne.

Bang... Bang...

Several gunshots echoed as bullets rained upon Alvin, killing him in his sleep.

The soldiers finally relaxed upon seeing Alvin's body, riddled with holes and sitting motionlessly on the throne.

It couldn't be helped, as Alvin had single-handedly killed around 50 highly trained soldiers during the chase. He had already been classified as an S-rank criminal by the country, so the soldiers were understandably tense in front of him.

At that moment, no one noticed that the golden book, now covered in Alvin's blood, was slowly melting like ice under the sun.

The statues in the hall also began turning to ashes under the astonished eyes of the soldiers.

Before long, the once-crowded hall of bronze statues was empty, leaving behind only the soldiers and Alvin's lifeless body on the throne.

"No need to panic. These statues might be some historical relics left behind by an ancient civilization. The tremor from our gunfire must have caused the already fragile statues to collapse," the captain said in a grave tone.

"Use the satellite phone to inform the base about the death of the S-rank criminal, Shadow, and the discovery of this temple," he added, glancing at the ashes scattered across the ground.