Prologue

  Professor Whittaker was not in the mood for nonsense, but it seemed that the day was determined to give it to her.

  She had been woken at 6 AM by a howling monkey, endured a long trek through the U'Zoth jungle that had taken up her entire morning, and was now having to endure incessant prattle from her assistant, Toby, who wouldn't stop whining about all the bugs that had bit him or how sore his feet were. She could swear that the students were getting weaker and more entitled every year, but such thoughts made her feel very old.

  'I'm only 32, damn it,' she thought to herself, 'I am NOT going to start thinking about how much better things were back in my day!'

  Toby whined once again, "P-professor... I don't know how much more of this I can take..."

  "Don't be such a weakling, Toby," said the Professor bluntly.

  Toby was appalled. "Y-you can't just-"

  "You knew what you were signing up for," Whittaker said, rolling her eyes.

  Toby stopped abruptly, beginning an angry rant that had been building for the st few days. "I wasn't told I was going to trekking through a bsted JUNGLE for days on end! You sprung that on me a day beforehand, and now I'm stuck here with YOU!"

  "You should be honoured to be 'stuck' with me, Toby," Whittaker said tersely, beginning to walk on without waiting for him.

  Toby shook with fury. "You're the worst boss I've EVER had!"

  Whittaker sighed. "Be that as it may," she said, "you won't survive this jungle without me. So you'd best start following me and stop compining!"

  Toby sighed, staring down at the ground for a few moments, before begrudgingly plodding forward, his pride ached, but she really was his way only out of the jungle. He just swore to himself that he could quit as soon as they were back at Ottocart.

  They walked in silence, Whittaker taking note of all the strange exotic trees she could see, the calls of strange birds in the distance. Even at her 'advanced years', she still felt the wonder that came with adventure, it was why she still did all this. Toby rgely ignored it all, instead thinking of all the expletives he would use while quitting.

  Eventually, the two of them reached Whittaker's destination, a monument of stone and metal in the form of a rge temple. It was decorated with many different vibrant colours and it had clearly been majestic at one point, but it now looked old and worn down. The paint was fading, and slots in the metal that had most likely held jewels at some point in the past were now empty, it seemed that looters had been stealing from it for a while. Looking up at it with awe, Whittaker turned to Toby, her eyes alight with passion and enthusiasm.

  "Look at that!" She excimed, "doesn't that sight just make it all worth it?!"

  "No," Toby stated bluntly.

  "Oh, quiet," said Whittaker, strolling towards the entrance, Toby reluctantly trailing behind her.

  The entrance was sealed shut, Toby looked on, feeling annoyed but mildly relieved.

  "I don't see how we're getting through that, Professor," he said.

  Whittaker scoffed, swiftly taking a small token from her pocket and pressing it against the door, causing it to immediately slide open.

  "Wh-what-" stammered Toby.

  The Professor sighed. "Of course, I came prepared, Toby. "I got this token from an... associate of mine a few years ago. She assured me it would open a great door—the door to this temple. It was only a matter of finding said temple... and here we are."

  They walked carefully through the temple, the air was thick and musty, scented with centuries of neglect. The walls were decayed and rotting, but the jewels encrusting them were still intact; the looters hadn't managed to get in.

  "We could take some of these, couldn't we, Professor?" Toby said, looking at them greedily. "That might make all this worth it."

  "Have some respect, Toby," said the Professor.

  "Like all the respect you have for me?" Toby asked sardonically.

  "We're here for one thing," she said.

  Toby huffed. "Oh so we are looting the pce, then. I can see that you have so much respect for this pce, professor."

  "We're not looting, Toby," said Whittaker, "we're liberating... potentially.

  Toby was naturally quite confused, Whittaker never told him anything. "What exactly does that mean?"

  "You'll see," Whittaker said, strolling ahead of him.

  A cssic non-answer from her, Toby just mentally added some more expletives to his resignation and followed. Whittaker entered a rge room, filled with hundreds of red diamonds all the way up to the ceiling. They seemed to almost glow. Toby shivered as he entered the room with her, feeling like he could feel the weight of centuries past.

  Whittaker approached the diamonds, carefully tracing her fingertips along their edges, frequently consulting an illustration that she had pulled from her pocket.

  Toby watched, confused and slightly annoyed. "So, don't touch the other jewels, but you're okay taking one of these?"

  "Yes," Whittaker replied absently, squinting at the diamonds. "But it's a very specific diamond I'm after."

  "They all look exactly the same," Toby protested.

  Whittaker shook her head slightly.

  "Not quite. Whoever pced it here deliberately hid it among hundreds of near-identical gems. However, there are subtle differences, barely noticeable details, unique to the one we seek." She held up the illustration. "I have this, a drawing detailing its precise characteristics. If I can find even one tiny imperfection or detail that matches this drawing exactly, we'll have our diamond."

  Toby frowned at this, "how do you have that? It doesn't seem like anyone else has been here in thousands of years."

  Whittaker kept examining the diamonds, muttering. "My associate told me it was drawn by the people who built this pce."

  "Do you trust this 'associate?' Toby asked, sceptical.

  "Well... no," Whittaker said, "but I've been searching for this diamond most of my life. It was worth taking the risk!"

  Whittaker's fingers brushed across a slight indentation on one of the diamonds. She froze, her eyes narrowing. She gnced rapidly between it and her illustration, her heart pounding faster with each second.

  "Finally," she breathed, breaking into a rare, triumphant smile. "Toby. My tools. Now!"

  Soon, she was carefully prying the diamond out of the wall, Toby was standing there handing her alternating tools as she dictated it. Eventually, it eased out, Whittaker gently pcing it in the palm of her hand and looking into it intently. In that moment, she knew that her years of work and research had paid off, that she hadn't been wasting her time on some foolish story. She had been told multiple times that this was the case, by her fellow professors, by several failed assistants, even by her own parents when she was a child.

  'I'm right again, dad,' she thought to herself smugly.

  Toby huffed defiantly. "What's so special about a diamond with a dent in it?!"

  Whittaker sighed. "If you had been paying attention to my lectures on the subject, you would know that this is the Diamond of Eruki, a very valuable find indeed."

  Toby looked at it dismissively. "You sounded crazy in your lecture about that, professor. You said it housed a civilization?!"

  Whittaker looked to Toby, malice on her face. "I don't appreciate that tone," she said, "I think you should learn to think before you speak.'"

  Toby was about to reply with another striking barb, but they suddenly heard footsteps racing towards them. Turning around with horror, they saw five soldiers in red uniforms marching towards them, rge rifles in hand. Toby screamed, Whittaker just looked on, trying desperately to keep her head clear. The soldiers pointed their guns at them, their snarling faces betraying not even a hint of mercy or consideration. Except the one at the back, who looked like he really didn't want to be there.

  "Well, I don't suppose you fine fellows are here to give us a tour of the pce?" Whittaker asked, her nervousness preventing her from coming up with a more clever witticism.

  Toby stood, frozen in fear.

  The soldiers cocked their guns and prepared to fire, but then, a feminine voice was heard behind them, calling out to them condescendingly.

  "No, no... don't shoot them yet. You'll destroy the diamond!"

  Whitaker recognised that voice.

  "Morgana!" She said, practically shaking her fist in fury.

  From behind the soldiers, Morgana stepped out from the shadows, her red hair almost matching the colouring of the diamonds in the room.

  "Hello, Whittaker!" She said, her pseudo-cheery tone dispying the usual sarcastic malice. "I heard you were in the neighbourhood!"

  Morgana was an old colleague turned rival of Whittaker's who tended to pop up when she was least wanted. Whittaker had handled her in the past, but she hadn't been prepared to be facing her that day. For one thing, she thought she was the only person who knew the location of the temple.

  "How did you know about this?!" Whittaker bluntly asked, as Toby closed his eyes and waited for death.

  Morgana giggled. "Oh, you should know by now that I make sure to keep up with all of your affairs. My spies are very thorough. I heard on the grapevine that you were finally going after the Diamond of Eruki, that incredible artifact that you just couldn't stop talking about back in the day, and I just had to get involved!"

  "How thoughtful of you," Whittaker said. "Well, now you have me at your mercy, can you at least let the boy go? He's done nothing to you."

  Toby nodded desperately.

  "I'm afraid not," said Morgana, "these boys are pretty brutish... they'd be very upset to let anyone go!"

  Whittaker quickly analysed the soldiers' physiques; one was practically a pound of muscle, one was pudgy but clearly had a ton of muscle underneath, one was thin but in the way that you could tell they were physically fit and not just skinny, and one had clearly fought in a few wars, being head to toe in scars and tattoos. It was the fifth soldier who seemed the most promising to her, a younger man who didn't seem to have seen quite as much action as the others, he was skinny-skinny, and held his gun with a slight wobble, suggesting he wasn't quite as used to holding it as the others were. His facial expression showed fear, possible guilt, definitely not the same malice as his comrades. He provided her with a thin sliver of hope.

  "Give me the diamond now, Whittaker," said Morgana, "I promise a quick death if you do... otherwise, things will get messy!"

  "I'm not sure I can take you at your word there, Morgana," scoffed Whittaker, "you haven't shown much mercy to many of your past victims."

  "I'd make an exception for you, my dear," Morgana said dryly.

  "How touching... but I find it hard to believe."

  Morgana shrugged her shoulders. "Well, my word is all you've got now, isn't it?" She drawled.

  "Do you even know the value of this diamond?" Said Whittaker with scorn. "This diamond houses an entire lost civilisation... and you want to take it from me out of some childish notion of revenge?"

  Morgana grinned. "Oh, the power of the diamond isn't lost on me, my dear. I'll be happy to use it to its fullest potential... but you should know by now that I can mix business with pleasure. Now give me the bsted thing, before I have you restrained, your toenails removed, and your eyebrows plucked out."

  Toby whimpered. Whittaker drew a breath, preparing herself before clutching onto his wrist. The skinny soldier wobbled slightly.

  "Very well," said Whittaker solemnly, holding the diamond up to Morgana.

  Morgana grinned, four of the soldiers grinned while the fifth looked on warily, Toby's face remained frozen in the utterly terrified expression it had been in for the st few minutes. And then, Whittaker grinned.

  "CATCH!" Shouted Whittaker, throwing the diamond at the skinny soldier, who stupidly dropped his gun and struggled to catch it.

  Whittaker quickly snatched the gun from the floor with her one free hand, shooting it wildly at the soldiers and Morgana, bullets rippling through two thick skulls as Morgana and the other two dived down. Whittaker tried to tune out the sound of dead bodies hitting the ground, knowing that the dead faces of the soldiers she had killed would haunt her dreams. The skinny soldier lost his grip of the diamond and it hurtled to the floor, only for Whittaker to catch it, punching the skinny soldier across the face. The skinny soldier tried to fight back, but Whittaker quickly kicked him down, knocking him out of the fight.

  "FIRE, YOU IDIOTS!" Yelled Morgana at the two remaining soldiers, who escaped their states of perplexion and got up to begin firing at Whittaker and Toby, Whittaker returning fire to distract them momentarily, before dragging Toby away.

  Whittaker and Toby ran out of the room, the soldiers in pursuit. Bullets rippled past them as Toby cried audibly, but Whittaker hurtled towards the light of the entrance in the distance, not letting Toby escape her grasp.

  The soldiers were relentless, picking up the pace

  "TH-THEY'RE GOING TO KILL US!" Yelled Toby, terrified.

  They left the temple, the soldiers hot on their trail. Whittaker fumbled in her pockets, before quickly taking her token out again, pressing it against the entrance and sealing the door shut. The two of them stood catching their breath, as they heard the soldiers banging on the door, yelling in horror and begging to be let out.

  "W-well, that was... quite the little drama, wasn't it?" Said Whittaker, joking but clearly struggling to regain her composure.

  "W-we nearly DIED!" Toby yelled, clutching his head in horror.

  "But luckily for you, I saved the day," Whittaker reminded him.

  "I wouldn't even BE here if it weren't for you!" Toby said, pointing his finger accusatorily at Whittaker.

  Whittaker shrugged. "A fair point. But how about we argue once we're a bit further away from the people endeavouring to kill us?"

  Toby held back his vomit as he said his next words. "Y-yes... let's... let's go..."

  They began staggering away from the temple, trying to process the day's events. Whittaker may have been far more shaken than she wanted to admit - killing two people and nearly getting killed herself hadn't been on her agenda for the day - but as she clutched the diamond in her hand, she still felt that sense of smug satisfaction that so often dominated her personality.