Chapter 11: Colombia, February 2026

"You killed me." The echoing voice of a charred haunting girl terrified me into the core of my soul.

"I am sorry." I pleaded.

"You are not sorry. Sorry is just a word. Never say sorry, if you would do it all again." The voice echoed.

"But I had to do it. The fate of humanity is in my hands." I replied.

"If the fate of humanity is in the hands of those that are inhuman, our species are already doomed." The girl said.

The haunting girl gripped me with her arms. In her firm grip, I felt like I was on fire.

"Let me go you wicked demon. I must live on." I shouted.

"I will never let go of you." The girl replied and set me on fire.

The girl stared into my eyes. I don't know what caused me to most pain: her dead gaze or the fire. Eventually, maggots came out of the girl's eyes, and I screamed my lungs out.

***

I opened my eyes, and Pierre was shaking his head.

"If I had known there would be so much screaming on this trip, I would have brought a soundproof camping van." Pierre gibed.

"This place gives me terrible nightmares!" I replied, with cold sweat making my bedsheets muggy.

"You did humankind a favour, ridding this place of that human vermin that inhabited the valley. Besides the fires gave us invaluable insights that will make us billions." Pierre said and smirked.

"How is that?" I asked.

Pierre sniggered and replied with an arrogant tone. "Technology. Josefina, Sandra, and I have used our heightened intellects to develop new technologies. These technologies will drive humankind forward. One of those technologies can detect the chemical composition of the soil from bushfire smoke. It has proven crucial for our interests." Pierre lectured.

Pierre answer confused me, and I didn't understand what any of this had to do with me. Besides, the haunting voice of the child from my nightmares kept echoing in the back of my head. Pierre sensed my confusion and clarified what he meant.

"Josefina and I developed a satellite technology that could detect rare earth minerals in bushfire smoke. This technology is suitable with the increased prevalence of blazes due to global warming. The blaze that you and Elaine caused proved that this valley is rich in natural resources. Since you killed off the inhabitants, we bought the land and the mining rights at a low cost from the Colombian government." Pierre revealed.

"So, you profit from human tragedy? How do you sleep at night?" I whinged.

"Well, the tragedy will happen in any case, due to the likes of you. We only choose to profit from the opportunity that people like you create for us. How do you sleep at night?" Pierre taunted.

"I don't." I sighed.

"Well, as moved as I am by your sleeplessness and guilt, I am a busy man. Have some Valium. We have a busy day tomorrow." Pierre said and handed me the Valium.

I swallowed the pill without a word and went back to bed. There was no point in arguing with Pierre, and we did have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.

***

"Did you sleep well?" I asked and tried to grab Elaine's hand.

"No, I didn't," Elaine replied and pushed my hand away.

"So, so. Don't argue, lovebirds." Josefina said and smiled.

"Imagine that we have all gathered again, after all this time." James Winter said.

"Don't say that Vladimir is coming. That bastard killed my father. If I see him, I'll kill him." Sandra Santiago shouted.

"I'd kill him as well. But I am sure Pierre has more sense than bringing his attack dog?" Josefina added in.

"Vladimir is on a mission for the bank in Eastern Europe. He is sorting out some customer arrears." Pierre said with a distant voice.

A period of silence ensued. We were not particularly close to each other, and we shared both mutual distrust and mutual interdependence. The monocle had expanded our minds and made us unique. For better or worse we were the only ones of our kind, and at some level, we still confided in each other.

"So, tonight is the night. Martin and Elaine. Can you lead us to the secret Guane temple? Pierre asked.

"It's not as easy as it sounds. This place looked hugely different before the fires, and we lost all our possessions in the blaze." I replied

"Fucking hell, Al-Sham. Why didn't you tell us? The lost temple is the only reason for my brother and me to come here!" Ben Yehuda exclaimed.

"I am sorry, Ben," I replied.

"Don't worry. I had Martin and Elaine under satellite surveillance back in 2022. I know where the Juarez cartel ambushed them." James Winter revealed.

I felt relieved. My play had worked. The others didn't know that I still had Pachamama's Veil, and James Winter had revealed his secret knowledge.

"Very well, James. If you can lead the way that would be helpful." I said.

"Okay. I'll need to organise a perimeter with my CIA associates. I have sent the coordinates to your encrypted phones." James replied.

I opened my phone. The coordinates read '7.1127 south, 75.9458 west'. Perfect. James had given us the correct coordinates. Now we needed to avoid falling into a trap and secure the entrance.

***

"Did you lose Pachamama's Veil?" Elaine said with a worried expression on her face.

"What difference does it make to you?" I replied.

Elaine sighed and shook her head. "It means the world to me. The primordial Zeto Crystal can save the future of our species. But it won't do anything unless we charge it." Elaine said.

"So why do you need the Zeto Crystal, and what would you do with it?" I asked.

"Well, I don't need it for my own sake. The monocle is elevating my mind, and the Harapan Conglomerate is flourishing under my supervision. You should come to visit me in Indonesia someday. It has developed a lot since your last visit in 2023." Elaine enthused.

"I'd love to come with you to Indonesia once we have finished our mission here," I replied.

"Great, I am looking forward to showing you the new city we are building," Elaine said.

I studied Elaine. I trusted her and I believed that she would use the powers of the primordial Zeto Crystal to improve humankind and avert the future apocalypse. Out of the people in our group, Elaine or Josefina would do the most good if they got the crystal. If Pierre got the crystal, he would only use it to accumulate even more money for himself. The Yehuda Brothers would use the crystal to start a religious war against the Muslims, which would kill millions.

"You have Pachamama's Veil. I left it for you when I last visited you." I said.

"Is that so? How come I haven't seen it?" Elaine asked.

"I left it where you would never look," I replied.

"And where is that?" Elaine asked.

"At the bottom of your drawer. You always pick the top pair and never look at the bottom of your clothes." I replied.

"Oh, you know me too well," Elaine said and smiled.

"Well, technically we are still married," I said and winked.

"And yet, we haven't had sex for four years!" Elaine replied and stroke my cheek.

"You drive a tough bargain, but okay," I replied, winked, and closed the trailer door.

***

It was close to midnight, and we stood at the same cliffside where the Andres Ramirez cartel had ambushed us four years earlier. It felt different this time. The last time I had worried about the cartel coming after me. I had chosen to not involve the others, and my choice had ended in a terrifying tragedy. This time, allies surrounded me. Although with 'friends' like these, I would have preferred solitude.

I got back to my senses when James Winter arrived, carrying a heavy crate together with a CIA operative. "That's it, Adam. Go back to the base camp. I will meet you there later." James said, and the CIA operative left us where we stood without a word.

"What's going on, James? What is in that box?" I asked.

"EMP grenades and EMP rifles." James replied.

"Huh, what is that?" Elaine asked.

"Electromagnetic Pulse weapons. Useful if we face any of the robotic sentries that you encountered at Lake Titicaca." James explained.

"Right. Well-thought. We better arm ourselves." I said and we all armed ourselves with EMP rifles and EMP grenades from the box.

After that, James gave a short presentation on how to operate and use these battery-powered prototype weapons.

***

20 minutes later, the cliffside lit up with alien symbols. I recognised the symbols. They were similar to the symbols I had on my Zetan tattoo. But, no matter how much I studied the tattoo, I couldn't find the decipher the password the cliffside.

"It's hopeless. I cannot decipher the code." I sighed.

"Bah, you are a brain-damaged zombie. Let someone intelligent solve this code." Pierre said.

Pierre walked up to me, glanced at my tattoo and then pushed some of the markings on the wall.

A melody played, and a secret passageway opened. "See? Not too hard to decipher for someone who got half a brain, Pierre taunted, and he entered the tunnel.

The rest of us grabbed our flashlights and weapons, following Pierre into the darkness.

"Looks like you weren't the first to decipher the code on the wall," Josefina snarked, as we stumbled across some decomposed corpses. I recognised them from the insignia on their clothes. They were from the Juarez Cartel and were likely to be some of the men that had captured us four years ago.

"What happened here?" Pierre exclaimed

"They probably died due to asphyxiation, as someone, who doesn't need mentioning, set the whole valley ablaze," James replied.

"We don't have the time for this. Let's keep going." Szymon urged, and we continued our descent.

We reached the inner sanctum of the temple, and there was intense blue light from a crystal in the centre of the room. Emitting the same blue light like the one we saw in the hidden temple in Nepal.

"Finally. With this priceless artefact in our possession, the bank will be unstoppable." Pierre stated.

"Shut up, you greedy money-worshipping pig. We will use the crystal to rid the Holy Land from the Muslim vermin. We need it to restore the Solomon Temple to its former glory." Ben Yehuda shouted.

"This crystal is South American, and I need it to develop the South American continent," Josefina added in.

Everyone started shouting at each other, and their arguing caused my mind to wander. I closed my eyes and heard Rangda's voice. "They are arguing over nothing. That's a charged replicated Zeto Crystal. While powerful, it's nothing compared to the real prize, the Primordial Zeto Crystal."

"But, Empress Rangda. This crystal emits a lot more energy than the crystals that saved my life." I replied.

"Yes, those were minor crystals. This is still a powerful one. But you have a more urgent problem at hand." Rangda said and disconnected from my mind.

'Beep, Beep, Beep.' The sound of the thundering alarm put an end to the argument. A wall opened several hovering sentry robots entered the temple. The robots were like the ones that had attacked me at Lake Titicaca.

"Ua iloa le mea na tupu. Faamolemole tuu mai le upega tafai saʻo po o le alu i le itu i saute." The robot stated.

"What is that thing!" Sandra exclaimed in terror.

"Upu le sao. Faamolemole alu ese mai le itu i saute." The robot replied.

"Fuck this. Shoot those things." James exclaimed and started shooting at the sentry robots with his EMP rifle.

"Bad choice. Those weapons can't do anything against the robots!" Rangda whispered in the back of my head.

"Na mataʻituina galuega faʻafefe. Faʻaseʻeneʻeina sini." The robot responded. The robot rushed James and slammed him into the wall, knocking him unconscious.

"Fuck this toy gun!" Szymon exclaimed and pulled up his pistol to shoot at the robot. The gun did nothing, and we watched in awe as the bullets stopped mid-air and dropped to the ground, a metre from the robot. More robots entered the room, and they approached the Yehuda Brothers and knocked them unconscious.

'Fighting is futile. The recommended course of action: Say the following phrase to the robots. Matou te tuʻuina atu, faʻamolemole aua le fasioti i matou.'

'Here goes nothing' I thought as I expressed the phrase that the monocle showed me.

'Incorrect pronunciation. Please try again!' The monocle displayed.

'No shit' I thought.

While my attempt at speaking to the robots in the non-sense language had failed, it had gotten me the robots' attention.

"I'd suggest that you hurry up to grab and squeeze that replicated Zeto Crystal to release a psionic blast. But best of luck with the voice control if you prefer that method." Rangda remarked.

I decided to not give the voice control another attempt. It was hard enough to get my phone to understand my English! I rushed to the crystal, squeezed it, and released a psionic blast that knocked me unconscious.

***

I woke up a while later, in a pitch-black room. On the bright side, I knew that I was still alive. I had died here in Colombia, on this day, four years earlier and I had been no signs of the afterlife, just nothingness like before I was born.

I switched my monocle to display infrared light. To my great relief, I noticed that the others were alive. I rushed over to the closest source of Infrared light. It turned out to be the young Sandra Santiago. I nudged her, and she woke up.

"Uh, don't kill me, please!" Sandra wailed.

"Relax Sandra, The blast deactivated the robots. Switch to infrared on your monocle." I replied.

Sandra did as I instructed her, and she seemed relieved to see me. "Why is it so dark in here? What do we do? Sandra asked.

"It's dark because the EMP weapons destroyed all the electronics in here. You don't have a lighter by any chance?" I replied.

"I do. But don't tell my mother that I smoke weed." Sandra replied.

"I don't even know your mother?" I replied in confusion.

"Josefina. She adopted me after my father died. She hates drugs. She claims drugs have destroyed our continent." Sandra revealed.

"I see. Your secret is safe with me. Hand me your lighter and your joint." I replied.

Sandra did as I asked her, and I felt a deep sense of relief as I lit up the joint. More importantly, the monocle amplified the limited light from the joint a thousandfold, so the room became visible. I gathered the others, and we left the temple via the emergency tunnel.

***

We had gathered in a semi-circle, studying the map of Earth on the temple wall. A few rough days had passed. The EMP weapons that James had brought had turned out to be mega effective on human technology. They were so effective, so the shockwave from the EMP grenades had destroyed our equipment that was outside of the hidden temple. Because of the secrecy of our mission, no-one else had accompanied us. So our only option had been to walk 15 kilometres through the charred landscape to reach the mining camp that the World Bank had set up. Not the easiest of tasks, especially not after almost getting killed by alien sentry robots.

I looked at the world map on the wall. It was an ancient map, different from how the landmasses looked today. I realised that it was from the latest ice age when the sea levels were lower. The map showed four pyramids and several smaller temples scattered across the Earth. Of the smaller ones, I had already visited this one, as well as the ones in Nepal and Peru. The main temple marked on the map was in Jerusalem.

Ben Yehuda shone with pride and spoke: "This is the proof, gentlemen. Yahweh is the one true God and Jerusalem is the holy land."

"Not so fast, Ben. This is map resembles Earth before the end of the last ice age. That's 10,000 years ago. That's way before your little religion was even created." Pierre remarked.

"Bullshit. This map is of Earth before the great flood." Ben argued back.

"Shut up, the two of you. Let's focus on what we can understand of this map." I shouted.

To my great relief, I got the others to shut up, and I spoke again. "So, this map. I have been to several of these smaller temples. I have also been to the Cheops Pyramid, and I have heard about the Sun Pyramid and the Great Pyramid of China. But what about this pyramid in the Pacific Ocean. There are no pyramids in the Pacific Ocean."

"Hold on. We found the monocles that expanded our minds in the Nepalese temple. But there doesn't seem to be any useful artefacts in this temple." Pierre objected.

"Perhaps, the crystal that Martin destroyed to repel the sentries was the valuable artefact in this temple." Josefina speculated.

"Hey, don't blame this one me," I argued.

"I am not blaming you. I am thankful that you saved me. I'd rather be alive than owning another artefact." Josefina replied.

A moment of silence spread over the group. Eventually, I decided to speak: "So, what do we do now?"

"We are going back to Jerusalem. This map proves the importance of the Holy City, and we need to find the hidden artefact." Ben Yehuda said.

"I have some pressing issues to deal with for the bank. This expedition has been a fiasco. Several days delay, almost getting killed and finding no valuable artefacts." Pierre said in annoyance.

"I am going home too. Coming here was the wrong choice. I love you, Martin. But we got nowhere, and we almost died. I need to focus on my company and improving my beloved home country.

The others gave similar answers, and as I left the cave, I was full of doubts on what my future would hold. I realised that the answer might lie in one of the pyramids.