Winter Legacy -28-

A few weeks later found Claus back in Egypt, his work was incomplete. He met with the contact again and traded the man some food for some information. It was a fair trade, Claus figured, at least the man didn't ask him for money he didn't have.

Claus was not at all amused though, when he found that he would have to go into another pyramid in search of another relic. 

The Great Pyramid was given the name for a reason, Claus was not sure how long he would be wandering around in the darkness, but he hoped that it would not be long. Jaylee had come to Egypt with him, but without having her beside him, he couldn't help but miss her terribly.

Claus read the hieroglyphs and managed to open the door and gain entrance to the pyramid. The Relic of Eternity, the third and final relic. That is what he was after, he wondered what will happen when he finally found the relic, would Tahiya Shalut send him on another mission, or will his days of snooping around for her be done? What would MorcuCorp do? Would they allow him to leave peacefully or would they hunt him down? 

The skeletons in the passageway were disheartening but Claus knew he had to press on. He was too close to the end now to back out. 

"Oh beautiful, fire." Claus said when he found the first set of traps. He averted them quickly and went to the door that didn't have a lock on it. In the room he found the keystone.

Claus inserted the keystone into the wall and the chains fell away from the door.

Claus frowned, he had entered a room that was filled with tombstones, he had never encountered so many. He did what he had to do with haste and then moved to the next room.

By the time Claus got to a room that was big enough for him to set up his tent, he had no idea what time of the day it was, he only knew that his body was tired and his eyelids were heavy.

Claus did not rest again until he had a mishap with some traps that drained him. His mind drifted back to Jaylee, although he was distracted and didn't think about her, there was always a pang of loneliness that stuck with him for some time.

Claus soon found himself in a room where he encountered his first sarcophagus. He peeked inside to see if there was a mummy in there but to his disappointment it was empty, except for another keystone.

The keystone opened the door to yet another corridor which contained quite an odd room for a centuries old tome. A bathroom with plumbing. "Odd." Claus made a mental note to ask Tahiya about this.

The same corridor the bathroom was in led to another strange room, this one held a pond and lush green plants. Claus looked up and was not at all surprised to see that there was no sun. "What the hell is going on in this tome?" He wondered aloud.

Claus traveled and traveled until he couldn't go any deeper into the tome. "The hell is this?" He shouted, completely exasperated. There was a boulder between Claus and the door and he could not find another secret switch or any other way around it. 

Just like that Claus' adventure had come to an abrupt end. There was note scribbled and stuck beside the boulder, saying that a magical item from China may be needed to move the boulder. 

Claus sighed, he was exhausted anyway and he missed Jaylee. He needed the break, he would go home and then decide what he would do next. He knew that Jaylee would greatly enjoy a trip to China.

When Claus arrived at Base Camp, the place was bustling with activity. He squinted at the sun but was still unable to tell what time it was. A text message from Tahiya told him to look for a certain Liang Yat Sen who may have some information on the item he needed from China. He immediately sought the man out. After he wrote down some information from Laing, he turned to Jaylee who had been following him silently for some time, waiting to be acknowledged. 

"Are you ready?" He asked before she could start ragging on him for taking so long to give her some attention.

She grinned. "I'll go change now."

The wedding was a last minute decision. Claus had suggested getting married on the day they left home, Jaylee had only enough time to fling one of her favorite kimonos into her suitcase. She had asked him dozens of times if he was sure, none of their family was there, not even on friend.

"I've got all I need right here." Claus assured her. "And I don't want to wait any longer." 

But he had to wait, he had to wait until he found Tahiya's contact, and until he was done wandering around in some tome.

Claus would be heading home later that same day with Mrs. Claus Winter. He hoped that Jaylee hadn't already stolen the information from his head, but they would be moving into his parents' house. His bills were piling up as he was hardly ever home to pay them. As far as Claus was concerned, he only needed a place to sleep while he was in Sunset Valley resting between adventures.