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The rain beat down on the man as he left the dense foliage of the jungles of Kuresh. He was a tall man, powerfully built with features chiseled from stone. He shook the rain from his long hair and cleared it from his eyes. He then focused his attention on the ruins that stood in front of him.
He had heard tales of these ruins from the peoples of the swamp villages that dotted the jungle continent. They said a great treasure lie hidden within, a jewel the size of a fist, said to hold powerful magic. However this jewel was said to be guarded by a terrible evil. It was for this reason the man was here. He had been hired by one of the witch doctors in the swamp village of Kidai to retrieve the jewel.

Shaking the rain from his hair again he started his ascent of the stairs. The ruins were an ominous place, giving off an aura of evil that made the man's skin crawl. The air was thick with that evil, almost oppressive, and it got more so as he climbed the stairs. A lesser man never would have made it up, having gone mad from the terrifying presence, but not this one. He reached the top of the stairs and paused before the doorway. The large stone portal was guarded on either side by two large statues, demons from the darkest depths of the underworld. The sight of them alone could turn a man’s bones to jelly. The man watched them a moment, his hand sliding to the hilt of the broadsword he wore at his belt. After a moment he turned his attention to the door. There was no visible latch or mechanism with which to open the door. Puzzled he went to the door and tried to push it, but as hard as he could try the great stone portal wouldn’t give. Then at that point a great voice sounded, coming from all around.

“Who are you mortal that you would come here?”
The man jumped back surprised, his hand once again going to his blade. After a moment he answered.
“I am Coron. I have come to claim the jewel, The Heart of Kuresh.”
There was a brief pause then a laugh.
“So Coron, you would come to claim my jewel for yourself. Well seeing as how you made it this far I shall let you try. I have waited decades for a good challenge. Come then, enter my home. I welcome you to Kemel Zai.”
With that the great stone portal slid open, the grating of the rocks stirring up dust left untouched for centuries. Slowly Coron strode forward, his sword sliding free of is sheathe and held ready before him.
He crossed the threshold of the doorway and as he did the stone door dropped back down with a tremendous crash, showering him with dust and bits of stone. He now realized he was a prisoner of Kemel Zai until he could find the guardian.
For a moment Coron was enveloped in darkness, and then gradually there came a glow. It didn’t seem to come from any one spot, but rather, it emanated from the walls themselves. After a moment the entire room was filled with that sickish green glow. It took Coron a few seconds to become used to the nauseating light. When he was accustomed to the strange glow he stalked forward, like a panther on the hunt, his leather boots kicking up the dust on the floor, forming small cyclones around his feet with each step.
Coron made his way down the corridor, his eyes constantly roving around, looking for anything out of the ordinary. He then came to the end of the hall where it opened into a much larger dome shaped room. It too radiated with the same green light as the corridor except for the ceiling, which was unnaturally dark. Coron studied it for a minute attempting to peer through it to anything that might be lurking within, but the whole mass of darkness seemed to somehow shift and move. Watching it made Coron feel nauseous and dizzy.
Finally he looked away to study the rest of the room. There were no other hallways joining to it, just the one he came from. The floor was littered with debris, rocks that had fallen from the ceiling. In the center of the room was a stairway that spiraled down into the depths of the ancient ruins.
Casting one more glance to the ceiling Coron made his way to the stairs. As he reached the head of the stairs there came a thunderous crash from behind him. Coron was showered with dust and debris and coughed as it entered his mouth. He spun around sword held in front of him to see what had caused such a ruckus. Just as he turned to face the monstrosity a giant limb flew out striking Coron square in the chest. The blow sent him back a few feet down the stairs. Getting up he readied himself to face his adversary but what he saw before him startled and terrified him. Looking back at Coron was his own face but that was the only thing that resembled him. The lower body of the creature was large and a mix between a spider and a mantis, with 8 legs covered in wicked looking barbs easily the size of Coron’s finger and then two more appendages much like the arms of a mantis with strong bony sickles at the end. These arms joined at the base of the lower and upper body. The upper body was more humanoid, heavily muscled but hunched over more giving the creature the overall look of a large bug. The creature seemed to be made of shadow, always shifting and moving but holding the shape of the creature. The effect was disorienting and made Coron feel queasy.
The strange monstrosity, wasting no time, charged straight for Coron swinging those deadly appendages at him. It was all Coron could do to try to avoid the wicked arms. He leaped up out of the stairway and rolled to the right of the creature. Coron swung his blade at the side of the beast and scored a hit, a thick yellow liquid seeped out and the smell of it was enough to make Coron gag. The rotten stench stung Coron’s eyes and for a moment he could not see through his own tears. The beast was completely enraged now and swung its deadly sickles, narrowly missing Coron's chest as he stumbled backwards and feel to the ground. His sword loosed from his group and slid across the stone floor coming to a rest a good 10 feet away. The creature realized its opportunity and leaped atop Coron. It then swung down the sickles in a deadly arch, aiming to tear the heart right out of Coron’s chest. Coron caught the arms of the creature and held them firm, using every ounce of his strength to keep those nasty blades from piercing him. The Creature then started beating Coron with its two foremost legs, raking those lethal barbs across his skin stripping the flesh from the bone. Coron let out a frenzied cry and heaved the creature up by its two arms. The creature was startled and lost its balance tumbling over to smack the stone floor. Coron leaped to his feet and dove for his sword, catching it in his hand and rolling up into a defensive position. Seeing the beast was still stunned he charged straight for it leaping into the air and landing on the side of the creature. Coron started thrusting his blade madly into the creatures exposed side, tearing out massive strips of flesh. The yellow blood flew everywhere, coating Coron and stinging his eyes, but still he did not stop. Finally the creature threw Coron off with such a force that he flew across the room and smacked the wall rather hard before hitting the floor. The creature pulled itself up but wobbled due to the heavy damage it had taken and the amount of blood that flowed from it’s many cuts and gouges. It staggered towards Coron, who was pulling himself up from the floor, to stand ready against the beast’s onslaught. Upon seeing the condition of the beast, however, Coron took the initiative and started running towards the beast. He sprang into the air with a mighty leap and brought his sword down hard, driving it through the creature’s head with such a force that it almost tore its head completely from its body. Coron hit the floor and rolled away, his sword still lodged in the creature’s skull. The mighty beast reeled and clawed at its head attempting to dislodge the blade but it was to late, the creature collapsed to the ground, still writhing and twitching. After a few moments the creature went still the last of its lifeblood flowing from its veins. Then there was a great hiss of smoke from the beast’s remains as it started to dissolve. In a matter of seconds there was nothing left of the beast. Coron’s blade lay on the ground where the beast had been. The only signs of the struggle were the damage that Coron had received and the dried yellow blood that was still on his sword. He walked over to where his blade lay and picked it up. Coron spent a moment attempting to clean the nasty yellow blood from his blade but gave up, as the blood seemed almost burnt into the metal.
Coron sheathed the blade then and strode towards the stairs where the encounter had originally begun. Taking a moment to look around again Coron made sure there was nothing more in the room. Satisfied he started his descent. The sick green light was present at the bottom of the landing as well, bathing everything with its pale glow. Coron stopped at the foot of the steps and looked around, he stood in a hallway, how long it was he couldn’t tell but he could not see the end. Seeing nothing to concern him Coron drew in a breath and made his way down the hall. The battle frenzy was starting to wear off and he became aware of the tears of his flesh and the burning they brought, but not concerned with it he continued on. Time lost all meaning as Coron walked down in that seemingly endless hallway the shifting green light playing tricks on his eyes, and the silence befuddling his mind. Coron would stop every so often, swearing he heard the footsteps of something large, but as he would turn to look he would see nothing.
Finally, up ahead the light seemed to get brighter as Coron marched forward. The hall opened up into another large circular room, the lighting in here was brighter and had more a red tinge too it, mixed with the green light that emanated from the walls. The source of the light came from the center of the room where there was a raised dais. Atop the dais was a stone pedestal with a large spherical jewel set in the center. The jewel was easily the size of Coron’s fist, the red light shining forth from it. The whole room was illuminated and Coron could see that there was nothing in the room to stop him from taking the jewel. He walked toward the dais to claim his prize when, from behind him came the sound of monstrous footsteps. Coron swung around, freeing his blade from it scabbard and stood at the ready. Through the hall and into the room came crashing two great beings, shaking the room as they came charging in. Coron realized with a start that they looked exactly like the statues that stood guard outside of the ruins.
The stopped just inside the doorway and stood there watching Coron, their lifeless eyes piercing Coron’s very soul sending a shiver down his spine. Then came the great voice that Coron had heard when outside of the ruins.
“I see now Coron that you are indeed strong, for you have made it past my guardian. Not an easy task I’m sure, even now you amaze me as you still stand while the poison from my beast courses through your veins.”
Coron replied in a deep guttural tone,
“I will not fall to some beast from hell or it’s poison, but I shall take the jewel and use its magic to free my body from this venom.”
As Coron said that one of the great demon statues walked around him and but itself between Coron and the dais that held his prize. Then the great voice responded.
“Those are strong words coming from one in such a weakened state. I cannot simply let you walk out of here with my prize, you see the jewel is so much more then you think. It holds my very essence. It is my life force. I bound my soul to that jewel while on my deathbed, the jewel itself is made from my blood. To take it from this place would be my doom and I cannot allow that.”
Coron was now enraged and screamed his fury.
“I care not for any of that, foul sorcerer. I shall take the jewel and relieve this world of your terrible presence for good.”
But as Coron was talking he could feel the poison start to take its toll. He was starting to get weaker and knew that he would have to finish the fight quickly, lest he collapse and allow the evil mage his conquest. The two stone demons started to close in on Coron, reaching out with their great stone arms to slowly crush the remaining life from his body. Coron rolled off to the side to avoid the crushing grip of the Stone giants. He then lunged at the first swinging his sword with all the might he could muster. The blade glanced off the side of the stone behemoth, showering Coron with sparks. The blow did nothing to the great beast though and it reached out and grabbed Coron by his free arm lifting him off the ground. Coron swung his sword madly at the demons face but each time the blade just sparked and glanced off the stone visage, barely scratching the surface. Desperately Coron thrust his sword into the eye of the great demon. The blade bit deep and held firm in the creature’s eye. The Demon screeched and let go or Coron but Coron held onto his blade that was still lodged in the eye of the Stone demon, but noticed the second stone goliath closing on the two. The second demon pulled back and swung at the two combatants. Coron released his grip on the sword and dropped to the floor just as the massive fist crashed into the face of the first demon. The thunderous blow shattered the face of the first demon and sent Coron’s sword flying out to land on the dais next to the Heart. Coron picked himself up off the floor and saw that the blow dealt to the first demon had done nothing to stop the creature, for even without it’s head the demon still worked to end the life of the great warrior. The two demons were now advancing on Coron again. The poison was starting to wear Coron down, he could feel himself getting light headed and slowing down. In a desperate attempt to reclaim his weapon he lunged at the dais but the poison had affected his sense of balance and instead he crashed into the pedestal that held the jewel, sending it flying across the room. The Heart hit the wall with a tremendous force and shattered on the impact, being reduced to a few small shards and dust. Coron picked himself up slowly and looked in the direction where the jewel shattered. Then from behind him, Coron heard the two stone demons screech. He turned around to see the two creatures collapsing to the ground in a pile of rubble. Coron was also suddenly aware that poison was not affecting his body, as it was tied to the jewel like the two stone demons.
Coron retrieved his sword from the ground and sheathed it. He then walked over to what remained of the jewel and collected it in a pouch he wore at his belt. No sooner had he finished scooping what remained of the jewel the ground rocked violently causing a shower of dust and debris to fall from the ceiling, pelting the great warrior. Coron stood there for a moment in puzzlement when the ground gave another heave. He realized that the great ruin was collapsing in on itself. Without another seconds hesitation Coron raced out of the room, running down the hall to reach the stairs leading up, all the while dust and rocks were raining down on the warrior’s body. Soon the sweat begin to cover the body of the warrior and the dirt from the ceiling was sticking to him like a second skin, his lungs started to burn from the running, he made it to the stairs and raced up. Then behind him was a thunderous crash as the tunnel below collapsed sending out great clouds of dust that engulfed the warrior but he was not clear yet. A large chunk of the ceiling had fallen causing the tunnel to collapse below and now more of the ceiling was following. Coron raced through the room and down the corridor. He could see the light ahead coming from outside, as the doors now lay on the floor on either side of the opening, probably collapsing at the first tremor. Coron burst through the opening and dove landing halfway down the stairs and rolling the rest of the way, landing in the wet jungle grass with a thud. He stood up and turned to witness the rest of the ruin collapse on itself with thunderous crash, spewing out great clouds of dust and rock.
Coron stood there a few moments watching as the dust settled. The ruins of Kemel Zai were no more. Coron brushed off what dust he could from his sweat soaked body and then turned and disappeared in the trees of the jungle, heading back to the village to claim his reward.