Writing story competition 111. PART II.

The morning sun peeked out of the horizon and tickled the faces of the two weary travelers with its warm rays. Both were already awake, but did not want to get up. They knew that the day they had been waiting for had come, but it frightened them.

In the end, there was nothing more to wait for, so they got up and went to light a fire.

After breakfast, they spoke for the first time today:

"Paul, look again at what your manuscripts say."

A man in his forties began to examine the ancient scrolls.

"Robert, I'm already telling you that the scrolls are written in a language unknown to mankind. I deciphered them at my own risk."

"Yes, but they brought us here."

"Okay. It's about the first level of protection - some magic arches."

Robert put some devices in his backpack and checked the list to see if he had forgotten anything.

"Listen, I'm a physicist with twenty years of experience. I don't believe in magic."

"And I'm an archaeologist. And if something is written in ancient writings about danger, it usually means danger."

Both were ready. They went in a small inflatable boat to the found place.

Twenty minutes later they were close to the arches.

"Between which will we swim? Between the reds or between the grays?" Asked archaeologist Paul, a little inclined.

"What's the difference!" Robert replied a little angrily.

He began to row. But he stopped in front of the very arch. In fact, he was scared too. He became full-length and held out his hand.

A moment later, the morning air was filled with a desperate cry. Robert took a small step back and fell, shaking his hand.

"What happened!" - cried Paul. For him, everything happened too unexpectedly. He looked at Robert's hand - it was red, all burnt.

"What ... what is this ... what happened ..." Paul repeated frightened.

After a while, the pain subsided a little and Robert began to think.

"Looks like these arches have some radiation."

Robert pulled out a first aid kit and took painkillers. After that, he took out one of his devices and went to scan the area between the arches.

Finally, in half an hour, he looked happily at Paul.

"I found it! It's here. The entrance is here."

Robert found a small place without radiation, through which they passed arches. Now before them appeared a giant statue of a snake.

"Look in your manuscripts." Robert said to Paul.

Paul pulled out old scrolls. His hands trembled noticeably.

"Nothing unusual is written here. It's just that a snake eats everything alive. It's always written that way ..."

His words were interrupted by a shrill metallic sound. The impression that something rusty, unused for hundreds of years, suddenly shifted.

Paul and Robert turned pale with terror. After the adventure with the arches, they were already hoping for the worst.

And the worst came true. The giant statue of a snake suddenly began to move. Eventually they saw a head full of sharp teeth. The snake turned its gaze simply on the researchers and, without thinking for a moment, attacked them. His attack was supposed to be instantaneous and deadly, but thousands of years affected the technical condition of the snake. Rust and old age slowed it down.

This slowdown gave Paul and Robert a chance. They earned oars as soon as possible and swam outside the arches. But the snake knew exactly where the entrance and, bypassing the deadly radiation, headed for the exit.

Without quickly coming up with anything better, the researchers headed around the arches. The snake followed them. Paul and Robert worked hard with their oars.

Robert, breathing hard, spoke:

"This thing ... is clearly of mechanical origin ... over the years ... it has become ... less functional."

Indeed, not all parts of the snake's body worked well. Robert immediately noticed that the body of the snake is constantly distorted and partially exposed to the radiation of the arches. This gave him an idea.

"Paul, let's swim as close as possible to the arches. Don't stop, I'm tired too. If you want to survive, don't stop!"

After ten minutes of such a chase, the boys were completely exhausted. But all this paid off. The snake warmed up noticeably. Robert knew perfectly well that an increase in temperature would increase the size of the metal, a metal completely covered with rust. All this eventually led to the desired result. Something knocked very loudly somewhere inside the snake. It was stuck. He could no longer move forward, although he continued to move his head and jaws.

The researchers took this opportunity and headed to the center of the ancient ruins. Something told them that if the entrance to the hiding place could be somewhere, it was only under the place where the snake was.

And so it was. The heavy metal door was in the center of the hill where the snake used to rest. And, even more strange, there was a button near the door!

The researchers hesitated, but eventually pushed it. The door opened. There were no surprises.

Robert said:

" Here everything is equipped with technology. Technology not seen before. So our discovery in your manuscripts is also technology. As I hoped. I think it's a source of energy."

"It has to be something that helps to own the world, to conquer the world ..." Paul objected.

"It's source of energy!" - Robert's eyes just shone in anticipation.

They went inside. There they saw traces of struggle and destruction. In the center, in a place where, judging by the architecture, had to be something special - there was nothing.

They were late...