[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/TOBfx1k.jpeg[/img][/center]

[hr][hr][center][youtube]https://youtu.be/yL7IRngzIdk?si=zVpEzQDXwWuBkVcC[/youtube][/center][hr][hr]

[code]
[root@localhost ~]# upload caracol.txt (“DiveLink”>files)

— DiveLink Statistics —
1 packets transmitted; 1 received; 0% packet loss; time 0ms

rtt/min/avg/max/mdev = 540.528/540.528/540.528/ 0.000 ms

unpacking… (14%)
… (28%)
… (84%)

unpacking complete.

… link disconnected. 
[/code]

[hr]

It was a cloudy summer day in Belize. The clouds above were thick and heavy, threatening to pour with rain at a moment's notice. Not that it would matter much - the constantly high humidity would make a paper curl and cause kindle to dampen. The wetness in the air clung to the skin, and sometimes made it hard to breathe. Subtropical weather, after all.

Expeditions of varying sponsors converged on a single site. Namely, Nick and Cosette with the Louvre, Star and Annalise of Voidlight, and Jaylyn with her companion Axen of Mechozs.io. The site in question? The Caracol Maya Ruins, about 3000 years old. 

Whether by helicopter, jeep, or by traversing down the winding dirt road, all would arrive at these sprawling stone ruins. And, in congruent with the reports, something was immediately amiss with the largest ruin of them all: the Caana (Sky Palace).

The mountainous ruin with stairs leading into the sky was eerily transformed into [url=https://imgur.com/zBiqZQV]CDE[/url] (Condensed Dark Energy), a now obsidian structure with rainbow pearlescent. It was somewhere here that the core of the CDE was active, and growing at an inching rate. It was here that their destiny lay.

However, as each group and member approached the obsidian Caana, something strange would happen.

A strange, purplish mist would overtake their sight, and the world would vanish for a moment. It would be replaced with a completely obsidian view under a tumultuous sky - yes, every researcher and adventurer was now huddled together in the center courtyard at the very top of the Caana, hundreds of steps into the air. There were obsidian walls made of CDE around the square of the courtyard, preventing escape. And, a booming voice.

[b]“Our Naranjo captives have finally come! Let us have sport, then, before the human sacrifice is made! Have them duel!”[/b]

Just then, all manner of swords, axes and bludgeoning weapons made of CDE fell into the courtyard. Along with that, four holes in the north, east, west, and south areas of the courtyard opened up, revealing a black Abyss below. Each hole was rimmed in a color. North was rimmed in white, east in red, south in yellow, and west in black.

The holes slowly became bigger.

[b]“Fight, my captives, fight!”[/b]

At it would stand, Nick, Cosette, Annalise, Nova, Jaylyn and Axen would either need to sacrifice one of themselves to stop them all from falling into the growing holes, or… 

Solve the puzzle of Caana, and live.

[hr]

All the while, there was quiet, gentle breathing, of a man in stasis, somewhere unseen, waiting to be found…