It was a very dark day for humankind, and the weather seemed to consciously reflect that.

The heavy rain began to pour from stormy black clouds like a thousand falling stars, drumming a repetitive beat that endlessly thumped into the hair of the mourners. A rumble of thunder and a bright flash of lightning signaled the beginning of the service, leaving a cold, bitter hollow hole in their hearts. A dozen family members - all specially invited to the event looked on with emotions ranging from simple sorrow to agonizing grief. There was a sudden flurry of activity as the pallbearers who were lowering the coffin - which was simple in its design but was completely swamped in letters from various well-wishers and flowers - into the ground sped up their work, to avoid flooding the grave before the coffin was in place.

In front of the small group, a wife and a daughter were staring at the descending coffin with teary eyes, comforting each other in a storm of grief and disbelief. The younger – Annie – was hugging a safari hat to her front as if it was a life preserver, while her mother– Alice – simply stood and stared, holding her daughter protectively under her arm.

The loss of their third family member, husband, and father, had completely ruined the two of them, and at the moment of mourning, it felt as if nothing was going to be the same ever again. His brother was standing quietly some distance from the rest of the group. His expression was that of stone as if he was determined to be brave for his hero – to refuse to show any kind of weakness. But the redness of his eyes betrayed him, and the pelting rain seemed to drain the very life out of his face.

After the burying of the coffin was finished, they went to the truck to bring a heavy marble stone slab that read:

Reybur Pitt

“Adventure will forever have a special place in our souls"

A few more words were said, and all the people left the funeral at a slow march. The knowledge that their beloved adventurer had passed away seemed to weigh them down. Only the two other Pitts and his brother remained, despite the blast of cold air that was spearing, and was prickling along their skin; sinking down to their very bones.

As a final tribute, between deep heavy sobs, Alice managed to place her husband's tan hat on the top of his grave. She was unable to speak, due to the surprise he had brought.

Rey had arrived at her home the day before the funeral, completely unannounced and covered in deep wounds that wept rivers of warm blood all over his skin. His last words had been:

"The lost sapphire statue... Annie... must... before Ahuitzotl..." Before he could get it all out, his words gave way to fits of pained coughs, giving his last breath. That was only the second time in her life Annie had ever seen her father. Alice would never forgive her husband for doing that to her.

It was too painful for Alice to stay there, looking at her husband like that. If it hadn't been for her daughter, she wouldn't be able to continue – Probably just collapsing in the rain and screaming her heart out - But, she had to keep going. Without needing to say a single word, with a heavy burden weighing her soul, the gray haired wife left - as silent as to when the service had started, words not being able to express her true sadness and pain.

Annie remained far behind her mother, throwing a last look at the cross. She never expected it to end like this. Her father would always send her souvenirs from all around the world, from all the places he would wander off to, in the search for hidden treasures… Now, all the stories of her father's adventures were all gone. A tear trickled down her cheek, falling on the muddy ground, as she turned back to her mother.

Days passed, and it was as silent as ever. The impact of Reybur Pitt’s death was deep. The sun and moon seemed a little duller than they normally were. The aftermath of it untimely demise seemed to have put everything to a standstill.

Alice’s house was still quiet, even though everyone else had slowly started to move on with their lives.

In the morning of the sixth day after the burial, a mailman stopped by her house, delivering her a package. It was small but bulky – and Alice did not seem pleased at all to receive it. In fact, at first, she made several attempts to hide it from little Annie’s curious eyes but finally buckled that evening under her constant questioning.

A single tear trickled down her cheek, but she smiled weakly at her daughter. "It's ... for you."

Annie’s eyes widened in shock and excitement as Alice slowly placed the small package on the table, along with an accompanying note. Her daughter examined the note first, stretching her neck over the table to read it.

"To Annie Pitt. I hope you will find this useful. From your beloved father, Reybur Pitt.”

“This is…”

Slowly, with caution, Annie unwrapped the package. Inside there was a small, rusty steel box. A small lock was protecting it from being opened by unwanted people, but it had no hole for a key. Instead, there was a note taped to the top of the box. It looked like a fragment of a poem.

“Make war upon themselves brother to brother

Blood to blood, self against self."

The two looked at each other quizzically. Neither one of them knew what the note could mean, until...

Suddenly, an idea struck Alice. She remembered that when she and her husband Reybur were younger, they made a…. what was it called? A Blood Pact. They swore that they would always stick by each other's side, for better or worse.

Without raising her eyes from the floor, Alice headed directly to the kitchen where her daughter heard a short, suppressed scream. She had cut herself with a knife. Limping, Alice returned to her daughter, handing her the knife.

“Mother!” Annie rose to her feet from the chair quickly and rushed to Alice’s side, grabbing her wounded arm and inspecting it.

“Why did you…“ Annie asked, tears forming at the corner of her eyes.

"Try this." She simply replied.

Without asking, but shaking from the fear produced by her mom's act, she grabbed the knife with her hand, positioning it over the lock to let a few drops of blood fall on top of it. The metallic lock soon fell, landing with a clang that echoed throughout the room. The box glowed with a bluish tint, and Annie could sense the powerful magic that was in play. It caused her to shiver.

The thick cover of the box opened, revealing a set of papers, and a compass. They knew where the compass was from. Annie brought it up to her eyes, turning it so they could check. They were right. It was Rey's compass, as it was signed with the knife on its back. “Veni. Vidi. Vici.”

Annie began scrabbling desperately through the box, hungry for answers. After a few moments of feverish activity, she placed the contents she had found neatly on the table. There were three maps, all of them different, yet looking familiar, and there was also a letter. The letter was written by Reybur Pitt himself. "Dear Annie," She skipped a breath.

"If you’re reading this then I have fallen. It feels a little strange putting these words to paper, but even I can’t outrun fate forever. I can only apologize for what I must be putting you and your mother through due to my own stupid mistakes. Be strong for her and tell her I’m sorry.”

Annie stopped reading for a while, listening to her mother, crying in the other room.

"I’m sorry I haven't been there for her and you like the husband/father I was supposed to be. It was my duty to take care of the two of you, but I failed in that duty. I will not fail in this one. If my young friend has delivered this message as he promised he would, then it has been six days since my passing. The time is fast approaching that my final plan is put into motion. There is a creature – Ahuitzotl - He is my eternal nemesis and at this very moment is attempting to find something called the Sapphire Statue. He will not get it.

It is something I swore to protect, and this is the only way I can think of stopping him. The power of the sapphire statue is immense. Ahuitzotl would become unstoppable – But the power is tied to mine as its guardian. If the Statue comes into contact with my tomb then its magic will perish, rendering it useless.

"Truth awakens in the darkness,

Wielding its sword alone,

To slay the mighty dragon

Whose heart is made of stone."

Annie was shocked. She was breathing heavily as she read the letter again.

After a while, Alice came back into the kitchen – her wounded arm now wrapped in a bandage - to see with her own eyes what her husband sent her. Annie was reading the passage with Rey's apology, depressing Alice even more.

"Why?" She kept repeating, barely whispering. She didn't expect those words to come from her husband. She always thought that Reybur was hard headed, only after his death realizing how wrong she was. "I, forgive you..." She mumbled.

After Annie was done reading the letter, both started looking over the maps. On the corner of each map, there was written something. Annie started to read each of them out loud. "Truth is the sword that does not rust over time." After reading a few times, Annie started reading the poem on the next map.

"I have the heart of a dragon, for I fear none,

From the morning 'till night I will not run.

I have the heart of a dragon, I will fight,

I will fight, I will stand up for what is right."

They were confused, but Annie kept reading the note on the last map. "The key to the treasure lies within your heart.”

Annie had no clue what was she supposed to do. The maps weren't complete. All of them had trails, but none of them were complete. The poem kept echoing in her head: "Truth awakens in the darkness". After a long while, Annie finally realized something. The truth awakens in the darkness. That would mean that the truth rises? "Wielding its sword alone, / to slay the mighty dragon, / whose heart is made of stone." The word "stone" had a special meaning.

"Hard as stone?"

"Heavy as stone?" Annie kept asking herself. "But, if it's heavy, then it's beneath."

Having linked all the notes from the maps to a part of the poem, she placed all of them on top of one another. But she couldn't find a place for the one with the dedication for her.

"The key to the treasure lies within your heart". A key? To open something? Would that mean that that map should be in between the other two maps? Annie tried to place the piece of the map between the other two. After she aligned all the margins, she finally formed a map, that would show a route filled with red signs and warnings, leading to the Temple where was hidden the sapphire statue.

At that moment both skipped a breath. "The sapphire statue…" kept resonating from Annie's mouth.

At that moment, Annie ran to her room, leaving her mom alone, overlooking the content of the box.

"You never cared about us; you never did about me or your niece… And now you do this to us? How could you…?"

Alice said barely whispering, with tears flowing over her cheeks, on the table.

After a while, Annie came back, her luggage beside her. Seeing her daughter prepared for the road, Alice turned to her with a fierce glare.

"You're not going."

“But-“

“You’re not going.”

Those were the only words Alice said, in a tone from which it could be inferred that she won't change her mind. She had already lost her husband, and she was not going to lose her daughter too.

They never talked to each other again that evening, plunging the house into a grave like silence. The two only saw each other for lunch, not once looking each other in the eye.

At night, they went to sleep. What Alice didn't know was that her daughter never gave up her idea of leaving. Silently, Annie dragged her luggage by her side, and she left the house. She was very anxious to begin her very first adventure.

As Annie was trotting down the trail leading to the train station, Alice was looking through the window at her, praying at the sky.

"She's all grown up now, and she is as hot blooded as you were. I remember that you went in you very first adventure too at eighteen years old. Please, watch over her, my love..."