Have you ever wanted to become an adventurer and save the world well I didn't. Hi, my name is Ally and this is the story on how I got dragged into an almost apocalyptic situation that could've ended it all?

So where do I start? Ah let's start at the beauty parlor, when I got to work that day. So it was a normal day, I got up at 5 am and went for my morning jog and ate breakfast. Then I took a shower, got changed and went to work. I work on a table at a local beauty parlor called Flower Pastels. One day my boss instructs me to go and get some supplies out of the attic and I was a little reluctant to do it because, I have never been up there before but, when my boss tells you to do something you do it or he'll be pissed. When I went up there I got the supplies and as I was doing this something caught my eye it was an old piece of paper, a map I thought where did it lead to? I took out my phone and looked at google maps to see if I could find a matching set of land that corresponds with the map. And within 2 minutes I found it the map lead to somewhere in South Africa. After work, I went to my usual hangout and told my friends about the discovery and they were intrigued. My friends had already decided to go before I could wrap my head around it, like what was it doing in the attic of a beauty parlor and where will it lead us?

Then in the middle of my thoughts, I was asked by my friend Carol, "So, are you gonna come or what?"

I thought for a moment and said, "Well, I need to take a few weeks off of work-"

"Come on what's the worst that could happen?" James interrupted

"I guess you're right" I just couldn't help wondering what if this was up there for a reason that we couldn't possibly understand. So I took 4 weeks off and bought a plane ticket to South Africa and so did my friends. We all decided to pack tonight and leave the next day.

"Isn't this exciting?", said Carlos.

"Yeah, what do you think it is?", asked Carol

"Personally I don't care what it is, all I care about is the adventure" James proclaimed.

I sighed and said to the three of them, "whatever it is, it might be dangerous so let's not get our hopes up and keep a close eye out for danger." They all agreed. We got on the plane and flew to South Africa, I could tell you everything that happened on the plane but nothing really happened except for us just dreaming about what could be at the place indicated by the map. When we landed it was dark so we rented a room at a hotel and decided to start asking about the place shown on the map. When we got up we decided to start in the center of the town. It took a while to find someone who spoke English but, when we did the discovery was thrilling.

I was the one that asked, "Do you have any idea what is out there?"

He said, "Yes"

"Can you tell us?"

He held out his hand.

I gave him a twenty and muttered, "I should have known this would've happened"

He smiled and said, "There is a graveyard that is filled with the remains of the wicked but it is said that there is an ancient crypt that holds the treasure of the evil goddess Gardenia."

"Who is Gardenia?"

He held his hand out again.

I gave him another twenty and muttered, "Greedy b*tch"

He smiled again and said, "In our tails, she is a goddess that came from the underworld to torture, kill, and enslave mankind, after years of enslavement there was a rebellion and the people that were once slaves of the evil Gardenia rose up and forced her back to the underworld- "

I interrupted to ask, "If she was a goddess how were they able to defeat her?

According to the stories, Gardenia was weakened by the touch of a virgin and the people knowing this smuggled a virgin in and had her touch Gardenia, as soon as she touched Gardenia the fight began."

"All right please continue."

"After the fight was over they came across Gardenia's stash of gold, they didn't want anything that even reminded them about her so they sealed it away, it is said that Gardenia has cursed the gold and if anyone were to remove any of the gold Gardenia would once again rule the world."

"Thanks for the information, have a good day."

As we got further away from him we started to talk about what to do next, "So what do we do now it's not like we're going to go to that crypt and take the money that would be suicide, right guys?"

"Are you crazy we are definitely going, I mean it's gold for crying out loud.", Carlos said.

"Yeah, why are you so scared Ally its all just superstition.", James said.

Then Carol joined in and said, "Ally don't you see we could all be rich, so why wouldn't we go?"

I looked at them and said, "I don't know guys, I just have a bad feeling about it."

They looked at each other and said nothing. James was the one who broke the silence by saying, "Either you go with us or we'll go without you, so make your choice."

I looked at them with defeat and said, "You guys already know that I can't leave you behind, so let's do this."

Then we just follow the map by drawing the route to the cemetery on a modern map and hitch a ride from a local, the only thing is they won't go all the way to the cemetery but, will drop us off 3 blocks away at a motel. When we get to the motel we check-in and go to our room, it smelled like rotting flesh but, it was better than nothing so we put the smell passed us and went to sleep. The next morning we checked out and started walking. It took us 2 hours to get there. Once we were there we could tell that we were the first ones to step in that place for years. The cemetery itself was in surprisingly good shape for being eons old, we could even read a few of the headstones, for example, Louis Bruck 1545-1589 loving grandfather and father, remembered by his loving son Garek Bruck, and all the grass is still green and looks like it was mowed recently but, according to the locals, no one has been up here in years. We look around and nothing is said due to the fact no one had the words to describe this place.

The silence was finally broken by Carol when she said, "Isn't this place incredible guys, it's like we're taking a stroll in the past."

James spoke up and said, "You took the words right out of my mouth Carol."

Carlos and I agreed with James.

I finally brushed off the feeling of amazement and got to business, "So where is this crypt supposed to be?"

James looked at the map and said, "if I'm looking at this correctly it's 1 mile to the East.

"All right lets head East and see if this crypt is real", I said with confidence. After walking for 20 minutes we found a huge decorative building with a huge door that was chained shut, lucky for us it was extremely rusted and was easily broken with a rock. When the door was open we felt a rush of air and a horrid smell came pouring out but, as quickly as it came it went away.

I looked at my friends and said, "That was creepy well we made it this far let's go in."

Carol jumps and said, "Can't wait to see all that gold."

She runs in and I yell, "Wait stop, in places like these there are usually traps especially when they want to keep something from being found."

She turns around and said, " Oh that stuff just happens in movies." She keeps on running and then she steps on a platform and a bunch of arrows strike her down. We all screamed and were in shock.

I looked at my friends and said, "I think we should go"

James looks at me and said, "We should go and get the gold so we can give Carol a proper burial"

I look at him and said, "I guess you're right."

Since Carol set the trap off it was now safe to enter the first section of the crypt and from there we were going down. We didn't come across the next trap until the second section. James saw it before everyone else, it was a tripwire that goes to god knows what and could've killed us. We walked over it and continued to the 3rd and final section. When we entered the room we saw the pile of gold and all of a sudden the death of a friend and the curse of Gardenia felt insignificant to the gold, it felt as if I could do anything if I just got a hold of. that gold. I could tell the others were feeling the same way, I looked at the floor and saw it was divided into three paths and I guessed that one was safe and the others were a trap. Before I could warn them they ran for different paths. As soon as they took. Their fifth step on their individual paths they both were impaled by spikes. I was struck by grief and wanted to go and hold my friends but I knew if I did I would end up the same way. So I took the safe path and took some gold and put it in my pocket. Then after looking back at my friends left the third section and reentered the second section. When I left the second section I stopped at Carol's body, knelt down looked at her long blonde hair and started to cry. I cried for a solid 10 minutes then decided it was time to leave. As soon as I left I heard voices in my head saying "Challenge her, Challenge her, Challenge her." Then the ground started to rumble and slit open then when the hole was about a yard wide a 5-foot tall woman came crawling out of it.

I looked at her with fear and said, "Gardenia?"

She looked at me and said, "Yes my sweet child I am the legendary Gardenia, whose come back to take back what is rightfully mine, and there is no one who can stop me this time."

I looked at her not with fear but with anger and said, "That's where your wrong, there is someone who can and will stop you, Gardenia goddess of evil the mortal enemy to good I challenge thee to a duel."

"You, YOU are going to stop me, don't be silly dear you don't stand a chance, here to prove it to you I will give you a free swing right to the face."

I just smiled and punched her square in the face and to her surprise, Gardenia was now bleeding.

Gardenia grew angry and said, "you filthy wench you dare make me bleed I will get you back for that." she raises her hand and nothing happened with a surprised look on her face she said, "My powers where are my powers?"

I smiled and said, "letting me punch you was your biggest mistake due to one fact."

"What's that? Don't tell me that you're-"

"Yep I'm a virgin and your weekend by a virgin's touch."

"No No, your lying I can't be defeated again."

"Sorry but, I am telling the truth I am a virgin."

"No this can't be happening I am destined to rule mankind."

"Well I've got some bad news as long as my family lives you will never rule mankind"

With those final words, I threw a few punches her way and she dodged two but, one hit and with every hit, she becomes weaker and weaker while also getting slower. With Gardenia as weak as she is all it took was one more hit and she fell back down into the underworld. After the portal shut, I went back into the crypt and put back the gold and on the way out I figured out a way to retrieve my friend's bodies without triggering any traps and then called the United States embassy and got them to come and pick me up. When they got there I told them what happened and how to stop it from happening again, surprisingly enough they believed me. When all the questioning was done I went home and we had a funeral for all three of my friends on the same day and buried them so they could rest peacefully. Now I am head of a group called Gardenia's Virgins just in case it ever happens again we have a way to defeat her because next time she won't be so easy to defeat.