That should do it. The last gemstone clicked into place. With a low rumble the stone tablet rolled sideways, revealing the chamber that lay behind. Barry grinned. If his scans were right, this had to be the final room of the temple. He slipped through the doorway, careful not to make a sound. His flashlight illuminated the long vacant chamber.
  Rats scurried away to the edges of the room. The stone floor was covered in dust and bones. Human bones. Can’t let that happen to me. Gotta remain sharp. On the left side of the chamber lay vases, chests, and what seemed to be a tomb, decorated in the ancient Greek style. To his right a skeleton lay with his back to the wall, a small scrap of paper clutched in its fist.
  And there, in the middle of the room, was the thing he had come for. The reason he had planned all these years. The reason he had flown to Greece and made it all the way through this temple. The artifact of legends.
  The Hammer of Daedalus.
  Laughter took Barry. Oh, how they had ridiculed him. Not a single person had believed his research. They had dismissed his proof as a madman’s ravings. It was a naïve dream they said. He was a gullible fool they said. But he would show everyone. The name Barry Baldman would go down in history and he would be the one laughing.
  But he was not there yet. He had to suppress his giddiness for now. Those bones on the floor and that skeleton by the wall had not simply been laid down as some twisted form of decoration. Very likely these people had had the exact thoughts that he was having right now. Only they had not been as prepared as he was. He hoped.
  He was confident he knew the characteristic traps of the age but not everything was likely to be known. The tile right before him was definitely a pressure plate though, he would bet his life savings on them. At least, what was left of them. With his flashlight he traced the faint lines of a hidden opening on the ceiling all the way to the walls. Rolling boulder, most likely.
  He picked up a bone from the floor and steadily edged his way across the room toward the pedestal, carefully prodding the ground before him. Three of the tiles he found were probably traps. He decided not to trigger any of them, as some of the traps might be gas based. Although the most commonly used gases for these traps would definitely have lost potency over the ages, they would still be bothersome.
  Jumping over the last plate, Barry reached the pedestal. He almost picked the hammer up but caught himself. Steady, patience, don’t rush. Oh, but he was so close. The artifact itself might be a trigger of something. Stroking the hammer with the back of his hand, he could feel energy swirl through him. A power that did not seem to come from the hammer but from the world itself. Still no sign of any traps. Good. He closed his fingers around the hilt and lifted the hammer. He gasped.
  The gentle swirl of energy turned into a vortex of power rushing through him, around him, threatening to sweep him away yet moving with him, contained through the hammer. Forget about fame, he could do things he had not imagined possible before. He could be a superhero, like in those Marble movies his nieces talked about.
  A soft click behind him followed by rumbling sounds brought him back to the real world. He turned around and glimpsed a pair of yellow eyes in the darkness right as they disappeared behind the stone tablet that rolled back into place. He was trapped inside now. Moments later scuttling noises began to come from the walls.
  Well, He thought, Let’s hope the legends hold true.