Chapter thirteen
Second attempt of escape
Pete had fully recovered from the snakebite he suffered during his first attempt to escape from the land of gold with his sister Jenny. Ten years had passed since that incident, and both of them had spent a total of twenty-one years within the old walls adorned with paintings of golden creatures that protected the land of gold from intruders. Jenny had grown into a very pretty woman. She had found some writing materials in late Uncle Paul's golden drawers, which she had converted into a diary to record her experiences in the land of gold. While Jenny engaged in her daily writings, Pete had spent his time collecting golden metallic objects, which he then fashioned into weapons for war. Pete had developed a skillful personality in crafting weapons of war; he would complete each day's work and store all his finished weapons in one place, his personal room back in Uncle Paul's chamber.
Pete had essentially become a blacksmith. He would collect gold objects, heat them up to very high temperatures, and then forge them into the weapons he desired. One day, Jenny walked up to him while he was busy at his weaponry factory and asked, "Pete, why are you spending so much time making all these weapons?"
"This is not a waste of time, Jenny. It's for our own good. We have to leave this land. I cannot spend the rest of my life here," Pete replied.
"I think this time you will have to go alone, because I do not want to die," Jenny replied. "We have tried to escape several times and failed every time, especially considering you were bitten by a snake last time. I am not coming with you this time. Jenny turned and walked away.
A couple of months passed, and Pete had crafted many weapons by hand.
Meanwhile, the gods had been closely monitoring the recent developments within the land of gold. They had been observing the three children from the Tolen family since their first venture into the land of gold using their guards known as the 'invisible watchers'. These guards, being angelic in nature, followed Pete and Jenny everywhere they went in the land of gold, periodically returning to report their findings to the gods.
The gods had learned of Pete and Jenny's plan to escape the land and called for a meeting to discuss these findings. The leader of the gods addressed the others, saying, "My loyal devotees, those intruders must not be allowed to leave this place and become rich with our gold. Now, my invisible guards, we must do everything to stop them." The leader instructed the invisible guards to touch every statue and painting in the land to bring them to life, using all their creatures to prevent Pete and Jenny from escaping.
Pete and Jenny armed themselves, prepared to confront the creatures that had terrorized them and killed their brother Charley. Pete assured Jenny that if they could defeat all the creatures at the gates, he would bring Charley back to life and they could all return home together. Before embarking on their second journey out of the land of gold, Pete led a prayer session, asking for guidance and strength to fight the creatures.
As they arrived at the entrance to the valley of the twin waterfalls, where Pete had previously encountered the creatures, they found the creatures waiting for them. Jenny, frozen in fear, watched as Pete took on the creatures one by one with his weapons. Pete reassured her that they had the right weapons to defeat the creatures, as he had learned from a manual in Uncle Paul's library. The battle began, with Pete and Jenny fighting fearlessly and advancing forward. They discovered that each golden creature they killed transformed into its real fleshy form and color, decomposing and disappearing shortly after.
The creatures sent by the gods began to increase in size and terror as Pete and Jenny continued their battle. Despite the challenges, they fought on, using their golden bullets and weapons to defeat the creatures. Eventually, they reached the last entrance that led to the black arrow indicator they had followed into the golden chambers twenty-one years ago. As they approached the veranda with the staircase where Jenny had cried after Charley's death, a snake bit her leg, causing her to scream and cry out to Pete.