The Chamber of Aphrodite

Jane was having the time of her life. The sweat sheened on her, glisteningly realistic, as she'd bounded through the jungle, climbed ledges, taken aim at wolves with her handguns, and had been having the time of her life. She finally came up the slope of the ziggurat, noticing a passage that went up to a pair of great stone doors.

She walked up to them, feeling them loom over her, ancient and worn. Carved into the door was a great mural of a beautiful deity, men bowing down to her at her feet. Inscriptions were laid into the door in Latin, in some places illegible due to the wearing down with age. To Jane's immense surprise, she found it was legible, and orange text floated in the corner of her vision as the tutorial pop-up appeared. 'THE WONDEROUS CYBERTECH SYSTEM ALLOWS YOUR BRAIN TO TEMPORARILY BE ALTERED TO GAIN NEW SKILLS'. Well, that was concerning in the wrong hands, but right now... Jane could only grin. She was an adventurer archaeologist, of course she knew Latin.

"Great rewards may be found here in the Chamber of Aphrodite, the Power of the Goddess of Beauty," she read aloud. "Answer honestly questions three, and the deity may deign to give her favour. But take c-" She cut off as the mural faded into illegibility. Some kind of riddle? Perhaps three puzzles to reach the treasure, that seemed like a Tomb Raider game.

But as the doors creaked open, with an ominous thud, she found herself in a dim chamber, illuminated with faint blue light as if from nowhere. In the middle of the room was a small stone dais, standing before an enormous statue of the goddess of beauty, Aphrodite. Looking around, Jane saw no levers, or buttons, or anything to push and pull. Perhaps she should...

As she climbed onto the dais, blue light flared brighter, and she found herself shielding her eyes as the statue blazed with light, a deep echoing woman's voice reciting hammy 90s adventure game dialogue. "You! Jane Douglas! You come to the Chamber of Aphrodite! Are you prepared for the challenge ahead? Of the three honest questions?"

Well, this wasn't what she expected. "Uh... yes, sure," Jane said casually, talking like a gamer playing a game rather than sounding like she'd grasped the gravity of what some perverse developer had programmed this game to do. The orange text flickered in her vision again. 'THE SAME WONDEROUS CYBERTECH SYSTEM ALLOWS GAMES TO PENALISE THE PLAYER BY CUTTING THEM OFF FROM SKILLS AND ABILITIES: IN THIS CASE, YOU LITERALLY WILL BE UNABLE TO LIE.' Jane cursed internally. Of course someone'd **** it, this seemed a bit over the line... but maybe if it aided the game experience, she could overlook it a bit?

"Very well, Jane Douglas. If I like your answers, you will receive my boon. If I dislike them, you may also receive a..." The voice paused menacingly. "A boon." Jane audible gulped.