The Tomb

 

James walked on a cold sidewalk on a frigid day on the outskirts of New York City. Grumbling about the air that seemed to prick his lungs with a thousand blades, he walked the dismal five miles to his home. His house was nothing out of the ordinary, dreary brown, well secured, new roof, and sturdily built. He fumbled with his numb fingers inside of his black coat pocket to find his small keys. He unlocked his doubly locked door and walked inside. He flipped the light switch with a soft click, and walked over to his red armchair. He lifted his old copy of “ The Odyssey” and flipped it open to his marked page. James was only twenty-six years of age, but he knew things that would astound the greatest scientists, philosophers, and historians around the world. He could speak at least fifteen different languages, read about thirteen, could name every emperor of ancient Rome, and could work physics so well that he rivaled the intellect of Steven Hawking. The only thing that James lacked was emotions. He didn't even cry at his mother's funeral. He just stared at the grave with his emotions as pale as his appearance. He sat there for an hour just reading without any sense of the of the world around him. He didn't notice the slightly lighter shadow moving towards him.

“ Hi!” shouted a light and humorous voice that was all too familiar.

“ What do you want Alex?” James asked without taking his eyes off the book.

“ James, why do I need to want something to see my brother?”

“ Spare me the theatrics”

“ Okay, something has come up that needs someone who can speak and read ancient Egyptian”

“ What, you skipped that course in college. Oh that's right, you didn't go to college.”

“ Now you spare me a lecture. You know that Dad taught us both more than what we could have learned in college”

“ Please! Dad gave us a mediocre tutelage compared to what they offer in institutions”

“ He gave us practical knowledge that we both use today, ably in different ways”

“ Point taken. Know why do you need me to translate hieroglyphs?”

“ A new tomb has been uncovered. The rumor is that the grave robbers didn't get into it. So all the treasure is still there and we have never had such an opportunity.”

“ Why do you need me again? I'm lost on this matter.”

“ The place is rigged with traps and it is a virtual copy of the labyrinth, but the Egyptians put a map in the hieroglyphics”

“ So we go in, I read the hieroglyphs, walk out with mountain of treasure”

“ That's the gist of it.”

“ Fine, leave me at peace for tonight.”

“ See you tomorrow bro” Alex said. James sat there for a few minutes before going upstairs to pack and sleep. He thought of how he and his family had worked their way into trouble. That was just danger of being a tomb raider. He laughed at the title. The movie was nothing like what it really was out there. He packed several pairs of clothes, glows sticks, a small laptop, notebook, and his 9mm handgun. He then slipped into a world of dreams. Little did he know that this would be his last night of peace for some time.

The next day he was on a private jet with his brother and his brother's team of raiders. John was a demolitions expert, Tim was a sniper, and Hank was a weapons specialist and martial artist. These men, combined with Alex's experience, skill, and practicality made a fearsome and effective team. All they lacked was a central brain, and, for this mission, James would have to be the brain.

“ Just like old times, eh bro” Alex said with glee.

“ Hopefully nobody will get killed like in old times” James replied with indifference. They left the plain and took a jeep. The baking hot sun, bumpy ride, and hard metal seats didn't make the ride any more bearable.

“ You seem to have gone soft bro” Alex laughed. James made no reply. He slightly altered his angle and waited for the next bump. When they hit it, James unbuckled his brother's seat belt and slapped him on the face. The bump bounced Alex right out of his seat and onto the desert sand.

“ Please stop and let my klutz of a brother back on the jeep.” James said with no discernible emotions. Alex climbed back in and tried to knock James out of his seat, but James moved and Alex nearly fell again.

“ Okay, I take it back.” Alex said grudgingly

“ I knew you would” James said with a slight hint of triumph. They arrived at the tomb at about sunset. They silently climbed down the onyx steps and went through the shadowy door.

“ This is where you come in boy” the ruffian John said. James shrugged off the insult with apparent disregard for John's opinion for him. James scanned over the glyphs on the small section of wall. He read it out loud translated into English to his comrades and they stared at him with puzzled expressions.

“ It roughly means that we go down the hall take a left and then another left.” James said exasperatedly. They walked and turned down the dark corridors.

“ Are you sure about this James” asked Alex with a slight tremor in his voice.

“ You aren't scared are you Alex?”

“ I might be, I have never been in such a dank and shadowy place on all my escapades. Ah, there are the next instructions.”

James looked them over and furrowed his brow. These riddles were complex, they may be instructions, but they weren't easy.

“ How much rope do we have rope do we have?”

“ Two lengths of fifty meters” said Hank roughly.

“ Give me a length.”

Hank handed James a coil of rope witch he tied to a pillar by the hieroglyphs.

“ These ancient riddles are hard to understand, so this rope will lead us back here if I gleaned the wrong information.” James said to explain his actions. The company nodded at this practical reasoning.

“ We go right, then we head straight until the stairs.” said James. So they walked for about an hour until they saw their path drop off.

“ Looks like you got it right bookworm.” said Alex with a heavy sigh.

“ Good thing too. I don't want to sit here and starve with your group trying to find my way. On that matter, does anyone know the way we came?” asked James

“ I do” said the rarely outspoken Tim. “ I made a map of the place from your instructions that you read and what I saw with my own eyes. We should be able to get out before long once we find our way to the treasure that are hidden here.”

With that the team looked for the next hieroglyphics. They found them resting on a large black pillar. James hurried to it and read. These riddles were just as hard or harder than the last. The Egyptians had given the raiders a map he thought, but only they knew what the riddles meant. This was just a way to lure grave robbers down into the depths so they would die trying to find their way in this illustriously horrifying place.

“ These are even harder. Left, Left,Left,Left,Right,Right,Right,Straight until the statue of the Pharaoh, and then follow to claim your reward.”

“ Well that is just what we needed.” shouted Hank

“ Finally the bookworm gives us some straight evidence of treasure” answered John.

Alex and James stared hard at one another. Alex fearful, James expectant. They both knew where messages like that could lead. A reward for breaking into a tomb? Hardly likely. The only reward they would probably get was an ancient booby trap sprung on to them, but they continued anyway, hoping to find a better end or what they were searching for.

They followed James's instructions to the letter finding a dead end.

“ Well, looks like your brains aren't what they were cracked up to be,” said John.

“ Shut up you imbecile and look for a statue,” said James becoming livid for the first time in years.

“ Why? You translated the glyphs wrong so we go back.” said John turning around.

The only answer that James had was to take glow-sticks out of his bag.

“ Turn off those flashlights. We will need them later.” said James. The team obeyed, John grudgingly did so.

“ Okay, I'll humor you, but when book boy over there is wrong,don't blame me.” John said with a frustrated tone. The glow sticks created a soft blue light that filled the room. The searched for about half-an-hour with no success. The chamber was large, and the corners were a bit shadowy.

“ James, I hate to say it, but maybe you were wrong” said Alex cautiously. James started to turn, but slammed painfully into the wall, or so he thought. When he opened his eyes he was met face to face with a large statue of a man.

“ Well come over here with one of those lights and I will show you how wrong I was.” James said sarcastically. They layed their eyes on the huge statue with mouths agape.

“ I take it back!” shouted Alex gleefully.

“ What does it say?” said Hank with unmatched anticipation. James read the dim hieroglyphs.

“ Look beyond your dim sight, and past what is seen. To see the greatness, you must have faith in the little seen or unseen. Hmmmmm. Look for something behind the statue or near it, it will be hard to see, and if that isn't effective then feel the corners and the rest of the walls.”

The present company followed James's orders joyfully. The discovery of the statue had set an elation within them that only a sure triumph can. They looked around the room for several minutes for this mirage like pathway, and, when that brought no results, they felt every inch of the rooms walls.

“ You know maybe this whole treasure thing was boOOOOOOOAAH” Alex was cut of mid-phrase because of the discovery of a long drop through an unseen hole.

“ Whoever built this didn't mean it for comfort.” yelled Alex from the bottom. “ The floor is all stone and the drop is about nine feet. So be careful when coming down.”

“ Genius, pure genius. Look at this illusion. The back of this wall is made to look exactly like the walls in this room. In the dark, it is hard to see it, but if this place were lit it would be child's play.”

said James with wonder. The four remaining on the upper level dropped one by one. John, the last, secured a length of rope to the statue.

“ It won't do us any good to find the treasure if we become part of it” he said with obvious reason. The others nodded their assent. They journeyed to find their path blocked by a wall inscribed with the sharpest, and most beautiful calligraphy that they had ever seen.

“ All who enter, leaves part of their soul behind is the summarized version.” James said after a brief scan.

“ I don't believe in all this mumbo jumbo about ancient curses and whatnot. Let's get that treasure.” said John. With that he maid for the stone slab with a crowbar. He slammed the metal against the ancient stone trying to find a hold. WHAM WHAM, WHAM, WHAM, WHAM, CLICKKKK!!

“ Got it!” John cried and then he pulled. His great muscles arched and swelled and he barely managed to budge the thing.

“ Hank, give a guy some help will ya” he said Hank walked over and pulled on the crowbar as well. After several moments and, strained muscles , their was a hiss of air. HISSSSSSSTHUNK, as the stone easily came away after the air block was broken. Inside was an amazing assortment of gold,silver,pearls,jewels,idols, and scrolls. The five went around the room filling their bags with their share of the goods. Hank chose mounds of silver and gold. John did the same with a few bits of pearls and rubies. Tim went after the sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds. Alex got some of the ancient idols, and a huge amount of everything else. James chose a few choice gems, a substantial stack of gold, quite a few scrolls that he covered in plastic. As the others tried to cram some odd item in their bags, James looked around and saw something that sent a chill down his spine. A huge shrine to an Egyptian god, and not just any god, Anubis, god of the underworld. In the center was the Jackal's head that jutted grotesquely out of the wall.

“ We need to leave NOW” he shouted

“ Why ?” the other four said in unison.

“ Come here and I will show you” James said blanching pale.

They looked at the shrine and shrugged their shoulders.

“ So what” said Alex, “ It's not like the thing is going to eat us. In fact I be it would sell good on the black market.” With that statement, Alex ventured forward and braced himself to pull the onyx jackal head out of the wall.

“ NO DON'T” shouted James a moment to late. Alex had pulled it off and stuck it in his bag.

“ FOOL, DO YOU NOT REALIZE WHAT YOU HAVE DO.........” James's voice carried off as a large voice echoed through the chamber.

“WHO DARES TO DEFILE MY SHRINE. DON'T TRY TO HIDE FROM ME. I SEE YOUUUUUUUU.” the mysterious voice came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Red piercing eyes formed in the air and locked on to them. “ YOU WHO DARE TO VENTURE TO THIS PLACE WILL SEE JUDGEMENT” the voice shouted. The air grew silent for a moment, and then was filled with a fierce rumbling. The wall started crumbling, the floor started splitting, and the roof started to shatter and fall.

“ RUN” shouted all of the five to one another. They made for the exit with every ounce of speed that they had in their body. Misfortune struck John as he was making his way to the shaft. A fragment of the wall landed on him, shattering every bone in his body.

“ Help me” he whispered in a ghost of a whisper. A large voice laughed, and a shadowy figure formed over John and gripped a glowing figure and carried him off into the unknown.

Half way down the first length, a section of the roof fell and hit Hank on the head and he fell to the ground without a word. Again the laugh filled the surviving members ears.

“ MWHAAAAHAAAA. NONE OF YOU WILL ESCAPE ME” it shouted. The small remaining band was ready to test that fact as they made it past the stares and saw the rising sunlight.

“ We're almost there. We're almost...” Tim was saying until he was nailed flat by the collapsing wall. Alex and James screamed at the top of their lungs as they jumped through the disintegrating portal of freedom. They ran to the jeep and Alex drove them at one-hundred miles an hour the whole way to Cairo. Once there they got on the jet and flew away from the cursed land of Egypt. Neither of the brother's had said a word since the dreadful encounter with that unknown force that had caused three of them to meet a grisly end.

“ What was that?” Alex asked in a horrified and petrified voice.

“ I d.d......d.......don't kno...know for sure, but I have a guess.” said James in the same voice.

“ I'll take the guess.”

“ Anubis”

“ But he isn't real!”

“ I am willing to disagree with you on that now.”

“ Okay, say it was Anubis, what did we do to make him kill over half of us”

“ We defiled his shrine, stole from his treasure room, and caused the destruction of the same tomb.”

“ So! The guy is immortal, he can build a new place”

“ That is what scares me. If I was immortal and forgotten, I would do anything to make myself known and feared again. He vowed to make us see judgment. I don't like the sound of that.”

The pair arrived in New York and set off in a daydream towards James's house. They stayed together for weeks until the whole suspicion about Anubis was gone. One night, about a year later, James was reading the newspaper. He flipped to the obituary page to find that Alex had died. He was so shocked at this that he nearly forgot to breathe. He looked at the cause of death to only find the heading , “ FOUND DEAD IN HIS HOUSE. UNKNOWN CAUSES. THE SUBJECT WAS IN PERFECT HEALTH AND THERE WAS NOTHING TO SUGGEST FOUL PLAY OR O.D.” James turned deathly pale. All of his memories of that adventure long ago came flooding back. Before he could grip himself, he heard a rasping and dark voice.

“ I ONCE TOLD YOU THAT YOU WOULD SEE JUDGEMENT, YOU ARE THE LAST. YOU ARE NOW DEAD.” it rasped.

James felt an odd sensation, as if he was stretched out to the point of nothingness. He looked ahead to see himself slumped wide eyed in a chair. He didn't recall having a mirror there, and then the horrid realization fell upon him. HE WAS DEAD, he was now in the clutches of dark Anubis. The clawed and jackle-headed fiend carried him off to a place off rolling shadows. He saw a set of scales with a feather on one end, and a heart about to be placed on the other. He then saw something that made chills go down his ghostly form. His brother Alex was on the end of the heart. He tried to cry out something, but he had no voice. He had to watch helplessly as Alex's heart was weighed. The scales were even, and the feather end tipped slightly and it didn't change. Alex had become charitable in his life after the incident in the tomb. He had retired and used the money to help people around the world. Alex was then let go and he walked through a pair of great golden gates into paradise. James smiled warmly at this, then he realized that his heart was next. He watched as his heart was weighed against the feather of truth and the scales tipped in favor of.........................................

Reviews

[Krystal Nicole]

I loved this story. Well, Im a huge fan of like ancient egyptian stuff. (My fav movie is the mummy lol). Anyways great write!!!