10
I was lost in studying the carvings when suddenly, a faint rustling broke the silence, like something was moving stealthily in the darkness.
My heart skipped a beat.
I tightened my grip on the flashlight, quickly sweeping the beam across the cavern. As the light passed over the ground to my left, I caught a flicker of shadow–just a brief flash, but enough to make my skin crawl.
A chill ran down my spine, but I forced myself to stay calm.
“Who’s there?!” I called out, my voice echoing off the walls.
There was no response–just the hollow echo of my voice bouncing back at me.
Then, my radio crackled to life, and Dr. Adams’s voice came through. “What’s your status? Have you found
anything?”
C
I took a deep breath, trying to steady my voice. “There are a lot of carvings here… They resemble the Lost Tribe of
the Arctic–the Ice People. But… I have a feeling something else is nearby.”
There was a brief silence on the other end before Dr. Adams spoke again, his tone cautious. “Be careful. If things
mattoo dangeroun retrant immadintaly”
Left at the Altar, Chased by Lies
get too dangerous, retreat immediately.”
But my curiosity was too strong. I had to see this through. I pressed forward, determined to uncover whatever secrets lay ahead.
After walking deeper, the narrow passage opened up into a massive stone chamber.
In the center, standing tall and imposing, was a large stone coffin. Its lid was covered in intricate symbols,
making it look both ancient and sacred.
I stepped closer, running my fingers lightly over the carvings. They were unfamiliar, the characters nothing like anything I had ever seen.
But the totem–it seemed to depict something… something foretelling an event.
As I examined it more carefully, a shock hit me.
One of the figures was dressed in clothing that looked strangely modern–almost like something I would wear.
Could it be… me?
My mind raced as memories flooded in. My mother had told me stories of an ancient civilization that lived in
Antarctica-these “Ice People” who were believed to have had the power to foresee the future.
And now, staring at this carving, I realized…
It wasn’t just a myth. It was real.
Excitement bubbled within me. This was a discovery like no other. I quickly snapped as many pictures as I could,
my heart pounding in anticipation.
But as I reached down to examine a stone box beside the coffin, the rustling sound came again–this time louder.
Closer.
My body tensed instinctively, and I stepped back, my eyes fixed on the stone casket.
Then, the ground trembled beneath me.
A low, almost imperceptible tremor ran through the coffin.
Before I could react, the entire cave began shaking violently, sending dust and debris raining down.
Panic surged through me as I turned to make a break for the entrance.
But just as I reached it, a massive boulder crashed down, blocking the way out.
I threw my weight against it, pushing with all my strength, but it wouldn’t budge.
Fear crawled up my spine, panic threatening to take over.
Then, suddenly-
The boulder started moving.
On its own.
No. Someone was pushing it from the outside.
“Move! Get out of there!”
The voice was familiar–too familiar.
I froze.
Damien.
Before my mind could fully process why he was here, I saw him–his face smeared with dust, his hair damp with
sweat, his eyes wide with urgency.
“What are you standing there for? Run!” he shouted.
I didn’t need to be told twice. Without hesitation, I sprinted towards him, following his lead.
Damien grabbed my hand, pulling me along as we raced through the collapsing tunnel.
We didn’t stop until we’d put a safe distance between us and the unstable cavern
10:32 AM
Left at the Akar, Chased by Lies
ད་༦ ས་ས་་ ་ བ་པས ས་་ས་ ་་༦ སPས་-༠ས་༦ ས་བ་ས་་པ་ ཅས་་་ཅས་་ སབ ས་་ས ་་༤ ས་་བ་སཔ་༤ ཅས་་་་་
Breathing heavily, I turned to him, my mind a whirlwind of questions.
“You… why are you here?” I asked, my voice shaky.
He bent over, hands braced on his knees, trying to catch his breath. After a long pause, he finally straightened up, his gaze flickering away as though he couldn’t look me in the eye.
“I… I couldn’t stop worrying about you,” he admitted. “When I found out you came here with Dr. Adams, I followed
you. I didn’t know what else to do.”
His words hit me like a slap, catching me off guard. I didn’t know how to respond.
Logically, I knew we owed each other nothing. We’d saved each other once–maybe that was enough.
And yet…
I glanced at his hands, still covered in fresh cuts from earlier. My throat tightened.
Before I could speak, a sudden rumble shook the ground beneath us, followed by a deafening crack.
“The collapse is spreading! Camille, hurry up!”
