I adjusted my hard hat for the tenth time, feeling the strap dig into the back of my neck. The lamp attached to it flickered with each step, casting shaky beams across the cavern walls. Ethan walked just ahead of me, his camera already clicking away as he documented everything in sight. Beside me, Lia and her two friends—Marcy and Jess—were whispering excitedly about the statues lining the temple's outer walls.
We moved slowly, boots crunching over ancient stone dust. Every few feet, someone would kneel to take a closer look at carvings etched into pillars or to jot notes down in field journals. I flipped through Dr. Stavros's notes as we walked, my thumb tracing lines of ink that seemed almost frantic in places.
"…it is my belief this structure, while Cycladic in foundation, was heavily altered over centuries by different cultures inhabiting the region. Minoan influence is present, yet there are distinct Anatolian and Near Eastern aesthetic elements in iconography and construction methods…"
My eyes scanned the dense text, words blurring together until something sharp and bold caught my attention—a rough sketched statue, labeled only:
Chthonic God, Upper Temple. Unknown identity. Possible pre-Hellenic deity.
"Whoa," Ethan said, leaning over my shoulder to see. His breath fogged in the cold air. "That's badass. We should check it out. Where is it?"
I turned the page, scanning Dr. Stavros's notes for a location. "It's supposed to be up in the main temple hall."
Ethan grinned, his teeth white in the lamplight. "Well, what are we waiting for?"
Before I could answer, Lia's face appeared beside mine, her ponytail brushing against my arm. She leaned close, peering at the page with wide, curious eyes. I tried to lean away but there was nowhere to go—she smelled like jasmine shampoo and something sweet, like honey.
"What are you two looking at?" she asked, her voice warm and bright even in the echoing gloom.
"Uh—just… a statue," I mumbled, snapping the journal shut and hugging it to my chest.
Marcy and Jess crowded in to see as well, their helmet lights bobbing and casting dizzy shadows against the walls.
Ethan clapped me on the back. "Come on, Dude. Lead the way."
We walked toward the temple steps, ascending slowly. Up close, the temple felt even stranger. The base structure was clearly Greek—massive marble columns, triangular pediments, carved friezes depicting battles between gods and giants. But there were other details that didn't belong. Reliefs of serpent-headed figures wrapped around pillars, bronze door frames engraved with symbols I didn't recognize, and massive urns covered in geometric patterns reminiscent of Anatolian motifs.
It was like someone had taken every ancient culture around the Mediterranean, thrown them into a pot, and poured them out into this single building.
We entered the temple through wide bronze doors, their surfaces green with age. Inside, the temperature dropped sharply, and the smell changed—from cold dust to something richer, earthier, tinged with incense long faded into stone. Our helmet lights swept across the main hall, revealing massive murals carved into the walls, painted in ochre, black, and deep crimson. Symbols and pictographs wound across the stone like crawling vines.
Jess let out a low whistle. "Holy crap… this place is insane."
Marcy was already scribbling notes, her lips moving silently as she translated what Greek she could. Ethan moved from carving to carving, snapping pictures from different angles. Lia stood next to me, staring up at the walls with open awe, her eyes reflecting the dancing beams of our lights.
I flipped open Dr. Stavros's journal again, scanning his notes until I found a section on the temple's interior inscriptions.
Language analysis inconclusive. Syntax resembles Linear A with distinct deviations. Unknown lexicon. Possible pre-Greek divine script that seems to even predate late Sumariean. My conclusion is that this is none other than the first language, one that is known as the language of the gods. Every translation and any attempt to understand what is written in the temple is impossible.
"Language of the gods…" I whispered, reading it aloud without thinking.
"What's that?" Lia asked, turning to me.
I swallowed, feeling the words get stuck in my throat. "Uh… Dr. Stavros thinks this writing might have been the very language spoken by the gods. Every attempt of a translation so far has seemed to fail."
Marcy glanced over, eyes wide behind her glasses. "That's… wow. Imagine if it really is. We'd be the first people in thousands of years to read it."
I didn't answer. I couldn't. My eyes were locked on the carvings, following their winding trails across the walls. At first, it was like trying to read static—meaningless lines and squiggles. But the longer I looked, the more it shifted. Patterns emerged. Words. Phrases. It was like my brain was rearranging itself to understand it.
Wait, that was impossible, there was actually no damn way that I was able to understand some ancient language that couldn't be translated. What was this? Some overpowered ability that I just so happened to have?
I read the story, silently tracing each line with my eyes.
It told of this story about this god named Haydoneus, who I was assuming was an older translation of Hades. This told of the love story of how Haydoneus and Persephone fell in love. Seemingly predating the mycenaean era, it told of how the two queens traveled to the Underworld, with the goal to take over the Underworld from the Primeval god of Death. Persephone challenged the god in a game of chance for ownership of the Underworld and lost the game 399 times, and finally in the final and last game, Persephone changed what she wanted and declared that she wants the god himself as her husband. Haydoneus who lost focus of the game, lost the game in turn and laughed at the young goddesses bold declaration and agreed.
Persephone took her place as the prime goddess of the Underworld, and ruled the land with great benevolence and kindness. Word saying that even though the Queen fell first, the mighty King fell even harder.
I was just so zoned out staring at the mural, when a hand landed suddenly on my shoulder.
I flinched hard, breath catching in my throat. My eyes tore away from the wall. Lia's laughter rang out, echoing off stone as her helmet light bobbed wildly.
"Sorry, sorry!" she said between giggles, her cheeks flushed pink. "Didn't mean to scare you. You okay?"
I swallowed hard, trying to slow my racing pulse. "Yeah… yeah, just… you startled me."
She looked up at the mural, her expression softening. "I wish I knew what it said. It looks so beautiful."
The words slipped out before I could stop them as I read to her exactly what it said. Lia blinked, surprise flickering across her face before she smiled. "That's… actually kind of romantic in a way, far better than the version of Hades kidnapping Persephone."
I felt my chest tighten, heat crawling up my neck as I clutched the journal tighter against my chest. For a moment, I almost said it. I almost told her how her laugh made my chest ache, how I kept catching myself staring at her, memorizing the way she tucked her hair behind her ear when she was focused.
But before I could open my mouth, Ethan's voice echoed down the hall.
"Yo! Slowpokes! Get over here, you've gotta see this!"
Lia laughed, the sound breaking the heavy silence around us. She nudged my arm gently. "Come on, Nate. Let's go see what he's found."
I nodded, swallowing down the words that burned in my throat, and followed her deeper into the temple, past the story of Haydoneus and his queen. Past the shadows that felt like they were watching me. Waiting.
I jogged down the shadowed hall, boots slipping on smooth ancient stone, Lia right beside me, her ponytail swinging behind her helmet. Our lights bounced wildly across the walls, catching flashes of murals, flickers of carved faces staring down at us in silent judgment.
Ethan's voice echoed back again. "Guys! Hurry up!"
We emerged into a vast chamber that swallowed our lights whole. My breath caught in my throat. The room was massive—wider than a football field, the ceiling disappearing into darkness above. Smooth marble walls curved into a perfect dome, and in the very center stood a statue.
My chest tightened as we approached. The figure towered above us, easily thirty feet tall, carved from obsidian-dark stone that seemed to absorb the light rather than reflect it. Its face was hidden by a hood, shadowed features just barely hinted at beneath the carved folds. Long robes flowed around its feet, clawed hands gripping a massive staff in one hand and a chained skull in the other.
It didn't look… mortal. The proportions were too precise, the details too crisp and flawless, as if it hadn't been carved at all but simply… appeared.
"Holy shit," Ethan whispered, lowering his camera. For once, he was too stunned to take pictures.
Lia let out a shaky breath. "This… this is incredible."
I fumbled with Dr. Stavros's journal, flipping through pages frantically. There were notes on the temple murals, sketches of columns, even hypotheses about the demon-faced terracotta soldiers, but… nothing about this. Nothing about a thirty-foot-tall chthonic god statue sitting in the center of an underground dome.
"This… this shouldn't be here," I muttered.
"What do you mean?" Marcy asked, pushing her glasses up her nose as she scribbled notes. "Isn't it just another statue?"
I shook my head. "No, it's… it's not in the journal. He didn't document this at all."
Jess snorted. "Then we've officially discovered something new. Imagine the grant money for this."
Ethan walked forward, tilting his helmet light up to illuminate the statue's hidden face. "Dude… it's kinda creepy."
"Don't get too close," Lia warned, her voice tight.
But Ethan was already stepping onto the dais. The stone floor around the statue gleamed black, almost like polished onyx. I moved to follow, but a sudden pain shot through my head, sharp and hot behind my eyes. I stumbled, blinking rapidly.
"Nate?" Lia said, grabbing my arm. "Hey, you okay?"
"I'm—" My words cut off as something warm slid down over my lip. I reached up and felt wetness beneath my nose. When I pulled my fingers away, they were red with blood.
"Shit," Ethan said, turning back to look at me. "Dude, you're bleeding."
"It's just… probably the dry air," I mumbled, but my voice sounded distant, muffled in my ears. My vision swam, dark shapes coiling at the edges. I pressed the heel of my hand to my nose, trying to stem the bleeding.
"Here," Lia said softly, pressing a folded handkerchief into my hand. Her fingers brushed mine, warm and gentle. "Tilt your head forward, not back."
"Thanks," I whispered.
I dabbed at the blood as Ethan stepped closer to the statue's base. The others were focused on their notes and cameras, their excitement buzzing like static in the cold air. I flipped through the journal again, trying to focus, trying to find anything—any mention of a statue like this. But there was nothing. No drawings. No notes. No warnings.
"This isn't right," I said aloud, my voice echoing back at me in the silent chamber. "This… Dr. Stavros would have documented something like this. He wouldn't have missed it."
"Maybe it was sealed off before," Jess said absently, snapping photos from different angles.
But I wasn't listening anymore. My eyes were locked on the base of the statue. The stone there… it was different. Cracked, lined with faint seams that formed a perfect square. Like…
"Wait," I said. "Wait, everyone back up."
But before anyone could move, the seams began to glow. Faint at first, then brighter, pulsing with a deep crimson light like burning coals. The floor beneath Ethan's feet shuddered, vibrating with a low, grinding sound.
"What the hell…" Ethan whispered, stepping back just as the stone within the seams began to sink.
The entire chamber shook as the square of stone lowered, then split open down the middle. Dust billowed up, coating us in a fine gray mist. From within the opening, something rose—a carved altar, its surface covered in strange symbols and geometric patterns. At its center floated a crystal.
It was double-terminated, jagged at both ends, the size of a pencil but glowing with a sickly blue-white light that flickered like lightning trapped in ice.
"What is that…" Lia whispered beside me.
I flipped through the journal desperately, pages rasping under my blood-stained fingers. "It's not here. There's nothing about an altar or a crystal."
Ethan's eyes gleamed with excitement. "So we discovered it. Holy shit, this is it, man. This is what people dream of."
"Don't touch it," I said sharply. "Ethan, don't—"
But his hand was already reaching out.
"Ethan!" Lia yelled.
His fingers closed around the crystal. For a moment, nothing happened. Then his entire body convulsed as the crystal flared bright, electric currents sparking across his skin. He screamed, eyes wide with panic.
"PUT IT BACK!" Jess screamed. "ETHAN, PUT IT BACK!"
"I CAN'T!" he yelled, his voice cracking with pain. "MY HAND—IT WON'T OPEN—"
The chamber shook violently, throwing us all to the ground. The marble floor split down the center, cracks spiderwebbing outward from the altar. Dust and shards of stone fell from the ceiling as the entire room seemed to heave and groan.
A deep rumbling sound echoed from somewhere below us, like the growl of something massive waking from a long sleep.
"GET OUT!" I screamed. "EVERYONE RUN!"
We scrambled to our feet as the floor began to collapse in massive chunks, revealing a gaping void beneath. The statue shuddered and tilted, massive pieces of stone breaking off and crashing into the darkness below. Ethan still clutched the crystal, screaming in pain as electric arcs crawled up his arm to his neck.
"DROP IT!" Marcy yelled, tears streaming down her cheeks. "PLEASE, ETHAN, JUST DROP IT!"
"I CAN'T—" His voice broke into a choked sob.
The floor beneath him cracked open. With a final, violent jerk, the crystal flared bright enough to blind me, and then it exploded.
I felt the blast hit me like a sledgehammer, flinging me backwards. The air filled with shards of glowing crystal, each piece slicing through the darkness like falling stars. seemingly seeking out as they moved through debris as they phased into everyone's body. Blasting into Ethan's head, into Lia's arm, into... holy shit! I watched as a shard flew toward me and hit my chest feeling like I just got shot.
I hit the ground hard, pain blooming through my ribs. My helmet cracked against the stone, and for a moment I couldn't breathe. The world was a cacophony of screams and collapsing stone. Dust filled my lungs, choking me as I tried to crawl toward the others.
A massive chunk of ceiling detached and plummeted down toward Lia, who was sprawled on her side, her eyes wide with terror.
"LIA!" I screamed.
I lunged forward, wrapping my arms around her and rolling us to the side just as the stone smashed into the floor where she'd been lying. The impact sent vibrations through my bones, rattling my teeth. Lia clung to me, her breath coming in short, panicked gasps.
"Are you okay?" I shouted, my ears ringing.
She nodded, tears streaking down her dusty cheeks. "Nate… Nate, we have to go. Please, we have to go."
But there was nowhere to go. The floor was collapsing piece by piece into the void below. Ethan's screams were gone. Marcy and Jess were trying to crawl toward us, blood streaming from crystal shards embedded in their limbs.
A jagged crack split open beneath me, and I felt the stone give way.
Lia's hand tightened around mine. "Nate—"
The last thing I saw was her face—her eyes wide with fear, mouth parted in a silent scream—as I slipped backward into the darkness.
I felt the world vanish beneath me. The cold air rushed past my skin, whipping my hair around my face as I plummeted down, down, down into the yawning black. My chest clenched with terror, my stomach twisted into a knot so tight it hurt.
So this is it…
This was how my pathetic story ended. Falling to my death in some forgotten cavern on the other side of the world, before I'd even done anything worth remembering. Before I'd even figured out who I really was. Tears burned in my eyes as wind roared in my ears. I wanted to scream, but no sound came out.
Why…
Why couldn't I have been stronger? Smarter? Better? Why did I waste my life hiding away in my room, lost in books and shadows? Why couldn't I have just been more?
Rage flared inside me, hot and bitter. I didn't want to die like this. I didn't want it to end before I even had a chance to live.
But there was no time left for anger. No time left for regret. The cavern floor rushed up to meet me—an endless sea of jagged black stone.
I slammed into the ground with a crack that shattered my world apart. Pain exploded through my body, so bright it felt like burning light ripping me in half. I tried to breathe, but my lungs refused. I tried to move, but nothing answered me. Agony tore through every nerve, blooming like fire in my chest and skull.
And then, there was nothing.
Just darkness.
Just silence.
The end.