The wind swept across the desert, carrying a fine layer of sand that stung Elias Vayne's face as he climbed the last ridge away from the collapsed excavation site. He turned back once, his heart heavy with regret as he stared at the ruin below. The stone was buried again, sealed beneath the earth just as it had been for centuries. The weight of his failure pressed down on him, though the whispers that had filled his mind since the tomb were now faint, like distant echoes.
Marie and Jonas moved ahead of him, both visibly shaken from the day's events, and neither had said much since the pit collapsed, though Jonas had cast a few dark looks in Elias's direction, his unspoken frustration hanging between them. Marie had tried to mask her fear with a veneer of professionalism. Still, Elias could see the tension in her shoulders, the way her eyes flicked nervously toward the horizon as if expecting something else to happen.
Behind them, the logistics team packed up their remaining equipment in grim silence, their progress slowed by the unrelenting wind. There was no sense of victory, no triumph in uncovering the ancient relic. All that remained was dust, debris, and the realization that they had been playing with forces far beyond their understanding.
"Are you okay?" Marie's voice cut through the wind as she stepped beside Elias. Her eyes, wide with concern, searched his face for answers.
Elias nodded but didn't meet her gaze. "I'll be fine. It's just… we were so close."
Marie bit her lip, glancing back toward the site. "Maybe that's a good thing. You saw what happened down there. That stone… it wasn't meant to be moved. We need to get out of here before something else happens."
But Elias couldn't shake the feeling that they were abandoning something important. The entity—the presence that had called to him from the stone—was still there, buried beneath the sand, waiting. The whispers had faded, but their promise lingered in his mind, gnawing at him.
"We can't just leave it," Elias muttered, half to himself.
Marie's brow furrowed. "What do you mean? The site collapsed. There's no way we can dig that thing out now without heavy equipment. And after what happened, do you want to?"
Elias didn't answer, but the truth was, he did want to. Every instinct told him to dig deeper, to uncover the secrets buried beneath the surface, no matter the cost. The stone was more than just a relic; it was a key, a gateway to something ancient, something powerful. But Marie's fear—and his hesitation—held him back.
Overhearing their conversation, Jonas slowed his pace until he walked alongside them. "She's right, Elias. It's over. The stone's gone. We barely made it out of there alive, and you're still thinking about going back?"
Elias felt the weight of their stares on him, but he couldn't let it go. He glanced back at the site, his heart pulling in two directions. They had come so far, uncovered so much. The thought of leaving it behind felt like a betrayal of everything he'd worked for.
"I don't know," he said finally. "I just… I need to think."
As they continued their slow retreat toward the temporary base camp, a cloud of dust rose in the distance, marking the return of Garrow's jeep. Elias's stomach turned at the sight of it. Victor had been conspicuously absent during the immediate aftermath of the collapse, no doubt waiting for the literal and figurative dust to settle. Now, he was returning like a vulture circling a wounded animal.
The jeep stopped just ahead of them, and Garrow stepped out with his usual swagger, a grin plastered across his face as if the day's events had been nothing more than a minor setback.
"Well, well," Garrow drawled, striding toward the group. "It seems we've had quite an adventure, haven't we?"
Jonas glared at him, his fists clenched. "What do you want, Garrow?"
"Oh, come now, Mercer," Garrow said with mock innocence. "No need for the hostility. I'm simply checking in on my dear colleagues. I assume the excavation didn't go as planned?"
Marie crossed her arms, her voice tight with frustration. "It collapsed. The stone's buried again."
Garrow's grin widened, though his eyes glittered with something sharper, something predatory. "Is that so? What a shame."
Elias could feel Garrow's gaze shift toward him, the rival archaeologist sizing him up like a chess piece. Garrow had lost no opportunity to gloat over the failed excavation. He hadn't needed to say much to remind Elias of his presence, that he was waiting for the moment to strike.
"You didn't answer my question earlier," Garrow said, his voice low and conspiratorial as he stepped closer to Elias. "What exactly did you find down there? I'm curious."
"None of your business," Elias shot back, his tone harsher than intended.
Garrow chuckled, his eyes gleaming with amusement. "Oh, but it is my business, Vayne. You're sitting on the edge of one of the greatest discoveries of our time, and you think you can just walk away from it? That's not the Elias I know."
Elias's jaw tightened. "We're leaving."
"Are you?" Garrow's smile didn't falter. "Because I don't think you are. You're too close, too invested. I can see it in your eyes. You want to know what's down there, don't you? What's really sealed away beneath the sand?"
Marie stepped in front of Elias, her voice firm. "We're done here, Victor. We've seen enough. Whatever's buried beneath that stone was sealed for a reason."
Garrow's eyes flicked to Marie and Elias as if dismissing her words entirely. "Maybe. Or maybe they were just too afraid to understand what they had. But you and I, Vayne—we're different. We want to understand."
Elias felt the pull again, the same magnetic force that had drawn him toward the stone in the first place. Garrow's words echoed his thoughts, the whispers that had nagged at him since they'd uncovered the tomb. What if Garrow was right? What if they were on the verge of something monumental, something the ancient civilization had been too primitive to comprehend?
But the images of the murals flashed through his mind—the twisted figures, the destruction, the dark power swirling around the black obelisk. The warnings were clear, and Elias knew, deep down, that Garrow was wrong.
"We're leaving," Elias repeated, his voice resolute, though the doubt still gnawed at him.
Garrow tilted his head, studying Elias for a moment before stepping back with a shrug. "Suit yourself. But remember, Vayne—history remembers those who act, not those who walk away."
With that, he turned on his heel and climbed back into his jeep, driving off into the distance, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.
As night fell over the camp, the weight of their decision settled heavily on the group. The wind had calmed, leaving an eerie silence. They had packed up most of their gear, preparing to leave the site at first light, but no one could shake the sense that they were leaving something unfinished.
Jonas sat near the fire, sharpening a knife with slow, methodical strokes. His face was shadowed in the flickering light, but his unease was clear. "He's not going to give up, you know," he muttered, glancing at Elias. "Garrow will be back."
Elias nodded, his thoughts miles away. "I know."
"He'll go after the stone. Whether we're here or not, he'll find a way to dig it up."
Marie, sitting across from them, spoke softly. "And if he does, he'll unleash whatever was sealed down there. We can't let that happen, Elias."
"I don't think we have a choice," Jonas added. "Either we leave it and risk Garrow getting to it, or we go back and finish what we started."
Elias stared into the fire, the flames reflecting in his eyes as he wrestled with the impossible decision. He knew they couldn't stay—whatever had caused the collapse, whatever power lay beneath the stone, was dangerous. But leaving meant allowing Garrow to take the discovery for himself. And that thought, the idea of Garrow exploiting the very thing Elias had devoted his life to uncovering, filled him with a rage he could barely contain.
"I don't like either option," Elias said, his voice low. "But I won't let Garrow take this from us."
Marie shook her head. "And what's the alternative, Elias? You want to risk digging that thing up again? You saw what happened. The stone reacted to us. It knew we were trying to move it."
Elias exhaled slowly, his heart pounding. He knew she was right. The stone, the entity inside, whatever it was—was alive and dangerous. But leaving it buried, only to have Garrow come back and dig it up, felt like an even bigger gamble.
"We have until morning to decide," Elias said, standing up from the fire. "But either way, we need to be prepared. If Garrow tries anything, we need to stop him."
Jonas nodded grimly. "We'll keep watch tonight. I don't trust that snake to stay away."
Elias glanced out into the dark, the desert stretching endlessly into the night. The whispers in his mind had quieted, but he could still feel them, lurking just beneath the surface, waiting for him to make his move.
Whatever his decision, the entity wouldn't let him go so easily.