The tomb

in The Ink Well4 years ago


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A few kilometers south of the Pyramid of Cheops, Pietro has made a find that few will consider important but that for him is great.

Through a small tunnel he has been able to reach a simple stone building containing two rooms that could be a primitive tomb but lacking mummified bodies or any object denoting its antiquity.

Not even some hieroglyphs are found on the walls, which makes it of dubious antiquity.

His collaborators think it may be a shelter from the Second World War, but Pietro is convinced that it is a building that predates the Egyptian dynasties.

That's what his instinct as an archaeologist tells him.

After a few days of excavation, a third round room of only half a meter in diameter and approximately 3 meters high, located below the second one changes everyone's mind, since it has particular characteristics, the most important being the fact that it has an unconventional shape, secondly, that its walls are full of hieroglyphs in nothing similar to the Egyptian, they are a kind of alphabet with a predominance of strange strokes similar to numbers and in the center of it a square bar of a transparent material that divides it.

As usual, it is Pietro who enters first, aided by a ladder.

He touches the drawings with his hand, noticing that there are no cracks in the stone, so it seems that they are painted on the rock with some kind of unknown ink rather than carved.

Suddenly the bar turns a greenish and luminous color, a fact that scares everyone but accelerates the adrenaline of the archaeologist, who instinctively touches it and receives a shock that without being electric paralyzes him and instantly makes him close his eyes without losing consciousness.

A tingling sensation runs through his whole body and when it ends he opens his eyes and astonished he realizes that he is in another place, similar but different since this one is wider, it is not round nor has the bar that caused his transfer, it also has a corridor to another room.

"Am I dreaming?"

It is his first thought.

He walks down the hallway and can notice that some human skeleton heads are in the room.

He counts 8 and that signals to him that he is not the first visitor.

Undoubtedly he has been teleported to some unknown place on the planet, which to his bad luck is also buried under meters of sand, so it will be his grave since there is no way to get out of there.

He surmises that in other distant times there were other round rooms to return or go somewhere else and that perhaps this is the reason why so many earth cultures have so much in common.

His discovery is the most important in history but nobody will know it.

Paradoxes of life.

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Even in his last few seconds, he is archaeologist first
Poor Pietro but then again, it seems like the perfect way to go for him

Enjoyed the read ;D

A story about ancient aliens, there is a whole line in that theme. A theme that unleashes fantasy and serves science fiction very well. The character may be fortunate in the end.

this is the reason why so many earth cultures have so much in common

An intriguing hypothesis. The sense of an impending event grows as the story progresses. There is a strangeness in this place. Pietro wants to discover the mystery of the chamber. It is his curiosity that drives him, without concern for possible danger. The price of knowledge sometimes is very high. The reader wonders if, in the end, Pietro feels he has paid too high a price.

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It is certain Pietro will die and his skeleton will join those of other adventurers who discovered the chamber. An interesting idea about why cultures across the world share features (for example: the foundational myth of a baby floating down the river and being rescued). Thought provoking.

I do wonder though, what happens to Pietro's colleagues. Surely they cannot guess his fate, that merely touching the paint will transport them. Will not others join him soon? :))

Wow, that would be a magnificent and horrifying discovery! Maybe if he had a cellphone with a really great connection... Ha ha. Great story, @joseph1956.

 4 years ago  

Aww... This is touching.
The protagonist has made a remarkable discovery but has been trapped by this same discovery.
So his discovery is trapped with him.
The story starts on a good note and moves at an easy pace.
I like this... Reminds me of the days of Indiana Jones😁
Thank you for sharing @joseph1956, i am glad i read your story.

A fascinating story :) I wish we could learn more about his discovery, and he could escape!!!

Hello @joseph1956, excellent post, imaginative version of the common ancestor. Congratulations.