[This is a work of fiction, only meant to be enjoyed, not to be taken literally. We mean no offense to anyone, any organization, or any religion.]
[3] Chapter 3: Eyes of Apophis III
March 26th
XX MountainRange - Apophis Cave
Ishanna stared in horror as the massive stone door slowly swung shut.
Hisssss!
The hissing echoed from behind him, forcing his head to jerk forward.
Sweat trickled down his face.
Perhaps from nerves.
His fingers brushed against his trousers, the touch of the fabric almost grounding him.
Gulp.
He swallowed hard.
Remembering the knife strapped to his ankle, he slowly crouched to grab it, but as he did—
"Kuh-!"
Ishanna panicked before jumping to the side.
Crack~!
A massive crack of blocks breaking resounded where he just stood.
Unfortunately for him.
"Ack!"
He tumbled against the stairs, pain shooting through his body.
When he finally stopped, he didn't have time to dwell on the pain.
After all, the yellow-slit eyes of the giant dark serpent were locked on him again.
'Crap, I'm trapped.'
'Guess there's no other choice.'
Ishanna thought in furrowed brows, as a soft click resounded.
A small glint of light appeared as Ishanna grabbed the knife twirling it before gripping it.
Of course, brandishing a small survival knife against a massive monster like that was ridiculous.
But he had no other choice.
In the first place, just what was this?
And, why is this here? What's with that eye? How did such a huge thing go unnoticed?
So many question flooded his mind, however, he knew better than dwelling on it.
Twin!
Hssaa!
Once more, finally sensing the attention Ishanna was giving it, it moved.
Its body slithered on the ground, with its mouth wide open, revealing an enormous fang that curved like a blade.
"What the—"
Despite his voice hanging on the tip of his tongue, he managed to jump out of his way, however,
Thud!
Its massive body slammed against a pillar beside the elevated stairs leading to the altar.
'Shit, shit, shit… I'm seriously going to die.'
Those thoughts echoed his head as he took a few steps back not looking away from it.
Looking away and attempting to run endlessly would only doom him faster.
And true to human nature, humans abandons rational thoughts to flee from danger.
In this case.
Most would scream, panic, try to leave this place only to eventually collapse in despair.
But Ishanna… he thought things rationally.
He understood the difference between bravery and foolishness.
But he wasn't about to get himself killed.
Rationally, he knew the only option was to remain calm like so.
Panicking or screaming would only provoke it further, which he didn't want.
Even trying to fight back can agitate it, or worse, turn on its primal instinct.
Yes, Ishanna didn't see this as a mere animal, this was a monster.
Hsaa!
Once more, it lunged at him.
Swish!!
Now that its body was where the lanterns could illuminate, Ishanna saw the it clearly.
Obsidian scales glittered as the marks it left on the stone floor traced its path toward him.
Seeing its massive body incoming, Ishanna stared moving towards a pillar.
As he did, his head turned to the room.
Gold still glittered in scattered heaps, but there was no time to think about it.
Fpt–!
Ishanna's back pressed against the cold pillar at the left edge of his room.
With a straining grip, he clutched tightly to his survival knife.
As it drew closer, he jumped out of the way, to the left once more.
Crack!
Dust and chunks of stone erupted as the pillar splintered, leaving only a half-destroyed column in its wake.
'Persistent bastard, tsk!'
Hsaaa!
As though thinking the same,
The serpent lifted its head from the rubble, shaking off the dust as though mocking him.
And then, its massive body coiled high, fixing its piercing gaze on Ishanna.
'Crap!'
Seeing its stance, Ishanna had a foreboding.
He wasn't superhuman, and the knife in his hand was a fragile hope.
It was a futile attempt to find some weak spot.
Naturally, he knew that finding such a thing was close to impossible, but…
Swishh!
'It's coming!'
When he concentrated hard, he could now clearly see the attack of the oversized snake.
But then, something weird also played out.
At this moment, he was seeing double?
'...this is!'
What's more, the serpent seemed unnaturally slow, moving at a fraction of its usual speed.
And just then—
'My… eyes!'
Pain flared across his vision, stinging as his eyes twitched.
The blurriness persisted, and a second image overlapped the scene.
Another person appeared before him, and an even larger monster overlaid the serpent he was facing.
'What's going on.'
Despite his thoughts, whatever he was seeing didn't wait for him.
Like the monster he faced, the second, overlapping serpent lunged at the figure in the vision.
But the person acted differently.
They took a step to the side,
Dodging the lunge and plunging their weapon into the serpent's side as it passed.
'Huh? Just like that..?'
But just as that scene played out, the image dissapeared as well as the extereme slowness.
There was no time to think about doing it, as his thoughts returned to normal.
It was a split second decision, but he decided to go with it,
Swishh!
Chink~!
The sound of metal striking something even harder reverberated, sending his hands rebounding violently.
A dull numbness coursed his hand sending sharp spikes across his veins.
Hsyaaaa!
Though he hadn't actually harmed it, the counterattack seemed to enrage the serpent.
Hence, its body turned, and,
Unfortuantely for them, they were positioned near a pillar, and immediately he realized.
'It's trying to sandwitch us to the pillar!'
Just as he analyzed that, the world seemed to slow once more.
The serpent circled him and the pillar in exaggerated slowness.
And then, another vision slowly played out.
It was that same scene again, but this time, different.
In that vision, the person was in the same predicament he was currently in.
But instead of taking a step back,
the figure took a step forward, and vertically, slashed his weapon in front.
And that attack met with the monster lip, cutting through the pink flesh of its mouth.
'...again?!'
Like before, everything went back to normal.
'No time to waste again.'
With that thought in mind.
Ishanna shifted his leg against the ground, and at that timing, thrusted his knife in the same way.
Shing~!
This time he felt it.
He felt the knife tore through something impossibly hard yet soft, releasing a warm, viscous substance.
A loud hiss followed.
Hsyaaaa!
A loud wail escaped its mouth, as the head flailed left to right repeatedly due to the injury.
Before he could pause, another vision appeared.
The figure in it ran toward the flailing head, leaping and plunging their blade deep into the monster.
'…arghh. Dammit.'
Ishanna gritted his teeth, tightening his grip on the knife, and leapt toward it.
He knew he wasn't superhuman, yet there was no time to hesitate or doubt.
He mirrored the silhouette from the vision, charging at the monster with pure faith.
But—
WHAM!
Crack!
A tremendous impact resounded.
Something embedded itself deep into the wall.
For a moment, Ishanna felt his mind had detached from his body with a skewed perspective.
He saw his own body planted on the wall.
It was a strange sensation that took a moment for consciousness to realign with his body.
But when it did.
"Ghh—ackkk!"
A surge of force erupted through him as he screamed.
The pain and shock coursing from deep within.
His body had collided with something, his brain rattling as his vision blurred.
It felt as though he'd been struck into a concussion.
Pain spread across his back as something warm trickled down his lips.
"...da—dammit…"
Even so, from the looks of it, the serpent wasn't in much better condition either.
No, it was..
After all, it was slowly slithering towards him.
Is this the end? Ishanna thought.
Meanwhile—
Outside the cave, before the tremors.
Reeves and a few others who had stayed behind had set up a small makeshift camp.
Most of the ones enjoying the shade cast by the coverings were the females.
The males, meanwhile, were busy setting up various pieces of equipment.
Most notably, a dialer device.
Just in case of emergencies, contact the office stationed at the base of the mountain.
However, At that moment—
"Ahn~"
Someone let out a slow exhale.
He held a rectangular box that had a curved device embedded neatly into it.
While his thoughts wandered, he glanced up at the sky
"I hope Shana really does it.."
Tilting his head to the side, he muttered that, and in the next moment, he tilted to the other side.
"Mmm, knowing him…"
Eventually, Reeves let out a sigh.
He knew his best friend best after all, and though he had faith in him, at the same time, not really.
"Hey, hey, what are you thinking so much about?"
A male voice came from behind. Blonde hair, good looks, and a well-toned physique.
[Ainsworth University]
Department of Archeology
[Name: Nathan Ajest]
• Gender: Male
Model student. Basketball star.
It was the kind of archetype Reeves had seen countless times in vintage dramas and old novels.
Yet, strangely, in a good way, Nathan was actually a pretty chill guy to talk to.
"What? Thinking about Shane again?"
Reeves clicked his tongue.
"I swear I'll turn into a dinosaur and chomp him if he doesn't bring back what I asked for."
Nathan let out a wry smile, glancing at his classmate.
"So? What do you think we'll see? Honestly, I'd have loved to check out the ruins myself."
Folding his arms, Nathan lifted his gaze toward the bright sky, lost in thought.
Reeves nodded.
He genuinely understood the curiosity.
Nay, anyone would.
Several years ago, mysterious locations had begun surfacing all of a sudden.
Items recovered from those places often carried ties to history, myths, or even figures of the past.
While they might be useless to most people.
They could fetch astronomical prices.
Especially when auctioned or sold to countries with cultural ties to those relics.
"Reminds me of Jason's parents' company."
Ahhh~
Nathan let out a sound like that as he set his bag down.
He rummaged through it before pulling out another small receiver box.
"You mean that liquid gold and antique that sold for millions?"
Reeves snapped his finger towards Nathan.
"...that's right. Apparently, the antique has connections to some Egyptian folk like that."
Eventually, Reeves stood up while stretching his body as audible cracks resounded.
He looked around for a moment. Other males were also idling after setting up their equipment.
A moment later, Nathan stood as well.
"I wonder what might come out of this place too."
"...Hm, I didn't think you'd be interested in things like this, Nathan."
"Is that so? I always thought I was pretty transparent with you all."
Nathan pointed at himself, wearing a genuinely baffled expression.
In response, the mixed-blood male simply rolled his eyes and patted Nathan's shoulder.
"You should be saying that to the girls swarming around you."
With a somewhat irritated yet playful tone, Reeves delivered those words to him.
The male had already walked a step away when—
RUMBLE!
A heavy tremor suddenly shook the entire mountain.
The ground vibrated violently, small stones bouncing and skittering across the surface.
"What the hell?"
"Everyone, be careful!"
Nathan shouted at the same time as another crisp and clear voice.
It belonged to a woman who looked to be in her early forties, faint wrinkles lining her face.
General studies professor
Ferah Abbelah
Everyone immediately dropped to the ground, gripping the earth.
Trying to remain standing during such a tremor could easily send someone tumbling straight to the grave.
But…
Moments later, the shaking subsided.
Yet, that didn't reassure anyone.
If anything, it only fueled the fear that something must have happened inside.
Even worse was the possibility that the entire mountain could collapse on itself.
"Someone contact the station below! The rest of you—get your equipment, now!"
Professor Ferah immediately gave the orders, assuming command as the provisional leader of the outside team.
She swept her hand to the left, and everyone scrambled into motion.
"Tch, dammit."
Reeves clicked his tongue as he rushed toward the makeshift rescue equipment.
"Jeez… this is also why I wanted to go with that fool. Hope he's okay."
Muttering under his breath, Reeves knelt beside a rock where a bag rested.
He yanked the zipper open and quickly pulled out a long rope.
For a moment, he held two sides, pulling them. It gave off a springy feeling.
"Good... Nathan!"
"Already on it!"
Reeves glanced over just in time to see Nathan shrug into a jacket, fastening a belt with a click.
"Ree, here!"
Nathan tossed another jacket over. Reeves caught it mid-air and snapped it on.
"Where's the pin!? Someone get the machine over here right now!"
As Nathan and Reeves secured themselves.
The remaining males moved quickly, fixing a tight rope to a pulley-like device with a lever.
"Reeves, Nathan, here, don't head in too deep just in case."
Two of the males stepped forward, handing over a clip already attached to the rope.
"Right."
Nathan replied but Reeves was silent prompting him to spin his head towards him.
Pah!
A pat fell on Reeves' back, and he jolted, sharply turning his gaze towards him.
"I know you're worried about Shane, but keep your head cool, man."
Hearing the scold from the blonde-haired male made Reeves' eyes shut tightly.
A sigh escaped his lips as his shoulders eased.
"Right... sorry."