"I can hardly believe we found it." Said a staggered and amazed John, pulling the rag from the lower half of his face, revealing the clean skin around his jaw - a staunch contrast to the rest of his dirty features.
"I told you it’d be in here, the legends aren’t just children’s tales you know John." Elizabeth’s voice was softer than John’s, but her delicate skin was just as filthy.
Hunched over what John had in his hands, they studied its surface. The jewel in the center had a sheen and luminance so royally blue, it was as if it had been polished everyday for millennia, not lying in a tomb.
"Well, the first part of the story is true. The Pharaoh’s Amulet does exist. If the second part is true, I’ll eat my ruddy hat." John looked up at Elizabeth with a vivacious and self sure smirk.
"If only you had
knowledge as bountiful as your arrogance, my dear John."
~
"Is this it?" Demanded John, with deflation in his voice. "This is The
Assassin’s Crypt? This is what we've been traipsing around the desert for?" Before them was a circular slab of stone in the sand, no bigger than a wagon wheel.
"John, my love, you must learn to look before you cast doubt." Elizabeth said in a patronizing tone, bending over to dust off the slab. Underneath the sand, there was a network of intricate etchings in the stone, that all seemed to gesture towards the center, where there was a deep, peculiarly shaped gouge.
"It seems a mere layer of sand was enough of a
disguise to throw you off the scent." She said, smiling over her shoulder at an embarrassed John.
"Enough mocking, what does it say?" He questioned excitedly.
"Here shall Ptah be cursed to roam for an eternity. Let this be a demonstration to those who defy the Pharaoh." Elizabeth read, whilst pressing the amulet into the gouge. It was as if she was taught how to open the seal. The slab rotated and split into two, revealing a staircase. The sand poured in before settling.
"Lizzy! How did you–" John’s question was cut short by the presence of a
blade at his throat – with Elizabeth at the hilt.
"Sorry John." Were the last words that John would hear before his demise at the tip of his spouse’s dagger. Elizabeth turned and walked remorselessly into the crypt, sheathing her blade. She descended the stairs, before walking into the small and dusty room at the bottom, holding the amulet in front of her like a torch.
"Ptah! Rise, my ancestor, my
creed brother! The creed has been preserved, the prophecy fulfilled! The power of the Pharaoh’s Amulet has broken the seal, and you are freed of your curse." There was a crumbling, cracking, and then groaning noise in the darkness.
And thus, the
Age of Assassins was reborn.
TotW 138: Age of Assassins - SUBMISSIONS
