We Start at the End [Inactive]

[Lillian Gray]

Tessa had gone mad with pain. She couldn't move, and even when she did it was only to wince in pain. Which caused her to seize up, and continue to let tremors of pain ripple through her body. Over and over again.


Lance wasn't coming back for her, she knew that much. She'd told him to run so if the guy knew what was best for him, he'd do it. By himself, he had a much better survival rate. Time had passed too quickly for them this time, and it was her downfall.


I don't want to die this way.





She could feel it, her insides turning to mush. Every so often she coughed up a large chunk of what should've remained inside her body. Tessa stopped looking, it was too much. There was so much blood, she wondered which would kill her first now. Would the poison rot her first, or would blood loss get to her first?


I don't want to die alone.





Tessa teared up. She regretted sending him away. Now she would die. With her own blood she wrote a message for him, if he did come back. Because she sure as hell wouldn't be alive when or if he did.


I'm sorry.

 

[Wishfully]

Lance stumbled around in the darkness. He thought about turning around several times. He regretted leaving Tessa- he wished he hadn't left, no matter how much she insisted. Even if she was going to die, she didn't deserve to be left alone.


That was it, he couldn't take it anymore. He had to turn back. "Tessa, I'm coming!" he yelled. He didn't know if she could hear him, in fact, it was kind of unlikely.


Lance turned around, trying to feel his way back, but he had absolutely no idea if he was actually accomplishing anything. Then, Lance felt a slight drop in temperature. He raised an eyebrow curiously, wondering what caused the difference. However, as he stepped toward the cooler air, he felt the stones beneath him shift, and he struggled to keep his balance.


When all was still again, Lance reached out and felt a stone slab about two feet away from his face. When he stepped back, his back hit another wall. He gasped, realizing that there were no gaps or pathways anymore. He was trapped.

 

[Lillian Gray]

Tessa didn't have it in her any more. Her innards were shot, body frail. This wasn't how she'd die. She reached out to take her dagger in her hand, failing the first time from the slick blood on her hands.


She couldn't speak. Her lungs started to fail her, and every breath was labored.


The dagger plunged into her chest, she used all the energy she had to reach her heart, effectively shutting down her system. For the second time, she'd died.


I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.

 

[Wishfully]

Lance found it hard not to panic as he was stuck with nowhere to go. Every time he tried to push the slabs of stone, they would only move int toward him, rather than away. He learned that after several attempts and stopped. Eventually, the rock would crush him flat if he continued. He doubted anyone would be able to hear him- it seemed he was doomed to stay sealed in this tunnel until he died from starvation and dehydration.


Lance thought of Tessa. The way she looked before he left was bad enough.He slid to the ground to sit against one of the stone walls, though there was barely room to do so comfortably. He didn't want to think about how she was doing now. As much as he hoped she was alive, he also knew that her death was inevitable. Logically, there was no way she would survive. She didn't have a cure, and Lance didn't find a way out or the cure. Lance finally allowed is tears to fall. He had failed her.


I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.

 

[Lillian Gray]

Darkness finally fell over her, but it wasn't death. It was the same as before, the wispy figure appeared before her and tried to speak. The voice was so distant, Tessa could only catch a few whispered words.


...yo...et....t





She turned to the voice, trying to understand what it wanted her to do, when her eyes shot open. Tessa found herself in front of the pedestal once more. Just as before, the skull was in her hands, staring up at her with it's black tongue and she resisted the urge to scream this time. They were back in the room for the second time.


"Lance?" Tessa mouthed the words, and when she turned around he was standing there. Just as before. Just as they had the first time they came into this cursed place. She dropped the skull and tackled him into an embrace, so glad to see they were both alive again. Tessa had died for the second time, all alone, but now he was back and she couldn't believe it.


What the hell is going on?

 

[Wishfully]

Lance opened his eyes slowly. Huh? He was back...and not only himself, but Tessa too. Here they both were, again, in the same room where they started. He smiled as Tessa tackled him, holding her tightly in return.


"I'm never leaving you again," he mumbled into her hair. He could feel dried tears on his face still, a reminder that the second death hadn't been a nightmare. He never wanted to let go. Tessa was so warm...so alive.


"Why does this keep happening to us?" he asked, not that she knew the answer. "And how do we stop it from happening?"

 

[Lillian Gray]

Tessa held on for as long as she could. She felt fine once more, and Lance was back. The girl willed herself not to cry, but she couldn't help it. After spending hours slowly spewing out her insides through bloody chunks of god knows what, it felt so good to be whole, so good to be holding him close. The contact was something she dared not lose again.


"It was terrible." She muttered, promising to save him the gory details. "I regretted sending you away. It was awful, Lance."


As for his question? What was she supposed to say? Tessa had no idea what was going on, at least not to the last detail. As far as she understood it, death simply brought them back to the end of their journey, where they'd found the golden skull. Something wanted to keep them inside, or did it? If they always started at the skull, the cursed thing, maybe something wanted them to get out.


She pulled herself from Lance, keeping close by clinging to his arms still. "I think it's the skull. That much is obvious." Tessa knew it was behind her, but spared it a second glance. "All I know is that I've...died, twice now. Both times we've come back to this spot, it's as if we're going back in time. Something is doing this."


But why would a curse, designed to kill them, keep sending them back to the moment they'd picked up the object? If that was so, wouldn't there be others in the ruins with them, suffering the same repeated fate? Dying, going back, dying, and simply going back again and again. What about the wisp she kept seeing?


"I don't know." She shrugged. "Honestly, I think we need to look around for something that'll explain it. It's the only way we'll figure it out."

 

[Wishfully]

"Well I promise not to leave anymore, even if you try to make me leave," Lance told her. He sighed. "It didn't go well for me anyways- I didn't find a way out, only another trap." Lance shivered as he remembered the prison-like area he had spent time in. It had been cold, but what hurt more was the isolation and loneliness.


"You don't have to tell me about it," he said, referring to what happened to Tessa. "I'm sure you want to forget it too." Lance thought about what they could do, how they could get out. This had never happened to them before, but now it felt like they had always been trapped in this cycle.


"I guess we could look at the murals again?" he suggested. Possibly some of the writing on the walls would hold a clue. Not that either of them could read it, so maybe the murals would at least provide some guidance. Pictures were a universal language, no matter how frightening.


This curse...what kind of curse was it? Sure, he had heard of curses before even though he was a bit of a skeptic. After this, Lance would never doubt again, but he was confused. Most curses seemed to end with the target dying, not making them live and die all over again.

 

[Lillian Gray]

"Stay away from that hallway though." She warned him. "I don't think we're supposed to go down there, it sped up the poison." Tessa eyed the last two tunnels warily. She wondered if it was worth the trouble to make a map. If they kept dying, starting over, she doubted it would go with them. Seeing as she was once more fully clothed, all her weapons back in her belt, even the knife she'd given to Lance.


Tessa undid the knife and shoved it into his hands, he would need it again. Just in case.


"So, those two Northern tunnels are a bust." Tessa declared. "Maybe we can find some sort of explanation, any other way." They came from the South, but there were so many tunnels trailing off from their location, it would've been impossible to tell which one went where. After all, one continued on forever, and the other would make the ceiling collapse. She didn't even know what Lance had experienced his way.


At random, she picked one to the West, lighting a torch to take with her for light. The murals weren't colored like before, but they certainly had a story to tell. She hovered over the walls, careful not to touch anything, when her eyes found something familiar. A figure, similar to the wisp she'd seen by the flow of the image, and she stopped to examine the area around it.


"Lance." She called. "This here, this figure, I've been seeing it every time I sleep, or come back. What do you think it is?"

 

[Wishfully]

"Yeah, definitely," Lance agreed when she suggested staying away from the northern tunnels. He told her about the tunnel he got trapped in. "Honestly, it might not have been bad if there was light. I really didn't get to see much of anything."


Lance hadn't realized the knife was back with Tessa until she held it out to him. "Thanks." He shook his head a little when they started all over- Tessa picking a tunnel and Lance following.


He glanced at the walls, studying the new mural as well. Though the murals weren't colored in, that didn't mean anything, Lance figured. Well, actually, it could mean that they were more official and less story-like. Perhaps it told of laws or history. Artwork normally had some relation to the history of civilizations, he knew.


He approached the figure Tessa was referring to and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hm, well it could be a past ruler," he suggested. "Someone who was connected with the curse, then, if you're seeing it. Though it would more likely be a spirit or deity of some sort. Perhaps the being who cursed the skull in the first place or the first victim trying to warn you. All possibilities. Can you tell me more about it?" he asked.

 

[Lillian Gray]

"I've seen it a few times now, three?" Tessa kept her eyes on the figure, moving down the hallway in the hopes there would be an explanation to it. As she walked a story was unveiled to her and she relayed it to Lance. "It looks like it was a deity, you're right. These people worshiped her. She controls everything. Life, time, weather, health. She's so powerful."


There were many Gods Tessa had encountered, not real ones, but on the walls of other ruins and temples. Usually they had one aspect about them. Most people thousands of years ago were polytheistic beings, and it made sense to the thief. Encountering a monotheistic culture was always curious, because it usually brought about something terrible some time or another.


"But something happened, here." Tessa was careful not to touch the wall, but it was so tempting. The ruins were thousands of years old, and she wanted to inhale it all like a sweet scent. "The wall, it's cracked. But something definitely happens to the deity."


But what? What happens, why is the wall cracked here?





"She talks to me, in my sleep. Have you seen her?" Tessa asked Lance. "Or, she tries to talk to me. I haven't gotten a full sentence yet. But, I think it's getting better."

 

[Wishfully]

Lance shook his head. He had never seen the goddess before or heard of her. Indeed, she was portrayed as powerful. It wasn't exactly unusual to see worship shown in ancient depictions, but the crack was definitely strange.


"I wonder if something happened to the people and they removed her from their culture...or maybe she was desecrated by enemies." Lance tilted his head, looking curiously and furrowing his brow in concentration. He didn't know why Tessa was receiving the strange visions, but he knew that it had to do with the history of these people- it always did.


"Well...is she trying to hurt you or help? Can you tell?" he asked. "Maybe there's a chance she is trying to guide you." He shrugged. It sounded silly, that a deity from several hundreds of years ago would be helping a cursed female thief, but Lance was much more accepting of the improbable now.


"There seems to be a lot of strong magic at work in these tunnels," Lance said. "How else can we explain the things that have been happening?"

 

[Lillian Gray]

"She wants to help." Tessa said, almost instinctively. "At least, that's what I think. This deity is too kind to be anything less than helpful. Why would she curse me to death with a creepy, ruby eyed skull? It doesn't make sense."


The girl lowered the torch. She wasn't sure what to think. This deity was clearly benevolent. There wasn't a hint of evil on the walls when she appeared. It was the skull, that was the real evil at work.


"Maybe she wants us to get out. What if this is her temple? We didn't exactly perform the proper steps if that's the case. If we even needed to." Tessa followed the hallway more, the cracks increased in number until she came to a room at the end.


A large door barred the way, chains latched between the handles. Strange, she thought. What was it doing there? Tessa pulled at the chains and found they were bound tight, as if they hadn't rusted at all.


"Something is in here." She stated obviously. "But it's chained up."


An old inscription was written across the top, she asked if Lance could translate it at all. He knew the ancient tongue from time to time. Ill omens though, the door had images of the skull, and many of the dead along the bottom, as if saying do not enter.

 

[Wishfully]

"Ah okay...I was just making suggestions," Lance replied, not anticipating her confidence that the deity was trying to help. "So if she is trying to help, then the curse is keeping her form doing so?" Lance shook his head, still not understanding.


"A temple?" he questioned. Indeed, that was a possibility. Great treasures were often kept in places of worship for safekeeping and respect. Though, what would a cursed object that seemed to work in opposition to the goddess be doing so close if this was a temple?


"Hm?" Lance then noticed the door. It was in surprisingly good, working condition. Tessa wasn't able to move the chains, and Lance also grabbed one to try and help, but he didn't feel it budge either. He wondered how the door still so strong and what could possibly warrant such protection. If the skull- the powerful, bejeweled object- had honestly been easy to take, then what could possibly lie behind that door? Could it be another treasure? And did it hold some sort of power as well?


Lance let go of the chains and stared up as Tessa mentioned the inscription. He squinted and reached up to brush a little bit of dust from some of the letters. The looked similar to the things he had seen before- it seemed a little similar to Mayan, but not quite. It wasn't strictly pictograms, so there was clearly a developed alphabetical system, it seemed.


"Ah, not too sure. I feel like it might say something like beware or fear...or path...? Um..." Lance frowned, figuring he wasn't much help.

 

[Lillian Gray]

"Well. We can't open it." Tessa sighed. She was tired of this place. They'd been scouring it for days, even before they reached the inner rooms and tunnels where they were explored. Her usual self was fading fast in that place.


She sat down on the floor with her back to the door. Tessa pulled the skull from her bag and stared angrily at it's ruby eyes. This was all it's doing, the curse, it was the skull's fault. Had she never picked it up, they wouldn't have been in this mess. So, it was also sort of her fault.


"I'm sorry." She said somberly. "If I'd have known it was real..."


Tessa tossed the skull between her hands. On the streets, it would be worth a pretty penny, that is if they ever got out.


"Lance?" Tessa looked up at him, her torch illuminated her face. "Maybe you really should just try to get out. I'm stuck here with this thing. I don't really know what to do."

 

[Lillian Gray]

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