Fantasy ☠△PYRAMID△☠

[Lux___Wolf]

PYRAMID
Theme Song 7 min​

Timothy Green woke up, one side of his face encrusted with brown fine sand. The world was spinning not just horizontally but vertically, making him want to hurl. He slept wrong, his elbow throbbed, and his body had pangs where it was numb. It was pitch-black save for one small lit candle set against the wall. There were countless unlit candles on both of its sides, and flints for every one. The wall glimmered, revealing etches and carvings. His first thought, the first word that came to his foggy mind, was: Pyramid.

No memory, no backstory, no past. All wiped, all gone. All Timothy knew was that he was here and he was still alive. He stood, looking about other sleeping and stirring people. He did not hesitate to take the lit candle, picking it up, revealing a map gouged out of the stone wall. His mouth slowly dropped at the sight of a 15-floor pyramid. Since it was murky dark and already difficult and laboring to breathe, he understood that they were at the very bottom, underground. The more they inhaled the little oxygen left, and exhaled copious carbon dioxide, the more they stayed here, they would certainly die.

Timothy lost it, screaming angrily, hollering at the top of his lungs. The echoing shouts filled the 15th floor, bouncing off the bulwarks, pillars, and sarcophaguses. Up a wide stairwell, echoing through the 14th floor, stirring cobwebs and dripping droplets. The 13th floor, and beyond. Corpses lied there, withered skulls motionless and hollow, while centipedes slithered out and scurried into the darkness.

 

[Tonstad39]

Abdul had been sleeping on his back as he woke with a start as the man shouting interruted his sleep. He doesn’t know who he is or why he’s here, just that there’s a man shouting in a stone room where he was sleeping. He got up off the ground as his shirt and jeans were soiled with dirt. The markings were glowing as he saw Timothy, the man in question. All he could so is walk up to him and ask “Why are you being so loud?” in Arabic—the only language that felt natural at this point.

 

[Ganymede Apathy]

Aaron had been awake the whole time, having gotten up and looked at the very things the other strange boy began screaming at. He was nearly devastated, and tried to remember something. Anything. But the more he tried, the worse his headache got. And this screaming wasn't getting any better. "Damn it. Can you shut up?" He said, already getting a little mad at the situation, as he clutched his ears shut. He was counting his seconds, trying to help his throbbing brain, but nothing really helped. When he heard the other boy speak in Arabic, he rolled his eyes in the dark. Mentioned/Interacted with: Tonstad39 Lux___Wolf

 

[Aridis]

In response to the scream, she screamed as well. Although, it was more of a quick "I was woken up in a terrifying way" squeak than it was a full-on shriek of confused horror.

Shooting up into a sitting position, the girl started looking around frantically. Her heart raced at a concerning rate, pounding against her chest painfully. The sudden shock made it difficult for her to breathe. Although, her strange surroundings automatically became more terrifying than simply being woken up by a loud sound. Drawing in heavy, raspy breaths, Terra eventually climbed to her feet. She noted the bodies surrounding her; some alive, some not so much. There was very little light, and the air was disgustingly stale. The only thing that she was certain of at the moment was that she had no idea where she was.

"What the hell..." Terra breathed.

 

[Lux___Wolf]

TIMOTHY GREEN | 15TH FLR - A | ROOM 2

Timothy coughed harshly, done with his outburst. "Yeah, I'm done, I'm fine now, sorry," he muttered, squinting at the people in the dark. There was a man who questioned him in a foreign language he did not immediately recognize. But the other two at least spoke plain English. He shook his head at this man, "I don't know what you're saying, I only know English..." He handed the man the lit candle and went straight to another unlit candle and a flint. Scraping it against the stone wall made sparks fly, causing some other candles to smolder aflame.

The room began to glow just a little more, illuminating the great wall before them. Next to the depiction of the 15-floor pyramid was a map of the 15th floor. Judging by the size of the room they're in, Timothy can easily tell they were in Room 2. It was a long hall with walls chiseled with many hieroglyphs and faded markings. The map of the 15th floor was incomplete with no icon of stairs anywhere in this wing.

He was unable to resist a deep shudder, glaring at the strange "a" symbol waiting outside the arched and doorless entry/exit of this room. "Does anybody know where we are? Or remember how we got here?"

 

[Tonstad39]

Things became stranger still for Abdul when everone else started speaking in a weird sounding tounge. Somehow, the language is familiar to him, but he doesn’t have time to analyze the way they spoke because he was given a candle. As the other man hit his candle, Abdul decided to follow him as he must know what’s going on for he knows to light the candles. Once Timothy lit the candles, there was a map with numbers and letters that might as well be decoration as far as Abdul is concerned. Once Timothy asked the room a question, The language was still a weird yet oddly familiar gibberish “I don’t know what any of you are saying” said Abdul in arabic “What is your weird language?”

 

[Aridis]

"I have absolutely no idea what's going on. The last thing I remember is..." Terra's voice trailed off as she tried to finish her thought. Her brows furrowed together, and her gaze dropped down to the ground. A knot began to form in her throat the more she struggled to think of what she meant to say. What was the last thing she remembered? Where was she before this? The answer seemed to be right on the tip of her tongue, but it seemed impossible to retrieve. Was she the only person who was drawing a blank? Ten seconds into knowing these people and she was already making a fool of herself. She wondered if they thought that she was stupid or...

Drawing in a shaky breath, the girl wrapped her arms around her waist; hugging herself tightly. She shut out the anxious thoughts before they went too far, doing her best to distract herself with the topic at hand. Logically, Terra knew that it wasn't of any use to worry about what others thought; especially not in this current situation.

The raven-haired female gulped back her social fears and exhaled loudly. "Yeah, I have no idea what's happening. Anyone else?"

 

[Lux___Wolf]

TIMOTHY GREEN | 15TH FLR - A | ROOM 2

Realizing that the dude did not know English either, he handed a lit candle to the girl.
"I'm Timothy, I think. I remember that much."

Judging by the handsomeness of the other two men, Timothy remembered he was gay too but decided to keep that little detail to himself. That wasn't important at the moment. Almost sneezing at the dust-choked air, he returned to the map and pointed to Room 2 for everyone to see. "Judging by the shape of this room, I think we're right there?"

Ganymede Apathy Aridis Tonstad39 (Sorry that the map image went down. I found a more permanent host.)

 

[Tonstad39]

Abdul did nothing as he only awaited Timothy to finish as knoledge of their gibberish was slowly comming back and it might be called ‘English’ Ah, whatever it’ll come to him in due time. “So what’s next, leader?” Inquired Abdul in Arabic. Immediately, he realized that his language did mothing against the English gibberish.

That’s when he began walking away from the leader, Timothy in a vein attempt to make sense of the predicament. He was nervous at first, but began pacing down the east facing walls grabbing flints on the way. He stopped at the wall before the room’s exit and began holding a candle up to the wall to see if there was any understandable hints that were in his language and not English Gibberish.

 

[Aridis]

TERRA CONNERS | 15TH FLR - A | ROOM 2

She inhaled deeply, doing her best to calm her racing heart before focusing on anything else. She gratefully took the candle that was offered to her and offered a poor excuse of a confident, welcoming smile. "I'm Terra. I think... It sounds right, so that's what I'm going with." Shutting her mouth before she went off on a rambling spree, the girl wandered over to the "map" herself, being careful to memorize the layout the best that she could. The layout of the upcoming rooms seemed to be relatively simple, though there were multiple ways into each room that she needed to make mental notes of. "It looks like room 4 is our only way out. I can't tell if there's a way to the next floor, but it sure looks like it continues onto something."

It was at this point that she noticed that the only non-English speaker of their makeshift party was beginning to wander off. Terra had no idea what the hell was going on, but it didn't seem like splitting up was all that good of an idea. A bit hesitantly, she followed after him. Communication was going to be difficult, but hopefully they would figure out a system at some point. If not, her anxiety was going to go through the roof.

( Ganymede Apathy Tonstad39 Lux___Wolf )

 

[Lux___Wolf]

TIMOTHY GREEN
15TH FLR - A | ROOM 2
THEME: Delirium​

Terra was right. Room 4 was the way off this particular map but still not off this floor. Tim wheezed at the thinness of oxygen down here. He brushed the brown fine sand of the side of his face. In the sunken dark room, he could make out several sleeping bodies. The nearest sleeping body was a woman's whose eyes and lips were stapled shut. Her skin was as freezing as stone to the touch, and no amount of shaking her could wake her up. These people were in an unfathomably deep sleep, some state of semi-death. Tranquilized? Cursed? His face turned, his wide eyes meeting his company's. The sarcophagus nearby also sent a shiver trickling down his back like molasses. Something could be watching them right now or someone -- he shook his head, not anywhere near ready to worry about that.

"No, not dead," Tim told them who had shrunk further into the dark. "But they ain't waking up either."

He swung his candle around, its little flame nearly extinguished but persistent in its return to life, looking for any sign of others who were awake, but the concerned man saw none. Something trickled down his face before he realized it was a grey spider. Startled, he brushed it off, becoming fed up with this place.

It was time to go. He hurried, stepping over the bodies, and chasing after Terra and Abdul, his hip thud and grated into the sarcophagus. Bone-jarring pain made him almost cry out, but he bit down on his lips to stifle any sound of weakness and stupidity. Solid granite stone. That hurt. How did he not see this hulk in the way? Moving in the dark must have made it harder to see. He glanced down at the lid that budged only an inch. A tiny corner, hollow within, let out a few more gray spiders. Surely enough, the stench of rot wafted from it. Tim gagged, limping towards the open doorway to see what Abdul looked at.

They eyed the arch which its keystone was the head of a silently roaring sphinx. Its wide gorgon eyes and monstrous fangs gave off the illusion of being alive in the winking candlelight. Don't go mad, TIm told himself. It's just rock. While that gruesome sight was not encouraging, it was simple and easy to pass into the hallway and whatever the "a" was outside the room.

There were no other markings. Just the open doorway that led into the hall.
He made eye contact with Terra and Abdul, unsure of their next move.

The rest of the pyramid seemed to welcome them, beckoning.
He grabbed Abdul's shoulder, "Careful. There could be traps. Go slow."

Tim lowered his hands and candle slowly, to gesture the pace. "Slow..."

He glanced back at Aaron, who suffered from a migraine. "You coming?"
Groaning quietly, Tim clutched his throbbing hip injury. Not a good start.

( Ganymede Apathy Tonstad39 Aridis )

 

[Tonstad39]

Abdul Al-bagdadi
Floor 15|room 2​

Abdul saw markings, but none that were in his language so he greadually worked his way toward walls that bordered the archway. He was only interrupted by the banging of something behind him, he could also hear more english gibberish from the back of the room. He was even beginning to slowly understand the English and remember that it was a gibberish he was taught to speak. The symbols on the wall even began looking familiar as they gave him visions of—kids? And not just any kids, but kids in what looks like a room with tiny desks, but he didn’t have time to think about it as his shoulder was tapped by the leader cauding him to turn around. “Guh slyw” repeated Abdul nodding before inching his way into the hallway while looking back at the room.

 

[Lux___Wolf]

On Floor 15, the corridor between Room 2 and Room 1 was certainly brief and narrow enough for only two persons shoulder-to-shoulder. Room 1 and its open doorway was close. Cobwebs hang and barely billow for lack of air. Once looking up, Abdul would see a small chute connecting to the next floor. Even this vent, which was not ventilating as it was designed to, was congested with floating spores, cobwebs, and gray spiders.

Down the corridor, a motionless pair of eyes near the floor glinted in the dark. A jackal stared at Abdul. An itchy, drooling jackal.

​

It strutted in a half circle around something else on the floor, a copper artifact, before standing behind it. Then the jackal burst, drifting away, in smoke, sand, and dust... A ghost, perhaps gone.

Tonstad39 Aridis Btw Klaedin has dropped out, so don't tag him anymore and prepare thyself to see Aaron's death scene soon.

 

[Tonstad39]

Abdul Al-Bagdadi
Floor 15|hallway between room 2 & room 1
​

Abdul just stood there speechless from what he had just seen and heard. He didn’t move an inch as he held his candle out and took as deep of breaths as the basement stuffiness would allow. ‘The leader better know what to do!’ thought Abdul to himself. He wouldn’t move untill he knew for sure his group would follow him safely.

 

[Aridis]

TERRA CONNERS | 15TH FLR - A | ROOM 2

The teenager had chosen to stay a couple of steps behind Abdul, more of from fear of confrontation than of fear of the unknown. She didn't see everything that the male saw and only really arrived near the end of the mysterious scene. Still, the parts that she did witness led the girl to become aware of the artifact on the ground. Abdul didn't seem to be making any moves to pick it up, or even investigate it. While logic told her to stay behind the taller individual and wait for Timothy to catch up, curiosity dominated her mind.

Ducking past Abdul, Terra cautiously approached the copper item. She crouched in front of it, holding her candle near the object in order to get a better look. "What the heck...?"

( Tonstad39 Lux___Wolf )

 

[Tonstad39]

Abdul Al-Bagdadi
Floor 15|hallway between room 2 & room 1​

Abdul was tempted by the artifact for it looks valuable and powerful. Or, it must hold some kind of power if whatever he saw cared about it so much. He would’ve reached down to grab the artifact to see what it did had it not for the Foreign Girl, Terra pushing him aside! He remained quiet until the girl spoke “I-I don’t know!” he replied hiding his dismay “Th-there was the eyes of a ghost with his dog here that vanished into the air!” He darted his head back toward room two before quickly turning his gaze back down at the artifact on the floor. He stared at it sheepishly in the hope that Terra would back off from the artifact.

( Aridis Lux___Wolf )

 

[Lux___Wolf]

A copper ankh, larger than a foot. Whatever it was, it seemed important. At first glance, it would seem heavy but picking it up was somewhat lighter than expected, like a laptop or a book would weigh.

Room 1 awaited, a wider squared room, still murky dark but with a single lit candle in the center. Three lumasi (plural lamassu) surrounded it, their winged backs to the candle. They were sphinxes, just different somehow.

TIMOTHY GREEN
15TH FLR - A | ROOM 2
THEME: Delirium​

Despite his hip injury, Tim was moved by Aaron's silence and reluctance to budge that he hobbled over to the man in the dark. Tim held out his candle to see that Aaron had buried his face in both hands, seemingly clawing at his temples and raking through his hair, clearly in pain. Suspicious, monstrous pain. Tim slowly approached with wary eyes in the flickering.

"All right? Sir?"

Meanwhile, from the sarcophagus, something hit something silently and sent up a burst of smoke. Tim didn't see. Aaron made a guttural moan, then choking sounds. Horrible gagging. From through the slightly ajar corner of the sarcophagus, bandaged skeletal fingers quivered on the rise. Reaching, spreading wide apart.

Tim could only watch on as Aaron grabbed his throat, straining not to open his mouth, but then a crack of his jaws, a part of his lips, a swarm of gray spiders skittered out. Tim gasped and shuddered, clasping his mouth, as Aaron spat out a glob, a mucous sac. A nest.

While they slept, a pregnant spider had nested in Aaron.

Looking pale, Aaron puked a long string of liquid, then wiping his chapped mouth. He muttered, "Eurk... I think ... I'm feeling better."

"Dear god," Tim said with aghast sympathy. He wrapped an arm around the guy and helped him cross the room. Tim winced, limping at his throbbing hip that felt like it was coldly bleeding. "C-come on."

The mummy hand grabbed Aaron by a fistful of his shirt. Tim and Aaron screamed.

It yanked back down into the tomb, slamming Aaron's head brutally onto the granite (thud!) again (thud!) and again (thud!) and again. Tim stumbled away, dropping the candle, unable to utter a sound as he watched Aaron's grisly murder become shrouded in shadow. The body slumped slowly, the indented head sliding down the side of the coffin.

Then silence. The lid thud violently but was too heavy for a corpse to lift.

Timothy Green ran out of Room 2 and joined the others in the hallway. Traumatized, he stammered but no words came out.

( Tonstad39 Aridis )

 

[Aridis]

TERRA CONNERS | 15TH FLR - A | BETWEEN ROOMS 2 AND 1

The name of the object just barely lingered on the tip of her tongue. She knew what it was called, but couldn't seem to put together the correct sounds in order to name it. Nor could she pinpoint exactly how she knew it. However, before she could pick it up, or even touch it, Terra's attention snapped to something much more important. She could hear the screaming coming from behind them, and the thumping. An ice-cold hand seemed to grab her stomach, digging its fingers into her very being. With her breath caught in her throat, Terra jumped back to her feet; turning on her heel in order to face whatever was going on behind them. Her candle nearly went out because of the sudden action, but the flame stubbornly refused to die; only flickering for a few moments before returning to its normal size.

As Timothy came close enough for their candles to identify him, she noted the terrified expression on his face. Her own complexion paled drastically, and her heart suddenly seemed determined to leap out of her through her throat. So many things were happening at once. She didn't even know what had happened back in the room that had freaked Timothy out so much, but it already freaked her out too. "What happened?" Terra demanded. "What did you see?"

( Tonstad39 Lux___Wolf )

 

[Tonstad39]

Abdul Al-Bagdadi
Floor 15|hallway between room 2 & room 1
​

The distant choking sounds alone would frighten Abdul enough that action overrid thinking. He had decided to reach past Terra to take the artifact off the ground by grabbing it with his left hand and ten picking it up. He‘d do this carefully while getting up as not to make his candle go out. The artifact felt satisfying to hold and it even felt like it had a strange type of soul bonding power. Abdul would clutch the artifact tight as if it were the hand of his own father comforting him in a state of distress. He turned around back facing room 2 once he had heard screaming as the leader could be in trouble. He had stood there tensing up his left arm and losening his grip in a vein attempt to control the artifact’s power as the leader ran towards him. “Is there anything you need delt with, Leader?” expressed Abdul with fear in his voice.

( Aridis Lux___Wolf )

 

[Lux___Wolf]

TIMOTHY GREEN
15TH FLR - A | BETWEEN ROOMS 2 AND 1
THEME: Horror

His voice croaked, "I! I! I couldn't! See! The sarcophagus! Aaron! Aaron!"
How could he explain the spider nest and the sudden head bashing?

His body tensed just as he looked up at the webbed chute. All those gray baby spiders... Hell no. He hurried towards the doorway of Room 1 before realizing Abdul had carried something in his hand. A copper ankh. That surely was what the weird marking "a" meant. An artifact.

"Let's just go, let's just go..." He begged his company as he peered and leaned carefully into the room with the candle and the three lumasi.

ROOM 1

Timothy glanced around, half expecting monsters and minotaurs to lunge out of the walls, which held no map or markings or hieroglyphs. It was a most plain, unceremonious place. No bodies on the floor. No sarcophaguses. No chutes in the ceiling. Being without a candle himself, he had incentive to take the one in the center of the room. He gulped, sidling past the monstrous lumasi, and reached for the candle. Retrieving it with ease, he waited.

Nothing dangerous happened. This room seemed... inactive.
Timothy panted heavily, waiting for the others to join him.

He looked next at the arched doorway to Room 3... The scowling sphinx keystone seemed to taunt him... ( Tonstad39 Aridis )

 

[Aridis]

TERRA CONNERS | 15TH FLR - A | ROOM 1

His answer wasn't exactly an answer. If anything, she was more confused about what was happening than before. Still, the fear in Timothy's voice and the franticness of his explanation made her think twice about going back to room 2. No matter how curious she was on the subject, Terra had a fear that she wouldn't return unscathed if she went back. Instead, she chose to push forward; following their "leader" into the next room.

Once inside of room 1, she was somewhat relieved to find that there didn't seem to be anything interesting going on. The only obvious things so far were the candle that Timothy had retrieved, and the entrance to the next room. Although, there was a bit of disappointment sitting at the back of her mind. After all of the excitement that occurred in the first room, Terra was half expecting there to be something worthwhile in this new chamber. She wandered around the room, running her fingers along the walls as she went; making sure that there were no mysterious markings or switches that they might miss if they just went ahead blindly. Still, even as she did so, her gaze kept darting back to the shadowed forms of the sphinxes that sat only feet away. They made her nervous.

( Tonstad39 Lux___Wolf )

 

[Tonstad39]

Abdul Al-Bagdadi
Floor 15| room 1
​

Abdul was left behind as he was now pushed aside by Terra in addition to the leader. He would walk in the direction of the now frantic leader into the next room. He would start off by wandering around the room looking for any possible Markings before going into the center of the room where the leader stood. He ignored the statues as they only seemed like mere decorations of the room. He looked past the candle holder toward the entry into room three to see what exactly the leader is going to do.

( Lux___Wolf Aridis )

 

[Tonstad39]

Abdul Al-Bagdadi
Floor 15| room 3​

Once the leader stepped into room three, Abdul stepped past the candle holder towards the same room. He walked through the doorway, he looked on either side of the wall where he would spot a glowing triangle-shaped hole in the wall. The shape is odd, creep and above all uncanny as his breaths became heavy for the air was growing ever so stuffystuffy and his worried gaze turned toward Timothy before asking “So Leader, what’s your plan about that thing!” while pointing at the keystone.

Lux___Wolf Aridis