Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg - June 12th 1885
Oscar Lemm waited patiently at the door with the rest of the small crowd, scholars and Egyptologists from across the Russian Empire, even a few from abroad, had gathered to examine the new artifacts brought back by that Golenishchev fellow, they had all heard of some great finds from this expedition, especially that strange artifact covered in unknown symbols and a similarly decorated archway.
Several of the other men were chatting to friends and colleagues, but Oscar stood to one side and waited, these men were mostly ex-treasure hunters and curious professors, he himself was curator at the Asiatic Museum, and was specialized in Coptic writings, though was by no means illiterate in more standard Egyptian, having taken several courses, in fact, he had recently recieved an invitation to teach at the University of St. Petersburg!
A hush fell over the group as Vladimir Golenishchev arrived, the man was the same age as Oscar, and wore a bowler hat, small moustache and tidy, nondescript outfit, he smiled at the crowd and as it parted, walked through and to the closed door, though he did not enter, rather turning around and looking at the people.
"Welcome everyone, I didn't expect so many of you to be here, uh... let's go in, shall we?" Golenishchev then opened the door and entered, the rest of them following, with Oscar near the rear, inside the room was a collection of new artifacts on display, from small coins and trinkets all the way up to that strange archway.
"Woah!" someone shouted, Oscar turned and saw that strange squat device with the red centre piece lit up, not the whole thing, only one of the small panels that showed off yet unknown signs, the man who had shouted was soon joined with the rest of them in staring at the device in confusion, even Golenishchev.
"What on Earth...?" someone wondered aloud, effectively summing up the thoughts of them all, several of the men eyed Golenishchev, who only shrugged, leaned forwards and pressed another of the panels, to find that it also lit up, soon half a dozen of the panels had been pressed, and the group stood by in silence, wondering what this thing was.
"Wonder what happens if we press them all? Maybe it's some sort of locking system, could be a treasure in that glass bit" someone suggested, it was more of an idea than anyone else had, so Oscar watched as Golenishchev stepped forward once more, pressing another panel and changing the world, for when that seventh panel was engaged, the ground began to shake severely, leaving several men on the floor.
As Oscar fell, he saw at the other end of the room the archway had also lit up, somehow they had not noticed until now, but there was also the strangest looking blue liquid filling it up, as quickly as it had come the earthquake subsided, and Oscar, with a few others began to work his way over to the arch.
"Golenishchev, what is this madness?" someone asked, sounding as confused as Oscar felt.
"I have no idea... what is that damned blue mess?" Golenishchev scowled as he saw several of his finds lying broken on the ground, there was probably a good deal more than that broken around the city, thanks to that damned earthquake, Oscar had felt them before, but that one seemed rather powerful.
"It looks like... water?" Oscar mused, following the other Egyptologist towards the archway, the rest of the men standing around, still in shock.
"Not like any water I've ever seen..." Golenishchev got to the thing first, stopped within a few feet of it and looked at Oscar, "I'm going to stick my hand in it, if it's water, I'll get wet, if not, well... I have no idea"
And with that, Golenishchev stepped forwards, stuck his hand forwards, and to the shock of all, his hand disappeared, it was no longer visible at all, even more surprising, he then took another step and immediately he was gone, Oscar and the others stood by silently.
When the man failed to return within a minute, they started to panic, a pair of men ran from the room to get someone with authority, another ran out of fright, Oscar on the other hand walked deliberately forwards toward the arch, against the advice of those still remaining in the room, he stepped through the arch and was immediately greeted with a strange whirling sensation.
A second later, Oscar found himself coming out of another archway, this one in an entirely different room, a dark chamber with a very excited Russian standing in the middle, Golenishchev was inspecting the wall when Oscar came through.
"What is this place?"