Unearthed

The clicking of pickaxes and shovels echoed through the man-made cave. Archaeologists worked tirelessly to unearth the city buried in deepslate. The city was massive and the cavern around it was even more so. A million torches placed methodically around the excavation chased away the underground shadows and illuminated the cave in bright orange light.

A woman stood on a ledge overlooking the ruins. Her rich brown hair was tied up in a bun and she wore a loose white shirt. Her brown pants and boots had coal and stone dust on them. A satchel filled with books hung from her shoulder. She stared at the city in amazement.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" a man said as he joined her. His clothes were made from expensive cloths and his hair was slicked back with gel. "The ancient Slyvican city of Natqaina. Just as magnificent as the stories claimed, even a thousand years later."

The woman nodded. "You must be Mr. Howard. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh, please. Call me Sam. And the pleasure is all mine. I've heard a lot about you and your work. I'm so glad you could make it here on such short notice, Dr. Goodman," Mr. Howard said with a charismatic smile.

She nodded. "Of course. I couldn't pass up seeing Natqaina for myself. How did you even manage to find it?"

"A mining company discovered a bell tower and a few broken pots. We bought the land from them once we realized what they had found and started digging. We believe we've unearthed about 60% of the city."

Dr. Goodman couldn't help but smile and look out across the excavation. "I noticed there was no sculk, which is abnormal for ancient cities," She pointed out.

Sam nodded. "From the dates we've gotten from the artifacts, the city was abandoned long before the plague began. So luckily, this city is one of the most intact ones I've ever seen."

The two walked down from their perch and into the cities. Archaeologists were everywhere, digging out buildings, hauling artifacts to the surface, or discussing their findings. Dr. Goodman couldn't help but look around like she was a toddler in a zoo. Everything caught her eye and everything was worth her attention. She could spend hours inspecting every one of these buildings. She couldn't wipe the smile off her face.

"Mr. Howard!" The two looked over and saw one of the archaeologists walk over to greet them. He was covered in so much dust that he looked like he was made of stone. The only clean part of him was his glasses and his bright smile. "And you must be Dr. Sarah Goodman! I can't tell you what an honor it is to make your acquaintance. I am a huge fan of your work! Your volumes on Piglin history are truly works of art!" He offered his hand and when she took it, he shook it with excitement.

She couldn't help but blush. "It's not often I find someone so enthusiastic about wars between nether pigs. Thank you, Mr…"

"Erickson. John Erickson, head archaeologist of this excavation, at your service." He gave a small bow.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Erickson." Dr. Goodman said with a smile. "So, Mr. Howard, your letter mentioned a discovery that required my expertise. What exactly have you found?"

Sam grinned. "Follow us."

Dr. Goodman marveled at the sight before her. It was a temple, clearly dedicated to the ancient gods. A stone carving of the Ender Dragon had been made above the doorway, guarding it with a fierce snarl. The doors were decorated with two winged figures holding swords. They appeared as if they had been inlayed with gold at some point, but it had either fallen off or been stolen.

"By the Aether," she whispered. She slowly approached the building. She barely breathed, as if one small gust of wind could send the whole thing tumbling down.

"Beautiful, isn't it? And remarkably well preserved," John said with a grin. "A shift in the earth about two hundred years ago destroyed a good portion of the buildings in this sector, but luckily the temple survived."

"Has anyone entered it?" Dr. Goodman asked, glancing back at John and Sam.

Sam shook his head. "The door is locked and I don't want to force our way in, potentially damaging the building and what's inside."

Dr. Goodman approached the door. Instead of a normal lock, the door had a small grid of square buttons set in a circular plate, allowing it to turn. She ran her fingers across it, pressing a few of the buttons. "Ah, a traditional Slyvican lock. It was wise of you to not force your way in; these things are incredibly rare and you could have broken it. They're nearly impossible to pick without the right tools and the keys are even rarer than the locks. Luckily…" she reached into her satchel and pulled out a small device. It was a cube the size and shape of the grid with a metal bar in the place of each button. "I came prepared."

John gasped. "How the Nether did you get your hands on a Slyvican lockpick?!"

"I made it myself," Dr. Goodman said with a wink. "I used a book on Slyvican locks and one of my own as a mold. It doesn't work like a normal Slyvican lockpick, but it's just as effective." She pressed the lockpick against the lock and aligned the bars with the buttons. She leaned her ear against the door and listened while she pressed each of the bars in. "Thank the gods it's not rusty," she said. When each of the bars was pressed to the proper depth, she turned the lockpick. To everyone's amazement, the door swung open.

"Incredible," Sam said.

"You should probably save that for when we get inside," Dr Goodman reminded him.

She was right. The inside of the temple was even more well-preserved than the outside. It looked just as it did a thousand years ago, as if no time had passed at all. Large stained-glass windows illuminated the building in multicolored light. The wooden pews had minimal rot compared to other furniture in the city. The altar displayed a solid gold depiction of a god. The walls were carved with runes, hieroglyphs, and images depicting mobs, gods, demons, and fierce battles between kingdoms. Dr. Goodman immediately pulled out a translation guide from her satchel. "Just imagine how much ancient history is written here!" she exclaimed. She wasted no time translating the wall.

"There's an entire panel over here written entirely in Enderese!" John exclaimed excitedly. "And look! Another one in Aetherian glyphs! That one is in a language I don't even recognize!" His voice and expression were filled with excitement from the discovery.

"I think that one is Ancient Nedral," Dr. Goodman said, looking up from her translating. John looked over at her in shock and she blushed. "I used to study obscure languages for kicks. My hieroglyphics is a bit rusty, but I could probably translate everything on these walls."

Instead of admiring the walls and their secrets, Sam was inspecting a wooden door off to the side of the temple. "Hey Sarah? You're the one with the language knowledge. Do you know what this one says?" He asked, pointing at a series of letters carved into the door.

Sarah and John walked over to look at the door. Sarah checked her translating guide and read the translation out loud. "The Hall of the Sealed."

"Sealed?"

"It's an ancient Slyvican punishment. If you commit an unforgivable crime in Slyvican culture, they execute you and encase your body in a sealed room. They say that your soul is trapped in the room and can't pass on to the next life," John explained.

Sam looked thoroughly disgusted. "Why would something like that be here? Why wouldn't that be in a cemetery?"

"Because it was the priests that did the sealing," Dr. Goodman explained.

"Oh." Sam's face was slightly green.

The door wasn't locked, so the group lit torches and headed down the stairs that were behind the door. A long hallway was behind the door, hence the term the Hall. The walls were covered in stone plates carved with the Slyvican language, detailing the crimes of the unfortunate soul trapped within. It may have been what John told told the group, or maybe the hallway was creepy on its own, but the group were all unnerved. Sam was the one most on edge. His head whirled around at even the faintest noise, and most of them had been generated by his imagination.

"You don't think this place is haunted, do you?" he whispered, as if noise would summon the spirits of the dead.

"If the Slyvicans were right, then yes," Dr. Goodman said flatly. "There's a soul trapped behind each one of these plaques."

This did not put Sam at ease. In fact, he became even more nervous. He glanced at each plaque as if at any moment, a tormented soul was going to come crawling out and attack them.

Dr. Goodman suddenly stopped at one of the plaques. It was suspiciously by itself, since there was an obvious three-foot gap between the plaque and the rest of them. The plaqueless wall was filled with runes and the sign itself wasn't in Slyvican, like the rest, it was in an unidentifiable language. The group stared at it curiously.

"Well, I don't want to die today, and this has 'potentially deadly' written all over it," Sam said. "I will see you two on the surface. I'm going to…." He couldn't think of a good excuse, so he just left the sentence hanging and hurried out of the hall and back up the stairs.

"What does it say?" John asked Dr. Goodman. It was clear that they were too fascinated with this anomaly to turn tail and run like Sam had.

"I… I'm sorry to say this, but I have no idea," Dr. Goodman said. "I truly have no idea what language it's in. But these runes…" She ran her fingers across the runes surrounding the plaque. "These are enchantment runes. It's superstition keeping everyone else in here, but this person is actually, truly imprisoned in there."

John shuddered involuntarily. "Well, you try to see what that plaque says, and I'll keep exploring. Maybe we'll be able to crack the code."

Dr. Goodman nodded and unloaded her bag of all her translation guides. John continued down the hallway, looking at the rest of the plaques. He knew a bit of Slyvican, so he was able to at least get an idea of what the plaques said. It was true, every person who had been sealed had committed horrendous crimes. John saw murderers, insurrectionists, and practitioners of dark magics. The worst of the worst was being kept here.

"JOHN!" he heard Dr. Goodman shout. "JOHN, WE HAVE TO GO!"

Fearing the worst, John turned back and ran back to Dr. Goodman. She was cramming her books into her bag. Her face was white as paper and her eyes were wide, like she had just seen a ghost.

"What happened?" John demanded.

"That's probably why the building wasn't destroyed. They needed to make sure He never escaped…" she muttered to herself. "…seal it off. No one ever finds it…"

"Sarah, what is going on!? What happened?" John put his hand on her shoulder and her eyes met his. She looked like she had just seen a ghost.

"H-H-HE is sealed there," she said. She pulled away from his touch and continued packing up her books, which had been spilled across the floor.

She clearly expected this to trigger something inside John, but he just stared at her blankly. "Who?"

She looked back up at him. "You've never heard of Him? I thought you studied ancient Slyvica. You had to have heard of Him through your studies," she pointed out.

"I probably have, but 'sealed under Natqaina' doesn't exactly narrow it down. Plenty of important historical figures are sealed here," John said.

"You haven't. If you knew anything about Him, you would know why I refuse to say His name," Dr. Goodman said. She continued picking up her books.

"Well, then tell me about Him. Who is he and why won't you tell me his name?" John crossed his arms.

Dr. Goodman hesitated. "His name is cursed. Everyone who utters it is doomed to be slain by Him."

John raised an eyebrow. "Well, given the fact that He is currently dead and sealed underground, not to mention He has been so for the past thousand years, I think you're good."

Dr. Goodman shook her head. "He may be sealed, but He's not dead. He's immortal. There's no way they managed to kill him, which is why the wall is covered in enchantment runes. He is imprisoned in there."

"Well, if he's imprisoned, then I think it's safe to say that He won't be coming out to kill you anytime soon," John pointed out. "Seriously, though, why are you twisted up over some guy sealed underground?"

Dr. Goodman hesitated. "His name…. is Herobrine." She flinched as she said it, as if she expected to be struck down from where she stood. She looked at John like she expected some kind of reaction from him, but there was none to see.

"Herobr-?"

"SSHHHH! Don't repeat it!" Dr. Goodman exclaimed, waving her arms to get him to stop.

John raised an eyebrow. "I think you're being paranoid."

"I'm not! If you knew who was sealed there, you would be acting like this, too!" Dr. Goodman pointed out. "He's a monster. They called Him the Nether King or the Lord of the mobs, but most just referred to Him as Him. He was a psychopath that murdered thousands of people in cold blood with demonic powers!"

John just raised an eyebrow. "So…. What you're saying here is that you're freaking out… over an old Slyvican legend?"

Dr. Goodman scowled at him. "He's not a legend! He's literally sealed RIGHT NEXT TO US!" She gestured dramatically at the plaque.

"I doubt there's anything behind that sign. You're being dramatic. Come on, let's get out of here before Sam starts wondering if we were killed by a ghost," John said with a chuckle. Dr. Goodman glared at him for his ignorance but followed him out of the hall.

"John, just promise me one thing," Dr. Goodman put her hand on his shoulder so he would look her in the eyes. "Do not excavate that hall. If He really is sealed down there, I do not want to run the risk of Him escaping his imprisonment. Promise me you won't excavate," she begged.

John sighed. "Fine, but Sam will probably want to sell some of those sealed mummies to museums."

Dr. Goodman hardened her expression. "Don't let him. I think you'd rather have those mummies still in there and I be wrong than have those mummies be in the world and I'm right."

John let out a long sigh. "Fine, I won't excavate that temple, but you better hope that you're right or Sam will chew you a new one over superstitions."

"I can deal with that," Dr. Goodman said. "Thank you, John."

He smiled. "No problem."

John did not keep his promise. Three weeks later, the temple had been fully excavated and almost all of the sealed bodies beneath it were displayed in museums. Had Dr. Goodman known about this, she probably would have lost her mind. However, her attention was drawn to her research on Him and His legend.

The Museum of Natural History in Stonespire City was one of the largest museums in the world. It boasted a massive collection of artifacts from a wide variety of ancient civilizations. It even had a separate building for Nether and End artifacts. The discovery of Natqaina led to a new exhibit being built in the museum for all of the artifacts pouring from the dig site. Among these were the stone coffins containing those sealed under the Natqaina temple.

The entire museum was pitch-black. A security guard sat in front of the camera monitors, but he was fast asleep. The entrance to the Ancient Slyvica wing was blocked with a sign reading, "The Ancient Slyvican city of Natqaina coming soon!" Behind the sign was a labyrinth of hallways filled to the brim with displayed artifacts. Tattered tapestries hung on the walls, famous weapons were displayed in glass cases, and statues of strange beasts glared fiercely at the night. The hallway had a few scattered crates that were filled with artifacts that hadn't yet been unpacked.

At the end of one hallway was an exhibit dedicated to the ancient Slyvican practice of sealing. Signs next to dusty stone coffins detailed the practice, and one coffin had its lid replaced with glass so visitors could see a sealed body. However, the coffin in the middle of the room was different from the rest. While the others were plain, undecorated stone, this one was covered in enchantment runes carved into its faces. In the dark night, the runes glowed faintly. However, their light was slowly fading. The magic in them was weakening from the coffin being moved. The magic couldn't hold the body within for much longer.

Within the coffin, a heart began beating that hadn't moved in a thousand years. A pair of lungs inflated with the musty air. A hand twitched ever so slightly.

And a pair of glowing white eyes shot open.