Isadora Tyler approached a fair sized hole in the crumbling stone wall with her mentor River Song. "After you", the curly haired woman said and the brunette nodded. She carefully clambered through into the room beyond, River doing the same. Situated on one of the walls was some sort of writing. The two females exchanged annoyed looks, simultaneously rolling their eyes when an irritating voice piped up "Is it safe?"
"Yes, Lewis. It's safe. No monsters and no reanimated mummies to eat your brains", Isadora dryly. They both heard a thud and turned around to see Lewis Hawthorn sprawled out on the ground. The brunette sighed. "Remind me, why the hell did we agree to have that pompous prick with us?" she asked River quietly.
"His equally stuck up father wanted his son to become 'well-travelled'", her mentor answered in an equally hushed tone. She let out a laugh "thought I still don't know how he expected that sending his son to a tomb in Peru would put Lewis on the path to 'well-travellness'".
Isadora snorted "Maybe in topsy turvy world". The brunette walked over to Lewis and hauled him to his feet. "Are you alright?" she asked.
"Am I alright?" he repeated in a higher tone "No I'm not alright! Look at the state on me. I'm filthy".
"Suck it up buttercup. A little dirt isn't gonna kill ya", Isadora said, none to sympathetic. She loved exploring, it was in her blood as River had often said. She enjoyed traipsing across the world, learning about different cultures and poking about some ruins. If they happen to have traps or puzzles to solve…even better! The brunette wandered over to the wall with the writing etched on it "Interesting", she murmured as she scanned the text. While it was something she'd seen before many times, she could still only understand fragments of it. She wasn't quite proficient in it, not yet.
"Want to take a crack at it?" River offered.
"I'm not that good at the language", Isadora admits "at least not yet".
"You'll get there", the curly haired woman assured her "but for now, I'll translate" the young woman nods "You got the camera?" River asked.
"Yep", the brunette replied, taking it out, shaking her head as Lewis' complaints about his clothes reached her ears "ready when you are" and she pressed record.
"This tells the story of the last Queen of Tiwanaku", River translated "Her father was king, but she was lost and raised by a warrior. She became queen after a shaman named Tunupa discovered her royal heritage…"
Isadora did a doubletake, the name ringing a bell "wait…Tunupa…that's another name for Viracocha isn't it?" Isadora asked.
Before River could respond, Lewis piped up with "yes it is. Viracocha is their god of creation". Isadora and River turned to him, surprised.
"That's right", the older woman answered.
"You did some research?" Isadora said skeptically, brows raised "you?" she found it hard to believe that the snotty nosed brat before her actually did something useful for the trip.
"Oh, not me. One of my tutors did", Lewis replied.
"Of course they did. Silly me to think you'd ever even consider coming prepared on this trip", the young woman shot back snarkily. Lewis opened his mouth to argue but she just shushed him. The boy, folded his arms indignantly. Isadora couldn't help get a little thrill of putting him in his place. "The shaman brought her to Lake Titicaca where she borrowed his staff, an object of great power", River continued, not even bothering to hide the amusement in her voice. She was glad that her mentee knocked him down a peg or two for someone really had to knock him off his high horse. "She led her people into an era of peace. After many years of wise and just rule, there was some sort of power struggle. She died shortly thereafter, and she was carried off in a boat to Paradise".
"You know that sounds awfully like that story, the one where the boy pulls a sword from a rock", Lewis stated.
"It does resemble the King Arthur myth", Isadora agreed "many cultures share similar legends". River hummed in agreement.
"Yeah, well I don't really care about that", Lewis said bluntly "I just want to find out if the Queen is really buried here and then get out as fast as possible".
"As you wish", the brunette said. She was about to straighten up when she noticed a bit of text obscured by dirt. She rubbed it away to reveal some rather different letters.
"Well, what does it say?" the annoying boy demanded.
"I don't know", Isadora admitted. She'd hadn't come across that kind of language before. She glanced at River, who was looking at it with equal confusion but she could've sworn that she saw a flicker of recognition in her eyes. "River, can you read it?"
The woman shook her head "I'm afraid not", she replied.
"So, now we've established that neither of you can read the weird writing, can we get moving now?" Lewis asked, getting impatient.
"Just a second", Isadora said pointing her camera at the new writing so she and River could study it properly later.
"Are you done?" Lewis asked as she put the camera away and straightened up.
"You know, it wouldn't hurt to be a little nicer", River remarked, eyeing the young man "we are letting you tag along after all".
Lewis scoffed "You had no choice, my father made you bring me. I don't want to be here anymore than you do".
"Actually, River and I do want to be here", Isadora corrected "we would rather be here without a snobby git like you" she turned to River, ignoring the look of outrage on snobbish boy's face "shall we go see if she's here then?"
"Finally!" Lewis mock cheered. The two women both just ignored it and moved around the wall to the section behind it. The trio followed the path to a set of stone steps and ascended them. At the very top was a large chamber. In the middle of the chamber was a stone sarcophagus. "Well, is it her?" the annoying young man demanded.
"Give me a moment", River said crouching down to study the glyphs on one side "yes I believe it is" she glanced at Isadora "can you record this?" The brunette nodded and took it out, ignoring the groan from Lewis. "That's the Queen and her journey to the throne", River explained to the young woman filming her "and on this side is the shaman with his staff".
"Looks like a sword set in some kind of dais", Isadora commented "maybe this really IS version of the sword in the stone" she frowned as she spotted the weird symbols from before "and look, more of these strange symbols".
Her curly haired mentor ran her finger over them and felt a slightly raised section. She pressed it and a part of the wall slid back. "Congratulations you found a secret door", Lewis said sarcastically, slowly clapping his hands together.
"How about you sit down and shut up?" Isadora shot back, standing up and facing him, hands on hips "otherwise we're going to leave you here".
"You wouldn't dare", Lewis said, glaring at her. The young woman stepped closer to him, hands on her hips.
"No…you're right. Instead of leaving you here, I'll just introduce you to one of my closest friends", she remarked.
The young man smirked "Why? Is your friend cute?"
Isadora didn't bat an eye "She's more than that. She's drop dead gorgeous" River barely supressed a snort at her words "she's also Devil's Daughter" Lewis' smirk faded "Thana Morningstar".
"You rang?" a feminine voice spoke up behind the young man, making him yelp like a little girl.
Isadora grinned at her literal sister-from-another-mister "Hey Ana", she greeted.
"Isa", the platinum blonde greeted back "Ms Spoilers" River waggled her fingers at her "now who's this?" Devil's princess enquired, circling Lewis "judging by the clothing and the demeanour, I'd have to guess that you're the unwanted tagalong".
"Unwan-" the boy spluttered, he then straightened up, adjusting his jacket " I'll have you know that my father, Lord Eversley paid for us to come here, you know!" he added, snobbily.
Isadora scoffed "oh please! Your paid for you to come", she corrected "We…" She gestured between herself and River "we pay for our own way".
Thana smirked "now THAT sounds more like it", she remarked "now what would you like me to do with him?" she eyed Lewis in a way that made him very nervous.
Her brunette friend considered the young man "hm….I think a small time out down under with a mutual friend would do him some wonders", she mused aloud. The platinum blonde's smirk grew.
"I think…I think that is an excellent idea", the platinum blonde agreed. She opened up a blackhole beneath Lewis' feet causing the young man to fall through it, screaming like a girl…again. "See you on the flip side", Thana said, throwing a cheeky wink at Isadora before jumping into blackhole herself, closing it up behind her.
"Thana Morningstar", River remarked "she's one of a kind".
"That she is", Isadora agreed "now…" she turned to the opening that her mentor had discovered, moved closer to it and peered inside.
"What do you see?" the curly haired woman asked, looking over her shoulder.
"Nothing, it's too dark", the brunette replied. She stuck the camcorder back into her back and took out a torch, switching it on "too small for more than one person at a time", she stated, taking in the space "I'll have a quick look and report back".
"Be careful", River said.
"Don't worry, I will be", Isadora assured her. She started to head inside when her mentor stopped her.
"Please Isa", she implored "be careful".
"The second I see danger, I'm out", the brunette promised "shouldn't be very long anyway so I'll be back before you know it".
A sad smile appeared on River's face as she watched the young woman disappear into through the opening. She knew what was about to happen and as much as she wished to could stop it, she couldn't. The timelines had to be maintained, no matter what.
Isadora carefully made her way along the narrow passageway and down a flight of stone steps. The next area she entered was much bigger than expected with a strange, rounded chamber in the centre. In the middle of that, there was some sort of podium. The brunette made her made over it, pausing when the beam from her torch landed on a section of wall that had the same weird writing as the rooms above. She walked over to it, carefully tracing with her fingers. They glowed orange and section of the wall slid back to reveal a shiny obelisk type object.
Isadora tentatively picked it up and was a little startled when it glowed the same orange colour as the writing. She slowly stood up and turned toward the podium, walking over to it. "This is a bad idea", she murmured as she neared it. By all rights, she should be putting the obelisk down and getting out of there but for some reason she didn't. She felt almost…compelled to put the object down on the podium.
As the young woman did just that the round chamber she was in started to rumble. Isadora made a break for one of the openings only to have it sealed off by solid stone. Two more walls, slid into place with a crash effectively trapping her inside. Isadora fumbled in her bag for her radio "River? River can you hear me?" she called and all she got back was static "River, I'm trapped in this chamber! I need…" she trailed off when the obelisk started to open up and light blue crystals began to emerge. A mist bursts out from them, hitting Isadora in the chest. She stumbled back against the wall, trembling "River, please help me!" she begged into the radio. Still she didn't get a response. Suddenly her hands start to become covered by a rocklike crust. The brunette screamed, dropping the radio. "Oh, god", she breathed, utterly terrified as it slowly encased her body. She let out one last scream before she was completely covered in the substance.
Mere moments later a wolf made entirely of golden light appeared. It padded over to the cocooned woman and placed a paw on her leg. The golden glow slowly spread from the animal's limb and over stone that covered Isadora. As it began crack the wolf vanished. Pieces of stone crumbled off of the brunette's body, exposing parts of her body, including her head. She throws it back and the rest of the cocoon explodes as a shockwave of golden light is released from her body. The pieces are thrown everywhere.
Isadora stared down at herself, letting out a relieved laugh that she seemed to be unscathed by whatever the hell that was. Her happiness was short lived as she began to feel lightheaded. The young woman collapsed to the ground, passed out and completely missed the whole of the circular chamber falling apart around her.