Well, I'll write one more for Shifting then head back to Rising since it's been a bit on that. The real question is should I write something violent? Crazy? Calm and easy? Hmmm...guess you'll have to read it all!
Chapter 33: The Tomb
Universe 8999548-JH34T. Location Unknown. Time Unknown
Darkness. Absolute, encompassing darkness.
A brief minute later, that darkness was interrupted by the flares of yellow and orange particles, the falling embers of light falling toward a dusty floor of stone.
Flashing into the new reality, the four travelers tumbled as the previous location had been at a very different angle of gravity. Crashing to the stone floor, the four grumbled and cursed, each fully enclosed in their armor as the faint glow of blue came from each set of armor along the vertical shoulder supports.
"Ugh...I hate it when centers of gravity are different" Erza complained as she picked herself up. Dusting herself off, it was a habit in futility as the redhead couldn't even see anything aside from the minor glow of her gear armor bathing the nearby wall in azure blue.
"Better than landing upside down? Or in a vat of rotting meat" Kagura blanched at the memory.
"Damn, it is dark. I can't see anything" Muttering with observation, Mira activated the small flashlight attachment on her Lancer, the cone of illumination suddenly flaring as it fell on bland stone walls. Waving it to the left and right, then vertically to the ceiling, Mirajane found nothing hostile, or threatening.
Another piercing light flowed down the opposite direction from Levy, the shorter woman for once, not acting insane. "Anything? Cause I got nothin"
"Nope. Just stone and darkness" Keeping her rifle aimed directly before her, Mira waited for the inevitable attack as Erza stepped up next to her, the redhead holding up her wrist. "Atmosphere is breathable. Looks like we're here for...six days" Retracting her helmet, Erza coughed heavily as more dust filtered around the four humans. "Stale air...musty...smells like something died in here a long time ago" Coughing again, Erza raised her own rifle, the chainsaw blades still covered in something that had blue blood. Dripping with a light 'plop' she waited.
Coughing herself, Kagura breathed in deeply as her eyes squinted after retracting her own helmet. "You weren't kidding. This air is stale"
"Told ya"
Waiting a few minutes while taking a small swig from a flask, McGarden slowly lowered her L.M.G, the bayonet glinting under the flashlight illumination cast by the others. "So...where are the zombies? Or the aliens? Monsters? That's what always happens in these dark, narrow tunnels...YOU HEAR THAT! COME OUT YOU BASTARDS!" Shouting as loud as she could, the echo rumbled and fluctuated down the Northern tunnel, but nothing stirred except for the falling of dust particles and reverberating echoes.
Receiving a slap upside the head, Levy momentarily lagged mentally, responding after thirty seconds. "Ow. Bitch"
"What have I told you about inciting attacks from monsters!?"
Levy reraised her rifle, stepping forward as dust began to collect in her blue hair. "You told me to bring on the attack so we can kill our enemies faster! Why search through this damn labyrinth when we can just bring them to us! COME ON FUCKERS! I'LL MOW YOU ALL DOWN!"
Mira slightly shrugged, her eyes tracking the darkness for any movement. "She does have a point. Any undead or monsters would have heard that by now"
"Sure, assuming they can be killed by gunfire. What if it's some supernatural mummy or...I dunno? Immortal meat goblins?"
"As long as they're the flesh eating kind? I have no interest in fighting those sexist goblins at all" Mira retorted, the armed woman still waiting as she stood erect.
Minutes passed with nothing happening. No attacking zombies or goblins. No monsters or...anything as silence reigned like a suffocating aura.
"Okay...I'm sick of this hallway. Let's go explore? Maybe we can find an exit and get some fresh air?" Stepping forward, the cone of light shifted as Levy simply began walking, her path straight done the lone corridor.
"I'll go this way with Red" Cocking her head toward the other direction and the encompassing darkness, Mira didn't wait for a reply as she raised her rifle and started walking.
Erza didn't complain about following Mira. Really, all she cared about identifying potential threats. Following with her own rifle raised, the twin cones of light pierced the darkness as the tunnel loomed ahead.
They walked in silence, the two females finding nothing emerging or attacking. "Normally we're attacked by now. Usually something horrible too" Erza commented as she sniffed the air, finding no change aside from the stale, dusty atmosphere.
"Ugh...I was expecting something undead by now. Or some labyrinth horror" Mira replied as the tunnel turned to the right. Shining her flashlight against the walls, they were still that same, bland stone.
"That is what happened last time..." Scarlet casually mentioned as the two kept walking, the two fully prepared for attack.
Still, an hour passed easily as the duo moved through the darkness, the only source of light their rifle torches and the soft glows from their armors.
Finally, Erza and Mira reached an intersection, the four directions splitting the possible path. "So, which way?" Shining her light down the right hand passage, it was horrifically dark after several feet, showing nothing but a few flecks of falling dust and particles.
Mira did the same toward the left, finding nothing but that similar, horrific darkness. Finally replying to Erza, Mira shook her head. "I can't find any difference with any direction. We could be in a damn maze a mile underground and have no idea. And dammit, I'm just waiting for some...darkness horror to come bursting at us when our backs are turned"
"I know what you mean. No way we don't get attacked by something" Finally deciding on the right hand passage, both women continued into the thick darkness as they gripped their rifles tighter, waiting for the horror.
"COME ON! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YA! ZOMBIES!? ALIEN MUMMIES! A RACIST MINOTAUR!? CHOCOLATE WEREWOLF MAN! WHERE ARE YOU!" Firing into the darkness as the pathway rose in ascending elevation, the tracers and flashes of gunfire snapped with a deafening echo as the bullets zipped into a distant wall.
"Dammit Levy! Enclosed space! The fucking noise you lunatic!" Shouting as she gripped the long weapon, Kagura pulled it down with a yank, her eyes a furious glare while her ears rang.
Pulling her LMG away, McGarden then took a knee, the woman watching the darkness. "Come on...come on you delicious werewolf..."
"Levy! Nothing's there! We've been walking around for a few hours now and who knows where Erza and Mira are now! And seriously!? Chocolate werewolf man? That's not going to happen twice"
"It could...and it has to some other variant of myself. I'm fighting said monsters, proving you wrong as the darkness closes around us" Slightly trembling as the cone of light shifted, the mad scientist saw nothing except more stonework, dust, and filtering particles. Glowering after a full minute, she stood up to her full height. "Could we really be alone in here...? It is possible. But why? Dammit Happy...is this some sort of mind fuckery?"
"Blaming a blue cat isn't going to change anything, McGarden. Now, let's keep searching for some sort of exit, or chamber...or something"
"Fine. But if we're attacked I'm going to say 'told you so' with a very condescending tone...when you least expect it!"
"Sure. Let's agree to that you psycho" Waving the deal off in dismissal, Kagura took point. Taking a more aggressive approach, the gravity mage increased her speed down the passage. Slightly turning to the left, the corridor then split off in a fork, creating two paths that the women could take. Both were equally dark, but for the first time, there was something on the wall of the right hand passage.
Approaching, Levy squinted while raising her hand to brush the etched symbols. "Kagura. More light" Getting compliance, McGarden studied the symbols before realizing what they were. "Hieroglyphics...this is Egyptian...Which means we're on Earth!"
"Great" Clearly not caring that much, Kagura stepped up to study the assorted symbols that covered the wall. "Are there directions to get out of here? Or anything useful?"
Tracing the line of ancient letters, Levy took several minutes to decipher. "Something about Pharoah Ramses the Nineth who ruled greatly for about forty years. No idea if this is one of the great pyramids or a lesser tomb though...shit! What about the mummy's curse! We'll get our eyes sucked out!"
"What curse!?"
"The one I just thought of! I have no idea if it's true or not, but that's what happens in pyramids and ancient tombs!" Reraising her LMG, McGarden sneered as her gaze followed the cone of light down the decorated passageway. "No way I'll be food for some mummy!" Firing again a long burst of rippling rounds, the brass casings flew in tumbling arcs to the stone floor.
"Once again, Levy! Nothing is there!" Running a gloved hand over her now dusty features, Kagura wished she had gone with Erza. "Actually, Erza would just retell her sex stories with me...same with Mira...Nevermind, you're insane, just different"
"Hell yeah I am! But don't worry, we'll get you laid soon you sexy minx! Now come on, let's go fight that curse!" Running down the corridor, any sense of caution was thrown out the window as Kagura gave chase.
"I don't care about that! Now, slow down! There could still be collapsed sections or traps!"
Suddenly halting, Kagura plowed into Levy as the short woman fell forward, trapped under the larger woman. "I'm such an idiot!" Striking several keys for her digistruct, Normal Face was summoned in a flash of pixels, the melon standing erect in all his glorious rage.
"I have...returned...please...rage..." Clearly sinister with intent, the melon clutched his small gloved fists.
"Forget that! Scan this whole damn maze! Find the cursed mummy and lead me to him so I can fucking rekill him!" Shouting while still trapped under Kagura, Levy started to move and roll. "God your fat!"
Slapping the rude woman upside the head, Kagura stood while N.F. began to scan. Pulsing, red light poured from the creation's eyes, bathing the passage in a sense of dread. Completing after several minutes of scanning, the melon turned. "Scanning complete...MISS LEVY!"
"Oof...display holomap" Giving the command, she ignored the shouting and the fatness of Kagura while the floating map of their location hovered above the watermelon that was not a melon at all. Flickering with a green, emerald glow, the map showed very little as only the current passage and a few connecting hallways were displayed. Running a hand through the hologram, Levy was clearly not amused. "I said scan the area, N.F. This is barely a hundred feet in all directions"
"Correct! There is something in the stonework that prevents my nominal scans! Essentially, you are lost, Miss Levy!" Raising his stubby arms, the melon then smiled very creepily.
"Ugh...great. This was a waste of time" Rescanning the melon, N.F. disappeared in a flash of particles and light, transforming into data that was quickly stored in the digistruct.
"So, what now?" Kagura idly asked as she looked down the dark passage, the ink-like shroud showing nothing beyond the cone of light from her rifle.
Levy threw up her hands in frustration, clearly upset at the whole situation. "I don't fucking care! This damn pyramid or tomb or whatever is made with weird rocks that block scans! There hasn't been any attacks or threats and it's really boring!" Walking up to the stone, the shorter woman rapidly raised her right forearm, then hit a few commands of the control keys embedded in her armor . A minor wave of blue light emerged, falling upon the stone wall of symbols and hieroglyphics.
"Anything?" Kagura inquired, the woman still standing nearby.
"Lined with lead, trace aluminum and some carbon elements...and...Andresium? No wonder the scans were so limited" Ending her analysis, McGarden started to walk down the corridor, her LMG hefted close to her chest. "I'm going to find the main burial chamber. Maybe a cursed mummy is there and I can kill the undead fucker with fire. Come with if you want or go wander off and find the others. Don't really care" Stepping heavily as the dust and particles continued to shift and flow around her, Levy heard the rushing footfalls of Kagura as the other woman kept pace, not liking the idea of being lost in this maze.
Two days later...
Erza and Mira had slept in some random corridor, ate, and took care of needed biological needs in some random corner of the labyrinth. Still suffocatingly dark in all directions, neither had found any traces of habitation, curses, monsters or anything. Currently walking through a passage that was only lit by their flashlights, the two strode past a wall of carved hieroglyphics depicting what could only be the history of the builders or their leader.
"...Well, we found some cat statues with headgear. Pretty sure their guardians or something. Still haven't found...kkkshhkk...the mummy...gglrghhk...gonna kill that bastard"
"Are you even listening to her anymore?" Mira asked with a cocked brow, her hair and face more gray from all the dust.
Erza shrugged, still walking slowly as she drank some water from her canteen. "Nah. She's been ranting about finding that damn burial chamber for the last day and a half. I really don't care what she does"
Mira lightly laughed. "Was nice when she was out of range for a bit"
Shrugging with slight agreement, Erza re-screwed the cap of her canteen and placed it on her hip, the woman still walking slowly. Looking at the ancient stone symbols on her right, the redhead aimed her light at the pictures. "Something about King Khufu and his greatness...not that it really matters"
Coming to yet another T-intersection, both women halted as the rough stone was bathed in their light. "Gotta admit having translator nano's helps a lot. Remember when Levy was the only translator of all the alien crap or...French?"
"Ugh...pretty sure she started fights on purpose with half of them. How many times did we have to run for our lives because of some misunderstanding?" Remember all the insanity, Erza slowly ran her gaze down both corridors, then the wall before her. "Think we should blow a hole here? I got some dynamite"
Mira shrugged without a care. "Meh. I don't care. Might cause a collapse. Might release something we shouldn't. Honestly, I'm kinda enjoying the quiet of this place. No savage aliens...no disgusting monsters or homicidal humans. No murderous garden gnomes...Eh, why not blow the wall?"
"Yeah...YEAH! Why not? Levy doesn't have a monopoly on blowing shit up!" Digistructing some dynamite in the next thirty seconds, the bundle of red sticks came included with wires and a connecting fuse. Resting it at the foot of the intersection wall, Erza unspooled the wire by several dozen feet.
Finally set, both women crouched as Erza used a lighter to flick some fire into existence. "Oh...I hope Levy hears this and gets super jealous" Putting the flame to the wick, it started to spark and burn, moving along the floor at a rapid speed.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE! WOOO!" Running further down the tunnel with womanly glee, both didn't have to wait long.
'BOOOOOOMMMM!" Exploding with ear shattering force as the trembles flowed through the air, the labyrinth rumbled and shook while more dust and floating particles clogged the air, reducing visibility to zero.
"Oh, damn that was loud..." Activating her helmet to filter the breathing and rampant dust, both stood up as the haze made the darkness worse.
"Hey! Did you blow something up!? That was my job! I'm super jealous right now!" Levy raged over the radio, but she was ignored as Erza and Mira strode forward, picking their way past broken stone, debris, and heavy dust in the dark air of the tomb.
Stepping over the mound of ruin and rubble, both women entered a chamber...that was completely empty. Aside from a lone doorway at the far end, the room was barely fifteen feet long and ten wide, making it rather small.
"Really...Really? Nothing at all? Not even a damn treasure chest or anything? Just an empty room?" Mira groused with clear annoyance at the lack of any valuables.
"At least we didn't get crushed to death by a collapsing ceiling. Still, was hoping for something useful" Clearly disappointed, Erza sighed within her helmet as the mage crossed the chamber to the far doorway, then turned left.
"Stupid...lame tomb with no treasure..." Muttering some more, Mira followed her companion, hoping for better luck in the future.
The Third Day...
McGarden was bored. Bored out of her fucking mind as she sprinted down some nameless corridor, searching for something...anything.
"DAMMIT! WHY IS THIS TOMB SO BORING! GIMME SOMETHING!" Halting at a four way intersection, the inky blanket of gloom stretched in every direction, showing nothing but black. "Zombies! Dungeon slimes! Ghosts! SINGING CHIPMUNKS! COME ON!" Grasping her blue hair, the woman felt the madness trying to creep into her mind. "No...I need stimulation...a task...conflict..."
"Leeefttt..."
"The fuck? Did I just say something?" Raising her LMG, the bayonet glinted as she aimed in every direction. "If you're an enemy, I'll kill you!"
"Goooo...leffffttt..."
McGarden turned her body in that particular direction, a small smile gracing her lips.
"Goooo...leffftttt..." Hauntingly slow and insidious, the voice lingered as McGarden's grin went wider, pulling at her facial scar tissue.
"A disembodied voice that's super creepy? Yes...YES! Damn right I'm gonna search for the source! FUCK YEAH! BRING IT ON GHOST-TOMB MAN!" Running down the left passage, Levy threw caution to the wind as she lifted her left wrist, the digistruct device giving a light glow. "Will I need to build some sort of containment device!? Fight it with protons! OHHH! Maybe its an auditorial hallucination and I'm just imagining the whole thing!?" Almost running into a stone wall, Levy slid on some errant gravel and small stones, but was already picking herself up as her excitement grew.
"Turn...riiighhht..."
"Definitely a disembodied voice which could imply possession by ghosts! I can't let that happen!" Clutching a forming bottle of spray with a green glow, Levy aimed it at herself while the label briefly could be seen with an ugly, grotesque man with brown hair.
Doctor Murderface's possession repellant
(NOW WITH 90% less radiation!)
Spraying it upon herself, the aerosol fell upon Levy with a green glow, clearly working as she resumed running. "There! That will prevent ghosts from getting inside my head! Assuming that Murderface wasn't lying about it" Shrugging, the short woman couldn't have done anything about it.
"Almooost...there..." Disembodied and coming from all directions, Levy kept running as the first embers of some distant light glowed further down the tunnel. Running faster, McGarden finally reached the chamber as the rampant, crimson light ebbed and glowed. Spilling into the nearby passages, Levy walked into the room as she was bathed in scarlet illumination that pulsed slowly.
"There...so...so...beautiful..." Resting her gaze upon the tiny, glowing cube, it was small, barely the length of her hand. Placed upon a central pedestal, it was a perfect square as ancient runes ebbed with darker hues of red and crimson.
"Possess...mee..."
Clearly the cube was the source of the voice, the pulses in tune with the disembodied words. Slowly approaching, McGarden extended her hand and clasped the strange object. Reflecting in her eyes, the woman gasped. "Yes...the power..." Abruptly turning around, she could feel the hostility...the jealousy.
"The others...they'll want my cube...but it's mine..." Smiling cruelly, Levy knew what had to be done as the cube spoke inside her mind.
"Escape...reach the surface..."
"Yeah...I'll reach the surface no matter what Erza says! I'll destroy them all!"
"...what? Just the surface is required..."
Pocketing the red cube in a pouch, Levy giggled. "Ha! I'm not listening evil cube! I'm fully in control of everything!" Leaving the room, McGarden skipped with child-like joy.
"I...I should have summoned Kagura...the host would be far more stable"
"Who you calling unstable?" Leaning around the next corner with her rifle raised, McGarden saw nothing under the stabbing cone of her flashlight.
"I expected somebody sane after all these centuries...not a half mad woman..."
"I swear I'll put you back on your little pedestal, you sexist square"
"...I was not trying to be insssulting...please, reach the surface"
Leaving the chamber behind, McGarden took the next left, the search pattern completely random. "Nah, I'm gonna track down the others because they might steal you from me"
"I have made a grave error..."
"You sure did, cube! And now we're going to have fun searching this whole place for my friends! Then maybe shoot at them!" Laughing with derangement, the scientist began to search.
"Why did the mental override fail...? Oh...I see...insanity..." Going silent, the cube would try to salvage his plans, but the host was not compliant nor compatible with his desires.
Several hours later...
Kagura walked slowly down the very narrow corridor, the space barely wide enough for a single adult. Suffocating darkness surrounded her as the only source of light came from her lone flashlight attachment that struggled to pierce the gloom. Bobbing with each step she took, the light showed more symbols carved into the walls as this portion of the tomb was rife with them on nearly every surface.
Clearly alone as she walked, Kagura glanced toward her rear, finding nothing but more of the pitch blackness that overwhelmed the tomb.
Activating her comms after several more minutes of walking, Kagura halted. "McGarden? Do you know your location? Erza? Mira?"
Silence was returned for several more seconds.
"I have no idea where we are. Even if we had stuck together, we'd still be trapped in some endless labyrinth devoid of any treasure"
"That assessment is accurate. There seems to be nothing down here even after days of searching. We must have walked miles, but it's hard to be certain. Even the hallways look the same" Erza replied over the radio, her voice muffled.
"Have any of you seen Levy in the last day? She's gone completely radio silent after we got separated"
"Can't say we have. But knowing her, she's probably holed up somewhere drinking"
The radio crackled for a moment, the hissing pops of transmissions piercing the silence. "The voice...it told me...I'll hunt them down...hehehe...THE CUBE IS MINE!"
"Awe..shit. I think Levy's gone full mental break again. You two heard that, right?"
"Oh yeah, we'll hole up in the last room we saw. Actually had a few vases and urns. One way in and out so if McGarden is...i dunno? Hunting us? We should be able to wound her or something. I suggest you do the same, Kagura. Mira out"
"Great...GREAT! Of course she goes crazy in this place!" Shouting in extreme frustration, Kagura realized the mistake and took a knee. Shutting off her electric torch, she even lowered the illumination of her gear armor as she waited in the full darkness.
"The cube...it compels me...I cannot be silent. Kagura...you will not take the mind sorrow from me" Filtering over the radio, Levy's voice was clearly unhinged as Kagura stared into the darkness.
A small point of red light appeared in the distance, barely a blip before disappearing.
Knowing better than to call out, Kagura started to crouch walk in reverse as her footfalls gave a light crunch upon the dust and dirt of the temple floor.
"THERE YOU ARE! THE CUBE IS MINE!" Holding up a crimson square from a distance of one hundred yards, the corridor lit up as bullets screamed.
"Shit!" Rolling to the side, Kagura took cover in a side passage as her kinetic barriers flared from several impacts. Taking a knee, the gravity mage returned fire with her lancer, the tracers lighting of the terrible gloom. "McGarden! Stop firing and listen! You're under the influence of something!"
More LMG gurnfire ripped down the passage, sparking and cracking past Kagura in a hellish fusillade. "Hell no! I found this alien cube and he told me to hunt you all down! I must...errghh"
Staggering, McGarden clutched her head, the jumble of sanity and insanity trying to emerge victorious. "No...they're...friends. All I have left...But killing them keeps the cube safe..."
"Release me and hand me to Kagura...I must reach the surface"
"NO! They're going to take you from me!" Laying down another long burst, McGarden turned and ran, seeking the darkness of the labyrinth.
Kagura waited, then cursed at herself and the stupidity of her idea. "Damn...DAMN! Why do I have to help this crazy bitch!? McGarden! Stop running!" Giving pursuit, the raven haired female activated comms once more. "Erza! Mira! She's been affected by some alien tech! Not sure what, but she's having a mental showdown! If you see her, try to restrain her!"
"Fine, but next time one of us goes crazy, you deal with it" Not overly excited, Mirajane ended the conversation while Kagura continued to run, pursuing the madness of Levy.
The final day. Ten minutes before shift
Massive would be the only way to describe the central tomb and the lone sarcophagus that inhabited the central platform. Connected by four pathways that led to the buried king, the stone paths had been built above a vast chasm. Illuminated by a strange source of light, the room was clearly important as gilded carvings were inlaid upon the walls, mostly gold or at least painted with vibrant colors. Other supporting pillars of stone then rose upward, keeping the chamber structurally sound while the lone woman with blue hair sat upon the sarcophagus with a flask in her hand. Next to Levy was the crimson cube, the object slowly ebbing and pulsing as the duo simply waited.
Peering around the corner into the royal chamber, Erza held a longshot while Mira had equipped herself with an alien laser rifle that was clearly silver and white in construction materials. Gripping the sniper rifle, Scarlet looked across the hallway to Mira. "She's just sitting there with that damn cube"
"I know. It has to be a trap" Taking a quick peek, MJ found that Levy hadn't moved, only lightly drinking while petting the crimson cube.
"I'm in position to your right" Kagura relayed over the radio, only for all three women to hear a weary sigh in response.
"You idiots forgot to change the channel. I can hear you plotting to take my cube. But I'll make it easy for you. Stay there...and I won't shoot you all"
"Dammit McGarden! Enough of this bullshit! We're your damn friends! We've all died, survived and bled across countless worlds! Are you really going to let some stupid box tell you what to do!?" Scarlet shouted, trying to reason with Levy who quickly drank from her flask.
Still sitting, McGarden barked with laughter. "Hahahaha! You think the box controls me? I control the box! All he's been complaining about is reaching the surface but luckily I wanted to hunt you ladies!" Drinking some more, the madwoman chuckled.
"You're telling us that you purposely hunted us for the last two days? How much ammo did we all waste!? You tried to stab me you crazy bitch!" Mira shouted as she aimed the laser rifle at the blunette.
"But it was so much fun! Come on, we were all bored out of our minds! Just walking around...finding nothing except the Cube and me going slightly insane for a few hours. It was great!"
Kagura heard the whole thing, then lowered her rifle from her position from the right side of the chamber. "Ugh...fuck. You know what, you can sit there until we shift you insane, selfish bitch" Sitting down outside of any possible gunfire, Kagura digitized a soda and sandwich, clearly eating without a care.
"Selfish...Selfish!? You assholes had a picnic when I became a maid ghost! Erza, you tried to shave my head to sell my hair for cheesecake on New Venus!"
"I apologized for that!" Erza shot back before getting a weird look from Mira. "You were off trying to trade some soda tabs to that alien merchant for some alien shirts"
"An alien shirt is just a shirt, red. And that damn merchant was a cheat...five eyed bastard, Swindling humans"
"Hey! Focus! I'm ranting here!" Picking up the glowing red cube, McGarden shook her fists toward the gilded ceiling. "Mira! You have literally taken pictures of me in the shower to sell to variants of Makarov for canned food!"
"Damn...how did she find out about that?" MJ whispered, trying to figure out how Levy discovered that ploy to get free stuff. "I better protect my remaining pictures. If Erza finds out what I have of her in the shower..."
"And Kagura! I'm so disappointed you haven't been laid at least once! What's wrong with you?" Pointing in her direction, Levy juggled the crimson cube with barely any effort.
Biting into her sandwich behind cover, the gravity mage chewed before swallowing angrily. "I don't care about any of that! But you know what, next guy I find attractive, maybe I will just to shut you up!"
"It better be Natsu!"
"It won't be!" Drinking some soda, Kagura sighed from the taste before taking another bite. "Besides! You're the worst! I'm pretty sure you're a war-criminal at this point like ten times over!"
"Am I? No...I helped save a whole planet. That was like fifteen billion bug people..." Contemplating, McGarden scrunched up her face was still juggling the crimson cube.
"Your insane and not a hero. At best, you're an anti-hero at this pointttt"
"Be quiet, cube" Throwing it up in the air, McGarden flashed out of existence, the multiversal shift activating.
"Shit, helmets!" Erza shouted out as she barely activated the technology before blinking out of existence. Mira and Kagura followed in mere moments, the falling orange and blue elements a glowing pixelation that pulled the four to the next timeline.
Falling upon the sarcophagus, crimson cube rested on the golden plated coffin, its ebbing red light filling the large chamber of the fallen king. "Finally...I'm free of that Levy McGarden..."
Two thousand, three hundred years later... 1906 A.D. May 3rd
Five men and three women entered the kings chamber, drawn by the crimson light of the center. Dressed in mostly tan pants, jackets and equipped with light tools, the eight archeologists were amazed.
"Fascinating. This must be the main burial chamber" One of the men spoke with a very British brogue.
"Very observant" One of the women spoke as she walked forward, drawn toward the crimson light. Crossing the span of the elevated bridges, she stared at the tiny cube emanating with red light. "What a strange device...how did the ancient Egyptians make this?" Approaching, the woman was about to touch it as her compatriots spread out to search and catalog.
"What is this? How is this possible?" Stooping down, one of the male archeologists picked up a small object, his gaze scrutinizing. Surrounded by two more of the others, both gasped.
"That's a bullet casing...but no human has been in here for thousands of years. Unless the ancient Egyptians had guns? But that's ridiculous"
"Yet here is a casing, rifle I'd suggest"
"There have been other humans here...travelers...now take me to the surface..." Speaking with a tired, sinister tone, the crimson cube ebbed and pulsed, still resting upon the sarcophagus.
"By jove! That box just talked! It must be a curse! I say, lets retreat and tell the British authorities!"
"No...please take me to the surface..."
"What are you?" Peering closer, the curious female was inches away, her facial features bathed in crimson.
"I am ageless...a god to those lower than me...please...take me to the surface..."
"Why do you want to go to the surface?" Immensely curious, the woman adjusted her tan cap as the others kept their distance.
Bleeding a darker red that grew brighter, the cube spoke. "To leave this world...to continue my journey after thousands of years. Tell me, female, what is your name..."
"Oh! Standing upright, the woman jabbed a thumb to her chest, clearly proud of her stature. "I'm doctor McGarden! Levy McGarden and I'm an archeologist from the London Museum of History!" Brushing her blue locks, the shorter woman smiled.
"No...Not again...not Levy..."
"This is going to be so fascinating. I can't wait to study you" Picking up the crimson cube, she placed it in her sidebag, completely ignoring the sinister protests. "No...put me back. I'd rather stayyyy..."
"Alright! Let's continue to explore! This tomb is massive and we'll be here for quite some time"
"I say Miss Levy, that strange device could be a potential energy source! Just think of what it could do for the British Empire. Ha! Indeed, a most fortunate find" Turning, Jack Blackwell clapped his hands. "Alright lads and ladies, you heard the doctor! Let's keep exploring. Who knows what wonders we will find"
"No...No...nooo..."
With that, the archeologists continued to explore, finding evidence of gunfire, explosions, discarded soda bottles and other modern items that should not exist within an Egyptian tomb sealed for thousands of years.
Clearly, it would have history altering effects for the world.
Dunno how many will enjoy this, but I thought of something more lowkey. The cube idea came halfway through writing and obviously, McGarden gets affected for a few days. She's still crazy like all the rest obviously haha
As for Archeologist Levy...she's just a loyal subject of the British Empire! Why? Because I can!
So hopefully you enjoy it somewhat. I think my next one will be a direct followup with 'The Rookie' so we shall see on that.
Most likely will hit Rising next