Under the Pyramid
Tell us about a time you were stubborn, or had to deal with someone else who was.
The door wouldn't open.
She had tried everything. Rituals of opening. Words of command. Invocations, evocations, incantations. The ancient stone remained unmoved.
She summoned vines to try to pry it apart, to no avail. She summoned spirits and demons for knowledge, and ended up baffled by their ignorance. The doorway at the back of the dusty tomb was immune to supernal knowledge.
She had tried drawing runes on it in ash, saliva and blood. She had danced before it clothed and naked. She even sang, tone deaf as she was. The stone door was as unmoved by her efforts as solid rock.
The desert heat filtered down the narrow passages and hidden ways, drying the sweat on her formerly fashionable outfit. She was dizzy from lack of food and water, the sealed doorway seemed to swam before her eyes. She tried swallowing, and her parched throat wouldn't let her.
At last she was reduced to glaring at the sealed entranceway, not even able to mouth the curses she was reduced to. Above her was hidden passages and a pyramid, and desert beyond that. She was stricken by the sudden knowledge that she had stayed too long, that the journey back might mean her death.
It was hopeless. Best to leave, and come back with dynamite. If even that would work. If she could even make it back.
She painfully straightened herself and took a painful breath of bone-dry air.
"One...More...Try."
The door wouldn't open.
She had tried everything. Rituals of opening. Words of command. Invocations, evocations, incantations. The ancient stone remained unmoved.
She summoned vines to try to pry it apart, to no avail. She summoned spirits and demons for knowledge, and ended up baffled by their ignorance. The doorway at the back of the dusty tomb was immune to supernal knowledge.
She had tried drawing runes on it in ash, saliva and blood. She had danced before it clothed and naked. She even sang, tone deaf as she was. The stone door was as unmoved by her efforts as solid rock.
The desert heat filtered down the narrow passages and hidden ways, drying the sweat on her formerly fashionable outfit. She was dizzy from lack of food and water, the sealed doorway seemed to swam before her eyes. She tried swallowing, and her parched throat wouldn't let her.
At last she was reduced to glaring at the sealed entranceway, not even able to mouth the curses she was reduced to. Above her was hidden passages and a pyramid, and desert beyond that. She was stricken by the sudden knowledge that she had stayed too long, that the journey back might mean her death.
It was hopeless. Best to leave, and come back with dynamite. If even that would work. If she could even make it back.
She painfully straightened herself and took a painful breath of bone-dry air.
"One...More...Try."