Writing On The Wall (Patreon)

Woman: Wikimedia
Scorpion: Dracoart

The slog through the jungle had been wearying. It had been made all the worse by the slow desertion of the bearers. Still, that had it's good side, also. They were only paid one quarter up front, with the rest due at journey's end. But now the ancient deserted city of Cthulatak lay before you. That city fabled for its riches and knowledge. And, of course, it's curse. But that was bunk ... such things were never anything more than mythology.  By the time you reached the base of the city's central stepped pyramid, most of the remaining bearers were gone. Some had tried to demand their pay but Jean, to his credit, argued them down. They hadn't completed that for which they demanded pay. Everyone expected to be attacked and robbed in the night but strangely nothing happened. Jean smirked that merely the threat of the curse seemed enough. You nodded but something nagged at the back of your mind.

The next morning, that was nearly a week ago, you and your small crew of graduate student archaeologists began the investigation of the pyramid. There appeared only one way in, through the temple on the platform at the top. But no stairs led there - the sides were smooth polished limestone. Once again it was Jean who found a solution. There were twin rows of pits carved up each side of the pyramid. A little work adapted the climbing gear into a serviceable climbing ladder. And that's when all the remaining bearers (save six alone) of the original fifty-five bearers left screaming something about a watcher in the darkness. Everyone laughed but Bridgette's laugh seemed somewhat strained. The jungle and the native mythology were getting to her.

The temple at the top, one hundred meters above the jungle floor did not disappoint, though. It was an entrance but a strange entrance. Instead of the usual 2 meter by one meter doors everywhere else, these doors were wide - nearly a meter and a half - and but one meter high. You all had to crawl down the sharply sloping and twisting passage. To arrive in a wide room, deep carvings and writing incised on every surface. You took charge and had everyone working on the largest surface first. The writing was familiar being a variation on one you'd studied several years previously. The translation was going well with relatively few problems when you noticed Bridgette was missing. Cursing her inexperience, you halted to make a search. Of course there couldn't be very much space below the pyramid so this search should be short.

Helene found Bridgette's hat near one of the short doors and you found one of her boots a short way down the corridor. Worried, you pressed forward. At the corridor's end was a thin slab of limestone in a slot. A shout from Jean stopped you from lifting the slab.

"Hold a second," he called. "This inscription warns of danger - the Watcher in the Darkness."
"And when have we ever let such myths stop us?" you retorted.
"Never - but ..." You waved him off and began lifting the slab back into its ceiling slot. Just as you reset the catch, the floor dropped depositing you all - winded - in yet another chamber. "I'm worried, Doc. We've no map and little gear. And there's the warning."
"What warning?" you snapped, rubbing a bruise.
"That the Watcher is one of us. And will kill us all."
"Standard mythology. You know the warning mythology type. No let's find our way out." Grad students sometimes had too much imagination.

You revised your thinking later when first Helene, then George and then Rick vanished. Always the last one in their column, always when they'd become somewhat separated from the others. As if something were hunting them. Only Rick's body was found - with a large smooth hole in the chest. Although the hole was nowhere near the heart, he appeared to have died of heart failure - or perhaps fright, if his facial features could be trusted in death.

Finally it was Jean and yourself alone to face the unknown danger of this maze. His talk and further translations began to convince even you of this Watcher - whatever it was. You came to a fork in the corridor and, over Jean's protest, you ordered him down one side while you took other. You quickly ran back to the fork when you heard Jean's muffled cry of terror and heard his "Oh no, Bridgette! No!". Expecting to find yet another body, you ran down Jean's corridor. In the darkness, you saw someone or something being dragged into a side passage.

Catching up in an open chamber, you turned your lantern up high only to discover that Jean had been right - the Watcher was one of them. Bridgette, magically transformed, scuttled before him.

"Hello, Doctor," she hissed. "For you, I have special plans. A strange force grabbed you and forced you to your stomach. You felt strange things push out from your sides. "These sacred places require Watchers and you will help make them." A terrified cry echoed in the darkness which it took several moments before you recognized the voice. It was your own.