- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
This is intended to be the start of a whole new story... Bear with me, it's quite long.
With a heave, Juan pulled the rusty level backwards into the side of the stone pyramid. He heard faint noises inside, the sound of metal grinding and groaning. Suddenly, the sounds of tension gave way to the rumble of moving earth, as the large stone door slid open beside him.
Cautiously, he ventured inside. Carefully, very cautiously, he pulled out a match, and lit his torch.
It flared up, and Juan was utterly unprepared for what he saw within...
Skulls covered the floor like an unholy carpet, their dead eyes following his every move. The jaws of some where still connected, open, in an muted scream.
As Juan continued on, the sound of bones crunching beneath his feet grew into an uproar, dominating his senses. He felt that the field of skulls would never end; this eternal field of death was all he knew.
After what seemed like hours of silent horror, Juan found himself deep within the heart of the Pyramid. Rising out of the sea of bones like a monument to the dead, A massive staircase greeted him at the end of the hall. He pulled himself out onto the stair. As he sat down, panting in relief, he noticed something resting on the ground beside him. He picked it up, looking it over. Dust fell away, and the shine of metal could be seen.
It was a helmet. Welded on it's front was a carefully crafted metal -blam!-. Suddenly, Juan heard a noise on the stair.
He turned and looked. In the deep gloom, the top of the stairs faded into darkness. He heard the noise again. It sounded like a drum being played in the distance.. a deep rumbling, like distant thunder.
It stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Now, he heard a faint metallic clang. A piece of metal flew down the stairs, casually bouncing every few steps. It came to a stop at Juan's feet.
He picked it up, slowly. It was a wrought iron Cross, embossed with words in German.
"Ich Dein die Reich" He read, trembling. The torch flickered in a sudden wind. "I serve the Empire." he whispered.
A figure appeared in the gloom, walking down the stairs toward Juan. His gait was quite peculiar. The person obviously had a bad limp in his right leg. Juan lifted the torch and gasped.
The person in front of him was clothed in a tattered and torn German Uniform. It was something that Juan had seen only once in his life, back when he was a child. However, this soldier was worse. Much worse.
Juan's eyes traveled up the officer's uniform, up the leather jacket, and locked onto his face.
Only, the officer had no face. Just a skull. The creature.. whatever it was.. raised it's arm. The leather fell away, revealing a blanched white skeleton.
The horrible thing raised up, and slowly, creakily, saluted Juan.
Then it disintegrated. It's bones fell apart, and the skull thudded down the steps. It landed, with a splash of bones, in the carpet of skulls.
Juan stood aghast for a moment, then laughed to himself. Such insane hallucinations he was having!
But his relief was short-lived.
He heard the noise again, but now it was much, much bigger. It drowned out all other noises. Dust fell from the ceiling, bit by bit at first, then in torrents. The sea of skulls splashed against the walls of the chamber, and lapped at the base of the stair.
Figures began to rise from the tides of doom. They waded through the shallows, their metal -blam!-s glistening in the Torchlight. With ragged, bony arms, the creatures pulled themselves from the abyss, and shambled toward Juan.
Juan turned and ran up the stairs...