“I did not understand a word of that.” Bellatrix confirmed, nodding her head and smiling awkwardly, giving Sethenes a thumbs-up. “Are you a corpse? Please tell me you aren’t a corpse and that you’re just a stupid graverobber. If you’re a corpse I will, as my sibling says, yeet you into the sky.” she said. “Hmm, you know what? I think I’m going to break out of here. This shit’s creepy.” she said, taking the golden scepter from Sethenes’ hands and banging down the door with it. It wouldn’t budge, but she could, upon getting closer to the door, hear her father moving on the other side. “Dad! There’s someone else in here!” she screamed, trying to get her voice to carry through the door.
Sethenes came forward and took the scepter back, eyebrows furrowing again. "I am…not a corpse." he finally said, in slow, careful, accented English. The translation portions of the spells had finally kicked in, and he managed to speak and understand this strange language that this woman had been babbling in. "But I am not a graverobber, either." he looked down at his hands, remembering just after the spells had begun their work. When he had awoken trapped in a sarcophagus, bound in linens, and his body still withered and dead. He had slowly returned to normal, finally able to kick the lid off and sit up to unbind himself. He held the crooked scepter in one hand, careful not to damage it any further than it must already be, after all the rough beatings that this woman had given it.
Carter's eyes widened, his hands pausing on the door for a moment. "What?" he questioned. "Bel– Bella, I'm not quite sure I understand you!" he called, frowning. "Did…did you say there was someone else in there?" he glanced back at the entrance. "Ernie! Get in here!" he wanted to know if his other child could give an explanation for what Bella had said.
“Yeah! Dad, there’s light coming from the ceiling, I’m going to see if there’s another way out!” Bella shouted, grabbing Sethenes by the hand and pulling him over to where light was trolling down into the room. Ernie walked inside the chamber, fiddling with the cuffs of his jeans. “Dad? Is something wrong? Besides Bella being stuck, obviously.” Ernesto said, looking worried. Meanwhile, Bella had Sethenes stood in the middle of the room whereupon she began to use him as a stepping stool to get higher up, up to hopefully out. “Hold still boo, I’m going to find us a way out of here.” she said quickly.
Carter grimaced. "Don't…don't get hurt, Bella! We can figure this out." He turned to Ernie. "Did anyone else go in there with you? Bella says there's someone else in there with her, is there a possibility someone followed you in?" Goddamnit this was his fault somehow. He hadn't told them enough, hadn't ensured they would listen, hadn't had someone posted to watch the entrance. This was his fault.
Sethenes frowned as she climbed on his shoulders, looking up for a moment, then over at the door. "What are you doing?" He questioned, arching an eyebrow faintly and unsure if he be offended that she was using him as a ladder. "There is no way to leave that way, this tomb was designed not to be accessable through anything but the door." The tomb was sealed tight; otherwise water or creatures could have gotten in and wreaked havoc on Sethenes's body.
(Sorry for responding late, my family and I recently adopted a ball python and bearded dragon and recently the ball python has been showing signs of health issues, wheezy breathing so we’ve scheduled them both for checkups but I’m kind of worried about the snake since she’s not really feeling so good so basically I won’t be online a lot responding until they get their first checkups and I find out what’s wrong with my Lily baby.)
(it's alright! Take all the time you need)
“Well then where is the light coming from?” Bella asked, using a snarky tone to convey irritation. “Anyways, I’m sure I can just punch my way out of here. The ceiling is a little cracked and I’m pretty certain that a few good knocks and we’ll be out in a jif.” she said, adjusting her stance so she’d be less likely to totally topple over.
“Dad, I swear, there’s nowhere and nobody around for miles. If anyone was here, we’d be aware.” Ernesto said, suddenly getting worried. What if Bella was hallucinating from dehydration, or what if there was somebody in there? Either way, she’d probably be dead soon. They had to get her out, no matter what their father thought. “Dad. Get me a shovel, I’m going to try and dig her out. Screw historical preservation and all that, I’m getting my sister.”
Sethenes twitched. "The light is from spell work so I didn't awaken in the pitch black. How in Anubis and ma'at did you get in here if you know nothing of the rituals?" He demanded, but didn't let her fall. Not yet. He would, if he felt he needed to. "You cannot punch your way out, there are…dozens of feet of rock and earth above our heads, you will only kill us both in a cave in." He frowned, shaking his head a little bit.
Carter frowned, pressing his hands to the door. "There has to be some sort of mechanism to open it again. The workers wouldn't have wanted to get trapped by mistake." He replied, looking around at the hieroglyphs. "We can't destroy this, Ernie. It has so much historical significance! It could change everything! This trap shouldn't even have worked, after so long, yet it did, and the significance of that…" He shook his head, then took a breath and refocused on the problem at hand. "Breaking it down is a last resort. We would know if Bella was…less than well."
(Sorry for being offline. Was busy.)
(I'll post something by tonight.)
Sethenes twitched. "The light is from spell work so I didn't awaken in the pitch black. How in Anubis and ma'at did you get in here if you know nothing of the rituals?" He demanded, but didn't let her fall. Not yet. He would, if he felt he needed to. "You cannot punch your way out, there are…dozens of feet of rock and earth above our heads, you will only kill us both in a cave in." He frowned, shaking his head a little bit.
Carter frowned, pressing his hands to the door. "There has to be some sort of mechanism to open it again. The workers wouldn't have wanted to get trapped by mistake." He replied, looking around at the hieroglyphs. "We can't destroy this, Ernie. It has so much historical significance! It could change everything! This trap shouldn't even have worked, after so long, yet it did, and the significance of that…" He shook his head, then took a breath and refocused on the problem at hand. "Breaking it down is a last resort. We would know if Bella was…less than well."
"Fine, fine, but I don't like this. And if Bella shows even the slightest sign of being in danger, I'm smashing this stupid tomb to pieces." they growled, then took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I'm just scared, and I need some air. I'll be outside." they said, shaking their head. Ernesto then walked outside, sitting down on a patch of sand to keep from crying.
"Alright, whatever. Although as I recall, this particular tomb has been worn away at for a while. Maybe only a little bit of falling rocks will harm us." she said, trying to scratch at the ceiling ineffectively.
Sethenes frowned, and moved, rather ungracefully setting her down. "You are not breaking open my ceiling." he said, glaring at her for a moment. "That is not happening, I will not allow it." he was still holding his scepter, the crook that was a symbol of his leadership. "Where are the priests? Why are you here, alone, with no knowledge of what this tomb contains or entails?" he demanded. "Why were you not trained in the heka'u, and why did I wake alone?" he wasn't supposed to have woken alone. The priests were supposed to have opened the tomb and unwrapped him before the spells took effect, which was why there was such a lapse in timing between the door first being opened and the spells going into effect, to give the priests time to work. Instead, Sethenes had awoken alone, trapped in a sarcophagus and bound so tightly he could hardly breathe.
Carter nodded, still studying the doorway, gently pressing his hands against it to see if he could just hit the right hieroglyph and make it move.
(Sorry! Been busy. Will respond soon.)
