U.S.S.A HellField

Chapter 19 Nemesis

I held down the trigger, so to speak for 5 seconds, letting it charge to 15 percent. I opened my fingers and a large bolt of plasma propelled out of the barrel, molten rock exploded from the stone pillar. Glowing hot rock fragments shattered against my armor, everyone had taken cover before I fired the shot. - "Holy crap, I didn't know it could do that."  Alice said, her eyes widening in surprise. - "You should see it at half charge, I nearly cooked myself to death with it."  I said, unsure if that was a brag or an admission that it shouldn't be in my hands. Artemis stepped forward and made their way in, the way they moved suggested they were in a hurry to find whatever was inside. There was something not right about this temple, it gave me a familiar cold empty feeling I haven't felt since... - "Hurry up Damien! Are you planning on becoming a statue or what?"  Alice said, waving over to me. - "Huh? Yeah, I'll be right behind you."  I answered back. I wanted to go back home, but I wasn't so sure about this place, but it seemed I had little choice.

I followed behind them, the inside was pitch black with the only light being the dwindling sunlight. Once the light faded out, Artemis and I turned on our helmet lamps in almost synch. - "Oh so I don't get a light or anything?"  Alice complained. Artemis tilted their head and then reached for something attached to their backpack. - "Here, take the flashlight. Now let's keep moving."  They said, handing Alice the flashlight. She took it and turned it on, then we continued down the sandstone hallway. Alice kept looking at the symbols carved into the walls, they were all around us, even on the ceiling. I noticed that the path was on a slight incline, we had to be going underground. It seemed we made it to the end of the tunnel, all we were met with was pure darkness and dust in the air. We entered a large wide wide-open room, I looked to my left and saw what looked to be a large stone tomb. Everyone moved their flashlights and shined their lights over more tombs. This felt all too familiar.

- "Where are we?" Artemis asked no one in particular. Alice took a few steps ahead of them and then faced him. - "I think we're in some kind of burial chamber if these are believed to be tombs." She said shining her light on another one of the sarcophagi. - "We should keep moving, last time I found tombs in a dark place I got ambushed."  I said, walking ahead. - "Where were you that had tombs?"  Alice asked. I sighed before answering. - "Aboard the Umbra, Tobey, Emily, and I found an old door that went deep into the ship where we found several large tombs, much bigger than these."  Alice was silent for longer than I expected. - "Did they make it out okay?"  She asked, with a glimmer of hope in her voice.  - "Psychologically? No idea, but yes, I helped them escape before the ship crashed."  She seemed to let out a sigh of relief. - "They're still alive too."  Artemis stated. I stopped and then turned to them.  "We can talk about it later, but first we need to find what's in here."  They said, looking me in the eyes, then walked on ahead.

We continued further on inside. The deep sinking feeling in my stomach was getting worse, and I found it difficult to breathe, I had no idea what was causing it. - "Damien, are you alright? You seem to be having a panic attack, do you need a moment to calm down?"  Metis asked concerned, thankfully not out loud. - "No, I'm fine."  I said quietly. - "What was that?"  Artemis asked. Before I could answer, something dark moved a few meters ahead of us. - "What was that?"  Alice asked, alarmed. - "I have no idea, but it's probably not friendly."  Artemis said, pointing their sidearm forward with a knife in their other hand. - "Are you detecting anything Metis."  I asked it. - "I'm not detecting any life signs other than all of yours."  It was right, I wasn't getting anything on the motion detector either. It couldn't have been an apparition, we all saw it...if briefly.

We continued...forward. I don't know if it was just me but the further we went the more I saw things. The blue floors of the Umbra, the red and black stained walls, and the dying lights that flickered those visions in and out of my sight. I couldn't tell how much time had passed by, but we reached another chamber, this one looked and felt much more spacious than the prior. As we looked around, there were no tombs but there were lots of pedestals with sculptures around the room. Alice went up to one of them, she inspected it while I looked around to see what I could find, I assumed Artemis was doing the same. after I looked at a few sculptures and god knows what else, I turned around to see Alice pick up one of them. - "Oh my god,"  She said, her voice echoing lightly through the chamber. - "What did you find?" Artemis asked. - "This shouldn't be here...there's no way. This is a..."   Heavy footsteps and metal clanking immediately interrupted her.