Fragility

The Black Pyramid

Entry 1

18th of September, 1799. My name is Pierre Lacrós, French Army Officer Captain under the Command of Jacques-François Menou of the Armée d'Orient. My current outpost is on the banks of the Nile River, near the village of Aswan. I am overseeing a small dig site in the ruins of Swenett. The site is over twenty-eight hundred years. So I am told. The findings we came upon are nothing too spectacular. We have found old buried statues worn by the desert sands, shattered shards of pottery, and some old weaponry cache that have been very well preserved.

I am frustrated that our findings are nothing compared to my colleagues, whom have uncovered many spectacular artifacts at their own sites, some predate the oldest empires in the West, and dare I say those of India and the Orient as well.

I write this entry by candlelight at my work desk as I wait on my supper. I was getting ready for my supper. My trustworthy translator Abdel came into my dwelling with a local named Jubal. Jubal is the imam who presides over the village, and is rumored to be afflicted with a horrible curse which has greatly burdened his family. Jubal appeared aged and worn; his skin was leathery and cracked. He had a beard which was grayed, and hung over his chest. He peered at me intensely with one brown eye; his other eye had become blind; taking on a milky appearance.

I let the priest stand across from me at my table. He recounted a story which was passed on from his Wife's grandfather, Sherif. It took place over sixty years ago. Sherif was travelling with a salt mine caravan which had gotten lost in the desert while trying to return to the settlement. A sandstorm blew over them, forcing them to try and seek refuge.

Sherif managed to make it into an uncharted oasis. He and the caravan found their way to a strange rainforest hidden by green peaks, fed by beautiful waterfalls. The mountains were strangely hidden by the rising dunes all around them, as if this wonderful place was sunken into the desert. There were many animals, primarily birds and monkeys, and there was sweet fruit there and fresh water to drink. Found in the middle of this lost paradise was a strange Black Pyramid, as high as a hill made of stone that looked like a black mirror and reflected all light.

The sight of the mysterious monument filled Sherif and his companions with awe, at first, but they all felt a strange sense of a creeping dread, as if they shouldn't be there. Still they wondered who had built it in this lost paradise and the prospects of exploring this seemingly intact pyramid compelled them to explore further. Sherif and his companions now stood before the dark shadow of the Black Pyramid. There was a singular entranceway on its eastern face that was sealed. On this entranceway, it had strange hieroglyphs. Above it was a golden eleven pointed star with a serpent engraved in the middle of the image. In a moment of greed, Sherif decided to take the golden star. He pried the plunder free with his dagger. And the door gave way, revealing an evil Jinn, Abdel exclaimed in a voice trembling with dread and horror as he told the tale! A gout of ink black smoke poured from the door of the temple. Something like a crackling shriek emanated from deep within the tomb. Sherif was struck with the terrible presence of the thing, he and his companions began to flee in a panic. The streaming clouds of choking terror followed them, driving them from the lush foliage and back out into the desert. Not all of them made it out with their lives, for 18 members of the caravan were left behind to that evil jinni, never to be seen again.

Sherif and the six other survivors made it out of that accursed oasis, into the sandy dunes of the hot desert. They returned to the village after six days of continuous travel. Those who lived could not bear the memory of what had occurred. Consumed with madness, they chose to take their own lives. Sherif held on to the golden star. For a time, he lived in relative happiness. Though, at night he would often stir from his sleep in apparent terror. One night, he began to speak to an unseen presence, begging it for mercy. The next morning he was found face down in the waters of the Nile.