Sands of Time

Audra's Discovery

This was it.

The time: August 2025. The place: the sands of Egypt, filled with pyramids and mystery. While modern tales of Egypt featured curses for those who disturbed the peace of the Pharaoh's tombs, Audra Barensen wasn't scared, and she even dreamed of encountering a different fate. A young woman from the Midwestern part of America, Audra was a lover of archaeology and Egyptology thanks to her father Patrick being an archaeologist, and Patrick always encouraged her to explore. From digging for fossils at the beach to learning how to properly wrap a mummy (with her teddy bear as her model), nothing seemed to excite Audra more than Pharaohs and pyramids. When she was an early teen, it was during one of her days at the beach when she met Dr. Isaiah Clives, the archaeology professor from the local university who also ran an archeology team and happened to be on vacation at the same beach. Using both her metal detector and his assorted tools, they were delighted to find a few fossilized shells on the beach, and she became fast friends with the professor.

Audra was in her early 20s when she heard that the archaeology team was heading to Egypt, and after being personally welcomed by Dr. Clives to join the expedition, her suitcase was fully packed with both her own supplies and her father's old tools. After promising her father that she'd keep in touch with him, since she didn't know how long the trip would take, Audra & Patrick said goodbye to each other before he wished her luck and watched her go through the airport security. The archaeology crew was thrilled to have Audra join them on the trip, and even though the main plan was to spend most of their time looking for fossils and artifacts, Dr. Clives assured everyone that this trip would be equal parts work and play. Since Audra initially didn't know most of the people in the archaeology crew, Dr. Clives helped her learn everyone's names by the end of the day.

The expedition was a week-by-week process, with each of Egypt's major deserts being visited and worked in for the majority of the week while their hotel was in the nearest city, but there were days when they explored the local towns and took in tourist attractions. Every expedition morning on the trip, Audra made sure her backpack was loaded with necessary items for the journeys she and the crew would take through the deserts, from sunscreen and a flashlight to a miniature collection of her excavating tools and two water bottles. Even though the backpack was heavy with all her supplies, she had enough practice carrying her backpack around both in and out of school, even taking it to the local gym and putting weights in it before carrying it on the treadmill.

Whenever they were digging around in the deserts for artifacts or secrets, the crew made sure not to defile any property or destroy any pyramids they found, not wanting to trigger any ancient curses. Even with all her knowledge of Egyptian history that she acquired both in and out of school, Audra was always ready to learn from the others in the crew, and they loved how dedicated Audra was to the work they did.

While they were exploring the Eastern Sahara desert, Audra was staying as close to the group as she usually could, but that was until she stumbled and tripped over her own foot. When she saw that she was a few steps behind her group, even though they did stop to make sure she was alright, she assured them that she was fine before getting up and continuing to walk. However, she was turning around to pick up her backpack when she noticed something in the distance, like a faint mirage rising up from the sand. It looked like the other pyramids she had seen on the trip, but this one didn't appear to her earlier while walking by with the crew, especially with all the sparkles she thought were framing it.

Even though she didn't want to abandon her crew, she rushed over and asked Dr. Clives if she could investigate the mysterious pyramid, and he (despite wondering if the fall caused her to see things) tried to see it before shrugging and letting her go. After promising to come right back if it was only a mirage, Audra carefully ran through the ankle-high sand before gasping when the mirage turned into a real pyramid, complete with sparkles on the edges.

"That pyramid I thought I saw earlier... it's real!"

Audra texted Dr. Clives, who sent her a thumbs-up emoji and asked if she was going to explore it, to which she said she would before promising to come out before too long. After Dr. Clives wished her luck, Audra put her phone away before turning on her flashlight and carefully making her way to the door of the pyramid, which crumbled away at her touch. It was as if the pyramid was waiting for her, & little did she know the magic this pyramid would bring to her life.

With her flashlight held tightly in her hand, Audra made her way through the entrance chamber of the pyramid, making sure not to touch anything unless she accidentally hit a wall. She didn't want her naive touch to trigger the next great curse upon mankind, so she kept one hand out in front of her in case she hit a wall while the other held her flashlight. She knew she wasn't the superstitious type, but even though every step in the pyramid made her curiosity increase, she wanted to take her time so she wouldn't upset any long-asleep spirits. Every so often on her journey, she would sit where she was and extract her journal from her backpack, after which she would basically curl herself into a ball & write down her discoveries so far. Once she was done writing, she would carefully get back onto her feet before putting her book away and continuing her journey in the pyramid.