And so another tale begins.
Fifteen years.
It has been fifteen years since you began your path to find the secrets of The Grand Pharaoh Kannok after hearing whispers back in grad school. At long last you have tracked down the final resting place of this clandestine pharaoh, however after the last two years of searching his hidden pyramid, you have found nothing within of value. Your money has dried up. Your investor has declined any further patronage. You've been late in paying your help; they have slowly begun to disappear without even a goodbye.
You stand in the entrance way to the throne room, alone. Century old braziers light the area around you - a familiar scene these last few weeks. Your left over lighting equipment's power cables run across the open floor like snakes, leading outside to now empty generators. The primitive light source causes shadows to dance all around you on the stone walls, as iconography . This is wrong. This is all wrong. You were suppose to be on the cusp of a major discovery. You were suppose to uncover something that would change our entire knowledge of the history of Egypt. You make the decision that it is time to give up. You've wasted too much time for this and now its over. Your life work down the drain because you over delivered to your benefactor.
You turn to leave the pyramid, not caring of the equipment or fires that are still lit. Tears begin to form and race down your face as you begin your journey to the exterior. As the tears fall, you notice they seem to disappear into the stone, instead of leaving a wet spot on the stones. Chalking it up to not being in the right mindset, you continue on.
At the end of the corridor, you feel the hot wind being blown in the from the outside. The blazing sun's rays greet you as you continue to the threshold to the outside. Suddenly the walls around you shake, as if some sort of mechanism is coming for life after inactivity for a long while. You quickly place your hand on the wall nearest to you to keep yourself upright and stable. The rumbling and shaking stops as quickly as it began and the wall you had your hand on jerks downward and begins to descend into the floor. Jumping back, you place your back against the wall opposite the new path. You wipe away your tears and get a clear picture at what you are looking at. The newly opened passage way has revealed a staircase leading down deeper into the pyramid. You notice lit braziers mounted on the path leading down - despite never having discovered this way before.
You mind is racing at this point. You found something - after all this time you found something! All known areas of the pyramid have been searched relentlessly the past two years, but somehow this was missed. Unsure of how this even occurred and maybe in a moment of hilarity, you giggle with excitement and feel the rush of vindication. You knew there had to be more. Someone of mysterious nature had to have some sort of secret in their final resting place.
You calm yourself and bring yourself back to your senses. Logically, you shouldn't do this alone, but you also have no way to contact your patron or even bring back a bulk of who you had previously employed. Perhaps the local town has some cheap workers you might be able to get a hold of? The other option is just going down and exploring a little bit. You've waited so long for something that it would be a waste to have to wait any longer to get some help. You feel your inner scholar calling out to just peak at this new discovery before inviting others to witness it.
Close. You are so very close.