The convoy came to a stop at the jagged edge of the valley, where the road shrank into stone and shadow.
Towering cliffs loomed on either side like menacing teeth, guarding what lay beyond, a desolate basin strewn with broken rock and skeletal trees that sloped toward a dark mouth in the mountainside. The entrance to the tomb.
As the engines clicked and cooled, their sounds were swallowed by the eerie stillness of the range.
The air was thick here, tinged with a metallic taste of iron and ash. Even the wind felt wrong,carrying an unsettling breath from something buried far too long.
Arthur stepped out of his truck, boots crunching on gravel beneath him. He paused for a moment, letting silence envelop him like a heavy cloak.
The Regalia he wore felt unusually weighty, as if it recognized this place. His muscles screamed from countless battles; every tendon was tight, every nerve frayed.
Behind him, the archaeologists' armored truck hissed as its doors swung open.
