101 Was I Wrong?

The sand continues to build as I hold my breath and keep my eyes tightly shut. Seconds feel like minutes as my heart painfully beats against my chest but still, nothing happens. My heart begins to race for a whole new reason.

Was I wrong?

Was this really a trap? Fear threatens to take over as I think about dying while stuck in the sand but then I think about possibly being stuck like this for eternity. Not dying but not... living. Just stuck. I want to scream and kick but I can't even do that with all the sand.

Suddenly, I feel something moving under me.

No, to be more precise, the sand is moving! It starts out small but then I feel myself getting pulled further down with the sand! I can do nothing but literally, go with the flow. I clench my teeth as my lungs scream for air, but I continue to deny them.

The next thing I know, I'm falling! My stomach flips as I fall, not knowing where or how far I'm falling but when I hit the ground, I hit it hard. I roll several times, coughing and spitting sand. My lungs greedily suck in the stale air as I try to crawl away from the falling sand.

A strong hand grabs me and pulls me up and away from the sand. I continue to cough as I try to wipe the sand out of my eyes. My eyes burn, my lungs burn, my throat burns, hell... my ass and lip burn!

When I'm finally able to open my eyes and see past the sand and tears, I see the large waterfall of sand. I continue to spit sand as I taste blood on my lip. I must have busted it when I landed on my ass.

Aston asks, "Are you okay? Shit, you're bleeding. Let me take a look." I push his hands away as I say, "I'm fine, it's just a busted lip. Are you okay?" Aston looks at me in worry, but he nods his head and says, "I'm fine. Fortunately, I didn't hit the ground."

I frown looking at him in confusion when suddenly Vance says, "No, he landed on me, and I pulled both your asses over here." I smirk at Vance but still say, "Thanks." Aston just glares at Vance, as if landing on Vance was an insulting thing to him.

I struggle to keep from laughing as I look at the new, but larger room we were in.

Were those... were those sarcophagi!?

I look at the closest sarcophagus with a look of confusion. It looked like something straight out of Egypt! I look around at the sarcophagi in the room and get a very bad feeling. I quickly tell Vance and Aston, "Don't touch anything. NOTHING."

The two turn to me with frowns of confusion but Aston's the first to ask, "Why? What's wrong?" I lift a finger, pointing at all the sarcophagi and saying, "Those aren't in here for aesthetics. If someone touches something or does something to awaken them... we will all be in trouble."

Vance remains frozen in his spot as he says, "Alright, then what's our next move? We can't stay here and continue this staring contest with them." I turn and give him a dry look as I snap, "I'm working on it."

For such an old Vampire, he sure is impatient.

I look around the room for other things but when I see a hallway, I pause. I narrow my eyes before looking back at the sarcophagi. That was so very tempting and even a welcoming sight but it's just that, tempting.

I look up at the ceiling before looking down at the ground, trying to get a better understanding but when Aston sneezes, I nearly jump straight out of my boots. Vance, seeing the whole thing snorts in laughter before leaning over and holding his side.

I glare at him and mutter, "Sure, laugh it up. Let's see how your ass plans to get out of here without my jumpy ass."

He wipes at imaginary tears as he stops laughing and says, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I really couldn't help it." I roll my eyes as I look back down at the ground and say, "I think our way out is that opening over there but if we walk over there... we'll trip something and wake up our sleeping friends."

Aston opens his mouth to say something, but I lift my finger and say, "Before you ask, no. No, I can't poof us or fly us over there." He deflates a little and mumbles, "It doesn't hurt to ask." I rub my temples as I think about just killing both of them.

Vance sighs and says, "Well, let's just wake them up. I'll rip them up and use them for toilet paper." I slowly turn to give him a look of utter disappointment as I say, "Did you forget what happened in the other room? This is a Dark Artifact! You can't kill them!"

Vance runs his tongue along his sharp fang with a thoughtful look on his face. He then 'tsks' before saying, "Right... I forgot how it felt to be so... helpless." I smirk in amusement as I say, "Welcome to mortality. When you no longer have magic, super strength, speed, or immortality... you're left with the harsh reality of what you have to face in life."

He makes a gagging motion as I roll my eyes and focus back on the problem at hand. Aston asks, "So if we step on the wrong stone, they'll wake up?" I narrow my eyes and say, "I honestly have no freaking idea."

How much time has passed out in the human world? Did time flow differently in here like it did in the other Artifact? Or was I losing precious time? The thought has me wanting to lose my shit, but I know I can't. I can't afford to. Not when our lives depend on it and not when Bolin's waiting for me.

Vance sighs and says, "Well, what are we waiting for? The way I see it... we're going to trip it anyway. If we can run fast enough, we can outrun them." What he says has me frowning. What he says is true... that doesn't make any sense.

Suddenly, the opening doesn't make any sense at all!

My head whips back over to the waterfall of sand and it hits me. I quickly yell out, "Wait!" But Vance had already started walking over. He freezes and we all hear it...

The click!