Sadie Kane Finds a Bigger, Blacker Pyramid... Among Other Things

[Madotsuki]

As I drew closer, I saw that the conspicuous structures were surrounding a tiny little village-- and I meant tiny, like only five or six people had been living there. Note that I said had and not has; when I arrived at the center of the imaginary circle the black buildings had formed, I found that the place had been abandoned long ago. Small clay huts had cracked under the intense heat of the sun, despite the fact that the pyramid gave it shade, ready to turn to dust at any moment should I touch them in the wrong way. It was barely apparent, but six sets of footprints led away from the set of houses and towards the pyramid.

I was about to investigate the footprints, but a faint glow caught my attention. Buried in the sand, just beside one of the huts, was a green crystal. I dug it out and examined it. Considering that I found it almost completely covered in sand, it appeared to be in good condition; the edges were clean, although it wasn't made with any particular shape in mind, and there didn't appear to be any scratches. Someone must've left it behind, since none of the other structures here were green. Ah, well. Finders keepers. Tucking the gem into a pocket, I continued towards the pyramid.

And that was when I figured out where the gem had come from: a long hallway, crafted from the same material as the building, jutted out from the front for several meters, ending in a door made up of green crystals. Several pieces had broken off, leaving a bunch of holes in what would otherwise have been a perfect pentagon shape. When I pulled the gem out and towards the door, the glow intensified and it began to hum. I inserted it into one of the holes, where it sealed itself to the door. I was about to question how parts of the door managed to find themselves several hundreds of meters away when the sand began to blow away, pointing out the six sets of footprints that led inside the pyramid. As far as I could tell, none of them led back out. Were they trapped in there?

I ran up to the side of the pyramid and pressed my ear up against it, hoping to hear anything that was happening inside. All I heard was more humming. I highly doubt someone can listen through the thick bricks of a regular pyramid, but this pyramid was anything but regular. In fact, it wasn't even made out of bricks. Instead, it was a single object, like it had been carved rather than built. Its black surface was absurdly smooth to the point where if you weren't paying attention, it felt like nothing at all. It was warm, too, but it wasn't coming from the sun; it was coming from inside. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't natural-- or even capable of being made by humans.

Thoroughly perturbed by the pyramid, I backed off, left with more questions than answers. What was it? Why was it here? Who-- or what made it? Maybe if I restored the door, it'd let me inside and I could figure out what was going on? I could try and Ha'Di it open, but my magic reserves weren't up to snuff as of now; breaking the door open wouldn't help me if I burned up in the process.

Now where to start? Aside from the pyramid, there were five other structures. They'd be as good as any place to start looking for crystals.