C3 Save Yourself

Ivana jerked awake, sweat slicking her skin, heart pounding. The room was dark, quiet, and empty—but the words lingered in her mind.

Early in the morning,the hotel lobby buzzed with early activity. Ivana, Caleb, and Eric huddled around a small table, maps and notebooks spread before them.

"We need to plan our next site carefully," Caleb said, tracing a route along the map.

From the staircase above, Emily descended, tugging at the sleeves of her sweater. "Morning," she said, voice tight. She lowered her arms, revealing red, angry rashes spreading across her forearms.

"Emily… what happened?" Ivana asked, alarmed.

"Ah… allergies," Emily said quickly, pulling her sleeves back down. "Desert dust, probably."

Before anyone could respond, a loud crash echoed from the lobby ceiling—a decorative chandelier swayed, then plummeted toward the floor.

The team screamed in unison, diving for cover. Caleb grabbed a table to shield himself; Eric pushed Emily behind a sofa; Ivana ducked just as the chandelier shattered with a thunderous smash. Glass splinters filled the air.

Panting, hearts racing, they scrambled to their feet.

"What the hell was that?" Eric shouted, brushing some splinters from his hair.

Emily's hand instinctively went to her arms, where the rashes now seemed to burn hotter, redder. "I… I don't know," she whispered, voice shaking. "The chandelier fell like it was reacting to something."

Caleb's eyes scanned the lobby. "Is either the hotel at fault or something from yesterday is following us," he muttered, voice low.

"Thank goodness none of us got hurt" Eric said with relief.

"So,where exactly are we headed this time?" Ivana asked, trying to sound casual.

"North of Giza," Caleb replied. "A newly unearthed temple—possibly predynastic. Remote, untouched. Should be a straight path."

"Untouched, huh? Sounds perfect," Eric said, grinning. "What could possibly go wrong?"

Ivana shot him a wary look, but said nothing.

The team climbed into the rugged jeep, dust swirling behind them as they left the hotel.

Emily kept her arms tightly crossed, hiding the angry rashes beneath her sleeves. "I don't know why it's so itchy," she muttered.

"It's probably nothing," Eric said, though his eyes flicked toward her forearms. "Let's just focus on getting to the site."

"Caleb I thought you said a new temple,this looks abandoned" Emily exclaimed upon reaching the site. The temple had broken pillars , some parts burned and charred.

"I said newly unearthed, let's get going" he rolled his eyes.

The air inside the temple was thick with dust and the faint scent of blood and rot. Lantern light flickered against the walls, revealing faded carvings and hieroglyphs worn down by centuries.

"Stay sharp," Caleb warned. "This place isn't stable."

Emily scratched at her arms, wincing as the rashes flared. "It's worse here," she whispered.

Ivana crouched, running her fingers along the etched tiles. "There's something carved here… a warning maybe—" she paused as she heard a soft crunch beneath her feet.

"It's a corpse," she screamed.

"Move over," Caleb said as he knelt to examine the corpse. Ivana's thoughts were immediately drawn to her parents and prayed that it wasn't her parents.

"From the clothes the person is an archeologist like us, what could have gone wrong" Eric pondered. "He's holding something in his hands"

Caleb pried brittle fingers open. A note, scrawled in uneven strokes: Save yourself.

He said to Ivana. "Check if it's one of your parents."

Her throat closed. She crouched, lantern trembling in her grip. Hollow sockets glared up at her. The shirt was shredded, stiff with age. She searched the pockets with shaking hands.

The corpse's hollow eye sockets stared blankly at the ceiling, its jaw frozen mid-silent scream. Ivana's stomach knotted as she leaned closer, her lantern trembling in her grip.

"Please… not them," she whispered under her breath. Her fingers brushed the tattered shirt, the fabric brittle with age. She forced herself to search the pockets, each second stretching like an eternity.

A rusted compass. A scrap of faded fabric. Nothing familiar. Relief washed over her in a shaky exhale, but it was drowned instantly by dread.

"Whoever he was, he died terrified," Caleb muttered, turning the brittle note over. The words, uneven and desperate, seemed to bleed through the page. Save yourself.

"Him writing this before dying instead of escaping means he got hurt and couldn't escape or he got trapped inside" Emily said thoughtfully, still scratching her now bleeding skin.

"Ok team let's get moving, we need to keep exploring" Caleb said, getting up.

Two steps later—click.

His blood ran cold.

"Damn it, guys run!" he yelled.

The temple crumbled as stone beams cracked and walls gave way, chasing them with dust and thunder.

"Go, go!" Caleb shouted, dragging Emily toward the light of the entrance. Eric followed close, shielding his head from falling debris.

But Ivana stumbled. The floor buckled beneath her, her ankle twisting as she hit the ground hard. She coughed, choking on dust, as the ceiling above her creaked and swayed, ready to collapse.The others were already outside, screaming her name over the thunder of falling rock.

Through the haze, a figure stepped from the shadows. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Skin like burnished bronze, eyes glowing faintly gold beneath the dust. His features were sharp, impossibly handsome—yet inhuman.

Before she could scream, strong arms scooped her up effortlessly. His voice was low, smooth, resonant with something ancient.

"Can't have you dying yet."

Her vision swam, heavy with exhaustion and shock. The last thing she felt was the strange heat radiating from him before darkness claimed her.

Outside, Caleb, Emily, and Eric stumbled into the open desert as the temple collapsed behind them in a cloud of sand and rubble.

"Where's Ivana?!" Caleb shouted, spinning in panic, his voice raw with desperation ,praying she made it out.

"Ivana!No!" Eric dropped on his knees,his face etched with shock.

Before anyone could answer, Emily pointed toward the jeep,her eyes filled with relief and confusion.

There, sprawled across the back seat, lay Ivana – motionless but breathing steadily, her chest rising and falling in a slow, reassuring rhythm. None of them had a clue how she'd ended up there.