Zainah and Zarah

"Sister, be a bit gentle… please…"

"Stay still Zarah, I am tying it up!" Zainah said sternly, binding her sister's arm wound with a rag cloth. Finished, she wiped the sweat off of her forehead and asked: "Does it hurt? Did the mummy bite you earlier?"

Zarah shook her head, and Zainah sighed, looking at her little sister with a pained heart. The place they were in was dark, but she could still vaguely make out her counterpart's appearance. Zarah was barely fourteen, the childishness not yet gone from her bubbly face, and now here she was—raiding a dangerous Tomb with her useless big sister.

With a decisive breath, Zainah hardened herself for the moment. She couldn't be gentle today.

"If the mummies bite you, you have to burn the bitten area and cauterize it immediately," she said, her soft voice echoing through the dark tomb. "Or you might get an infection. A very, very deadly one that will make you stay here forever."

"Calm down, big sister, that was caused by a sharp rock, nothing else." Zarah chuckled and took out a small box from her pockets, a firebox she called it. Some also called it a matchbox. "I am not afraid of burning a wound now that we are in such a place. I am not a coward, alright?"

Zainah stared at her with a pained gaze once more. They had lived as thieves in a god-forsaken city for years, both of them were good at their craft, too. But even good thieves get caught sometimes, and to run from the authorities, she had no other way than running into a dangerous Tomb.

Zarah had followed her and already, she had been wounded. 

And this was far from over.

I was the one who got caught, she had no reason to follow me… 

Zainah felt even more guilty.

And to leave the Tomb, they had no other way than to find a Tomb Heart, eat it, and become Tomb Raiders. But both of them knew how improbable such a thing was—a Tomb Heart was always protected by a Guardian monster and two normal humans could never fight such a thing.

Zainah stood up and looked around once again, suppressing her complex emotions. She had to try, at least help her sister survive. "If we get a torch from somewhere, we could light it. Then, at least the mummies won't dare come at us anymore. The match sticks in the box are too few, but a torch will be brighter and will last longer."

Fire was the greatest deterrent for those aberrants. They dreaded it.

Zarah also stood up, and surprisingly, she took Zainah's hand with a smile. "Hehe, your face is full of guilt, you know Sis?"

Zainah halted.

"It's dark, how can you see my face?" she replied, choked.

Zarah tightened her grip over her sister's fingers, it was warm. "If I got caught, you'd have also followed me in. It's the same thing, isn't it?" Then, she walked two steps ahead and leveled a gaze at her big sister's eyes. "Just think of it, this is not such a bad thing."

"What?" Zainah asked.

"Think of it, sis. If we leave as Tomb Raiders from this place, we no longer have to be thieves. We can pay away the authorities, buy a home for ourselves, and eat good food for the rest of our lives!" She snorted. "I've always wanted to try it anyway. Other humans have survived this scenario before, why can't we also survive and become Tomb Raiders?

"A Guardian? We will beat it to death! Then, we will eat the Tomb Heart, too!"

Zainah didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Rarely did normal humans enter a Tomb and walk out as a Tomb Raider after eating a Tomb Heart. Usually, other Tomb Raiders sold some Tomb Hearts in the outside world and made normal people into more Tomb Raiders, someone entering as a normal human was just stories of wishful thinking. 

Tomb Hearts were terribly expensive. However, those who could afford one entered their first tomb already strong, and the more Tomb Hearts they absorbed, the stronger they became. It was a worthy investment for anyone who had the money.

The rich will grow richer while the poor will stay poor.

Don't you know that, too, Zarah? Zainah wondered. All those stories of people who entered the Tomb as normal humans to return as Raiders are either myths or a story about Axiom Holders.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many thieves in the world. They would all become Tomb Raiders—any who dared enter would usually die and make examples of themselves.

"Don't underestimate the dangers of this place, we won't survive if we do!" Zainah warned. "We are not nobles. We don't have some Axiom to rely on if something bad comes—we only have our feeble bodies and our minds to escape this place. Have I not told you…"

"I know, I know. A thief has to always keep her eyes open. I've heard it a million times at this point." 

Zarah leaned against the wall, ready to light another match to get a picture of their immediate surroundings. Suddenly, the wall behind her began to creak, and she jumped forward in fright.

"Zarah!" Her sister pulled her away and faced the wall. Zarah immediately took the firebox and burned a match.

Fwoosh!

In the yellow flame's illumination, a weird image came to their sight. The earlier brick-like walls now had something embedded in them, vaguely resembling a coffin made of gold. An alien, man-shaped lid reflected the flame. 

They knew what was going to happen now.

Another mummy.

"This one might be well preserved," Zainah said anxiously as the coffin's door began to tremble. "Let's run away before it wakes up. Well-preserved ones will have stronger bodies and more powerful venom in their bites!"

Zarah nodded and turned, ready, but suddenly, Zainah's complexion changed, and she froze. 

Filled with apprehension, the little sister looked back at Zainah.

Zainah was wearing only a tight chest cloth and simple form-fitting pants, revealing the tanned but beautiful skin near her belly and arm. But now, her skin was covered in a bright crimson tattoo of a flower from belly to arms and she was frozen where she stood. 

Bright red lines appeared even in her eyes.

"Big sis!"

Zainah forced herself to say: "Zarah… Run!"

The lid slowly opened and from within fell golden ornaments and coins in abundance with a clatter. A rotten hand covered in bandages moved out, grabbed the coffin's sides, and a creature slowly walked out.

Swish!

Zarah stood beside her sister, burning a match and facing it at the mummy. 

"Don't come closer!" she shouted.

The match died and the mummy waved its hands, smacking away the firebox from her hand. Meanwhile, the surroundings were still alight due to the brightness of the crimson flower tattoo on her sister's figure.

The mummy growled, took hold of Zarah's hand, and threw her into the coffin behind itself. Then, it aptly closed the door with a kick, and a second later, the coffin vanished into the wall.

Zainah screamed even as her body was frozen in place, filled with fear. 

The mummy took a deep breath, touching the wall as if to see how firm it was. Then, it turned and looked into her eyes, and for once, she felt as if she could see a clear glint of intelligence burning inside its rotten eyes.

"The mark of the crimson flower," it said, voice a roar of broken air.