Prologue: The Great Pyramid

The place was dark, stuffy, dry and extremely dirty. One would think that, when they charge you entry to a pyramid $400 per person it would be in a better state, but that wasn't the case. You could clearly see the run down state of the walls and the rotten wood that was used to keep the place up. Basically, we could die in about every single second we spent in here.

"This place might as well be a reservoir for every known disease in the world." My dear little brother, Jake Seong, said as my family and I walked down one of the many corridors in the pyramid we were currently exploring. He was a pretty regular 15 year old, perhaps a tad bit nerdy, but still in good shape. His pitch black hair was pretty hard to see without flashlights, which made him look bald –something I had already made fun of him about.

"Every place that isn't your room could be a reservoir to you, Jake." Of course, as the older of two brothers, I just had to bully him a little bit. And as expected, I soon got reprimanded.

"Alan, don't bother your brother! You know that we came here because you begged us to at least enter the pyramid." My mother –Sarah Seong– said while looking at me with a disapproving gaze, clearly showing that she also didn't like being here. She was a gorgeous, kind looking blonde woman who didn't look a day older than 30 in spite of being 44. My father, on the other hand...

"Ah, come on everyone, don't be like that! This is great, it's been so long since we've last visited a place like this one." That's what he said. After all, Seong Dae-Jung was even more excited than I was to visit the pyramids. Or the catacombs in Paris last year. Or the Celtic ruins the previous year. Or Emperor Hongwu, though that one wasn't possible as it was illegal to visit the tomb. My dad was a buff man in his mid forties –46 to be exact– who had a knack for most things that required the use of the body. That was how he became coach of our school's soccer team as well as our P.E teacher and a personal trainer who owned the local Gym.

Well, that was about all for my family. Me? Well... Alan Seong was kinda like the odd-one-out. My hair for some reason was naturally black cherry in color, something very weird, unnatural and surely a mutation in my DNA, it was one of the reasons that drew eyes towards me, even eyes who knew me for the 17 years I have been born. And I must admit I was fairly good-looking. I wasn't a model, don't burn me at the stake, but I was good-looking and in a very decent shape, my dad being obsessed with health and whatnot.

Anyway, the place we were in currently was none other than the Great Pyramid in Egypt, our last location to go on a family vacation before I graduated from high school and moved on to college. The reason why we came here of all places, and why I begged to enter the pyramids, was quite simple actually. I was a huge mythology nerd. That, coupled with my dad's love for exploration and physical activity, made all of our vacations be to places like this one –much to my mother and brother's chagrin.

Currently we were in one of the closed off passages, since we couldn't just use the ones open to the public –even if it meant breaking the rules a little bit– of course. The problem began about 10 minutes after we abandoned the main corridor. A lot more dust than before began falling from the roof and the passage became smaller and smaller, to the point of becoming a bit claustrophobic. And that wasn't the worst part. A soft shaking picked our attention.

"Hey, did you feel that?" My brother Jake asked as a ton of dust mixed with cobwebs, bugs and other kinds of dirt feel from the ceiling.

"Yeah, I did... and I don't like it one bit." Our dad answered. It wasn't the first time something like that happened. But the places we visited had never been in such a bad state, nor had we delved so deep into them. The Celtic ruins, where the roof of the burial mound collapsed, had been quite small and we had been close enough to the entry point to leave it quickly.

Another shaking, this time stronger than the previous one.

Now the situation was quite different. The Great Pyramid was at least ten times bigger than the burial mound and we had been delving deeper and deeper into it for a good 20 minutes already. We had barely any idea of where the exit was and we would surely be crushed if something happened.

"Our best option is to go turn back now and hope that the place doesn't fall apart, at least with us inside." I said, which sounded like the most sensible idea to our quickly deteriorating mentalities. Everyone readily agreed and, without wasting any time, we immediately began making our way back to the entrance.

But if you've seen movies, you clearly already know what would happen next. And the nagging sensation of dread I felt at the back of my head soon proved to be more than just that .

RUMBLE

"It's and earthquake!" My mom screamed as soon as the earth beneath our feat began trembling with a terrifying violence. We had lived through the 2016 Gyeongju earthquake when we lived in Korea for a few years and the one in California in 2019, but we had never been inside a pyramid during an Earthquake. We could see how the way towards the entrance fell apart, so we only had one option now.

"Run back into the pyramid, it might be more stable!" I shouted before pulling mom and Jake. Dad followed from behind me. We had been too overconfident. We had been stupid even. Now we were paying for our curiosity.

The entire place began crumbling down. If we didn't hurry we would be crushed to death by the weight of the pyramid falling on us. And as if Fortune herself was fucking with me, the roof directly above my head began breaking apart. I thought that was it. I was going to die at 17 years old.

"I'm not allowing such a thing to happen." I heard my father's voice say from behind, just before I was pushed forward by the rough hand that many times had patted my shoulder in both consolation and congratulation.

"No, dad! Dad!" My brother screamed at the top of his lungs. I didn't need to see or ask to know what had happened. He had saved me, perhaps at the cost of his own life or perhaps not. But dad was now dead.

"Jung!" Mi mother wailed as her face was bathed in tears. I was on the verge of tears myself, but I held on –I had to. I couldn't allow myself to falter right now.

"We have to keep going on! We can't die here!" I yelled, full of frustration, anger and sadness, as I grabbed both my mother and brother and continued to run deeper into the pyramid, pulling them both with me. Unfortunately, all of our efforts weren't enough. As the roof continued to break apart, I hear something I didn't want to hear.

"Take good care of your little brother, Alan." My mother said as she was swallowed by the debris of the quickly falling pyramid. It was like a soft caress in the midst of the earthquake.

"MOOOOOOM!" Jake screamed as I pulled him further into the damned place, clearing the tears falling from my eyes with my free hand.

*

This had to be a bad joke. First dad, then mom and now... now...

"Jake, Jake, come on bro... I'll get you out of here and we'll go back home." I said slowly while I watched the body of my brother in front of me, half his body buried under the broken pieces of the pyramid.

"I don't wanna die Alan... *cough* I don't want to die..." I heard him say desperately. It was all my fault. I had begged to come here. If only I had asked for a different place, if only...

"I can tell what you're thinking... *cough* and it's not your fault... *cough* *cough* so... don't blame yourself... ok?" I heard Jake consoling me as he coughed blood. In the end, my little brother passed away like a man.

"Nononono... not my baby brother, not him too..." I had nothing left now. The last person who mattered to me had just died in front of me. I stayed there, on my knees while hugging what I could of the lifeless body of my little brother as I weeped. Just when the world seemed to turn dark for me, I heard an ethereal voice come from the other end of the room.

"Oh, what a poor child..."

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Not gonna lie guys, I actually cried while writing this chapter. Just imagining the situation, not being able to help anyone and being the only left alive, the guilt of having being the one who brought them to that place. As an author, I honestly didn't like writing this, but it flowed naturally to me. Anyways, this is a new project I am working on, so I hope you guys like it.

By the way, I've made a D*I*S*C*O*R*D server so that you can talk with me about the story or just hang out and whatever. The link is in the comments! And the synopsys.