Shadows of the Akkadian Sphinx

with that sharp, assessing gaze of his. The smear of dried blood on the canvas ceiling still lingered in my mind, but I forced myself to focus. Whatever mystery surrounded this artifact, it was l

few more to dig ahead, Tariq suddenly gasped. "Over here!" We rushed forward, and my breath caught in my throat. A man lay sprawled on the stone floor, eyes wide open in terror. His body was stiff, his fingers clawed against the ground as if he had died trying to crawl away from something. David knelt beside him. "No wounds. No sign of a struggle." "But look at his face," I whispered. The man's expression was frozen in horror, his mouth parted in a silent scream. Something had killed him-without a single mark. A heavy silence fell over us. Then, from deep within the passage, something shifted. A whisper of movement. We weren't alone. Then, without warning, the ground trembled. And the sands began to shift beneath our feet. The tremor started as a faint vibration beneath our feet, like the heartbeat of the desert itself. Then, in an instant, the sand collapsed. "Nadia, move!" David's voice was sharp, urgent. I stumbled back as the ground caved inward, revealing a dark void beneath the stone marker. Sand poured into the opening like an hourglass emptying itself into the depths of time. Tariq barely managed to pull one of our team members, Youssef, back before he slipped over the edge. A gaping hole now lay before us, a passage buried for millennia. David knelt at the rim, his breath uneven. "That... was not a coincidence." Tariq whispered a prayer under his breath. "The desert does not give up its secrets easily." I swallowed, staring into the darkness. "It wants something from us." David exhaled, running a hand through his hair. "The inscription said, 'Blood must speak.' What if... it's literal?" A heavy silence settled over us. The idea of a blood sacrifice, even a symbolic one, wasn't new in ancient rituals. But were we willing to test it? Tariq unsheathed a small blade from his belt. Without hesitation, he dragged the tip across his palm, letting a few drops of blood fall into the abyss. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a deep, resonant sound-like stone grinding against stone-rose from the depths. The air grew heavy, charged with something unseen. And then... torches. One by one, ancient sconces hidden within the walls of the chasm ignited with an eerie blue flame, illuminating a long, descending staircase. I felt a shiver run down my spine. "That shouldn't be possible." David's voice was quiet. "But it is." With a shared look, we knew there was no turning back. David placed a hand on my shoulder. "Nadia. We need to dec