A Stroke Of Originality

Ashanti walked into the sacred crypt cautiously. Nothing made sense as she looked around. There were rows of skeletons wearing robes, presumed to be dead monks. They were in some type of prayer position facing the direction of the artifact. According to the job description, this place was supposed to be heavily guarded and dangerous. Ashanti put her doubts in the back of her mind, and cautiously beelined towards the artifact. Lifting the item up from within the stone that held it, Ashanti scanned the area, ready for something bad to happen. Still, nothing came, and nothing moved. When she tried to make her way back through the exit, some kind of force stopped her. Ashanti reached her hand out towards the doorway and felt something pushing back towards her hand.

“What’s taking you so long?” A voice came in through her earpiece.

“Hey, Vic. I don’t know… there’s some kind of force preventing me from leaving.” Ashanti explained.

Looking behind her, the scene was wholly changed. There were no more skeletons in poses, they had all disappeared. Ashanti looked up, and the skeletons were all on the ceiling staring down at her. When she made eye contact with their empty eye sockets, they dove towards her.

“Okay, things just got weird, gotta go!” She stressed as she jumped out of the way from the oncoming foe.

Sprinting away from the oncoming swarm of monks, one jumped in front of her. Ashanti swiftly pulled out her enchanted rope and wrapped it around the neck of the monk. Yanking it back, and ripping the head from the body. The body continued its pursuit of Ashanti.

“It was worth a try!” She mumbled as she kicked the monk’s body away.

While running, and dodging the swarm, A crack in the ceiling brought in the sunlight. Ashanti saw this moment as a chance to escape. To her dismay, the monks turned their attention away from her. They flooded the crack with their bodies, making sure not a drop of sunlight came through.

“So, it’s a little sunlight you guys are scared of?” queried Ashanti.

Grabbing some of her enchanted bombs, Ashanti threw them up towards the ceiling and activated them with the tap of her rope. The bombs went off, blowing holes in the ceiling, pouring in sunlight. The monks observed the sunlight that Ashanti let in, and let out loud screeching noises as their skeletons began dispersing into shards of darkness. The shards covered every inch of the sun that broke through.

“Vic, you there?” Ashanti wondered as she watched the monk’s bazaar actions.

“Ahh, you’re back.”

“No time for chit chat, I need you to listen.”

“Okay.”

“Place all the bombs in my cargo around the temple, and get clear.”

“What? Are you crazy? If you activate those, how the hell are you supposed to get out?” Vic challenged.

“Just do it!” She directed as she stomped one of the skeleton’s arms off that grabbed her.

“Okay, your funeral! You always bring me along with you just so you can do crazy shit like this, and I’m the one having heart attacks!” He claimed

“You better be clear!” She shouted as she yanked out her earpiece.

Grabbing the detonator from her belt, Ashanti pressed the button, and immediately the ceiling shook, breaking apart the dark shards. Moments later, the walls began to crumble around her as she made haste towards the exit. She didn’t know if the shield would be down, but it was a risk she had to take. As everything fell around her, dust, and smoke clouded her vision as Ashanti closed her eyes and took a leap of faith in the direction of the exit.

“This is the last time I’m coming along! Here I am saving your ass once again.” Vic grumbled as he dragged Ashanti out of the debris.

The warmth of the sun graced Ashanti’s skin as she coughed and opened her eyes.

“I had it all under control.” Ashanti laughed.

Vic gave her a grim look. “Let’s see what you almost killed yourself for, come on.”

Ashanti grabbed the artifact from within her pouch and held it up towards the sun. “Isn’t she a beauty.”

“It’s alright, not worth dying over.”

“Well, gotta put food on the table.”

She went to put the artifact back in the pouch, but it heated up, burning her hand.

“Shit!” She mumbled as she dropped the artifact.

“What?” Vic turned to see what happened.

To their surprise, the artifact began taking on a different shape and breathing life as it absorbed the sunlight. It was as if a demon was being reborn.

“What… Did… You… Take?”

 

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