Arsh just stared into those eyes for a while, without realizing how much time had passed. Maybe a second, maybe hours... Only when he heard voices coming from outside the chamber did he realize the passage of time, and he stumbled backward in fright.
He tumbled down the stairs and hit his head on the ground. Just then, a loud thudding sound echoed in the chamber.
The darkness swallowed everything once again. The torch was also extinguished. It was the second time he had fallen that day. His whole body was aching.
When he touched his head, he felt the sticky wetness of blood. Too afraid to move, he lay frozen on the ground, eyes fixed on the void before him, his mind racing with what he had just witnessed.
'Did I just make a dead person come to life?'
...
He kept lying there for a while without moving or making a sound. When he heard footsteps approaching, he raised his head and looked around, unable to see anything in the dark. A while later, the voices got louder, and he heard his name.
"Arsh! Arsh, where are you, my boy?"
It was his dad's voice.
A few men with torches appeared at the entrance where Arsh had entered the chamber.
"I'm here! Just walk straight!" he shouted with a hoarse voice. His voice echoed again, but the men walked straight towards him.
When his father saw his son on the ground, he dropped the torch from his hand and leaned over Arsh with concern in his eyes.
"I'm okay, I just fell again," Arsh said with a smile on his face. The other men from his village also gathered around him.
Professor Millway and his men were there, too. The Professor was looking at the platform, wanting to climb up but hesitant to walk alone. He shouted in an impatient voice,
"Stop stalling, go up now!"
The village men shot him angry looks, but eventually, two of them walked towards the stairs.
Arsh panicked for a second.
'What if they saw the girl? What if they saw the blood?'
Raising his head from where he was lying, he looked toward the platform. The lid of the sarcophagus was no longer floating in the air. As far as he could see, there was no blood on the stairs, either. With his father's help, he stood up. There was truly no sign of what he had seen before.
'Maybe it was a dream because I hit my head. Also, some caves have gases that make people see things that aren't real… Archaeologists always said to be careful about gases in caves… But this wasn't a cave.'
He wasn't even sure what to think anymore.
At that moment, he felt something in his right hand. He was holding something. It was cold and hard. When he tilted his head to see what it was, his breath caught in his throat. The dagger was still in his hands.
So, he wasn't dreaming. It was all real.
If the thing in the sarcophagus was dangerous, what would happen to them? He looked at the men around him. He was ready to shout, "Don't go near the sarcophagus!" but it was too late. Professor Millway was already on top of the platform, looking at the carvings Arsh had just examined. A second later, a hysterical laugh echoed in the chamber.
"I found it… haha… I found it finally!"
Everyone looked at each other. It looked like they had reached the end of their job. Happiness showed on their faces. They slapped others' backs with a smile.
Only Arsh did not feel happy. Maybe it was because of what had just happened, or maybe because his body was not in its best condition.
A while later, the young archaeologist, Will, also entered the chamber. He seemed excited, too, but not hysterical like Professor Millway. Together, they began to examine the chamber. Arsh felt better now, though his whole body ached. He had recovered from his daze a bit, thanks to the shock of what he had just experienced. He and his father followed the men as they searched the ground. Even though his father told him to go up and rest, Arsh refused. He also wanted to see what this place was.
However, it soon became clear that there was nothing else there besides the sarcophagus.
...
His father and others went to make preparations to take out the sarcophagus from the well. It was a difficult task. The well was narrow and the tomb was heavy, but the stairs were also a big problem. It would take time.
There were twelve people in Arsh's father's group. But when Arsh fell into the well, a few more came to help. His father suggested to Professor Millway that they start the next morning; everyone was exhausted, and the weather had begun to turn cold.
However, the Professor refused. He said he would let the guards from his own team help them instead, but he was determined to finish the job tonight.
They started to plan how to move the tomb. While one group was to dig to expand the entrance and the tunnel, another was piling soil onto the stairs to create a ramp. The other group was preparing the scaffold that would help lift the sarcophagus up, while the guards had gone to the town to get the necessary materials and the animals that would carry it. This was a job that would take time.
While the others were dealing with these tasks, Arsh followed Will. The villagers were concerned about him, so he took on a simple job. He walked with Will, carrying an oil lamp for him.
There was nothing else on the walls and pillars except circular symbols. Will took his time, drawing them in his notebook with caution. However, since most of them were identical, it didn't take him long to finish.
Later, Will sat down on the dusty floor and started to watch the others working. Arsh followed him and sat down on the ground. His whole body was still aching. He looked messed up with scratches and blood lekeleri all over his body.
"You look pretty bad. Wouldn't it be better if you went back to the village?"
"No, it's okay. I'll go when the job is finished. I can help with small errands."
Will was looking through the notebook in his hand while they talked. There were the circles he had just noted, along with several other symbols.
He asked Will, not in his native language, but in Symranese:
"What are these symbols?"
Will raised his head from the notebook and looked at Arsh in surprise.
"Do you speak Symranese?"
"Yes, I do."
"How did you learn it?"
Arsh was a curious boy. He used to be friendly with adventurers, archaeologists, and merchant caravans. Thanks to them, he had learned a lot about the world outside their little village and their languages. He had also had the chance to read many books they gave him or that he had bought. He explained this simply to Will.
Will smiled while he adjusted his glasses.
You must be a clever boy. You managed to learn a language with such limited resources."
"I learned it because it was fun and easy. I can speak a few languages… And one day, I'll travel to other countries, just like the adventurers. So I had to learn."
"How many languages do you speak?"
Will smiled again. He felt a sympathy for this young boy. He seemed brighter than the other natives who could only learn a couple of simple commands in Symranese. Mostly, they had to learn the Kurshanese language to get work done.
"I can speak Symranese, Eldoranian, Thessaric, Kelieren. Oh, and also Old Kurshanese, if that counts... but of course, I can't speak Kelieren because we don't know how to pronounce it, but I can read and write it... What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You are joking… right?" The man's voice was filled with bewilderment.
But Arsh didn't care about his shock. He was good at learning languages thanks to his grandfather. First, he learned Old Kurshanese and Kelieren with him. Then, thanks to the people whose paths passed through the village, he had the chance to practice and get books written in those languages, which helped him learn.
It was easy to learn Eldoranian. Eldoran was a seaside country like Symran, and a lot of adventurers came from there. Also, Thessaric was very similar to Symranese. They shared the same origin, so it was pretty easy to learn.
It was fun, so he learned them.