Location: NORAD Emergency Comms Channel – Top Secret Interlink – 7:10 AM (Cairo Time)
Three flags.
One conversation.
Static flickered across a dark screen as Egypt's top command linked with military intelligence from the U.S. and Russia.
Their voices were clipped. Focused. This wasn't diplomacy. This was survival.
General Nabil's voice cut through:
"We've lost Cairo's outer perimeter. Our best fighters dropped out of the sky like stones.
Whatever this is—it's disabling electronic systems at a frequency we can't shield."
The American commander responded, calm but tense:
"Same pattern in Nevada and central Asia. We lost a Blackbird over the Mojave. Instruments just… went dark."
The Russian general leaned forward.
"Our satellites caught an energy pulse near Giza. Scarab-shaped. Non-thermal. Non-nuclear. Whatever's under the sand—it's not local. It's old. Pre-human, maybe."
No one argued.
They didn't have time to argue.
Location: Egyptian Military Bunker – Underground Briefing Room – 8:06 AM
Dr. Sarah Arshur stood in front of the display screen, eyes red from fatigue, but her stance steady.
On the screen behind her: a reconstructed map of the Hollow beneath Giza, overlaid with thermal voids and ancient tunnels.
Three men stood with her.
Sergeant Hossam – the Egyptian survivor. Still bruised, but silent and alert.
His dog, Zaki, sat at his side—ears twitching, growling at shadows that weren't there.
Staff Sergeant Connor Briggs – U.S. Army, special recon. Quiet. Sharp eyes. Hands always near his rifle.
Captain Aleksei Volkov – Russian Spetsnaz. Broad-shouldered, tattooed, scar down one cheek. Didn't talk much. Didn't need to.
This was the Descent Team.
Sarah faced them.
"We're not going in to fight. Not at first. We're going in to understand—to find the others.
My son is down there. So is my husband.
But so is whatever caused the fall of every ancient civilization on Earth."
Briggs raised an eyebrow. "And if they attack?"
Zaki growled again.
Sarah looked at the dog. Then back at them.
"We let him lead."
Location: Surface Access Hatch – Giza
The wind howled with heat and static.
The hatch groaned open—a reinforced tunnel beneath a fake excavation tent, leading into the dark.
Sarah clipped her flashlight onto her vest.
The others followed.
Hossam touched the metal of the doorframe briefly—a quiet prayer.
Zaki went first.
Then they descended.
Hours Later – Deep Below
The tunnel narrowed. The light dimmed.
Symbols glowed faintly along the walls.
No tech. No electricity. Just resonance—a living hum.
Aleksei whispered, "I feel like we're being watched."
Sarah answered without turning. "We are."
Then Zaki stopped.
He didn't bark. He didn't move.
He just froze—hackles raised.
Briggs flipped his rifle's safety off.
They turned the next corner—
And saw him.
The Priest.
Cloaked in gold-stitched linen. Floating. Masked. Tall as the doorway.
This wasn't the same one Adam had seen.
This one was older.
Wider.
Symbols burned into the air around him like fire suspended in ink.
And his voice was like thunder passed through bone:
"You come with dogs and guns.
But you cannot shoot silence.
Or cage memory.
Or bargain with blood."
The team raised their weapons.
Sarah stepped forward.
Her voice didn't shake.
"I'm not here to bargain.
I'm here to understand."
The Priest turned his head, just slightly.
"Then understand this—
You were never meant to return."
And with a sound like thunder being inhaled, the chamber went black.