With the room
fully illuminated by the light of the burning lamps, Nick felt secure enough
to approach the middle of the room. Hesitant, he walked up to the black and
red striated sarcophagus. Strange and unfamiliar engravings of things that
were obviously meant to be depicted as living, but which didn’t resemble a
human or any recognizable animal, adorned all four sides and the lid of the
tomb. Nick traced his fingers along the lines of the carvings, feeling the
deep grooves and rounded curves. The largest of the glyphs was located on the
surface of the crypt. It reminded Nick of three reversed question marks
forming a triangle. The curve of each question mark positioned at the points
of the triangle with all three sharing a single 'center-dot.' The 'center-dot'
seemed to be deeper than the other carvings. The marble vault was low enough
that if he so desired, Nick could lean over to determine if it was a hole, but
if his Catholic upbringing didn’t give him anything else, it gave him a
respect for the dead. He cleared his throat, clearly nervous regarding the
action he was about to take, and closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. He
reached out with his left hand and slowly traced the outline of the
'center-dot' with his fingertip. Nick had almost forgotten the ring on his
hand, but as he slid his finger into the deep cut of the glyph, he could feel
eerie warmth spreading up his hand and into his arm. Nick squeezed his eyes
closed and bit down on his lower lip, bringing the hot taste of blood into his
mouth.
His finger
moved smoothly into the hole and the ring fit through the opening. The hole
was not bottomless, however. Nick’s fingertip came to rest on a smooth,
rounded surface. As he removed his finger he realized the stupidity of what he
had done; the ring had gone in the hole easily, but now it would not come out.
Yet his finger was able to
effortlessly pull out of the ring
itself.
“Damn, you are
an idiot, Nicholas Black,” he cursed himself. He would never get the ring out
of there. He was about to search for a knife or some tool to dig it out with
when yet another strange thing happened on this night of unbelievable
happenings. The lid of the tomb completely disappeared. Nick jumped back
insurprise. He glanced around the chamber, but could not see the coffin lid
anywhere.
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