Betreff: Re: Indyorama

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Nun denn. Von gestern und heute:



The chanting echoed through the chamber like a heartbeat. Indy and Peggy crouched behind the stone balustrade, scarcely daring to breathe.

Below them, dozens of Hydra soldiers stood in front of an enormous ring that had, minutes ago, just been black stone. Now it churned like a whirlpool of living fire. Crimson light spilled across the vast chamber, casting long, distorted shadows that seemed to move even when no one did, almost as if there was another reality atop our own, trying to break through.

"We're too late..." Peggy whispered.

Indy didn't answer. The air felt... wrong. Electrified, like it did right before a terrible thunderstorm wreaked havoc. The feeling itensified with each chant. Every instinct Indy possessed screamed that whatever was happening down there violated the laws of nature itself and that they needed to get ouf of here, as far away as possible.

The vortex grew. A deep vibration rolled now through the temple, low enough to be felt more than heard. Dust trickled from the ceiling. Ancient pillars groaned beneath a pressure they had never been built to withstand.

Then something moved. Not outside the portal, but Inside it. A silhouette, far too large. For a single heartbeat, it pressed against the swirling light, as though testing the barrier between two worlds.

Peggy instinctively grabbed Indy's sleeve. "Tell me that's a trick of light."

Indy just shook his head. His eyes never left the vortex. "No trick."

"Whatever this is..." She readied her gun, thumbing the hammer. "We got to stop it."

Indy raised his own revolver. He didn't like what was about to happen. At all. "I don't think even Hydra knows what they're really summoning."

Below, the Red Skull slowly raised both arms.
The chanting reached a fever pitch.
The crimson vortex answered. It pulsed even brighter.
Once.
Twice.
Then... something on the other side reached out.

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Indy had almost walked past the skeleton.

The cobwebs had claimed it long ago, blending it so effortlessly into the rest of the catacombs that it was easy to overlook. Time had stripped away everything else, ...except the temptation that had sealed its fate.

Because, judging by the broken jug still resting beside the skeleton's hand, and the coins that had spilled from it and now lay at its feet, this hadn't been a king, or a priest.

This had been another treasure hunter. Another explorer. Someone who had come looking for the same kind of thing - Fortune and Glory -...
...and never made it back out.

Indy remained silent for a long while.
"I hope it was worth the try," he finally said.

Indy didn't consider himself a sentimental man - he had seen too much death for far too many pointless reasons. Yet there were moments like this, when he couldn't ignore the uncomfortable truth: Sooner or later, everyone's luck ran out.

Indy adjusted his fedora and gave the skeleton a brief nod.
"Rest easy," he murmured.

Then he continued deeper into the ruins...
...following exactly the same path that had claimed the man before him.