The Bloom Beneath the Sands
It is rumored that before there was desert, the world was in eternal spring, it's soil unnaturally fertile, blooming one of the largest arrays of life ever seen.
From this bloom emerged an empire. In this time, the bloom was harvested, wrapped into small idols of deities now lost to the sands of time, along with the kingdom that they were sworn to protect.
But deep within the desert, a year ago, miners uncovered what was meant to remain lost, and now the sand churns, presenting the world with small figurines of yellow and green, said to bring their wielders back from death.
However, something else emerged with them, sworn to keep them within the sands.
Maybe the right explorers can wield the bloom once more, if they can escape the quarry.
We tried to enter the abandoned mine last night. By the time we got there every single old tunnel was covered in moss and leaves.
At first, I thought that it wouldn't be too much of a hinderance. We were a team of five, so the odds of us finding the figurines would be greater. But it took hours.
In total, we found four.
As I turned to look for the others, I saw something in the air, almost like the imprint of a person gliding through the wind like water.
I rubbed my eyes, blaming it on lack of sleep.
But then, I saw it again, much farther this time, arm outstretched to something embedded in the moss.
It didn't look like a figurine, it was something made of metal.
The figure's hand gripped onto the object, ripping it out of the soil and raising it into the air.
The weapon hung from the air suspended by seemingly nothing, it's body posessing a phantom glow.
The figure's hand began to emerge out of thin air, and then it's arm, and then it's body, slowly coming into existence as the weapon laid in it's arm.
It was staring directly at me.
I yelled for the others, and the creature threw it's weapon high into the sky.
It went invisible once more, and then it was right above me, weapon back in it's hand, and it brought it down on my skull.
I screamed out as the skin and flesh broke away and rewrapped around my bones, reshaping back into my normal face.
The figurine exploded into yellow and green sparks like fireworks, illuminating the darkness.
The creature was fully visible to me now, it's face still hidden from the light behind thick armor.
It threw the weapon back into the air and went invisible once more.
I ran to the entrance, dropping my supplies.
Behind me, the sound of figurines exploding nearly deafened me.
I had left them for dead.
OOC: This is backstory for a new minigame i've made in Vakaser Herders territory. Each participant is thrown into the quarry, and must retrieve three artifacts before they run out of lives (totems). As they run from the knight. If they succeed, they can keep those totems, and if they lose, I get your head.