“Now I am become Death, Destroyer of Worlds.” - From the Bhagavad Gita

I didn’t really have a plan, and I think the skeletal horses could sense it. I climbed into Death’s carriage. It was all purple velvet on the inside, and the windows only looked out to the sides, so I couldn’t see where I would be going.

The horses didn’t budge. I felt a bit stupid just sitting in there, waiting for something to happen. So after a while, I got out and clambered up into the driver’s seat. This was it. I was one horse whip away from flying to Hogwarts or something.

So I cracked the whip, and yes! Success! We were off. “Fly, my pretties! Fly!” I cackled out in my most evil villainous voice.

Pretty soon, though, things got out of control. The world did one of those flying through hyperspace twisting and blurring things. It was what I imagined dying from a rollercoaster overdose would be like. Absolutely wild. I was flying! I had no idea where I was going, but the colours were amazing. I give it a five-star review for scenic views while travelling.

After a while of being inside the rainbow washing machine, I pulled on the reins. “Okay, guys, let’s see where we are,” I said to my skeleton horses. I didn’t want to name them just yet. We had just met, and I had kind of killed their last boss. I didn’t want to rush things, you know?

When the world came back into focus, I wasn’t expecting to see a massive Egyptian-style pyramid in the middle of the desert. This pyramid looked brand new. Smooth sandstone sides all the way to the top. I was tempted to see if I could slide down it. But the epic doorway into its depth looked more exciting.

Now this was how I wanted to spend my retirement. I looked around for other landmarks. Beyond the rolling sea of sand dunes, I thought I could make out hazy mountains in the distance on the horizon, and a far-off dust storm rolling over the desert behind the pyramid. Where was I? When was I? Maybe this was Death’s house.

Well, I wasn’t going to find out sitting on the carriage, so I climbed down with my new scythe in hand and walked along the sandstone pathway up to the pyramid’s entrance. I was tiny compared to the colossal stone structure. Warrior-like sphinx statues stood guard beside the entrance. The whooshing of the desert wind died away as I entered the huge rectangular doorway. I pulled Death’s hooded cloak further over my head. I had this weird feeling that the eyes of the sphinx statues standing watch in the entrance tunnel were following my movements inside.

I came to a T-intersection. It was strange, but I could read the hieroglyphs on the wall. I think it was the gemstone in my eye socket translating things for me. One direction said it led down to the ‘Engine Room’ and the other direction said it led up to the ‘Door Room’. I wanted to find the treasure room, so I decided to explore the Door Room first. Maybe there was treasure behind the doors?

As I walked up the long hallways of this ancient structure, the hem of Death’s cloak swished behind me, kicking up dust motes that swirled and played in the sunlight brought in through carefully placed gaps in the ceiling. Light bounced off a tangle of mirrors and polished bronze plates, masterfully illuminating the maze-like corridors. I couldn’t help but admire the fierce cat-like sandstone statues that silently guarded the halls.

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Until I found the Door Room. It was a huge space at the top of the pyramid. Sunlight beamed down from the pyramid-shaped ceiling high above. All the sunbeams converged on a central pillar in the middle of the room. Eight enormous rectangular doorways circled the central pillar. It reminded me of Stonehenge.

Now in my defence, I didn’t know the pyramid had a self-destruct button when I entered the room. I taught history. I came in here as a tourist, and maybe to steal some stuff, like any good historian. Blowing the whole place up was unintentional. But that said, I had never blown up a pyramid before. And if I hadn’t done the deed, my whole second life might have gone another way.

Anyway, back to the button pushing. When I entered, I did a quick search for treasure. Tomb robbery, I realised, was suddenly high up on my bucket list. So I went over to the stone doorways first. Each one had a different coloured gemstone lodged in the top centre section of the door. Finally some loot! But the gems were too high up for me to take. So I went over to the white stone pillar in the centre of the room. All the light beams in this massive chamber were hitting the top of the white stone pillar. So it had to be important.

There were some hieroglyphs written on one side. So, stupidly, I read them aloud.

“A drum a drum, the time has come,

The pieces set, the game’s begun,

The crown on bone, to take the throne,

The Ring of Stone, just whisper Crone,

The Staff of Eight, to master fate,

To reincarnate, before it’s too late,

And with my voice, I make my choice,

To open the gates and take Death’s place.”

With that, the top of the pillar shot out eight beams of light into the eight gemstones of the stone doorways. The ground beneath me began to rumble and shake. Each stone gateway flashed with colour. It was the same colour as their gemstone. Blue, red, white, yellow, green, black, silver and purple.

An augmented reality screen popped into my vision. It must have been the gemstone in my eye.

The black screen read in white text:

Critical failure. Mass-disintegration imminent. Evacuate immediately. Do you wish to take the base's resources? Yes/No?

Well, on the plus side, I had found the treasure or ‘resources’ of this place. So I quickly selected 'Yes'. But as soon as I did, the blue-stoned gateway sputtered out, and the beam of light that had been powering that doorway moved swiftly across the floor, like a laser, and locking onto the gemstone in my head. Energy thrummed into my skull, making my ghostly cheeks jiggle as the stream of energy tracked my movements around the quaking and cracking grand chamber. Luckily, I was a ghost or my brain probably would have been microwaved.

Something exploded in the bowels of the pyramid. The building bucked in protest. The ceiling cracked. A huge chunk of roof crashed into a stone doorway. The beam of light that had been powering the doorway immediately shifted like a spotlight onto my head.

I didn’t have time to escape the pyramid the way I came in. If this place was going down, I would need to get through one of these doors. So I ran towards the green gate. Green was a safe colour, right? But as I ran towards it, it sputtered out as well. Another beam of light hit my head, and the thrumming buzz intensified. One by one, the beams of light were shifting in my direction, closing the doors. Closing my only way to escape. Throwing all plans out the window, I sprinted at the closest door. The red one. The last thing I saw as I jumped into the blood-red portal was a message.

Resources collected. Activating class …