The tomb trembled beneath their feet, ancient stone grinding against stone as hidden mechanisms awakened for the first time in millennia. Dust and debris rained from the ceiling, and the air grew thick with the metallic tang of ancient magic. The glowing symbols along the walls pulsed faster, as if the tomb itself had sensed their presence and was preparing to react.

Raj stood near the artifact, his eyes locked on the swirling darkness inside the black sphere. "This power… it's alive," he thought, feeling the weight of countless secrets pressing against his mind. "And it knows me."

The others weren't faring as well. Elias frantically recorded the symbols in his notebook, muttering to himself in several languages as he tried to decipher them. Eva kept her distance, her eyes darting between Raj and the trembling walls, while Victor stood guard, his instincts screaming that something terrible was about to happen.

Elias's POV

Elias watched Raj, unease bubbling in his chest. Raj had always been relentless in his pursuit of knowledge, but this was different. The look in his eyes—half fascination, half obsession—wasn't the man he knew.

He flipped through his notebook, his fingers trembling. The symbols on the walls seemed to change every time he looked at them, and a chilling realization settled over him.

"This isn't a map," Elias whispered, his breath hitching. "It's a warning."

He turned to Raj, his voice rising above the chaos. "Raj! You have to stop! This isn't a key—it's a seal! It was meant to contain something, not reveal it!"

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Victor's POV

Victor's eyes narrowed as Elias's words sank in. His hand instinctively moved to the hilt of the machete strapped to his belt. "Contain something," he thought. "Something dangerous enough that an entire civilization built this place just to lock it away."

He stepped closer to Raj, his voice low but firm. "Raj, we need to leave. Now. Whatever this thing is, it's not worth our lives."

Raj didn't even turn around. "Everything is worth our lives, Victor. This artifact is the key to understanding everything—our history, our future. If we leave now, we may never find it again."

Victor clenched his jaw. "He's lost it," he thought grimly. "He's willing to risk all of us for this madness."

Raj's Monologue

Raj closed his eyes, his hand hovering above the artifact. "I've sacrificed too much to walk away," he thought. "Every failure, every betrayal—it all brought me here. The truth lies within this artifact, and nothing will stop me from claiming it."

He thought back to the countless hours spent in dimly lit libraries, pouring over forgotten texts. The ridicule from colleagues who dismissed his theories as the ravings of a desperate man. The sleepless nights haunted by whispers of ancient secrets.

"This isn't madness," he told himself. "It's destiny."

Raj pressed his hand firmly against the surface of the artifact. The black sphere pulsed, and a deep, guttural hum filled the chamber. The runes on the walls lit up in blinding white light, and the ground beneath them split open.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, the sound echoing through the tomb. Raj staggered, clutching his side as blood seeped through his fingers. He turned to see Victor lowering his gun, his expression cold and resolute.

"You've gone too far, Raj," Victor said. "You've always been willing to sacrifice everything for knowledge. But I won't let you sacrifice us."

Raj's vision blurred, but his mind remained sharp. He chuckled darkly, even as pain radiated through his body. "A traitor in my own team… I should've known."

Eva gasped, stepping back. "Victor, what have you done?"

"I did what had to be done," Victor said, his voice steady. "Raj was going to get us all killed."

The tomb trembled violently, the glowing runes shifting into jagged, chaotic patterns. The artifact pulsed faster, reacting to Raj's blood. The swirling vortex inside the black sphere expanded, and a blinding light shot out, enveloping Raj in a cocoon of energy.

Raj's body convulsed as the energy consumed him. His consciousness slipped away, pulled into the depths of the artifact. The last thing he heard was the sound of his team screaming as the tomb collapsed around them.

Victor shielded his eyes from the light, his heart pounding in his chest. For a brief moment, he wondered if he'd made a mistake.

"No," he told himself. "Raj was too far gone. This was the only way."

But deep down, a part of him knew that the artifact wasn't done with them yet.