The Cliffs of Ashaketh
A Mayhem Story
The monsoon winds howled across the cliffs of Ashaketh as Dr. Hera Kumari crouched beside the ancient monument. Her weathered hands traced Sanskrit inscriptions carved deep into weathered stone. Three weeks of careful excavation had revealed what the recent landslides had exposed. A civilization's final message to the world.
"Devānāṃ krodhaḥ suṣupti," she whispered, translating the warning aloud. "Let none disturb the sacred stones, for the gods' wrath sleeps lightly here."
Her graduate student, Marcus, looked up from his photography equipment. "Professor, the locals say the lights started appearing again after we began digging. Strange sounds too - like thunder, but the sky is clear."
Hera nodded absently. Her eyes fixed on a second inscription below the warning. This one was different - older, carved in a script she'd never seen before but somehow understood. The realization sent a chill down her spine that had nothing to do with the coastal wind.
"Pack everything," she said suddenly. "We're going back to the university."
"But Professor, we haven't finished documenting the site. And Dr. Voss from Oxford will be here next week with his team-"
"Matthew Voss?" Hera's head snapped up. Her academic rival had been following her research for years. Always arriving just in time to claim joint credit. "How do you know about that?"
Marcus shifted uncomfortably. "He contacted the university. Said he had prior research on the site dating back to colonial records. The department... they want you to collaborate."
Hera stood and brushed dirt from her khaki field clothes. Twenty years of archaeological work had taught her to recognize when politics or theater threatened discovery. The strange script pulsed in her peripheral vision. Her grandmother's stories echoed in her memory. Tales of doors between worlds and bloodlines chosen to guard ancient secrets.
"Professor?" Marcus’ voice seemed distant. "What does the second inscription say?"
She looked down at the mysterious text again. The meaning bloomed in her mind like a flower opening to sunlight ~ The door of storms awaits the Keeper's return.
"It's... it's just more warnings," she lied. Her heart raced. "Religious text about respecting the gods."
Hera knew she was standing at a threshold. The monument wasn't marking a sacred site. It was marking a choice. And deep in her bones, the weight of ancestral memory stirred. Whispers that some discoveries were worth more than academic recognition.
The question. Was she brave enough to listen?
Hera made her decision in the space between one heartbeat and the next. "Marcus, I need you to take the main documentation back to camp. Tell the others we're securing the site for the night."
"Professor, what are you…"
"Trust me." She pressed her field notebook into his hands. "If something happens, if I'm not back by dawn, contact Professor Mehta at Delhi University. Tell him I found the Keeper's inscription."
Marcus' eyes widened. Professor Mehta had been her mentor. The one who'd first encouraged her interest in oral traditions alongside formal archaeology. "The stories your grandmother told you?"
"Maybe more than stories." Hera shouldered her pack, checking her headlamp and rope. "The inscription mentions caves beneath the monument. If there's any truth to the legends, I need to find it before Voss turns this into a media circus, like he tends to do."
As Marcus’ footsteps faded toward camp, Hera turned toward the monument. The wind shifted. It carryied a odd metallic aroma. Like the air before lightning strikes. She knelt beside the mysterious inscription and placed her palm flat against the carved symbols.
The stone was warm.
Following her instincts, she began to search the cliff face behind the monument. Her grandmother's stories had always mentioned water. The gods' battle over storms and floods. Half-hidden by centuries of erosion, she found it ~ a narrow crevice in the rock face. Barely wide enough for a person to squeeze through.
Cool air flowed from the opening, wafting the same electric scent. Hera switched on her headlamp and pushed through the gap.
The passage opened into a natural cave system. The walls weren't entirely natural. Smooth sections had been carved with more of the mysterious script. As she followed the tunnel deeper, her light caught the gleam of…
The passage ended at an underground chamber unlike anything she'd ever seen. Bioluminescent moss covered the walls in spiraling patterns that seemed to move in her peripheral vision. In the center of the chamber sat a circular pool of water so still it looked like black glass.
The walls made her breath catch. They were covered in star charts. Mathematical equations and diagrams that showed astronomical alignments far more sophisticated than anything the supposed ‘primitive civilization’ would know.
Floating in the air above the pool, barely visible like heat shimmer, was a doorway.
Hera approached slowly. Her archaeological training warring with something deeper. A recognition from her very DNA. The water began to glow as she drew near. She heard the distant sound of thunder that never ended.
Her grandmother's voice echoed in her memory: "The Keeper's bloodline carries the right to choose. But choice always comes with sacrifice."
Standing at the edge of the pool, Dr. Hera Kumari faced the impossible. The portal was real. The door between worlds her grandmother had spoken of in whispered bedtime stories was shimmering before her. Waiting.
Behind her lay the safe path. Academic respectability. Careful documentation. Shared discoveries with colleagues like Voss.
Ahead lay the unknown. The growing certainty that some knowledge was worth risking everything to obtain.
The thunder beyond the portal grew louder.
Hera took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and stepped forward into the impossible.
Stay tuned for the next chapter 💫🙌💫
The Leap of Faith
Written in response to a prompt by
oh my gosh this is so awesome! I am SO excited for the next chapter!
The portal honestly sounds so beautiful, I feel like I could picture it!
You did an amazing job!
OOooh, I love the cliffhanger and the promise of a next chapter! I think you did the prompt perfectly here! I saw the archaeologist character, the setting was near cliffs, and you had a portal. Looks like level 3 story to me! Awesome job! 👏👏