I stand on the edge - the greatest discovery at my feet. Curiosity is a dangerous thing.

I couldn't move.

Beneath me, the discovery was vast, and old. Clearly not built by human hands.

What astounds me the most is the lack of dust. The city is asleep waiting for its master.

But I am not that master, not today. 

I walked across the threshold an intruder. I attempted to flee.

My very footsteps had caused the city to awaken.

The ground beneath me hummed faintly as if the city itself recognized my presence. Lights flickered to life, faint at first, but growing steadily brighter, casting long, eerie shadows across the vast expanse of alien architecture. The structures were sleek, angular, and impossibly intricate, as though they had been carved by light itself rather than any tangible tool.

I knew it wasn't any tangible tool by the hand of man. 

The civilization was old - ancient before humankind came to being.

The intricate patterns loomed before me. We'd discovered it since and wandered inside.

How foolish we'd been.

What had once been seven, only remained as one. One by one they had fallen to the traps.

I remained at the edge, the hum of the city around me watching, waiting. 

We called ourselves archaeologists but now we understood we were children. A painful lesson.

The network of city had closed in around us, warned us and when we pressed on, punished us.

The air was heavy, not with oxygen or carbon dioxide, but with something unnameable—a presence that seemed to inhabit the city itself. It pulsed, alive in a way that stone and metal should never be. My breath caught as the shimmering patterns beneath my feet shifted again luring me.

I hesitated. I was the last one standing. 

The silence behind me held the ghosts of my team, their last cries swallowed by the cold, unfeeling walls. Seven of us had entered, confident, curious, unafraid. Seven explorers seeking knowledge, treasures, and answers to the questions humanity had asked for centuries. But those questions had turned to regrets, and I was the only one left to feel them. I could leave this place forever to the sands, hidden from the world so no one else would have to suffer such a fate.

My gloved hand brushed against a wall, smooth and warm to the touch, as though it were alive. My suit's HUD flickered erratically, the sensors struggling to process the alien technology surrounding me. A faint sound echoed through the chamber, like the whisper of a million voices layered atop one another. I wasn't sure if it was real or if the city was inside my head.

Master.

My head snapped up.

Then, silence. The glow dimmed, the patterns faded. There was no spoken word but I understood. I was the last but I wasn't leaving. 

I staggered to my feet, the oppressive presence lifting slightly, though it lingered at the edges of my mind like a shadow. I turned back the way I came. I was not leaving, I now understood I was the guardian of this place.

And I would live, but never leave. I would have years to study this place. As you see, curiosity is a dangerous thing.