⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

𝕋ℍ𝔼 steady hum of the engines filled the cabin, a rhythmic vibration that settled into Everlyn's bones as they flew smoothly through the air. Around her, the others were lost in their own worlds—Nick speaking quietly to Jenny, the Colonel focused on the mission ahead—but her attention was on Vail. His face was pale, a thin sheen of sweat covering his forehead, his breath coming in uneven, shallow waves.

Without hesitation, she unbuckled herself and knelt beside him, her hands moving with the practiced precision of a seasoned medic. Gently, she laid him down, murmuring soft reassurances as she reached into her medic bag. The cool metal of the water bottle pressed against her palm as she poured a small amount onto a cloth, dampening it before bringing it to his fevered skin. She dabbed at his face, her movements delicate yet firm, trying to bring down his rising temperature.

Vail stirred, his eyelids fluttering open for a moment before falling shut again. His body was fighting something—something deeper than a simple fever.

Everlyn's fingers brushed against the familiar weight of a syringe as she retrieved it from her kit, along with a vial of antibiotics. Without wasting a second, she filled the syringe, tapping it lightly before pressing the needle into his arm. His body flinched instinctively, a sharp inhale escaping his lips, but she held him steady, her touch grounding him.

"Shh... easy," she murmured, her voice a soothing balm against the harsh reality of their situation. She withdrew the needle and wrapped his arm with practiced ease, securing the bandage before shrugging off her jacket and draping it over him.

"There you go," she whispered, brushing damp strands of hair from his forehead. "Just rest now."

Vail's tired eyes met hers, gratitude flickering beneath the exhaustion, before he surrendered to sleep.

Everlyn exhaled, rolling her shoulders before rising to her feet and returning to her seat. Her gaze drifted to the coffin, an unsettling weight pressing against her chest. Something wasn't right. She could feel it in the air, like the stillness before a storm.

Jenny, ever the scholar, approached the sarcophagus with reverence. Carefully, she brushed away the thin layer of dust clinging to its surface, revealing the ancient script carved into the stone. Lifting her recorder, she began to speak.

"This is Dr. Jennifer Halsey conducting a preliminary analysis of an Egyptian sarcophagus discovered in the Nineveh province, northern Iraq." She traced her fingers over the hieroglyphs, her voice filled with excitement. "The inscriptions are definitely from the New Kingdom. It appears that the wife of King Menehptre died in childbirth, leaving the sole heir to the throne—a boy."

Everlyn barely registered Jenny's words. A sudden pulse of heat surged through her mind, and in an instant, she was no longer in the dimly lit cargo hold of a military plane.

Blinding sunlight. The sharp clash of metal. Two weapons colliding, sending a rain of golden sand into the air.

She gasped, the vision disappearing as quickly as it had come. Blinking rapidly, she forced herself to focus, gripping the armrest of her seat to ground herself.

Jenny continued, oblivious to Everlyn's momentary lapse.

"He was called Ahmenis."

The name struck her like a bolt of lightning.

Images flooded her mind, crashing against her like a relentless tide—Ahmenis fighting his opponent in the desert as their weapons clash together. The heavy weight of ritual, the scent of burning incense and oil. And then, another figure—a woman. Satiah.

Everlyn's breath caught as she watched the memory unfold, Ahmenis dragging a blade down Satiah's chest, an offering to something unseen. But suddenly, Satiah's face melted away, shifting, changing—becoming hers.

Ahmenis turned to her, his lips forming words in ancient Egyptian, the language slipping through her mind like smoke. The dagger gleamed as he raised it, and in a flash, it plunged downward—

A burst of golden fire erupted, swallowing everything.

Everlyn gasped, jerking upright, her heart pounding against her ribs. The cabin came rushing back into focus—the steady hum of the plane, the dim artificial lighting, the cold press of metal beneath her fingertips. Jenny was hunched over her laptop, Nick was shifting in his seat, trying to find sleep.

It had been a dream. Or a memory. Or something else entirely.

She swallowed hard, trying to steady herself, but before she could process the lingering weight of the vision, a sharp voice cut through the air.

"Corporal, what in the living hell are you doing, son?"

Everlyn's head snapped toward the sound, her stomach twisting in dread.

Vail was standing—awake. His movements slow, almost mechanical, as he took a knife and began cutting the bindings on the sarcophagus, one deliberate slice at a time.

"Vail?" Everlyn's voice wavered, laced with confusion. She barely noticed Nick's puzzled glance before he followed her gaze to Vail, who was still methodically cutting through the bindings on the sarcophagus.

"Corporal Vail?" Colonel Greenway's voice rang out again, sharper this time, as he stood. Vail gave no indication that he had heard—no pause in his movements, no flicker of acknowledgment in his vacant eyes.

"Damn it, Corporal Vail, do you hear me talking to you?" The Colonel took a step closer, his patience thinning. "I said, what—"

The words barely left his mouth before Vail turned suddenly, driving his knife deep into the Colonel's stomach. Gasps filled the cabin as Everlyn and Nick leaped to their feet, their breath stolen by the sheer shock of the moment. The Colonel staggered, eyes wide in disbelief, as Vail wrenched the blade free—only to plunge it into him again with brutal force. "Vail!" Nick shouted, his hands raised slightly as if to calm him, but Vail was no longer the man they knew. His movements were eerily slow and deliberate, his expression vacant—his eyes dead.

The Colonel's body crumpled to the floor, a dark stain spreading rapidly beneath him.

"Oh, my God. Vail!" Jenny's voice cracked, her hands covering her mouth as two soldiers bolted to their feet, rifles raised.

"Drop the weapon!" one of them ordered.

"Put it down, now!" the other barked. Nick instinctively stepped between them, trying to de-escalate before the worst could happen. Vail, however, had no intention of stopping. His grip tightened around the bloodied knife as he took a step toward Nick and Everlyn, unfazed by the weapons trained on him.

One of the soldiers edged forward, ready to subdue him, but Everlyn reacted first. She seized the soldier's rifle and turned it back on him.

"Stand down!" she snapped, her voice ironclad despite the fear gripping her chest. "Put the weapon down! Back off!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Jenny interjected, her voice desperate as she tried to reason with them. "Do not shoot! This is a pressurized aircraft!" But Vail was already lunging. His knife slashed through the air toward Nick, who barely managed to dodge, staggering back with wide eyes. Everlyn flinched, her pulse hammering in her ears as Vail advanced with unnerving precision. "Vail, put the knife down!" Jenny, Nick, and Everlyn pleaded in unison.

Vail didn't stop.

Nick braced himself as Vail raised the blade, the dim overhead lights glinting off the metal.

There was no choice.

Everlyn squeezed the trigger. The gunshot rang out like a thunderclap, and Vail jerked back, stumbling slightly. For a brief moment, she thought it was over. But then, impossibly, he turned toward her. His lifeless gaze locked onto hers as he took another step.

"Okay, Vail, stop. Stop! Everlyn's voice cracked as she raised the rifle again. "Vail, Vail, Vail!"

Another shot.

Vail staggered once more, then collapsed. His body hit the floor with a sickening thud, his knife clattering beside him.

Silence swallowed the cabin.

Everlyn stood frozen, the rifle still gripped tightly in her hands, her breath coming in shallow gasps. And then, as if the universe itself recoiled from what had just happened, the plane shuddered. A deep, guttural rumble reverberated through the aircraft, rattling the walls.

Gasps filled the space as the floor beneath them trembled.

Nick turned toward the cockpit. "What the hell was that?"

The distant whine of engines sputtering sent an eerie chill through Everlyn's spine. Nick moved first, sprinting toward the cockpit with Jenny and Everlyn right behind him. Inside, the pilots fought desperately with the controls, their voices frantic. "What's happening?" Nick demanded. One of the pilots barely spared them a glance. "Take your seat and strap in!" The co-pilot's voice crackled over the radio, speaking to ground control. "United States C-130 Hercules inbound, six miles off the coast of Dover, England."

Everlyn's stomach twisted. "England?"

The pilot turned briefly, his face pale and slick with sweat. "Ma'am, I don't know what's happening, but you need to take a seat!"

Before they could react, a sudden thud against the windshield made them all jump.

A smear of blood.

The co-pilot's hands trembled as he stared at the dark streak. "We lost thrust in both engines."

Jenny, Nick, and Everlyn turned toward the window just as something massive loomed in the distance.

A black cloud. Moving.

"What the hell is that?" Nick breathed. And then they saw it. Not a cloud. Not a storm. Ravens. A writhing, seething mass of black wings and glinting eyes, thousands of them, swarming toward the plane in a deathly tide.

Everlyn barely had time to react before Nick grabbed her and Jenny.

"Go, go, go!"

They turned and ran. Behind them, the birds slammed into the windshield, shattering the glass. The pilots screamed as the cockpit was engulfed in a frenzy of claws and beaks. The plane lurched. Gravity seized them, pulling them upward as the aircraft plunged into freefall.

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

By: SIlverMist707

I'm sorry I haven't posted as there was some family issues and I was busy but I'll be right on track again with the posting and try to make it a little longer. <3 Love you all