[attr="class","body"]

rosemary's jackboots crunch against the sand, which is cooler now that the sun is dipping beneath the horizon and staining the sky in brilliant shades of rose and vermilion. the winds are gentle, tickling her neck, sending an uncharacteristic shiver up her spine. the flowers tucked in the sand, called rain lilies in the guidebook she studied on the journey here, are so frail and vibrant against such arid death. such a place that she never would have known existed, were it not for today's meeting.[break][break]

a strange place for a dead drop, indeed, but rosemary chalks it up to the client's peculiar request, odd and specific like most rich folk. she wonders if the client intended to pull her in with the mystery of these dusty ruins that now lay uncovered before her. scattered and massive boulders of weathered gray stone lay among collapsed pillars, some overturned and broken entirely. it's sad. grandeur faded by time and neglect, reverence replaced by her lone presence, armed with two guns, ammunition, a briefcase, and insatiable curiosity.[break][break]

she walks between the fallen stones in near reverence, each footstep considered, dainty, and cautious not to disturb the stone too much. old habits die hard, and her fingers find purchase in the grooves of each engraving she sees. surely the dust alone could tell its story of olden times.[break][break]

"ah, it's been a while since i've indulged in this sort of thing..." she murmurs to herself, a smile playing on her lips as her eyes grow wide with wanderlust, drinking in the spectacles left for her. it is here she decides to put off finding the location of the drop, and elects to traipse further into the bowels of the lost temple instead, each step feeling heavier than the last, as if something lays beneath her skin, sits in her chest, thrumming. curiosity. the conqueror worm. she ceases stifling the feeling and indulges. anything to satiate it. anything to satisfy it. she's been running from the looming shadow of her disease for so long... it's about time she embraced it by going where no living woman dare trod.[break][break]

rosemary disappears into the tomb.

[attr="class","credit"]