Revealing the Forbidden: The Tale of an Unveiling Power

“Fascinating.” I muttered, rubbing my chin as I looked at the obelisk.

I was in Egypt, at a time before Moses led the Jews away from captivity in Egypt, though it wasn’t that long ago—at least by Earth standards. The Sun was beating down on me mercilessly as I studied the hieroglyphs on the stone. I had never been to Egypt before now; all my other travels were done near the water, keeping me within range of an ocean breeze. It was sweltering here. My backpack was strapped tightly around my body, with my laptop and tablet inside so they wouldn’t overheat in this climate. If I lost those, I would be fucked.

I let out a sigh as I stretched my arms upward, trying to get blood flowing again after being hunched over for so long. I glanced around myself at the surrounding desert landscape. There weren’t many people around here; rather than exploring this place with a group of tourists or experts like myself, they were all busily doing their own thing in different areas of the vast expanse of sand. We were spread out haphazardly enough that we could easily get separated and left behind if we didn’t meet up at the right times during our explorations of the site.

Cursing under my breath, I moved back towards where my bag was placed against a rock that had been covered with a tarp to protect it from the harsh sun. As I walked past another obelisk and took a moment to study it, two familiar figures caught my eye.

“Diane? Janet?” I called out to them as I hurried towards them, trying not to slip on the loose sand beneath me as I approached them. “What are you two doing? No one else is over here!”

They looked up at me curiously as they continued their work; Diane was brushing off the dust from one area while Janet used her phone to take pictures and videos of an engraving she found on another section of obelisk closest to the edge of our excavation site. The pair looked like they had been working together long enough to know what each other was doing without needing to ask questions; Diane took notice of what Janet wanted and handed her some new tools or small samples every few minutes while Janet would write down any notes she needed to make while she worked or snap more pictures when she found anything particularly interesting. Neither woman seemed particularly bothered by how hot it was outside despite their obvious efforts to keep hidden under their thick jackets until they were required to use tools or hold something that required both hands free for whatever task they were trying to complete.

“I thought you said we don’t have time for this?” Diane asked me archly as she placed down her brush and took off her jacket, revealing a black tank top underneath her shirt and giving herself more room to stretch her arms outward without risking exposing too much skin during such an important expedition like this one. “You want us gathering samples as fast as possible so we can find out exactly how old everything here is? Or am I misremembering what you told us when we first got here?”

I smiled sheepishly at her question as I approached them both and sat down next to Janet so she could have some more room for herself while she worked. “Well...maybe that doesn't need to be our priority right now?"