Tomb of the Immortals

Author: Katsumoto Moliko

Original post: https://arrowspeedfiles.wordpress.com/2017/10/17/the-problem-of-the-wormholes/

Entry for the YC119 Pod and Planet Fiction Contest in the A Day in the Life category.

In an age long lost to the races of the supercluster, and on a dead world circling a forgotten star, massive structures were built by human hands within a fertile river land. Dominating the landscape for many miles around, and the details of their construction remaining apocryphal, these pyramid-shaped stone marvels were built with but one purpose in mind: to commemorate the power and divinity of their leaders.

An ambitious monarch orders the building of their own stone monument. Huge slabs of rock are hewn from the earth, transported over large distances, and slowly stacked on top of each other in layer after layer. Using no heavy machinery or mechanized transportation, workers labor for many years, stacking block after block, until at last the final stone is laid, and the structure magnificently capped with precious metals.

And there the stone monument stands, until at last the final day comes to pass for the monarch, and their body is preserved, wrapped, and sealed within a sarcophagus of solid gold. It is then that the structure slowly fills with the treasures accumulated by the monarch over a lifetime: thousands of coins stuffed into chests, handcrafted sculptures of figures and gods, texts detailing great knowledge and feats, jewelry of fabulous craftsmanship, and various items of sentimental value all begin to line the hollow chambers of stone. With the many long years of the monarch’s reign, so too does the treasure trove of items destined to forever lie within the stone halls alongside them grow ever more numerous.

As the monument fills with treasure, servants of the monarch gather within the stone halls, and consume toxins to still their hearts. One by one, they succumb to death’s embrace to join their beloved leader. With all in its proper place, the stone halls are sealed shut, the entrances buried under mountains of sand, and the monarch begins their eternal reign from their glorious palace of the afterlife.

Set upon by envious eyes with the greed of many hundreds, the monuments seals are torn asunder, its great walls begin to wither, its stone halls begin to crumble, the bodies of servants are disturbed, and the treasures slowly turned to dust. At the end of time’s great test, the decayed body of the monarch within rules as the master of a broken palace.

As time passes, so too does it betray a secret: great monuments often meet inglorious ends.

Ancient by the time that they were recorded in contemporary history, the stone monuments captured the imagination of untold generations since. Despite being a mere remnant of their former glory, history would preserve the monarchs of the stone halls, their memory living on for untold millennia after.

Tens of thousands of years into the future, great monuments are still being built. An ambitious leader orders the construction of their own monument. Thousands upon thousands of tons of rock are mined from great stones floating within the dark void. The minerals are shaped and refined into great building blocks, stacked alongside of each other to form the structure, while workers give form to the labyrinth within.

The many miles of halls inside are lined with the crème de la crème of technological progress: sealed bulkheads, ammunition stores, crew quarters, launch tubes, medical bays, hangar arrays, sensor suites, and clone vats. Before long, belongings and treasures of the immortals begin to fill the chambers, and countless souls dwell within the corridors, giving a pulse of life to the cold metal construct. At long last, the monument’s construction is capped, bestowed upon with a weapon of unfathomable power to prevail against time’s long test.

And in the cold void the monument stays, until at last the final day comes to pass for the immortals within their capsules.

Set upon by envious eyes with the strength of many thousands, the monuments seals are torn asunder, its great walls begin to wither, its metal halls begin to crumble, the countless lives within snuffed out, and the treasures slowly turned to dust. At the end of time’s great test, the shattered bodies of the immortals within rule as the masters of a broken palace.

As time passes, so too does it betray another secret: great monuments often meet violent ends.

And the great monument’s scorched hulk remains within the cold void for all time, having been destined to serve as a bastion of power in life, and as the tomb of the immortals in the afterlife.