Covid 3

In Giza's pyramid shadow, the June heat roasted the sands. Archaeologists sweated in the scorching sun, mixing with millennia-old dust. Famous Egyptologist Dr. Lena Radcliffe headed the team. She spent years obsessed with Pharaoh Neferkare's tomb, reputed to contain mysteries. This excavation was her life focus.

They found a three-thousand-year-old chamber after weeks of effort. A large stone block with hieroglyphics warning of a curse barred the entrance. Dr. Radcliffe removed the slab against superstitions. As it changed, a vile, old air with a deathly aroma emerged.

The walls were painted with dramatic scenes of Neferkare's rule, wars, and priests' mystery ceremonies. The compartment included a sarcophagus with elaborate markings on its lid. Excited and determined, Lena's eyes shone. She had to open it.

The crew delicately raised the hefty lid. They discovered Neferkare's mummified remains, which nevertheless had a lifelike appearance. He held a sealed urn with Anubis' symbol in his withered hands.

“Dr. Radcliffe, look at this,” her aide, Ahmed, murmured, pointing to the urn's hieroglyphs. “A ‘plague of darkness’ will fall on those who disturb the pharaoh’s rest.”

Lena waved off his worries. Another curse myth to deter tomb robbers. We must record this.”

A blast of wind extinguished their lamps as they gently removed the urn. The crew sensed a non-temperature-related cold. Lena paused before opening the urn. The crew was engulfed in fine black dust. They waved their hands and coughed to clear the air.

“Everyone out!” Lena yelled in the grave.

Gasping for oxygen, they ran outdoors. The dust cleared swiftly, but anxiety persisted.

After a few days, team members had odd symptoms. A persistent cough, fever, and unwavering weariness. Dr. Radcliffe became critically sick initially, shivering in her tent despite the heat. Ahmed ordered medical assistance.

Doctors were confused when they came. They had never seen such symptoms. The sickness spread quickly among the excavation crew and local people. Panic ensued.

International news of the unusual sickness spread. COVID-3, a new coronavirus, was readily discovered by scientists owing to its resemblance to prior pandemics. The source was Neferkare's tomb.

It was too late to quarantine. The infection spread rapidly among passengers and laborers to Cairo, Europe, and beyond. COVID-3 was more devastating than its predecessors, despite international efforts to control it.

Dr. Radcliffe recognized the pharaoh's curse's terror in her last minutes. Rather than superstition, the ancients warned of a disease in the urn waiting for the foolish to spread it.

As mankind dealt with the damage, a frightening notion lingered: what other ancient terrors were buried under the sands, waiting for the inquisitive and daring to unleash them? In Neferkare's motionless tomb, the hieroglyphs appeared to gleam sinisterly, as if the pharaoh watched from beyond, content that his curse had been fulfilled.