Chapter Text
The familiar sound of their drill filled Sloan’s ears as they traversed through a caving network somewhere in Cairo. The Wayfinder Society had been informed by a group of builders about a suspected tomb somewhere they wanted to build, and they wanted all the important artifacts gone before they tore it down for a more stable plot to build on. Sloan wasn’t particularly happy about the builders destroying the tomb, but they were grateful that they at least had the chance to save the artifacts that were down there.
The rest of the team that they were on the expedition with were still setting up, but Sloan being the hyperactive individual they were, went down alone, unable to keep those precious artifacts waiting any longer. After around fifteen minutes of digging, Sloan finally stumbles across the tomb. It was bigger than they had expected and filled with various pots and vases, little sculptures and other random items. The one thing that took them by surprise was the lack of any sort of casket, it was a tomb afterall. They decided not to dwell on it for too long, and instead started taking a look at all the artifacts in the room, their mind already running wild with theories about the backstories of each item. They examined the brushwork of one of the pots, and figured that these artifacts had to be at least five hundred years old.
Their hand brushed over a clay oil lamp that looked more recent than the other items in the tomb. The painting on it not as faded compared to some of the nearby pots, and it looked relatively looked after. Sloan carefully picked it up, not wanting to risk dropping it. They held it in both their palms, feeling the small weight against their gloved hands as they studied it. The patterns and painting techniques appeared closer to at most two hundred years ago, instead of everything else’s five hundred year estimate. Why would a two hundred year old oil lamp be in a five hundred year old tomb? They wondered, keeping the lamp securely in their grasp. They pondered for a minute, before deciding it would be time to start bringing some of the smaller artifacts to the surface. They opened the bag that was slung over their torso, and began to place the lamp inside. However, the lamp slipped from their hand and crashed down to the floor, breaking into smaller fragments.
“Mierda!” Sloan exclaimed, immediately dropping to their knees in order to collect whatever shards they could. They were too caught up in mentally beating themself up to notice the new presence in front of them.
“I’m such a clutz.” They sighed, picking up a small clay leaf that had broken off the top of the lamp. Sloan looked up, intending to check if any of the shards had caused damage to anything else in the room, when their gaze landed on a figure in front of them. Whatever was in front of them had a humanoid form, but was way less opaque than any human should be. The figure wasn’t looking at them, instead it’s gaze travelled around the tomb with an unreadable expression. “Hello?” Sloan called out, trying to mask their nerves. The figure turned to look at them, and tilted its head. It lifted it’s hand up to wave, as if it didn’t have the energy to form words. After it’s hand fell back to it’s side, the figure looked down at the broken lamp in Sloan’s hand. It glided closer, kneeling down to take a closer look. Sloan instinctively leaned away, but relaxed after a moment. Whatever this thing was didn’t seem hostile, so they figured it was okay to let it get closer. “Was this your lamp?” They asked, taking the opportunity to try and figure out the origins of the now broken oil lamp. The figure responded with a small nod, reaching it’s hand out to touch the clay. Sloan felt a soft pressure as the figure’s hand came into contact with theirs in order to touch the clay, as if a gentle gust of wind was pressing against their palm.
Sloan decided to stay quiet as the figure examined the broken lamp. It’s face remained expressionless, but they could feel the sadness radiating from it as it held the little clay leaf between it’s fingers. “Sorry for breaking it.” Sloan said quietly, their eyes fixed on the figure. They couldn’t work out what time period this ghost was from, they appeared to be even more modern than the lamp, and it’s clothes hinted at possibly early 2000s. But that just raised even more questions for them, a spirit from seventy years ago living in a two hundred year old lamp that they found in a five hundred year old tomb. None of it made sense to them. They were so caught up in their thoughts that they almost missed the figure speak. “It’s okay.” The spirit let the pieces of clay they were holding fall back into Sloan’s hand, but it didn’t move away, and instead looked at Sloan’s face. Sloan blinked a few times and placed the shards in their bag. “Well, um. I’m gonna take the lamp with me to try fix it, if that’s okay with you?” They asked, attempting to ignore the gaze they felt on their face. The figure just nodded, and dropped it’s gaze to the bag. “I’ll come.”
With that, Sloan climbed through the tunnel they previously dug, the ghostly figure effortlessly gliding behind them. They had hoped it would have stayed down in the tomb, but there wan’t much they could do. They had no idea how to interact with the dead, especially when they had no idea if anyone else would be able to see it. But still, they did break probably the only thing the spirit had, and they couldn’t fault it for wanting to stay close to it. “So, do you have a name?” Sloan asked, huffing a little from the effort. The spirit let out a little hum, before responding. “I don’t remember.” Sloan blinked at that response. If it couldn’t remember it’s name, could it not remember anything else? “Oh, well I’m Sloan.” They said, looking back at the ghost. “Sloan…” It mumbled, repeating the name. “I’ll think of a nickname to call you by, I can’t keep referring to you as ‘the ghost’ until you remember your name, right?” Sloan said, before pausing their climb. They could see the light, signalling that the end of the tunnel was approaching. “Look, I don’t know if the others I’m with will be able to see you, and I don’t want them to think I’m going crazy, so I won’t speak to you until we are alone, okay?” They explained, feeling a little bad about having to ignore the seemingly lost spirit they had accidentally awoken. The latter didn’t appear to mind, and simply nodded in response. Sloan sighed in relief, at least it didn’t seem upset.
Sloan squinted as they resurfaced, the light glaring harshly on their eyes. A couple members of their team, Otis and Rae, approached them as they placed their drill down nearby. “Hey Sloan, did you manage to find the tomb?” A man named Otis asked, glancing down at the hole they emerged from. “Yeah, I uh, accidentally broke one of the artifacts down there though. I’m gonna take it to get repaired after we get everything else out.”
Otis and Rae made brief eye contact, before laughing a little, making a few teasing comments about Sloan’s clumsy nature, before joining a few others who were about to go down to the tomb. Sloan made their way to the tent they had set up when they first arrived. “Seems nobody else can see you.” They said to the spirit, who was now curiously glancing at every little thing in Sloan’s tent. The spirit didn’t respond, too busy looking around. Sloan didn’t really mind though, it had been trapped down in that tomb for who knows how long, it was only natural that they would try to familiarise themself with their new surroundings. They opened their bag and dug out the shards of the oil lamp. They laughed a little at the irony, their new spirit ‘friend’ was like a genie, a spirit that lived in a lamp.
Now that they were thinking about it, it was basically a dream come true for Sloan. They had always fantasised about finding a ghost that was attached to an artifact. Their fantasy included an evil spirit instead, but now that it was their reality they were glad it was a docile spirit. They stared at the shards of the lamp, luckily it didn’t break into too small fragments, so it would probably be an easy fix for the artifact repair team, they assumed. Sloan let their gaze shift back to the spirit, still trying to work out the connections between it, the lamp and the tomb. None of their estimated time periods matched up at all, and if the tomb had only just been discovered by local builders that meant that there was little to no chance of someone planting the lamp in there. They sighed, their head beginning to hurt from all the questions and theories, and decided it would be best to just forget about it for now, maybe once the rest of the artifacts had been analysed they would get some answers. For now, they thought it would be best to focus on their new ghost friend, and maybe help them get their memories back.