Mason had found it.  Seemingly suspended in mid air, floating in a sunbeam; light was impossible this far into the temple. He was in a side chamber from the burial room and there was barely air, let alone any natural light.  Alone with a solitary statue of Anubis and this.  This that he had spent his entire adult life trying to find. The Cintamani Stone.

Legend was, it could grant the bearer unlimited wishes.  His colleagues thought it would be a rock, scarred with runes, imbued with magic and meaning.  Fetishized.  The stone–once a pure jade green, now mottled with bits of blue and red–suspended over a velvet pillow that seemed to be impressed with an invisible weight.  The pillow was atop a stone pillar, which was engraved with the story of the stone.  A story Mason knew in great detail.  A fallen bit of star, enchanted by Buddha, lost at sea and now found here, in the tomb of the Last Pharaoh of the New Kingdom.

Now, he would be part of the story.   Whether the stone was truly magic or just a priceless piece of antiquity, everyone would remember his name.

Mason reached into the beam of light and pulled the trophy free.  The light went out and the room turned instantly red, the chamber shook with grinding stone.  The red light was emanating from the eyes of the jackal-headed god in the corner.  Just as Mason met his gaze, the statue snuffed two darts from his snout.  One caught Mason in the neck.  He snatched it out, but the sack had delivered some of the payload.  Cobra venom.  Not much, but he had less than twenty four hours.  No problem, he was only a few hours from camp.

He turned to exit when the stone groaned once more.  The rumble stopped, the red eyes of Anubis went black, the room was dark.  He pulled his lighter out, lit it and looked for the exit.  He ran his hands over the wall where the door had been, when the floor beneath him cracked and fell away.

Mason fell, too, barely catching the jagged edge of stone as the broken tile and his lighter fell below him, lost in the darkness, never landing. 

The red light glowed once more, it intensified along with the sound of stone dragging on stone, until it was just above him.  The statue of Anubis had come fully alive, a stone golem standing above him, blinding him with his crimson stare.  He had heard of elaborate traps, had seen and disarmed his own fair share, but this was ridiculous.  Anubis stooped forward and held out a vial, pointed to the stone and opened his empty hand.

He would trade Mason the antidote for the return of the Cintamani Stone. 

Mason considered this for a second.  He only had one option.  He clenched his jaw, let go of the edge, fell backward into the infinite blackness and made his first wish.