Each figure had been carefully wrapped in faded linen that had somehow survived the passing of countless millennia. Leather belts still held ancient robes in place. Bronze ornaments rested around wrists and necks. Some wore crowns woven from golden branches that had long since become brittle with age.
Not one appeared to have collapsed or been disturbed; they remained exactly where someone had left them.
Atheline slowly lowered his bow.
"This wasn't a burial."
Lilith nodded.
"No." She stepped toward the nearest alcove. "This was preservation."
The nearest mummy stood almost two meters tall. Its wrappings had yellowed with age, but they remained remarkably intact.
A beautifully crafted robe embroidered with golden thread hung beneath the linen. Even after thousands of years, the workmanship was extraordinary.
Lilith carefully examined the figure without touching it.
"The body hasn't decomposed."
Atheline walked beside her.
"Impossible, it should be."
