After the death of the young queen, the entire palace was plunged into mourning, and her body, encased in gold jewelry, was left in the temple until dawn, guarded by the kingdom’s finest warriors… but when the priests opened the temple doors in the morning, a true horror awaited them inside.
What happened that night in the temple remains a mystery.
After the death of the young queen, the entire vast palace plunged into deep mourning. The vast corridors, where music and laughter had echoed only yesterday, were now enveloped in a heavy silence. Servants moved almost silently, people avoided eye contact, and hundreds of torches burned near the walls, filling the palace with the smell of oil and smoke.
The kingdom’s inhabitants believed that the ruler’s soul did not leave the world of the living immediately after death. According to ancient tradition, the queen’s body had to remain in the sacred temple for one night, so that the gods could decide her fate in the afterlife. Until dawn, no one was allowed to disturb the peace of the deceased.
The young queen was dressed in luxurious red robes adorned with gold and pearls. A heavy crown was placed on her head, and around her neck was an ancient dynasty necklace, passed down for generations. Her face looked calm, as if she had simply fallen asleep.
Late in the evening, the body was brought into the main temple of the palace.
It was a huge stone room with tall columns, statues of gods and a long hall that went into darkness.
The best warriors of the kingdom were stationed along the walls.
Tall, armed men in golden armor stood motionless near the columns, holding spears and swords. Even the enemies of the state feared these men, for each of them had been personally chosen to guard the rulers of the palace.
Before closing the doors, the high priest looked at the warriors once more and slowly said:
— Whatever you hear tonight, you must not open the doors.
The heavy stone doors closed, and the temple was plunged into complete darkness and silence.
Later, some servants swore they heard strange sounds inside in the middle of the night. But no one dared to enter.
When morning came, priests, servants, palace guards, and the ruler himself gathered near the temple. The high priest ordered the doors opened for the final farewell ritual.
But within seconds, the temple was filled with screams of horror. Inside, they found… The continuation of this story can be found in the first comment.
The queen still lay in the center of the hall, her eyes closed and her face calm. Her golden jewelry glittered in the torchlight, as if nothing had happened there during the night.
But all the warriors who remained to guard the temple were no longer alive.
Some lay near the columns, others right by the doors, weapons in hand. There were no wounds, no blood, no signs of struggle on their bodies. It seemed as if death had come to them all at once.
People in the palace immediately began to whisper about the curse.
Some were certain the gods had taken the guards along with the queen so she wouldn’t be left alone in the afterlife. Others said the priests had deliberately condemned the warriors to death for the sake of an ancient, secret rite.
But many years later, completely different versions appeared.
Some scholars have suggested that the closed temple simply ran out of oxygen that night. The vast hall was barely ventilated, torches burned until dawn, and the heavy doors were tightly sealed. Perhaps the warriors didn’t even realize they were suffocating.
There is only one detail that still scares people the most.
Why didn’t any of the armed men even try to open the doors and escape?
And what exactly happened in the temple that night, no one will ever know.
None of the events in this story are historical fact. They are merely the product of our imagination and a work of fiction.
