Your vision swims as you reach desperately for the emergency lever, your fingers slipping on the sweat-slicked metal. With a final surge of strength, you yank the lever downward just as the white light consumes everything. A crystalline hum fills the chamber as hexagonal energy shields snap into place around the time machine, the shimmering barriers rippling like disturbed water.

The impact still throws you violently against the restraints as the machine slams into... something. The shields hold, but barely - you can see fractures spreading across their surface like frozen lightning. Through the cracked dome, you see you've materialized in what appears to be an ancient stone chamber, the walls covered in strange glowing hieroglyphics that pulse in time with your pounding headache.

Groaning, you release the restraints and collapse to the cold stone floor. The time machine's core sputters weakly behind you, its usual steady hum replaced by an irregular, sickly wheeze. As your vision clears, you notice the hieroglyphics aren't just glowing - they're moving, shifting like liquid mercury to form new patterns that make your eyes water to look at directly.

From the shadows at the far end of the chamber, you hear a dry, rattling breath. Something stirs in the darkness - something far too large to be human. The glowing symbols flare brighter, illuminating a massive scaled hand reaching toward you, each claw the length of your forearm.