First time on reddit writing something like this, so my apologies if I'm incorrect in the rules or the etiquette. Please feel free to correct me. I like your suggestions at the bottom of the post quite a lot, as they are all interesting. :)

I step further into the temple corridor, trying to keep my lantern steady in my trembling hand. It was nuts that I had discovered something like this. I would be famous. I needed to retrieve artifacts quickly for further study. I brushed a palm again the aged stone, admiring the architecture. It was cool against my touch.

The air down here was stale and pressurized. It created a subtle ringing in my ears, and and felt like it was pulling me further into the temple's depths. I had to be careful. If I came across some natural gas, my lantern would blow up.

I know what I was doing was foolish, but ambition, passion, and curiosity made me explore further. My feet made soft echoes as I stepped, and that superstitious part of me kept making me expect some sort of undead skeleton to pop up. In actuality, it was a lot more quiet passing down the narrowing halls. Even so, I felt a heart-pounding thrill in being able to experience actual adventuring, without the supernatural dangers of an Indiana Jones novel.

Suddenly, thought I heard steps from another place, different from my own. The hairs on the back of my neck pricked up, but I figured I was just now scaring myself considering that my thoughts had turned to such things.

I raised my lantern at eye level none the less, experiencing what was before an unsettled feeling turn to fear as I heard the steps again. Rats perhaps, if they existed in such a place? I had nothing to defend myself with and felt rather vulnerable. My breath caught in my throat and I took a step back as I thought I saw a figure appear in front of me.