Chapter Fourteen

Uncle Morgis’ map had bloodstains on most of its contents, that made it difficult to identify any points of interest he might have had. Sitting on her bottom with her legs folded, she sprawled her Uncle’s map over Sol’s back, careful not to allow it to fly out from her clutches.

Half the map might have been ruined, but it wasn’t a total loss. Uncle Morgis was very thorough with his explanations and descriptions, jotting down numbers next to each landmark and descriptions for them on the back of the map. Her Uncle made mention of many different details, things like how heavy or strenuous the rewards might have been to transport or question marks dignifying the area hadn’t been explored yet. An area in-particular had a star written next to it with a description saying only the general direction was marked and that he hadn’t been able to find it again.

The hindrance wasn’t as detrimental for Katalene, however. Sol’s presence meant that navigating the Whispey Deserts had never been easier, with the only thing required from her was to look down and provide The Dragon Creature with instructions. Katalene saw various areas that captured her interest, but none of them in-particular caught her attention. She thought it better to simply pluck one marked on the map that hadn’t been scavenged yet, that one ended up being the one marked with a star.

In a few hours’ time, Sol brought her down, landing down in the Whispey Deserts. The marked area was vaguely distinguished amidst the sand, it was dome-shaped and had brownish yellow color to it, like it had been stained by the very sands themselves. Still, by the sheer size of it, Uncle Morgis had to have blind to lost it at a ground level.

“Does this hold any significance to you, Sol?” Katalene said, climbing out from the saddle on Sol’s back and stretching out her stiff limbs.

“I haven’t seen this tomb before, The Trials of Calpera occurred mostly between Zeal and Maharris. The Amisoic Sea isn’t far, however, so this would be the Desert’s end.” Sol answered.

“It must have taken Uncle Morgis days to travel this far, weeks, even.” Katalene remarked, baffled by it.

This tomb might have looked blemished by sands from above, but, on grounds level, it looked unscathed and without even the littlest sign of aging to it. In-fact, the tomb looked to be made from solid-gold and like even a small brick’s worth would have fetched a pretty coin. Katalene walked up the steps of the tomb, a feeling of uneasiness in her composure with each step. It felt surreal to be stepping into a tomb after what had happened the last time she’d ventured into one. She looked behind her, momentarily saddened by the fact that her brother wouldn’t be joining her on this endeavor. Sol looked back at her.

“If things become too dangerous, there are other tombs, ones from those of less nobility. They won’t have any traps or defense mechanisms guarding them, and while they won’t have the same riches, if we find enough, we can still fetch a pretty coin.” Sol said, trying his best to sound like he valued her safety with the utmost importance, and maybe he did.

“I am imprisoning you now, aren’t I?” Katalene asked, “If I removed this gauntlet from around my arm, where would you go?”

“It doesn’t come off, it latches onto the nearest living host and doesn’t let go.” Sol answered blankly.

Katalene glared at him, by now, she understood when he was acting deliberately ignorant. “And, what if I freed you, said you could go wherever you wanted, said you could do whatever you pleased?”

“I am the last of my kind. If you weren’t advising me, I’d simply rest my body back in the sands and dream again. Where I am not the last of my kind.”

“Is that what you’d prefer?”

“I have little else to go on.”

“I think there is a world out-there where you could experience happiness, and perhaps, you aren’t the last dragon. Perhaps there are more!” Katalene voiced her enthusiasm, trying to rally up Sol about the future, perhaps for her sake as much as his.

“Perhaps,” Sol concurred, less than convinced about the idea.

“If I can gather enough gold coin, enough to live on. Both of us will be free for ourselves, free to pursue whatever we want. You and I can see the world. Beyond everything and all, this, …,” Katalene motioned at the air for emphasis, “All of this is nothing on what could be out there, we could spend our whole lives just journeying, nothing else to it. Simple and free, who knows what’s out there?”

“That sounds nice,” Sol responded, and while she might have been projecting it onto him, Katalene thought she could sense some genuine amusement in the thought from his voice.

Katalene walked up the steps of the dome-shaped monument and heard her hallow footsteps echoing throughout, projected louder than they should have been. The inside of the room’s floors was shiny, without even the slightest of blemish to speak of. The practicality of that fact wasn’t lost on her. Even if the winds never brought any sand in, there still should have been some signs of wear or plain signs of age. The only real explanation she could think of for such a fact was that it was inhabited.

She swiped at the air with her arm, extracting the blade from out of her gauntlet. Her feet played the role of someone walking on egg-shells, no step of hers was taken without careful deliberation on her part. The observations she made as she observed the confines of the building were fruitful, finding uprooted grooves in the floor that were distinctive only to someone who was looking for them. The small inch or two height certain bricks stood out from the ground suggested pressure pads. The thought of losing her life because of a poisonous arrow was not an appealing concept.

Large clay vases lined the left and right side of the walls upon entering, they were each painted with vibrant décor that seemed to carry the aesthetic of the sun’s rays taking over a dark blue night. The visual was one that struck Katalene as peaceful, a robust optimism, like, maybe, the darkness could be overcome. Though, it was just as possible that Katalene was seeing what she wanted to. Still, it was possibly that stealing one or two of them would have fetched a considerable fortune.

That was not a very adventurous route to take, however, and, at the sight of the building and the contents to it, she had her curiosities regarding its secrets.

“This place looks like a castle or a coliseum, what are the odds that someone could still live here?” Katalene asked Sol.

Katalene could hear the hard stamping of her boots down against the ground. The sound was hallowed and made the ground itself seem weak or fragile because of it.

The floor was a bright white, a sight that burned her eyes when she stared at it too much. Again, the most distinctive fact was that she could not even see a speck of visible dirt or grime, like it was maintained daily, to very high standards.

“The Trials never ventured this far, nobody ever had the chance to. Or, at least, I was never targeted at any of them. It is possible that someone, unbeknownst to me, even a Pharaoh and his people, could have taken shelter here.” Sol supposed.

Katalene had told Sol he was free to roam the Whispey Desert at his own discretion, but fully expected to find him lying outside where she left him.

The ceiling’s ornament was like none other that Katalene had seen anywhere else, none that she could imagine. A chandelier hovered, suspended in the air, the item was unique because there were no strings Katalene could see. Katalene pivoted her body, twisted and turned her neck, expecting to see a small, thin wire that would explain the anomaly to her. In Birgo’s Tomb, there had been locusts that seemed to be following a command that made the floor tiles hover. Could a similar trick be at play?

In some ways, the chandelier resembled a cage with a ring of swords pointed downward at the ground, and between that, a roof that looked as though it was made of fire.

The ornament was strange, not something that appeared fashionable or exquisite, this was much too violent and cold for such trivial means. This was a subtle way of giving a warning to anyone that may enter. An announcement that, upon entry, there would be no escape unless they vacated now.

“They did more than took shelter here, for all this, this would have taken years to create. And, the attention to detail, this was their home, this place.” Katalene remarked, looking over at the vases for a moment, but, only a moment, until, at last, she noticed the small hallway at the corner of the right-hand side. The hallway only lasted for some three or four feet, and even from there, she could see the big looking door at the end.

“The Pharaohs had plenty of supporters. They had loyal servants that would work their lives away for promises most Pharaohs would never keep. The protection of the Pharaohs was deemed as the utmost of importance. Some Pharaohs had discovered ways to exhume the souls of other lords, assuming their powers and making themselves stronger. Calpera was considered as the most powerful among them all because of his execution of said act,” Sol continued.

“And so, from paranoia, they had their servants devise death traps to protect themselves? Seems like great cowardice from such powerful men. And, where’s the practicality in such an affair? Did the servants have to go through a death maze every time they wanted to speak to their lord?”

Katalene walked over to the door at the corner of the room, not forgetting to be on her toes in case something was to happen. It is then, however, that a memory occurred to her. It was the vases that made her think of it, she remembered big vases in one of Uncle Morgis’ stories about a tomb. Her Uncle had devised a narrative about said tomb, though, before, she hadn’t believed him. According to him, behind the door was a pendulum, one that momentum carried forward and attacked him from the second he opened the door. Uncle Morgis was sent forward, striking hard against one of the vases, breaking it. That is what he said, but when Katalene looked over to where his trajectory would have taken him, she saw that all the vases were unscathed, without even as little as a crack.

“The servants looked at their Pharaohs as Gods, how many times did you speak to your God in-person, Katalene? The Pharaohs had right-hand men, chosen elites that were given tricks to bypass the Tombs traps to make entry easier for them. As for the Pharaohs being paranoid, you are right. The Whispey Deserts had at least three separate wars occurring all at once, almost none of them occurring with premeditation. A Pharaoh and his men would simply decide they wanted to kill another Pharaoh and his men. They’d have no real motive, would come one day, rape and murder everyone without a second thought. If nothing else, at least the Pharaoh was safe.”

“That’d be a fun experience, I bet. Finding that all your people have been murdered and you, with your resources, could have prevented it.” Katalene commented dryly.

She yanked at the door’s handle, her body following the door, leaning her back against the wall. Sure enough, the noise of a snapping string went off and a large pendulum swung through the doorway, a swiping sound at it cut through the air. The speed and momentum the blade carried would have been enough to slice her in half. Even though Katalene had anticipated it, the sight of it made her breathe heavily. As the pendulum swayed back in fourth, its speed decreased. When it finally came to a complete halt, Katalene walked forward and beyond the door, cautiously walking around the pendulum.

The hallway continued for a short while, but she could easily see the end, a moment later the hallway led her into a bigger room. She walked forward and, as she did, she heard a commotion happen behind her. The fear that a large boulder was rolling her way, about to flatten her, was largely felt, but when she turned to look, nothing threatened her. Instead, it was the sound of the pendulum returning to its initial position and the sound of the door closing shut again. The area was independently maintained, able to sufficiently reset itself.

Katalene carried on, with her, she was accompanied by little feelings of unease, but, instead, discretion and concentration. The hallways end brought a room with a series of tunnels, each one looked less like a building and more like the entrance to a cave. Gone were the stone-steps and fine décor, in its place, darkness and unsanitary confines. On the left-hand side, a small circular window allowed the shine of the sun to bleed into the room. Unfortunately, that light provided no illumination to the contents of each cave. That was alright though, because Katalene had brought a satchel of supplies with her for the occasion.

The smell given off was of sewer water and befalling Katalene’s ears was the distinct sound of water droplets coming down into a puddle, though, she could not place the puddle’s whereabouts for certain.

No way looked unique among them, all four ways looking like exact duplicates of each other in-terms of size proportions and visuals. Sharp shards of rock jutted down from the top of each of them like jagged teeth.

Katalene looked around the room that came before the cave entrance, anticipating, or, at least, hoping to find a clue that provided insight on which way would bring about the best results. However, the room was plain and nondescript, thereby, by her best assessment, the only real decision was to choose one at random.

And, at random, she chose, choosing the one furthest to the right in blind faith. Feet in, the so-called coliseum no longer appeared fanciful or vibrant. Instead, it was hard, uneven rock with ridges on both sides of the walls, though, the odorous aroma had left, and the sound of dripping water had become fainter.

Once the room could no longer be advanced through clearly, Katalene brought a pine-stick out from her backpack and lit it. However, the second it was lit, it, then, extinguished.

“What the fuck,” Katalene mumbled to herself, taking another pine-stick out from her backpack and lighting it.

Sure enough, just as soon as it lit, it extinguished itself. Were they faulty or broken in some way? Katalene didn’t know the answer to that, but she had her doubts of it. She felt around the darkness blindly, unknowing of what to expect.

The walls were closing in, that much, she knew for certain. The moving room was becoming smaller and smaller, and how she once walked freely, able to expand her arms to their full-lengths, she now found herself having to turn to her side to be able to traverse forward. Was she leading herself to a dead end? Would she soon find herself stuck and unable to move at all? There were three other alternative paths, was she better off simply heading back and exploring one of them?

Katalene pressured on, feeling her space only become tighter in her advancement. It was at that moment, however, she felt something brush against the back of her neck. That is, at first, it brushed across her neck, but, in only a moment, it was more as though she felt it crawl down her back. Then, she felt in on her arms, and after, on her legs. The feeling startled her, and quickly, she began wiggling her body to free herself from whatever had attached itself to her.

The feeling of something gnawing on her flesh made it apparent it was likely a spider or something close that had bit into her skin. In which case, the poison could already be coursing through her and be writing her death sentence. Unable to slap them off her, Katalene increased her pace moving through the caving, hoping it wouldn’t tighten to the point of restraint, left to be swallowed alive by bugs. They felt so present on her, squirming around with their own agendas. They were in her hair and they were traveling up her pant-legs. The feeling made her shake and wobble like a table with a bad leg, unable to do anything to alleviate her discomfort. She spat and spat, not knowing if they were even near her mouth, but having to make absolutely for certain.

Swiftly moving fourth, the time came, at last, when the cave finally expanded and allowed her the means to brush the bugs off her. Shaking her limbs and slapping at her appendages, Katalene did everything she could to rid herself of the critters that had since lashed onto her flesh. Some of them weren’t so difficult to deal with, some of them were easily detached, whereas others had to be ripped and pried off from her flesh.

Katalene’s let out loud breaths, feeling a sense of relief that the walls hadn’t closed in on her. Still, in the dark, it wasn’t as though she had any way of knowing what would come next. For all she knew, her next steps could have led to her death, be it by falling into a hole or something worse than that.

A noise alerted her, next, however. The noise was quiet, like sticks rubbing together, for lack of a better description, but it was enough to make Katalene take notice. Like sticks rubbing together, she heard it again. Like sticks rubbing together. She stepped forward in the cave, the sound of movement was apparent, though, she knew not what to expect. Instead, she readied the blade on her gauntlet, ready to strike should the situation demand it.

When nothing came, however, she lessened her guard, opting to take a different tactic. From her backpack, she brought out a pine-stick. As she lit the pine-stick, for a moment, her surroundings became apparent to her, albeit, only for the pine-stick to strangely extinguish in less than a second.

In the glance she was provided, she saw nothing before her.

It was simply an empty cave that continued for a stretch.

She took another five or six steps forward, lighting the stick, only for it to be extinguished. The act allowed her at least a small look at what was before her, even if it wasn’t the best of looks.

Katalene walked a few more steps within the absolute darkness of the cave, and soon, the foul odor of manure graced her nostrils again. It was difficult to know how to take that fact. How did manure rank in such a situation, did it indicate she was heading in the right direction or did it quite literally entail she was headed for a steaming pile of the stuff?

Once more, she heard something rustling, but could not place a familiarity with it, couldn’t think of something to associate it with, nothing accurate, at least.

The sound befalling her ears seemed so foreign even that seemed like a stretch of the imagination. Was it the sound of the cave settling, perhaps?

She lit the pine stick again, this time getting only a flicker of light until it shrivelled back to blackness. She stared at the pine stick, as if thinking it was broken worse somehow than before. Oddly though, the act of looking down was pointless and in vain, after all, she could hardly investigate the stick’s quality in her current situation. Tossing the stick aside, she continued fourth, trying her best to navigate without bumping into anything she’d seen.

The thought of the foundations was unsettling to her. Whereas the entrance to the dome-shaped building had been spotless, like it’d been built and then, simply maintained without ever having anything in the way of usage, the cave didn’t reflect the same neat and tidy sentiment. Instead, Katalene had to try her hand at keeping from impalement.

She’d already bashed her knee into one of the rocks by mistake and could feel a considerable bruise starting to form because of it. It brought about a slight limp, but never once did she contemplate the idea of turning back. After having her ribs broken by the tail of a dragon and having the top of her head nearly sliced off, she’d be damned if she’d let a small bruise deter her.

But, if this area could be so unkempt and have the pressing smell of shit, then, what were the odds of a large, loose rock coming down and flattening her? A large rock crushing her skull and breaking it open like an egg would certainly be enough to deter her. Could that have been the grinding sound she’d been hearing? The sound of loose rocks slowly freeing themselves from their placement?

That still didn’t sound right to her, however, and, as the grinding sound became louder and closer, she went in her bag for another pine stick.

“Fuck,” Katalene said beneath her breath when she felt the pine stick slip from between the tips of her fingers.

The sound of the stick as it clunked down against the rock ground gave insight to its landing point. It hadn’t rolled, much to Katalene’s relief. She dropped slowly to her knees, careful to favor the one with the bruise. Her hands felt around aimless across the cold, hard ground, feeling the occasional rock or soft, thin, dirt, until, at last, her hand skimmed over the wooden pine stick.

Swiftly, Katalene readied the pine stick in her hand. She climbed to a vertical stance, then, ignited the stick and stared forward. It only stayed lit for a mere second, but that mere second was all it took to see everything she needed to see.

Staring back at her, with metallic-looking onyx eyes and rubbing its pinchers together, was a very large beetle.

The sight caused her immediate fright, herself jerking back and falling on her bottom. And, while the view of the enormous insect dissipated when the darkness once more consumed the room, the residual remnant remained engraved in her psyche.

Knowing her and the gauntlet’s blade stood no chance against the insect in combat, Katalene quickly turned away and began to crawl, knowing her very life was at stake. The crawl, then, transitioned into a run, once she returned to her feet, that is, knowing all she needed to do was make it to where the cave tightened, keeping the beetle from being able to pursue her any further than that.

The sound of loud wings, like a large fly buzzing around her ear, added to the growing angst she had brewing inside of her. The sound told her of how close the beetle was to ending her life.

She didn’t hear the beetle, which was almost as tall and as wide as the entrance of the cave, stomp its feet, which told her that it was, in-fact, flying through the crowded cave. That fact alone was perhaps the only reason it hadn’t killed her.

Not without trying though, as every few seconds, she could hear its pinchers clamping down, likely on the verge of decapitating her with each attempt.

In the darkness, she continued to run, trying her best to navigate while dreading the thought of tripping over her own feet, and thereby, leaving herself to be eaten alive by the large bug.

The insect’s shriek sounded next, a guttural sound like an individual choking on his own blood. Or like what a fly might have sounded like before it puked on its food, if one could hear it. That was the best comparison Katalene could bring herself to make in her current situation, it sounded like the insect had gagged itself, for lack of a better description. The distraction, although, likely didn’t detriment her ability any more when it came to her ability to see in the dark or make her less likely to anticipate the small ridge judging out, but it did make her less able to brace herself or react. Rolling forward, her legs flung in the air and her back slammed down onto the rock ground with a hard, but quiet thud. There it came, the familiar feeling of the wind being knocked out of her.

As much as she might have liked to wallow in her own agony for a few moments, that was not a present possibility for her. Instead, she returned to her feet as fast as she could, still in a dizzy state that came equipped with an unbalanced equilibrium. On the other end though, there was no sound from the beetle, which, obviously, was a relief, but struck her as odd.

The smarter decision was ulterior to her first instinct. The smarter decision would have been to turn herself around and escape harm’s way, investigate one of the other caves and hope that it would have a clearer passage. But Katalene was curious about why it no longer pursued her, what had happened to cause that choking sound?

Katalene rifled through her backpack for another pine-stick, they were in short supply about now, but it wasn’t as though they served too much of a purpose in the cave anyway. She ignited one and threw it forward as fast as she could, letting it shine a light on where she had left the insect behind before it went to dark again. In that flicker, she saw what had happened. The insect, picking up speed, had driven a particularly sharp shard of rock into its belly, forcing it to bleed out.

The insect made no sudden movements, like that, the insect was dead.

Katalene let out a sigh of relief, she knew when to appreciate the rare circumstances where life’s momentum ran in her own favor. She walked beyond the beetle with caution, afraid it might have a small increment of life still in it. From there, she continued through the cave, without the beetle blocking her path, she’d be able to see what was beyond, if anything, for all she knew, the beetle’s presence was a trap meant to mark her death and what lied beyond it was simply a dead-end.

Then, in a matter of seconds, a sound went off in her ears, one that she fully recognized.

It was the sound of a beetle rubbing its pinchers together. A second beetle?

Fuck this place, Katalene thought in her head. And, like that, she turned around and started heading in the opposite direction. After all, it wasn’t as though lightning would strike twice and allow her to survive a second beetle’s attack through a similar means.

Heading back toward the exit-way of the cave, she perused the blackness with careful deliberation, however, as she did, something became apparent. Her hand wandered, at first, by mistake, then, again, to be certain of what appeared to be truth.

Where her hand voyaged should have been where the lifeless beetle rested. She knew that because it was the exact thing she’d meant to avoid brushing up against! But, now, as she felt with intent of finding the beetle’s large body, she discovered nothing at all. Even in complete darkness, her knowledge of the cave’s layout and the beetle’s sheer size made it difficult for it to be lost. She thought about once again lighting another pine stick, to prove to herself that the insect had vanished, but didn’t feel the need. She knew where the insect should have been, and it wasn’t. Did that mean the large beetle still lived? That it had gotten up and left? Touching her hand against the large, sharp rock that had once stabbed into the beetle, she felt no wetness from blood. And the only sound she heard was the distant noise from the beetle behind her, whereas, she heard no commotion from what should have been a beetle in-front of her.

It didn’t take her very long to figure out what happened. Like the pendulum that wounded itself back to its original position and the door that repaired itself, the deceased beetle had been brought back to life and been situated to its original position. The fact proved, without doubt, advanced mechanics and machinery weren’t the cogs that allowed this fortress to function. This area had special, magical, powers allocated to it.

“This place has the power to bring creatures back from the dead!” Katalene exclaimed to Sol as she started working her way back out from this cave’s confines.

“I have never heard of, even a Pharaoh, being able to bring something back from the dead.” Sol replied at once.

“Tell that to the giant beetle that had a rock shoved in its chest but teleported back to its post like nothing even happened.”

“Sounds like a haunter more than that of a creature come back from the dead. The essence of a creature that can only frequent a certain span of space and restarts itself when it’s fatally disrupted.”

“In other words, there’s no way of getting beyond it then? Since it will simply come back the moment it’s killed?”

“It normally takes a second or two to restart itself, if you can go beyond where it stands after you kill it and keep from alerting it thereafter, you could get past it then.”

Katalene let out a sigh, so much for life handing her an easy one. “What happens if, when I am running, the creature appears right when I am standing where it’s supposed to be?”

“That’s an interesting question, why don’t you go ahead and try to find out?”

“Sarcasm?” Katalene asked with an annoyed expression on her face that Sol wasn’t even able to see, she only hoped it showed in her voice as well.

“Probably,” Sol remarked obliviously.

Katalene brought herself back to the cave’s beginning, brushing off the small bugs that found themselves on her limbs when the cave narrowed. The first cave might have been a bust, but there remained three other caves to choose from.

Once again, none looked particularly distinctive from the other. Back on her ears was the sound of dripping water and her nostrils could smell that ever-so pleasant manure again. The manure could be smelled worse from deep inside the first cave, but it was curious that the smell grew fainter while leaving the first cave but could be smelled plainly again from outside the cave.

She walked beside each of the three caves, no logic could clearly be applied to her decision of which to walk through next.

“If there’s an easier way to navigate this area that’s known only to those qualified to proceed, who’s to say whichever route I take will actually lead anywhere? This could be one great big effort that only results in death.”

“The qualified can be killed. And, you fail to recall, trials took place in the Whispey Desert. Chances are, in-order to become qualified, you most likely had to make it through this labyrinth to prove yourself. Either that, or, perhaps, this could very well be death prolonged.”

As she walked adjacent to the caves, she, at last, made her decision on which cave to pursue next, this being the last cave, the exact opposite of her first choice.

Katalene made small footsteps, knowing that whatever awaited her likely wasn’t something with her best interest in mind. With each careful movement, her eyes looked forward at the light at the end. In-general, light suggested reason for optimism, the idea that the buildings end could already find itself revealed to her. However, she had never been much for when it came to optimism, and she knew better than to let her guard down for even a second.

That is when she felt herself suddenly begin sinking in the ground beneath her. A mud of sorts, she felt herself quickly descending downward, the stuff tightly hugging her body in a vice-grip. Her first thought was that the mud was not, in-fact, mud, but was, rather, something more comparable to quick-sand.

In which case, Uncle Morgis had told her stories about the stuff. Back then, however, Katalene had never put much faith into his words, never really knowing what to take as truth and what was a lie for his own egotistical gain. According to his instruction, the objective was not as much to wiggle or squirm for the sake of freedom, but remain calm, lean on your back and float upward in a similar way as to when one wanted to float on water.

Katalene obliged to her Uncle’s advice, leaning on her back, she did feel herself begin to float.

The sound of machines rumbling overhead made themselves apparent. They reminded her of the turning cogs she’d come across with her brother Rooven in an earlier tomb.

The loud noise of the ceiling coming down struck her ears with a vengeance, the deafening sound sending a ringing through her head that stayed for a times as the ceiling made impact. She felt the wind of the whish as the ceiling came down.

The light at the other end of the cave was only vaguely visible, though, being in darkness was the least of her worries. The ceiling came down hard and fast, sending vibrations over her feet below and shifted the sand about like waves of a changing tide. The only solace that she could find in her current situation was the fact she hadn’t simply been flattened to her death. That would appear to be because the “ceiling” or, more accurately, what had fallen from above, fitted over the quick-sand like a cage with bars too narrow for Katalene’s body to pass through them.

Katalene’s hands shook in shock of the situation, the act had startled her and made her uneasy, a fact the quick-sand was quick to draw on, engulfing more of her body as a result.

Uncle Morgis had stated before that quick-sand was unlikely to be fatal. That it would not fully engulf a person and that it could only be dangerous if it solidified around the person, making it much more difficult to manuever in. Then again, Morgis had also told her arrows were unlikely to be fatal, and so, it was difficult to cherry pick the good from the bad with him.

The fact remained, however, that she was trapped within the cage, with no clear way to escape to freedom. If the idea was to kill off trespassers, this would have been the surest way of succeeding at it, not only would it be a terrible death brought about by exhaustion and probable starvation, but the cave’s potential end was apparent by the small light that shined through on her predicament.

Katalene freed her arms from the quicksand with a little exertion needed and reached up at the bars overhead. If nothing else, they allowed her an easy way at breaking from the quick sand’s constraints. The small, but sudden fear of the cage ascending very quickly back to the ceiling was a real one. That it would travel up too fast for her to fathom, then, leave her dangling hundreds of feet in the air.

Luckily, that didn’t happen, and instead, she found herself able to pry her body out from the sands, hooking her legs over the bars of the caged area. That kept her from remaining stagnant in the sands, kept them from solidifying and taking away her movements, but the problem remained that she was trapped in this caged area. Using her feet at the end of one bar and the upper-body strength of her arms for another, she climbed from one side of the cage to the next, making slow strides, trying hard to conserve her energy in the predicament.

Her hope was that she’d discover somewhere to make her escape, perhaps a spot where one of the iron rungs was missing and she’d be able to wiggle free between the bars. That didn’t end up accurate, much to her own dismay.

If it wasn’t simply a death-trap, then, there had to have been a feasible way of escaping out of the cage. The thought of dying by such anticlimactic means was disenchanting, but, for the life of her, she could think of no clear way of escaping from her predicament.

“What’s your current situation?” Sol asked, but Katalene didn’t find herself to be in the mood for discussion.

After half an hour spent under the cage, she felt almost exhausted from her exertion. She had even went as far as trying to dig out from under the cage, but with each advance she made, it seemed the sand simply buried her work in a matter of moments.

Once, she tried shoving herself between the bars, but when the attempt almost trapped her head between a pair of them, she found herself too afraid to take a second crack at it.

In a last resort, she inspected each bar of the cage carefully, and it was only then that she found the first small increment of hope for escape. She withdrew her gauntlet’s blade, the blade becoming momentarily stuck in the quick-sand, she readjusted herself and began to grind the blade against one of the iron bars. Not simply any of the iron bars, but, rather, one that showed specific signs of deterioration. She afforded it as much friction and force as she could, and for a moment, it seemed to be of no benefit at all. The only thing the act seemed to bring about was the feeling of her arm going dead from fatigue.

The feeling of sand touching her back sent a shiver up her spine that refurbished her willingness to carve against the iron bar. The sand was rising beneath her, which meant, either that there was only a certain amount of time allotted for this obstacle, or that she had found a viable solution to it. With no other alternative, Katalene rubbed the blade into the bar with all the vigor she could muster.

The sand swallowed her hair and began pulling the back of her head down with it, but she remained persistent. The only audible sound was of her heavy breathing, that, and the sound of the blade meeting the iron, which made a scratching sound, not too much unlike the pinchers of the beetle rubbing together. The only thing she saw within the blackness was the occasional spark from her weapon’s efforts, and with that, she had no real clear way of knowing if what she was doing was even bringing about a result other than sealing her death.

Then, at last, the bar gave way beneath her and she fell, herself floating in the quick-sand as it rose over the bars of the cage.

She let out an exasperated breath, yanking her head up from the sands, feeling its murky and foul grasp on her hair while she freed herself. Slowly, she crawled forward, her knees driven over the metal bars at the top of the cage, she ventured further into the cave, eyes pointed toward the light at the end.

She crawled and crawled and crawled, and she reached it, the light at the end. Before her, however, was not a reward for her struggles. Instead, rather, she saw the next objective the tomb proposed.

The light was not from the outside, but a torch, one that was able to stay lit unlike her pine sticks.

That was everything, however, with nothing else at all to show for her troubles. The whole struggle was for nothing more than the gift of light.

“I fucking hate the Deserts,” Katalene said, feeling the quicksand slowly slither down her limbs.

The sands stuck to her body and made each movement feel like she was soaking wet, drenched, and sluggish because of it.

“I know nothing except for the sands,” Sol answered plainly.

Katalene grabbed the torch and held it in her hands, feeling the heat that the flame gave off. As anticlimactic as it might have been for her troubles, she couldn’t pretend that it wasn’t nice to be brought out from the black. The smell on her nostrils was of dirt and filth, and with each step, it began to feel like she was becoming a part of the cave’s scenery. The sand could have solidified and, as is, she could have become a statue, nothing more than a prop for the cave’s allure.

As she walked across the cage bars over the quicksand like a bridge, once more, she found herself back where she started. Her knee was bruised, and her body was drenched with sweat and sand, but, other-wise, both ventures had brought her in no way closer to what she was looking for. Of the four caves, one of them brought her nothing except a torch and the first had given her a particularly unfriendly confrontation with a large insect. She was not eager to venture into the inner caves.

She walked to the one at her immediate left, the one adjacent to the last cave, if the cave with the beetle had been the first of the caves, then, this was the third. This was also the cave where the draft of manure seemed to be coming from.

The light from the torch went over the cave-walls, where she had half-expected to see scripture or depictions of some kind, but, ultimately, was not surprised to see that there were none. This was a means of proving oneself to the Pharaoh that looked after the area, nothing except for that. There were no hints or instructions written from previous Trial attempts, and if there would have been, surely the caves’ self-maintenance would have done away with the evidence.

The difference from this particular cave from the other three, or, at least, the other two that she’d investigated thus far, is that she could tell it was elevated. On a hill-like slope, with each footstep, she could feel herself heading higher and higher. The cave took a sharp right and she found herself immediately met with a series of holes in the ground. More caves, that was her first thought, though, each cave didn’t seem to lead to a specific area in-particular. In-fact, as she shined a light on the confines of one of the holes, what she saw was nothing except the remnants of a corpse. The cause of the former person’s death? The bottom of the hole was lined with sharp spike-like shards of rock, the man must have fallen in, hurt himself, and bled out.

The man must not have had a torch to ignite the path for him, that was Katalene’s assumption. It was a reasonable enough thought, as well. If someone didn’t have the torch to guide them, they wouldn’t have anticipated a hole in the ground. They wouldn’t have anticipated the quick-sand either though.

Her torch shined a light far enough to show three holes ahead of her, though, she had no way of knowing for certain how far the whole venture went. She wondered what the actual pay-off for something like this could have been. After all, it wasn’t as though a person was likely to miss the first hole and fall in the second, third, or fourth. This meant that there had to have been more of a pay-off than that. There had to have been a reason why they would have dug the holes as such.

The span of the holes was almost, to its entirety, as wide as the caves, which left Katalene with no other option except to press her back against the wall of the cave, hugging it from behind her, moving slowly, inch by inch. She held the torch forward, before shining a light into the next available hole, the hole was filled with murky water, the burn of the torch reflecting, she saw no way of being able to see what rested on the inside of it. The probable answer was more spikes or, for all she knew, it could have been the home of an enormous serpent, knowing the luck she’d experienced just thus far.

She continued with her side movements, scooting, next, to the third hole. Fuckin’ no, she thought to herself next when she felt the torch slip out of her hand. Her hand grabbed it fast, before it could even hit the ground, in-fact. Unfortunately, it was not before the hot end of the torch smacked into the murky liquid of the third hole. The sound of the water steaming sounded next, the sound of the stick being extinguished, she supposed. As quick as she could, she brought the stick out from the murky liquid. It was darkness all around her, but, for only one second. Because, the second after, the torch found itself lit in her hands once again.

Katalene looked at the torch with a bewildered fondness, it seemed that while the caves deliberately worked to her detriment, they also had systems in-place to allow her to succeed. She climbed back to her feet, but, at that moment, perhaps because it was so close and personal now, she could smell shit with a vengeance. As if to say that it was close was an understatement, it was like she was in the first cave all over again, the cave where she had come in-contact with the beetle. That thought alone was enough for her to straighten her stance and ready herself to be on the defensive. The idea that yet another beetle was roaming around her was the instinctual thought.

Katalene withdrew the blade from her gauntlet and readied herself, and then, as she walked herself past the holes in the ground, she ran back to this cave’s exit. Three of the four caves having been experienced, one of them conquered, it left her with only one cave left to pursue.

The final cave began like all the others, a dingy and dreary environment, she could feel the mud beneath her feet and only hoped that she didn’t find herself sinking in moments.

And, like the last cave, this cave’s apparent obstacle was immediately revealed as a hole in the ground.

This hole was different, however. In how this wasn’t a plural environment, before her, was one hole, not a plethora like what she’d seen in the previous cave, but, instead, one very large, rectangular shaped hole in the ground. Half and half, part of the room was a gaping void that led, by what Katalene could see with her torch, to imminent death. The other half was stable footing, though, Katalene could see very visible pressure pads and holes that would, likewise, promise imminent death.

No different than the first cave with the beetle and the previous case with nothing short of holes, this way provided no clear solution. The collection of pressure pads was far too far of a distance to simply chance it and run across. And, when she looked to the opposing wall, she saw slits, that could likely eject poisonous arrows when activated, as well as holes that looked different, like they could spell out other consequences if they were tripped.

But, then, a thought about the previous cave’s structure occurred to her. That, if everything was meant as having a deliberate reason behind it, if the torch was necessary to see into the holes in that cave, then, clearly, the holes led to something imperative to her progression.

At the end of this cave, she could see a passageway, a door of some kind, a large stone-door with hidden confines. No doubt, however, she knew that whatever was behind it was important.

As opposed to risking her life in hopes of surviving the consequences of stepping on the pressure pads, she turned around and, then, returned to the previous cave.

The cave with the row of holes, she shined the torch forward, first, looking back at the hole in the ground with the skeleton. A person that had lost their life in her situation, but she wondered why he hadn’t simply disappeared or vanished, what, with the way the area had been with the pendulum and the beetle.

It had taken only about a minute for the beetle to disappear back to its original spot, and if someone died in the dome-shaped building, would they not perceive it as filth that needed to be cleaned like any other blemish. This led Katalene to only one explanation, that the skeleton was already in its original spot. It was meant to be there, and as she hovered the torch over the skeleton, she could see the scabbard at his side, sheathing a sword.

Katalene slowly withdrew the sword out from its sheath, it was heavy in her hands, almost too heavy for her to carry in one hand, far too heavy for her to use in actual combat. The sword was distinctive in some way, the hilt was different than most swords, a handle that made it uncomfortable to carry and impractical for use, it was like holding a dull part of the blade. The weapon would surely do no good in an actual fight.

Katalene held the sword in her hands, careful not to make a mistake like she had with the torch and drop it in one of the holes. Back to her feet again, the stench was once more carrying enough force to gag her. But, with the fact she hadn’t been attacked yet, she assumed she was alone. Then again, she did hear something though, something that added to her paranoia. It was the sound of pinchers rubbing together, that, she felt she knew for certain, though, it was distant, and she could only faintly detect it over the sound of her own breaths.

She ventured further, once more, pressing her back against the wall. The fact she was carrying the heavy sword and the torch made being careful especially imperative. This cave was distinctly different from the rest of them, it was different because the way it sloped upward and spiraled to the right. This made her think some more about the layout of the cave and where this left her. Through these considerations, she realized that the reason she was able to smell the beetles dung so well is because one of the holes posed another entrance to the first cave.

It took further exertion, but she eventually found herself able to distinguish which of the holes in the ground that was. Shining a light into the fifth hole’s confines, she could see even see the beetle.

She almost lost herself, flinched, and risked potentially ruining her footing and sending herself tumbled down, but the fact she knew to expect it is what saved her.

The beetle paced around in its specific way coordination, never changing its path or taking a single step that wasn’t in its previous cycle of movements. Or, at least, that was judging by watching Katalene could visibly see for herself. The hole in the cave was small and only allowed her a scope of the beetle. However, by the sound of its footsteps, nothing ever seemed to change. The same number of steps forward before turning around each way. Perhaps Sol was right in thinking this was a residual remnant of the large insect and, not, in-fact, a living one.

The torch she had found in the cave had been enchanted in some way or form. Unlike her pine sticks, when the fire was lit, it stayed lit. By that logic, she wondered if that set a precedent for the rest of the items. Looking down at the beetle and at the sword she held in her hands, she wondered to herself about whether the beetle would stay dead if it was killed with the sword. She dangled the sword over the hole for a moment but thought better of it.

A smarter solution occurred to her that found her heading back again to the fourth cave, the cave with the quick-sand. Using her gauntlet’s blade, she stood over the cage bars and dug around through the sands, stabbing around the stuff like she was harpooning the ocean in search of fish, it wasn’t long until she finally stabbed what she was looking for: the backpack she had lost earlier in the quick-sand.

Back, standing over the hole, looking down at the beetle, she ruffled some of the sand out from the back and felt around until finding the large rope she had supplied for herself.

She tied the rope around the sword, knotting it together the best she could, hoping the little bit of the sword’s handle would be enough to keep it from wiggling free from the rope’s hold over it.

After, she did as she had originally intended, she dangled the sword over the cave’s hole and waited, looking down at the beetle with intents of plunging the blade through its shell. Standing six or seven feet above the beetle, she hoped the sword would be able to build enough momentum to pierce its shell. To benefit this, she stood to her feet while she dangled the sword in her hand. This, however, made it much more difficult for the torch to shine much light on the beetle’s whereabouts.

A brash attempt later, Katalene dropped the sword straight down into the hole, hoping to hear the woeful cries of the beetle, but, instead, she only heard the thud of the sword smacking against the hard-rock ground of the cave. With great haste, she reeled in her rope, bringing the sword back up, she leaned her body down, trying to better the amount of light that shined down into the hole. It was still difficult to see that far down, and, because of that, it was difficult for her to know for certain whether the beetle was beneath her or not. She tried her best to measure its steps, calculating its position by the time in-between when it turned around and restarted its cycle.

She tried again, releasing the sword out from her clutches, and, this time, she hit her mark. However, instead of piercing through the creature’s shell-exterior, the sword simply ricocheted off and fell to the ground.

And, while it happened much too fast for her to reaction, perhaps from reflex or instinct, the large beetle lunged forward, with such haste and force that Katalene found herself yanked forward!

Katalene released the rope out from her hands, but, by then, the damage had already been committed.

Her balance thrown off, she found her body deep into the hole, the only thing keeping her from the wall was that her legs still jutted out and her hands had clasped themselves to ledges on both sides.

The shrewd attempts at recovery were in vein, and within seconds, she felt herself fall fully into the hole. The torch fell from out of her hands, but as she fell, she could still see the light’s flicker from the hole above. She landed fast, not on the ground of the unforgiving cave, which would very likely have been enough to break her hip off the impact.

But, no, the beetle was kind enough to break her fall.

Back first, before she found herself lunged forward onto the ground, her fingers strummed across the beetle’s back, the hard, yet flimsy feeling shell terrified her when she touched it.

She fell on the ground, the only thing saving her from knocking herself unconscious was how she prevented herself from headbutting the ground by putting her hands forward. She felt her fingers were bent the wrong way and it took her a moment before she really could begin to fathom what had happened to her. Once she did, however, she climbed back to her feet in terror, hearing the beetle again. This time, there was nowhere for her to run away to, and, almost beautiful, it was the light from her torch in the hole on the roof that would allow the beetle to know her exact whereabouts.

Katalene climbed back to her feet, the beetle prepared itself for an attack. The sound she also heard was the insect’s wings spreading out. In her mind, she had already begun imagining her next move, if she lunged downward, underneath the insect as it flew, she’d be able to stab the beetle in its stomach region, killing it again. After that, she’d have a few seconds to find whatever it is she needed to help her find a solution to the last cave’s obstacles before the beetle reemerged.

Then, in an event that Katalene could only think of one word to accurately describe it, a miracle happened. The torch that dangled from the hole at the roof of the cave fell, and as if the beetle had been doused in alcohol, it immediately ignited.

The suffering it had was non-existent, the visual didn’t look like watching something burn to death, it was more like watching a flame starting and dwindling away, leaving only the small ever-blazing fire from the torch.

Katalene climbed to her feet, reaching for the torch as fast as she could. If it wasn’t dead for good, at least she knew now that it was highly flammable. But, for some reason, she felt certain it would stay dead. The sword had been a mistake in judgment. The sword wasn’t a factor in all of this, it all came down to the torch.

But, Katalene had no real faith in miracles, no faith that a God truly wanted her to succeed in her endeavors, and, because of this, she wasn’t surprised when she turned around and paid witness to what the whole affair had gotten her. Stuck in the ground before her was a shovel. She had no doubts about what it was meant for. The shovel would assist her in digging out the quick-sand to freedom from the cage in the fourth cave. This meant that either the caves were deliberately screwing with her, or the use of the torch wasn’t meant to kill the large beetle.

Imagine that, Katalene said to herself as she placed her hand on the body of the beetle.

The beetle’s shell was as hard as any shield Katalene had ever come in-contact with, and yet, it felt bendable and light. Unfortunately, the rest of the beetle couldn’t be described as such, and that left the large beetle stuck in the path leading out.

Not that it really seemed to matter much anyways, as the only way out for her was booby-trapped with pressure pads that would send pendulums reeling at her and swords that would bring about her death. The only other alternative was to head back from the way she came, but, for some reason, she felt certain the door out wouldn’t allow her to freedom.

Left with no other real approach, Katalene scaled up the momentous, charred insect, which only felt warm at best, and slid down to the other-side. Part of the insect came with her in the effort though, because, as she slid down the insect, ripped cleanly off came one of its two wings. The wing hadn’t cracked or been broken, a more accurate description would be to say it had been burned off where it started.

Katalene brushed it off her and to the side, letting out a sigh while she made her way out from the first cave, not knowing exactly how she’d be able to ascend to the other side without triggering any of the traps. Some small ideas had occurred to her in the brief moments, though, none of them were particularly helpful. The thought of trying to find a ledge or something she could use to hook the sword and rope around to, allowing her to cross the large hole and completely bypass all the pressure plates. Would the sword be able to “hook” around anything though? No, it wouldn’t, she answered for herself.

The second thought was about the layout of the pressure plates themselves, were they continuous? If they weren’t, then, she could use that skeleton to weigh down each pressure pad, trigger all the traps and render them useless. The issue with that, however, is that none of her previous encounters in this building had given her any reason to believe it played by any sense of logic.

Like the flame on the torch, she saw no reason to believe that the pressure plates would ever run out of arrows to shoot. She could crawl under them though, once she knew their placement. But, that was a big assumption as well. The walkway could have had traps like the ones she’d encountered with Rooven and the locusts, for all she knew, the floor could fall in, leaving it impossible for her to continue. That fact alone meant she couldn’t viably trick the pressure pads through such means. None of her ideas offered a solution to her situation.

Then, she looked down at the severed beetle’s wing again. Driving her blade into the wing with as much power behind it as she could muster, she was happy to discover that not a single mark was left on the wing from the attack.

Lifting the insect’s wing and standing it up the best she could, it could blanket over her body with exceptional ease to it. The visual reminded her of a knight with a kite shield, such knights could advance in warfare without being stopped by spiraling arrows or other aerial attacks, not only that, but it supplied applicable defense in general combat.

This could have been the solution the creators of the caves had intended, or it could have simply been an alternative, the truth didn’t matter very much to her though. All that mattered was whether it would work.

She returned to the final remaining cave with everything she could bring with her on such an occasion. In one-hand, she carried the torch, in the other-hand, she struggled to carry the bulky wing with her, and then, lastly, with the rope tied around her stomach, she dragged the sword stolen from the skeleton.

The door to the final cave stared back at her and though she was uncertain whether it’d be the cave’s only trial, she felt a sort of finality when she stared at the other side.

At last, it was time to inspect the situation, and she did so with the sword. First and foremost, she triggered the first pressure pad in the walkway, tossing the sword forward.

As she expected, it shot off arrows in the direction of the sword and when each arrow struck the wall on the opposing side, they vanished into dust. This made her completely confident in the belief that they weren’t a finite amount.

Next, she reeled in the sword and tossed it forward again, this time with more exertion than the last, throwing it enough to trigger the second pressure plate. This one had something unique to its consequence, however. Like a fly trap closing its mouth on a bug, the section of the ceiling above the pressure pad clamped down, dropping like a boulder. The section of the ceiling ascended once more to its original position thereafter. The clear weakness that Katalene saw in the obstacle is the brief pause it took before it slammed against the ground. If she was light on her feet and made certain to be out of its range, this obstacle wouldn’t be a deal-breaker to her progression.

She reeled the sword back again, not to her surprise, it hadn’t been damaged by the collapsing ceiling, but in a pleasant turn of events, the rope hadn’t been severed either. The third pressure plate was simply designed to keep the individual on their toes, and because of that, it simply shot a row of five sets of arrows in the person’s direction, same as the first.

When the fourth pressure plate was triggered, however, the floor collapsed beneath it. And, it did so very fast. The amount of flooring that fell was about four or five feet of walking space, but, in a few seconds, the floor returned, as most things in the self-maintaining building did.

At the fifth pressure pad, however, she found herself, quite literally, at the end of her rope. The rope only covered about twenty feet of distance, and from Katalene’s estimate, the fifth pressure pad would correlate to the ten or so feet worth of distance left on the trial. Thus, she had no obvious way of knowing what could have awaited her.

Katalene reeled the sword back in and readied herself.

The torch, although, not necessarily needed at this juncture, she couldn’t bring herself to part with. If for nothing else, it had proven its necessity and she’d rather be with it, then, without it. With that and the wing of the insect, she pressured on. One false move could very well have spelled the end for her.

The first pressure plate was triggered, and Katalene felt the vibration of the arrows stabbing the wing, hitting it like hail over a thick tarp.

Nevertheless, she continued for the five or so steps that came after, triggering the second pressure plate, she was very fast in her movements, certain not to risk even the off chance that the large rock overhead would come even in proximity of her.

She continued to keep a quickened pace, running through the next set of arrows. Same as before, the beetle’s wing was able to absorb all the punishment on that end.

When the fourth pressure plate occurred, however, it was a different scenario entirely, she had to move as fast as she could, and she did. Behind her, Katalene could hear the very loud crash of the ceiling coming in from the trap on the earlier section. Undeterred, she ran with all her might the very moment she stepped on the fourth pressure plate.

However, it wasn’t fast enough.

Beneath her, she felt the floor falling in, and in her leap of faith, she found herself only coming a few inches short of finding her footing on the fifth plate.

The beetle’s wing fluttered slowly to its end as it escaped her hands, it would meet the ground below much after Katalene’s death, but the torch fell fast. As Katalene fell, she found herself come to an immediate halt, feeling something catch her.

Looking down, she watched as the torch met its final resting place, showing her a small look at the jagged rocks that were at the bottom of the hole.

The rope had been what caught her, the sword, trapped underneath the large rock. In her fearful anticipation, she had completely forgotten to unfasten the rope from around her stomach. But, it was only a few seconds until the rock ascended back up and Katalene began to fall once more.

This fall also only lasted for a few seconds, that was when the fourth pressure pad had found itself appearing back in its former position, the sword caught in-between a small separation between the pressure pads, allowing for the rope to dangle its fifteen-foot span down below.

Katalene dangled, suspended for a few seconds, almost accepting her inevitable death. After all, without the beetle’s wing, it wasn’t as though she’d be able to withstand whatever the fifth plate’s attack would be.

It was then, however, she started to appreciate her situation and realized the opportunity it had provided. She rested for a moment, in what was, perhaps, the most uncomfortable position imaginable, feeling the rope pressing into her ribs that still hadn’t fully healed. If anything, it was very possible that another had been broken, adding to her detriment.

Keeping the rope tied around her chest, she climbed up, struggling at first, driven a lot by pure grit and determination. It was when she was left with little more than seven feet of rope that she stopped.

The sweat on her brow was fierce and the fatigue from her tribulations had started to take their toll, but she could see the opposing ledge only a short five feet away from her. Dangling, she swayed back in fourth, doing her best to build momentum.

It was an arduous task, and she could feel the ache in her side with each movement, but that didn’t stop her.

In time, she released the excess rope she’d clutched in her arms and allowed herself to be thrown forward.

She landed with about half her body on the ledge, but could immediately feel herself losing her grip, unable to pull herself upward.

Falling again for the rope to catch her, she knew, would spell her end, falling the full fifteen feet to be caught by the rope would break her back. And so, in an act of desperation, she kicked her legs forward, putting them over on the corner of the ledge where the fifth pressure plate was located.

She was then able to pull herself the rest of the way up, climbing on the other side and watching as the fifth pressure plate was activated. This one sent out flames that Katalene simply looked at with an exasperated stare.

She unfastened the rope from around her chest and felt the strap of her backpack, which had since lost every bit of its contents.

The door opened with little fight required on her part, she had anticipated another pendulum or something small that would kill her and render everything she’d went through completely useless. Fortunately, though, that wasn’t what happened, and she found herself able to walk through the well-lit room accordingly.

A feeling of tragic despair struck her the very second she did so though, when she realized she recognized where she was at.

The white room without even the simplest of blemish on its behalf. This couldn’t have been the exact room, could it have been? The Pharaoh’s magic had done wonders with their enchantments in the cave that it wasn’t without reason that she walked in a complete circle with nothing to show for it.

She walked forward, the only real difference was that, from where she came, that should have been the walkway out from the dome-shaped building to the stairway back to the desert. Everything else, however, was exactly as she remembered it. The vases lined the walls in the same way they had done when she’d first entered.

She walked, browsing her surroundings, hoping to a spot a single difference about it, and that’s when the suddenness of a strike occurred. She didn’t know which happened first. The feeling of her feet splashing, then sinking into the floor, or the chandelier overhead coming down on her.