Chapter Two
The ringing in my ears subsided as I found myself back at my save point in the junction, and Akina was alive and well by my side. We’d only explored a small portion of the catacombs so far, and there was still the mummified creature to deal with. There was no telling what the thing had been when it was alive, but I was determined to make sure it stayed dead this time.
“Ready to explore?” I asked in a chipper voice as I turned to my companion.
There was no way I was going to let anything else happen to her again. She would be safe this time, and I would make sure of it.
“Whenever you are,” Akina countered with a wink, and she gripped the handle of her flame sword tightly. “I’m ready for anything.”
“Behind this door is a coffin with some plaque in an ancient language,” I said as I adopted the tone of a tour guide. “Nothing else to see, so we can skip it if you want.”
I kept my good attitude up, but I wasn’t sure if Akina could tell my nerves were still a little frayed from losing her. I didn’t want her to know anything was amiss, so I grinned broadly as I stared into her beautiful metallic eyes.
“I want to see if you’re right.” Akina laughed. “How do you know so much about someplace you’ve never been to before?”
“Chalk it up to being a god.” I shrugged, but I flashed her a mischievous grin. “You’ll get used to it.”
We opened the heavy wooden door, and it was just as I had described it. Akina’s eyebrows rose in surprise, but she didn’t say anything as we turned back toward the junction.
“What else lies up ahead?” Akina asked in a curious voice.
“Well,” I chuckled. “About that… There’s actually a mummy in a tunnel below us that is going to put up quite a fight. We’ll handle him together, but I want you to follow my lead this time.”
“This time?” Akina tilted her head to the side in confusion.
“Yeah, never mind.” I grinned even wider. “Just keep your eyes peeled and your sword handy.”
“Yes, Bash.” Akina nodded curtly. “I will follow your commands.”
“Good,” I said. “Now, let’s go kill the ugly fucker before he can kill us.”
“You really think the mummy is that powerful?” Akina asked as we continued on down the tunnel.
The image of her limp body flung to the side like a bag of potatoes flashed through my mind’s eye, but I shook my head to dispel the thought. She was safe now, and that was all that mattered.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Just trust me on this one.”
“I trust you, Bash,” Akina said in a low voice. “Sometimes without reason, but you’ve yet to prove yourself false in any way.”
“And I never will,” I assured her. “You’re safe with me, Akina, I promise.”
“I believe you,” she murmured, and I looked over my shoulder to see the soft smile stretching her lips.
We made our way through the tunnels, and I took every opportunity to show Akina a good time. We laughed and joked as we traversed the dank corridors while I acted like a tour guide the whole time, and I was proud of the smiles I caused to bloom on the warrior woman’s face.
Soon, we arrived at the tunnel outside of the mummy’s tomb, and my heart rate increased dramatically. I didn’t want Akina to die again, and I was determined to not let that happen a second time.
“Okay,” I said as I took a deep breath. “This is it. The mummy doesn’t attack until we open its sarcophagus, so as soon as we do that, we need to attack first.”
“Sounds like a solid plan.” Akina nodded. “Let’s do it. Together.”
“If I tell you to get back,” I said, “I need you to obey me immediately.”
“I got it, Bash.” Akina laughed. “Let’s do this already. What are you afraid of?”
“Nothing at all.” I plastered a confident smile on my face. “I just want to be extra careful with this mummy monster.”
“I am not an unblooded trainee,” Akina argued. “You can entrust me with a battle. If I die, then I die with glory.”
“You’re not going to die.” I frowned. “Not here, not today.”
“Relax,” Akina chuckled. “It is the way of my people to seek a glorified death in battle. I would make my ancestors proud.”
It sounded like she was speaking some sort of recitation, a phrase programmed into her by her cultural upbringing. It was like she didn’t fully believe in the words she was saying, but her people all believed a warrior’s death was the most honorable, so she had no other choice.
“Yeah, well, they don’t need to be proud of you for dying while you’re under my protection.” I shook my head. “Trust me, Akina, this mummy is bad news.”
“I am ready.” Akina gripped her sword in white-knuckled fists. “Open the door.”
I nodded my assent, and then I pushed open the portal to the room containing the mummy. I reminded myself that I had a save point ready to go if things went south, but I wasn’t going to let the same thing happen twice.
We entered the dusty room, and Akina peered curiously around the space before her gaze fell on the sarcophagus. Her eyes widened, and I saw her swallow hard, but then she nodded at me to open the lid.
I pushed against the stone top until the sound of rock scraping against rock filled the air, and dust bloomed from the crevices as soon as I made a gap. The body wrapped in yellow-stained cloth laid unmoving inside, but I knew that wasn’t going to last forever.
Then the mummy’s eyes began to glow blue, and it growled from somewhere deep in its throat. The cloth-bound hands clutched the edges of its sarcophagus, and the body began to lift up.
It was awake.
“Get back, Akina!” I shouted, and I drew one of my panabas. I twirled the hilt of the blade around in my fist until I had a good grip on it, and then I swung at the mummy while it was still attempting to climb out of its tomb.
The blade struck against the magical barrier that surrounded the mummy, and the force of the impact flung me backward against the far wall. I instantly picked myself back up, but not before Akina dove into the gap to attack the mummy herself.
“Akina, no!” I called out in warning, but she didn’t heed me. Her flame sword crashed into the magical barrier, and she was also flung backward into the far wall.
Time to pull out the big guns.
I summoned a fireball and shot it in the direction of the sarcophagus, and the flames spread over the magical barrier before they went out. Then I shot ice shards, and they also smashed into the mummy’s shield, but nothing seemed to penetrate the magical force field.
I’d have to think of something.
And fast.
As the mummy was slowly removing itself from the sarcophagus, it kept its glowing blue eyes locked on us. The bindings around its face began to slide off, and the decimated remains of a corpse were visible underneath.
What the fuck was this thing?
I had to find its weakness.
“Bash!” Akina called from the other side of the room. “How do we kill it?”
“I’m working on that,” I mumbled, but then I raised my voice. “Attack together!”
The warrior woman leapt into battle, and I was a mere second behind her as we both lunged for the mummy. Akina’s flame sword whooshed through the air as she tried to get behind the barrier, while I kept the mummy’s attention focused on me by peppering its force field with fire.
Then the mummy turned toward Akina and started to ignore me, and I cursed under my breath as it lifted a hand toward the warrior woman. Ice shards exploded from the beast’s cloth-bound hands, and the desert dweller had little time to dodge the attack.
“Watch out!” I shouted.
I was about to reset when Akina slashed through the ice shards with her flame sword, and the particles melted instantly upon contact with the heat. She remained uninjured, and I breathed a sigh of relief before I jumped back into the fray.
“What do we do?” Akina asked as she circled around the mummy to get to my side. “It’s more powerful than I imagined.”
“We keep trying until we find its weakness,” I instructed quickly. “Everything has a weakness, we just have to find this guy’s.”
We kept attacking in turns to keep the mummy’s attention away from us, but it was starting to feel like a game of cat and mouse. There was no telling how long the mummy could fight, but I was determined to find out and kill it once and for all.
“Akina, the hallway!” I called. “We’ll lead it away from this room until we can find someplace bigger where we can spread out.”
Akina nodded her understanding before she jumped across the room toward the door, and the mummy’s eyes followed her movement. I inched my way around the sarcophagus until I was on the door side of the tomb, and then I took off running away from the mummy.
We dashed out into the hallway and then paused to look back, and the mummy was right behind us.
“Run, Akina, run!” I shouted. “I’ll catch up to you.”
“Promise?” Akina’s eyes scanned my face, and I nodded, so she turned and ran down the hallway.
I followed behind her until she went around a curve in the spiral-shaped corridor, and then I slowed my pace and turned back around to face the mummy alone.
“Come on, you ugly bastard,” I muttered as I waited for the cloth-wrapped monster to get closer.
I didn’t have to wait very long, and I was surprised at how fast and agile the creature was as it moved toward me. It swayed from side to side with each step, but it progressed steadily forward as it growled under its breath.
“Die, motherfucker!” I shouted as I threw everything in my arsenal at the mummy.
Ice and fire blended into a vortex of death as the two spells shot down the corridor toward the mummy, but its magical barrier stopped both attacks. Then I flung out a disarming spell in the hopes that it would take away the force field, but nothing happened. The mummy wasn’t using regular weapons, so the spell must not have worked on it.
As a last-ditch effort, I tried my negating spell, nin, but that didn’t do anything either.
“I have to do something or it will kill us both,” I said out loud as I racked my brain for an idea.
I needed time.
Luckily enough, I was the God of Time, so that wouldn’t be a problem. I just needed to reset to my save point and try again.
Chime.
I was back at the junction between the tunnels, and I performed my tour guide routine for Akina once more, but the entire time, I was thinking up ideas for how to fight the mummy. My usual spells weren’t doing the trick, but I still had a few more tricks up my sleeve. There was nothing in this world that was unbeatable, and I never gave up on a challenge.
I was all about one hundred percent perfection.
When we arrived at the door to the mummy’s room, I made a new save point to lock in the progress we had made so far. Then I jerked my chin toward the portal, and Akina stepped inside. I was right behind her, and I already had my panabas in my hand and a plan in mind.
As we opened the lid, I summoned my vines before the mummy even had a chance to wake up. The bright green tendrils grew before my eyes, and they wrapped the cloth-bound undead corpse tightly in their grasp. I gave them a mental command, and my obedient vines left a small gap around the creature’s heart, or where I assumed it would be anyway.
The beast was restrained.
“That’s amazing,” Akina breathed as she watched the vines twist and turn around the mummy’s form. “I’ve never seen anyone else do anything like that. You are truly a powerful wizard.”
“I’ve picked up quite a few tricks since arriving in this world,” I said. “The vines have grown stronger over time. At first I could only get a single plant.”
“Thank you for sharing your godly secrets with me.” Akina’s metallic eyes gleamed with delight.
“Not such a secret.” I smirked.
The mummy suddenly popped its blue glowing eyes open, and it began to struggle against the vines restraining it. Some of the plants snapped beneath the pressure of the mummy’s thrashing, so I inhaled sharply and summoned even more to take their places.
Akina watched with obvious awe as I grunted and performed the hand movements required to summon my vines, and soon I’d managed to restrain the mummy completely again.
“Drive your sword through the gap,” I instructed. “I don’t think it can summon its shield while restrained, so you should be able to attack it.”
Akina nodded curtly, and she strode forward with her flame sword gripped in white-knuckled fists. I could tell she was afraid, but she put on a brave face and crossed the distance to the sarcophagus. Then she lifted her fiery blade high in the air before she brought it down with a guttural yell.
“Argh!” Akina groaned as she slammed her blade into the space between the vines on the mummy’s chest. The fiery sword cut through the bandages and disappeared inside the beast’s torso, and then the fire mage pulled backward with a foot braced against the base of the sarcophagus.
The glowing blue eyes flickered open and shut as a pained yell escaped its bandaged lips, and the vines twisting around the mummy’s hands were struggling to maintain a firm grasp as the creature thrashed.
Then the mummy’s eyes stopped glowing completely as it fell silent, and all movements ceased.
It was dead.
I took a moment to consider if I’d killed it in the most efficient way possible, but dead was dead, and I wasn’t trying to take a good situation for granted.
Plus, Akina was unharmed.
There was no guarantee that if I reset again that I’d get anywhere close to the same results, so it would probably be for the best if we went ahead and explored the rest of the catacombs.
But I left my save point outside the mummy’s room just in case I changed my mind.
“Well, that was easy,” Akina breathed as she dusted herself off. “I thought you said it would be a challenge?”
“You never know with these things,” I said in a mysterious voice. “What would be a challenge for some would be easy for others. You did good. I’m proud of you.”
“What’s next, Bash?” Akina asked as she looked around the mummy’s room. “Think there’s anything else down here trying to kill us?”
“Anything is possible.” I smirked. “Now, let’s keep exploring so we can find out for ourselves.”
We continued on down the spiral toward the center of the catacombs, and the air pressure increased the further we went underground. The temperature began to rise, and water droplets gathered along the walls of the corridor.
Akina and I were silent as we made our way to the next chamber since we were both still on alert for anything that went bump in the night. The light of my flame illuminated the hallway, but it sputtered like a torch as we descended down into the darkness.
We searched a few more rooms, but nothing jumped out to try to kill us, and we found no treasures. I was beginning to think we’d found everything the catacombs held, but there would be no way to know for sure until we reached the end.
“So, after this, what happens?” Akina asked in a curious voice. “You go back to your hometown? Or will you stay in the desert?”
“I need to return to Bastianville,” I said. “My people need me.”
“Are we not your people now, too, Bash?” Akina tilted her head to the side as she peered up into my eyes. The fear of losing me was plain to see in her metallic gaze, and it bit at my heart.
“The desert dwellers are my people, too,” I agreed in a soft voice. “I will always do everything in my power to make sure you are all okay.”
“What happens when you leave?” Akina’s worry grew stronger. “Do you think the tribes will continue to agree to the alliance? What if war returns to Kotar?”
“I will leave someone behind to watch over Kotar,” I explained.
Who that would be exactly, I wasn’t sure yet, but I’d think of something.
I always did.
We descended even further into the spiral catacombs where we came to another junction. Wooden doors surrounded a circular annex, and stone columns supported the dome ceiling.
Then I heard movement and a crackling sound coming from behind one of the doors, and I held a finger over my lips to signal Akina into silence. The warrior woman gripped her flame sword tightly, so I opened the door slowly and waited.
The crackling sound I’d heard grew louder, and two humanoid skeletons emerged from the shadowy room.
I held my breath as I drew my panabas, but before I could even take a step forward, Akina rushed into battle. The dark-haired warrior woman yelled out a battle cry as she swung her sword sideways, but she sliced right through one of the skeleton’s spinal bones. The two pieces crumbled to the ground, but the next skeleton was right behind it.
Akina back-slashed her way through the second skeleton just as efficiently as she had the first, and I raised my eyebrows in surprise at how quickly she’d dispatched them.
“Whoa, you are awesome!” I laughed. “You sliced through them like a hot knife through butter.”
“Thanks.” Akina blushed. “I was hoping to impress you. I hope you find me worthy.”
I wondered briefly what her motivations were. Was she going to try to get me to stay with her in the desert? Would she return with me to Bastianville?
When the moment felt right, I would ask her, but until then, I would just enjoy her presence.
“Absolutely.” I grinned. “You’re more than enough in my opinion.”
We entered the room the skeletons had come out of, and I held my flame spell aloft to illuminate the space. Dust and debris floated in the air, and a few urns decorated pedestals along the walls, but other than that, the room was empty.
“What were they guarding?” Akina asked as she entered the room behind me. “There’s nothing here.”
“I know.” I frowned. “Of course, they weren’t very good guards.”
“They are dead guards now,” Akina pointed out.
“Thanks to you,” I said.
“Come on, let’s keep looking,” the beautiful warrior woman suggested. “I want to kill more of those things.”
“Then let’s find you some more skeletons.” I laughed. “If that is what you desire, then I’m going to make it happen.”
We explored the rest of the rooms in the annex, but there were no more skeletons to be found on that level. A chest stood on an altar in an adjoining room, though, and the lock looked ancient.
I was sure it would be easily broken.
I took out my dagger and wiggled the tip of it inside the lock, but nothing happened, so I resorted to my flame spell to melt the lock off. The metal glowed red as it slowly expanded, but then the hasp splintered and popped off.
I waited until the lock was cool enough to touch before I twisted the remnants off the chest, and then I pushed open the lid to reveal the contents waiting inside.
It was full of gold, gemstones, and jewelry. I glanced at Akina to see her metallic eyes widen in surprise, and I grinned as I raked a hand through the coins and precious stones.
“Care to claim a necklace for yourself?” I offered as I held up a huge sapphire pendant and chain.
“I’d rather find a quality weapon,” Akina scoffed. “Where would I even wear something like that? It looks like it would be a safety hazard on the battlefield.”
“Well, your life won’t always be full of battle,” I pointed out. “There’s peace in the desert now, and it’s going to last a long time. Trust me. Take a necklace.”
“Fine,” Akina relented, and she dutifully held out her hand.
“We’ll find you some new weapons, too, I bet,” I said in a hopeful voice. “We just have to look.”
“The skeletons had some daggers on them,” Akina said, and her voice filled with excitement. “I never even stopped to look at them.”
“You’re wanting to backtrack now?” I arched an eyebrow. “Or wait ‘til we find the next group of skeletons?”
“There’s no telling if there’s more or not,” Akina said. “We should double back to the skeletons to loot their bodies. That’s the desert dweller thing to do, though. You might not approve.”
“I’ll follow your lead,” I said.
We went back to the room where she’d fought off the two skeletons, and sure enough, a couple of daggers laid on the floor beside their bony remains. They looked pretty basic to me, but Akina handled them like they were treasures far more valuable than what we’d found in the chest.
I’d have to send someone after the chest later since it was too heavy for me to lift on my own, and I needed to keep a weapon in my fist.
Then we continued on down the never-ending spiral of the catacombs, and I made a new save point once we reached yet another junction, but I swore I would get my one hundred percent completion if it was the last thing I did. I would find the end, and I would learn all the secrets this place had.
Akina stuck close to my side as we continued to explore, and she wore the sapphire pendant around her neck on top of her armor. I made a mental note to check the necklace and daggers for stats later, but then I focused on the corridors before me.
There were six doors leading away from the junction, and I once again chose the one on the far left first. It was easier to keep track of where I’d been that way, and I was all about efficiency while searching catacombs.
There was nothing but dead ends and empty tombs in nearly every room we searched, but the third door revealed a set of stairs leading even further downward into the earth.
At the bottom of the stairs was a cave-like room with natural stone walls and an uneven ceiling with an altar standing at the very center of the space. It was big enough to fit a full-grown man on top, and bloodstains indicated that’s exactly what it was used for.
I took a step forward, and a rush of wind swept across my face.
Then the wall on the far side of the altar began to glow, and an inscription appeared hovering in midair in much the same way as it had when I’d been summoned.
So lies death, pestilence, and disease.
Carry on, but be aware.
Through your sacrificial release,
Awaken the God of the Plague if you dare.
I’d done it. I’d found out where the God of the Plague had been summoned to.
The God of Winning never failed.