The sun blares down upon my body. I can feel the scorching, retching
feeling of its sacred rays eating away my skin. But I dare not protest.
For I know of the blessings that shall bestow upon me on this day.
That being said, I will finally clear things up with my appointed spouse-to-be, Chandra Ali. Yes, it has been many years that I'd known her. But she means just about everything to me. Everything about her prim, curvaceous figure just continues to overthrow any concentration my mind has managed to muster. I will do anything to please her, whether it means fighting a horde of demons with nothing but a stick or climbing to the top of the highest temple in Persia and jumping off. But she would never make me do something so unreasonable as that.
I have to say that I would like nothing more than to find her with a larger, stronger man, and to tear him apart in a display of dominance. I've always believed that strength was only second in fighting to skill, though I much prefer a duel of swords, in their efficient glory, to the clumsy, lumbering blows of human fists. I am strong myself, yes, but I would rather be known as swift and fluid than strong and brutal.
I come upon her desert abode, walking softly and sweating profusely. Under her porch, I take off the turban, then quietly open the door to her dry spruce hut. Such modesty, for someone who's parents are some of the richest people in the land. The walls are elegantly dressed in silk and linen, with purpled patterns and unlit lanterns. Chandra is on her great silk bed, lying there and staring lazily at me with her lusty eyes. I bow before her.
"I have implored you for years, yet you ignore all my advances. You dominate my dreams, and I can think of nothing else. I fear I desire you many hundred times more than you love me," I said, trailing off slowly.
"My life has become a waking dream, Karim. For weeks I have dreamed of an ancient treasure so precious that it changes all life around it. It must be mine, Karim. If you truly desire me, as you say, then you will find this for me."
She spoke as if she were dying of a terrible sickness. I was swept away by her eloquence. I wanted to help her in any way possible, but this sounded like a juvenile fantasy.
"Bring this treasure to me, and I will be yours. Both our dreams will come true," she finished.
"I need nothing more than you. You have enthralled me to the point where I can think of nothing else. Promise. If I leave, you will not forget about me," I asked.
"You need not worry. I desire nothing more than the treasure that you seek. Leave now, Karim, and I shall await you."
Her last remark had made me feel empty, for it was as if she didn't want me at all. But I decided to fulfill her demands.
"Where is this treasure?" I asked.
"Deep in the desert, you should come across three large stone monoliths. Stand in the center, and let the light guide you. But be sure to arm yourself, as no man has ever yet returned from its destination."
"All right, I will go," I told her.
I gathered up my supplies and left. I had a large blade that had been given to me by a fellow nomad, called a Tulwar, and I had been a bit foolish in throwing one of my twenty Chakrams off of a cliff, leaving me with 19. Nobody had returned? Follow the light? This would surely be either something very interesting or a fable. Where would people go when blessed with the light? Perhaps the light simply killed the people?
I trudge back out into the desert. It is flat, but searching for miles around could still take many days. I decide to follow the wind. It points to the East. I see many rock formations ahead, but I cannot tell if they are mountains or crags on the ground. It will be a long journey.
---
I have been walking for hours, and the wind has changed direction. I see a rock formation ahead. I jog diagonally toward it. Yes, it does not quite follow the horizon line. It is getting toward evening, and the sun is setting. The wind builds up. Soft humming is in my ears as I approach the rocks. As I get a closer look, I see that it is clearly the three monoliths Chandra speaks of. There is a symbol on each one, a very unnatural thing. Red, Green and Blue are their colors.
"Karim."
A voice makes me jump. It is deep and seductive, reminding me of Chandra. My true motivation. I look around, and no one is near. But it didn't seem like my imagination. I've barely begun to feel fatigued, and I've seen no mirages. But I guess it is time to find this light and meet my destiny. I step into the center of the hub, and I hear an unnatural humming noise. The insides of the monoliths glow brightly, and brilliant strings of light shoot from them, blinding me briefly. Worried that I would die, I stepped to the side, only to hit my head on something. Everything went dark. For a second, I thought I'd gone blind. But strangely enough, I was now in a new setting. Not the desert, but some sort of dark, cool dungeon. The stone walls looked ruined and aged, some of the cracked and crumbling, and there appeared to be many different illegible writings on the walls.
Torches lit the walls, and dried, filthy carcasses littered the ground. Were these the bodies of the people who had been here before? What could have scorched them and killed them so? I notice that a ladder is now the only exit from this room. I climb down, and the air around me grows thicker denser, cooler.
I hit solid ground. Out ahead, there is a large shrine, with statues surrounding it. In the distance, there is the most terrifying screaming sound. Like a thousand people crying out constantly, souls trying to escape the earth. I feel a strong gust from behind, and look back. The ladder is gone, and I'm staring off into abyss. It had been another strange, mirage-like occurrence. I walked down a narrow path, pits of swallowing darkness on either side, fearing what might happen to me if I were to stumble. There are pedestals to the side of me, on three of them, very perplexing statues. One is broken in half, the bottom half clearly a plated red 'dress', similarly worn by the legionnaires of the past in this region of Persia. Another is of a beautiful young woman, similar to Chandra but very slender, in a light outfit with a narrow blade and metal cuffs around her arms and ankles. The last is of a man wearing unfamiliar white silks, with long, smooth hair and Roman cross on his arm. I should not be distracted. I hear the screaming growing louder, and I notice the painted faces of people on the ground. They are barren, soulless faces with empty pit eyes and few other facial features. And they began moving. Gently pushing up, their mouths whining. Further down, their heads stretch right out of the ground, screaming loudly and clearly. I begin to run, and I come to a dead end. There is nothing more except a large, wicked hand holding a huge, leather-bound tome. It opened up, goading me to grab it. An explosion of flashbacks wrenched through me, and I am left standing in the room in which I began in.
I had the book in my hands now, which seemed much smaller and more compact than before. I heard scraping on the ground. And I could barely believe what I was seeing. The bodies were stirring, moving, dragging themselves off the ground to my height. They began to stumble clumsily towards me, about at the rate of a brisk walk, groaning wearily. I dropped the book and drew my blades. I lashed out and chopped the head off of one. It stumbled around blindly, swiping fiercely out in front of itself.
Astounded that it did not fall, I felt fetid claws grabbing the back of my neck. I slice backwards, cutting its right arm off. It stumbled away, but another monster raked across my chest with its bony claws. It left four hideous claw marks, each one seeping blood. I chopped at its side three times until it was cut in half. I let the blind one stumble into the armless one to face two more. Tired as it was, I decided to ignore them and head down the ladder again.
Thankfully, I landed in a solid room, still connected to the prior one. But there were two hideous red giants, lying on the ground near a large marble table with a small white statue. I picked it up, and the two demons crawled to their feet. I skittered to a halt as two more rose up in front of me. I rushed into one, letting him take the full brunt with my Tulwar in the stomach. It barely seemed to faze him. I ducked to avoid what looked like a powerful blow. The other behind it pushed it out of the way, and revealed itself to have an oddly transparent midsection, with the apparition of a strange shape spinning around in its center. They both took a swipe, but I ducked out of the way and slashed the first one's head off. It grew into a hideous rampage, flailing wildly and knocking me over. I closed up my shirt while it mindlessly attacked the other one, which nevertheless still bent over to pursue me. I rolled to avoid its rotten teeth and got up behind the headless one, then stabbed it in the back. I slashed twice more, as hard as I could muster, and it slowly collapsed to the ground.
The two red beasts I had ran from earlier had caught up, and were pushing past each other toward me. I cut the nearest one's arm off, but that left me open to a slanted blow to my side. I stabbed again and again, waiting for it to wind up its punch, and then cut off its other arm. I began to attack the one with the shape in its body, hacking the wounds made by the now-dead headless giant. It fell. I turned to the last one, and smashed its skull in, then several its neck. It went into the previous one's rage, so I backed away to regain my breath. After my heart calmed, I thrust forth into its stomach, then ducked and gave un uppercut blow. It backed off, injured. I gave it a double slash to the stomach, kicked it, then pierced its heart through the strong but torn flesh. It went down. I felt a smashing blow to the back of the head. I turned around to see the once- armless one, with one arm now, a twisted knob slowly swelling from the other wound. How is this possible? I danced spinning and slashing until it writhed on the ground, then applied a final blow. All four of the demons were done for.
As I stood there, panting, I noticed the shape that was in one of the beast's bodies sitting on the ground. I walked over, and it slid toward my in an odd sort of attraction. I picked it up, and it was sucked through my hand into my turban. I opened it up to see a large gold coin. Strangely, I never remembered putting anything up there. It had assorted symbols on it, one of them the one that was lying on the floor. They all glowed faintly. All were labeled with a definition, one saying item, another saying project, and so forth. I touched 'item' with my finger, and it glowed brightly. I touched 'project' as well. Then all were cleared and one green one appeared in the center. I pushed it, and the coin flashes, then sparks blew out of it and illuminated by blade a bright green. I touched it. It was not hotter nor cooler. Confused, I put the coin away and continued on.
I came to an odd sight. A shrine, covered with candles, lay in the middle of this room. There was a tower, and around it, three circular plates. I stepped on one. The candles burned brighter, but nothing else happened. I decided to place the odd white statue on it, and look for some more to cover all three. I saw a curious sight; a transparent wall with a glowing symbol on it, the same I'd seen earlier. I walked up to it, and it vanished. I was beginning to lose track of what was and wasn't real, I thought to myself, climbing down the ladder behind the spectral wall.
I found myself in another dank corridor. With three more large, red bodies on the ground. I decided to take a different strategy this time. I threw a Chakram at one, cutting off its head. Success! It would be blinded when it awoke. I threw another, hitting a different one in the side. Further down, there was another pedestal, with a second, black statue on it. I walked down and grabbed it. As expected, the decapitated one awoke in a confused state. I ran it through, knocking it to the ground and beating it until it was dead. The other two rose to my right. I goaded one towards me, and dodged a punch. I ran at it with my blade, getting it stuck, but then toppled over with it. The other remaining one slashed down on my back, opening foul new founds. The grounded one tried to bite me, so I rolled off and slashed it at the ankles. I spun and cut the other one's hand, then struck fervently until it was down, then finished off the other one.
Carrying the statue back to the shrine, I began to feel tired and weary. I'd lost a lot of blood from my wounds. My vest was soaked, clinging wetly to my shirt. I took out a talisman of mine, given to me as an heirloom gift. It was supposed to heal my body in times of danger. I looked into its balmy golden lining, and I felt a wave of energy and strength. The wounds in my back and stomach seemed to close, and the blood stopped flowing. I put the black statue onto the second pressure plate, and the candles burned much brighter, gently warming me in their powerful luminescence. One more statue should do it. Or, I could stand on the last one, just to see what it would bring. I walked over and stepped onto it, and the candles roared and sprayed their flame onto the ceiling. The room rumbled as the shrine rose slowly, revealing an elevator-like platform at its base.
I moved toward it, but stopped stiff as four frightening, shrieking scorpions stepped off the ascended platform. They squealed helplessly, but I knew better than to judge things by their size. I threw a Chakram at one, slicing it open and soiling the floor. I sneaked past the others, then stood on the lift. It began to sink, and dropped me into a very dark corridor. I picked the torch off the wall and went on to see three dead soldiers, each with disgusting lacerations in their bodies. The third one had something sticking out of it, which had blessedly turned out to be a similar Tulwar blade. I pulled it out of the body, and the body twitched. Strange. Human bodies hadn't attacked me yet. The body sprang to its feet, then stiffly turned to me and began swinging wildly. I slashed at it, cutting wounds that should have killed a normal man. It kicked me hard, but I shrugged off the blow and cut deep into him. For a second, he stopped. But then his disgusting corpse began to expand, like it was being pushed apart from the inside. In an explosion of blood that showered me thoroughly, something tore out of him, then jumped out from the crumpling skin of his legs. It looked like an insect of some kind, a giant, rust-red mantis that stood up to me neck, hunched over its scythe-like forearms. It had, however, the jaws on a carnivorous meat-eating reptile. It shrieked and jumped at me, latching onto my back with its sharp claws. I pried it off, then took both Tulwars and severed its neck off in both directions. I was relieved to see that it didn't get back up.
Another room, this one with several large doors, and another set of beasts, two more giants. I brutally attacked them, not letting them corner me. My ferocity was rewarded by a punch to the chest after slicing deeply into one. I chopped it away, and applied a crushing downward blow to the other. It crumpled, but the first one charged on relentlessly. I rent it apart, but it exploded, just like the man in the hallway before this. And yet again, a screaming mantis burst out. I applied another double-chop to quickly and vigorously decapitate it. I noticed a small scroll on the floor. Picking it up, it was scrawled with the word 'healing'. It had two symbols on it, one being 'Self', and the other being 'Absorb'. I pulled out the gold coin again. I saw 'absorb', but 'self' wasn't there. I chose a door and left.
Yet another confusing array of doors, and three more giants. Was there no end to these? I decided to run past them. But something felt incomplete, whenever they saw me, I grew worried. Like there was a sense of completeness in killing them. But what lay ahead took my mind off that completely. At the end of a narrow hallway, in the center of a domed chamber, a huge, three-headed monstrosity roared and clawed the air. Three salivating mouths gnashed from its broad torso, and two huge arms hung to the floor, tipped with three clawed fingers. Its skin was a mottled mix of black and red scales.
Rearing up, it was about nine feet tall. I pulled out my Chakrams and threw them as hard as I could, watching them gash into its flesh. I managed to use three before it stomped the ground shaking the room. A stream of light shot from the striking point on the floor. It scorched the ground in front of me, shattering a steaming pit in the terra plate. I threw four more before it stomped again. This time, I felt the blast catch my foot. It enveloped me, then seemed to momentarily blind me. My body exploded with a scorching pain that caused me to drop my weapons. After another moment, I felt another stomp, and ducked to the side just in time. The bolt seared the earth at me feet again. I regained my vision, picked up me Chakrams, and threw three more before it lurched foreword. Drawing my dual blades, I watched it get stuck momentarily in the narrowing walls. I ran and double-slashed it. The monster, with ten heavy metal rings embedded in its body, sank backwards, then fell over into its side. I ran up and stabbed down into it. Its body disintegrated, leaving a symbol on the floor. It sucked into the coin, and was labeled 'self'. I decided to complete the enchantment. I touched 'self' and 'absorb'. A green light flashed, and I felt much more relaxed.
I headed back to see the three monsters and a blue scorpion. Two were advancing towards it, bending over and outstretching their arms as if to pick it up. The scorpion screamed and released a blue shock wave on the floor. It spread out, pudding around their feet, then bathed them in blue energy. Their bodies disintegrated, and the scorpion slumped, dead. It was an interesting spectacle, but it was cut short by the approaching threat of the third giant. I made short work of it, then faced another transparent wall with a runic symbol on it. It dissolved. I walked down the ladder behind it, worrying just how deep I would have to go.
I wound up, now in a forked, T-shaped hallway. A single giant faced away from me on the right side. I touched the 'project' and 'item' symbols on the coin, and it made my sword glow again. As I hacked it to pieces, the glow seemed to scorch its flesh. The left side of the fork was blocked off with rubble, so I went right, ending up in a huge, dome-shaped room. Stairs led to a pit in the center, where a great burning goblet sat behind a stone with the handle of a weapon sticking out of it. I walked up and grabbed it. It slid easily out of the stone, and it was much longer than I'd expected. I recognized it as a Ram Dao broadsword, one of the largest ever made. But as I did that, I unleashed a wave of horror around me as creatures rose up from nowhere. Five demons, the black, sinewy ones I'd first fought, shuffled towards me.
I drew back the huge blade and swiped at the cluster as hard as I could, cutting two of them in half. I did a downward chop that cleaved one in half down the middle, and swiped the feet out from the last two. I cut them in half like one would a giant cleaver as they writhed on the ground. It seemed an easy break, until more monsters appeared. I checked the exit, and it was blocked by a large sliding door. I sighed, as the second group closed it. It consisted of five huge red monsters. I leapt out, taking two huge swipes at the nearest three. It wasn't strong enough to cut them in half, but it did knock them over. I pulled out my Tulwars and threw them. The heavy blades stuck into one. I hit the remaining one with two large swiped to kill it, then finished off the one with the Tulwars in it. The other three had gotten back up, so I ran one through, then ground down the others with Tulwars. Such a fearsome display of passion and vigor for the art of sword fighting had gone to waste on a group of worthless denizens.
Yet another wave appeared. Similar to the first one, it had four of the dry, shambling demons. I repeated my intense dance for them, finding it all too easy, but not quite wanting to be challenged. A fourth and final wave, three large red demons, one of them about eight feet tall, attacked. I ran at one to the left, the impact of my weight on the blade forcing it right through its stomach. Pulling it out, I cut at its side, only to have a red mantis explode out of it. I wound up for a swipe, but the creature slashed me stomach. It leapt at me, but I ducked. As it clattered on the floor, I threw a Chakram and cut off its head. The second of the smaller giants had another mantis inside of it, and I dispatched of it by removing both arms with Tulwars. As I ran at the last one, it swiped out and knocked the blade out of my hand. It took fast, large steps toward me as I dodged a swipe and a stomp attack. I leapt behind it and threw my Tulwars into its back. I went in with the Ram Dao, but it spun around and knocked me over. I rolled and spun, avoiding stomps, and picked up my sword. The giant reared up for a swipe with his left hand, so I swung and connected with it, cutting it off. I did the same with the left, and it lunged at me, bleeding out of its stumps. I took two more large swipes at its sides, and it finally buckled, leaving a glowing symbol in its death. Sucking it into the coin, it appeared as a red symbol labeled 'Chattur'gha'. Could this have any different effects on me than the green symbol? I tried 'heal' again. This time, I felt the same burst of strength that I had when I used my heirloom talisman. Strangely enough, they both created the same pattern of symbols around my body, and both had executed with the same deep, insidious voice.
The only way to go was to backtrack. I walked back to the hallway, then back up the ladder. Nowhere to go here. I went back even further, into the first multi-door room. I noticed an odd emblem on it, with the picture of a blade that looked surprisingly like this one. It was embossed with a red circle. I inserted the blade. Nothing happened. Then the fairly obvious solution struck me. I was to enchant my weapon with the Chattur'gha symbol. Taking out the coin, I touched 'project', 'item' and 'Chattur'gha'. The sword now glows bright red, and scorched the inside of the slot when I pushed it in. The seal covering the door faded.
I met up with three monsters I'd never seen before. They were similar to the dry, weak ones I'd slaughtered with impunity, but they had rotten green skin and bandages. With my glowing red blade, I slashed one in half. The enchantment seemed to make it very easy to hurt them. One of them tried to grab the blade, but a searing scorch burnt off its hand. I cut them down easily, then went up another ladder that led to a dusty, hot, dark room. I heard more of the squealing scorpions on the ground. I jumped onto the table in the center, where my eyes met a small, solid ruby warrior's statue. I pocketed it, wishing that it were Chandra's desired treasure but somehow knowing it wasn't, then went back down. There was rubble ahead, so I carefully stepped over it to meet another terrifying sight.
A huge green monstrosity, almost exactly similar to the three-headed monstrosity he'd earlier encountered, stood in the center of a large nook. It didn't see me, but I had a feeling that the red enchantment would work. But would it work on my Chakrams? I counted six left. I pressed them on top of each other, then used the coin. Success! They glowed bright red. But the scratchy voice of the enchanting spirit made the huge monster spin around and face me. Rather than the three heads of the first one, it had three huge, hideous eyes, each one lined with tiny teeth. Now was my chance. I flung two at it. One struck its chest, and the other ruined its left eye. It closed in on me and took a massive swipe. I dodged to the left, and it smashed some rock out of the wall. I noticed green strings of energy flowing around its body. I backed off, but a bolt came out and seared me. It wasn't as blinding and painful as the first monster's bolt, but it stunned me long enough for it to turn around. I threw two more Chakrams, and the monster roared in agony, all three eyes gone. It stumbled and fell to the ground. I idled around the corpse and climbed down what I'd hoped to be the last ladder I'd see today.
An artful room waited at the top, and I was shocked to see, protruding out of the ground, the same monstrous hand that I had earlier seen in the shrine with the horrible screaming faces in the ground. Another transparent barrier covered up a path. I decided to place the book back in the hand. It closed, and the barrier was removed. It then opened up again, so I retook it. A nervous feeling overtook me. I palmed my sacred talisman, giving me a rush, the, re-enchanted my sword. I walked out into the rock-lined hallway. A humming noise sounded, and I looked back to see the barrier close off again. I walked ahead and heard shuffling feet. I looked into the chamber in front of me. It was empty. The noise must have been coming from behind. Looking back, I saw a horde of monsters emerging from behind the barrier and slipping through it with ease.
Even with my Ram Dao blade, their sheer numbers overwhelmed me. As I hacked and slashed, I was backed into the circular chamber, and had to use pedestals as cover. I counted seven dry demons, eight red giants and a mantis inside. As I drew the blade across hideous bodies, I grew exhausted. There was little room to swing the Ram Dao. I switched to the Tulwars and timed attacks as good as possible. When the gauntlet stopped, I was relieved until I heard the familiar stomp of the horrible, three- headed monster. It was sidling into the room slowly, and even as I threw my last two enchanted Chakrams, they hardly seemed to effect it in the way that they did on the green one. I saw the electricity welling up around body and ducked behind a pedestal, which absorbed the shock, but shattered. I ran out and slashed hard with my Ram Dao, hoping to score a lucky slash. Its claw caught me in the stomach, and it dug deep as it flung me into the wall, back first.
I felt the wind leave me. I felt the deep cut pouring blood. I heard the energy building up again. I quickly grabbed the talisman for a final boost. The energy grew louder, and I dodged a foreword spike as I jumped up with all my might and thrust the Ram Dao into its stomach. The energy shocked me, but the monster was stunned. I pulled out the Tulwars and threw them, cutting into its lower stomach and center head. It fell, bleeding a pool, then disappearing.
I sat there, panting, wondering and dreading what would happen next. The answer came to me in the form of a small, floating relic above one of the pedestals. I reached out to touch it, when I heard a ghastly familiar voice.
"Karim. We will be together forever."
I looked back and saw something that horrified me more than anything I'd seen so far. The ghostly apparition of Chandra stood silently behind me. How could this happen? She was safely back at her abode! I'm the one who risked his life foolishly! I should have died.
"Chandra," I said. "What happened to you?"
"Things change, my dear Karim," she said in a voice that was less familiar than I'd thought. It had no passion, it was now factual and strict. "But even though my body is ravaged, I await you."
"Who did this to you?"
"You were gone so long, I," she paused, "gave myself to a nobleman with a jealous mistress. She had me dragged from my bed, and in cruel revenge, cleansed with knives."
Then her spectral beauty disappeared as she took the form of her mutilated, torn body. That must be the way she looked after death.
"As the last blades were drawn across my body and my blood cooled upon the floor, she cursed that I would only be with another in death."
I could not believe this. Yes, I would rather die than her. But this was her sheer pathetic lack of willpower. Killing demons, finding relics, getting to this place in the center of an ancient tomb. This had come out of his preposterous, life-risking effort. I'd not been gone more than a day.
"So much for thinking only of me," I said. "I should never have left."
"I have seen my folly, and have paid dearly for it. I see so much more, now. In death, I know the true value of the artifact I asked you to find, and it is not for us to possess. If we are to be together again, you must make a sacrifice. " She gave me a look of seduction that hadn't quite convinced me. "Only when that is complete will we be together."
"Sacrifice?" I couldn't believe this. "Why should I do anything for you? You lied to me! Betrayed me!" I added insult to injury. "And you really don't look so good anymore."
"You must forget the past. Despite who you are now, you will also become something more, just as I have. But the sacrifice must be made. We must remain here and guard the artifact. Dark things will come to claim it and you must be strong to keep it from them. Without your sacrifice, the world will fall into eternal darkness!"
Not quite understanding this, I shrugged it off and decided to reap the little benefit, curious as to just what her ghastly body would feel like.
"The things I do for love," I added.
She held me in an embrace, and we kissed. Her lips felt cold and dry. I felt a stinging shock. I fell back, screaming, light emanating from my body. It disappeared, and only a ghostly form took its place.
.
So long. An eternity. How much more? I have not even been able to count the years! I am trapped! A chosen one! No longer can I be forced to believe in such rubbish! I have long outlived my natural life. yet it is in solitude! I cannot leave, I cannot rest in peace! I am trapped in an eternal lapse of emptiness!
Chandra! She is company! And is not she the only person I've seen, had contact with, inside this stale prison of stone! No more clattering of the children's boots! No more hymns and serenades and bells! The bells cannot toll! I am wasted away in vain!"
.
A millenium has passed. I have yet to set foot outside. Chandra warns me.
I may finally give say and pass on.
"Somebody's coming!" she says.
I draw my blade as a portly, bearded man in a green robe stops in fright.
"Who, what?" he stammers.
"I am the Guardian of this Temple, the Forbidden City," I tell him. Chandra, loyal and kind, blocks the intruder so that I can test him.
"None shall enter except the chosen. Speak!" I say. I slash through him with my sword. But it passes through with no harm. Still, he cowers in fright. He looks to have been through much trouble, like I had those centuries ago. But still, I remember what this means. It means that he is indeed the one to carry on the prophecy.
"You are the Chosen," I say. "For many years I have tested those who came here and all have failed. You are unaffected by the Power I wield, and thus must surely be the Chosen."
The man is still confused. "I?" he mutters.
"Once I was as you were, confused and without answers. Yet, they came in time. Now, my duty is complete. I can finally rest. My sacrifice was not in vein," I tell him. Chandra gives him the essence. I am done.
I may rest in peace.
That being said, I will finally clear things up with my appointed spouse-to-be, Chandra Ali. Yes, it has been many years that I'd known her. But she means just about everything to me. Everything about her prim, curvaceous figure just continues to overthrow any concentration my mind has managed to muster. I will do anything to please her, whether it means fighting a horde of demons with nothing but a stick or climbing to the top of the highest temple in Persia and jumping off. But she would never make me do something so unreasonable as that.
I have to say that I would like nothing more than to find her with a larger, stronger man, and to tear him apart in a display of dominance. I've always believed that strength was only second in fighting to skill, though I much prefer a duel of swords, in their efficient glory, to the clumsy, lumbering blows of human fists. I am strong myself, yes, but I would rather be known as swift and fluid than strong and brutal.
I come upon her desert abode, walking softly and sweating profusely. Under her porch, I take off the turban, then quietly open the door to her dry spruce hut. Such modesty, for someone who's parents are some of the richest people in the land. The walls are elegantly dressed in silk and linen, with purpled patterns and unlit lanterns. Chandra is on her great silk bed, lying there and staring lazily at me with her lusty eyes. I bow before her.
"I have implored you for years, yet you ignore all my advances. You dominate my dreams, and I can think of nothing else. I fear I desire you many hundred times more than you love me," I said, trailing off slowly.
"My life has become a waking dream, Karim. For weeks I have dreamed of an ancient treasure so precious that it changes all life around it. It must be mine, Karim. If you truly desire me, as you say, then you will find this for me."
She spoke as if she were dying of a terrible sickness. I was swept away by her eloquence. I wanted to help her in any way possible, but this sounded like a juvenile fantasy.
"Bring this treasure to me, and I will be yours. Both our dreams will come true," she finished.
"I need nothing more than you. You have enthralled me to the point where I can think of nothing else. Promise. If I leave, you will not forget about me," I asked.
"You need not worry. I desire nothing more than the treasure that you seek. Leave now, Karim, and I shall await you."
Her last remark had made me feel empty, for it was as if she didn't want me at all. But I decided to fulfill her demands.
"Where is this treasure?" I asked.
"Deep in the desert, you should come across three large stone monoliths. Stand in the center, and let the light guide you. But be sure to arm yourself, as no man has ever yet returned from its destination."
"All right, I will go," I told her.
I gathered up my supplies and left. I had a large blade that had been given to me by a fellow nomad, called a Tulwar, and I had been a bit foolish in throwing one of my twenty Chakrams off of a cliff, leaving me with 19. Nobody had returned? Follow the light? This would surely be either something very interesting or a fable. Where would people go when blessed with the light? Perhaps the light simply killed the people?
I trudge back out into the desert. It is flat, but searching for miles around could still take many days. I decide to follow the wind. It points to the East. I see many rock formations ahead, but I cannot tell if they are mountains or crags on the ground. It will be a long journey.
---
I have been walking for hours, and the wind has changed direction. I see a rock formation ahead. I jog diagonally toward it. Yes, it does not quite follow the horizon line. It is getting toward evening, and the sun is setting. The wind builds up. Soft humming is in my ears as I approach the rocks. As I get a closer look, I see that it is clearly the three monoliths Chandra speaks of. There is a symbol on each one, a very unnatural thing. Red, Green and Blue are their colors.
"Karim."
A voice makes me jump. It is deep and seductive, reminding me of Chandra. My true motivation. I look around, and no one is near. But it didn't seem like my imagination. I've barely begun to feel fatigued, and I've seen no mirages. But I guess it is time to find this light and meet my destiny. I step into the center of the hub, and I hear an unnatural humming noise. The insides of the monoliths glow brightly, and brilliant strings of light shoot from them, blinding me briefly. Worried that I would die, I stepped to the side, only to hit my head on something. Everything went dark. For a second, I thought I'd gone blind. But strangely enough, I was now in a new setting. Not the desert, but some sort of dark, cool dungeon. The stone walls looked ruined and aged, some of the cracked and crumbling, and there appeared to be many different illegible writings on the walls.
Torches lit the walls, and dried, filthy carcasses littered the ground. Were these the bodies of the people who had been here before? What could have scorched them and killed them so? I notice that a ladder is now the only exit from this room. I climb down, and the air around me grows thicker denser, cooler.
I hit solid ground. Out ahead, there is a large shrine, with statues surrounding it. In the distance, there is the most terrifying screaming sound. Like a thousand people crying out constantly, souls trying to escape the earth. I feel a strong gust from behind, and look back. The ladder is gone, and I'm staring off into abyss. It had been another strange, mirage-like occurrence. I walked down a narrow path, pits of swallowing darkness on either side, fearing what might happen to me if I were to stumble. There are pedestals to the side of me, on three of them, very perplexing statues. One is broken in half, the bottom half clearly a plated red 'dress', similarly worn by the legionnaires of the past in this region of Persia. Another is of a beautiful young woman, similar to Chandra but very slender, in a light outfit with a narrow blade and metal cuffs around her arms and ankles. The last is of a man wearing unfamiliar white silks, with long, smooth hair and Roman cross on his arm. I should not be distracted. I hear the screaming growing louder, and I notice the painted faces of people on the ground. They are barren, soulless faces with empty pit eyes and few other facial features. And they began moving. Gently pushing up, their mouths whining. Further down, their heads stretch right out of the ground, screaming loudly and clearly. I begin to run, and I come to a dead end. There is nothing more except a large, wicked hand holding a huge, leather-bound tome. It opened up, goading me to grab it. An explosion of flashbacks wrenched through me, and I am left standing in the room in which I began in.
I had the book in my hands now, which seemed much smaller and more compact than before. I heard scraping on the ground. And I could barely believe what I was seeing. The bodies were stirring, moving, dragging themselves off the ground to my height. They began to stumble clumsily towards me, about at the rate of a brisk walk, groaning wearily. I dropped the book and drew my blades. I lashed out and chopped the head off of one. It stumbled around blindly, swiping fiercely out in front of itself.
Astounded that it did not fall, I felt fetid claws grabbing the back of my neck. I slice backwards, cutting its right arm off. It stumbled away, but another monster raked across my chest with its bony claws. It left four hideous claw marks, each one seeping blood. I chopped at its side three times until it was cut in half. I let the blind one stumble into the armless one to face two more. Tired as it was, I decided to ignore them and head down the ladder again.
Thankfully, I landed in a solid room, still connected to the prior one. But there were two hideous red giants, lying on the ground near a large marble table with a small white statue. I picked it up, and the two demons crawled to their feet. I skittered to a halt as two more rose up in front of me. I rushed into one, letting him take the full brunt with my Tulwar in the stomach. It barely seemed to faze him. I ducked to avoid what looked like a powerful blow. The other behind it pushed it out of the way, and revealed itself to have an oddly transparent midsection, with the apparition of a strange shape spinning around in its center. They both took a swipe, but I ducked out of the way and slashed the first one's head off. It grew into a hideous rampage, flailing wildly and knocking me over. I closed up my shirt while it mindlessly attacked the other one, which nevertheless still bent over to pursue me. I rolled to avoid its rotten teeth and got up behind the headless one, then stabbed it in the back. I slashed twice more, as hard as I could muster, and it slowly collapsed to the ground.
The two red beasts I had ran from earlier had caught up, and were pushing past each other toward me. I cut the nearest one's arm off, but that left me open to a slanted blow to my side. I stabbed again and again, waiting for it to wind up its punch, and then cut off its other arm. I began to attack the one with the shape in its body, hacking the wounds made by the now-dead headless giant. It fell. I turned to the last one, and smashed its skull in, then several its neck. It went into the previous one's rage, so I backed away to regain my breath. After my heart calmed, I thrust forth into its stomach, then ducked and gave un uppercut blow. It backed off, injured. I gave it a double slash to the stomach, kicked it, then pierced its heart through the strong but torn flesh. It went down. I felt a smashing blow to the back of the head. I turned around to see the once- armless one, with one arm now, a twisted knob slowly swelling from the other wound. How is this possible? I danced spinning and slashing until it writhed on the ground, then applied a final blow. All four of the demons were done for.
As I stood there, panting, I noticed the shape that was in one of the beast's bodies sitting on the ground. I walked over, and it slid toward my in an odd sort of attraction. I picked it up, and it was sucked through my hand into my turban. I opened it up to see a large gold coin. Strangely, I never remembered putting anything up there. It had assorted symbols on it, one of them the one that was lying on the floor. They all glowed faintly. All were labeled with a definition, one saying item, another saying project, and so forth. I touched 'item' with my finger, and it glowed brightly. I touched 'project' as well. Then all were cleared and one green one appeared in the center. I pushed it, and the coin flashes, then sparks blew out of it and illuminated by blade a bright green. I touched it. It was not hotter nor cooler. Confused, I put the coin away and continued on.
I came to an odd sight. A shrine, covered with candles, lay in the middle of this room. There was a tower, and around it, three circular plates. I stepped on one. The candles burned brighter, but nothing else happened. I decided to place the odd white statue on it, and look for some more to cover all three. I saw a curious sight; a transparent wall with a glowing symbol on it, the same I'd seen earlier. I walked up to it, and it vanished. I was beginning to lose track of what was and wasn't real, I thought to myself, climbing down the ladder behind the spectral wall.
I found myself in another dank corridor. With three more large, red bodies on the ground. I decided to take a different strategy this time. I threw a Chakram at one, cutting off its head. Success! It would be blinded when it awoke. I threw another, hitting a different one in the side. Further down, there was another pedestal, with a second, black statue on it. I walked down and grabbed it. As expected, the decapitated one awoke in a confused state. I ran it through, knocking it to the ground and beating it until it was dead. The other two rose to my right. I goaded one towards me, and dodged a punch. I ran at it with my blade, getting it stuck, but then toppled over with it. The other remaining one slashed down on my back, opening foul new founds. The grounded one tried to bite me, so I rolled off and slashed it at the ankles. I spun and cut the other one's hand, then struck fervently until it was down, then finished off the other one.
Carrying the statue back to the shrine, I began to feel tired and weary. I'd lost a lot of blood from my wounds. My vest was soaked, clinging wetly to my shirt. I took out a talisman of mine, given to me as an heirloom gift. It was supposed to heal my body in times of danger. I looked into its balmy golden lining, and I felt a wave of energy and strength. The wounds in my back and stomach seemed to close, and the blood stopped flowing. I put the black statue onto the second pressure plate, and the candles burned much brighter, gently warming me in their powerful luminescence. One more statue should do it. Or, I could stand on the last one, just to see what it would bring. I walked over and stepped onto it, and the candles roared and sprayed their flame onto the ceiling. The room rumbled as the shrine rose slowly, revealing an elevator-like platform at its base.
I moved toward it, but stopped stiff as four frightening, shrieking scorpions stepped off the ascended platform. They squealed helplessly, but I knew better than to judge things by their size. I threw a Chakram at one, slicing it open and soiling the floor. I sneaked past the others, then stood on the lift. It began to sink, and dropped me into a very dark corridor. I picked the torch off the wall and went on to see three dead soldiers, each with disgusting lacerations in their bodies. The third one had something sticking out of it, which had blessedly turned out to be a similar Tulwar blade. I pulled it out of the body, and the body twitched. Strange. Human bodies hadn't attacked me yet. The body sprang to its feet, then stiffly turned to me and began swinging wildly. I slashed at it, cutting wounds that should have killed a normal man. It kicked me hard, but I shrugged off the blow and cut deep into him. For a second, he stopped. But then his disgusting corpse began to expand, like it was being pushed apart from the inside. In an explosion of blood that showered me thoroughly, something tore out of him, then jumped out from the crumpling skin of his legs. It looked like an insect of some kind, a giant, rust-red mantis that stood up to me neck, hunched over its scythe-like forearms. It had, however, the jaws on a carnivorous meat-eating reptile. It shrieked and jumped at me, latching onto my back with its sharp claws. I pried it off, then took both Tulwars and severed its neck off in both directions. I was relieved to see that it didn't get back up.
Another room, this one with several large doors, and another set of beasts, two more giants. I brutally attacked them, not letting them corner me. My ferocity was rewarded by a punch to the chest after slicing deeply into one. I chopped it away, and applied a crushing downward blow to the other. It crumpled, but the first one charged on relentlessly. I rent it apart, but it exploded, just like the man in the hallway before this. And yet again, a screaming mantis burst out. I applied another double-chop to quickly and vigorously decapitate it. I noticed a small scroll on the floor. Picking it up, it was scrawled with the word 'healing'. It had two symbols on it, one being 'Self', and the other being 'Absorb'. I pulled out the gold coin again. I saw 'absorb', but 'self' wasn't there. I chose a door and left.
Yet another confusing array of doors, and three more giants. Was there no end to these? I decided to run past them. But something felt incomplete, whenever they saw me, I grew worried. Like there was a sense of completeness in killing them. But what lay ahead took my mind off that completely. At the end of a narrow hallway, in the center of a domed chamber, a huge, three-headed monstrosity roared and clawed the air. Three salivating mouths gnashed from its broad torso, and two huge arms hung to the floor, tipped with three clawed fingers. Its skin was a mottled mix of black and red scales.
Rearing up, it was about nine feet tall. I pulled out my Chakrams and threw them as hard as I could, watching them gash into its flesh. I managed to use three before it stomped the ground shaking the room. A stream of light shot from the striking point on the floor. It scorched the ground in front of me, shattering a steaming pit in the terra plate. I threw four more before it stomped again. This time, I felt the blast catch my foot. It enveloped me, then seemed to momentarily blind me. My body exploded with a scorching pain that caused me to drop my weapons. After another moment, I felt another stomp, and ducked to the side just in time. The bolt seared the earth at me feet again. I regained my vision, picked up me Chakrams, and threw three more before it lurched foreword. Drawing my dual blades, I watched it get stuck momentarily in the narrowing walls. I ran and double-slashed it. The monster, with ten heavy metal rings embedded in its body, sank backwards, then fell over into its side. I ran up and stabbed down into it. Its body disintegrated, leaving a symbol on the floor. It sucked into the coin, and was labeled 'self'. I decided to complete the enchantment. I touched 'self' and 'absorb'. A green light flashed, and I felt much more relaxed.
I headed back to see the three monsters and a blue scorpion. Two were advancing towards it, bending over and outstretching their arms as if to pick it up. The scorpion screamed and released a blue shock wave on the floor. It spread out, pudding around their feet, then bathed them in blue energy. Their bodies disintegrated, and the scorpion slumped, dead. It was an interesting spectacle, but it was cut short by the approaching threat of the third giant. I made short work of it, then faced another transparent wall with a runic symbol on it. It dissolved. I walked down the ladder behind it, worrying just how deep I would have to go.
I wound up, now in a forked, T-shaped hallway. A single giant faced away from me on the right side. I touched the 'project' and 'item' symbols on the coin, and it made my sword glow again. As I hacked it to pieces, the glow seemed to scorch its flesh. The left side of the fork was blocked off with rubble, so I went right, ending up in a huge, dome-shaped room. Stairs led to a pit in the center, where a great burning goblet sat behind a stone with the handle of a weapon sticking out of it. I walked up and grabbed it. It slid easily out of the stone, and it was much longer than I'd expected. I recognized it as a Ram Dao broadsword, one of the largest ever made. But as I did that, I unleashed a wave of horror around me as creatures rose up from nowhere. Five demons, the black, sinewy ones I'd first fought, shuffled towards me.
I drew back the huge blade and swiped at the cluster as hard as I could, cutting two of them in half. I did a downward chop that cleaved one in half down the middle, and swiped the feet out from the last two. I cut them in half like one would a giant cleaver as they writhed on the ground. It seemed an easy break, until more monsters appeared. I checked the exit, and it was blocked by a large sliding door. I sighed, as the second group closed it. It consisted of five huge red monsters. I leapt out, taking two huge swipes at the nearest three. It wasn't strong enough to cut them in half, but it did knock them over. I pulled out my Tulwars and threw them. The heavy blades stuck into one. I hit the remaining one with two large swiped to kill it, then finished off the one with the Tulwars in it. The other three had gotten back up, so I ran one through, then ground down the others with Tulwars. Such a fearsome display of passion and vigor for the art of sword fighting had gone to waste on a group of worthless denizens.
Yet another wave appeared. Similar to the first one, it had four of the dry, shambling demons. I repeated my intense dance for them, finding it all too easy, but not quite wanting to be challenged. A fourth and final wave, three large red demons, one of them about eight feet tall, attacked. I ran at one to the left, the impact of my weight on the blade forcing it right through its stomach. Pulling it out, I cut at its side, only to have a red mantis explode out of it. I wound up for a swipe, but the creature slashed me stomach. It leapt at me, but I ducked. As it clattered on the floor, I threw a Chakram and cut off its head. The second of the smaller giants had another mantis inside of it, and I dispatched of it by removing both arms with Tulwars. As I ran at the last one, it swiped out and knocked the blade out of my hand. It took fast, large steps toward me as I dodged a swipe and a stomp attack. I leapt behind it and threw my Tulwars into its back. I went in with the Ram Dao, but it spun around and knocked me over. I rolled and spun, avoiding stomps, and picked up my sword. The giant reared up for a swipe with his left hand, so I swung and connected with it, cutting it off. I did the same with the left, and it lunged at me, bleeding out of its stumps. I took two more large swipes at its sides, and it finally buckled, leaving a glowing symbol in its death. Sucking it into the coin, it appeared as a red symbol labeled 'Chattur'gha'. Could this have any different effects on me than the green symbol? I tried 'heal' again. This time, I felt the same burst of strength that I had when I used my heirloom talisman. Strangely enough, they both created the same pattern of symbols around my body, and both had executed with the same deep, insidious voice.
The only way to go was to backtrack. I walked back to the hallway, then back up the ladder. Nowhere to go here. I went back even further, into the first multi-door room. I noticed an odd emblem on it, with the picture of a blade that looked surprisingly like this one. It was embossed with a red circle. I inserted the blade. Nothing happened. Then the fairly obvious solution struck me. I was to enchant my weapon with the Chattur'gha symbol. Taking out the coin, I touched 'project', 'item' and 'Chattur'gha'. The sword now glows bright red, and scorched the inside of the slot when I pushed it in. The seal covering the door faded.
I met up with three monsters I'd never seen before. They were similar to the dry, weak ones I'd slaughtered with impunity, but they had rotten green skin and bandages. With my glowing red blade, I slashed one in half. The enchantment seemed to make it very easy to hurt them. One of them tried to grab the blade, but a searing scorch burnt off its hand. I cut them down easily, then went up another ladder that led to a dusty, hot, dark room. I heard more of the squealing scorpions on the ground. I jumped onto the table in the center, where my eyes met a small, solid ruby warrior's statue. I pocketed it, wishing that it were Chandra's desired treasure but somehow knowing it wasn't, then went back down. There was rubble ahead, so I carefully stepped over it to meet another terrifying sight.
A huge green monstrosity, almost exactly similar to the three-headed monstrosity he'd earlier encountered, stood in the center of a large nook. It didn't see me, but I had a feeling that the red enchantment would work. But would it work on my Chakrams? I counted six left. I pressed them on top of each other, then used the coin. Success! They glowed bright red. But the scratchy voice of the enchanting spirit made the huge monster spin around and face me. Rather than the three heads of the first one, it had three huge, hideous eyes, each one lined with tiny teeth. Now was my chance. I flung two at it. One struck its chest, and the other ruined its left eye. It closed in on me and took a massive swipe. I dodged to the left, and it smashed some rock out of the wall. I noticed green strings of energy flowing around its body. I backed off, but a bolt came out and seared me. It wasn't as blinding and painful as the first monster's bolt, but it stunned me long enough for it to turn around. I threw two more Chakrams, and the monster roared in agony, all three eyes gone. It stumbled and fell to the ground. I idled around the corpse and climbed down what I'd hoped to be the last ladder I'd see today.
An artful room waited at the top, and I was shocked to see, protruding out of the ground, the same monstrous hand that I had earlier seen in the shrine with the horrible screaming faces in the ground. Another transparent barrier covered up a path. I decided to place the book back in the hand. It closed, and the barrier was removed. It then opened up again, so I retook it. A nervous feeling overtook me. I palmed my sacred talisman, giving me a rush, the, re-enchanted my sword. I walked out into the rock-lined hallway. A humming noise sounded, and I looked back to see the barrier close off again. I walked ahead and heard shuffling feet. I looked into the chamber in front of me. It was empty. The noise must have been coming from behind. Looking back, I saw a horde of monsters emerging from behind the barrier and slipping through it with ease.
Even with my Ram Dao blade, their sheer numbers overwhelmed me. As I hacked and slashed, I was backed into the circular chamber, and had to use pedestals as cover. I counted seven dry demons, eight red giants and a mantis inside. As I drew the blade across hideous bodies, I grew exhausted. There was little room to swing the Ram Dao. I switched to the Tulwars and timed attacks as good as possible. When the gauntlet stopped, I was relieved until I heard the familiar stomp of the horrible, three- headed monster. It was sidling into the room slowly, and even as I threw my last two enchanted Chakrams, they hardly seemed to effect it in the way that they did on the green one. I saw the electricity welling up around body and ducked behind a pedestal, which absorbed the shock, but shattered. I ran out and slashed hard with my Ram Dao, hoping to score a lucky slash. Its claw caught me in the stomach, and it dug deep as it flung me into the wall, back first.
I felt the wind leave me. I felt the deep cut pouring blood. I heard the energy building up again. I quickly grabbed the talisman for a final boost. The energy grew louder, and I dodged a foreword spike as I jumped up with all my might and thrust the Ram Dao into its stomach. The energy shocked me, but the monster was stunned. I pulled out the Tulwars and threw them, cutting into its lower stomach and center head. It fell, bleeding a pool, then disappearing.
I sat there, panting, wondering and dreading what would happen next. The answer came to me in the form of a small, floating relic above one of the pedestals. I reached out to touch it, when I heard a ghastly familiar voice.
"Karim. We will be together forever."
I looked back and saw something that horrified me more than anything I'd seen so far. The ghostly apparition of Chandra stood silently behind me. How could this happen? She was safely back at her abode! I'm the one who risked his life foolishly! I should have died.
"Chandra," I said. "What happened to you?"
"Things change, my dear Karim," she said in a voice that was less familiar than I'd thought. It had no passion, it was now factual and strict. "But even though my body is ravaged, I await you."
"Who did this to you?"
"You were gone so long, I," she paused, "gave myself to a nobleman with a jealous mistress. She had me dragged from my bed, and in cruel revenge, cleansed with knives."
Then her spectral beauty disappeared as she took the form of her mutilated, torn body. That must be the way she looked after death.
"As the last blades were drawn across my body and my blood cooled upon the floor, she cursed that I would only be with another in death."
I could not believe this. Yes, I would rather die than her. But this was her sheer pathetic lack of willpower. Killing demons, finding relics, getting to this place in the center of an ancient tomb. This had come out of his preposterous, life-risking effort. I'd not been gone more than a day.
"So much for thinking only of me," I said. "I should never have left."
"I have seen my folly, and have paid dearly for it. I see so much more, now. In death, I know the true value of the artifact I asked you to find, and it is not for us to possess. If we are to be together again, you must make a sacrifice. " She gave me a look of seduction that hadn't quite convinced me. "Only when that is complete will we be together."
"Sacrifice?" I couldn't believe this. "Why should I do anything for you? You lied to me! Betrayed me!" I added insult to injury. "And you really don't look so good anymore."
"You must forget the past. Despite who you are now, you will also become something more, just as I have. But the sacrifice must be made. We must remain here and guard the artifact. Dark things will come to claim it and you must be strong to keep it from them. Without your sacrifice, the world will fall into eternal darkness!"
Not quite understanding this, I shrugged it off and decided to reap the little benefit, curious as to just what her ghastly body would feel like.
"The things I do for love," I added.
She held me in an embrace, and we kissed. Her lips felt cold and dry. I felt a stinging shock. I fell back, screaming, light emanating from my body. It disappeared, and only a ghostly form took its place.
.
So long. An eternity. How much more? I have not even been able to count the years! I am trapped! A chosen one! No longer can I be forced to believe in such rubbish! I have long outlived my natural life. yet it is in solitude! I cannot leave, I cannot rest in peace! I am trapped in an eternal lapse of emptiness!
Chandra! She is company! And is not she the only person I've seen, had contact with, inside this stale prison of stone! No more clattering of the children's boots! No more hymns and serenades and bells! The bells cannot toll! I am wasted away in vain!"
.
A millenium has passed. I have yet to set foot outside. Chandra warns me.
I may finally give say and pass on.
"Somebody's coming!" she says.
I draw my blade as a portly, bearded man in a green robe stops in fright.
"Who, what?" he stammers.
"I am the Guardian of this Temple, the Forbidden City," I tell him. Chandra, loyal and kind, blocks the intruder so that I can test him.
"None shall enter except the chosen. Speak!" I say. I slash through him with my sword. But it passes through with no harm. Still, he cowers in fright. He looks to have been through much trouble, like I had those centuries ago. But still, I remember what this means. It means that he is indeed the one to carry on the prophecy.
"You are the Chosen," I say. "For many years I have tested those who came here and all have failed. You are unaffected by the Power I wield, and thus must surely be the Chosen."
The man is still confused. "I?" he mutters.
"Once I was as you were, confused and without answers. Yet, they came in time. Now, my duty is complete. I can finally rest. My sacrifice was not in vein," I tell him. Chandra gives him the essence. I am done.
I may rest in peace.