With a lack of better options for burial here, they decided to cleanse the bones upon the altar, gently placing the mangled remains of the two skeletons on the platform held in the image of Amaunator's arms.
"Watch the door," Lidia said. "I wouldn't be surprised if we accidentally summoned a demon this time."
She pulled out a match, set it alight in one of the lanterns, and illuminated the sconces on either side of the statue.
Again the earth rumbled beneath their feet, and again a wind, stronger this time, blew the flames of the sconces out, plunging the room again into darkness and leaving behind only twin curls of smoke. Again, a column of fire seemed to fall from the sky, incinerating the bones until nothing remained behind but a small pile of ash.
For a moment, all was silent.
The ghost of Amuana slowly appeared, in the spot where she had last faded from view. For the first time since they'd met her, she was smiling, though the look in her eyes still held some immeasurable sadness. She said, in her thin, somewhat otherworldly voice:
"My two guardians have entered their rest,
I stay to face my final test."
Though the hand that held it was ghostly, the last remaining third-circle, gleaming gold and engraved with sunrays, was real enough. As soon as Mazzy took the piece into her hand, Amuana faded again from sight.
The three parts of the circle still fit together neatly, even after all this time, assembling into a single disk a foot wide that was emblazoned with the graven-gold image of radiating rays. Nothing unusual happened when it was assembled — no rumble, sound of thunder, or flash of light. But once the three pieces were together, nothing seemed able to break them apart.
"I…I think there's some magic to it, but I can't place what it is," Aerie said. "I'll memorize the right spells and take a look tomorrow morning."
"If you can call it that," Valygar said. "That's the closest thing to the sun I've seen in several days."
"It is no matter," Minsc chimed in. "Night is always good for sneaking up on evil!"
"Perhaps so, but these creatures thrive in the dark," Anomen said. "Still, I will take this opportunity to examine where the old wards might have been."
"In the meantime," Lidia said, turning to Mazzy, "let's find this dragon."
The room fell silent again. Lidia was quick to reassure them: "Regardless of whether we sneak past it or battle it, it'll still be to our advantage if we know something about its lair."
Mazzy ran a hand through her mass of bright red hair. "What you propose is still quite dangerous, even if the wardstone can make us invisible to its eyes."
"I don't plan on taking long," Lidia replied. "Just go in, look around a bit, and then retreat."
Mazzy, Lidia, and Valygar left shortly afterwards, carefully following the name of Amaunator backwards through the tiled letters. They retraced their steps, passing through the large pillared room with the mosaic upon the floor. This time, however, they took a different path, following a set of double doors that opened to a colonnaded hallway.
As they passed the rows of pillars, they went slowly, their eyes darting from side to side in case any shadow-creatures were hiding behind them. But none came.
Mazzy finally said, half to herself, "Dare I hope that the shadow-creatures made their way outside?"
"We dealt with many of them here," Valygar said. "Maybe the ones outside simply haven't moved in yet."
Lidia hoped that it was for that reason, and not because far more terrifying creatures dwelt here.
The end of this hall revealed a massive door emblazoned with the same motif of sunrays that repeated itself throughout the whole building. The set was easily twice the width and height of a human, and it had clearly been meant to deter all intruders: they were made of stone slabs several inches thick. But they had been forced open from the inside, seeming to open to a void. The only sign of anything living was the nearly overwhelming smell of smoke.
Lidia took out the wardstone, warming it in her hand. She felt the slightest tingle on her skin, but no other change. But the stone itself was nearly humming, the traced lines now glowing the same bright blue as the hidden sky.
They'd have to trust that it worked. They passed over the opened threshold.
They found themselves in a massive room, filled with darkness in almost the same way a glass could be filled with milk — the air was thick with black fog, and it pressed in around them as they took a few cautious steps forward. All they could see at first was the floor; the stones were arranged in a large, elaborate mosaic in the shape of the sun.
And they heard the sound of breath moving, in and out, in and out like massive bellows.
They slowly moved forward, and within a few minutes had found the noise's source through the mist. In the center of this room was a dragon, but one unlike any they had seen either on the page or in the flesh.
This dragon was more serpent-like — everything about it was long and lean, almost gaunt. Its scales were a smoky matte gray, not shimmering like those of other dragons. Everything about it pointed towards its primary purpose: swathing itself in shadow and skulking along the ground. But now its translucent wings were folded against its body, and it was curled upon the floor, seemingly deep in slumber. As it breathed, its massive sides gently expanding and contracting, plumes of black smoke left its nostrils and lingered in the air around it.
Suddenly, one eye opened, revealing a massive red eye like a lizard's. Immediately, the dragon leaped upwards, unfolding its short but powerful legs. Its spined neck craned downwards. It opened its mouth, revealing three rows of teeth, black and sharp and gleaming as obsidian.
The voice that issued forth was deep and throaty. "How amusing that you petty fleshlings would dare disturb my slumber."