Arnia releases the snakes of Light 24OCT20
28
OCT/20
The Dream:
Oni closed his eyes and he drifted off to sleep. His normal troubled forced sleep was set aside. He was eager to sleep. He was eager to dream. He wanted to see her again. He was afraid of what he would find but he wanted to know the truth. He wanted the truth more than anything else. He felt himself asleep and opened his eyes.
Oni took a minute to take in all he could see. He was starting to feel some control now. He knew he could just look for something and he would be there. Before looking for Arnia and the others he scanned the horizon. It was even more dark now. Along with just the horizon of darkness creeping in on him, he could see black holes. This was new. Areas of the white plain were just missing. It was like someone had removed the lighted puzzle piece.
Oni wanted a closer look. Without moving he was right next to one of the holes. The lit plain wrapped all the way around the black spot. “Dark Hole Sun,” popped into his head. He was standing on the edge of the black nothing. A section next to him went out. He stumbled back a step. He knew that if he had been standing three steps over, he would not exist any longer. He slowly reached out his hand into the nothing. He stepped back again as a cold sharp pain took over his hand. Oni shook his hand and his pinky finger broke off and flung into the nothing and disappeared. He looked down at his hand. His littlest finger was gone. It was as if it was never there. “fuck”
Oni wanted to see the four creatures again. He turned and he stood right next to them. The four of them stood gathered on one end of the table. On the table the puzzle was complete, but a handful of extra pieces were piled up on one end of the table. Arnia looked up to him, “Look we finished the puzzle.” Oni looked again and it was an image of the older Arnia. She was in the middle of some battle. She had slammed her sword into the ground and snakes of light surrounded her.
Oni grimmest. “You need to stop making puzzles,” he said to them. Arnia young voice came again, “the pieces gather, so it does not matter.” Oni looked down at the pile of pieces. “Can I have one?” he asked. The bull man smiled and handed him one. Oni took it. He could feel the energy in it. He took is and placed it on another part of the lit plain. It created a little hill. “Place around you. It might make a barricade that will protect you a little,” he said to them. The small giant had this amazing joy in her voice, “that might by us a little time.” Arnia broke in just before the giant finished her statement, “You must hurry.”
The moon covered woman gathered up the pieces and started to spread them out around them. “We are hurrying, but we need help,” Oni said. Arnia looked down and nodded a little. “We cannot help you,” she said. She looked back up to him and made eye contact, “but someone is helping you. Help is on the way.”
Oni woke up. He looked down at his left hand and the finger was still missing. It did not hurt and looked like had never been there. He wrapped his hand to hide it from the group.
Finish the Left:
Oni started to gather up his things. He could hear a conversation brewing near the room entrance. He placed the last pieces of his stuff in his bag and headed over. The rest of the group was ready to go but they were arguing. Sora wanted to go through the door on the left. “I think that finishes the areas on that side of the room,” she said is a loud growl of a voice. Things were getting heated. Naga wanted to go in and examine the alters. Spittle was coming from his mouth and his arm pointed into the next room like a hammer, “I think those take us to the next level. We need to do that while we are still fresh.” Mar’iya tried to calm the conversation, but still slightly heated, “we need to go into this door on the right and explore that area. We need to find this Munafik’s life essence.”
Oni walked up. This was the moment. He had been watching these slaves and servants becoming a group, but this was the moment when everyone became a full equal member of “The Bringers.” He had not talked about that name yet, and it was not sounding right. Hermann had hated it. In his mind he thought “Warriors of the New Dawn.” He shook his head, that was to long. It needed to be short. As if from a voice from the past “Dragons Bane” came to his mind. He must have read about that in his books. He did not like the idea of stealing someone else’s name. Hell “Guardians of the Flame” was removed a long time ago from the list for the same reason. He thought about “New Dawn” or just “Dawn”. He felt voices saying red and Asian in association with “Dawn”. As he stepped into the conversation he thought, “The New Dawn”. That is who we are.
They were all staring at Oni. They were all a little irritated but staring at him. “How about we vote. It seems we have three things that we could go do. We can go through the door on the left, mess with the alters, or go through the right door,” Oni said to the group in front of him. Oni’s eyes moved down the hall to look past the waterfall. “Okay who wants to finish off the area to the left?” Oni asked. They all started to talk at the same time in a giant mess. “Okay, raise your hand if you want to go explore the left?” Oni tried again. All but one raised their hand. “Okay, let’s go left,” Oni stated.
They went out through the left door. On the floor in the middle of the room were two vials of black liquid. They had crude stoppers. “I could detect magic if that helps,” Oni said. David shifted over to the door on the far end of the room, “Maybe wait until we have more items.” Oni and Mar’iya nodded. Mar’iya had little fear of these kinds of objects and picked them up. He popped one of the stoppers to look at the liquid inside. It was black, thick, and smelled of death. That is when he noticed the scratches on the vial. Someone had scratched “Wight” into the glass. He slowly moved the vial away from his face and almost in slow motion placed the stopper back on the vial. Words drifted out of his mouth in a calmness that tried to not disturb the vial in any way, “we can keep this for later.”
David and Sora pushed out into the hall. Oni heard the moan of wraiths. He was the first to move. He ran out into the hall and launched a ray of force at the closest one. He watched it slide back and looked over to the Sora. “FUCKKKKKKKK!” went through his head as he knew he had fucked up. He had moved enemy out of reach of her. She would now attack one of them. He moved past David, “sorry my friend.” Sora swung her sword at David.
Mar’iya moved out into the hallway and made all of us out there invisible to her. Oni understand the trick and hoped it would make David no longer the tip of Sora’s sword. Mar’iya moved back into the room. Sora did not have to move. The wraiths came to her. Arnia moved down the hall to engage the wraiths. Oni could just see Naga smash the wraith in their room. Oni thought to himself, “If you are going to help us, this is the time.” As if an answer to Oni’s prayer, three ghosts came in to help.
Oni moved into the room to help Mar’iya and Naga. The ghost surrounded Oni as they attacked the wraiths. Oni looked over to the them. Somehow it was the ghosts of our tribe, here to help. Ghostly Kia screamed, “sweep the leg,” as he bashed the wraith on Sora. He looked and Saw Joe and Yas. Ghostly Joe had Oni’s back. The ghost of Yas present stayed as far from Sora as possible. She was the only ghost that never went into the hall. The ghostly Yas stayed in the room and protected Mar’iya as much as possible. She seemed to almost lookover him. Oni could see Yas just stare at Sora. She looked almost angry at her.
With the ghosts help we were able to finish off the wraiths. Naga had placed Sora in a walled off section. She was pacing in the space, but her sword was in its sheath. Naga dropped the wall. Oni worried that this trick would not work forever. Sora and Mar’iya were hurt bad. Oni knew we should rest but we could not stay here. Sora paced in the halls a little, “Yep this was the section we were missing.” Oni moved back to the door. He was talking as he moved through it, “I guess we should check out those alters.”
The Alters and the Lift:
The group gathered in the alter room. David started to head into the next room, “I think we should get some fruit.” Oni looked quickly over to Arnia. He knew this would be the perfect excuse. He wanted to talk to her without Sora and Naga around. “Sora, Naga, do you mind helping David. I think we should restock our food and water,” Oni said. They both ran off to help David. Oni watched as they moved into the next room. As soon as they were out of sight and hearing, he moved over to Arnia. “Hi Arnia, I was hoping to explain a few things.” He said to her. Mar’iya moved closer as well.
Oni went on to tell Arnia about all the changes in the world. The last time he tried this they were not sinking in. As he told her about Luskan now being Raam and the loss of the world. One tear rolled down her face. She stayed amazingly stoic but the loss of her world and family was not sitting well with her. Oni wanted to make sure she understood that her armor was amazing and a liability out in the real world. She had to know that Sora was dangerous. He told her again about the cursed sword and you needed to have a little gap between her and her enemies. Last but not least he told her about Naga and his connection to Tiamat. He was dangerous in a very different way. He might be the eyes and ears of Tiamat. Mar’iya gave a slirt sound as David, Sora, and Naga walked back into the room.
Oni moved over to the alter on the west side of the room. Mar’iya positioned himself on east side. Mar’iya starting to talk to Oni within his mind.
Mar’iya: “Turniin seems to close to turn on. It must be how you turn it on.”
Oni: “that makes sense, and LOQRA must be the left or west side of the temple. I think that turns on the water on the left side.”
Mar’iya: “LOGRA”
Oni: “what?”
Mar’iya: “it is LOGRA, not LOQRA.”
Oni: “oh. I still think it runs the west side.”
Mar’iya: “let’s both do the Turniin at the same time. 3… 2… 1… Turniin.”
Nothing happened but both felt like maybe it was now on.
Oni: “Okay, let’s both do LOGRA at the same time. 3…2…1… LOGRA.”
Nothing seemed to change initially, but then everyone felt lighter. The entire room was now in a lower state of gravity.
Oni: “remember what David saw in the level chamber. If LOGRA is lower gravity, maybe REGRA is reverse gravity.”
Mar’iya pulled out the ropes. He tied off to the alter. He through the other rope over to Oni and he tied himself off as well. The others started to look around. Mar’iya yelled out to the group, “the gravity will likely swap in this room, so grab on to something.” Everyone started to grab onto the different trees within the room. Oni looked back at Mar’iya, giving him notice that he was ready.
Mar’iya: “3…2…1…REGRA”
The room flipped. Well not exactly the down for the room flipped. Arnia was not able to hang on. She fell into the dome ceiling with a thump. Naga as floating around within the room. The water from the lion’s head started to flow into the dome. All of the water from the stream slammed upward into the dome and splashed around. David still holding onto the tree pointed towards the lion’s head and said, “hey look a passage.” Naga grabbed him and flew him up to the opening. David stepped down into the passage.
Oni was a little concerned about Arnia. “should we do the Neg” he said to Mar’iya in his mind.
Mar’iya: “No, they would all drop to their deaths.”
Naga: “I can fly them all up to the passage.”
Mar’iya: “once they are all up there, we will negate it. I can crawl up and we will drop a rope to you.”
Oni: “great. We are going to get really wet.”
Oni reached his arm back and asked Hermann to climb up to safety before water falls. He moved down his arm and up the wall. “Be safe little buddy,” he said.
Naga flying around like a bird moved the rest of the group up to the space above. Oni laughed in his mind, “maybe we should just walk away.” He had hoped Mar’iya did not hear that. It was just his inner thoughts and not for Mar’iya. “Just kidding,” he thought. Mar’iya cleared his mental throat. “3… 2… 1…,” and both of them said “Neg” our loud. The water came crashing down with a thud. Oni moved to duck behind the alter. He was worried about the pineapples. Some did fall, but lucky for them, all of them exploded in the water and without harm to anyone.
Mar’iya moved like a spider. Oni’s side always hurts when he does that. Mar’iya moved up the wall and into the concealed hall beyond. Oni was alone. He looked up to the light. He took time to draw in his breath. It was not quite the sun rise, but it felt like the day on the wall. He tried to draw in that light, even here. He wondered if it was dawn. There was no way to tell, but he felt like it was. He looked up at the lit ceiling. His eyes focused on a spot. He swore it had a black spot.
“Oni, ONi, ONI, … ONI!” Mar’iya yelled down and finally Oni heard. “What… oh,” Oni responded and ran over to the rope. They pulled Oni into a small chamber. Oni started to look around. Naga moved to the far side of it. “there are two doors up here with writing on them,” he said. A few moments later he continued, “I think it is the same writing on both doors.”
A little mousy voice could be heard. It was barely audible. “help me.” They all moved around the wet outer ring of the water room. The voice was coming from the wall. A scraping sound could now be heard. “My name is Prit, can you help me,” the voice said. Mar’iya and Oni looked at each other. They both felt like the name was familiar but could not tell from where. Oni slid back to give the others more room. He focused on the black spot again. It was still there.
Prit: “I am really scared. There is a beating heart in a jar, and I am scared.”
Arnia: “Are you alone?”
Prit: “no, I am mean sort of. I am mean no.”
Arnia: “who is with you?”
Prit: “That undead creature comes around from time to time, but I hide.”
Arnia: “how long have you been here?”
Prit: “I am not sure, maybe weeks. We came in here and…”
Arnia: “What do you mean we?”
Selise moved up so that she could listen in. She closed her eyes. She was trying to see the intent in every word that Prit said. Oni just stood and stared at the black spot rubbing his hand. David started to examine the wall.
Prit: “Our group came into the pyramid, but they are all dead. It killed them. I only survived because I hid. When I can I dig.”
Mar’iya: “what are you digging with?”
Prit: “a spoon.”
Oni: “I could cast a spell to dig.”
Prit (pleading): “no magic. It reacts to magic.”
David: “I can do it. I do not use magic.”
Mar’iya: “yes I think we need that heart.”
Prit: “I can bring it to you.”
Arnia: “great, bring it around to us. We will meet you.”
Oni: “I think we should move through here.”
David screamed as his powers backfired on to him as he used them against the wall. Naga leaned out into the room. “I could use a short rest. I need to build up my power.” Okay I will dig while you rest and see where we are. Sora and Oni scraped and dug. The sound was annoying, but the rest of the group were able to rest. They had made a nice like scar in the wall. It was going to take days to finish this project.
Selise: “let’s check out the doors.”
They all gathered around the doors. Prit was going to meet us. The doors read:
“Beyond these doors lie the test of the pharaoh. Turn now from this doom of power and evil from a heartless man. Great and awful is the horror beyond these doors – yet if you turn away, what lies beyond ye shall never know.”
Arnia: “Let’s go through the doors.”
Oni: “You want to go through the door. That looks like the path to death.”
Arnia: “We cannot dig out that wall. It would take a month.”
Oni: ” Okay. So just so we are all clear. The plan is to go through the door, to something we believe is called the gauntlet.”
Arnia: “We must meet Prit. Prit is circling around.”
Oni: “let go.”
The Gauntlet:
The doors swung open. The room was huge. This was the largest room within the pyramid they had seen. It had a series of stairs that led to a higher level. The stairs stopped three times for landings. Between these landings water poured down. At the very top of the stairs, there was a giant metal fist and some undead beast. Oni and the others just knew this was Munafik. They had run into him. Oni’s goal was to try and get to the other side of him and find his heart. He did not want to fight him. That was a losing battle.
David and Naga charged up the stairs. As they did, they passed the first landing. Sand moved on the landing and became humanoid combatants. They looked familiar. They looked like the sand people that would double anytime someone hit them with a sword. They kept running. A wall of fire formed on the next landing. They ran through it. They were singed but continued to run. A wall of force appeared in front of them. They moved straight through this illusion and it dropped. They continued to the next landing and doubles on them appeared. This gauntlet was not looking good. They finally ran past the giant metal fist and up to the door.
Oni and Mar’iya looked at each other. This was now a familiar scene for them. This was that moment when the tribe was nearly wiped out by slavers, or when Joe, and the others died trying to rescue Rain. This was going to be the death of them. It was going to be the death of some of them. Oni’s only hope was that some would make it through to the end and bring the gods back. The look between them had all of that. They were both resigned to finish this. Oni charged across the room to join David and Naga.
First Arnia, then Selise, “we should get out of here.” As Oni ran by them, he yelled back to them, “this was the plan.” He ran up to the first landing. “We must get through that door.” Oni was up on the last landing between David , Naga and the lich. He stepped back out. He had a plan. He did not think this would hurt the beast but hoped to buy them a little time. Oni through force at the lich. It hit the lich and it was pushed back into the water. Oni’s joy was short lived, as it just stepped back out. From behind Oni, he heard David, “the door is magically protected.” Oni yelled down to the group, “Selise we need you up here at the door. You are our only hope.”
She dashed up the landing but stopped to look at the fist. Arnia and the others were making their way up the gauntlet but at a much slower rate. This was a mistake, and the fist struct Selise. Oni started to panic, “Selise, the door.” He moved back to defend the door. The lich moved to him and started to blast the group. Selise moved up and started to work the door. Arnia finally made it up to the door and struct the lich. David dropped dead. Naga moved back. Oni was on the edge of death. He was about to die. Selise opened the lock and the door slid open.
David bit into the heart. Oni knew this was the help she had told him about. He looked up to the ceiling. “Thank You,” he whispered.
END CHAPTER: Pyramid of Ra Level 2