I would open my eyes about an hour later to the sight of the Sand Demons bending over me, worried looks on their faces.Yes. Worried looks.The red glows that were their eyes had narrowed to upside-down slits, and they loomed over me like gusts of sand in forms that resembled human onnes, filling the air about them with dust as fire fills the air around it with smoke.“Where is the python?” I asked.They looked at me without understanding, a quick reminder that they spoke a different language from myself. I would have called Maia then, had I not looked behind them and seen the body of the mighty creature, cut into many pieces and encrusted in its own semi-dried blood.My System also rang with a new update.*1. New Notification Alert*Kill Count: 2 out of 15 kills made. CONGRATULATIONS.“Thank you,” I told them and tried to sit up as they handed my bloodied sword and katana to me after they had won my victory which I started and almost not finished, with me forgetting again that they s
The benefit of having the Sand Demons lead my beast was that between managing mere seconds of sleep while sitting in my saddle and trying not to fall off of it, I was still going forward, and not wasting time by sleeping in only one place.When I had my eyes open and sleep was far from me, I was quick to thank the Sand Demons for leading me, which they appreciated with eagerness. Some more time passed, though, before it dawned on me to ask them what they knew about Plataea, while Maia translated their words.“Oh, there. Impressive city.”“And what about the Tomb of the Invincible Soldier?”I saw the Sand Demons shake at the very mention of his name. “What do you have to do with that Invincible Soldier?” “He is essential to my journey.”“Even we Sand Demons ran before him, that towering giant. The moment you looked at him, and at the darkness in his helmet, fear went through even us that are not human. We were careful to steer clear of him, and accepted that he was from among the gods
The whole day was spent on me thinking.What would I do when I reached the Tomb?I knew Hades’ tricks. The instruction was for me to loot the tomb, but before I did it, I would have to fight. He could not just let me walk in there and take what I wanted. It was what I would fight, however, that I was terrified of.From the very start, my gut had not gotten rid of the feeling that I would need to fight The Invincible Soldier, and even the Sand Demons had confirmed it themselves. What scared me was how best to defeat him. If only I had a way to find this Persian Sorcerer.My mind had turned over the riddle over and over again, seeking for a way to understand it.‘Look through the darkness, and you will seeSee through the light, and you will know Know through the heart, and you will be The one who makes the bow.’It made no sense, but it had to have a meaning, because this was what had defeated the Invincible Soldier. I had to find it.During this last day, I walked more than I rod
“What do the words on the stone mean, Maia?”“I don't want to say.”“Well the Sand Demons never found joy in delaying me. They're still better company.”I didn't like this. Why was my System Guide acting like a grumpy girlfriend and ruining everything for me?A few moments of silence followed, and she said the words:“Only the brave survive. The fearful of heart, perish.”“Thank you.”For the second time, I opened the door, but the terror of that darkness made me pause, until I recalled the words Maia just told me. Maybe being brave was the only way to get out of this tomb alive?“You can't ever get out the moment you go in too.” Maia told me. “The door shuts behind you.”I pondered on this before taking out my sword and switching on my night vision ability. Noiselessly, I went down the stairs.And truly, the door shut behind me with a chilling bang.Gently, I continued down the stairs, cautious of my every step, which sounded as loud as earthquakes to me, given the intensity of the m
The torso that rose up was the biggest I'd seen on a man.If I could call it a man.It would have been thrice the size of a regular man's, well covered in thick armour. The head was just as big, with a ‘Y’ making the space for the eyes, nose and mouth. True to the description Maia gave of him, in place of his eyes were two flames of fire, like twin blazing torches, focused on me alone.The Invincible Soldier had risen.I took a step back as he rose from the sitting position he had assumed in the coffin with steps that were slow and measured, as though he was being vety careful. He soon stood at his full length with his feet still in the coffin, and I could plainly see that my shoulders would only reach up to his waist.His armour was a terrifying thing to behold. It was a well polished metal whose colour I could not easily distinguish in the semi-darkness, tastefully designed to deflect sword strikes with all the curves and edges it had. There were also spikes on its shoulders, wrists
It could be said that I died standing.With my sword had gone the life, the spirit, and the will to fight. All I was aware of was that my sword had just been knocked out of my hand, and I was now left to the mercy of the Invincible Soldier.Again, and like the car about to hit me in my childhood, I stood watching helplessly as he raised his sword to finish what he had started, and my mind processed images of what would happen if he cut me. I would remain in two pieces, and alive.Was that the worst that could happen?Being cleaved in two to remain alive in two halves in a tomb?A great number of thoughts went through my head in such a short period of time, so that when the sword touched the ground next to me, I had thought about so many things in mere seconds. The final thought among these was the one that made me see that he didn't cut me. He only stopped.I raised my face to look at him at the same time his hands went around my neck, forming a vise around it that somehow let me brea
It was a white owl.A great number of birds sing, but it will be rare to call owl hooting ‘singing’ as we know it. Except for this one, which was singing a human song in a language I did not understand.Enthralled by its voice, I turned to go to it when I felt different, a change I had not noticed before. I looked at my body, and there found my answer.All of the metal was gone, and I stood in the semi-nude, wearing nothing but a white loincloth. The joy I felt at having my body back touched only a few things I had felt before, and I touched myself, exploring all I had missed since that day that I found my curse. The warmth of my skin, a welcome change from the cold metal that I had previously owned. The tiny hair on my arms. The lean, visible muscles that stood out on my arms and legs, the curves to them aesthetically pleasing.And my face…The burnt half of my place was back, and I had no mask on half my face to hide my shame. It was the same with the hair on my head, now back to be
I removed my hand from my eyes to see who it was, and when I did, I fell to my knees before this woman, my head bowed low.“Stand up, mortal, and look at me.” I heard her say.I raised my head to look, and her very appearance made me want to remain at her feet forever, simply kneeling and taking in the beauty that was hers. There are hardly words for me to describe this surreal beauty, as even subjecting such beauty to something as shallow as words feels like a grave sin to me.Her white skin shone like light, and her golden hair was like a crown upon her head. Her eyes were the same colour as her hair and seemed to show that she was one of exceeding wisdom, and her lips were redder than cherry. She wore a garment made of snow white fur, knotted at the joint of her smooth white shoulder, and which fell down to her knees. In her hand was a bow and an arrow, the both of them, golden and tastefully designed.Bowing before her brought the last two lines of the riddle to my memory:‘Know t