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Scholomance 12 Chapter 4
🕑 Added 2021-09-11 16:00:00 +0000 UTCWe landed against the golden sand with an almighty crash, and although I’d planted my feet firmly, the ground beneath me quickly began to sink. The grains swallowed my legs up the ankle, but thankfully the terrain didn’t seem to be quicksand.
“Be careful of the sand,” I said as I steadied myself. “Especially when we get closer to our destination.”
“Fuck, I hate the feeling of sand in my shoes,” Akira complained as she hopped on one foot and emptied out the sand from one shoe.
“It’s even worse when it gets in your underwear,” Della chuckled. “And to the lucky ones who haven’t experienced that before, yes, it’s just as bad as it sounds.”
As the women fussed about their new surroundings, I glanced over at Alexander and Damien and noticed the familiars looked quite at home. Alexander flapped his little wings and swooped over the grainy substance, whereas Damien whipped his giant tail through the sand and dug his claws deeper. The Komodo dragon must have felt quite comfortable in the desert-like realm, which was exactly why I chose him to join us.
Goshotha was a realm people rarely visited. It included a few villagers, but they’d found a way to live with the constant heat and the threat of the desert. Those who traveled to Goshotha often fell into the desert’s traps, and some never made it out alive, which was exactly why this realm wasn’t on the top of many people’s list of places to visit.
“So, where do we go now?” Astrid asked a moment later.
“Well… the riddle for the Oblivion Inscriptions mentioned something about stone, but also fire,” I said as I thought it through in my head.
I was then made aware of the burning sun glancing off my cheek. It was far hotter than any realm I’d been too recently, and I could already feel my skin blister from the heat.
But that was what gave me the clue.
“Fire,” I chuckled. “I think we need to go to the hottest part of the realm.”
“But that could be anywhere.” Akira frowned. “How are we supposed to find the hottest part of the realm when this place could go on for days?”
“Think about it, Akira,” Faye said. “What does heat do?”
“I dunno, it burns stuff?” The black-haired witch shrugged.
“Well, yes,” Faye sighed. “But I meant it more scientifically. Heat rises, so we need to go to the highest part of the realm, where it’ll be hotter.”
“Does that really work when it’s heat from the sun?” Astrid frowned.
“I don’t think it matters,” I answered. “The riddle includes words that help to combine the clue together. So whether it’s heat from a fire, or heat from the sun, it still rises, and that’s where we need to go.”
“Cole and Faye are right,” Della agreed. “Unless you two have another idea?”
“No, I believe you, master,” Akira said. “You just lead, and I’ll follow.”
“Good.” I smiled. “Alexander, I need you to take flight and let me know if you see any high points nearby.”
Right on it! the wolverine said as he soared into the sky.
“Now, while he’s off searching, let’s go and see what we can find,” I decided.
I considered summoning some of the many beasts I’d bonded with and had at my disposal, but none of them were particularly desert faring species, and I didn’t want to get stuck in the sand. We also could have flown on dragons or other winged mounts, but then we might have missed clues on the ground, so I decided we’d go on foot for now.
We started to trudge through the thin sand, and I noticed how Damien happily waddled past all of us while his muscular body made light work of the grains beneath his feet.
“Fuck, it really is hot,” Akira panted a few minutes into the walk.
“Use your cloak as a shield,” Della suggested. “I know black absorbs the heat, but at least it shields the sun from your eyes.”
“Wait, I’ve got a better idea,” I said as I came to a halt.
We were all sweltering in the heat, and the Scholomance uniforms weren’t helping in the slightest, so with a flick of my wrist, I changed that.
A white, shimmering mist swirled all around us, and as I looked down at my chest, my shirt slowly dissolved, and a thinner, lighter shirt took its place. The same thing happened to my pants, and they changed into a pair of beige cargo shorts, and my black shoes were swapped out for a pair of beige hiking boots. I wasn’t used to this sort of climate, but the boots held a decent grip, and the clothes were light and airy enough to protect my skin.
I took Della’s advice and kept the cloaks, but instead of black, they turned white. The cloaks were vital to shield our eyes from the sun, but to also protect our faces from any sand storms. Once my transformation was complete, I checked out the women, and I noticed all of them had changed into a barely-there bikini which just above covered their breasts. Light, flowing skirts were tied around their waists, and the same sort of hiking boots covered their feet, too.
They all looked incredible, even with those boots on.
“I love my bikini,” Akira said as she traced her fingers over the gold material. “But these boots really don’t match my style.”
“Get used to it,” Faye snickered. “If you want to walk on this terrain, you’re going to need decent footwear.”
As well as decent footwear, I also knew we needed to keep ourselves hydrated if we were to ever complete this task. Then, with a sharp snap of my fingers, five individual water bottles fell from the sky and landed firmly in the sand.
“There.” I grinned. “But make sure not to drink it too quickly.”
The group attacked the water bottles like a wake of hungry vultures as they fought over a dead animal, but despite my warning, the women continued to pour some of the chilled water over their foreheads.
“Fuck, that feel so good!” Astrid sighed peacefully as the water dripped down her red face. “This is the hottest I’ve ever been.”
Revna’s sister had until very recently lived in a winterized, isolated realm, so I sympathized with her discomfort, but I was also proud of how well she was faring so far.
“Okay, I can concentrate properly now,” Faye chuckled.
Up ahead, I noticed how Damien had come to a halt, and he peered back at us as his tail continued to whip through the sand. I couldn’t converse with him like I did with Alexander, but it looked as though he wanted us to follow him. I tried to plan ahead, to see if I could work out what Damien was looking at, but apart from small mounds of sand, I didn’t spot anything apart from the occasional trunk of a nimble tree.
“Akira, is Damien telling you anything?” I asked as we picked up our pace.
“He just says he can see something,” Akira said as she fought against the soft sand.
Once we’d caught up with the Komodo dragon, I wandered through the thin paths the mounds of sand had created. The dunes barely came up to my waist, so it gave me the perfect view of what Damien had found. That was when I realized we were on a small hill, and at the bottom of the hill was the smoothest, flattest plain I’d ever seen. The flat ground continued on as far as the eye could see, but over to my right was a mountain that looked to be at least three times the size of the one we were currently standing on.
“Do we… need to climb that?” Astrid gulped loudly.
“We have to reach the highest point somehow.” I shrugged. “Come on, let’s go down.”
Damien scarpered, and his small, fat legs plodded through the sand as he descended down the hill.
He seemed to have the right idea.
“Use your cloaks as a mat and slide down on your butt,” I informed my group as I sat my ass down into the sand.
I waited until the women had followed my movements, and then with a quick shuffle of my butt, I began to slowly slide down the hill. My speed picked up quickly, and suddenly the landscape beside me whizzed past in a blur.
“Watch out for rocks!” I yelled as a small, gray rock came into sight.
I managed to maneuver myself around the obstacle, and a cloud of sand and dust flew into my face every time my ankles skimmed across the ground. Then, before I knew it, I’d reached the bottom, and I slid a couple meters across the solid ground before my movement came to a halt.
Akira arrived next, followed by Faye, Astrid, and Della. Each witch had the largest, brightest smile on their faces, but I knew that expression would soon change when we were met with the challenge of climbing the highest mountain.
I cupped my hands around my eyes as I tried to see past the glare of the sun, and in the distance, I managed to see a black shadow soaring around the tip of the mountain.
“Alexander, have you found something?” I asked.
I… think so? he replied. I can’t quite tell what it is, but there’s something at the top of this mountain. The ground doesn’t quite match. It’s like it’s been made from concrete slabs instead of sand.
“Concrete?” I frowned.
“What?” Astrid asked.
“Alexander said he sees concrete slabs at the top of that mountain,” I said as I continued to watch the wolverine soar.
“How can the slabs stay in place with all that sand underneath?” Della wondered.
“That’s what we need to find out,” I said with a pointed look. “The concrete is obviously there for a reason.”
I began to walk across the open plain in the direction of the mountain, and my women followed on behind me. I took another sip from my water bottle, but I kept my eyes focused on Alexander the entire time. Everything looked the same in a place like this, and although that mountain was the highest in the area, it would have been very easy to get lost and wander in a completely different direction.
As I wandered toward the mountain, I made a list of what we needed to do in my head. Once we’d made it to the top, we needed to sense around to see if the artifact was there and then locate the second one. I had a feeling the second artifact was going to be more of a challenge, mainly because the Urn was the most important artifact, but we’d cross that hurdle when we came to it.
Right now, all we had to do was reach the mountain and locate the Oblivion Inscriptions as quickly as we could.
But something felt… off.
Almost too easy.
I stopped walking as I mused over that thought, and I properly took in my surroundings. The ground was hard and flat like stone, unlike the sand dunes we’d just battled against, so it made it much easier to get from one side to the other. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to climb the sand mountain, but there didn’t appear to be any challenges to stop us from getting to said mountain.
“Master, are you okay?” Della asked.
“I think we have our work cut out when we get there,” I said as I pointed toward the top of the mountain.
“Well, yeah, it’s not going to be a walk in the park,” Akira scoffed.
“No, I mean it’s going to be harder than we first expected,” I told her. “Think about it, these artifacts are hidden, and hidden well, so it’s not going to be as simple as walking up there and grabbing it. Especially with this walk being as easy as it is.”
Cole, I... Alexander said. Shit, there’s a really heavy wind up here, and I can’t get any closer!
“A heavy wind?” I frowned.
I felt nothing but a light breeze, but as I looked up at the wolverine, I noticed how he struggled to control his wings, and he appeared to be hovering in mid air. I headed toward the bottom of the mountain, just in case I could feel the same wind Alex spoke about, but there was no change in the air, and if anything, the breeze had settled down more due to the obstacle in our way.
“Alexander, come down here,” I said as I walked back to my coven.
We needed to get up there, and I needed to see exactly what Alexander meant when he said a heavy wind.
“What are you doing?” Astrid asked.
“I’m going up there.” I grinned.
Then Alexander lowered himself to the ground, and his black wings were tucked neatly into his sides.
“Alex, you’re going to take me up there,” I ordered. “We’ll try and fight through that wind, and then I’ll see what the cement slabs are all about.”
Um… okay, the familiar said hesitantly.
I took out my wand from my short’s pocket and aimed it at the wolverine. “Crescere!”
A yellow light covered Alexander, and I watched through the light as his body began to shake before he grew at least five sizes. The wolverine was now the size of a black bear, and his impressive wingspan was just what I needed to fight through the wind.
“You know what you’ve got to do,” I said as I climbed onto Alexander’s back.
Hold on tight, he replied.
I hooked my feet into his sides and grabbed onto his broad neck to hold my balance. Alexander flapped his enormous wings, and a cloud of sand smacked me straight in the face, but I kept my head low, and soon the two of us lifted into the air. Alexander picked up speed the higher he soared, but I was also quick to notice the heavy breeze he’d spoken about.
“Fight through it, Alexander!” I shouted as the wind whipped around us.
I’m. Doing. My. Best, he said, but the struggle was clear in his voice.
I could just make out the cement slabs Alexander had mentioned before, but the gale was too powerful to get any closer. I knew this journey had been too easy before now, but now I had a feeling the mountain was enchanted. It wanted to stop people from reaching the artifacts, so it was going to fight off any magic that came its way.
“Okay, Alex, head back to the ground,” I sighed.
The artifact was right there, I could sense it, but if we wanted to get to it, we needed to go without magic.
Once Alex lowered to the ground, I climbed off his back and then used a reversal spell to bring him back down to size again.
“What happened?” Faye asked.
“There’s no way to reach the cement unless we climb,” I replied.
“We have to… climb that?” Akira asked with a loud gulp.
“It’s the only way up there.” I shrugged.
“But how do we get up there?” Astrid asked. “Won’t the sand just fall away and take us with it?”
“Yes, which is why we need to be careful,” I said as I began to walk again. “Watch what Damien does. He digs his claws into the sand and climbs at a fast pace. So we need to dig our feet into the ground to make an impression, but don’t hang around for too long, otherwise you’ll start to go in the opposite direction.”
“But he has a tail specifically designed for terrain like this,” Della said as she wiped some sweat from her brow.
“Not really.” I shook my head. “Komodo dragons tend to stick to harsher, tougher ground like what we’re on now. They use their tails as a weapon, so if anything, his tail adds more weight, and it’ll make it harder for him to climb a soft surface.”
“He’s also heavier than we are, which probably makes it more difficult for him,” Akira added with a smug smirk. “He’s just a badass like me.”
“Exactly,” I said as we reached the base of the mountain. “So, remember what I said and keep climbing.”
We all took another small sip of water to rehydrate our bodies, and then I began to climb first. It felt like I was walking on a cloud, and every time I took a step, my feet sank further into the sand, but I dug my toes in as far as they would go and kept climbing. I positioned myself closer toward the sand as a way of balancing myself, and I used all the energy in my body to keep moving.
“Satan, this really is harder than I thought,” Faye panted from somewhere behind me.
“Try and climb from side to side, instead of going up in a straight line,” I said as I forced my feet further into the sand. “And look out for any rocks. You can use them to get a better grip.”
I wasn’t sure how much time passed, but the sun continued to blister my skin, and every time I looked up, the top of the mountain seemed to get further and further away. I’d heard of people experiencing mirages while in desert-like areas, and the heat from the sun could play with people’s minds, so I wondered if that was what I’d experienced. Perhaps the top of the mountain only appeared far away, when in actuality it wasn’t far off at all.
But then, just as I thought that, my feet slipped deeper into the sand. I couldn’t grip onto anything no matter how hard I tried, and as I peered upwards, I noticed the top of the mountain start to sink.
“Fuck, go!” I shouted as I repositioned myself.
Master, the entire mountain is starting to cave in! Alexander said with a panicked voice.
“I know,” I growled as I found some grip once again. “Keep an eye on the slabs.”
I’ll do my best, he said. But I can’t get much closer because of this damn wind.
I forced myself to climb higher, and I used everything I had in me to keep going, but I knew the women behind me found it harder than I did. Their sighs, huffs, and pants echoed around my ears, and whenever I turned my head round to look at them, the witches were struggling against the sudden change in terrain.
“Come on, you’ve got this,” I said. “If you stop, the sand will simply take you down with it. Fight against the current, and soon all of this will be over. That’s an order.”
“Yes, master,” my coven panted out, but the strength of my authority buzzed through them and pushed them faster and harder.
I found it harder to climb the further up I went, and at one point I was practically knocked down by an avalanche of grainy sand, but I fought past it and kept the top of the mountain in sight. I looked out for anything I could have used to hold myself steady, but not a single rock or boulder was in sight.
Finally, after what seemed like hours of torture, I reached the top of the mountain, and I managed to grasp onto some stone slabs to haul myself up. But as I peered down, I noticed the women were still several metres away. The base of the mountain had curved inwards at a dangerous angle, and it wasn’t going to be long before the entire thing collapsed. Damien and I were safe on what seemed like cement, but Faye, Akira, Astrid, and Della were moments away from being eaten up by the sand.
“Come on!” I shouted down. “The mountain is about to collapse!”
“Master… I…” Faye hesitated as she forced herself to climb further. “My feet… I can’t grip onto anything!”
“Here, Faye, grab my hand,” Della said with her arm outstretched toward the redhead.
“No, don’t!” Akira yelled. “The weight of you both put together will pull you under! Like Cole said, you need to climb!”
A few minutes later, Astrid grasped onto one slab, and I helped her pull herself onto the solid ground, but Della, Akira, and Faye continued to battle against the ever-increasing current.
Della arrived next, with Akira only a step behind her, but I could see Faye was close to giving up. Her face was stained red, droplets of sweat continuously fell from her forehead, and her steps got smaller with every one that she took.
“Faye, keep going!” I urged.
“I… I’m trying, master,” she said, and she was almost close to tears. “I don’t have the strength to fight through it.”
I had to do something, and I had to do it quickly before Faye became the mountain’s victim. I wanted them to fight through the challenges on their own, but Faye was cutting it close to reach the ledge on time.
I rummaged around my pockets until I came across my wand, and then I aimed it directly at Faye just as she began to sink into the sand.
“Supervolo!” I yelled, and my voice carried through the open area around us.
I felt the strength that shook through my wand, and the ferocious wind had picked up even more than before. The mountain must have known I’d used my wand, so it did everything in its power to stop me from casting a spell.
I knew I had seconds spare in order to save Faye before she completely slipped out of sight.
I held my balance as the gale tried to knock me off my feet, but the more I fought against the elements, the more of Faye’s body appeared from the mountain side. At first, I could only see her head and shoulders, but then her torso came into view as the spell lifted her into the air.
Finally, after a couple minutes of fighting against the mountain, Faye was released. She looked practically deflated, and her arms and legs hung lifelessly as she was lifted up the mountain. I lowered the tired witch gently to the ground, and as Faye tried to regain her energy, the other three women crowded around her with bottles of water.
“Give her some space,” I said as I took a step back. “Faye, are you okay?”
“Y-Yeah,” she gasped. “Thank you for saving me, master, but I just need a minute.”
“Take the time you need,” I said. “Akira, Della, and Astrid, you three can assist me in finding this damn artifact.”
“I swear, if we picked the wrong mountain, I won’t be pleased,” Akira said with a scowl.
“After what we’ve just encountered, I doubt the Oblivion Inscriptions will be anywhere else,” I scoffed.
“The riddle also mentioned something about watching out for what’s under our feet,” Della added. “And, unless it meant something else, we definitely just experienced that.”
I took my first proper look at our surroundings and tried to collect as many clues as I could. The Inscriptions could have been anywhere, and all we had to do was find them.
“What’s written in stone, but not in fire, hidden here brings your biggest desire...” I said aloud as I thought through the riddle. “It’s soft to touch, yet bittersweet, make sure to watch what’s under your feet...”
The square cement slabs beneath us were about a foot in diameter, with twenty-five slabs in total making up a large square. Each one looked identical to the other, so I didn’t notice any obvious differences there, but I knew the slabs wouldn’t be on top of the mountain for any other reason.
They clearly had a purpose, so I just needed to work out what that purpose was.
The riddle mentioned something being written in stone but also in fire, so that could have been either the artifact or the slabs, but the more I thought about it, the more my mind began to wander. There was a clear difference between the cement and the sand, and the grainy substance almost felt like tiny fireballs against my skin, but the slabs were also just as hot which clarified the cement slabs had something to do with the artifact.
“It’s soft to touch…” I mumbled.
The sand was soft to touch, and it was bittersweet, but like what my group and I had discussed earlier, the riddle included words that helped link the clues together.
“Soft to touch yet bittersweet,” I repeated once more.
And then it came to me.
“Everyone, feel the slabs and see if you can tell a difference in them,” I urged as I crouched to my knees. “If one feels softer than another, I need you to tell me.”
“Why?” Astrid asked.
“The riddle mentioned being soft to touch,” I said as I slid my hands over the slabs. “It might not have just meant the sand, so maybe the artifact is under a specific slab.”
A few minutes passed as everyone searched around the large square, and then suddenly Faye shouted out she’d found something. I raced over to the slab she’d found, and instantly noticed the difference between that cement compared to the other stones around it.
It felt like I was stroking velvet, not stone.
“Okay, stand back,” I said as I positioned myself over the slab.
I held my wand directly in the center of the cement, and then I used the first spell that came to mind.
“Quodcumque celas ostendere,” I said.
A white light surrounded the circumference of the square, yet nothing happened. The square was supposed to show me what hid underneath, so either I needed to use a different spell, or I’d decoded the riddle completely wrong.
“What happened?” Della asked. “Did we go to the wrong place?”
“No, I’m certain this is the right place,” I muttered. “But I need to know the exact spell to release the artifact.”
“Let’s think about the riddle again,” Faye said as she opened her water bottle. “Is the spell maybe hidden in the words?”
“Written in stone… but also in fire…” Akira whispered under her breath.
“Hidden here brings your biggest desire!” I grinned as it came to me. “That has to be it! I need to order the stone to show me my biggest desire.”
“And in this case, the artifact is your desire,” Astrid said.
“Exactly.” I smirked before I returned to my original position and directed my wand against the slab. “Ostende mihi faciem meam desiderio maximus.”
Then a blue light shot from my wand and covered the entire slab of cement. The square began to wobble and shake as the force increased in my wand, and then the square slowly broke free from the others and lifted higher into the air. I kept the spell in place and never broke contact with the slab until it began to turn on its axis and the underside of the cement faced me.
And there, covered in grains of sand, was the Oblivion Inscriptions.
Various words and markings had been carved into the stone, and although I couldn’t make out what they said, I knew for certain this is what we were after.
I held the stone gently in my hands, and despite the fact it had been hidden for so many years, there was barely a scratch or mark across the entire thing.
But no matter how much I wanted to sit and gaze at the artifact, there was still one more to find.
“I can’t believe we found it,” Akira said in awe.
“And now we just need to find the Urn,” Faye added.
“I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as that was,” I said as I clicked my fingers, and a cloth bag appeared.
Then I carefully placed the Inscriptions into the bag and draped the strap over my right shoulder.
“Umm… if that was easy, then I’d hate to see what difficult looks like,” Astrid snickered.
“It was easy, if you think about it,” I explained. “We barely walked one hundred steps before the mountain came into view, and all we had to deal with was the falling sand and wind.”
“Yeah, really easy…” Faye said sarcastically.
“Come on, we don’t have time to stand around,” I said as I peered over the edge of the square. “I think we should get back down to the bottom and then decide where to go from there.”
Due to the falling sand, the mountain side dipped and curved all over the place, and I knew the slide down the hill wasn’t going to be as fun as it previously had been, but I saw no other option.
“Do what we did last time, and use your cloaks as a mat,” I said as I positioned myself. “It’ll be harder and faster than last time, but it shouldn’t take long to get down there.”
And then suddenly, just as the women were in position, the slabs began to shake violently. It was difficult to keep my balance with the amount of wind that whipped around my head, but then I noticed the mountain sides had started to cave in even more. We now possessed the Inscriptions, so either the enchantments had one last game for us, or they were starting to dissolve completely.
“Cole, what do we do?” Faye asked as her hair blew wildly around her head.
“Everyone, grab hands!” I ordered as I tightened my hold against the bag. “The mountain is about to crumble, and we don’t want to be with it.”
The women all linked together, and I noticed how Akira had Damien tucked safely against her. Then, once we were all connected, I clicked my fingers, and a purple mist formed around us.
Then we shadow-ported into the solid ground seconds before the mountain collapsed and vanished into thin air. The cement was gone, and it looked like the mountain had never been there in the first place.
“Fuck,” Della groaned. “At least it made it down in one piece…”
“Okay,” Akira said with a sigh. “Let’s find this damn Urn.
“Well, like with the Inscriptions, we need to work out where it is first,” I explained. “Then we can use the riddle to decode the finer details.”
“Two minds together work as one,” Akira repeated the riddle. “Go to where the sand is thick, and there you will be done.”
“Where the sand is thick…” Faye muttered. “Where could that be?”
I glanced around the open area as I tried to search for some sort of clue, but everything looked the same. There were hills and mountains of sand on either side, the occasional tree and boulder, but that was it.
“We obviously need to search for deeper areas of sand, but it could be anywhere around here,” I said as I cupped one hand over my eyes. “Unless there’s another clue hidden in the words.”
Now that the wind is gone, I’ll see what I can find for you, master! Alexander said as his body swooped through the air. Don’t go anywhere until I say otherwise.
“Then you better hurry up,” I snickered.
Fast is my middle name, the wolverine chuckled.
I followed Alexander’s black shadow until he soared over the top of a mountain, and I was desperate to continue walking, but without knowing what was on the other side, the decision to move could have caused more harm than good.
“Although the heat rises, I swear it’s hotter down here,” Akira laughed as she squinted her eyes against the bright sun. “How anyone could live in Goshotha is beyond me.”
“I wonder how the others are getting on,” Faye said, and then she placed her cloak over her head again.
“I wish we were in the black sea, or in the snow like Nyx and Vesta,” Della sighed as she fanned her flushed face.
“Yeah, but I bet they wished they were somewhere warm, so you can’t win.” I shrugged. “I have faith each group will come back with their artifacts, and it’s a case of when that happens.”
I poured a tiny droplet of water into my palm, and then I spread the cool liquid across my forehead. It helped with the heat for a handful of seconds, but the water quickly dried up, and my skin began to blister once again. It made me see just how dangerous the desert was, but at least I had the ability to leave whenever I needed to, some people didn’t have that luxury.
Another five minutes passed before Alexander was seen again.
I don’t know if the sand is thicker or deeper on this side, but it definitely looks like there’s more of it, Alex said as he came to land by my feet, and he held one wing out in the direction he came from. I can continue searching, but it might be best if you head over there first.
“Excellent.” I grinned. “Thank you, Alexander.”
You got it, sir. Alexander gave me a salute with his wing, and then he lifted himself into the air again.
“Right, let’s go,” I said to my team.
“Are you sure we need to go that way?” Astrid asked as she dragged her feet behind her.
“Look, I understand this is difficult, and we need a minute away from the sun,” I explained. “However, we can’t just sit around and wait for the artifact to appear. The sooner we search, the sooner we’ll find the Urn, and we can head back to Scholomance.”
“Of course.” Astrid bowed her head. “I apologize, my lord, I shouldn’t have second-guessed your judgement.”
Like with the mountain, the open area of sand appeared never-ending, and sometimes it felt like I was walking away from the destination instead of toward it. But we kept going, and thirty minutes later, we arrived at another sand dune. This one was far smaller than the previous mountain, and it only took us five minutes to climb over it.
“This looks promising,” Faye said as she took in the surroundings.
“Never underestimate the familiars.” I smirked.
The new area in front of us looked like various sand dunes all piled into one. It was definitely thicker than the previous terrain, and so far it matched the description of the riddle. I also noticed the sun was now behind us, and the height of a dune had created a dark shadow on the ground.
“Let’s sit in the shade as we decide our next move,” I said. “The lack of sun might help us think better.”
I didn’t have to tell my group twice, and we crashed down into the shade. The sand was cool and cold to the touch, and it felt amazing to fully open my eyes for the first time since we’d arrived in Goshotha.
Damien had also made himself comfortable, and he used his large tail to flip some cold sand onto his back.
“Okay, what did the riddle say again?” Della asked as she lounged back against the dune.
“Two minds together work as one, go to where the sand is thick, and there you will be done,” I replied.
“So, I assume it means we need to be powerful?” Akira suggested.
“And it helps that we have the Dark Lord with us,” Faye snickered.
“But what if it doesn’t mean power?” Della asked.
“What do you mean?” Astrid frowned.
“I mean, so far the riddles have meant many different things, so maybe it’s not as obvious as power,” the Edrian woman explained.
“You’ve got a point.” I nodded. “However, until we know what it means, there’s not a lot we can do. I suggest we take a look around and see if anything springs to mind.”
I glanced off into the horizon and tried my best to fight through the burning sun. The sand glistened from the rays, and the more I looked, the more mirages appeared. I couldn’t tell what was real and what was fake, but I knew I had to keep searching, no matter how difficult it seemed.
Then I spotted a black object in the distance.
Like with everything else, it was difficult to tell whether it was real or not, but as I focused on the object, I spotted a second one directly next to it. They looked like rocks from where I sat, but they appeared smoother and less jagged than the other rocks we’d seen.
Something told me to take a look at them, but I wasn’t sure where that sensation came from.
“I’m going to look over there,” I said with one hand pointed in that direction. “You can stay here if you like, or you can come with me.”
“We’ll come with you,” Akira said as she stood from the ground. “It’s best we all stick together in this.”
“Perfect.” I smiled.
I kept my eyes focused on the black rocks as we wandered closer, and I didn’t realize they were real until they were within touching distance. They were definitely rocks, as I’d expected, but they almost felt as smooth as the cement slabs we’d encountered.
“Does this feel different to you?” I asked, just to make sure it wasn’t my mind playing tricks on me.
Akira put her hand out first, but the second her palm was inches away, she pulled it back like she’d been electrocuted.
“Fuck!” Akira cried out as she held her hand against her chest. “That sun really is hot.”
“But it didn’t feel hot to me.” I frowned and then went to touch the rocks again.
They were slightly warm, but nothing that would have caused much pain.
“Astrid, can you give it a go?” I asked.
“Of course.” She nodded.
The blonde-haired witch reached out to touch the rocks, but she had the exact same reaction as Akira.
“Unholy Satan,” she gasped. “What is that?”
“No one can get close enough to the rocks apart from me,” I said.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Della replied.
Clearly these rocks had something to do with the hidden artifact, and it made me think about the riddle and words we needed to decode.
I walked in a circle around the rocks, but as I thought about the riddle, the shape of the stones caught my eye. Not only did they not feel like rocks, but they also didn’t look like them either. They were curved at the top and made up of much smaller parts all connected together, but the bottom of the boulders were straight and smooth, and it reminded me of something, but I couldn’t quite place it.
I stared at the obelisks for a couple of minutes, but then it hit me.
“A brain,” I said aloud. “These rocks resemble a brain.”
“What?” Faye asked.
“Look,” I said as I outlined the shape with my finger. “They look like brains with different sections for different lobes. But didn’t the riddle say that two minds together work as one?”
“Shit!” Della gasped. “Two minds, two brains!”
“Okay…” Akira frowned. “But then what do we do now?”
I thought through the words once again and dissected them until I was certain of my answer.
“I think we need to connect the rocks together,” I said as I located my wand. “If they work as one, then surely they need to become one.”
“Yes, yes!” Faye jumped up and down excitedly. “I think you’ve got it!”
I wasted no time as I aimed my wand at the closest rock. “Ut simul adiungere!”
A bolt of green light sparked and shot against the rock, and the stone tried to move, but there was something blocking it. I put everything I had into holding that spell still, but even then the rock refused to budge.
“Everyone, grab your wands and cast the same spell!” I said as I fought against the power. “But make sure you all aim for this rock, otherwise it won’t be strong enough.”
“Ut simul adiungere!” the four witches cried out in unison.
The force against my wand eased up as the women joined in, and within seconds I noticed the rock edge closer and closer toward the second one. There was only a small space between the two stones, so it didn’t take long for them to collide together, but like with the first mission, this one seemed too easy.
There had to be something else involved, and I knew it wasn’t going to be as simple as putting the rocks together and retrieving the Urn.
Then I noticed Faye’s eyes widened as she peered off into the distance.
“Um… Cole?” she said with fear in her voice.
“Yes?” I asked.
Faye motioned with her hand to the sand behind me, so I kept my wand aimed at the rocks and turned to look in the direction she’d pointed in.
And then I saw it.
The sand was shaking like an earthquake, and it looked like the current was headed in our direction. But as it came closer, I noticed it wasn’t an earthquake after all.
It was something much more dangerous.
Small, brown, oval heads appeared from out of the sand. The eyes on those heads were a bright, vibrant red, with the blackest, vertical pupils, and that was when I knew what we were about to face.
The snakes opened their mouths to reveal long, razor sharp fangs, and their piercing hiss filled the air around us.
It was the final part of the mission, and from the look in the snakes’ eyes, they weren’t going to let us take the Urn that easily.
