Samuel set out from his small campsite late the next day, having slept in quite a bit. He’d been out of the camping and traveling mindset for nearly a month now, so his body wasn’t used to sleeping in rough conditions, and waking early with the dawn to begin the journey. Thankfully, a nice breakfast of sausage and coffee rejuvenated him enough that it wasn’t too bad.

Most of the day was taken up by the sheer size of the Dagorra Forest. Strictly speaking, if he’d just continued to the northwest, he would have left the trees with just another hour or so of travel. But he was making his way almost directly north first, to the cave where Arcana had hidden. He wanted to know what he might find there, and so, not being one to deny his own curiosity, he’d decided to make this one detour

He glimpsed several denizens of the forest as he traveled north, but they left him to his own devices. A few of the druids he saw waved or nodded in greeting, but most chose to pretend he didn’t exist. There were two main different behaviors, he noticed. There were the friendly types who were just too busy to chat with a stranger, then there were those who clearly didn’t like outsiders, like the druids he’d encountered the previous evening.

At first, Samuel just walked along the game trails, but he soon realized that this was much too slow. Remembering his journey with Shigeru and Grimr, he began jogging for half an hour, then resting with an easy long-legged pace. He started to cover much more ground after that. He remembered, with a wry grin, how badly out of shape he’d been on that first trip, reduced to a shambling panting wreck after the first hour. But in this new body, such a task posed no real problem.

He broke out of the trees much sooner than he’d expected, and for a moment, he thought that he had taken the wrong direction. He was able to navigate by the sun, or in case of night, the stars, but even he had a stab of doubt as he took in the surrounding landscape. The forest grew right up to the foot of the mountain but didn’t stop there. It curved around to the far east, where he could see the Estavor Mountain Range.

“Where does the forest end?” He mused aloud. “Even for a God and an Ancient, Grimr has done well.”

He started his slow progress up the mountain, nearly making it four hundred feet up the slope before he was quickly reminded of his previous attempt. Massive boulders littered the mountainside even a hundred years later, the remnants of Arcana’s last escape. As Grimr had told him, Arcana had fled up this slope, using great chunks of the mountain to crush his pursuers and allow him to slip into the cave, where he would hide for nearly a thousand years.

The boulders had weathered a bit with the passing years, but they were still clearly defined. Even worse, they were just as clearly in his way. Grimacing at the memory of clambering over each and every one in his path before, he decided that he didn’t want to make that effort today. Better to take the quicker, and only slightly less exhausting route to the top.

He conjured some powerful winds around his body to lift him from the ground and began to fly over the boulders up to the peak. He was a lot slower in his flight than before but still quicker than he’d be on foot. The stones whipped past him as he flew up, using an occasional burst of wind to push him up again. He could only ever fly in one direction at a time with this spell, so he relied a lot on momentum.

He reached the peak in just under ten minutes, landing a little clumsily on the old ledge. There was the familiar cave entrance, he thought to himself. But he knew better than before. It was not a true cave, but a way to hide a long vertical tunnel that reached right down into the mountain’s heart. Shigeru and Grimr had pushed him down before when he’d been on his way to find the fallen god the first time.

Getting down the tunnel was much smoother this time, not to mention painless in comparison. He didn’t freefall until he hit the hard rock landing, this time, but fell down in a controlled descent. He kept his senses sharp for the beginning of the anti-magic barrier that would appear in the last twenty feet and brought himself to a complete stop just in time. He hovered in place for a moment, then let himself drop, rolling as soon as his feet touched down to absorb the shock.

The chamber inside was much as he remembered it. A short tunnel led to a smooth circular chamber. Even the opening he’d made a hundred years ago was still there, and he moved through it, into the slightly smaller chamber that had been Arcana’s last resting place. The walls of this room were more ornate, sporting intricate pillars spaced evenly apart, keeping this entire section of the structure upright. And there, in the direct center, was the large metal brazier that had held the god.

Or had it held the god? Samuel dropped to one knee to peer at the base of the brazier. Most of it was stone, with an intricate metal frame at the top that curved up like a great bowl. But along the stone at the base were several intricate runes, wrapping all around the stone to form a complete circle.

His grasp on the language of the Ancients had been rather droll from the beginning, and even the few words he knew here wouldn’t do him much good. He thought he recognized one word in the line, the name Isip, but the rest might have been Welsik for all he understood. But he did know one Ancient, he thought, who would probably welcome the distraction of helping him decipher the runes.

Sitting cross-legged in front of the empty brazier, Samuel closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. He’d never prayed to a god before, but the process seemed self-explanatory. Allowing his mind to become focused on a single thought, he concentrated as fiercely as he could.

Grimr! He thought with all his might.

There was an instant reply. Don’t shout at me! Who do you think you are to-

The voice trailed off, and Samuel could imagine Grimr rolling his eyes in impatience. What do you want, Samuel?

I’m in Arcana’s cave, and I’ve come across a set of runes. They appear to be written in Ahyan, and I cannot decipher them.

Certainly, you can, Grimr replied. Your mind knows the words, you just have to unlock them.

Samuel heaved a sigh. Can we assume you’ve given your usual lecture, and tell me how to do that?

You’re no fun, Grimr said. Fine. It’s simple. Tap into that which makes you Ancient, and you will find a font of knowledge stored there. That will include the language.

Grimr disengaged from the impromptu prayer-conversation, and Samuel opened his eyes. Surprisingly, Grimr’s answer made a great deal of sense. The one thing that had changed so dramatically for Samuel hadn’t been his new body, but the reinforced mind that Arcana had created, and he had grown from childhood. It was strange to look inwards for knowledge, but it wasn’t hard.

It was as if a dam had been created in his head, only now broken open by his probing. Knowledge of all kinds flashed through his mind. Words, pictures, and even a few flashes of other ancient’s memories rushed out into his mind, settling in place as if they’d existed since he was born. Samuel pushed the vast majority of the new knowledge to the side, focusing on his newfound language.

The meaning of the runes was clear as day to him after that. After taking a few more minutes to walk a full circle around the brazier to read them properly, he came to a stop to ponder them, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Here lies the body of Isip, protected from those who would possess him, until his Champion may come to claim their rights.

He wasn’t sure what it meant by claiming his rights, but his next step seemed clear. He took off the rather nice blue robe and set it on the ground nearby along with his satchel so that they wouldn’t get too dirty or torn by what he did next. He returned to the brazier, placed his hands on the stone sides, and poured his mana into the structure.

Immediately, he felt a change in the stone. He heard something move with a loud clunk, and then several pieces of the brazier began to slide apart. Even the metal frame at the top split apart, as the brazier broke into four pieces and pulled back. Stepping hurriedly back to clear the space, Samuel noticed the dark hole in the ground that was now revealed. Even now, he could sense the life force radiating from the opening.

Inching closer, Samuel peered down. It was so dark that he couldn’t see anything, and every attempt to bring fire to his hands failed, thanks to the anti-magic field. Heaving another sigh, he pulled a torch and flint from his pocket space, taking a few minutes to light the sap-covered stick. The light flared up, illuminating the space and revealing a short drop of five or so feet below him. The ground was more of the intricately carved stone.

As his feet hit the ground, he looked around and quickly jumped back with a cry of shock. The runes had said that the body of Isip lay here, so Samuel was expecting to see a sarcophagus or at least a mummy there. Instead, there was the body of a man with long brown hair, bright white eyes, and a white robe sitting in a stone chair. The body was facing the entrance, so Samuel had ended up eye to eye with it.