“So...how did this place get buried under all the sand?” Omid finally blurted out after several minutes of following Sareen through the darkened labyrinth of bookshelves and talking himself in and out of daring to ask questions at record speed.

“It is quite old, and there has been quite a bit more sand made since then.” She said offhand, not even looking back to Omid as she led them through the shelves.

Omid’s eyes never left her as he trudged along, despite a nagging need at the back of his head to scout out his surroundings. He even walked a bit closer to her. Out of safety. Anything else out there that wanted to attack him would be doing so in close proximity to Sareen, which she would take as an insult.

So went the logic predicated on exhaustion, fear, and anxiety.

“How much of that was your own handiwork?” Omid asked, as curious as he was hoping to play to her ego.

Sareen stopped before a shelf, looking it over carefully with an arm still cradling the bell jar and crystal held aloft before turning to face Omid. The smallest of smiles crept over her lips. “Not enough, but more than you would think.”

“I can think quite a lot.” Omid quickly replied, wincing a moment later as Sareen raised an eyebrow at the remark. To which the young man cleared his throat and scrambled for a recovery. “What I meant to say, was that I can imagine you being responsible for quite a lot. You have shown yourself to be quite powerful.”

Her smile grew the tiniest bit and a pinch of pride shone through in her eyes. “Are you attempting to flatter me?”

Omid opened his mouth to speak, gritting his teeth for a moment and glancing off to the side. Which reminded him of all present company. His eyes went back to Sareen’s, still awaiting an answer.

“There is something or more likely someone else out there that is also following me and has been since before I actually met you.” Omid said while pointing over his shoulder. “Of course you already know this, but I’m still new to...all of this.” He said while gesturing all around him.

Sareen gave a slight nod as Omid saw the briefest flash of uncertainty in her eyes before he continued. “You are very powerful, and I realize now probably keeping me safe from...them.”

Omid dared a glance over his shoulder, and even one second of darkness was enough for him to quickly look back to Sareen. “So, it’s only right that I acknowledge your power.”

She looked Omid up and down with a neutral expression. “Continue.” She said with a nod.

“Aaaaand, your wisdom.” Omid said, audibly searching for the answer that would keep him alive while hoping the sweat drop running down his temple was not too obvious.

“Mhmmm, and.” She said while casually pulling her scarf from her head to reveal long, straight black hair tucked behind her ears that must have reached to her lower back. Impossibly well maintained and free of any stray hairs despite all the time in the desert. It framed her slender face to make a striking visage

“....and beauty?” He meant to state though it slipped out as a question. Not that it was up for questioning, but Omid felt he was in yet another test.

Sareen gave a hearty laugh as another portion of Omid’s spirit was incinerated, as he forced a smile fueled by the flames. Her laugh was mercifully brief before she snapped back to a more neutral expression a bit too fast for comfort.

“They have no power here against my own, especially now.” She said in a surprisingly serious tone and accompanying barely visible scowl. Omid glanced down to see her cradling the jar glass encased rose a bit tighter as she looked past him out into the dark.

Omid frowned, feeling as though he was only beginning to figure out how deep he had dug himself into this hole. “You’re welcome?” He asked with resigned trepidation.

Sareen blinked several times, eyes growing wider as she looked back to Omid with that same unfamiliar look of confusion invading her face. “Yes...yes I suppose thanks are in order.”

She pondered and thought, her eyes moving as though she were reading a long and complex text. A short hum, a few words of a spell spoken, and a smile returned to her face as she looked back to Omid to motion for him to follow. Sareen didn’t wait for a confirmation as she turned on her heels and started navigating the empty library once more. Omid hesitated only for the briefest of moments before walking after her brisk pace.

A combination mental and physical exhaustion combined with accumulated nerves to make walking a more involved affair than it should have been. Omid felt the occasional step falter just slightly, his limbs still feeling too heavy for proper control. When he could, he would try to shake some additional life into them while closely following Sareen. He kept trying to take in what he could of this ancient place all the while , saddened by the knowledge he would likely never return here. The thought struck him that if he somehow survived all of this, his account of what he saw here would almost certainly be the only one in living human knowledge.

That sobering realization brought further sadness and a frown Omid failed to hide as his drooping eyes once again fell on the Kirzallan ahead of him. Be it recorded accounts or folk tales, stories did exist of surviving encounters with any variety of Zallan. The rarity of such accounts left much to be desired, and their veracity was questionable at best. Which, Omid thought, just meant that he had to break new ground on Zallan diplomacy.

While he was far under the ground, holding a glowing piece of the earth that the entity of immense power and near complete mastery over any and all things of elemental earth. While she also held his friend’s life in her hands, whom she had turned into perfected sand.

“What is it that you know of this place?” Omid asked as they walked past another identical row of empty shelves, attempting to achieve for his mind a similar immaculate clearness but willing to settle for a light dusting.

“You seem to be observant.” Sareen said, not missing a beat nor a step. “You have noticed how clean this place is?”

“I have.” Omid said. “Outside of furniture, not a single stray bit or bauble to be found. Too little dust for some place so old, remarkably good condition as well. I’ve seen more wear on buildings no more than a generation old. But this place? Well with a few exceptions, nothing.”

Sareen turned her head to look over her shoulder at Omid as she walked, a look of amusement visible as she spoke. “And those exceptions?”

“Broken...depictions I suppose. Probably? There were three other...figures in the two times I saw something broken. It was only twice but-”

“Two points are needed to form a line.” Sareen cut him off, not looking over her shoulder this time. “Even the most tangled and complex webs start with a simple line.”

Despite the abrupt interruption, her words were not rude. Omid even swore he sensed a hint of encouragement to make him stumble slightly, which he immediately covered with a followup question.

“So...what does it mean then?” Omid asked as he tried to will more energy into his body.

Sareen had led them to what looked like an exit emptying into that vast cavern containing only darkness, sand, an ancient ruin, and enough questions to bury an empire. She turned as she walked to face Omid, continuing to walk backwards as she smiled.

“I don’t know!” She said with pure elation and a skip in her step that she somehow maintained while walking backwards. Omid could tell he looked pathetically lost and confused by this as her smile only grew wider. “I’ve heard many theories and stories. Not sure which I like more. That this place was built to honor four gods and abandoned before it could be opened as one god fell out of favor? That that fourth god grew angry and toppled an empire, with this being one of the few remaining reminders? Exceptionally polite and fastidious tomb robbers over the years who really didn’t like that one god? Perhaps they weren’t gods but rather kings and this center of learning and repository of knowledge fell to the folly of man?”

Omid listened carefully, not paying much attention to where he was following her as his imagination ran wild with all the possibilities she presented. He decided to offer his own.

“Er, secret knowledge that was carefully spirited away as they destroyed representations of...someone so that that someone was unable to...observe and follow?” Omid said with a shrug as they finally came to a stop. Looking out of the corner of his eye, he saw the light of his crystal illuminate a natural cavern wall just ahead.

“Oh that’s a good one!” Sareen beamed while deactivating her own light crystal, pocketing it before holding her hand out to Omid expectantly as she still held her precious jar at her side.

He looked down to her hand for a moment, pausing for a breath of hesitation before returning the crystal to her. She gave a nod and as she deactivated it to plunge them into pure darkness, she began to chant a spell.

A low rumble and a crack rang out in the cavern as Omid quickly looked around in surprise before realizing the futility of reacting to such instincts in a pitch black cave. Streams of light poured in from above as the ground shook, Omid steadied himself as he raised an arm to shield his eyes from the first sunlight he had seen in hours. He had no time to adjust to either as he near fell over at the ground beneath him suddenly lifting up towards where the light was peeking in high at the cavern ceiling. More rumbling and shaking as the ceiling opened more in time with their rapid ascent until the light of the suns was blinding.

Omid blinked bleary eyed as he was finally able to stand upright and attempt to take in his new surroundings.

He was quickly made aware of several things.

Hurried and panicked shouting from off a ways, Sareen turned away from him and staring at the source of the noise, the noise coming from the small stable that Sareen had created for the camels some hours ago, and five more camels seated just outside the stable. Their riders seemed to have been in the process of attempting to drag Nazer, Masel, and Sareen’s camel from the stable before being interrupted by Omid and Sareen’s ostentatious entrance.

“HEY!” Omid called out as the sudden realization hit him.

His voice rang out and all involved parties froze for a moment that felt like an eternity before the camel thieves clad in dull yellows and grays started to draw their weapons in a panic.

Sareen was next to speak, or rather hum, and a split second later a great gray stone spike burst forth from the desert floor at an angle to impale the nearest thief through the chest and drag the man’s body off the ground as the grisly crown jewel upon a macabre obelisk.

Stunned by the sight, life and awareness coursed through Omid’s veins once more. The sudden requirement to fight for survival staving off exhaustion for a while longer. He didn’t remember drawing his blade, nor did he remember how Sareen had already closed the distance upon the thieves with her own blade at the ready.

The thieves were equally as shocked and scrambling to deal with the newly revealed great threat. Omid cursed under his breath as he ran to join her, not about to sit out protecting their camels. A burly looking man drew a large bow and knocked an arrow at Sareen as she effortlessly parried blows from a thief who had drawn her sword and was now making a futile effort to land a hit.

Sareen appeared to be focusing on deflection and parrying, never once attempting to land a hit of her own as the thief who seemed to be a few years older than Omid called out to her fellows to focus on the man. Which Omid realized was himself as the burly man grit his teeth and aimed the bow directly at him. As he loosed an arrow at Omid, Sareen shattered the other woman’s sword with her own, closed the distance between them, and grabbed her by the neck all in the same motion as lifting her and throwing her with effortless force into the path of the arrow. The woman screamed and flailed as she sailed through the air, shortly before her chest was pierced by the arrow mid-flight and her body struck the sands with a hard thud.

The two remaining thieves had, through all of this, first screamed in terror at the sudden lethality and realization that they were horribly outmatched by a young woman who never stopped her humming and speaking of spells through it all. The first, and youngest, attempted to flee. He made it halfway to the camels who had all started to run away before he sank down to his chest in the sands. The strong man loosed shot after shot at Sareen, though she moved at blinding speeds to dodge them all before seemingly tiring of that dance and causing a giant stone hand to burst forth from the sands to crush the archer in its grasp with a sickening crunch and burst of blood.

Omid had stopped mid run as he beheld the brutal display as had the remaining thief, a young woman of about Omid’s age, who screamed and ran at Omid with terror and desperation in her eyes and sword ready to strike. He held his sword defensively and clenched his jaw while holding his ground. The young woman’s first strike was all too obvious and telegraphed, and Omid was able to effortlessly deflect it. Another wild swing, an easy parry in response to it as Omid landed a shallow cut along the woman’s arm causing her to cry out in pain.

“STOP!” He screamed at her as her own fear and adrenaline were causing her to wield that sword like a complete novice in panicked swings.

She ignored them, and Omid continued deflecting blow after blow. While doing so he overheard Sareen’s humming and saw her off to the side. The small smile returned to her face as she observed Omid’s duel with hands behind her back as she rocked back and forth on her feet as steel clashed against steel.

Omid landed another cut on the thief’s arm as she recoiled with a cry. “This battle is long lost, give up and- augh!”

Ignoring his demands, she made a more focused strike at Omid that he had to put some actual effort into deflecting.

“I am trying-”

Another strike, with growing determination.

“To show some merc-”

She sidestepped as Omid parried back.

“Trying to-”

That one got a little too close.

“I tried.” Omid growled out through gritted teeth, turning her last strike into a feint, carefully repositioning with a step to gain some force, and striking at her throat before she had a chance to react.

The thief fell backwards onto the sands, gasping and gurgling as blood poured from her neck wound. Dropping her sword, her hands shot to her neck in a forlorn attempt to stem the bleeding. Desperate flailing and gasping soon fell still and silent as Omid breathed heavy and doubled over with a hand on his knee and watched the last light leave her eyes.

Once he had caught his breath, he tore his eyes away from the sight and looked to where Sareen stood. The young smiling woman walked over to Omid and stepped over the slain thief while spreading her arms out.

“A masterful duel!” She cheered.

Omid’s eyes narrowed as he gave a heavy exhale. “That wasn’t a duel, nor was that a fight. They were all horribly outmatched.”

“Showing humility and flattery in one breath? Most impressive!” She stood all too close to Omid, looking over him before extending a finger towards the horizon and the camels that had fled in the distance.

“We shall need to retrieve them of course but-”

“PLEASE! SOMEONE HELP ME!” She was interrupted by the thief she had sunk into the sand screaming and flailing his arms about in a fruitless attempt to pull himself free.

Sareen’s smile vanished and in its place a neutral expression stared out at the young thief.

“SOMEONE HE-” His pleading was silenced with a final yelp and flail as Sareen swung her arm from the horizon over to where he was thrashing about, pointed her finger to the thief and gestured downwards while humming a single note as he shot down into the sands.

She looked back to the horizon and similarly returned to pointing out that way as her smile returned all in one fluid motion.

“Now don’t worry, once we retrieve the camels we may return to see what these filthy thieves had on them.” She said in a reassuring voice and warm smile to Omid over the sand muffled final screams of the young thief.

Omid’s mouth hung open ever so slightly as his mind found a way to have a thousand voices screaming yet be entirely silent at the same time.

“I...I don’t think the um...later part of that will be necessary-” He half mumbled before she cut him off.

“Nonsense, you earned it all and I must repay you.” She politely yet firmly corrected.

Among the simultaneous silence and screams within his head, one rose to the top.

“This was a thank you?” He thought to himself.

“After what you did for me, a debt must be repaid.” She plainly stated as Omid realized he was once again not using his inside-his-head voice.

“Uh...right well...wait...where is it?” Omid said, still lost in a daze as he looked down to her and noticed the bell jar missing with rising panic and eyes going even wider.

Sareen hummed a short spell and gestured to the sand next to the man impaled on a stone spire. Up popped the glass covered trophy from the sands, still intact as she briskly strolled over to retrieve her prize and stepping over the woman Omid had slain twice.

“I uh...seeing as how I agreed to accompany you on your journey as a messenger…” Omid spoke as coherent thoughts fought their way back to the top of the screaming silence. One emerged, a theory based on a wild guess that may kill him or save him. “It would only be right of me to um, gift to you one of my camels. For precious cargo?”

Sareen’s smile slipped away behind that visage of neutrality that Omid had learned to worry about by now, shortly before it reappeared. Then vanished. Then flickered as though Sareen was struggling with her reaction. When her smile returned in earnest Omid had already grit his teeth in anticipation.

“You are...too kind and quite practical. Such a gift would of course be welcomed.” She said in that unsure tone once more, tilting her head as she did so. “Now, let’s waste no further time. We don’t want the camels running off too far.”

“Yes...too far really would be...it would be very...yeah let’s go…” He said, finishing his thought only with the greatest of effort.