Time Since Reckless Self-Endangerment: 3 Days 20 Hours

Goal: Kill 'Baby Boots'

Nic continued to search the small temple, finding there was only one exit beyond the bridge - a sloping stairwell that led up to a small and rough cave system above. The ground of the caves was tilted up, and Nic suspected that he had a rough lay of the land.

This cave system would lead up to the next bridge, and that bridge would cross over into another set of tunnels, sometimes breaching the walls and continuing through the rough footpaths on the side of the cavern. The overall descent was meant to be a zig-zagging route that carried back and forth over the bridges.

It was also crawling with ghouls.

As Nic lit his lantern a ghoul hissed and retreated along the walls. It scuttled down into a hiding hole and vanished quickly, but it was enough to prove the point. The caves would be full of ghouls emerging from hidden tunnels.

His danger sense made that less oppressive but still-

It would be an ugly crawl back up.

But taking the ‘easy’ route of climbing up the chasm’s side was even less possible. The traps alone posed little threat to him, but combined with the ghouls and potentially other defenders, he’d be fighting while moving at a snail’s pace across dangerous territory.

His first goal, however, was to find the fountain that would cleanse his curse.

“Sofia?” He felt a ripple of consciousness awaken in his left eye as he said her name. Nic was becoming aware that Sofia wasn’t always watching - she spent a great deal of time away, researching and doing other mysterious business. “Any good information on curses?”

“Curses are parasitic Essences that feed on your own cultivation, requiring either surgical methods or destruction of your own base to tear out. If you were E-Class, the method you used to purge toxins would allow you to shed these curses easily.” Sofia explained. “As it is you will need this fountain to to help you.”

Interesting, but not useful. Shouldering his weapons Nic began to head down the bridge. As before, the ghouls hissed but kept their distance.

Something was scaring them away.

He found that something in the temple at the far end of the bridge. Crouched around a small jar full of fireflies, watching them flicker in and out, was an enormous giant. He had long, unkempt hair that fell down around a crooked nose and dark beady eyes. His hands were manacled to the walls, but as Nic approached he saw that one chain had actually been broken.

“Boy.” The giant’s voice rumbled. “You come to a land of death.”

“Gosh. Hadn’t noticed. So, big guy, what are you in for? Stole something from the valley?” His eyes crept across the room. The door out - onto the walkway that led to the great temple at the end of the valley - was just to the side of the giant.

Not too close. But within reach of that long, thin arm.

The giant grinned and showed red teeth. “I ate a god.”

Nic’s lumpy, hairless eyebrows went way up. “Okay. I have to know. Taste?”

The grin grew wider. “Like you wouldn’t believe.”

Levanth. E-Class (Peak) // Sapient (Demigod). This wicked old creature has the soul of a beast, never satisfied. In his hunger he devoured every fish in the great river, and every beast that walked upon the land. Only the sun god could tame him, challenging the beast to a drinking contest until all that he had stolen spilled from his belly in sickness.

Nic squinted. That… didn’t sound like E-Class.

In fact it didn’t sound possible.

He was beginning to think the System liked to tell stories that weren’t entirely true. He’d confront Sofia about it before long, but not in front of this giant.

“You want to know how I did it boy? How I felled gods and kings back in my day? I may be an old husk, but the torturers never got my secrets out. You can have them though. For the cost of a red meat, I’ll tell you everything.” The giant's voice made dust shake from the ancient stones of the ceiling.

Nic began to slowly walk. Not quite forward, but not quite for the door either.

“Oh? Got any idea where I’d find some? Those ghouls don’t look like very good eating.”

In response, the giant pursed his lips and whistled a little tune. High and low, high and high, low and high again. “Try that one on the secret doors. You’ll find whole cities hidden in these walls. See? Full of secrets, old Levanth is. Come and learn a few...”

Nic reached into his bag and took out a palm-leaf parcel of crabs. They scuttled and clicked in terror as the old giant licked his lips. “Well, it’s not red meat, but maybe…”

“It’ll do!” The giant shouted in eagerness, reaching a chained hand forward. It looked like an innocent gesture - but Nic knew the old bastard was just trying to emphasize how he supposedly couldn’t reach farther than a certain point. “All my secrets, for a meal…”

Nic took one step forward-

Flung the bag with a shout-

And reversed course as the giant grasped for the flying parcel, dashing for the door. He reached out to the Sandrider Blade on his back and made the grit on the floor heave up, creating a wave that propelled him towards the sunlight of the exit and out of the dim cell.

Nic broke through an instant before Levanth slammed into the doorway with a terrible roar. The whole valley shook with the impact. A huge hand with a broken manacle around the wrist shot through and grasped at him - but Nic was already gone. He retreated slowly, shaking hard, as the hand blindly raked the earth and tried to find him.

As it retreated he caught the glimpse of the giant’s yellow eye. “You’ll be back...” Levanth croaked as he retreated back into his den. One arm still chained to the wall.

Nic sighed as he collected himself and headed onwards. He would be - he was far too cautious of trying to navigate the desert sands at the base of the valley to bypass the bridge.

Something in his danger sense told him that entire area was a death trap.

Instead, he approached the enormous ziggurat temple step by step. The lowest layer had huge pillars in the shape of gods holding up the ceiling, with a dark tunnel leading within. Hollow winds blew across the pillars and made dust swirl outwards. Ancient runes adorned the walls among hieroglyphs of gods.

Nothing pinged his danger sense, but Nic wasn’t totally willing to trust that yet. This valley had already taught him that the System’s Archive Recall would lie when it wanted to - so why would a System-approved skill be any different.

He kept his eyes open and rotated aura through the Eight-Eyes Mantle to extend his physical senses as he stepped inside.

Dozens of dried corpses littered the floor. They had died crawling towards, reaching for, a fountain at the center of the room.

It was bone dry.

Not a single drop of water shimmered within the hollow basin.

Standing in the center of the fountain was a grotesque statue. It was a tall, thin creature with the body of a starving man, all ribcage and sharp bones. It had the head of an ibis-bird, with a long neck and straight spear-like beak, akin to a heron. Huge wings extended from its back and it held a scythe in its arms.

From the moment he saw the statue Nic knew exactly what he was looking at.

“Archive Recall.”

The Guardian of the Valley. Astral // Undead. A demigod tasked with guarding the dead, this loyal servant of the tombs has died countless times. It awakes each night under the moon and turns to stone when the sun shines. Its powers grow each time it hunts, and its scythe steals years of life with every cut or scrape no matter how small.

Nic didn’t waste time. Drawing the Sandrider Blade, he swung hard and broke the creature’s head in two with the massive weapon. Stone dust rained as he struck again and again to break the statue into chunks of crudely weathered sandstone.

Sure. It would come back.

But he had to hope killing it would at least slow it down.

Turning away, Nic looked around the temple. It was clear these people had been slaughtered by the Guardian as they tried to reach the waters of the fountain and cleanse themselves. But why had the waters stopped?

Three grooves in the floor were clearly meant to channel water into the pool. They ran along the ground until they stopped at the feet of three statues. One bore the head of a python, the next of a hippo, the third of a frog. Each of them held an empty jug that was meant to be pouring forth with cold, clear water.

Nic searched in desperation for an mechanism that would let him turn on the waters. The sun was already starting to dip low in the sky, and there wasn’t too much daylight left.

Nothing. The room was almost empty except for a flight of stairs rising up to a door sealed by System runes.

As he lay his hand upon the door a challenged flashed into his mind.

Room Challenge:

Defeat the Maze of the Ushabti

Reward - Middle Temple Access, Ankh-River Balm

First Clear Reward - Purewater Tearstone

Another first clear was open to him. Nic almost pressed ahead in the hopes of finding the water-source when Sophia cleared her voice in his head.

“Nic? Turn back for a moment.”

Nic turned.

The statue’s broken parts were gone. He hissed in anger, but then something else caught his eyes-

There was a mural in the empty basin of the fountain.. It depicted the valley, but with symbols of ancient beasts dotted among the temples and bridges. And at the very bottom, the base of the valley, were the symbols of the python, hippo, and frog.

He looked back to the three statues. That was no coincidence.

The locations on the mural depicted where the sources of the fountain were. He was sure of it.

Which meant he had some hiking to do.