Nic emerged long after the assault had ceased. His enemy might have given up after the first hour, or the second, but there was always the chance they’d linger waiting for him to come up; just in case Nic tunneled a long way horizontally before breaking up into open air again. He sighed in relief, his body relishing the unbridled air against his skin.

It was night-time and the desert had become a place of freezing chills and sweeping, howling winds.

The ship had moved on, but Nic didn't feel confident enough to sail through the desert like he owned the place. It would be best to avoid confrontation until he was ready, with full knowledge of who and what he was up against.

He gathered the energies of the Mist-Water Step around his skin, forming a cloak of blurred space that took on the color and patterns of the earth he crossed over. Within he was all but invisible.

And he set out.

---

There were watchtowers rising out of the sand. They were formed out of regular, squared blocks of sandstone, likely produced using some manner of Shard. They stared out over the distance, fires lit at their peaks.

A sand devil watched from each tower.

"They're not just training the sand devils. They're claiming territory. Whoever 'they' are, they mean to stay here."

"The sand devils don't seem bothered by the Aleph…"

"It's possible that's simply because they lack cultivation. They could be absorbing the energy, but at a slower rate than everyone else. More likely, there's some heretical method behind their resilience."

Nic slipped past unseen. He returned to the oasis where he'd laid down a lair what felt like years ago, and was relieved to find it untouched by the storm; the sheltered valley had protected it from the winds of the storm. In the moonlight, the still waters shone brightly.

But as he approached, the sand suddenly moved. A massive scorpion with four claws made of green glass emerged from the slope, crawling up towards him, sting raised high. Nic lazily swung Peacemaker in the foe's direction.

"If you understand me… Just run."

It surged forward and stabbed at him with its tail. The motion was like a cracking whip, blurring through the air, but Nic only needed a single step to evade. "Well…"

Two steps forward and he severed the tail. A spinning riposte removed the claw that reached towards him. Nic stabbed downwards, breaking its skull apart and letting yellow blood ooze out around his blade.

It was a quick kill. It took maybe the space of a single breath.

Nic pulled Peacemaker free, and as he did, a wisp of pale fire emerged from the killing wound. It floated up into the air. Within the drifting flame was a letter made of twisting ash and glinting, hidden embers.

An Aleph-Rune. Nic reached towards it, only for one of the marks already on his skin to flash and unleash a pulse of force that pushed this one away.

"Damn. One I already have?" The two marks were identical.

In that moment, Peacemaker grew hot in his hand. Embers burned along her edge, and a faint resonation ran through the haft. Nic felt hunger.

Hunger for power.

She wanted to absorb the Aleph's strength, and after a moment's hesitation, Nic touched the greatsaber's point into the floating rune. It dissolved, coming apart into lines of power that flooded down and pressed themselves onto the blade.

It was a bit of a risk, but in the end, a living weapon was a weapon with a will.

Better to let it take its own risks.

Hunger turned to satisfaction, and the blade slept.

Unsealing his buried lair, Nic swept aside the little creatures within, sending them scurrying out the door. Sitting down, he unrolled the map he’d made of the desert on his last visit; it was copied from a teleportation array that spanned the entire Dungeon.

It marked seven locations of interest. Three of them- Lavhin's laboratory, the Valley of the Guardian, and the sphinx's tomb- Nic had already visited. After a pause for consideration, he marked a fourth off as well. It was depicted as the entrance to a mine, surrounded by spines of crystal, but after a moment of consideration Nic realized it was likely the entrance to the sand devil's labyrinth.

Due to his tunneling and teleportation he'd never needed to find the 'official' entry point, but the locations lined up.

That left three.

A massive, flat-headed mountain plateau.

A lonely temple, surrounded by pictures of serpents.

A forest on the very edge of the map…

These were the three locations he was most likely to find powerful monsters. Those monsters, in turn, were likely to have collected Aleph marks.

Taking stock of it all, Nic marked the location where the nuclear fire had been unleashed. He drew an ominous black squiggle of tangling lines, blotting out a fistful of desert. That was the origin point of the deadly energy.

It was his suspicion that the areas closest to the blast would harbor the most runes for collecting…

But they were also deepest within enemy territory. Hunting there would mean running into patrols doing the same thing, and probably kicking the hornet nest earlier than he cared too.

This whole quest was a gu jar. Poisonous insects fighting one another...

A way of forcing the inheritors of the Aleph to remove each other from the System's equations until only a few remained. Nic imagined the System's goals were simple enough. It was easier to corale and herd a few Heretics than try to keep an entire miniature world in check.

Nic eventually settled on the forest. Far out from the enemy territory, it was a decent location to adventure while he figured out the meaning behind things. After all, he wasn't in any rush- others would be trying to collect eighteen runes.

He only needed six.

In addition, there were two other matters.

A Quest is Bestowed: “Blood-Soaked Sands”

Logos created the Sand Devils when his weapons of war distorted common creatures to terrifying new forms. Now, an interloper studies this transformation and attempts to improve on it. This heretical research must be ended.

Destroy the Ascended Sand Devils (5/6)

(Optional) Slay the Heretic (1/1)

Rewards- Moonseal Credit and Spatial Pillar Credit.

A Quest is Bestowed - “Words of the Dead”

The language of the Hecartii has long been lost, but forgotten words linger on the tongues of the dead. Seek them out. Return the language to life.

Complete the Ancient Lores (2/4)

Reward - Knowledge of the Hecartii language, Plate of the Sun God’s Dictate

Two quests he’d never completed. Two hanging threads.

The first would require going head to head against the army of the sand devils. That, Nic was sure, would happen on its own.

The second required more thought and care. It meant searching out the hidden voices of this dead world. They’d be somewhere in these final three locations…

And so far, each thread of lore had led him directly towards one of the four guardians of the Dungeon.

Defeating all four seemed to be linked to the ‘story’ the System was trying to tell within the Dungeon, the tale of a heroic pharoah betrayed by power-hungry underlings. It was almost a perfect inversion of reality.

Nic’s crystal eyes pierced illusions and saw, underneath, the story of a king who sold his kingdom to the System’s cold hands, and the last few defenders struggling to drag the traitor-king down into the grave with them.

Either way…

Completing that story was the key to completing the Dungeon, and earning his rewards. Which left him with the following goals, as he gazed down at the map…

Collect the runes.

Find the lore fragments.

Slay the guardians.

Kill the Dungeon’s boss.

And acquire the Heartstone.

Nic puffed his cheeks out. It was a full plate, alright. And it was high time he got to work.

---

Nic sailed towards the forest, conjuring a platform of moving sand that ‘slid’ across the desert under the power of his aura, like a surfboard riding still waves of sand.

The farther he went from the enemy’s core territories, the bolder he grew. Soon he was racing at top speed, the wind pulling at the tendrils extending from the back of his head, a long plume of dust kicking up behind him.

Ahead…

The forest was a thing of stone.

The tall, straight-bodied trees had long ago petrified, turning to ashen-gray rock and pushing out crusts of minerals from within their bodies, causing fields of crystal to form among their roots. It was a land of darkness, dim threads of light pushing through the stone leaves to land on spears of clouded blue and green gemstones.

But surrounding it was a wall of water.

A simple river ran in a circle around the forest, its sides sprouting up with green grasses and jungle ferns. From uniform points along the run of river grew strange trees, green from root to branch, their bark split open to reveal yellowish regions of luminous resin within bark-lined crevasses. Motes of that same yellow glow floated out into the air around them.

Nic circled for a while, sailing the edge of the forest…

Until he came to a place where the circle of water was breached. One of the verdant green trees had been destroyed, split in half, and now the gray stain upon the earth reached out from the distant forest to crawl across the river. Grass and luxurious, sprawling life were all slowly rotting into stone. The water itself seemed cold and lifeless.

It was a curse, escaping confinement.

Nic swept the area with Archive Recall, seeking answers.

First, he examined the verdant tree…

Sacred Acacia. E-Class // Medicine. Growing in land blessed by goddesses of fertility and good harvest, these trees repress evil curses and ill-fortune, filling the air with the fragrant aloes resin that grows from their hearts.

It was like he thought. This ring of water and life had been planted intentionally, to hold back whatever ugly fate had become of the stone forest.

Nic approached slowly, creating a layer of sand over the graying earth so his feet wouldn’t directly touch the cursed ground.

The tree had been split apart by an anomaly. Another tree was growing out from its hollow husk, made of shimmering silver metal. The old, sturdy acacia had been consumed from within.

And just like that, the curse was no longer contained.

Lifting his greatsaber, Nic hacked down, breaking the dead wood apart to reveal more and more of the silver sapling that grew inside. It was pulsating with flickers of light that ran across its thorn-like branches, but Nic only cared for what he found at the roots.

A single, shining Aleph rune.

This barrier, which had stood for thousands of years…

Had been broken by a single stray word.