Heavy and resolute the block of granite blocked the tunnel leading further into the tomb. Hyernan examined the large and ornately engraved block of stone in his way. He pulled out a yellowed parchment map of the tomb and examined it again.

The map of the tomb wasn’t clearly defined. It was more guideline and artistic endeavor than something one of the cartographers of Joonva would draw. From what he could interpret the ancient Mevobak writing showed the corridor he was in leading almost directly to the final resting place of the third ruler of the Mevobak Empire.

Soft white light disappeared as the eluminen spell faded. Hyernan puffed his lips and let out a sigh of annoyance. He pulled a carved stave of wood from his sash and holding it cast the eluminen spell, focusing his will into the stave. With a soft warm feeling, he felt the magic from his core leave and channel through the wood. The engraved runes glowed briefly and three balls of the soft white light manifested into existence.

With a wave of his hand and another small focus of his will, the luminescent balls of light separated, lighting the dark tunnel.

“Hmmm,” he said softly as the light caught a carving near the base of the granite. It wasn’t in Mevobak, instead, it was the ancient magical language of the Fulneen. While he could read a few of the characters he knew that the engraving was beyond his ability to translate. With another thoughtful sigh, he reached into the leather satchel slung at his side.

He had only two Scrolls of Understanding left and while he hated to waste such an expensive scroll, he felt that understanding what was carved in the ancient Fulneen runes was important. The scroll holders in the side of the satchel each had a rune engraved into the leather. When touched they each gave a different feeling. Warmth, cold, a prickling sensation as if soft thing twigs were digging into the skin. When his fingers felt wet to the touch, he slid the scroll out of the holder.

Holding it up to the light he placed a thumb on one corner and infused some of his magic into the scroll. The text glowed softly and then with a push of his will power flowed and the script on the scroll disappeared. He felt a warmth in his head as understanding and knowledge flowed into him.

As Hyernan looked at the stone in the underground tunnel he could see the differences between the various types. Scuffs and wear marks on the floor showed where other feet had walked before. Cuts and scratches on the stone walls alluded to the tools that had carved this tunnel out. The soft breath of air on his skin told him of the direction behind him leading to the surface and that there was probably rain later in the day from the slight hint of moisture.

With a snort, he closed his eyes and pulled in a deep breath. This was a familiar process. It was easy to drift off into the knowledge pouring into all five senses and become so consumed with the small details that the small amount of time the scroll was activated would be used up and disappear.

Eyes slowly opened and he focused on the Fulneen runes once again. A small pull of his will brought the soft light from the floating balls of light closer to granite block.

Light is the burden that blocks the way. The weight of the answer is what opens the path. When a burden is lifted a flood will wash it away.

Hyernan closed his eyes again and let the words fill his mind and then before the time of the scroll ran out, he opened his eyes once more and focused on the block. With understanding filling his being he could see the soft shift in how the large stone block moved in tiny movements. His skin could feel the moisture seeping from the tiny cracks in the ground and faintly from below the sound of rushing water reached his ears.

Before his understanding of the runes faded he pulled out a bound notebook and opened it up. He had enchanted the notebook long ago to be full of never-ending parchment. On a blank page, he wrote the translation of the Fulneen runes and below that what his senses were telling him about the environment around the granite block.

As he finished, he felt the magic from the scroll fade. It felt like a woolen blanket fell over his senses. He could still feel and see the same, but without the same understanding. He shuddered as the last little bit slipped away. In some ways, the sheer amount of information pouring into his senses was more intoxicating than the finest Galba Fire Wines or even the Ja’De’xa Ice Spice.

Looking at the parchment Hyernan thought about what the runes said. Light is the burden that blocks the way. He continued to roll the sentence around trying to find its meaning. A careful examination of the carved stone did show it moving ever so slightly. With a grunt, he gave it a shove and felt a small movement, but then it stopped.

The granite block appeared to be slotted into a groove in both the floor and ceiling. If this was the case then pushing it would not move it out of the way. Hyernan’s next thought was to see if the stone moved up or down.

Perhaps it needed to move down. He slid his stave out if his stash again and held it. With a push of magic, he muttered” Densitas”. The runes on the stave seemed to flex imperceptibly as they shrunk and grew before returning to their original shape.

Hyernan felt magic flow from the stave and into the granite. As it did so he willed the density of the stone to decrease slowly. While holding the stave with his left hand he gestured upward with his right hand and the stone block started moving up.

Without warning, water started gushing into the tunnel. Hyernan paused as the frigid water lapped against his boots. Very carefully he tried to lower the large block of granite only to have it pushed upward again by a surge of water.

Now with the water up to his ankles and climbing he felt a moment of panic. Not knowing what else to do he reversed the effect of the densitas spell, increasing the mass and weight of the stone. With a woosh, the stone block dropped forcing a wave of water down the tunnel.

Hyernan jumped back fearing he had increased the density too much. The stone block settled in place and now sat even with the floor. Water drained down the sloping ground and past the new opening into several cracks in the floor.

“Steira,” he said, “come to me. We have found a way through”. Responding to his call and following the path he traveled not long ago, a shadow flew out of the darkness, revealing a miniature black dragon about the size of a man’s head. Eyes gleaming in the magic light, she landed upon Hyernan’s right shoulder where extra padding resisted her scythe like talons while two enchantments countered the dragon’s growing weight.

Steira was his constant companion through his travels. She had been hatched from an egg he had won in an Itankel game with a couple of Joonvian guards. At the time he thought he would simply sell the egg off, but once she had hatched, he realized that would be something that would never happen. He hadn’t known at the time but the diminutive dragon species were empaths. She could sense emotions, and when she bonded with him at hatch, he felt her emotions as well.

Even now he could feel her curiosity as she gazed down the newly opened corridor. “Yes Steira,” he said, “we are going to continue now that we’ve solved the first puzzle to the tomb.” He could feel it, the item he had been searching for the last twelve years.

Hyernan grabbed the pack he had set down and with a wave of his hand pushed the magical lights further into the darkness. Another eluminen, and the shadows were pushed even further back. He was surprised at how close he had come to drowning when levitating the granite block. The Fulneen were clever in their traps. Almost anyone who had managed to move the granite block all the way up would have drowned in the onrush of water. Only his panicked increase in the granite’s weight had solved that puzzle.

“Of course!” he said to himself, “The weight of the answer is what opens the path. Weight meet answer, answer meet weight”. Steira cocked her head and looked at him. He could almost feel her roll her eyes at the fact it took him this long to find the answer.

“I know what you’re thinking, I rushed this one. We’ll take our time on the next one.” He said as their walk brought them near a carved stone door.

A careful examination of the door revealed... nothing. There were no runes, no sigils, not even the scratches of a carving tool. Hyernan placed a hand on the door and gave it a soft push. The only thing that happened is the door swung open without any noise. He was surprised at how quiet the door was. The hinges were freshly oiled and the door itself was so balanced that even a light touched opened it.

Even with the luminescent lights moving around the room in front of him was shadowed. A strong gust of air pushed against him, ruffling his clothing.

"Eluminmen Maxus," he cast and a large ball of light appeared and slowly moved toward the center of the room, dispelling the darkness. What he saw gave him pause. A deep pit, lined with stone spikes jutting out from the bottom and sides at different angles blocked his way forward. The ceiling above was almost a mirror image with a large indentation full of razor-sharp stone spikes. As he continued to examine the spikes, he realized that not only were they carved to a point, but that the sides had barbed spikes as well. If one of those spikes were to impale a person it would be very difficult to remove.

“Steira,” he said, “Can you fly out there and see if you can make it to the other side of the room?”

With a small chirp, she flexed her wings and launched from his shoulder. As she flew over the spikes a blast of air shoved her aside and directly toward the ceiling. He watched as she tried to correct and dive down away from the impending impalement. Her wings beat frantically as she flew side to side desperately attempting to move out of the fierce wind blowing her. As she neared one of the stone tips the wind finally relented and she was able to slip out of its grasp. With a shriek of frustration, she flew back toward Hyernan and landed on his shoulder.

Well, that settled his idea of levitating over to the other side. He had originally thought that he would fly over the spikes by making his body and gear light. With how the wind was gusting around though that would be almost impossible.

With a thought, he reached back into his satchel and pulled out his notebook. Carefully he tore a piece of parchment from the notebook. Sliding the notebook back into the leather bag he held the loose parchment in one hand and with the other held his stave.

"Endr," he said, channeling his magic and his will into the parchment. As the stave focused his will he saw the parchment duplicate in his hand and then duplicated again. He continued to pour magic into the spell until he held a small stack of the parchment.

"Densitas ventus," he said, as he again focused his will into the parchment. With a gust of wind, the parchment flew from his hand and into the room. As he watched the pieces of parchment were caught by various breezes and gusts and several were impaled by the stone spikes. However, near the center of the roof of the cavern, the parchment would flutter up and then fall back down, only to be caught again by another gust.

That was it then, there was a safe passage through the errant winds, but it would take careful concentration and even a fair bit of courage to make it across.

“Well Steira, there is no time like the present eh?” he said as he carefully tightened his gear. Before locking the clasp of his satchel, he reached in again, and on the side opposite the scroll holders were loops to hold vials of potions. He pulled out one of the regenerative potions and pulled the stopper out. With this much focus, he didn’t want his magic core to deplete halfway across the room. Quickly downing the purple liquid, he placed the stopper back into the vial and slipped it back into its holder.

“One more thing,” he said, as he reached up and loosened a strap on his shoulder pad. Steira cocked her head and then with a small huff she crouched down as he pulled the strap over her back and secured it in the metal clasp on the opposite side. He could feel her annoyance through their mental link at having to be secured, but this wasn’t the first time they both had been in difficult situations. Although this was one of the more unique ones.

With a firm grip on his stave, Hynernan whispered, “Densitas ventus”. He felt a lightness fill his body and then he felt the brush of air from the wind he had summoned push him off the edge of the platform and into the room of stone spikes. Here goes nothing he thought. With a focus of will, he moved upward and forward to the path he had charted.