When the group passed through the main entrance of the Abandoned Kingdom, they discovered a massive stone archway descending into darkness.
At the threshold was an inscription carved in ancient Axiom runes:
"Those who seek the Kingdom must walk the path of the First.The Four Steps must be taken.Only then shall the buried world awaken."
"What's that mean?" asked Issen.
"Four steps?" said Maereth. "Four more puzzles, I suppose."
"Four trials," said Ashar. "We will have to pass through four trials. We should assume the first one begins just beyond this engraving."
"How much time do we have before the poison gets us?"
"With the energy we gained from the birds… about an hour."
They moved forward, and once again Maereth glanced back before continuing.
They now entered a vast passageway where hieroglyphics covered every inch of the stone walls. The carvings depicted the sun and the moon, the positions of the Realms, and the five wandering planets, all arranged in patterns whose meanings even a user of the Eye of Sophia could not fully grasp.
In Ashar's previous life, he had lived for hundreds of years, yet even he had never managed to uncover the full wisdom of the ancients. Such was the fate of generations.
The group continued through the labyrinth of corridors, slowing to study the temple's carvings. Each of them found different meanings in the symbols.
"These figures," said Issen as he examined one of the walls. "The same people keep appearing."
"It must be some myth," said Maereth. "Or a symbolic story this Alchemist left behind."
"It is no myth," said Ashar. "It tells the story of two brothers from the first generation of Axios. It is said that one murdered the other and was condemned to wander the desert for eternity."
"Why did he do it?" asked Issen. "Jealousy?"
"Or power."
"No…" said Bethryl quietly.
The others turned toward her.
"I can see him," she whispered. "In the desert. I can hear him speaking. He is saying…"
Her face suddenly fell into a trance.
"I always knew you would come here in the end, dear brother, for I have been here since the beginning. And now when we meet again, will you rise from the underworld? Will you stare at me with violent and cruel eyes of revenge? No… not at all. You will smile, and you will forgive, because you know that this is where we were always meant to be. It was my destiny to guide us to our fate.
"To be the fated traitor is a curse, and it is a blessing. I hope that we meet again beyond this fate of ours. I hope you will understand when I say that I did not kill you in vain, dear brother. I did not—"
"Bethryl, stop it now!" Maereth shouted.
Bethryl gasped and collapsed backward, her eyes turned completely white. Ashar caught her before she struck the ground.
"This was my mistake," said Ashar. "She will recover in a minute or two. I did not expect her ability to be this powerful. She can see far too much. She will have to learn to control it, for her own sake."
While the group tried to help Bethryl recover, Maereth scanned the endless maze of corridors and hieroglyphics.
She had suspected it earlier, but now she was certain.
The symbols… and the words Bethryl had spoken… were triggering something inside her.
Where did you go?
Her heartbeat pounded in her ears.
"I need to get out of this place!" a young man screamed in front of her. "I can't take it anymore!"
"I couldn't do it in the end…" she murmured to herself. "I…"
"Maereth, are you alright?" Issen asked.
She looked around. The vision had vanished.
"Yes. I'm sorry," she said. "I'm just… starting to remember things. It must be this place."
"Well, keep it together," Issen said. "If we lose you, then I'm stuck here with these two psychopaths."
Bethryl soon regained consciousness, and the group continued through the labyrinth.
They passed more hieroglyphics, turned another corner—
—and suddenly found themselves staring at the exact same wall they had seen before.
"We've been here already," said Ashar.
"How is that possible?" asked Issen. "We're not idiots, are we?"
"There is something here we have not yet understood."
Something was following Maereth.
She could see it in the corner of her eye.
It had begun during the battle on the mountain, when she first saw the vision. She had tried to ignore it, tried to bury it deep within herself. But now it had returned, and she realised she could no longer continue running from it.
Slowly, she turned her head.
Then she walked toward the vision she had seen before.
And before the others could react, she vanished.
"Maereth!" Issen shouted.
"These corridors are not random," Ashar said. "I understand what the Alchemist had placed in here. The corners contain spells that manipulate space. Every time we turn, we are transported to another part of the temple without realising it."
"So this is the first trial?"
"Yes. The puzzle lies within the corridors themselves. But what is the key?"
"Forget the puzzle!" Issen snapped. "Where the hell is Maereth?"
"She is somewhere else within the temple now. There is no use chasing her. Eventually, our paths will cross again."
Meanwhile, Maereth realised she was standing alone in a corridor.
She fell to her knees and began to weep.
"I have been a failure," she said. "All this time I believed I was living a better life. But in truth, I was only denying what really happened… and what I did. I deserve whatever fate comes for me."
Only silence answered her.
"But no matter how long I wait, nothing happens. Is that my punishment? To live forever knowing what I did?
"But I cannot live like that forever. Perhaps… if I survive this… if I can grant Kareth this one final favour… then maybe I will not always be the person I once was."
She looked up.
The vision was there again.
"I hate you," she whispered. "And I hate you because in the end I could never do anything for you. I will never be able to change that.
"But perhaps it is not my fate to fall and die just yet."
She stood.
"Not yet."
Maereth began walking forward.
Before she reached the end of the corridor, a ripple of green light spread across the stone wall, and two figures appeared in front of her.
They were Two Faceless Soldiers.
Maereth screamed.