When the white light finally subsides, Sweiza finds herself back in the same room. Nothing has changed with the exception that Artis and Trust are standing several feet from her.

  Artis is quite surprised, “You succeeded!”

  “You have Muspell blood?” Trust eyes the girl up and down once.

  Sweiza rolls her head in confusion and then her eyes in frustration. “Would someone tell me exactly what is going on here?”

  The orb in the center of the room pulses a white light and follows up with a light blue light. “I had to make sure you were not a thief like that one.”

  Sweiza looks from the orb to Trust; Trust just shrugs and points at Artis. Sweiza cocks an eyebrow up at him.

  “You were going to steal this thing?” Her left finger shoots up at the orb, “It seems to be quite useless.”

  “In its current form it is. I assumed it was unguarded as a result. Sadly, I was sorely mistaken.” Artis looks down at the Tufflet.

  “What?” Trust squawks at the Sentinel, “I didn’t do anything I wasn’t supposed to do!”

  “You lead me right into that thing’s trap! I’ve been stuck in here for close to a decade because of you.”

  Sweiza’s head shoots to each of them in unison; then it instinctively goes to the orb.

  The orb seems to be silent while the two of them argue.

  Sweiza interrupts them. “Let me guess, this little brownie ‘wanted to help’ and showed you everything in the museum?”

  Artis nods once, “Except he told me about the orb; it was the artifact I was seeking. However, it was the first of many… illusions that became my imprisonment. I could no longer tell what was real and what wasn’t… that thing…” Artis points to the orb, “Imprisoned me here and used me as a power source. My soul spirit is quite weak at this point; another couple of years and I would be dead.”

  Sweiza’s eyes and head roll over to the orb, “You’ve got some explaining to do.”

  “The arrogance of Vecna lead to the city being buried in sand; they hollowed out the monument for their own designs…” The orb pulses a dark purple at those words.

  Sweiza shoots Trust a look. He shrugs sheepishly at her.

  “…I could no longer control the weather. People didn’t heed the warnings about the violent sandstorms. A few evacuated, most were buried in their homes—some died.”

  Sweiza looks up once, “I’m guessing some of them are my ancestors as you put it? How did you know this?”

  “I scanned you.”

  “You wha-“ Sweiza’s head tilts and her eyes narrow. “Is this more of that compyutar crap?”

  “I am a combination of science and enchantment combined.” It pulses a fuzzy white light that radiates and slowly fades.

  “Whatever. You can tell me what my ancestry is? I’ve always been interested in that kind of thing.” There is some definitive enthusiasm in her voice; but she tries to remain stern with the strange device.

  “In order of most prominent to least prominent bloodlines—Midgard, Muspell and Myrkvellir.

  Sweiza winces, “Myrkvellir Sundae!”

  Artis swings from the orb to face Sweiza; Trust suddenly stares at her shocked. Trust is the first to break the awkward silence, “Such language!”

  “You look here you little shit! Behave yourself or I -will- make a Myrvellir Sundae out of you!”

  Trust suddenly jolts and hides behind Artis. Artis looks down and uses his foot to push the Tufflet over. Amidst the chatter, the orb seems unphased. Sweiza definitely notices this.

  Sweiza attempts to speak, “You are a type of guard aren’t…”

  However, Artis interrupts her, “You have a number of abilities don’t you?”

  The orb pulses a yellow light—as far as Sweiza is concerned it is too strange compared to his other pulses of light. She puts it together though—these are how it communicates mood or emotions.

  “I am in fact the main control device for this area. I guard the city of Vecna; I help them relieve stress by allowing them to communicate in a peaceful dream state…”

  Sweiza refrains from speaking outloud, but rather thinks to herself, “I knew it!”

  “…but I must also be weary of outsiders that wish to steal Vecna’s secrets.”

  “You mean yourself.” Artis’s words strike cold. His mechanical arms make a strange whirring noise as they fold and cross.

  “Correct.”

  “You use dreams and mind reading to guard yourself?” Sweiza tilts her head. Her guard drops almost entirely at that. They were the invaders—perhaps even that annoying brownie.

  “Correct.” The orb pulses a light blue light.

  “What about the brownie? I didn’t think they would normally inhabit a museum.” Sweiza thinks back to and recalls the time their house became the domain of a brownie that wanted to help out. The brownie was fine at first, but tended to make a mess of things if it wasn’t watched. Then it demanded payment in the form of food and shelter or it would start to wreck things. They had managed to get rid of it, but then it decided to ‘inhabit’ her favorite tent. She had to destroy it as a result—forcing the brownie out into the open. Many members of Maria Village did not approve of a brownie in the area and chose to cage it until it agreed to leave without incident.

  With intent she eyes the brownie in front of her. He looks up at her with a curious smile. She narrows her eyes and shakes her head at him. He gets the point and loses the smile.

  “He was transported to the museum through an artifact. He would jump between artifacts and exhibits trying to help out; unfortunately he often broke objects in the process and made a mess of things. They agreed to keep him alive and inhabit the museum if he agreed to behave himself. It took extensive training and resources to keep him under control.” The orb pulses a red light and lets out a buzzing noise; Trust instinctively flinches.

  “I see. So if I understand all of this then, you are in a weak state and have been draining this Sentinel…” Sweiza motions towards Artis who’s eyes dim once as if to blink, “…to sustain yourself? Am I correct in assuming you want a lightning crystal to reactivate the monument?”

  The orb says nothing.

  Sweiza already knows the answer. Strife sent her here for a reason; so it should stand to reason that it will be the same as with the Obsidian Obelisk in Myrkvellir—or so she hopes. She's brushes her fear aside and decides to go for it. She takes in a breath and summons the insulated glove with a Bothnin Lightning Crystal in hand; it’s purple hue glows and radiates light off of her face and arm. “What do I do with it, just hold it up?”

  The orb again gives no answer.

  “Bothnin Lightning Crystals require contact.” Artis interrupts the silence.

  Sweiza looks up at him once. She looks over and down at Trust who shakes his head and shrugs with open hands. Sweiza scowls at the brownie.

  Sweiza walks up to the orb—this time with no barrier interrupting her—and holds the crystal up to the orb. She sees a large spark jump as contact is made. She jumps back as her hand releases the crystal. The crystal remains attached to the orb, but is then absorbed into the orb. The orb begins to pulse with a rhythmic white and blue light. Several of the moving images that Sweiza had seen in the floors below suddenly appear in a sphere that surrounds the orb. They start to change and oscillate between different images. They flicker once and disappear.

  Suddenly the windows also reveal themselves to be images that also change many times at random Sweiza feels some concern as several of the images show motion and movement before flickering to another image. A distinct and dull hum can be heard in the distance; it becomes a localized and louder whine from the orb as the rings around it start to revolve quicker. They suddenly halt as they appear flat circling the orb. A white light pulses from the orb and then begins to surround the room. The last thing Sweiza remembers is wanting to let out a scream at the giant red eye-like slit that opens up from within the orb.

  —

  As the white light fades, Sweiza stares off in a daze at the rising sun—her eyes take a minute to adjust. She stares up at her arm which is held up at the sun. There is a white bracelet on her wrist; there is an odd diamond style gem mounted into it. Her attention shifts to the Sentinel and brownie standing just in front of her. She is about to say something when she hears the voice of the orb speak from the brace.

  “Due to your fragile states, I’ve compressed your scenarios into one night of sleep.”

  Sweiza’s face twists, “Huh?”

  It takes a second for it to make sense; they are out in the desert and being in a dream state in the middle of the day would probably be a bad idea. She double-thinks it for a second. They could have easily retreated into the pyramid to escape the sun—Surt is a firedrake and can easily handle the heat—supposedly.

  She shakes her head back to reality and looks down at the bracelet. She is a bit miffed that jewelry was placed on her person without her consent. She dismisses it—there is probably a reason for it. Speaking of which…

  “Are you a sentry like Lumina and Lumia?” She eyes the bracelet as it reflects many rays of light. She jumps when she sees the familiar (yet scary) red eyeslit from the orb appear in the embedded jewel.

  “Lumia and Lumina are sentries from the old world for the Myrkvellir region.”

  Sweiza’s face twists again. “That’s not what I meant; can they fix Myrkvellir?”

  The red eyeslit in the embedded jewel fades. A white light jumps from it and to Sweiza. She feels as if she is suddenly weightless and being lifted—everything below her starts to drop—suddenly, everything fades to white and Sweiza is blinded by the light.

  —

  “You shouldn’t have come here.”

  Yet again, Sweiza is forced to jump at a voice. She backs up and falls over. Looking up she sees the light in the trees illuminating Lumia’s figure.

  A woozy Sweiza is left to fidget and pull her bearings before she staggers to her feet. She sways from side to side as she attempts to speak.

  “I didn’t come here by choice.”

  “Then why are you here?” Her tone is dark and foreboding.

  “That silver orb sent me here.” She holds up her wrist and points to the bracelet. She doubts Lumia knows what she is referring to. Lumia’s eyes flash blue once. The embedded gem also pulses blue. Lumia’s eyes pulse blue several times in unison with the gem before Lumia’s form starts to fade in a blue light.

  Sweiza cringes at an aweful noise as the hairs on her neck stand on end. Her eyes trait towards the noise. Trees from her right slowly turn to castle wall on her left. As she gazes over she sees a gate that is lifting. It is large.

  “A castle?” Sweiza’s head tilts at it. The gate is rusted with green spots on it. Moss? There are pieces of the gate missing. Dust settles under the ceiling of the entrance as the gate groans to a halt in its raised position. By now Sweiza knows she has a purpose here—she simply wouldn’t be here otherwise. Her instincts tell her to run, but she hustles her pace over to the castle.

  Once inside Sweiza looks around. She jumps when the gate behind her drops shut. The metal sound explodes throughout the large courtyard. She looks around; stone buildings all over; overgrowth on them, ivy, water stains, all the makings of a haunted castle. She starts backing up when she sees the castle in the distance. It is broad daylight, but it seems to gleam a shadow across the courtyard. Ah, it’s blocking out part of the sun! She cradles her hand over her eyes just enough to block out part of the bright sun that -is- hidden by the castle. Her back hits something behind her. She whirls around and sees the gate. Was she backing up still? She whips around and looks in the courtyard again—nothing here. She’s psyching herself out. She claps her cheeks to pull herself out of it.

  “Eek!” Sweiza jumps -yet- again when Lumina appears in front of her. He is wearing highly detailed armor with the the markings of a dragon’s face and dragonscales all over. He rests both of his hands on the grip of a sword with the tip buried into the ground.

  “Girl, listen clearly. This area is forbidden. A terrible monster guards this area—in your current state you cannot possibly defeat it. As I am the guardian of this area, I have terminated access to outsiders.

  “Then why am I here?”

  Lumina lifts the sword and stabs it into the ground. “Walk with me; we don’t have time to muck around in Myrkvellir.”

  Those words, “We don’t have time to muck around in Myrkvellir” are all the motivation that she needs. The phrase is as old as memory in Maria Village can remember. It literally means trickery or danger is afoot and foolhardy people will be swallowed up by a great calamity if they aren’t quick about it. It is a simple phrase used to alert young children (as well as lazy adults) into finishing chores and keeping the village busy for the harvest; failure to do so and they face starvation.

  Sweiza marches forward towards what she assumes is the goal—something in the distance in the castle. It has to be.

  Lumina’s iron greaves clack on the limestone path—the noise echoes in the distance. He looks over at her. “We have become aware of Vecna One’s presence. It has commanded us to open up Myrkvellir Castle at your discretion.”

  Sweiza stares at him bewildered. “Am I going on another errand?”

  “There is only one reason you would be at Myrkvellir’s Gates.”

  ‘Myrkvellir’s Gates’—the realization starts to set in. While it’s true that Myrkvellir is the name of the continent; it is in fact name after the mythical Myrkvellir Castle—a place rooted in mystery in legend. One a place of prosperity, their thirst for knowledge and wealth was second to none. Supposedly the king and his court double crossed a wizard; only for the wizard to attack with an army of darkness and drive everyone out of the castle. Those that didn’t evacuate fell under a terrible curse as night creatures to serve him. When the wizard died, his pet (something akin to a dragon) took control of the area.

  She doesn’t believe the legend of course; only that it is where the term “Myrkvellir Sundae” (or Myrvkellir Sunday) comes from—a term that means ‘shitshow-esque shitshow’; as well why the continent is so-named.

  “There are evil spirits here?” Sweiza stares at him quizzically--if not with some confidence and enthusiasm.

  “In a manner of speaking, yes. However, most of them are asleep during the day.”

  Sweiza mutters, “Keywords being most.”

  Her words do not escape Lumina, “Of course. There are a few rebellious spirits that wander the court yard.” His gaze follows from Sweiza to something in the distance. She sees something white akin to fire, but it is in the form of human. Sweiza feels her body tighten and her neck hair stand on end. She deliberately claps her hands on her mouth and muffles a shriek.

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  “Very smart of you. It would assume otherwise that you are not on here with business with me.”

  Sweiza doesn’t want to think what would happen. Would it alert all the other Myrkvellirfolk? Evil spirits chasing after her? Ah! A terrible thought.

  Sweiza stops with Lumina in front of the castle’s main gates. Lumina stamps his foot on the ground and flips his visor up. He takes his sword and stabs it into a slot in the door. He stands back and his eyes glow blue. The gates shudder and slowly open with a loud grown. Sweiza looks back over where the embodied fire spirit was. She cringes when she sees it stops walking and stares directly over at them.

  “We must hurry. They know of our purpose here.” Lumina grabs a frozen Sweiza and ushers (keyword: pushes) her inside. She snaps out of it.

  “Then what are we here for?” She looks back at the castle entrance; she still sees the fire spirit watching them. The doors shudder close with another groan.

  “The only reason anyone ever comes here. To loot something.”

  Sweiza rolls her eyes. “Obviously I’m here to fetch some kind of artifact. But what I’m asking is, what is it?”

  Lumina stops and closes his helm’s visor. “At the top of this castle is a statue that cries in the rain. It holds a sword that acts as a lightning rod.”

  Sweiza looks towards the ceiling. The tower is pretty high up. “How many floors?”

  “Fifty-six.”

  Sweiza’s head and current mood droop. She starts walking down the main hall without Lumina.

  “Sweiza, that is the wrong way! You need to take either door to the left or right of that hall. The throne room down the main hall is fake—it is a defense strategy against saboteurs and possible invaders.”

  Sweiza is left to stand back at him. Her eyes stop mid-roll; she’s a guest here and better act like it. She starts to the left door; Lumina follows her.

  Sweiza can’t help eyeing the interior of different rooms down the hall—each has something interesting to tell, despite being aged, dilapidated and abandoned. One is clearly a nursery, another a kitchen, another an armory. These clearly are for guests as most castles she would imagine have much larger sections devoted to such amenities. She can only wonder what their library and -actual- armory look like. She stops at one room that has some odd objects in it.

  “This was the Regent’s domicile.”

  Sweiza looks from the room to him.

  “…meaning the room belonged to the king’s top advisor.”

  Sweiza’s eyes shift away as she gives a silent “Oh.”

  Lumina shoos her along.

  Just past one doorway Sweiza stops. She peers inside it. It is dark compared to the other rooms. Cannot light from outside make it in? Maybe that is part of the defense of the castle?

  “That is the throne room. I doubt you want to see the dead bodies in there.”

  Sweiza grimaces and her body shudders. “Where is the staircase for the top tower?”

  “It is behind the throne room.” Lumina points to a door at the end of the hall.

  When they get there (after about seven other doors), Sweiza sees a staircase that spirals from the ground (most likely a basement for knights or a kitchen perhaps), and then spiraling upwards. She looks back at Lumina—he waves his hand to push her onward.

  ---

  The staircase ascends at least four floors before there there is a door. Sweiza turns to Lumina. He can tell what she is thinking. “Towers are built different when the bottom areas are so many paces high.”

  The words are cryptic to her. She just nods. It dawns on her a minute or two later—she says nothing at the thought. What he meant was that the bottom floors are built around the throne room—they stand several stories high due to the prominence of royalty and the castle amenities (kitchens, war rooms, armory, etc.). When they reach the door to the second floor of the castle, Sweiza stops. She looks over at Lumina. He raises his eyebrows at her. “This is where the royalty and royal guests slept. It is their chamber.”

  Sweiza looks up at the staircase they are to ascend—she assumes better to do so than to roll her eyes at Lumina explaining everything to her. Lumina seems not to notice. His hand lightly taps her from behind as he shoos her upward.

  During their ascent they pass by at least three more doors—each one corresponding to another floor above the throne room. She doesn’t bother turning to Lumina with each consecutive door. After just one story above the third door, they cross a window. Sweiza stops abrumptly, much to Lumina’s annoyance. She catches what look like flying creatures in the courtyard of the castle; she can also see different colored figures. She can’t quite make them out, but they appear to move like a fog. Fire maybe? Saint Elmo’s fire? Nah, only in the wild imaginations of sea pirates! She flinches when she feels hands behind her pushing her forward. Oh that Lumina!

  To her surprise, there isn’t a window in the same location every flight of stairs. Instead, what she sees is a window that over looks the court yard every four stories up. More surprisingly there is no window to face the back of the castle. Her pace which had hastened with footsteps up every other stair suddenly halt as the girl stops abruptly—Lumina almost smacks into her.

  “What?” His voice shows annoyance.

  “Why are there no windows facing the back?” Her voice is curious. Her curiosity is getting the better of her.

  “It is a defense strategy. No arrows or other projectiles—magic or otherwise—can make it in. The top floor of the towers is used for sentry detail for all directions; windows to the front of the castle are more for the aesthetic view.” He stamps his foot.

  Sweiza flinches. She gets the idea and hurries up the stairs. Her every other step strategy is to save herself some energy and soreness in her muscles for later. Lumina shakes his head. Vecna One must have a good reason to trust her, but she acts like a child.

  It takes some twenty minutes to climb most of the staircase; however, Sweiza shows fatigue by the time they approach the top of the tower. It takes considerably longer to finally reach the top floor. She doesn’t know what to expect when they hit the roof. Rather, what she soon learns is that nothing but darkness greets her. She looks back at Lumina. He walks past her. He stabs his sword into something in the dark. There is a shudder and the ‘doors’ that were closed swing open. Light and dust greet them; Sweiza coughs. A hand grabs her left hand and pulls her up. She stifles her normal “Eek” that she would say. The hand is of course Lumina; perhaps he was trying to prevent her from falling backwards? What a gentleman! If only Lester would act like that…

  Halfway through the entry way to the roof, Sweiza notes that the doors she heard infact open outward—they rest on either side of the entranceway. Are they enchanted? They look old and worn with peeling paint; there is a large lock with a slit in it—is that what Lumina wedged his sword into? The doors must be enchanted then. She pulls her hand from Lumina’s grip; she hurries forward—minding the edge of the tower—and looks down at the courtyard. She sees the creatures from below. They are moving towards the castle. She looks back worriedly at Lumina. She is about to say something when she notices the big statue standing behind the entrance.

  The statue is big, standing about five times the size of an adult. It appears to be a woman. She appears to be in in a half-dress, half-armor mix. The woman has long hair in a ponytail. She appears to be praying with her arms outward and breast high with a sword pointing at the sky. There is something funny about the sword—the top half is missing. She looks up at it quizzically, but is snapped back to reality with Lumina’s voice.

  “Hurry, those abysmal creatures know what we are here for.” He stamps his foot and points his sword up at the statued woman.

  Nothing happens at first.

  Sweiza looks back when she can hear some kind of screech from the courtyard beneath them. She thinks of the white light that teleported them here; it is the same method that Salmira uses. She hopes that Lumina will teleport them away from this wretched place should things get too deep. However, just to be on the safe side, she takes several steps forward to stand side-by-side with Lumina.

  Her eyes widen when the statue’s eyes pulse blue. She is familiar with this. Sure enough, Lumina’s eyes are pulsing. Her eyes dart back and forth between them. Lumina and the statue’s eyes appear to be pulsating rhythmically with each other. Are they communicating in some unknown language? Is it like using a mirror to shine light and signal to people from far away? A wonderful way to communicate without disturbing the air!

  It proves to be counterintuitive when the statue’s eyes dim to the grey color of the surrounding stone of the statue itself. There is a rumble. Suddenly the dust and broken bits of stone fall here and there from the statue. There is a shudder and cracking noise as before Sweiza’s eyes the statue starts to move. Its hands begin to lower the sword as the knee it kneels on pushes itself to stand upright. Sweiza is taken aback and doesn’t know if she should scream or not. She looks back at Lumina; his eyes are glowing a bright blue as he looks up at the statue. Standing upright, the statue lowers its left arm and raises it’s right arm with sword in tow. The statue looks up at the half-sword that is pointing skyward. The stone sword cracks and fragments break from the blade underneath revealing a sword that shimmers all sorts of colors of white and silver. Sweiza hears the distant sound of thunder. She can hear more screeching. Are the creatures closer?

  The blue light in Lumina’s eyes dim as they turn to their normal color. He stabs his sword into the ground. A bolt jumps from the sword of the statue and into the sky. Thunderclouds spiral from the lightning in the sky. They swirl around a central matrix and stay in place. Lightning claps the sky repeatedly and thunder howls. It rains just as quickly as the phenomenon began. The wind picks up and then there is an ominously (and quite loud!) thunderclap in the distance. Sweiza jumps as she looks over towards the noise. A thin blue column of light points to the sky.

  A large bolt of lightning bursts down from the center whirlwind of thunderheads above them; it crashes into the statue. Before her eyes she watches the statue look down at them as it cracks and then crumbles to dust. The sword it was holding crashes to the ground and shrinks. The sword suddenly turns a very bright and blinding white light as it begins to shrink. The sword’s blinding white light turns to something more manageable and then it returns to its former state of shimmering silver and white allover.

  She feels a nudge behind her. Lumina’s voice speaks, “This sword is yours to wield. It is a privilege, do not abuse it.”

  Sweiza looks dismayed at him. His hand pushes her in the direction of the sword. By now she knows the drill. She creeps up to it; as to test if it is a dead animal, she nudges the grip with her boot. Nothing happens. She nudges it again. She frowns. She summons the insulated gauntlet.

  “That isn’t necessary Miss Serif. It is bound to the will of the wielder.”

  Sweiza doesn’t listen and picks up the sword with the gauntlet anyway. She is eyes either side of the blade once; she is about to summon it into her being when Lumina interrupts her.

  “Before you absorb the sword, point it outward at the courtyard. Will it to blind the enemy.”

  Sweiza looks at him confused.

  “The enemy would rather take it for themselves. Their evil will befall Myrkvellir… we don’t want that to happen.”

  Sweiza nods once and steps forward. A few feet from the tower’s edge, she looks down. She can see creatures flying several hundred feet from the towers on the other side of the castle—several of the flaming monsters also appear to be on the front towers. She can see their eyes; they glow an ominous white. When the flame creatures jump down to the castle’s main roof, she stops hesitating and points the sword down at them. A white pillar of light jumps from the sword and crashes below them into the castle’s roof. Nothing happens at first. But just the same, a thin pillar of light jumps upward, widens, and then engufs the area.

  Sweiza shields her eyes.

  When she looks down at the courtyard again, she sees the creatures have vanished, but in there place are transparent apparitions that are floating in place. The apparitions suddenly begin to move towards them. A frightened Sweiza takes a step backwards, nearly dropping the sword in the process. She holds both of her hands on the grip and absorbs it into her being. She scurries back to Lumina.

  “We’ll be leaving now right?”

  Lumina turns around towards the crumbled ruins of the statue. He kneels with the tip of his sword into the ground. Sweiza doesn’t catch all of his mumbled words, but can make out, “…your continuing legacy, Lady Salyra.”

  As he stands up, he about faces towards Sweiza. “The creatures that haunt this area have been banished for the time being—at least in physical form.”

  “Lumina! We’re done here, right? Get us out of here!”

  Lumina nods once; his sword disappears and his eyes pulse blue. The jewel embedded in the white bracelet on Sweiza’s hand begins to pulse also. A white light jumps down from the sky and Sweiza feels herself being lifted. Everything below her drops and then fades as a white light engulfs her.

  The last thing she hear’s is Lumina’s voice. “Bring honor to Myrkvellir.”

  —

  She feels her stomach lurch as she stumbles; her weightlessness suddenly disappears as she hears her feet hit sand. The white light around her disappears. She stands dazed and confused in front of a pair of eyes staring at her. Horns? Surt! She staggers backward and falls backward. Her hands catch her fall. She lets out a nervous laugh.

  “You scared me!”

  Surt lets out a snort of air. Sweiza looks around for Sprite. He flies into view.

  “Where were you? You were gone a long time!”

  Sweiza is about to say something when she feels the heat of the sun hitting her face. She shields her eyes as she looks up. It looks to be just before noon. This is bad; they need to get to shade or someplace safe.

  She stands up and surveys the area. The Vecna pyramid stands just in front of the group. That will be their safest bet. But what about Surt?

  “Surt, you can handle extreme heat, can’t you?”

  The dragon’s eyes pulse yellow. He leans in towards her and his forked tongue flicks out; it tickers her face.

  “You taste of that ancient castle…” The dragon turns around and circles the group before standing behind them. He speaks again, “Safety in the pyramid from heat.”

  He stamps his foot on the ground. Sweiza gets the idea. He is ordering them forward. She takes several steps forward—noting the brownie next to them. She ignores him when he looks up at her. He flashes the most innocent look he can muster; she rolls her eyes at him.

  She continues towards the pyramid. She stops when the pyramid begins to glow a red light. Suddenly, a thin pillar of red light jumps into the sky. Sweiza briefly shakes her head from side-to-side and grumbles. The errand is clearly not over by any stretch. She stamps her foot and holds the bracelet close to her mouth.

  “Vecna! I know you can hear me!”

  The jewel pulses a blue light; Sweiza’s head flinches back at Vecna’s voice from the gem.

  “The resting spirits of Myrkvellir Castle are thankful for the temporary slumber you have granted them.” Vecna’s voice is stoic as usual.

  “Yeah, thanks for that. I could have died! Is our little errand here over or will be galavanting and teleporting all throughout the nine realms?”

  Sweiza’s maligned sarcasm is given no attention by Vecna One. Instead, the gem continues to pulse between a dark and light blue light.

  “I scanned your mind…”

  Sweiza’s face frowns. Her most private of thoughts!

  “…your friends are in Niffleheim…”

  Vecna One must mean Strife and the temporary crew of the Gigas Dura. How are they anyway?

  “I cannot teleport you there right now. However, your mission is Vecna One’s mission. Activate the monument west by south-west of your village. This will activate the Myrkvellir Triangle. With the three towers I can communicate with you and teleport you to any area within five thousand miles.”

  Sweiza’s eyes widen. She knows exactly what this revelation means—instant travel! Something akin to a light smile begins to creep across her face.

  “We can go right now right?” A joyful enthusiasm fills her voice. It doesn’t not go unnoticed by the group.

  The dragon interrupts her.

  “I will have the treasure here. I will not leave.” The dragon whips around from behind them and trots over with his head high. The sight is weird. Is he mimicking human smugness? The dragon drops his head and it circles behind him at the group; his eyes pulse red once and he starts kicking up sand with his back feet. Sweiza grimaces at the dragon’s greed.

  Her attention is called back to the bracelet.

  “The energies of the lightning crystal—your most gracious gift to Vecna—have been depleted. I will need the power of all three monuments to begin terraforming this area again. It is my mission. I will summon lightning to power this pyramid and bring order to chaos. I can teleport you then.”

  Sweiza’s mood sinks.

  As if to read her thoughts again (it has), Vecna One gives her a solution, “The dragon can get you there in several hour’s time. Convince him.”

  Sweiza looks over at the dragon. She looks back to Trust and Sprite. Sprite smiles at her. She knows she isn’t going to get out of this.

  She walks briskly to the dragon. She has an idea, a very conniving one. The dragon might expect her to avoid all the sand and dust, but to show her determination, she walks straight into it. For good measure she uses her shirt to shield her mouth from the dust. She still manages to inhale some and coughs. She circles to the side of the dragon—his red eyes glowing in the sand dust. He stops digging.

  “I will not leave without the treasure.” His voice rumbles; he sounds angry.

  Sweiza’s hands drop to her hips and she leans in towards him.

  “Mr. Dragon…” Her voice sounds coy, innocent an quite childlike, “…if you fly me to Muspell Harbor and to that monument…”

  The dragon’s eyes pulse a bright red. His head turns back towards his rear feet and he starts to dig again. Sweiza is undeterred. She looks back to the group and then looks at the dragon; she has a big smile on her face—he ignores it and continues digging.

  “…I’ll give you my share of the treasure…” She lets out a giggle for good measure.

  The dragon’s digging turns light and stops. His head leans in towards Sweiza. His tongue flicks out and licks her—his eyes glow a brilliant bright red.

  His voice rumbles a surprised, “What?!”

  She stands tall with her legs spread apart and her hands continuing to rest on her hips. She stares up at him defiantly. His tongue flicks out at her face; the playful tickle is almost enough to break her stance. She wills herself to stand firm and defiant at the dragon. “You heard me! Fly us to Muspell Harbor and that monument; surely you’ve seen the monument that Vecna is refering to?”

  The dragon’s eyes pulse red, “I have. I know it’s location.”

  Sweiza stamps her foot on the ground, “Then what are you waiting for? Stoop down so we can climb aboard!” She breaks frame and there is enthusiasm in her voice. The dragon detects this and is not to be outdone.

  “Agreed. However…” His tongue flicks out and his eyes pulse yellow.

  Sweiza lets out a concerned breath and her frame finally breaks to dismay. The dragon saw through her act.

  “…everyone will sacrifice their treasure. Agreed?”

  Sweiza is in no position to barter.

  She is about to answer him when Sprite flies up. “Hey! I heard that! I want something nice from this ‘treasure’!”

  Sweiza’s hands reach up at him and cup over him. She pulls him down from the air and holds him firm and just in front of her mouth. She leans in and whispers to him, “You be quiet you little meddler!”

  He continues to let out several chirps and squawks as she lowers him firm against her stomach.

  “Surt, take whatever you want. Save Sprite a few coins…” she uncups him and he flies up at her. Just a few inches from her face he lets out a chirp of delight and flies behind her head. The dragon might be on their side (supposedly), but he still doesn’t trust him.

  The dragon says nothing as he suddenly drops to the ground. His head comes back to her. Again with more tongue flicking.

  “Surt, would you quit that?” She glares at him for good measure; he ignores it.

  “Agreed. A few coins.”

  Sweiza is not deterred climbing up the dragon’s neck (albeit with some trouble) after seeing an intimidated Sprite. He stays in place. She lets out a smirt at him. He lets out a chirp. She lets out a whistle and he darts towards her—flying well over the dragon’s head. Sweiza is about to tell Surt to take off when she sees the brownie staggering over to them. His small form seems to have trouble walking in the sand of the desert.

  Sweiza winces. He’s coming along?

  She holds up the bracelet, “Vecna, did that ‘pest’ attach itself to something?”

  The bracelet pulses a white light, “It has attached itself to the bracelet. Take him with you; he will be a valuable ally with his knowledge of artifacts.”

  Sweiza looks at Sprite and rolls her eyes. He lets out a chirp of amusement. Sweiza looks down at the brownie now just a few feet from Surt’s head. Surt lets out a puff of hot breath from his nose and out at the brownie—it is quite forceful. The brownie lets out a cry and looks up at Sweiza helplessly.

  “Well, come one! We’re not waiting in the scorching for you!”

  The brownie looks up at his new ‘master’. This may be fortuitous for all entities involved—or so he hopes.

  A Sprite and brownie secure in her lap she hugs down on the dragon’s neck. He’s going to have to get…

  She doesn’t have time to think about it when the dragon suddenly lumbers forward at a running pace. It takes a few attempts as his feet claw the dirt and his body bounces from ground to air and back; his wing-arms flap the wind and one last landing on the ground and he jumps into the air into a glide. The wind hits her face and she hugs down on the dragon’s neck—Sprite and that pest ‘Trust’ secure between her arms and legs. It is an exhilarating experience to have the wind blow in her hair as she looks back at the pyramid of Vecna getting smaller and smaller behind them. She lets out a yelp after looking down and seeing how far the ground is below them; she hunkers down and holds her head to the side and next to the scaly neck under him.

  This will be a strange ride for her and everyone aboard. Hopefully she doesn’t pass out over the next hour or two… or will it take them three hours to get to Muspell Harbor!

  Sweiza thinks to herself, “I guess this will be my secret; Mama and Papa would never believe me.”