=What's the point of saving others, when they'd never do the same for me?=
***
The Gishui Shrine breathes like a sleeping beast. Warm air rolls from the cracks between its stone walls, carrying the scent of dust and something faintly metallic. Every step echoes too loudly, as if the place remembers voices that once filled it.
Alodius walks at the front, his torch raised, trying to hide the tremor in his hand. The light flickers against carvings of serpent-headed warriors, their eyes cut from black crystal. Sand drips constantly from the ceiling, forming tiny piles on the cracked tiles.
Behind him, Izora's voice is soft. "So the map wasn't fake after all."
Alodius glances back. Her smile, even half-lit, makes his chest tightened.
"Told you," he says, keeping his tone light. "I don't chase myths."
Juzor snorts. "You do, actually. You just got lucky this time." He strides confidently, blade resting on his shoulder. "Let's hope luck fills our wallets."
"Luck didn't carve this," Alodius mutters.
He brushes dust from a relief. It shows a kneeling warrior offering something glowing to a serpent figure.
"This was real training ground for the Gishui Warriors. There's bound to be treasure here, maybe relics too."
"Treasure," Juzor says, glancing at Izora with a smirk. "That's one way to call it."
The passage opens into a circular chamber, wide and quiet. The air feels thicker here, vibrating faintly, as if the stones themselves whisper to them.
At the center lie two massive sarcophaguses. Izora rushes forward, gloves scraping as he heaves at the lid.
A puff of dust rolls out, revealing a corpse clutching piles of gleaming coins and ornaments.
"Jackpot," she whispers. "Real Gishui gold."
Alodius pushes open the lid of a nearby sarcophagus. Inside lies a mummified corpse, its gaunt hands curled tightly around a pitch black sword. Unlike the others, there is no treasure here.
"Guess that's your share," Izora calls, laughing as she scoops coins into her sack. "Better luck next time."
"You think that pile is enough for one reawakening?" Juzor scoffs. "Let alone for us three?"
His gaze slowly drifts to Alodius. Then he draws his sword, and points it toward him.
Alodius goes cold. "Please, don't. This isn't funny."
"You're the weakest Awakened in all of Tredal," Juzor says, almost apologetic. "If we have to kill someone… you're the safest bet."
"I… I brought you here," Alodius mutters, stepping back. "I studied the ruins. Translated the text. Without me, you'd have walked into a death trap."
"Well… it's ironic, isn't it?" Juzor says.
Alodius seizes the black sword from the sarcophagus. But the instant his hand closes around the hilt, pain stabs his palm.
"Ahk!"
He drops it and the blade clatters to the floor. Two thin needles retract into the grip, slick with his blood.
Juzor slowly steps closer, his grip tightening on his sword hilt. Izora just watches in silent, her face flat. Then he begins scooping more gold into her sack, seizing the chance while she still can.
But suddenly…
Drrt!!!
The ground shudders, and everyone freezes.
"Izora…? What the hell did you just do?" Juzor snaps.
"I… I don't know!" Izora stammers.
As the weight of sarcophagus shifts, hidden gears grind into place.
Clack… drrrt… crak!
"Shit! It's a trap!" Juzor yells.
Above them, the ceiling groans and lowers. Beneath, ground shakes with skeletal hands claw upward, dragging ancient warriors from their graves. Their eye sockets glow faint green, bones creaking as they rise with rusted spears and swords.
Alodius snatches the black sword again. It thrums in his grip as he slashes. Bones shatter, skulls breaking, but each one reassembles and rises again.
"Oh, no… get to the stairs!" Alodius shouts.
As they run away from those skeleton warriors, the ground liquefies. The tiles beneath their boots melt into gold-gray quicksand.
It moves in circles, slow at first, then faster, pulling everything toward the center. Alodius lunges for Izora as she slips, catching her wrist. His feet sink instantly to the ankles.
"Don't move!" he shouts. "Grab onto something!"
Juzor stumbles backward, catching the lip of the basin. Sand rushes past his legs, swirling in a vortex. Alodius braces his body, trying to haul Izora up. The suction tugs at both of them, stronger each second.
"Juzor! Give me a hand!" Alodius yells.
Juzor meets his eyes. For a heartbeat, he seems about to help. Then his expression changes, hardens into something colder.
He grabs Izora's other arm, but instead of pulling her up with Alodius, he pulls her away from him.
"Juzor… what the hell are you doing?!"
"Let go, Alodius," Juzor says quietly, his voice almost calm amid the chaos. "You're too deep. You'll drag us all down."
"I can still climb out!" Alodius's hand trembles, sand already covering his knees. "Help me, damn it!"
Izora's breath comes fast, panicked. "Juzor, he... he's…"
"Look at him," Juzor cuts her off. "He's already gone."
Alodius feels the words hit harder than the pull of the sand. "Izora," he says, voice breaking. "Please. Don't let go."
Her lips part, but she doesn't answer.
Juzor pulls harder, even shoves Alodius using his foot on the chest. The suction jerks Alodius downward. His grip slips. Sand reaches his waist.
"Juzor, don't…!"
Juzor looks down at him. "There's not enough for three."
For a moment, everything else disappears. The roar of the sand fades into silence. Alodius watches them leave, running toward the exit, abandoning him on the quick sand when they should have been able to help him.
"Izora!" Alodius calls, begging for help. "I just saved you. Please, don't leave me."
Izora stops by the door, and turns her gaze back to him. There's pity in it, maybe guilt, but no hesitation.
"I'm sorry, Alodius," she says, smiling casually. "You're a good man. But that's not enough to change anything in this world."
Her words are the last thing he hears before the sand drags him under. Darkness swallows him whole.
The world above vanishes, replaced by heat and pressure. He thrashes, but there's nothing to grab. His lungs scream for air, but every gasp draws more suffocating grit.
The weight crushes him. The sound of his heartbeat drowns everything else.
Why… why?
Thoughts break apart like shards of glass. He feels every betrayal replaying behind his eyes, Izora's smile, Juzor's laugh.
Rage burns through the panic. It's not clean or sharp. It's thick, heavy, flooding every part of him the sand hasn't filled yet.
If he could scream, he would.
But he can't even breathe. He's suffocated.
And when he thinks this is the end of his misery, voice detonates inside his mind.
[Let's test your greed]
[System Initialization in Progress…]
[Install Sequence: 67%... 92%... 100%.]
[Your trial has just started.]
"Rrhaaagh…!!!"
The sand swells beneath Alodius, carrying him down instead of crushing him. He crashes into another chamber, coughing as the moving sand piles beneath him like a living cushion.
"What… what was that?" he mutters, voice hoarse. "Who's talking to me?"
The sand beside him shifts. Something hard rolls free, a skull, its hollow eyes faintly glowing. A skeleton tumbles out of the collapsing mound, half-buried, sword still clenched in its bony grip.
Alodius freezes as it jerks upright, sand spilling from its ribs. Then the warrior turns its hollow gaze toward him and raises its blade.