The memory of Lester is a good one. She smiles. The memories and her senses start to come to. The land of the living finally brings her to the waking world; her first reaction is to stretch her arms, but she feels resistance. She pulls again, but her arms pull on something. She hears metal. Her eyes bolt open. She sees a flaming torch in the distance. She goes to step forward.

Wait! Wasn’t I sleeping?

She looks down. She is horrified to see she is barefooted with shackles on her ankles. Her eyes dart to her arms. More shackles. She tries to let out a scream, but something has been attached to her mouth. All she can do is push her mouth out; it appears to be something metal, but easily bendable. She can feel something cold on her neck. Another kind of binding chain? It’s not a shackle, but something similiar?

What the Muspell?

The sight of being dressed in rags means something is very wrong. She can just about guess at being captured. Where was she last? Myrkvellir? No, the pyramid in Muspell. Didn’t one of the Zodiac spirits say it was the “Muspell Museum of History?”

She tries one last time to jerk her arm, but it is held up. How did she ever sleep like this?

The pain finally hits her. Her shoulders and arms are tired from having hung for so long.

I’m lucky I’m light weight.

Her eyes dart all around the room. She can’t see much beyond the flickering torch. It appears there is darkness anywhere beyond.

How is that even possible—shouldn’t a torch illuminate an entire room?

Her arms and legs itch. She wishes she could scratch them. If only Sprite were here.

Where is that little shit when I need him? Always fooling around that pest! Agh!

She looks around hoping to find some way to break from her prison, but to no avail. She has to devise some kind of plan.

Can I summon something into my ha…

Her thoughts are interrupted by a voice. It is toned with a high pitch, and it comes out with words that roll.

“I see you are finally awake—the master will be pleased. Did you have a good rest?”

Sweiza looks up; it is the small figure from her dream before. It is standing just beyond the flame and she can’t make out its colors.

—

“Even if what you say is true, dragons are well known for avoiding human structures. This one is no different.”

Sweiza pulls on her arm shackles once, then her arms go slack again. “I’m a Valkyrie.”

“I know. The master said he could feel your presence the minute you entered our domicile.”

Sweiza tries another tactic.

“What was the meaning of showing me the Zodiac then?”

“Oh them. That was the silver globe’s way of probing your memories.”

The dream with Lester; it’s starting to make sense.

Sweiza hears something odd in the distance. The light from the torch’s flames flicker on something shiny in the distance. She sees a pair of two lights; they appear to be eyes. They blink like a set of eyes would. As the creature approaches it makes a weird noise with every metal footstep—some kind of hum or something like a low harmonica.

It walks closer within the torch’s reach.

It looks like an armored creature. A gargoyle maybe? That is very impressive armor!

The armored gargoyle stops just short of the small figure.

“You’ve said too much as usual.”

It’s not the first time I’ve seen an enchanted creature speak. It speaks so perfectly, but something seems off. It almost sounds like a musical instrument… just a very weird one.

The armored gargoyle speaks again. “Yes, it’s understandable that you would think that.”

“What?” There is notable confusion in Sweiza’s voice, but especially in her eyes.

The armored gargoyle walks up closer to just a few feet from the girl. His glowing eyes blink several times.

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am known as Artis. I would ask the same of you.”

He can’t be serious.

“I am being quite serious.”

Sweiza’s jaw drops and her head bolts up at the gargoyle.

“How are you doing that?”

“That is actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”

The gargoyle takes one step forward and something appears out of its arms. They look weird--some kind of cylinder shape..

A flash.

Several chain links in the shackles give way and Sweiza drops to the ground.

She looks up.

Just what the hell is this thing?

“You are a Valkyrie, aren’t you? You should know me as a Sentinel. We are on the same side.”

Sweiza stares up at it in surprise. She tries to scramble to her feet. She drops down again with her body feeling weak.

Something isn’t right.

“There is an artifact in this pyramid that is currently preventing me from leaving. I would like you to deactivate it.”

“What?”

The flames from the torch nearby crackle once and then dance wildly to some unknown wind.

Artis turns back around.

“It has figured it out. It’s true form is that of a sphere. It will look like whatever your mind…”

Everything suddenly turns black.

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…

Sweiza suddenly lets out a gasp and she lunges herself up. She looks down and then up and then behind her she sees Surt. The morning sun is starting to rise just behind the pyramid.

“What the hell?” She says it outloud, but Sprite and Surt are unaffected by her voice.

She jumps to a standing position and stares in defiance at the pyramid.

This is getting stranger the longer she stays here.

---

A few footsteps towards the pyramid and Sweiza turns back to her friends. She eyes Sprite once, then Surt. They must be going through the same things she has. Dream worlds, dream spirits, all kinds of enchanted things. She stiffens herself up and about faces. Her pace quickens and her arms move briskly. Her thoughts dwell on the Sentinel that says it is being prevented from moving. The ‘artifact’ is some kind of silver sphere that can read a person’s mind—dreams rather. The smaller creature of the two was most curious. It never mentioned anything about being trapped there. Are the two friends?

She rearms her focus towarsd the stairs of the pyrmid. She has a hunch the Sentinel is within the walls of the pyramid itself—perhaps stuck in a dreamstate. She doesn’t want that same thing to happen to her current entourage.

Her armor suddenly appears with her sword drawn. Perhaps if she can solve this on her own, she’ll win Strife over. Her eyes narrow as she she breaks into a run at the base of the pyramid—each running step hits the stone steps with iron claps.

—

At the entrance to the inside hall, Sweiza notes the doors as they were before. They look like an explosive threw them off their hinges. She figures it was bandits from before. Past the hallway, she finds herself in the same situation as before. There is a corridor with many doors. Most of them are separate chambers and dead ends. Many of them have doors that are blown off their hinges, or they simply won’t open. She doesn’t have the ability to move them—they are far too heavy.

She paces in and out of the different chambers. There is nothing there. She remembers seeing entrances at the other side of the pyramid. She backtracks and traces the perimeter of the pyramid. The second entrance has been collapsed—something exploded. The third has been blown off its hinges; the fourth door appears to have been destroyed in an explosion. She notes this isn’t a good sign. Hopefully the bandits that caused this are long gone. She figures there is treasure buried in different locations within the bowels of the pyramid.

She chooses to enter the third doorway and will proceed to the fourth if she doesn’t find what she needs.

She sees strange symbols painted on the walls—they match the futhark she’s becoming accustomed too. There are also strange paintings on the wall. Some dragons, others strange creatures she is not accustomed to. A few of the designs look like werewolves and spritekin. She tries to give them a closer look, but the shadow of the interior and the light of the sun catch her attention. She looks further in—sure enough it is dark. She stamps her foot and huffs in frustration. She left her torch in her first excursion in the pyrmamid—it has probably burned out by now. She stamps her foot again. This isn’t going so well.

---

At the first entrance, she finds herself in a similar situation—no light. She has to stop and think about it for a second. Sprite would probably make an excellent light source; but he is still sleeping and hates ghosts. Surt won’t fit into the pyramid entrance. Well, he can, but he would be digging. She can’t remember if dragon’s can dig through stone or not. She thinks further. She has flint rocks (fire starter). Would clapping the rocks together work?

She tests that theory.

It doesn’t work very well.

She has matches, but doesn’t like wasting them anymore than the flint rocks.

The torchlight from Bothnin?

She summons it to her hands. She forgets the mechanism. She tries twisting it, then rubbing it—but nothing. She finally tries shaking it and the light flicks on. She is blind momentarily from looking at the focus of the light. She shakes her head and continues onward in a run.

She wastes no time this time. She heads straight for the end doors that circle around the main chamber and allow access. She swings the beam—she doesn’t remember where the torch was left. She sees something blue flicker in the distance.

She swings the beam again. She freezes and swings the light back at the blue flicker. It starts to walk towards her.

It’s the figure from her dream. She calls out to it. It doesn’t answer. It continues to walk towards her. She starts to back up.

She feels something scuff behind her heels.

The torch!

She scoops it up and turns around. Just as she is about to pull it into her being, she sees the figure standing in front of her. It flickers at her once and its eyes glow.

Sweiza lets out a yelp and falls backwards to her hands and butt. She tries to scramble to her feet but sees the ‘ghost’ in front of her. She can feel panic—it feels more like terror really. She hates ghosts—even moreso than Sprite. This is bad, really bad. She can feel the blood rushing from her head.

Thoughts flood her head. She’s come this far, only to be spooked by the thing which was otherwise friendly. Why isn’t it talking to her? Her head fills with resolve as she scrambles to her feet and darts under the now-hovering figure; she grabs both the torch light (by the handle) and then grabs the torch by the top (fuel source). She cringes at how the torch feels. Whatever.

She is about to say something when she suddenly bolts up from her dream. She is up to a sitting position and pants.

“What the Goddess?!” She looks around and sees Sprite hovering just above her. The dragon Surt is staring at her curiously.

“Sera, you were running in circles!” Sprite flaps his wings at her; it is an odd gesture—she knows it means he is curious.

“You’ve been having those weird dreams too?” She scratches her head at him. He nods.

The dragon lumbers up suddenly at stares her down. The wings attached to his front arms suddenly hackle backwards.

“There is something evil going on here.”

“Surt, can you dig through stone?”

The dragon looks back at the pyramid.

“There is gold in that pyramid.”

Sweiza’s arms cross and she glares up at the dragon. His tail flicks the ground. Her eyes pop in surprise and her eyes suddenly uncross.

“What did you do, eat the bandits?”

The dragon’s tongue flicks out at her; she can feel a snort of his hot breath from his nose.

“Okay, okay. I’ll find it’s location.”

The dragon’s tongue flicks upward; she can only assume it means in approval.

“There is one thing though…”

Sweiza flicks her hand once and the torchlight appears. That much is certain.

She flicks her other hand and the torch appears in it.

As far as she can tell, there is a discrepancy between the waking and real worlds. She can’t tell if what happens in the dream world also happens in the waking or not.

“Surt!”

The dragon’s head lowers towards her and his third eyelids blink at her. She grimaces at the sight; she thought only birds and cats had that.

“Surt! Did you ever hear of any Sentinels in this area?”

The dragon looks back at the pyramid again.

“The iron race avoids this area; it was respite during the battle…”

The dragon doesn’t sound happy.

Sweiza has to stop and think. “Battles… you mean the Muspell-Vallhal War?”

The dragon’s eyes blink once, but he doesn’t answer her.

“Surt, could you at least nod or something so I know if you’re listening?”

The dragon’s eyes glow at her. “No.”

Sweiza stamps her foot on the ground.

“Maybe we should just avoid this area then?”

The dragon’s eyes glow from orange to yellow; his tongue flicks out again.

“We are not leaving without the treasure.”

“You don’t even know if it is here or not!”

“The grave diggers found it.”

Sweiza takes in an involuntary breath an exhales in frustration. She knows full well it would be treacherous walking back to Muspell Harbor on foot; Surt could get her back to Maria in less than half a day.

“Surt! There is a Sentinel…”

Surt’s eyes pull bright red at the word ‘Sentinel’.

“…and some kind of ghost in there. If things go bad, I want your full support, treasure or not! You hear me?!”

Sweiza turns around without giving the dragon a chance to answer her. She looks up at Sprite once. Her eyes shout serious all over him. He nods as she starts her her pace towards the pyramid. Strife sent her here for a reason—she is going to get to the bottom of it.

---

Sweiza looks down at the torchlight in her hand once. She flicks it on; her attention moves to Sprite. “I need a second light. Help me out… Dewey.”

Sprite stands stiff and to attention. He suddenly pulses a bright blue light. He takes point and charges towards the pyramid.

Sweiza take step forward and starts sinking in the sand.

“What the?! Surt, help!”

She turns around and falls over. She sees Surt is frozen. “SURT!”

He doesn’t respond.

“Sprite, help!” She turns back around towards the spritekin. For some reason he is still moving and darts towards her. She outreaches her hand towards him and he grabs onto it. With all his might he pulls. It has no effect. He uses every last ounce of magic he has to send air in the reverse direction and pull himself upwards. It works momentarily, but exhaustion hits him and his strength slackens. He lets go of Sweiza and her hand suddenly pulls him under the sand.

She holds her hand up to try and save him; it works, but their situation is dire. She continues sinking. As she reaches chest level she struggles to right herself up, but continues sinking until she is neck high. She continues to panic and her hand suddenly pulls sprite under. She doesn’t hear his cry. She looks up at the sun. Does she die this way? She looks over towards the dragon. A pair of feet are just to her left. She recognizes those boots. She looks up at a familiar uniform and sees Salmira.

“Salmira, help me! Please!”

Salmira’s hands hands go to her hips, “I thought you would have figured this out by now, but I seem to be mistaken.”

“I don’t want to die!” Sweiza lets out a cry as her head finally sinks beneath the sand.

Salmira lets out a smirk at the girl’s former location; she lets a kick of sand at it.

Salmira’s eyebrows pop up, “Don’t disappoint me, your time is nigh.”