I froze as the voice echoed in my skull. For a moment, I wondered if the ancient tomb's air had finally gotten to me, but one look at the others confirmed I wasn't hallucinating. Estella's usual smile had vanished, her face pale in the purple light. Tirion's ears were pressed flat against his head. Even Lysa's shadow magic flickered erratically, responding to her unease.
"PROVE YOUR WORTH, SEEKERS OF TRUTH. SHOW YOUR REJECTION OF FALSE LIGHT."
The words came again, bypassing my ears to slam directly into my consciousness. My vision blurred. I tried to blink away the distortion, but the world kept sliding sideways. The world went silent… And then the vision took hold.
Warning: Mental Status Effect Detected Heart of Stone failed: Unable to Resist Experiencing Historical Playback...
The memories crashed over me. A group of treasure hunters stumbled through ancient corridors, their torches sputtering out one by one they fled screaming into the darkness. A shadow priest cried in pain as his magic turned against him, purple flames consuming him from within until nothing remained but ashes.
A scholar's trembling hands reached for forbidden truth, her carefully penned notes igniting at the mere touch of ancient knowledge. Her life's work was reduced to cinders in an instant. A warrior-priest fell to his knees before some terrible revelation, his proclamations of heresy cut short by the swift justice of his former brothers. Through it all, a blind swordsman danced across a field of fallen blades, his impossible victories witnessed only by the dead.
Centuries compressed into moments. I saw the tomb changing, and evolving, the crystals growing like living things. I watched generations of explorers march in with pride and ambition in their eyes. Some fled, broken and babbling. Others simply... vanished.
Those who tried to conquer the tomb through sheer strength found their might meaningless. The clever ones who sought to outsmart its defenses fared no better. Each failure added another layer to the tomb's dark legend, until even the memory of its location faded into myth, a cautionary tale whispered in the deepest shadows of the Undercity.
"Noctus!" Estella's voice cut through the visions. Her fingers dug into my arm, grounding me back to reality.
"Your eyes," she whispered. "They were glowing purple.
I blinked hard, trying to shake off the weight of centuries. The afterimages of countless failed expeditions still burned in my mind - all those confident adventurers reduced to cautionary tales.
"Did... did anyone else see that?" I gripped the rough stone wall, trying to steady myself.
"I saw warriors," Tirion said quietly, his ears laid flat against his head. "Hundreds of attempts. Different weapons, different tactics. All of them..." He tightened his grip on his shield.
"The voice. It demanded proof of our rejection of false light. But these visions..." Lysa said. “Almost as though it was a test and they were showing us the cost of failure."
"Testing our rejection of false light? How exactly are we supposed to prove something like that?" I forced a laugh.
"Maybe we could just say we reject it?" Estella suggested, attempting her usual lightness. "I formally reject the false light." She dropped into an exaggerated curtsy. "There, that ought to do it. I even added a flourish."
The chamber remained silent, the purple starfield of crystals continuing their slow dance around us. Each point of light left trailing after images that seemed to form and dissolve faces in the darkness.
Then the crystals flashed a blinding white.
Warning: Hostile Magic Detected! Status Effect: Light Burn - Minor HP -10
"Gah!" Estella stumbled back, clutching her eyes.
Tirion's shield came up instantly, but the light heated it like a frying pan, leaving the metal glowing red-hot. He dropped it with a cry of pain, the metal sizzling as it hit the stone floor.
"Wrong approach," Lysa gasped. Blood trickled from her nose. Even trying to defend against this magic was taking its toll.
The light faded gradually, leaving red marks on our exposed skin. The crystals resumed their ominous dance, but slower now, expectant. As though waiting for our next mistake.
"Let me try something," Tirion said, stepping forward. "As a warrior of Shadow Lord, I reject-"
The crystals' reaction was instant and violent. White light exploded outward with twice the intensity, accompanied by a sound like shattering glass.
Critical Warning: Hostile Magic Intensifying! Status Effect: Light Burn - Moderate HP -20 Status Effect: Disoriented
This time when the light faded, we were all on our knees. My skin felt like it was cooking from the inside out.
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" I don't think it's that simple. " Lysa wheezed, blood flowing freely from her nose. " This magic... It’s not looking for declarations of faith. It wants..." She struggled to her feet, swaying. "Something else. Something real."
"Wait," I said, studying the central relief through pain-blurred eyes. "Lysa, what exactly did that inscription say?"
"'Here lies the one who saw truth in darkness,'" she quoted, "'who turned his back on false light... who knew the worth of what was lost...'"
The crystals pulsed at her words, spinning faster and taking on a reddish tinge. The temperature in the chamber began to rise.
Warning: Environmental Hazard Detected Temperature Rising Estimated Time to Critical: 2 minutes Recommendation: Solve puzzle or retreat
"We're getting warmer. Both literally and figuratively," Estella managed a weak laugh that turned into a cough.
"Speaking of warmer," Tirion grunted, "we need to hurry. This plate mail is starting to feel like an oven." He began unfastening his gauntlets with shaking hands. "Never thought I'd cook inside my armor."
"The temperature... it's not natural. It's like the tomb is trying to burn away falsehood." Lysa pressed herself against one of the cooler stone pillars, her face flushed. "We have perhaps a minute before we're quite literally cooked alive."
"Great," I muttered, my clothes now soaked with sweat. No pressure or anything. Just solve the ancient mystery before we all become the world's most well-done adventuring party.
My mind raced through possibilities. I studied the central relief again, the figure standing atop that mountain of bodies. A king who 'saw truth in darkness' and 'turned his back on false light.' I muttered, thinking out loud. "Why did he conclude that the light is false? What did he see that made him reject everything?"
"You've seen the surface," Tirion said. "You've witnessed what we only hear whispers about in the deep. What do you think?"
My mind flashed to the stone statues on the surface. A pattern of horrors, all connected by a single thread. "Light Poisoning," I said, feeling the weight of certainty. "It has to be Light Poisoning."
The purple lights pulsed once, stronger. The carved bodies beneath the king's feet shifted. Their faces turned toward us, mouths open in silent screams.
"Look!" Estella pointed to the spiral text. New lines were appearing, bleeding up through the stone like dark ink through paper.
Lysa leaned forward, her magic illuminating the fresh text. "'The truth lies in the darkness of...'" she hesitated. "The next word is strange. It looks like... 'experience'?"
"Experiences… Our experiences," I said, understanding dawning. "It wants our proof. Our reasons to reject the light."
"TRUTH THROUGH EXPERIENCE," the voice echoed in our minds. "WISDOM THROUGH LOSS. STRENGTH THROUGH REJECTION."
Truth through experience... I saw Daisy again, her stone face forever frozen in that moment of torment. How many nobles kept these living statues, these people turned art pieces? How many times had the light's faithful proclaimed it a blessing, a divine honor while treating human lives as mere decorations?
Wisdom through loss... Ada's face flickered in my mind, human one moment, twisted by light the next. Her golden locket still hung heavy at my belt. I remembered her kindness, and her determination to help others even as her veins began to glow. The church called it divine punishment, but I'd seen the truth, good people transformed into monsters, their last moments spent begging loved ones to end their suffering before the light took them completely.
Strength through rejection... The Nightsky Blade vibrated at my hip as if responding to the chamber's magic. My hands moved on their own, drawing my sword. The blade's familiar dark aura writhed and transformed, bleeding into deep purple where it met the chamber's magic.
I stared at the central figure again, at its sword pointing upwards. The angle seemed deliberate, precise. Like it was pointing at something that should be there. I raised the Nightsky Blade to match the carved figure's pose. The sword's vibrations intensified as I neared the correct angle, my arms shaking with the effort to hold it steady.
"I am Noctus Equitus," I spoke through clenched teeth. "Knight of the Night, who has witnessed the true face of light." The sword's vibrations reached a fever pitch, threatening to shake apart my bones. "I reject its false salvation. I reject its hollow promises. I reject the tyranny of the endless day!"
The chamber's crystals spun faster, their light trails weaving together into a constellation of purple tears that rained upward, defying gravity. The streams of light twisted, clustering into shapes that might have been ancient star maps. The phantom sky churned above us, each revolution adding new layers of complexity until the entire chamber ceiling became a living tapestry of impossible astronomy.
And then I wasn't in the chamber anymore.
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I saw a knight moving through a field of stone statues, each one frozen in a different pose of terror or supplication. Some had their arms raised to shield their eyes from the light that had claimed them. Others were caught mid-stride, perhaps trying to run from their inevitable transformation. One young woman had been petrified while cradling empty air, her stone arms forever holding a child that had either escaped or... I forced my gaze away.
The knight made his way around the field, his armored hand reaching out to touch the faces of the statues. The knight paused before a statue of an elderly man. Unlike the others, this one showed no fear. The old man's face was turned upward, eyes wide open, lips parted in what might have been a smile or a laugh. His arms were spread wide, embracing the light that had turned him to stone.
The knight fell to his knees and removed his helmet, revealing a head of long raven-black hair. A single tear fell from his left eye, carving a clean track through the dust on his cheek. “I’m sorry,” he whispered to his petrified audience. “I never meant for this to happen.”
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"It's beautiful," Estella's voice cut through the vision, drawing me back to the present. She stood transfixed, her torch hanging forgotten at her side while her free hand reached toward the swirling lights above. The purple radiance caught in her hair, transforming each strand into captured starlight. "I always imagined this is what the sky would look like."
The phantom stars continued their dance overhead, but something had changed. The figure in the central relief shifted. Its sword descended like an executioner's blade, pointing to where the door met earth.
"THE PATH IS OPENED TO THOSE WHO HAVE SEEN."
A line of purple fire traced its way down the center of the massive door, spreading outward in fractal patterns that matched the spinning crystals above. The door began to split along that burning line, ancient stone grinding against stone. Behind it, darkness waited.
"Well," Estella said, "I guess the tomb appreciates a good theatrical performance. Nice sword work there, Sir Knight."
"At least it worked," Tirion said. "Though I'm not sure if passing this test makes me feel better or worse about what's ahead." "I got a bad feeling about this," Tirion said as ancient air washed over us. “Whatever's down there has had centuries to prepare for visitors.”
"Your confidence is inspiring," Lysa said dryly.
"Oh come on! It’ll be fun. Time to meet a king! " Estella added with a wink, "They'll tell stories about us in the Moonless Tavern for weeks."
"Let's hope they're good stories," I said as we entered the darkness.
Quest Updated: The Tomb of the First King Objective Complete: Prove Rejection of False Light New Objective: Explore the Ancient Tomb