There was only darkness around me when I regained consciousness. The attempt to get up was cut short by a sudden pain in my shoulder. I lied back down and tried to calm down. Slowly memories from the events before resurfaced in my mind.

I had been betrayed. I had been fooled. I had been stupid.

Helvallia shot at me without a second thought. It was all a bad facade and I had been dancing in her palm all along. The reason why she did all of that, was still a mystery to me, but I was sure of one thing. She didn’t want to kill me. She could have, but she didn’t.

Tears ran down my cheeks as I thought about my mixed feelings. There was anger, directed at myself and Helvallia. There was also a feeling of sadness, because of being played with, a loss of trust, because of being betrayed.

What if other people betray me? Whom can I still trust?

My mixed feelings and racing thoughts came to a stop when a head from the darkness bumped into mine. Quintus licked my face and growled at me. I could feel his emotions. He was angry as well, but probably for another reason than I. He was also totally confused. The wyvern seemed unable to deal with my lump of mixed feelings properly.

His presence reassured me though, as did his scales in my face. When I calmed down enough, small a laugh spread through the place I was in.

“Ow, Ow, Ow! Fuck, it still hurts much more physical than it did emotionally”, I said and touched my shoulder. The wound seemed to have stopped bleeding some time ago. Bolt still embedded.

“So what do you think, where are we?”, I asked Quintus and heard how the wyvern moved away from me. He came back, after a few seconds. He dropped something to my right. I searched with my hand for the object.

It felt like a stone plate or something similar. I was by no means a geology expert. There were notches on one side. So it was a marked tile. The roughness and odd structure of the other side suggested, that it fell from a wall or the ceiling. A piece of it was missing. So a loose tile.

That meant I wasn’t in a cave. I was in some kind of sealed chamber or underground construct. The total darkness didn’t really help me to verify my claim, nor did the bolt embedded in my shoulder. I activated my mana sight just to test the view I would get.

The result was a bit more helpful than expected. While there was a lot of darkness mana in this room, there were also shining runes on the walls and ceiling. Many broken and incomplete, but others working just fine.

I looked at the now glowing tile Quintus brought me. I recognized the symbols from teachers lessons and Alexandria’s library. Hieroglyphics, symbols used by the pharaohs in the times of ancient Aegyptus.

While I couldn’t read this old language, Niloticus had me memorize some key symbols. A few of them being the symbols of their gods. And one of those matched the symbol on my tile. Osiris, the god of death, life and the afterlife.

“So do you want to explain to me, why we are in a temple of Osiris?”, I asked my black companion. He didn’t answer, instead running away again.

I could hear him leave the room I was in. I used the time he was away to think. Father always said to learn from mistakes. It is not a failure as long as you have learned something and won’t repeat it. What did I learn from being shot, betrayed?

I shouldn’t have trusted my parents and teachers' guarantee so blindly. They were not omniscient and there would also be always a residual risk. They were right, that the city was quite safe, but it didn’t mean it was so completely.

The next thing and I hate to say it and dread the day I have to repeat it, Alaric was right. My aide has warned me several times. Not only as my aide but as a friend as well. I have failed him as his lord and as a friend. Should we meet again, an apology is only the first step to regain his trust.

Furthermore, Niloticus is not a god. I have relied too much on him to solve all problems with my security through him. I thought he would protect me against threats, but I should have known better. He can be fooled as well, he can be hurt as well, and he is just a person like I am one, even if he had lived longer than most.

The conclusion was simple. From now on I have to rely on my own forces and strengths. I have to make my name count and not the one of my family. I will have to build up my influence in the city and the east. Contacts to important positions in Neapoli should also be made.

While I thought about the things I learned and planned my next steps, while suppressing the feelings from earlier, Quintus re-entered the room again and again to drop things next to me. I knew to bury those feelings would bite me back later, but I really didn’t want to think of my first crush’s betrayal right now.

I stopped thinking and turned to the objects Quintus had brought into the room. Touching them to see what they were. There were some old fabrics, which had seen better days, an old thick rod of wood and a knife. I ignored the pain in my shoulder, as good as possible, and sat up.

“Yeah, still feels fucking great!”, I shouted and felt directly better, after doing so. I made a makeshift bandage from the clothes. Something I had learned from father back as a kid and something Niloticus made me practice again in our training sessions.

It was far from perfect but had to do for now. Quintus came back again and this time he stayed after dropping something metallic. I felt for the object and found some kind of container. There was a liquid inside, it should be oil. At least it smelled like oil.

I took great care in opening the container correctly and didn’t spill anything in the process. I then tied a lump of clothes around the tip of the rod. The oil was poured over the makeshift torch. The hardest part would be to ignite the flame.

With a low fire affinity and only little training in magic casting a daunting task. I focused on the most simple fire spell construct. Igni.

“Come on, come on, I just need a tiny flame”, I said. “Igni, Igni ...”

My resolve was rewarded with a small flame, which went out five seconds later. Enough time to ignite the oil and with it the torch and see the room for the first time. I moved to the wall closest to me and looked at the writings.

“You wouldn’t know what it says, would you?”, I asked Quintus who followed me like a duckling.

“I thought so. Let's look for some clues, why you teleported us into this room”, I said and was surprised to see Quintus growl back in agreement.

I scouted the room, finding the entrance my wyvern had used to bring the things in. It was a stair made of stone that led upstairs. I decided to explore the rest of the room first.

Over the next 20 minutes, I explored the room. Having difficulties spotting things over five meters away from me and my torchlight. I finally found something in the back of the room. Or should I call it a hall from its height and length?

Near the end of the room were skeletons, draconic ones. I tried to classify them until the shared feelings of Quintus gave me the answer.

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“Sadness? Are they your ancestors? How come you were captured in the east if your ancestors were part of a temple in Aegyptus?”, Quintus didn’t give an answer, and I was left to find one myself.

The skeletons looked draconic, but the size-matched wyverns, even if it was the biggest type of wyvern I had ever seen or heard of. They showed characteristics typical for dragons and wyverns. A row of paintings on the wall behind them told their story.

A dragon had mated with a wyvern, who in turn had been captured by some sea-folk later. It seemed the mother was sacrificed in the temple. The eggs were found by a priest in the dead body of the mother. Osiris was the god of death and life, and now they found life after death. The young wyverns were treated as gifts from Osiris and raised, sacrificed and bred by the temple.

This practice continued until a painting showed an army of demi-humans. After that, there were no more pictures of black wyverns. I followed the story of the wall for a while, but there were no further clues for Quintus' heritage.

“Didn’t expect you to be part dragon or be related to an ancient temple”, I said and the wyvern bumped my head. I patted his head and suddenly froze.

“When did you get so big?”, I asked him. He was now as high as my hip and over two meters long with his tail and stinger. He growled in excitement and I felt happiness coming from him.

“So this trip helped at least one of us”, I sighed and continued my investigation. I found something with my mana sight near the point I woke up and when Quintus entered the circle I was watching, his body lit up with runes I had never seen before.

They were crude, but you couldn’t expect more from an ancient civilization. But how do you make sure the wyverns’ offsprings inherit the runes? Runes are made by mages. This should not be possible. You don’t ‘inherit’ runes on your body.

“Why do you have runes on your skin? I did remember to erase all of your runes when you were in your egg and checked you again after you hatched”, I said. He growled back at me in response.

I tested the range of those runes a bit. They would start to appear dim when Quintus neared the circle and would light up the moment he stepped over.

The runes on the floor gathered and secured the darkness element in huge numbers and marked this position as an exit point. The runes on Quintus were a key to use this exit.

“So you are a key to an ancient temple of Osiris. Anything else you want to tell me?”, I said to him, and we stared into each other eyes for a moment. Then the wyvern produced a small black flame.

“You are kidding me, right?”, I asked him, and he sent back feelings of joy and happiness. Pure blooded wyverns can’t breathe fire. Some hybrids can.

I let the matter drop for now. The ascent from the lowest level to the surface was my new priority.

My thoughts raced between Quintus heritage, to Helvallia and to my family. News from the war were rare and few. I wondered if we had won or at least reached an agreement with the east.

After climbing the steps for an hour, and ignoring all passages which didn’t lead straight up, we reached the surface level of the temple. The sunlight had me nearly running before I remembered my injured shoulder.

I searched the ground floor of the temple for anything useful, but the thing has been looted several times of all its valuables. I left the temple with Quintus and looked around.

The temple behind was one of the times of pharaohs with several broken or destroyed statues of Osiris. There was only desert around. I rounded the temple complex and saw something in the distance that looked like a pyramid. It was the only landmark I could see, and so we headed to the pyramid.

The pyramid became pyramids the more kilometres we covered. It got dark after we managed three-quarters of the journey. It got cold quickly without the sun and I thought about lying down in the sand and just close my eyes for a moment. A black flame to my right discouraged the idea and I smiled.

“What would I do without you Quintus”, I caressed the wyvern, who growled in satisfaction.

“Hmm do you see that as well?”, there was a small light near one of the pyramids. I decided it was the best shot at finding shelter.

It was probably a campfire or torch. I really need something to drink and eat and a warm place to get some sleep.

It was a camp in the end. I could spot the surrounding figures. Four seemed to be sleeping while one kept watching. The darkness shielded my arrival, but we seemed to be loud enough in our approach to alert the one keeping watch.

“Who goes there?”, the guard, whom I could now identify as a female by the voice, stood up and picked up a spear.

“A wanderer, who got lost. I need food and water and could use a guide to Alexandria”, I said and could see the woman relax just a bit.

“Throw your weapons into the light of the campfire”, she said. The other members were now also awake and armed.

I thought about keeping the knife or to refuse the request completely but dismissed it. I needed the help of those people and should play nice and my biggest weapon could hide in my shadow.

I threw the crossbow I had into the illuminated part of the sand. One had been stolen by Helvallia when she shot me. The dagger from the temple followed.

“That is all”, I said in good faith, but the group didn’t relax.

“Come here. Slowly!”, the woman stressed the important word. It was likely she was the leader because nobody else was saying anything.

When I entered the light clearly nobody said anything, before a man, clearly a demi-human by the stinger behind him, suddenly laughed.

“What the fuck is a brown-haired boy doing here”, he choked on his laugh when another feature picked his attention. My attire looked rather … expensive.

“You are a noble, aren’t you? Or a wealthy son from a merchant family?”, he put his hand on his chin, thinking about my background. I saw no reason to hide what I probably couldn’t conceal long with my acting skills.

“I am a noble. Is that a problem?”, the group became tense again for a short moment. The leader stepped in.

“Yes. We want no trouble with the squabbles of nobility”, she said.

“And I don’t mingle with commoners usually”, I countered and wished I had my inner noble better under control. “Sorry, didn’t mean it in a bad way. I just need a bit of food and water, when you reach the next city I will organize the rest of my way back by myself.”

The group entered a short discussion about my plea for help. The guy with the stinger proposing to demand a reward from my family.

They consisted of their leader, a human woman with red hair and a trained body, the scorpion guy with a bald head and thin stature. A pair of siblings who seemed around my age. One girl with red hair matching the leader and a boy with partial snake-like skin and a forked tongue. He was a demi-human. The last member was already asleep again. Looking like the boy, but with finer scales and a scar across his face.

The discussion ended with me being allowed to accompany them. Only the scorpion voting against it.

“I am Noor, these are my children Hana and Adophis. He is my husband Drusus. This is Jalvund”, she pointed at herself, the children, the sleeping guy and lastly the scorpion.

“I am watching you. Don’t do anything stupid”, Jalvund said as he stored the dagger and my crossbow in a bag.

“I am not going to anything stupid, at least not more than I already did”, I said and sighed.

“And what did you do?”, he asked. The children followed the discussion with interest.

“I made a mistake. Trusted somebody I shouldn’t and ignored somebody who was right. It is only thanks to luck that I am here”, I answered, not willing to tell them more without getting something back.

“Your name?”, Noor asked me.

“Lucius”, I answered.

“And your house? Caesar, Ptolemy, Bilibin, you want to go to Alexandria after all”, Jalvund intervened again.

“That I would like to keep for myself”, I said. “How about you, why are you here?”

Jalvund exchanged glances with Noor.

“What can happen he is just a boy. We will tell you a bit about us if you tell us more about you”, Noor said and seemed to ignore the scoff of Jalvund.

“We are from Syene. The most southern city of Aegyptus. We want to leave the province through the port”, she said.

“That is enough for now”, Jalvund said. “Your turn.”

“I am from Neapoli. I went to Alexandria for my education”, I said.

“And what brought you from Alexandria to the Cheops-Pyramide”, he said.

“Wait. We are at the Cheops-Pyramide? I always wanted to visit them”, I said. I didn’t know the group of pyramids were those pyramids.

“You don’t know where you are? How did you come here”, Noor asked.

“That I can’t really explain. Just know, that I need to get back to Alexandria”, I said defensively. Quintus is safer if he stays in my shadow for now. The wyvern had other plans it seemed.

He appeared from my shadow, positioned himself next to me and growled at Jalvund.

“Quintus we need to work on our communication”, the wyvern looked questioningly at me. “This is Quintus, he is something like a distant relative to me.”

“Oh my fuck, what is that thing!”, Jalvund exclaimed and pulled a bow out. Noor picked up her spear. The boy, Adophis scrambled behind his father. Only the girl Hana moved forward.

“Hana stay back!”, commanded Noor.

The girl ignored her mother’s words and moved to Quintus. The wyvern regarded the new person with interest. Hana outstretched her hand. Quintus sniffed at the hand before rubbing his head against it.

“See he is no danger. Quintus behaves well, most of the time at least”, I said.

The mood relaxed a bit when they realized Quintus is no danger to them and wouldn’t attack them in their sleep. The wyvern was sleeping next to the campfire soon after.

We spoke about some general topics and avoided asking about the backgrounds or problematic questions. After getting water and food I went to sleep. Sleeping on the ground was a new experience for me.

I may be kilometres away from Alexandria, but at least I had a group to travel with. I should be able to return to the city in at least a month.