I lost my breath and fell to the stone. What my eyes perceived couldn’t have been real. It shouldn’t have been real. Were we not the first one’s here!? Earth’s history never told of otherworldly gods taking us from our planet and sending us to this grim land of death!

The other hybrids stood in a frozen panic as Gadaan knelt beside me. “Do you recognize these lands?”

“It’s Earth! It’s our home! Peru! Greece! Japan! Egypt! Who painted these murals, Gadaan!?”

The beast peered at the looming works of art and was unable to answer the question. He mentioned ancient hybrids in passing but I thought those were the ramblings of a drunken dog. However, his theory turned true; humans had come to Carrion eras before. But I feared I would never know the full story. Gadaan rose to the mural and wiped his paw against the dust. Briar’s arcane light illuminated words that were carved into the wall beside the mural.

“Velkrash prahmi velkpra movel kragnar,” Gadaan read aloud.

A faint translucent blue [System] box appeared above him and translated his dwarven words: The gods’ gifts bless our homes.

Does this mean that the gods came to Earth? Or maybe the ancient hybrids brought knowledge or technology back with them? My mind continued to race with ideas as it tried to not collapse in its already shattered state. I could tell everyone else had the same thoughts, but none of us could produce an answer that made any conceivable sense.

“I knew it was aliens that made the pyramids!” Ethan exclaimed. His sister promptly hit him upside the head, but anything was possible now. Any mysteries of our world could be easily explained as ‘ancient gods did it’, but it rubbed me the wrong way. The impression I had of these deities did not strike me as kind or forgiving, but cruel and punishing.

Venturing forth through the hall, we stumbled upon a sizable room intact and in reasonable order. Shelves full of scrolls and metal candelabras standing taut. An archive from the ancient hybrids excited Gadaan and myself. He was looking for proof to show his kind that hybrids have come before while I was looking for answers that would show a way back home. Unfortunately for the both of us, we couldn’t understand a damn word.

Written in a language that seemed like a possible amalgamation of hieroglyphics, the Greek alphabet, and dwarven script, we looked at it with puzzling expressions. I figured my [System] would translate it if I kept staring at the words, but all I accomplished was turning my eyes bloodshot.

“Any of this look familiar to you?” I asked Gadaan.

The beast shook his head. “Probably first of its kind. I know some collectors that’ll pay handsomely for this.”

“They’re worth money!?” Mell exclaimed. Her and Ethan sprinted toward the shelves and stuffed as much rolled parchment as they could under their arms, their shirts, and their waistbands. If the room wasn’t in disrepair before, it was now. Scrolls rolled along the floor and long-extinguished candle holders fell to the ground. I was sure Gadaan had more respect than this, but even he stuffed the scrolls in his bag. Taro, Briar and I stood by the doorway and watched as they ruined the archives.

“What are you thinking, Taro?” I asked.

A long pause came before he spoke in a grumbled voice, “I’m thinking this was a waste.”

“At least we have some money now,” Briar sighed. They picked up a scroll that rolled into their fuzzy tail and broke the wax seal. I gazed aimlessly at first until I saw an illustration of each of the gods’ symbols above a landscape divided in half. The left had a mass of small figures with chains wrapped around their necks that linked to the symbols above them. The right had figures raising their arms with broken chains around their necks. While in the middle… stood a door with a black and white zig-zag pattern.

The way out, I thought. But how? The mural scripture thanked them for their gifts, but here they’re prisoners. So which is it?

“So they’ve chained us here,” Taro muttered.

Briar pinned their ears back and swished their tail from side to side. “Maybe it’s a metaphor?”

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Taro and I scoffed, “A metaphor for what? How staying in this world of brutality is better than going back home?”

The knight hummed in agreement, “They’re the reason why we’re here. The gods are not present on the other side and the people are cheering.”

If this isn’t just some hopeful sketch of a man forgotten, then how do we free ourselves? I pondered.

While the rest of the party weighed themselves down with ancient parchments, I looked over the illustration repeatedly, hoping for an answer or a key to escape from this plane of existence. In my contemplating state against a stone wall, I heard the soothing voice of a woman beside me. Although her words were unintelligible, she was cheery in tone and her cadence felt of love. Goosebumps covered my arms and redness painted my face. I looked to my side and no one was there besides the young fur-beast.

“You say something?” I asked.

Briar shook their head and gave me a baffling look.

“I must’ve fallen asleep by accident,” I nervously laughed.

My eyes were open, my thoughts racing, my heart beating, and I heard her next sentence as if they were whispered in my ear. “The keys to your shackles reside in the hearts of the gods. Destroy them and set yourself free,” she giggled.

I rose instantaneously and looked all around me in a shaking panic. The rest of my party stared at me as if I was having a meltdown, but I knew what I heard. I felt the solid wall I sat against.

I checked all of my menus and my own body. I looked down at my chest, the diamond amulet shimmering in the arcane light.

“It talked to me!” I shouted, throwing it off myself.

The amulet skidded across the ground and rested at Gadaan’s foot. He picked it up and put it next to his pointed ear.

“What’d it say!?” Mell and Ethan both asked, giddy to take hold of it.

“I don’t know! Just listen to it!”

The twins looked to the director of the dungeon but Gadaan shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing.”

“You going crazy, Karnyn?” Mell asked with a furrowed brow.

“Yeah! You better tell us before you stab us in the back or something!” Ethan added.

I groaned and let loose a pent breath, “Do you not have talking jewels in this world?”

The beast shook his head and I was left as the maniac of the dungeon even though I swore I heard a woman’s voice… The more I thought about it, the more recognizable it felt. I heard that same warm cadence in my dreams before Taro and I reached Kamahlor. Then I must’ve been sleeping, right? Am I goddamn narcoleptic?

“You want the amulet back or not,” Gadaan sneered.

“Uh… yes.” He tossed it back to me and it slipped through my fingers and fell to the ground. I gazed at it with a sigh while everyone else shook their heads and moved on to the next chamber. If what the voice said was true, how am I going to kill the gods with butter fingers like these?

* * *

Another narrow hall with murals depicting the gods. This depiction, however, was more graphic than the last one. A circular pit represented the Arena with two combatants on either end, one held a frown while the other was missing a head. The gods, of course, were above it all in a crimson sky. No text was found but it would be obvious that the ancient hybrids wouldn’t have had anything nice to say this time.

The chamber after the hall was ruined like the last, but it was obvious that a creature made their home here. Bounty, bones, and butchered creatures piled in the corners of the mimics’ nests. Ethan swam through the rotten gore like a duck in an ocean of treasure and pulled out however many silver pieces he could find. However, I didn’t notice until now that he also carried a longsword on his hip similar to Taro’s.

“When’d you get that?” I asked.

“This? I’ve had it on my hip since after we killed those mimics.”

What? This whole time? But don’t you prefer to use your hands to kill shit like some raging berserker? Hell, maybe I do have narcolepsy.

We left the chamber with more stank than we came in with and proceeded on. I knew not what Gadaan was searching for, he already had the proof he needed, but I suppose he just wanted to follow the carved paths until the end. He stood at the edge of a doorway. What followed beyond was pitch blackness that not even Briar’s light was able to illuminate, except a single wooden bridge. The rickety planks of wood held together by a swaying rope weren’t tempting to walk across when the floor and ceiling were a black boundless abyss.

“Fuck. This,” Mell said.

I couldn’t help but agree. This was death incarnate… besides the literal God of Death that resided in this world.

“Come on, plainskins. There’s bound to be more riches and history left to uncover. Make a name for yourself and keep moving!” Gadaan’s harsh tone settled only for Briar who was shaking relentlessly as they gripped the rope railing.

“You’ll be alright, pup. Just follow my lead and keep lookin’ forward.”

Gadaan, Briar, Mell, Ethan and myself took a step onto the bridge while Taro took one slow step after another behind us. Can’t say I’m too envious of that armor now, I thought. Heights never scared me all that much; I’ve fallen out of enough trees to know that if my neck snaps and my spine shatters, it wouldn’t necessarily be my problem at the end of the day… as long as I didn’t survive.

One footfall in front of the other. Gingerly paced with trembling legs. The bridge shook, rattled, and creaked with each wooden board passed. I was certain the mimics never ventured across this swaying bridge—until charred flesh grew from inside Taro’s scabbard.