“What happened? Did you find something Liza?” asked Ben.

“That,” said Liza as she pointed towards the symbol.

“An inverted pyramid with an eye inside. What is it? The upside-down illuminati?”

“There you go again with the nonsense. No, that symbol explains why we would find a tomb in such a remote place. It’s the symbol of Mirsha.”

“How does it explain why this mausoleum is here?” asked Fang Chu.

“Mirsha followers believe that they’ll be taken to the afterlife by their goddess, together with everything they have been buried with. To the poor it doesn’t matter much, they just ask to be buried anywhere with the little that they have. The rich and powerful on the other hand will have their tombs filled with all kinds of goods, making them a high-profile target for grave robbers. Since they don’t want to be robbed from their belongings before the goddess comes to take them, they usually erect their tombs in secrecy and on isolated places, building all kinds of contraptions to the safekeeping of their fortune.”

“That’s kind of similar to the ancient Egyptians. Why were you cursing then? Doesn’t that mean we stumbled upon a fortune?” inquired Ben.

“You just paid attention to the good parts, I see. This mausoleum was built inside Tumma Forest. Whoever was buried here sure didn’t want anyone to find out. It’s probably filled with traps and really dangerous.”

“So, what should we do? Should we go inside to take a look or just leave?” asked Ben.

“Dunno. I’m not sure how I feel about it…” said Liza as she bit her lower lip.

[Oh, right, I forgot. She doesn’t like stealing…]

Ben knew Liza hated bandits and what they did, so she abhorred taking from others what didn’t belong to her. But he also knew she wasn’t completely inflexible. She could understand and look the other way in some cases, like what Popis and the children did to survive. She also had no problem taking things from people she killed in self-defence. Perhaps to those that saw the world in black and white she would be a shameless hypocrite, but to Ben there was another word for it: normal. Who didn’t contradict themselves from time to time? Being a mess of paradoxes and contradictions was at the core of what made people human. The famous “it’s complicated”.

Seeing that Liza couldn’t make her mind about the situation, Ben decided to give her a helping hand and tip the scales. He put his hands on the back of his head, looked up and began talking to himself.

“They believe the goddess will take them to the afterlife with all their belongings? Looking by how old this place is, this fellow or lady should be long gone. The crypt is probably empty by now, all its valuables taken by the goddess. How does this work by the way? Does she come to the place in person, carrying a large bag? Or does she make a tally and give the person the corresponding wealth back in heaven? For shame, for shame, just when we were in dire need of money too…”

Robbing a grave was something that definitely crossed Ben’s line before, but after killing people (in self-defence, mind you) most of those lines seemed insignificant now. Especially in cases like this, were it would be beneficial to them without harming anyone. That’s why he didn’t feel guilty at all by pushing Liza in this direction.

“Urgh… argh! Let’s go in and see. You’re probably right, whatever is inside should be what the goddess left behind. Then we might as well take it. At this point it’s basically ownerless, right?” asked Liza with uncertainty.

“Right, it should be so,” said Ben seriously.

“But we need to be careful. Let me prepare a few things first.”

Everyone watched as Liza went to the edge of the clearing and cut a rather long branch from a tree. She put it under her arm and began scanning the ground. She was looking for a sizeable rock. It took a while, but she found one. Looking at her return to the mausoleum’s entrance carrying the branch and the rock, Ben felt nostalgic.

“Ah, the most basic tools for dungeon crawling…” he said.

“Oh? You know of it too?” asked a surprised Liza.

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“Yes. Never went without them after losing a friend to a trap.”

“I’m sorry,” said Liza sadly. “But from what you’ve told us, the place you grew up in was peaceful and non-violent. How come trap filled dungeons existed in a region like that?”

“Oh, they do exist. In our minds,” said Ben solemnly.

Liza’s mouth slacked open for a moment before her brows creased in annoyance. She dropped the branch and the stone to the ground and slapped Ben on the shoulder a few times with moderate force.

“You’re just messing with me!” she exclaimed.

“Ouch, no, it’s true! Stop it! You win, I’m sorry! My bad!”

Fang Chu laughed at their antics while Eliot was left puzzled. After Liza was done slapping Ben, she grabbed the rock and dropped it downstairs towards the inside of the mausoleum. The rock rolled awkwardly down the steps with a rumbling sound. Nothing happened. Liza then grabbed the branch and began testing every surface before moving forward. Everyone followed suit.

“How come there are dungeons in your mind?” asked Eliot.

Liza’s mouth twitched, but she kept quiet.

“It’s a really cool game. We can play it one of these days when we have the time.”

“Is it better than five stones?”

“It’s a thousand times better than five stones!”

“What?! No way!”

“You’ll see.”

At the end of the stairs was a square room. The light from outside was just enough to partially illuminate the chamber, revealing at its center a two meters tall humanoid creature. It had a polished head with no facial features and large cylindrical limbs made of mud that were covered in cobwebs. By its feet were a couple of shattered skeletons wearing rags and holding rusted weapons.

“Woah, that’s scary! But it’s also cool!” said Ben.

“Don’t step inside! Stay on the stairs!”

“Me stepping inside? Are you crazy?” he replied.

“Oh, that’s curious. Is that an autonomous servant? We don’t have many of those where I come from.”

“It’s a clay golem. Wizards sure love their golems.”

“What does it do?” asked Eliot.

“This one? Kills any intruders,” said Liza while looking at the broken skeletons on the floor.

“What should we do then?” asked Ben.

“I’ll go whack him!” said Eliot.

“No! I’m sure you’d be able to, but right now you have a broken arm and many fractures! You need to focus on resting and recovering!”

“Buuuh, boring!”

“I don’t care if it’s boring, just wait patiently!” said Liza before turning to Fang Chu. “How are you feeling? Can you move like you did before? I’m not asking you to injure yourself, I just want to know if you can distract him for a bit.”

“Sure, I can do that. No problem.”

“Go in first then and distract him. I want to see what’s in that corridor up ahead.”

Liza lit up a torch and readied herself as Fang Chu casually stepped inside the room. The golem that was dormant for who knew how long stirred the moment her feet touched the ground. It moved its limbs, breaking apart the cobwebs that covered them, and rushed at her.

It swung his large arm like a mace, hoping to crush the intruder, but hit nothing but air. Fang Chu had graciously dodged to the side. The golem was faster than his size betrayed, but it still wasn’t enough. It tirelessly swung his arms around, but Fang Chu dodged them each time, leading him in circles. Her moves were light and fast. It seemed as if she was dancing as she glided from one spot to the other. Ben was left in a daze as he watched that mesmerizing scene.

While the two were locked in combat, Liza snuck past them and bolted straight to the corridor. This time she couldn’t take things too slow, so besides the torch she only brought the rock with her. The moment she reached the corridor’s entrance, she tossed the rock forward and watched as it rolled on the floor. It moved for a few meters before suddenly vanishing into the ground. A few seconds later, the sound of the rock hitting something echoed on the corridor.

“Shit! It’s a hidden pitfall. I can’t be sure how big it is for now.”

The light of the torch wasn’t enough to illuminate the entire corridor clearly, so Liza wasn’t too sure of what was ahead. Knowing now was not the time to stop and ponder, she returned in a rush back to the stairs and signalled Fang Chu to fall back as well.

“Let’s run back up for now. We’ll need to figure out a way to deal with this golem before proceeding,” she said.

“Do you want me to destroy it?” asked Fang Chu.

“Can you do it without hurting yourself?”

“Not likely.”

“Then don’t do it. What I said for Eliot goes for you too. Let’s go back and think of a better way to get past him.”

The golem attacked Fang Chu all the way to the stairs, but once she was outside the room it stopped. Finding there was no more intruders in the zone it was tasked to protect, the golem went back to the middle of the chamber to wait in its original position. Meanwhile, the group gathered around outside and sat on the ground to discuss what to do next.

“What did you find? What comes after this room?” asked Ben with interest. It was his first time experiencing a real dungeon. He was both parts excited and scared.

“It’s a long corridor. I couldn’t see in its entirety since I was afraid of triggering a trap if I went in. So I threw the rock. After rolling for a few meters it sunk into the floor like the ground wasn’t even there! I’m pretty sure it’s an illusory pitfall trap.”

“Ah, a pitfall. Classic. I’m sure there are spikes on the bottom. Any self-respecting dungeon master would add in a few spikes,” he said seriously.

Liza made a strange face. She was already used to Ben having all kinds of random knowledge, but he was usually wary or scared of most of the dangers they had come across. It was the first time that he seemed genuinely excited about a perilous situation.

The truth was that Ben couldn’t help himself. The shock of finding he was stuck in a foreign world had lessened by now and dungeons were the bread and butter of many of the things he found enjoyable back on Earth. It was a major part of the games and books he used to distract himself from the existential void that threatened to consume him.