I didn’t bother with a fire that night. It wasn’t necessary. The jungle was warm even as night set in. I still pulled a blanket from my bag and curled up against one of the bridge’s walls.

I rose with the sun the next morning. After a quick breakfast, I continued on toward the pyramid. The state of the bridge remained the same, dark stone and mossy. It was almost noon before I reached the end of the bridge and the colossal structure at its end.

The giant stepped pyramid stretched up toward the sky and was constructed of stone blocks that must have weighed thousands of kilos each. I couldn’t help but look up at the structure with no small amount of awe. The massive blocks of stone stood several times my height and there must have been thousands of them. How had they been cut and transported to the site?

The source of the blue scent was at the top and I was determined to reach it. I put my hands on top of the first step and pulled myself up. It wasn’t too much effort but looking at the ‘steps’ ahead of me, I knew it wasn’t going to remain easy. I put my hands on top of the next step and pulled myself up again.

The sun was starting to set by the time I was able to see a shadow that I assumed was the peak of the pyramid. A large square structure seemed to sit on top of the pyramid, and I could see the blue scent coming from a large door facing me. I also saw the blue scent come from the left and right of the door making me think there were more entrances.

I wanted to keep going. The entrance was so close. And yet, I knew that trying to climb higher in the dark would have been a risk and not knowing what was waiting for me, lighting a fire or torch was dangerous. Add in the risk of falling from this height, and I decided it would be best if I hunkered down against the next step up and settled in to rest.

The next morning, it took about two hours to reach the top of the pyramid and the door leading inside. The blue scent seemed to waft out from the structure, almost like a slow-moving fog. I knew that the source had to be close. If it was something living, there was a chance it would be interested in killing me. With that in mind, it was probably best I went unseen. With a gentle nudge at the skill, I let my Shadow Cloak actively envelop me. The skill was always there in the background, always ready to use, costing me nothing more than the portion of my mana pool it claimed when I learned it.

I crept carefully through the door, taking in the details I could see as I did. In each of the corners was a pit that glowed with blue flames. Whatever was being burned, the scent matched the blue I’d been following. And in the centre of the room, I saw a large, empty chair that couldn’t have been anything but a throne.

I wasn’t sure what I expected, but I thought there would at least be someone or something inside the massive pyramid that seemed to float in the sky in the middle of a bottomless chasm. It was almost disappointing. I spent all that time and there was nothing to show for it.

No, I refused to come out of this empty-handed. There had to be more. There was a massive pyramid under my feet. There must have been a way inside. With no obvious entrance, there must have been something hidden, which might have meant a hidden switch or something like it. I moved toward the only bit of furniture, if a throne could be classified as such.

It was made of the same stone as the rest of the temple, though it was cleaner and not covered in moss. The seat of the throne alone sat twice my height and the back of the throne was even taller. As I got closer, I inspected the base of the throne for anything of note. There were no carvings or chiselled words. No hidden panels that I could find.

I gazed up toward the seat, trying to calculate how long it would take to climb up there. It was definitely out of jumping height, and there were no finger holds or ledges or footholds in sight. I didn't have anything I could use to climb a smooth surface. I certainly didn't carry any kind of grappling hook, but one would definitely be added to my inventory . . . if I got out of this Lair alive.

I quickly moved on to another idea. In Martial Skills class, I’d seen spear fighters use their weapon to vault themselves forward. It was a way to help them close on their opponents. While they used the weapon to move forward faster, I couldn’t help but notice they also gained some height.

I poured mana into forming a spear, one that was at least as tall as the seat. I was shocked by how easy it was. The spear formed effortlessly and faster than I’d ever formed a weapon before. Was this the Advanced rank Mana Control at work? If it was, I was very excited to see what else I might be able to do.

I moved away from the throne to give myself room to build up speed. I knew from watching the spear fighters that momentum mattered. I ran, sprinted, at the throne. When I got closer enough, I stuck the spear tip into the stone in front of me. It slid a moment before it caught on a seam in the floor. With my momentum behind me, I was suddenly airborne. I got a brief and indistinct vision of the seat before I realised I wasn’t close enough. I went up and over and crashed painfully into the stone below the seat. My spear leaned against the throne as I dangled from it, somehow maintaining my grip and not falling. It took a couple seconds to shake off the impact before I looked up to see the edge of the seat was almost in arm’s reach. I shook a couple times to see if my spear was going to move and when it didn’t, I decided to try to swing up onto the seat.

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I rocked side to side, building momentum again. When I felt like I had enough, I let go with my right hand and got my fingers up onto the ledge. I let go of the spear with my left and heaved to join my right hand on the edge of the seat. Next was an arm, then the other. I slowly worked my way up onto the seat.

I took a moment to catch my breath. I’d made it. I was on the giant’s seat. And there was nothing there. Just a flat stone seat. It was unadorned, unmarked, and unblemished. The back of the throne angled back slightly and the arms were about the same height from the seat as the seat was from the floor.

I was about to climb the arms to search for clues when I heard a loud rumbling from behind the throne. I ran to the point where the arm met the back of the throne. I tried to lean out and peer around.

Behind the throne there was a large circular hole in the floor that wasn’t there when I entered the room. I was confused by its presence. I didn’t think I’d done anything to open it. Was it a timing thing? Then I heard a yawn followed by a tired hum of some unknown song. And it was getting louder. Something was coming up from the hole.

I knew I should run and hide. I should find somewhere to observe whatever was coming from a safe distance. But if I ran, I wouldn’t be able to see whatever was coming. No, I needed to see what was coming. I let my Shadow Cloak skill cover me and waited.

First came a head, long black hair that was slightly dishevelled, bronze skin, and a facial expression that suggested she had just woken up. She was also a giant. Her head alone was almost as tall as I was. I was transfixed as she continued rising up out of the ground. She looked youthful but not young. I couldn’t make out the colour of her eyes, not when she was that far away and not with her eyes half closed.

She wore a thick white robe that stopped just below her knees. It hugged her body but didn’t reveal anything. Finally, a round stone platform reached the top of the hole and merged seamlessly with the floor. The giant yawned again and stretched. It was a . . . was this a . . . a human?

When she took her first sleepy step I took note of her footwear. They looked like sandals but not. They were soft and . . . were those rabbit-folk ears? By the gods . . . was she wearing rabbit-folk heads on her feet?

I needed to go. I turned and jumped from the seat to the floor. I looked around for somewhere to hide but there was nothing there. The room devoid of anything to hide behind. I ran to the edge of the chair and peeked around. She was coming straight at me. I had no idea if my shadow cloak would work on her so I turned and ran the other direction. I needed to stay ahead of her. I couldn’t let her catch me. I was not going to be made into footwear.

I was almost to the edge when I heard her. She spoke, it was . . . I have no idea what the language was. It was unlike anything I’d ever heard before. I prayed she wasn’t talking to me. I prayed my Shadow Cloak prevented her from seeing me. I prayed to any god or goddess that might be listening. My prayers went unanswered as I felt the back of my shirt yank back and up as I was lifted into the air.

I tried to slip out of my shirt but it was too late. I was too high and a fall like that would have been just as deadly to me. I ceased my struggles and mentally prepared myself to be butchered and turned into a scarf or something.

The human woman held me in the air before her. She wore a look of confusion on her face that suggested she was as perplexed by my presence as I was by hers.

She spoke again but it was unintelligible to me. Her smile shifted into a frown. I didn’t like that she was frowning at me now. She turned her head toward the throne and spoke again. A large system window appeared in front of the throne. She spoke again and another voice replied, just as unintelligibly. Then the other voice spoke again, this time with what I thought was a different language. It spoke again and I heard yet another language. After about six languages, I noticed there was a similar cadence. It was repeating the same thing over and over but in different languages.

It ran through one language after another. I lost count after a while. Then the language hit on one I had a passing familiarity with.

“Tell me . . . you—” it was broken Jiranian. It was a language I only knew a little about from my studies. It wasn’t a popular language so I hadn’t given it as much study. Before I could reply, the language changed again. So I waited until I heard one that I actually knew how to speak. Of course, it would land on Aulidoan.

“Tell me when you understand the language being spoken,” the strange other voice said.

I briefly considered keeping my mouth shut, but that probably wouldn’t end in my safe release. I certainly wasn’t going to try fighting against the giant human female, not when she could throw me out of the pyramid and out into the chasm where I was certain to die. No, if I wanted to get out, I was going to have to talk my way out. So, in my native tongue, I replied, “I understand.”

The giant smiled and said something in her language and the screen flashed, and I felt mana move through the air from the screen to the human’s head. She closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, I finally noted the green colour of her eyes. She was kind of beautiful . . . you know, for a giant . . . and a human? “There, that’s much better,” she said in perfect Aulidoan . She grinned at me. “I am Juum Ka. And you are?”