As I walked toward the inner door, I prepared to jump backward and run for the exit as fast as my legs would carry me. The fire would be completely unable to harm me, but smoke inhalation would still pose a problem. Even if I was completely engulfed in choking smoke, I would be fine as long as I held my breath.

I reached a hand toward the small circular pressure plate built into the door. My hand was halted by a voice.

Are you sure about this?

I inhaled deeply to steady my nerves and prepare to hold my breath during my retreat from the cairn.

Not at all, but I still need to do this.

Before Thale could respond to my statement, I forced my hand forward, causing the pressure plate to depress inward. I flinched backward as a long moment of silence passed, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice.

A creaking noise emanated from the door. With a loud noise of shifting stone, the door began to roll out of my way. Relief flooding through my body, I released the breath I had been holding in. I had answered the puzzle correctly. If even one of the statues had been pointing the wrong direction, fire would have flooded the room.

Happy that I didn’t activate the trap, I looked back to the statues and marveled at the ingenuity. The puzzle was entirely mechanical, so it could not be dispelled, unlike the ward on the door. Every other part of the cairn could be bypassed by a sufficiently skilled Mage, but this one door required outside knowledge.

You were right, somehow.

My feet carried me to a second chamber that was much larger than the first. About a dozen torches lined the walls, and I sent my Hellfire spark to light them. The ceiling was about five meters high, and the floor was marked with several dozen pressure plates.

Once the chamber was sufficiently lit in a warm orange glow, I could see that every pressure plate was marked with a single letter. I tried to not let my shock register as I realized that the letters were in English. Automatically, I noticed that a path could be traced from my side to the other by stepping on the plates alphabetically.

Starting on the “A” tile, I could move up the alphabet until I eventually reached the “J” tile which connected to the other side. From my English-speaking perspective, the puzzle seemed like it was created for children. It was the kind of puzzle that one would expect to find on the children’s menu at a restaurant.

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Are those the same runes from the door?

To those who didn’t speak English, however, the puzzle would be completely inscrutable. Nothing on Ferrum should provide evidence of how the English alphabet was organized. No, this puzzle was made to be solvable by people from Earth. It was made for me and, if my assumptions were correct, the other two whose statues stood in the antechamber.

Yes.

Can you solve the puzzle?

I was fairly certain that I knew the answer to this puzzle as well, but I didn’t trust it. I couldn’t shake the feeling that the answer was simply too simple. Luckily for me, I didn’t have to trust the puzzle.

This last puzzle was the reason that I had come alone. Back in the game, it was common for players to sequence-break the puzzle with magic. In fact, I had planned this whole time to simply bypass the puzzle anyway.

“Volare,” I chanted, removing my body from the crushing grasp of gravity. Usually, I could bypass the verbal component of the [Fly] spell with my wand, but I left it at the door.

“Vento,” I pointed my hand backward, blowing a harsh gust of wind behind myself. The force of the wind carried me safely across the floor that was completely covered in pressure plates.

I released concentration on the [Fly] spell the moment my body reached the other end of the pit trap. Flying over the pressure plates must have used about 10 mana, and I was running out quickly. Turning my attention inward, I realized that my lower core was completely depleted, and my upper core was about almost full. I couldn’t have had more than 20 mana left over.

My Hellfire spark floated over to me, illuminating the end of the cairn. In front of me was a collection of brass candle-holders. They were organized in a geometric pattern with an arcane circle linking them.

The spark floated forward, lighting each candle one by one. As the candles were lit, light was thrown onto the stone wall behind them, revealing a crest. The crest was a three-pointed sigil that bore the sign for humans, elves, and demons on each point. The style of the crest made it clear that it was demonic in origin.

Johan, do you know what you’re doing? This is a demonic summoning ritual. While I have no objection to the morality of such an act, I must mention that the ritual is incomplete. There is no binding ward attached to the circle. Whatever you summon will be completely out of your control.

I raised one hand and made an arcane symbol.

The binding ward would be completely pointless. You can’t bind a demon like this one.

“Ahriman!” I shouted, causing the summoning circle to glow bright silver. The fire flared and grew until the space above the circle was completely engulfed in flame.

Just as quickly as it came, the pillar of flame dissipated, leaving a large creature floating above the summoning circle. The creature had skin the color of stone, leathery wings, and two chitinous horns protruding out of his forehead. He had legs like a goat’s, but his upper body was that of a man. Most notably, the creature would easily stand at four meters tall when standing up straight.

Though the creature had wings, his levitation was not maintained by them. His legs were arranged in a cross-legged sitting position, and his chin was resting on a hand that was braced against his leg.

The creature before me was Ahriman, Greater Demon of Knowledge.