“Uh huh, and what makes you think you know where we’re going? I’m positive I’ve seen this goddamn corridor five times over.” Zenchi, frustrated at the group’s apparent loss of direction, angrily questions her friend’s opinion on what to do next. She walks side-by-side with Ithaca, who gives her best attempt at reassuring the hero dragon that everything was going according to plan. “Ease up a little, won’t ya, Chi-Chi? I mean, we’re bound to find something in this place, right? Who builds a big old temple and puts nothing cool in it?” Roseland tags behind the duo of childhood friends to cover their blind spot. She chimes in with her own thoughts on their situation, “Sorry Ithaca, but I think I’m on Zenchi’s side this time. We’ve been walking around for hours at this point with no luck.” The Lands Trio have found themselves exploring a quiet, desolate, yet dangerous location. They’d been tipped off by a set of clues found in a lost notebook, presumably from an old treasure hunter or researcher. Whoever may have been the original owner of the notebook was surely long gone by this point, perhaps he had retired from his treasure hunting and prospecting days, but such answers eluded the trio. The book was dusty, torn, and missing pages, but it did provide some interesting leads for the group. The explorer had drawn up a map that somewhat matched up with existing records of Evercrest, albeit this one circled in on a particular area. The group stopped in their tracks to discuss their situation and vent their annoyances. Zenchi sighed and crossed her arms, saying it bluntly to Ithaca, “*SIGH* You know it’s possible that ‘treasure hunter’ was delusional right? There’s dozens of these old-ass relics from hundreds of years ago scattered across The Lands. What are the odds THIS is the one with some crazy powerful artifact?” Putting her hand on Zenchi’s shoulder, Ithaca exclaims, still maintaining her ever-present gleeful attitude, “Hey! Remember how hard we had to look just to find this place? Clearly that guy knew something was up here. Besides, I don’t know how to explain it, but I can…feel that something special is in this temple.” Indeed, this was the Temple Of Silhouettes, a vast, stone temple seemingly plopped right in the middle of Windlift Desert, often out of reach due to the harsh sandstorms of the area. According to the old explorer’s scribbles and writings, something enchanting was hidden away deep at the heart of the ancient structure.

Roseland observes the group’s surroundings. It was the same narrow corridor they had been through several times before, almost as if they were repeating history. Indefinitely-lit torches kept the path ahead at least somewhat visible, while evenly spaced pillars lined the left wall. Interestingly, each pillar glowed with thin streaks of a bright red light, giving the temple an oddly modern flair. “Hmm…if there truly is an all-powerful item at the core of this temple, then what’s stopping us from taking it?” “That’s the spirit!” Ithaca eagerly wags her tail upon hearing the ex-bounty hunter’s enthusiastic question. Zenchi replies to Roseland’s question with a question of her own, “What kind of question is that? Hellooo, the thing that’s stopping us is that we’re lost.” Acknowledging Zenchi’s frustrated demeanor, Roseland corrects the two, “Tch, no, that’s not what I meant. I mean what, or who, is stopping us from taking it? Haven’t you noticed how empty this place is? Not a single enemy in sight, not a sound other than the creaking of old stones. I don’t like it. Not one bit. Who’s to say we aren’t being watched right this very moment?” Ithaca gulps, showing some concern over the thought of being tailed, “Y-you think so? Don’t scare us like that, Rosie…” Roseland tries to quell her friend’s fears, “I’m not trying to scare you, Ithaca. Just…let’s not get careless, alright? Leader, what’s your call?” Roseland gazes over to Zenchi for directions, though she herself isn’t entirely sure of what to do. “We’ll keep searching. Whatever’s in here could help us get just a little bit closer to the truth behind Magic. Or something, I don’t know. Waiting around like this isn’t doing us any favors. I say we go.” In truth, the artifact they searched for was an old scepter, thought to be left behind by the higher Gods after they vacated The Lands and ascended to the Hyperboreal Realm. Other records state that the scepter belonged to an ancient pharaoh, named Umzi’kara. Presumably, his body too is hidden away in this temple. With the scepter, they may gain valuable information on just how Magic came to be and how it functions. That is, if they find it, and if it exists. And thus, The Lands Trio continued their search for the item, taking note of every corridor, every hallway, every room, every dead end.

The trio finally reached another empty room, the walls lined with sarcophagi. Nothing felt particularly unordinary about the room, as they’d seen at least half a dozen more like it. Zenchi wipes the dust from her eyes as she speaks, “Another coffin room, it looks like. What a surprise.” Ithaca examines one of the coffins, observing their design. They glowed with the same red streaks of the rest of the Temple Of Silhouettes. “Yeah…I wonder what the true history behind this place is. You think there might be, umm…mummies in these things?” “Even if there are, they’re dead as hell.” Zenchi jokes with her friend. Roseland, determined to make at least some progress, opted to investigate further. “Hold that thought. You see this right here?” Roseland singles out a lone coffin in a corner of the room, seemingly identical to the rest. Though, she noticed an inconsistency compared to its brethren. Zenchi and Ithaca approach the sarcophagus, trying to make out why this one was special. Zenchi put a hand to her chin, beginning to notice what Roseland had discovered, “…you’re onto something, Roseland. Look at the headpiece here.” Zenchi brushes the top of the sarcophagus off to get a better view of the artifact. “Exactly. Every sarcophagus we’ve seen up to this point is topped with an identical headpiece. The pattern is always a red-yellow-red, but not on this one. The pattern is reversed. If I had to guess, this one is hiding something.” Ithaca, realizing that they may finally be making progress, puts her hands together in excitement, “You really noticed that, Rosie? Heh, what are you, some kind of detective?” Roseland chuckles, joking about the not-too-distant past, “Aha, how do you think I managed to track you two down in the first place? You have to be vigilant, analyzing the finer details before you make a final judgement.” Harking back to their initial encounter, Zenchi recalls Roseland’s uncannily strong ability to make hyper-accurate predictions based off of limited information. “…yeah, brag about it why don’t you?” Ithaca, while initially on opposing sides to Roseland, now saw her as a great friend, and responded accordingly, “Hehe, I guess you have a point. Annnnnd that’s why I’m glad you’re on our side!” Roseland kneels down to inspect the sarcophagus further, doing away with the small banter between friends, “Now, onto more pressing matters. I say we should open it.” “W-wha- wait really?” Ithaca gains a concerned expression after hearing the investigative leopard’s proposal, “Is that really a good idea? What if…” Enthused to finally be making some kind of tangible progress, Zenchi clenches her fists together, “I thought you’d never ask. Alright Roseland, Ithaca, stand back. I’m not about to be gentle with this old thing.” The two make way for Zenchi to strut her stuff, bracing themselves for whatever may come next. Roseland, somewhat annoyed at Zenchi’s aggressive intent, bickers at her, “You don’t need to- can’t you just- *SIGH* If that’s the way you want to do it, then let them have it.” Zenchi clenches her right fist, concentrating her strength into her incoming attack. Her fist pulsates with Azure Lightning as she prepares to unleash her iconic Tachyon Punch. “HYYAHHH!!!” Before one could even think, she punched with the force of a thousand electrical storms, shattering the lone sarcophagus into pieces. As the dust cleared, the trio yearned to investigate whatever it was hiding. There was no body inside, and surely no mummy. What they instead found was perhaps even more interesting: a lever, one with an unknown usage. “Ohhhhh, is that what I think it is?” Ithaca leaned over to view the intriguing contraption. “Now this is what we were looking for, ladies. It doesn’t take a genius to know that this switch will open up a hidden pathway.” Roseland, satisfied with the group’s discovery, anticipates what may come next in their dungeon crawling journey. “Allow me.” Zenchi smiles before quickly pulling the lever down. The lever creaks back upright, and after a brief pause, quaking can be felt beneath their feet. The wall behind them appeared to open itself up, leading to a never-before-seen hallway. It was lit by the same torches and red streaks as the rest of the temple, but at the end of it, a bright glimmer could be seen. Surely, this was the scepter they sought.

“Hell yeah! I bet that right there is what we’re after. Let’s not waste anymore time.” Zenchi ran ahead, urging her comrades to follow suit. Roseland and Ithaca nodded in agreement and followed the Hero Of The Lands down the pathway. Finally, in front of the trio stood a lone scepter. It was suspended in the air, faintly glowing, likely with some amount of Magic power it still held after all these years. Ithaca pumped her fists in cheer as the trio seemingly reached the end of their quest, “Yeesss!!! I knew we’d find it! I knew we would! Chi-Chi, Rosie, it’s the Scepter Of Silhouettes!” Roseland agreed, dropping her usually serious demeanor, “Hmhm, indeed we did, Ithaca. It wasn’t a waste of time at all, right Zenchi?” Zenchi looks back at her friends with a smile, “Hey, just for the record, I didn’t doubt you, Ithaca. I’m just exhausted is all. I say we take this thing and make haste.” As Zenchi grabbed the Scepter Of Silhouettes, something within the temple…changed. The torches and the red lighting suddenly died out, leaving the trio in darkness. Panicked, Ithaca cries out for her friends, “H-huh?! What happened? Chi-Chi? Rosie? Are you there?” Roseland tries to bring her panicked friend back down to earth, “Calm down Ithaca. I imagine that Scepter was the last thing keeping this place ‘on’. Though, not being able to see will make it somewhat difficult to get out of here. Zenchi, you think that Scepter can act as a lantern?” Zenchi waves the Scepter around, trying to get it to do something, but to no avail. “Uhh, I have no idea how to use this thing, so your guess is as good as mine. Here, I’ll light the way myself.” Zenchi stores the Scepter away in her traveling bag and holds out her left hand, causing a small spark of Lightning to emanate, lighting the way for the group. Though, upon regaining their limited amount of vision, what they saw in front of them was terrifying.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” “*GASP* Ahhh…hahhhhh…” “So I was right about that too…” Zenchi, Ithaca, and Roseland all reacted accordingly to seeing their newfound enemies. A horde of mummies had appeared from the dark out of nowhere, not even making a single groan nor moan as their mouths were sealed shut. These were Silhouette Mummies, ancient beings mummified so their Hearts may be preserved on this plane of existence. The taking of their sacred artifact disturbed them, awaking them from their quiet slumber. “Holy- Roseland, Ithaca, summon!” Zenchi, Roseland, and Ithaca all summon their weapons, ready to engage the enemies in battle. Miraculously, the torches and red streaks of wall lighting reacted to the trio’s Magic, once again lighting up the room. Roseland comments on the phenomenon, “Hmm, it seems as though the temple reacted to our own Magic. That being said…” With visibility now granted back to the heroic women, the mummies drew near the trio, pouring into the room in droves. “W-we’re trapped guys!” Ithaca shouts with a concerned tone, holding her sword forward. Zenchi stands her ground, not scared to face the undead monsters head on. “Don’t be scared of them Ithaca, they died once, and they’ll die again. Give ‘em hell!” Roseland spins her guns with a flourish, before saying, “With pleasure!” The Lands Trio engaged in a horde fight with the Silhouette Mummies, taking them on in groups. Zenchi made use of her greatsword, the Draconic Wing, and handgun, Comet Buster, to keep the foes at bay, not allowing them to lay a single finger on her or her friends. She called out to Roseland to initiate one of their tag-team techniques, “Roseland! Ensnarement!” Roseland, while tearing the mummies to shreds with her machine pistols, Salvo and Impetus, cooperated with Zenchi to trap the mummies, “Get ready!” Roseland motioned out with her hands, trapping a group of mummies in a large ball of Scarlet Magnetism. Once she got the all clear, Zenchi dashed in, slicing the mummies to bits with her Lightspeed Slash attack. Roseland congratulated Zenchi on her small victory before getting back into the battle herself, “Nice one, but there’s still more to come!” Ithaca, meanwhile, was making short work of stray mummies with the use of her straight sword, Evergreen Soul, and her Wind Bombs. Being more proficient in healing than pure combat, Ithaca called out to the two for support, “Hey guys! I could use some help here!” Zenchi took notice of her friend being flanked by the monsters and quickly rushed in to dispose of them. “YRRRRAGHHH!!!” The mummies didn’t bleed, but rather they dripped of sand and stone, clearly lacking any form of discernable life at this stage. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there’s no end to these guys Chi-Chi! I think we woke up the whole temple!” Zenchi fires off carefully aimed shots with her Comet Buster as she reaffirms her stance on the situation, “Then we’ll fight our way out of here!” Zenchi, Ithaca, and Roseland stand back-to-back-to-back, holding out their weapons and readying themselves to wreak havoc on the mummified fiends, “Oh yeah? Let’s show ‘em what we’re made of, Chi-Chi, Rosie!” With Ithaca’s words of encouragement, the trio continue their fight, unwilling to give in to the lowly undead creatures.

Slowly but surely, the trio make an opening in the endless horde of Silhouette Mummies and take their chance to escape. “Now’s the time! Make a break for it!” Zenchi motions to the coyote and leopard duo to follow her lead out of the room. Likewise, they follow without hesitation. After catching up with Zenchi, the trio realizes that they are surrounded once again, mummies coming at them from both directions. With some quick strategizing, Roseland devises a plan, “Zenchi, Ithaca, you take the front. I’ll cover the rear.” Ithaca, knowing that Roseland would be massively outnumbered, asked if she wanted to go through with it, “Are you sure? You think you can handle all those things by yourself?” Roseland nonchalantly waves her hair, bragging, “Hmhm, my old comrades didn’t call me Lethal Leopard for nothing.” Zenchi gives Roseland the thumbs up, signaling for her to engage, “That’s what I’m talking about! Light ‘em up, Roseland!” While Roseland fends off the mummies chasing from the rear, Zenchi and Ithaca push forward with the Scepter Of Silhouettes in tow, edging closer to the way out of this once-quiet temple. While the mission may have been simple, the outcome was anything but. Having to spend hours running in circles, only for the solution to be looking the trio right in the eye the whole time, having a totally empty temple suddenly become a battleground of the undead on a whim. Thus was the dichotomy of The Lands. It giveth, and it taketh away. The one thing it couldn’t take, however, was the unrivalled camaraderie, teamwork, cooperation, and friendship that The Lands Trio shared. ‘Twas but one more obstacle of many more to come on the journey to the Heart Of The Lands.

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The Lands Trio's first quest as a team! I'll definitely be doing more of these story-esque pieces in the future with the ladies and what they get up to.