Bowler's fingertips left dark trails on the coated fabric; the scraps of velvet, weighing precariously on the wraithlike benches, a long-since discarded feast for centuries departed moths. The hot air was close, stale, thick with a dry rain slowly cascading from the decaying stone above. Trilby noted the footprints; perhaps years old, almost entirely silent under layers of new dust - though maybe 'new' was the wrong word, he thought. Indeed, the rubble at their destination was caked in cobwebs formed by those children of mother stone-on-high, whose supreme face was ribbed with crumbling arches, savaged by a snatch of time's harpies. "Are you sure this is right?" Bowler asked, head darting in all directions, attempting to infer the grandeur from what was left of the place. "This won't have been built for several thousand years, there's no way the first Helices ever came here." Trilby looked wearily at his friend, and motioned to the prints in the dust that he had followed to the hole in the floor. "Not everything we're doing in Egypt is to do with them. This is Dark business," he explained, "someone has been here, and they knew exactly where they were heading. They didn't look around, they just headed straight for this spot where they probably took a sledgehammer to the floor. I mean, look, next to the footprints." He was right, Bowler could see. He had missed it the first time, he'd seen the footprints well enough but then became preoccupied with the rest of the church. The two Terrys had a different kind of subtlety about them, it was evident. While Bowler had been looking at the stained glass and trying to figure out exactly what the dark mass depicted in so many of the tableaux was, Trilby had seen the thin groove running alongside the footprints in the dust that indicated a heavy object being dragged alongside the previous visitor. "So they knew what they were after, fine, what does that have to do with us?" Bowler drove his shoulder into Trilby's arm, causing him to kick dust down the steps and into the blackness. "Watch it! You don't want your only friend to break his neck!" Trilby jested. Bowler scoffed at that. "Anyway, remember what Abe said in one of those first emails? About that Cult of Darkness or whatever it was? Alex has kept me abreast of his research into them," he continued, without waiting for Bowler to acknowledge whether or not he actually followed any of what was being said, "there is a dude whose name is like, Saul or something? Wait, no, it was Sal. Apparently he's some kind of Lieutenant or a General or something, but he's much much more than a General - he's the cult's go-to-guy when it comes to getting some pretty weird stuff done." Bowler scratched his head. "Again, you're gonna have to fill in some blanks here... what does this have to do with us? I get that this cult is something Abe's warned us about, but surely that means we should be AVOIDING creepy dead churches with dark staircases leading into the depths of Dargaia?" Terry said, picking up a stone from the pile of rubble. He cast it into the darkness. It faded into silence before it came to any kind of distinct stop. "You're missing the point, for one thing. Surely it's beneficial if we look into what they've been doing, we could well pick up on something we can use to our advantage. That's not why we're here today, though. I've noticed a pattern," Trilby pulled out a torch and motioned to Bowler to begin their descent into the abyss. The sterile light casting shadows onto the steps made for a jarring dichotomy of black on white stone. "Wherever we go, or need to go, the cult has already showed up there. We're behind them and even if our goals are different, our destinations are tombs while theirs are churches, there must be some reason our paths cross so often." & Trilby flicked the torch off, the light ahead making its small focused beam redundant. The steps had ended long ago, perhaps thirty minutes, maybe an hour, longer, the Terrys could not say. Bowler had commented that he should have brought a watch, but Trilby reminded him that 'that [wasn't] a thing' and '[it was] stupid, [he was] stupid'. "That's a point, though..." he added, "this place seems to be having some sort of achronologous effect on our otherwise perfect internal clocks." "What's a clock?" "I have no idea." Trilby was correct, however, they both realised. Something about the space below the church had quenched the innate ability for timekeeping that everyone had shared for as long as history could remember. At any rate, they had reached a room which cast a yellow light out into the musty hall with which they had become so well acquainted. As their eyes adjusted to the warm glow, they regarded the echelon of sandstone pillars reaching far into the basin they had entered. Bricks of a lustrous golden material hummed with anbaricy as it illuminated the chamber. "There is power here," Bowler said, nodding his head toward the light source. "I wonder what's powering this." He took a step, still looking to the pillar heads, and there was a crunch under his foot. He looked down and recoiled with a yell; fragments of carapace fell from his boot, iridescent blue, which had belonged to the giant scorpion at his feet. The crushed claw was the only imprecisely damaged part of the creature, whose tail and legs had been expertly delivered from its abdomen by some manner of subtle knife. A slot, roughly two inches long, almost seemed to beg for coins to fill its head. "It must have attacked that Sal guy, assuming that's who was here before us," Trilby suggested. He nudged its intact claw, which silently caved inward. "Look, its claw arms have been cut as well. At the - I guess you'd call it a shoulder? I don't know anything about bug anatomy." "As an arachnophobe it is my prerogative to know that which I fear," Bowler began, shuffling nervously toward the husk. "The claws are attached to pedipalps, they're not exactly arms or legs - they're more akin to its mouth. Sort of like an angry moustache, I guess. Looks like this lil' bugger got a close shave, though I'd wager the tail was removed first." Bowler suddenly felt queasy. All fears aside, this was a magnificent creature and it had been brutally dissected. The tail removed first, then its mandibles. The sick feeling came from his realisation that the removal of its legs was entirely unnecessary - the thing had been rendered harmless already, and the stab to the brain would likely have been what killed it. Sal had removed its legs for the sheer thrill of the experience. Pity replaced sickness, then anger. "I'm glad we came," he told Trilby, "now we know we have to break this sick fuck. This wasn't simply a kill of necessity. He enjoyed himself." The young men stepped around the dead scorpion, whose length measured eight of their footprints at least, and continued toward the other end of the room. They were walking in the direction of a raised, rectangular feature in the center of the far wall. It was filled with warm, clear water. Trilby gave it a sniff. "Do you think it's good?" he asked, realising just how parched he had become in the hot Egyptian climate. It was considerably cooler here than in the church, but Bowler and Trilby both had been sweating more than their flasks could reimburse them for. "Well, actually I think it's probably safe to drink on one level," Bowler responded thoughtfully, "but maybe it isn't wise. I mean, think about it: this warm place in the middle of an underground, uh, whatever this is. Lair? It would stagnate, there would be all sorts of nasty stuff in it but -" he, too, sniffed the pool - "it smells clean." Trilby looked up at the pillars again. "Something must be protecting this place," he decided. "The water is clean, the pillars are glowing with anbaric light, this reeks of some kind of video game guardian shit. The only question is whether or not it's really a protection or... a curse." "Well, we are in Egypt. This kind of thing isn't unheard of" Bowler conceded. He closed his eyes for a moment, and tried to get a feel of the atmosphere. Trilby did the same. "I don't feel anything malevolent here," one of them commented. "Though I don't claim to have any sort of sense for this kind of thing." The other agreed. Bowler opened his eyes and almost jumped right out of his skin. He grabbed Trilby's arm and pulled him away from the pool. The person sat within smiled and laughed amiably. She regarded each of them in turn, as if sizing them up. The Terrys looked at one another, then back to her. Bowler blushed, realising the woman in the water had not one garb about her; the long dark hair cascading from her head into the warm water, acting as her only vestments. "You boys aren't as stupid as the way you're looking at me," the said in a thick accent. "Won't you join me?" She gestured toward the otherwise empty bath. "I'm sure you have many questions, and I am keen to answer the likes of you." That startled Trilby. "You know who we are? How?" he demanded. Bowler put his hand on his friend's shoulder to reassure him. "I don't know your names, but I know well your origins. I can feel it within you, the Darkness that binds you to this place. It is no mere coincidence we are here, after all." Trilby gave her a sceptical look. "Yeah, we followed the trail of another person here. Probably a man, probably a bit of a dick. That's why we're here." The woman smiled. "The road one takes is irrelevant when the destination is the same," she said. "Again, please join me. If you intend to pass this place you cannot take the outside with you. Leave, if that is your choice, but I know you will not." "I have only one question," Bowler said. "Then maybe we will join you." "Ask it." "Has anyone passed this room?" "Not since it was first sealed." Bowler pointed at Trilby's trousers, then at the ground. Bowler winked. The two dudes undressed all manly-like, embarrassed and such. Trilby refused to take off his underwear but Bowler sunk into the warm water completely nude, trying to be as comfortable as he would be in his own bath, but finding it difficult with a strange naked lady sat nearby whose gaze was tracing his body up and down. He blushed, but smiled nonetheless as the water calmed his nerves. "It's okay if I keep these on, right?" Trilby asked, glancing at his boxer shorts. The girl was still looking at Bowler, and simply waved her hand dismissively at Trilby as if to say 'yeah, whatever'. Trilby joined Bowler in the water and begun to feel a little more relaxed. After a few moments, he had entirely forgotten what he was worried about. 'Perhaps the water is cursed after all' something inside Trilby seemed to consider. "There's no need to worry" said the dark woman sat across from them, as if reading the concern within him. "The water is enchanted, yes, but there is no mal-intent here. You are quite safe." She gestured to the water; crystal clear, almost ethereal. "Those worthy of passing this place, those like yourselves, experience the reassurance that you are capable of passing this place. The judgement is sound - your predecessor did not have such a relaxing bath." Bowler's attention was piqued, he became more alert at the mention of the Agent of Darkness. "So he was here, then? This Sal person?" "I know not his name, but yes. The light man - hair of yellow, like yourself," she gestured toward Trilby, "but decades senior, and of Dark Heart." Trilby shifted uncomfortably. From what they had learned about this person thus far, he did not enjoy being compared to him in any capacity. Eyes once more fixed on Bowler, the keeper gave a look as if to beg for more questions. She brushed her hair aside but Bowler was too embarrassed to take her up on her offer to reciprocate the eyefucking she was giving him. He blushed again, crossing his legs to hide his stiffening. "I, uh," he cleared his throat - then narrowed his eyes. "You're a spirit," he stated. She smiled. "When you move, the water remains still. How long have you been here?" "Oh, many years. Decades. Centuries. Though, not until recently have I been able to enjoy this level of... freedom." she gestured toward the dismembered scorpion toward the center of the room. Bowler's mouth fell open as he put the pieces together. "He killed you," his face reddening once more, but this time in anger. "I'm gonna tear that dick to shreds if it's the last thing I do!" Bowler said, raising his voice. Trilby looked at him and back at the scorpion girl, who was giggling. "Do I look dead to you? I am simply free, and this is what must be. I was charged with protecting this place until the ones arrived who must pass. My protection was complete once the last threat had left." Her smile faded, in recollection of her murder. "Though I would have liked a more peaceful passing, to be sure. Nevertheless, the road one takes..." Trilby sat forward and began to ask rather more pointed questions. "So what exactly are you protecting? If it's so important we're here, how come we don't know what we're here FOR? Who exactly charged you with this protection? I-" The girl held up a hand to silence him. "Too many questions, to be asked all at once. I will answer, then you will ask more. This is how it will be." She looked at each of them in turn. "I am protecting an important vessel, but that is all I can tell you. I am sure you will realise why, once you carry out your task. Know, however, there are two sides to every coin." Bowler grinned. "This is awesome. We're in Egypt and there are riddles and enchantments and shit. This is what an adventure is all about!" Trilby rolled his eyes, while Bowler made to speak again, "So who placed you here?" Bowler reiterated Trilby's question. "Who exactly ARE you?" "Who put you here?" she turned his question back upon him. "Ultimately, the answer is the same. And who are you? We are all just those who perceive, and what is in a name? Does it change the nature of that which perceives? No, though there are some who call me Selcis, if that is what you want to hear." Selcis looked at the Terrys pointedly. "I am one who would temper the poison and nurture the wound, though I am merely one aspect of the mother this realm requires." For a while, they all sat in silent thought. Bowler rested his head against the side of the pool, feeling the dark trepidation ebb from his bones. He expected Trilby felt the same way, and was right. Trilby was the first to break the silence. "So, what now?" Selcis gestured toward the wall behind them, as if to suggest it were anything other than a solid barrier of sandstone. "When you are ready, you may continue. If you feel the waters have cleansed you of your worries, you will be able to find your way from here without my help." Without so much as a sound of scraping stone, a set of doors pared the wall and the guardian was gone. & Trilby hadn't stopped complaining about his chafing legs since shortly after the two had left the pool. Occasionally Trilby would reposition his damp underwear and fall silent for a while, irritated by Bowler's comments about how much the 'sexy ghost girl' had been 'into' him. "It's not like you did anything about it you turd" he kept saying, "you just sat there like a gargoyle." "I think you'll find I was like a grotesque, actually. A gargoyle expels water from its mouth," he retorted, confidently. He immediately regretted reminding himself that he didn't fill his flask, however, as both of them had very little water left. "I could do with some water in my mouth right now..." "Yeah, me too," Trilby admitted, and the two fell silent as they wound their way through the corridors and mostly empty rooms. The lower portion of the tomb was like a maze, filled with dead ends and rooms filled with dried herbs and what the Terrys could only imagine were some form of appeasements, or shrines, to whatever the curator of this place had decided lived here. There was no life, though. No insects, or arachnids, or snakes. The walls featured carvings of all sorts, not traditional ancient Egyptian artwork but a sort of cross between that and the more traditional Christosian descriptions in the coloured glass of the church. Bowler recognised the figure of the dark mass from the surface, and pointed this out to Trilby. "It was difficult to tell exactly what it was," he was saying, "half of the time they seemed to revere it and the other half they seemed to demonise it, or fear it." He wondered exactly what kind of entity, besides the Mother herself, could be both worshipped and feared in the same stride. He also hoped he didn't have to find out first hand. As they continued, Trilby retreated into his mind a little as he tried to understand what the carvings represented. Bowler was right, though, it was unclear exactly what this creature meant to the ancient folks who had built this place. It was like the same entity were both God and Devil to them, separate yet identical. "Look, Bowler, there's a kind of pattern in these carvings. They relate to the manner of architecture those who built this place employed." He was referring to the almost mathematical code he'd been trying to figure out for the past while. "Look, the number of times this dark figure appears in each section of the writing tells us which direction to go. So far I think we've been following it correctly, but now we can be pretty sure which turns to take." Trilby flicked the torch back down the hall and they began to follow the path he had determined, regularly checking for the "Black Beast" as they had taken to calling it. Having given up on translating the glyphs, their trek through the halls led them to one final definitive chamber a lot sooner than they expected given the nature of the labyrinthine environment in which they found themselves. Unlike the antechamber this termination was pitch black and required the use of Trilby's torch to illuminate even a small portion of it. The darkness seemed to swell and heave at the shaft of light - cutting swathes through the void while particles of dust broke away from its zeal, causing tendrils of umbra to snake through the brightness as they eclipsed themselves against the lens. "This looks to be the place," Trilby said, squinting against the darkness, "though I can't see that there's anything here." His torch searched the room, trying to see anything of import. All it found were drab walls. Prior to this room, the ground was solid sandstone; a step of no more than an inch gave way to plain, loose earth which met the walls in mounds as if it were trying to climb over itself to find a crack, any way out. "Yeah, and I don't much feel comfortable here. Are you absolutely certain this is where the glyphs indicated toward?" Bowler bargained. Terry stepped out of the room and regarded the works on the walls outside the room. They depicted groups of bowing individuals, culminating in their friend the Black Beast, immediately prior to the chamber's entrance. "I don't think it could be anywhere else, these designs are pretty clear. I think this is where we should find that thing, but it doesn't seem to be here." "Maybe it's escaped, left, or died?" Bowler said, hopeful. The hope fell to the darkness, losing itself to the miasma of pitch air. Trilby sensed his lack of confidence. "Selcis said that nothing had entered, but maybe something left? It could well be that there's nothing here any more." This did not convince Bowler. Selcis had also insisted she was protecting something, and he was sure she would know if it had left. "No, it's like to need triggering," he posited. "I think it's probably gonna be a digging thing." Neither of them had brought a shovel. "A digging thing." "Yes, a thing where we have to dig." "Ok but 'thing', really? Not -" Trilby thought for a second "shit I can't think of anything either." He turned the torch on the ground and begin appraising the earth. "Well, it seems loose enough. Perhaps we can just use our hands?" Bowler grabbed a few handfuls of earth and took it out of the room, erecting a small mound to prop up the torch upon. The chamber was marginally better lit thanks to the distance of the lens, and the partners were able to see what they were doing. Cupping their hands, the Terrys began to shift the soil away from the center of the room. The earth was dry, and came away from their hands with ease, leaving only what was trapped beneath their fingernails. No worms or spiders were to be found, no plant life, or any other signs of growth. While the consistency of the soil remained absolute no matter how far they dug, as they delved lower and lower they could feel the vitality drain from them. "This is getting harder," Trilby commented, "and I don't think it's just fatigue." They had both depleted their flasks now, though they were becoming no more parched by the minute despite the feeling of lead weights being strapped to their limbs. It was not long before they were both entirely unable to move. Sprawled face down in the dirt, Bowler began to feel a pressure upon his back. His torso pressed into the earth, compacting it beneath him. The torchlight disappeared, and the darkness enveloped both Bowler and Trilby. Even then, it seemed to grow darker still. An overwhelming sense of dread gripped their hearts, constricting them, paralysing them. Trilby opened his eyes, unable to control any other part of him. His head was lying sideways on the soft earth, and he could have sworn he could see a cloud of blackness take form, physically smoking up from the ground. Like gaseous ink from a ghostly Cephalopod, it filled the room. In a decidedly octopodean movement it pulsated and propelled itself from the chamber, the sinews of darkness undulating, rendering its enclosure void and thin once more. In the instant the Darkness released the torchlight, both Terrys were able to move and the sense of dread was gone. Bowler released a ball of terror and relief. "What the FUCK was THAT," he bellowed. "I think," answered Trilby, "we just met our friend the Black Beast." He brushed the soil from his clothes and helped Bowler to his feet. "I don't know what we just released, but Selcis was right when she said we'd understand why she didn't tell us what was down here. What have we done? What kind of evil have we let out of this place?" "I... I don't think we need to worry about it," his friend replied, remembering the scorpion's words. "Let's just find our way back, we can ask her for more information if she's still hanging around in her room." Retracing their steps was easy. "It seemed in a bit of a hurry to get out of here, didn't it? I don't think it paused to peruse the walls." Bowler commented. "I'm starting to think this labyrinth was not intended for us," Trilby agreed. "BB doesn't seem like the type to curl up in front of a fire and read novels. That means we should be on the lookout for it, because it's probably still in here somewhere." If that were the case, however, they couldn't prove it. Soon enough, they had returned to the golden room unmolested by any dark miasma. Selcis was, as Bowler had hoped, relaxing in the pool once more. She did not acknowledge the boys until they rounded it and spoke to her. "What the hell have we released?" Trilby demanded of her. "Were we stupid to trust you, or what?!" Sweat began to emerge from his brow as his mind raced through the implications of what this thing could be. "Have I doomed us all? Have we tipped the scales in the Dark Cult's favour?!" Selcis opened her eyes and looked into Trilby's with stern counsel. "You are fool only to forget what I so recently insisted you remember," the scorpion responded soberly. "There are two sides to every coin. One may well be evil, but the other?" Trilby narrowed his eyes. "Yes, fine, one side is good. One side is lovely fairies and unicorns, wedding bells and seaside holidays. I'm so pleased that only half of this thing is pure evil. How could I be such a fool?" His voice thick with sardonic intent, he shook his head at her. Selcis regarded him coolly before turning to Bowler. "You understand, yes?" "I think so," he nodded slowly. "A coin cannot be one sided, after all. Evil is necessary, for good cannot exist without it." Smiling, Selcis stood and took Bowler's shoulders in her hands. He could feel her, but in a strange metaphysical way. There was no pressure upon his shoulders, but from the points she was touching him... there was an anbaric kind of emanation which begun to flow into him, like some part of her essence was dancing with his. "This one does understand," she said, "and there is no need to fear this evil any longer. This is a powerful, ancient beast, but it will go willingly to its death." She took a hand from Bowler's shoulder and gestured to the door that led to the soil room. "You see it there." She was right; it was stood in the doorway, for all that meant. It was difficult to see in the natural darkness of the corridor, but as Bowler and Trilby moved their heads they were able to perceive some sort of entity occupying the shadow as close to the light as it was able. The thing seemed reluctant to enter the golden glow of the room. From the light, the thing that had filled the Terrys with such dread only filled them with condolence. "She was not always this weak," Selcis informed them. "Once a proud darkness, the constant war against herself has all but consumed her." The nucleus of the entity was sheltering in the dark of the hall, only the fringes of the cloud was pressing up against the threshold of the shadow. The penumbra a mime's wall being all that stood between the Terrys and the embodiment of evil. "What's it - she - doing?" Bowler asked, moving his head around to try and get a better picture of the thing. "She is trying to escape, to destroy everything in existence." Selcis replied. "She cannot do this. She is too weak, and she has no further purpose. This is why you must give her purpose anew." Selcis took Trilby and Bowler's hands and attempted to pull them closer to the door, but they were reluctant and she merely passed through them. "Come, trust me." "Of course, let's trust the naked ghost lady who convinced us to release an ancient evil!" Trilby trilled. He looked to Bowler for support, who had already offered his hand to Selcis. "Oh for fuck's sake Bowler you're going to get me killed," he added, and offered his own. They allowed Selcis to guide them ceremoniously to the doorway. The golden light silhouetted them, casting shadows into the hall. Immediately the Black Beast's nucleus lunged toward them, pressing herself against their forms and, just as immediately, she recoiled. Bowler and Trilby could just make out the swirling mass rocking back and forth, edging toward them with each swing, and attempting to evaluate them. "Terry, does it seem to you like she... recognises us? Like she's seen us before?" Bowler asked, beginning to sweat. Trilby nodded vigorously, having lost the ability to speak. The Beast seemed to bow its head before receding. Selcis retreated away from the door, leaving the Terrys to face the creature alone. The cloud of blackness rushed toward them both at full force, spilling out over their shadows and into the light. Instinctively, they covered themselves as the darkness poured out of the hall. Bowler had time only to glance behind him as the entity allowed the golden blades of light to fill it like a chalice, and then it was gone. "Leave now, my brave new friends, the purpose of this place has been fulfilled," Selcis said, and descended into the pool. The sandstone pillars began to lose their form, and the ceiling cascaded down, drinking the bathwater. Trilby grabbed Bowler's arm and, torch in his mouth, they sprinted together back up toward the church, cursing themselves for not filling their flasks.