The heat hit us before the light did.
One moment, we were stepping through Atlantis’ shimmering gateway.
The next thing…..
The ocean vanished.
The cool embrace of water disappeared so suddenly that it stole the breath from my lungs.
My boots slammed against solid ground.
Hot.
Blistering hot.
A violent gust of wind whipped across my face, carrying grains of golden sand that stung my skin like tiny needles.
I instinctively threw an arm over my eyes.
“What the…”
Carlos coughed, spitting sand from his mouth.
“I miss the fish already.”
Behind us, the portal shimmered once before collapsing into thousands of glowing blue particles that drifted into the sky and disappeared.
“…Please tell me that wasn’t our only way back,” Ethan muttered.
No one answered.
Because we were all staring.
The desert stretched farther than the eye could see.
Rolling dunes shimmered beneath an enormous amber sky, their peaks shifting with every gust of wind.
In the distance stood the crumbling remains of colossal stone temples, half-swallowed by centuries of sand.
Towering statues of forgotten kings lay broken across the landscape, their faces worn smooth by time.
Even stranger…
There were two suns.
One burned bright gold.
The other glowed a deep crimson, hanging lower in the sky like an unblinking eye.
Carlos frowned.
“…Either I’m hallucinating or the sky has been upgraded.”
Sarah followed his gaze.
“There are two.”
“I knew it.”
Carlos folded his arms triumphantly.
“I’d like everyone to remember that I noticed first.”
“You announced it first,” Sarah corrected.
“Same difference.”
A warm hand slipped into mine.
I looked over.
Ethan gave my hand a gentle squeeze.
“You okay?”
I nodded, though I wasn’t entirely sure.
“This place feels…”
“…old.”
“Older than Atlantis?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
“But it feels like we’re standing inside a story that’s been forgotten.”
The wind picked up again.
This time, it carried something else.
A whisper.
Not words.
Just…
voices.
Too distant to understand.
I reached for the leather-bound Book of Origins tucked safely inside the Void.
The moment it appeared in my hands, its blank pages began turning by themselves.
Faster.
Faster.
Until—
They stopped.
Golden letters slowly bled across the parchment.
THE SECOND SEAL RESTS WHERE THE TWIN SUNS FIRST EMBRACED THE EARTH.
Carlos leaned over my shoulder.
“…That’s helpful.”
Silence.
“…If you’re an ancient poet.”
Another sentence appeared.
FOLLOW THE SHADOW THAT CASTS NO DARKNESS.
Carlos stared at the page for several seconds.
“I take it back.”
“It somehow became less helpful.”
Despite myself, I smiled.
Trust Carlos to complain about a magical prophecy.
Sarah scanned the endless dunes.
“So…”
“Which shadow doesn’t cast a shadow?”
Nobody knew.
A sudden metallic clang echoed somewhere behind us.
We spun around.
Nothing.
Only sand.
Then another.
CLANG.
CLANG.
CLANG.
Slow.
Rhythmic.
Like something enormous was walking beneath the dunes.
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“Everyone…”
His voice dropped.
“…Weapons.”
The Tideglass Trident appeared in my grasp with a flash of blue light.
Ethan summoned his shield.
Sarah’s fingers crackled with dark psychic energy.
Carlos rolled his shoulders.
“I was hoping we’d get at least ten minutes before something tried to kill us.”
The sand…
Moved.
Not because of the wind.
Something beneath it was swimming.
One shape became two.
Two became five.
Five became dozens.
They circled us just beneath the surface, leaving rippling trails through the golden dunes.
“They’re surrounding us,” Sarah whispered.
“I would like to file a formal complaint against magical road trips.”
Before anyone could answer—
The nearest dune exploded.
A creature burst into the air.
It resembled a lion carved entirely from black sandstone, nearly twice the size of a horse.
Golden cracks glowed across its body like molten lava beneath stone, and its silver mane shimmered as though woven from sunlight itself.
It landed with a thunderous crash.
Then another emerged.
And another.
Within seconds…
Twelve of them surrounded us.
Their glowing eyes never blinked.
The largest stepped forward.
Around its neck hung a collar engraved with symbols identical to those on the Book of Origins.
It wasn’t growling.
It was studying us.
Then…
To my complete shock…
It spoke.
“You carry the Book.”
Its voice rumbled like distant thunder.
“Few who bear it reach Solora.”
Carlos blinked.
“…The lion talks.”
The beast slowly turned its massive head toward him.
“…And the noisy one survives.”
Carlos placed a hand on his chest.
“I have a name.”
A pause.
“…Congratulations.”
Sarah snorted, trying—and failing—not to laugh.
The stone lion looked back at me.
“The Keeper has been expecting you.”
My grip tightened around the Trident.
“The Keeper?”
The lion dipped its head once.
“The Guardian of the Sunstone.”
A deep horn echoed across the desert.
Every stone lion suddenly lifted its head toward the horizon.
For the first time…
They looked afraid.
The leader’s voice became urgent.
“They have found you sooner than we hoped.”
The ground began to shake.
Far away…
Beyond the dunes…
A wall of black sand was rising into the sky.
And inside it…
Something colossal moved.
The wall of black sand swallowed the horizon.
It rose higher and higher, twisting like a living tornado beneath the twin suns.
Lightning flashed within it—not white or blue, but deep crimson, illuminating the monstrous silhouette hidden inside.
The ground trembled beneath our feet.
The stone lion’s ears flattened against its head.
“It comes.”
Carlos looked from the storm to the lion.
“…Would this be a bad time to ask what ‘it’ is?”
The lion didn’t answer.
Instead, it turned sharply and bounded across the dunes.
“Run!”
The other stone lions scattered in different directions.
For half a second, none of us moved.
Then the desert exploded.
A deafening roar erupted from within the storm, so powerful it seemed to shake the very sky.
The black sand surged forward like a tidal wave, swallowing entire dunes in seconds.
“GO!” Ethan shouted.
We ran.
The heat was relentless.
Every step sank ankle-deep into the burning sand, slowing us down.
Behind us, the storm devoured everything in its path, leaving only darkness where sunlight had once reached.
Carlos teleported several yards ahead.
“I officially miss Atlantis!”
He vanished again, reappearing beside Sarah.
“Less talking, more surviving!”
“I can do both,” Carlos replied before disappearing once more.
A shadow swept over us.
I looked up.
A massive stone pillar, ripped from the ruins by the storm, came crashing toward Ethan.
“Ethan!”
He reacted instantly.
His shield burst into existence with a brilliant flash of blue light.
BOOOOM!
The pillar shattered against it, fragments raining across the desert.
Ethan staggered backward.
“I really hope these things stop getting bigger.”
“They won’t,” Sarah muttered.
“That’s encouraging.”
The lead stone lion suddenly veered toward a cluster of weathered ruins jutting from the sand.
“This way!”
We followed it through a narrow passage between broken columns covered in faded carvings.
The moment we crossed the threshold…
The storm stopped.
Not slowed.
Stopped.
It slammed into an invisible barrier surrounding the ruins, roaring like an angry beast denied its prey.
Carlos blinked.
“…Huh.”
He cautiously poked his head back outside.
The black sand immediately lunged toward him.
“Nope.”
He pulled his head back inside.
“I’ve learned enough.”
The lion faced us.
“These ruins are protected by the First Flame.”
“For now.”
“The barrier weakens with every passing year.”
Silence settled over us.
I looked around.
The ruins were breathtaking.
Tall sandstone columns circled a vast courtyard.
Their surfaces were engraved with glowing golden symbols that pulsed faintly beneath centuries of dust.
In the center stood a dried fountain shaped like an enormous phoenix, its wings spread wide as though ready to take flight.
Despite the blistering heat outside…
The air here was cool.
Peaceful.
Almost sacred.
My Book floated from my hands before I could stop it.
Its pages turned on their own.
Golden light spilled across the courtyard.
The familiar figure stepped from the pages as though walking through a doorway.
The Book Guardian.
She wore flowing ivory robes trimmed with gold, and her long silver hair drifted around her despite the still air.
Her eyes shimmered like molten amber.
She looked at us.
Then smiled.
“You survived.”
Carlos placed both hands on his hips.
“Nice to see you too.”
“I was beginning to think you only appeared to confuse us.”
A faint smile touched her lips.
“I do enjoy a little mystery.”
“I knew it!” Carlos exclaimed.
“She’s doing it on purpose.”
Even in the middle of everything, I felt the tension ease.
The Guardian turned to me.
“You have done well, Emma.”
“We barely escaped.”
“Yet you escaped.”
She looked toward Ethan.
“And the desert has already begun watching.”
Ethan frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Instead of answering, she raised a hand.
The Book drifted toward Ethan.
Its pages fluttered once.
A single line appeared.
THE SUN DOES NOT CHOOSE THE STRONGEST.
Another line slowly formed beneath it.
IT CHOOSES THE ONE WHO REFUSES TO LET OTHERS BURN ALONE.
Ethan stared at the words.
“I don’t understand.”
“You will,” the Guardian said softly.
“When the time comes.”
Sarah crossed her arms.
“That’s…
suspiciously specific.”
“The Book reveals only what fate permits.”
Carlos sighed dramatically.
“There it is again.”
“What?”
“The mysterious ancient person refusing to answer normal questions.”
The Guardian actually laughed.
It wasn’t loud.
Just enough to surprise all of us.
“I suppose that can be frustrating.”
Carlos pointed at her.
“Progress!”
“We’re getting somewhere.”
Before anyone could reply…
The ground shook again.
This time, the barrier flickered.
Golden light rippled across the ancient columns.
The lead stone lion growled.
“It has found the sanctuary.”
A deafening impact echoed through the ruins.
BOOOOOM!
Cracks raced across the invisible barrier.
Outside, the storm was changing.
The black sand began gathering into a single enormous shape.
Arms.
Legs.
A head.
The tornado was becoming…
A giant.
Nearly forty feet tall.
Its body was formed entirely from black sand and jagged obsidian, with two blazing crimson eyes burning from within its featureless face.
Carlos stared up at it.
“…I miss fighting normal-sized monsters.”
The Guardian’s expression grew serious.
“It is called the Dune Colossus.”
“It serves no master.”
“It serves only destruction.”
The giant lifted an arm the size of a house.
Then slammed it against the barrier.
CRAAAAACK!
Golden light splintered across the sky.
The sanctuary shook violently.
The Guardian looked at Ethan.
“There is only one place it cannot follow.”
She pointed toward the dried phoenix fountain.
The sand beneath it began to collapse, revealing a spiral staircase descending into darkness.
“The Temple of the First Sun.”
“The Sunstone is waiting.”
Without another word, the Guardian dissolved into countless golden pages that drifted back into the Book.
The barrier shattered.
The Dune Colossus roared.
Ethan tightened his grip on his shield.
I spun the Tideglass Trident into my hand.
Carlos looked from the giant…
to the staircase.
“…Ladies and gentlemen…”
“…I vote we take the creepy stairs.”
We didn’t argue.
We jumped.