—— ❖ —— —— ❖ —— —— ❖ ——
Light bled down each step, chasing the darkness from beneath him.
The staircase was beginning to brighten up from the study's ceiling shard. Arion saw freedom. But it also revealed what it had hidden—the demented statues in their full horror.
He reached the top step.
The weight of impending doom slipped from his shoulders.
He had finally made it back into the study.
He recognised it by smell—burnt parchment and mouldy wood.
Even then, his eyes stayed glued to his admirers.
His eyes were rough and dry, begging just for one little blink. His body was desperately screaming in pain and exhaustion.
When he was fully on the ground floor again, he could see the Luminary-carved lines traced into the ground; he couldn't let them leak out and keep following him. He had to bring down the platform and seal them inside.
But he had no luxury to see how he could operate the no-manual-included, magical lift. Thinking back, he remembered his own Vitalis activating the Luminary within the lines of the pattern.
Getting a better look at them within his central vision, he spotted the Essence flowing through the sculpted line in the ground.
I need to disrupt the flow.
A green shard gleamed within his hand.
Essence wove matter into shape, bringing it into existence. With his trusty staff returned, he got into position.
Metal collided with stone as he started hammering the Luminary lining.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
C'mon...C'mon! Crack already!
Bang after bang—vibrations and sound reverberated, bouncing back down towards the main hall, echoing off the flooring and walls like a bell's toll.
With little energy left, he summoned the last of his strength.
BANG.
BANG-CRK.
A hairline crack. Luminary current fizzled and pulsed as their passage cracked and shook.
CRACKK—PSSZZZT!
The lines of light disrupted, wavered and then spilled out into the newly formed cracks. Slowly a malfunction formed within the circuit. Essence flickered once, twice then started to fade, the platform turned back to its lifeless self.
Then as if it had only just discovered gravity, it fell.
BOOM!
The impact shook the temple to its bones. Cracks spidered up the walls, stone groaning under the strain.
A shockwave followed—dust and smoke burst outward.
Arion threw an arm across his face, shielding himself as the two-ton platform slammed shut between him and his pale pursuers.
PSHHH.
The dust engulfed him.
Cough! Cough!
Dusty eyelids lifted; dried eyes now finally sated.
Arion peered toward the spiral entrance, now blocked. As the dust settled, relief finally reached him.
The nightmare was finally over.
Exhausted, his body collapsed, eyes shut, a champion's break they deserved, he took the time to breathe and rest his body.
CRCK.
Stone scraped—his body reacted before his mind could.
Arion's eyes ripped open as he backed away. There on the ground was half an arm of one of the statues, frozen mid crawl, white dust sifted from its joints.
"You… mother-!" Enraged, Arion stood, grabbed his staff, and went to town.
"Die!"
BWKKK
"Stupid!"
WCKKK
"Fucking!"
SCKKK!
"Statues!"
CRCKKK
Arion doubled over, staff supporting him as he gave in to a wheezing fit. On the floor lay a pile of broken white stone, what was left of the arm.
"Not so… tough now."
…
Once recovered, he moved toward the far door—the one leading back to the grand hall. The ruin breathed again, slow draughts whispering through its ribs.
As he re-entered the much less claustrophobic room, the floor of bones greeted him again, a lovely welcome mat to remind him of what could have become his fate.
The air still hung heavier here—like the ruin remembered the dead.
Not really caring about the dead, he stormed right over, unperturbed by any haunting spirits…
If that's a thing here. He thought while tramping over the dead.
Once he traversed the pool of bones, cold dampness soothed his soles, solid stone was there to greet him. Now ready to make his way to the hallway.
"Ah, one ticket to freedom, coming righ-"
Crack.
Expression frozen, Arion turned around.
Looking down the side edge of the grand hall, his eyes were glued to a particular doorway.
Wait—that room.. the pile of statues…
Don't tell me.
CRCKKKK.
"Seriously!-"
CRU—SLCKK—CLCK.
Now the noise was behind him, bones shifting moving, like someone had just upset the dead.
Arion didn't need to wait for what was crawling out the darkest pits of the ruined temple, he'd had more than enough of it for one day.
Behind him, the temple seemed to wake—a chorus of grinding stone and crushing air.
With the choice of pain or death, he chose pain.
Breaking out in a full sprint, he raced down the hallway. It stretched for a hundred metres or so.
Rooms flew by—he dodged and leapt over loose debris, he didn't waste time, even when frantic scratches clawed at the stone behind sealed doors.
It only made him run faster.
—— ❖ —— —— ❖ —— —— ❖ ——
TAP.
TAP.
TAP.
Manic steps echoed throughout the temple.
Nearing the entrance, Arion grasped the concept of freedom and hope.
It would have been a teary moment for him except for the fracturing and scraping of stone catching up at a worrying speed.
"Shit!" He yelled, as neck hair stood up.
The presence of something wrong pressed on him only a few paces behind.
A burst of wind hit him before the light did. He sprinted, grabbed his staff and vaulted the warped doorway like an Olympic athlete.
A barely executed vault followed by a horrible landing—he hit the stone hard.
BUFF!
Pain ripped through his wounded side.
"Guahh!"
The change was immediate—pressure thinned; sound collapsed, leaving only the sharp ring in his ears.
He rolled twice before stopping.
Looking back, he froze in terror, he saw something beyond his already traumatised mind.
There were dozens of them, some tall, some shorter, some looked human-like but others looked beyond anything he could even imagine. All hideous in their own right, all fighting to sprawl out into the outside.
Terror slowly turned into confusion.
Arion saw that they were all locked there, but this time it was different, they were all within the entrance, none got past the doorway, as if existence cut short for them.
It couldn't be a coincidence.
Localised Entropic Offset Field Generator… it's still operational?
Arion thought back to the mad man's journal entry and his solution to his Equilibrium issue, that was also trying to murder him.
Arion didn't fully believe the notion at first.
The Field, does it only encircle the main temple?... Starting with the entrance…
Arion's mind raced, struggling to comprehend his hypothesis for once.
His eyes narrowed, staring at the statues. Then something his mother had once told him popped into his head.
"A scientist will never become great without some balls—
Mum."
Blink.
Silence. Stillness and… still breathing.
No statues moved forward, they only squirmed, almost like they were held in place, unable to take one step forward.
He grinned, snarling to the statues.
"So it is real…" He muttered.
"How did the guy pull something like that off?... Maybe you do have to be mad to do that."
He paced back and forth, hand on chin, forgetting about the essence–sucking monsters.
"Then so why…? Have they existed too long within the separated entropy space? The equilibrium…"
"Is it not letting them exist outside the field? A possible self containment field. Anything that stays in it for too long can't leave."
Eyes narrowing, he stared into space, like piercing together a cosmic equation puzzle with just a few pieces.
If this field really offset entropy, then it was balanced? Or was it quarantine…
Then his eyes widened.
But I… No it couldn't be that quick. But, if it acts like radiation would, then..
He paused. He internally felt inside, weak, battered but all the same. He sensed no difference nor change within himself or his Vitalis.
With a squint, Arion scanned the ruin around him — just empty air and falling dust. No witnesses.
He gave his trousers a discreet stretch, exhaling in relief.
Thank physics, little buddy. Can't have you mutating on me… not sure the ladies are into that.
He took one last glance at the statues, blinked and then turned to leave.
Only then did he see it was midday.
How long was I in there for?
He took a moment to think about the field's effect on time, but ultimately, he did not know the answer.
He groaned as adrenaline dissipated.
"Now… let's take the long way back."
Relieved, he made his way through the temple's courtyard.
The temple loomed behind him, its entrance now hollow. Drafts spilled into its dark throat; the horrors within crept in silence. Only the faint cracking of stone answered back.
…
Ahead, beyond the treeline, a bell tolled—distant, deliberate.
It did not call for morning.
It called for action.
—— ❖ —— —— ❖ —— —— ❖ ——
Author's Note
Chapter 10 will conclude with a bonus chapter: an Illustration Codex.
These Codex chapters will appear every ten chapters (but may grow in size over time).
They include illustrations of characters and creatures introduced so far, along with a few extra notes and bits of lore for each entry.
Illustrative chapters are supported differently across platforms — sites like RoyalRoad can display them directly.
If the Codex isn't visible on your current platform, don't worry.
The story remains fully intact; the gallery is simply an optional visual extra for readers on platforms that support it.
The Codex is planned for release on the 30th, or on the following update day if anything changes.