He pushed the heavy door open. The moment he stepped across the threshold, the air changed, becoming unnaturally warm, like stepping into an open furnace.
The chamber beyond was vast, lit by a low and ambient glow that seemed to emanate from the stone itself.
In the center of the room, a figure knelt. It was a knight, clad in armor of blackened iron and brilliant, glowing gold. Its head was bowed, its gauntleted hands resting on the pommel of a massive sword driven point-first into the stone floor.
BANG!
The sound echoed like a thunderclap. Iskar's head snapped back to see the door had slammed shut of its own accord, sealing him inside. Then, the voices began.
"No, master, please no..."
"Ahhh, the priestess, save her!"
"My God... my Goddess... have you abandoned us?"
Whispers and cries, layered over one another, swirled around the chamber. They were not from the knight, but from the very walls, voices of the final moments of the people who died here.
Iskar turned his attention back to the knight. Its head was no longer bowed. The dark eye-slits of its helmet were now fixed on him, glowing with a fierce, molten gold light.
A new voice cut through the ghostly chorus, deep and resonant, vibrating through the stone floor and into Iskar's bones.
"Countless years... waiting... Finally, I am awakened."
As the words faded, an aura of pure, visible heat exploded outwards from the knight's body.
Iskar gasped as a wave of scorching energy washed over him. He saw his own bandages begin to smoke slightly, and his vision distorted, the world around him turning wavy and indistinct, as if seen through a wall of rising heat.
The knight rose to its feet in one smooth, powerful motion, pulling the greatsword from the floor with a sound of grinding stone. It pointed the blade at Iskar.
"Intruder," the voice boomed, no longer a whisper but a commanding force. "You defile this sacred tomb. Your presence is an affront to the memory of the Sun's Chosen. I, Sir Galen, Last Guardian of the Priestess Althea, will purify your soul with holy fire."
"Kneel and let my blade bless your neck."
Iskar raised a non-existent eyebrow beneath his bandages. 'Is he seriously asking me to just let him kill me?' He glanced at the knight's armor, noting the intricate sun symbol etched into the chest plate.
Within the sun was a smaller, darker moon, which made him even wonder what happened to the divine order of this world.
He tightened his grip on the hammer he'd been carrying since the start of his journey. It wasn't the most elegant weapon, but it had served him well so far.
The giant skeletons he'd faced earlier had wielded nothing better, and this knight, despite its imposing presence, was just another obstacle.
The knight stood at least eight feet tall (244 cm), towering over Iskar, who, by comparison, felt almost diminutive at his six-foot (183 cm) height. But size didn't intimidate him, speed and skill did.
"You have chosen a slow death," the knight declared, its golden eyes blazing.
Before Iskar could respond, the knight lunged. Its speed was astonishing for its size, the massive greatsword cutting through the air with a deafening whoosh. Iskar barely managed to dodge, rolling to the side as the blade slammed into the stone floor with a thunderous crack.
The sword lodged deep into the rock, and for a brief moment, the knight struggled to free it. Iskar saw his opening. His hand glowed as he summoned a [Fireball], growing it to twice the size of his head.
[-20 Energy]
He hurled it at the knight's chest. The fireball struck true, exploding in a burst of flame, but the golden armor glowed brightly, dissipating the fire harmlessly.
'Seems fire won't work against this guy,' Iskar thought, his mind racing for another tactic.
The knight finally wrenched its sword free, the blade gleaming with a menacing light. It turned to face Iskar, its movements deliberate and unhurried now.
"Your feeble magic cannot harm me, intruder," the knight said, its voice tinged with contempt. "The Sun's Blessing protects me from your pitiful flames."
Iskar smirked beneath his bandages. 'Flames, huh? Let's see how it handles something else.'
He shifted his focus, he had other tricks up his sleeve.
He reached into the depths of his [Darkness Magic], summoning [Tendrils]. Shadows surged from the ground, forming smoky, semi-solid limbs that coiled around the knight's arms and sword, attempting to restrain it.
[-30]
The knight growled, its golden eyes flaring as it struggled against the darkness. But the tendrils held firm, at least for a moment.
'Now's my chance,' Iskar thought.
He sprinted forward, hammer in hand, aiming for the knight's exposed side. With a powerful swing, he brought the weapon down, striking the knight's armor with a resounding clang.
The impact sent a jolt through Iskar's arms, but the armor held firm. The knight roared, breaking free of the tendrils with a burst of golden light that seared the darkness away.
Iskar leaped back, barely avoiding a retaliatory slash from the greatsword.
'This guy's tough,' he admitted silently. But he wasn't out of options yet.
He focused his mind, summoning an [Annihilation Sphere]. A black, void-like orb formed in his hand, its surface rippling with destructive energy.
[-50 Energy]
Iskar hurled the sphere at the knight's chest. The orb struck the armor, and for a moment, it seemed to dissolve into nothingness. But then the golden glow of the armor flared again, resisting the void's disintegration effect.
Though the [Annihilation Sphere] had been resisted, Iskar's keen eyes caught a brief, almost imperceptible flicker and a hairline crack in the golden aura where the sphere had impacted. It wasn't invincible, it could be worn down.
He quickly checked his energy reserves.
Energy: 316/430
Spamming the costly spheres was an option, but a reckless one. This knight, Sir Galen, was not some mindless skeleton; he was a tactical fighter, and Iskar needed to be smarter.
As if reading his thoughts, the knight bellowed, "Cease your useless resistance!" The greatsword in its hands began to glow with such intense, concentrated gold light that the blade itself seemed to vanish, becoming a pure weapon of solid energy.
Sir Galen swung horizontally. A crescent of golden energy shot across the chamber. Iskar leaped over it easily, but as he landed, his eyes widened. "What the hell?!"
Seven more energy slashes materialized, flying toward him from different angles, horizontal, vertical, diagonal, forming an inescapable net of destruction. Dodging was impossible.
He planted his feet and thrust his hands forward. [Sand Constructs]!
[-10 Energy]
A thick wall of compressed sand erupted from the floor, forming a massive shield in front of him.
The first golden slash struck it with a CRACK, deeply fracturing the surface. The second impact shattered the shield entirely.
Panicked, Iskar poured more energy into the construct, reforming and reinforcing it just as the third slash arrived.
SLASH
CRACK!
SLASH
BOOM!
[-10 Energy]
SLASH
CRACK!
SLASH
BOOM!
[-10 Energy]
SLASH
CRACK!
SLASH
BOOM!
[-10 Energy]
He gritted his teeth, straining as slash after slash hammered against his defensive wall. By the time the last one dissipated, he had spent 40 energy just to survive the barrage. He let the sand shield crumble, his bandages steaming from the residual heat.
But Sir Galen was already moving. The giant knight was dashing toward him with surprising speed. Iskar braced to dodge sideways, but the knight did the unexpected, he leaped upward, launching himself toward the chamber's impossibly high ceiling.
Iskar looked up, a cold dread settling in his gut. Sir Galen hung in the air for a moment, a dark silhouette against the dim stone, before he began to fall. His entire body was wreathed in a fiery, golden aura, turning him into a human meteorite aimed directly at Iskar.
The pressure alone pressed Iskar into the stone floor. He had nowhere to run. Blocking with sand would be suicide. There was only one choice, meet force with greater force.
He dropped the hammer and raised both hands to the sky, channeling every ounce of power he could muster.
Darkness and sand swirled around him, but he pushed past those, reaching for the raw, destructive potential of the void.
An [Annihilation Sphere] began to form, but he didn't stop. He poured more and more energy into it, and pure negation aimed upward.
[-100 Energy]
A column of rippling black energy shot up from his palms to meet the descending golden meteor. For a moment, the two forces hung in equilibrium, light and void screaming against each other.
Then, with a sound that tore through the ghostly whispers, the annihilation lance pierced through the golden aura and struck the knight's chest plate directly on the hairline crack.
The resulting explosion of light and shadow threw Iskar backward across the chamber. He slammed into the wall, his vision swimming.
When the spots cleared, he saw Sir Galen lying in a crater in the center of the floor, the glow of his armor dimmed, the golden sun symbol on his chest now marred by a web of black cracks. The knight stirred weakly, trying to push himself up.
Iskar staggered to his feet. He suddenly saw the knight begin to shake, and glow even brighter.