บท 4: Tiers
Sett and Zainah ran through the dark Tomb, silent as they moved. In every turn and corner, Sett stopped and used rocks, markings, and even his instinct to find traps and they avoided it all as they headed deeper.
"There are this many traps?" Zainah asked, hissing. "We hadn't come across a single one, or we'd have been killed by these instead of mummies."
Sett said lightly, "No, we are going deeper now instead of running around in circles on the surface levels—like you were doing with your sister earlier. There would of course be more traps as we move closer to a Tomb's depth."
Another mummy appeared before them and Zainah instinctively pressed her bone flute against her lips, activating the power of her Axiom.
Song of Playfulness!
The surrounding atmosphere was filled with a sense of playfulness and the mummy grew dazed in a heartbeat. It began dancing. Ignoring it, the duo simply ran past and found themselves standing in front of a long descending stairway.
A stairway full of unmoving mummies.
Zainah began blowing into the bone flute while sweating profusely. Death was surrounding her in the form of the mummies, fear of course gripped her heart. Even though she had seen how effective her Axiom was, it was still hard to be calm in the face of something like this.
Sett felt her hesitations and smiled inwardly. He said, "As long as you don't stop singing, these mummies won't hurt you at all. Keep running, stairways don't have traps at D-tier Tombs, no need to worry about them."
They began descending.
"D-tier?" she said.
"Haven't heard of that?" he asked with a frown.
How bad was the empire's situation that people didn't even have common knowledge about Tombs anymore?
"It's hard to learn about Tombs when all the information is hoarded by nobles," Zainah said, irritated. "Learning or selling Tomb information is illegal if you are not a Tomb Raider."
He stored that in his mind—the kingdom had changed, it was no longer the one he knew. No longer Sett's Empire.
He explained: "There are ranks for Tombs, Tomb Raiders, and Axiom Holders," he paused. "For Tombs, it is ranked D>C>B>A>S tiers, growing progressively stronger.
"And for Tomb Raiders and Axiom Holders, we rank them from Tier 1 to 5, and Tier 5 is the strongest—for both Raiders and Holders. Tier 5 Raiders or Holders can handle S tier Tombs."
"There is such a thing?" Zainah was surprised. "What rank is this Tomb? What about me as an Axiom Holder?"
"As I said earlier, this is a D-tier Tomb, an apt place for Tier 1 fighters to fight in. You are a Tier 1 Axiom Holder, so this place is perfect training grounds for you—if you were in a team, that is."
Zainah couldn't help but pause.
"Your Axiom isn't really a battle-oriented one, it's more of a support ability. It could distract enemies, but not kill them. So, without someone who can deal damage, you wouldn't be able to do much in a Tomb like this. Even just a mummy bite and without someone's immediate help, you will be poisoned and will die shortly."
She asked: "Now that I have an Axiom, can't I also become a Tomb Raider by absorbing a Tomb Heart?"
"Not really," Sett sighed. "Some people can become both a Tomb Raider and an Axiom Holder, but those people are a rarity. Geniuses, in short. And as far as I am aware, you are not one of them. But well, an Axiom already gives you an edge, if you become better at using it, you won't really have to fight.."
"What will happen if I eat a Tomb Heart?"
"You'll get loose motion."
They entered a tunnel of sorts and began running straight. Zainah felt a weight in her heart, and she began thinking. Once she gets her sister Zarah back, she can help turn her into a Tomb Raider instead of becoming one herself.
Tomb Raiders had bodies as hard as steel, so if her sister became one—with her Axiom as support, they could live luxuriously in the outside world!
But what was Sett, the mummy's motive?
Would he give her the Tomb Heart?
Suddenly, the mummy came to a halt and she stopped along with him.
"What, another trap area?" she asked, then corrected herself, "Oh, it's another mummy!"
There was a broken coffin on the wall and a corpse stayed dormant inside. It had no movement, and in the dim light, she could barely even see it.
She grew wary. "Will that wake up? Is it the guardian?"
"No, it's not a… Guardian," he said and walked up to the coffin.
Zainah grew silent, feeling a weird atmosphere in the air.
Sett touched the coffin and stared at the man inside it for a while, then sighed. "I knew this man, an old friend of mine. A greedy one who always came to ask me for more gold, more money. No matter what he got, he wouldn't stop being greedy."
"..."
After a long second of silence, Sett shook his head.
"A tomb now suffices him for whom the whole world was not sufficient."
But this confirms it—indeed, this is a Tomb of my bloodline, Sett thought. Then who am I reincarnated as? What is this situation?
Meanwhile, Zainah was wondering with a rather fearful expression. Was he telling me not to be greedy like that corpse? Was he warning me against asking for a Tomb Heart? Can he read my thoughts?
They began running again, avoiding traps and hoodwinking mummies. Soon enough, they entered an area that seemed to have some more light sprinkled around. It felt like moonlight but she couldn't find the source.
They started to see more coffins around, and some rusted swords and other metals—gold—were inside them. Zainah itched to pocket a crown or two but Zarah's situation held her at bay for now.
"Are we closer?" She asked, anxious.
Undoing the bandages around himself and revealing his rotten body to the air, he nodded and gave her a brief explanation, and soon, she looked forward with a grim expression. There was a stone door before her, and inside it, according to Sett, was a specially segmented area of the Tomb where important mummies would be stored.
Sett pushed the stone door open a crack and it greased against the floor. She readied herself, heart thumping as she sneaked a peak in. A bright light made her squint her eyes but she still saw the picture beyond—a mummy sat in the middle of the room, wearing regal ceremonial robes.
Wine-green flames glimmered on the wall torches surrounding the royal mummy, while a small ball the size of a palm thumped, floating within a circular hole in the creature's chest.
"A tomb heart," she said, looking at the small ball. She had seen it before.
Sett, on the other hand, was much more serious. Before he saw the wealth, he saw the danger.
"That mummy is a Guardian," he said firmly. "It will have a body as strong as a regular Tier 1 Tomb Raider since this is a D-tier Tomb."
"What about Zarah, is she in there somewhere?"
"There are usually nine Guardian rooms, Guardians, and Tomb Hearts in any Tomb. Zarah must be in another one of them since coffins are usually dropped into such places. This doesn't seem to be the one. But let's go into here first."
"No, let's go find where she is in!"
"Let's get that Tomb Heart first, believe me, we can do this quickly if you do what I say!"
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