Liberi Reader

Pepe opens her eyes and sees Zubayr's sistrum, inches away from breaking her neck in half.

Meanwhile, her hammer is pressed against Zubayr's chest, leaving a long crack in the gem on his chest.

Pepe helps Zubayr into the middle of the hall, underneath the massive gem.

Light and shadows dance, as the massive gem draws all the illumination in the room towards its base, converging at its tip.

Though it should be blinding, Pepe feels like she is being wrapped in warm, gentle currents.

She sits up underneath a black beckbeast statue. The sound of water flowing echoes through the empty hall.

A massive crystal hangs from the dome, and its light reveals numerous images of people, like reflections in water.

One of the figures stops before her.

Narantuya seems to recognize the red hair, and the haughty demeanor of the figure looking down at her.

The figure turns around and walks through a closed door at the end of the hall.

The floor trembles, and the sound of falling water grows louder.

Narantuya steps through the flooded hall, running towards the armored figure.

On the other side of the door is neither another maze passage nor flowing sand.

Through a crack in the door, she could see treasures piled up like a mountain, glowing with a radiance that a thousand years could not dull.

But she does not even have time to exclaim.

A massive fissure appears on the floor and the entire underground structure of the city trembles violently.

The hiss of rapidly flowing sand is louder than ever. Beneath the city and right under her feet, a colossal vortex of quicksand forms.

Water pours down.

Narantuya remembers trying to catch an entire rain with the bottles in her pack when she was little.

Later, she learned that rain and drought are simply part of the cycle of life. Her tribe migrates with the weather atop their burdenbeasts; they cannot, and need not, carry so much water in their bags.

Another tremor sends the structure beneath her feet close to collapsing. Beyond the sturdy door of the trove, gold coins clatter against each other, their alluring clinks echoing the sound of her dreams.

Narantuya remembers how she dreamed about it.

If she truly owned a mountain of gold—real gold, not the gilded iron ingots that the lords ameer smelt, or the empty checks they write—the first thing she would do is dance on top of it.

That way, all the treasure will be captivated by her, and never leave her again.

Narantuya backs off a little bit and lifts a black beckbeast statue.

Then, she charges at the seemingly indestructible door.

Slowly, the door opens to her shout, and she glimpses a corner of the mountain of gold through the gap.

The mountain of gold begins to collapse as the structure tilts further and further.

Treasures beyond reckoning spill out, further widening the fissure as they crash onto the floor.

Goodbye, Zubayr.

...Huh, so the trove collapsed when its guardian died. Makes sense.

So where am I?

And how am I supposed to swim myself out when you've gone with the water?

Water presses at her chest, rising above her eyes, still gently whirling, dragging her ever deeper.

Pepe turns her gaze to the pool next to her.

May you guide his soul to rest, Horakhet.

Let time flow for him again. Let us all move forward once more.