The Ruins
Daeron's green eyes shone in the guttering glow of the torch, which cast
a shivering circle of light onto his surroundings.
He and his desert Kougra, SandFlash, had come to the ruins of the ancient city
of Ankhmet earlier that morning, following the instructions on a set of scrolls
they had found. However, the instructions had only directed them to the city,
so if they wanted any clues about the disappearance of the lost civilisation
of the Ancient Neopians, they would have to explore the ruins on their own -
exactly what they had been doing for the last few hours.
SandFlash stumbled, sending sand grains cascading into the darkness below.
"Are you sure about this, Daeron? This tunnel seems to be going down forever!"
Daeron turned around and nodded, the torch illuminating the small area of sand
he stood in, but seeming ineffective against the oppressive darkness that pressed
in on them from all sides. "The floor is steadily sloping downward, it's got
to be leading somewhere."
The Kougra's keen ears twitched and swiveled. "Shhh! Did you hear that?"
They held their breaths for a moment, but heard nothing more. "It was probably
just a Scarabug scuttling around here - nothing to worry about." Daeron reassured
her.
They continued making their way down the tunnel, but Flash had a hard time
keeping visions of moaning mummies out of her mind; she'd played far too many
games of Mummy Maze recently. To keep her mind off the subject, she tried thinking
about other things.
***
Strangely, the first thing that came to her mind was a notice she had seen
on the wall of one of the buildings in the marketplace back in Sakhmet City.
It warned the citizens to keep their doors and windows locked at night, as there
had been quite a few robberies lately and the criminal still had not been caught.
There were some rumours circulating of a lone Neopet, an Usul, but most people
doubted that a Neopet would be out alone, much less committing serious crimes.
Daeron's deep voice boomed out in a rousing marching tune to keep up their spirits.
Flash listened to her master's song echoing eerily off the rough grey stone
blocks that made up the walls around them, and joined in with her clear alto,
waving her striped tail proudly in true parade-ground fashion.
A Spyder watched the odd scene with its many eyes, as Neopet and owner walked
bravely forward, their song and light seeming to temporarily conquer the unexplored
darkness beyond.
***
Some time later, the Kougra immediately felt the change in sound as the walls
on both sides of them disappeared. Judging from the echoes, they were now in
a large underground room.
"Daeron - what now? Should we follow the walls or walk out into the open?"
she asked. Her owner held the torch up as high as he could and strained his
eyes, trying to see what was in the impenetrable darkness beyond.
"I don't know. Following the walls would be the safest option, but I have this
feeling..." He shook his head distractedly. After a moment, he resumed walking
forward, away from the relative security of the walls, his thoughtful eyes focused
somewhere beyond.
SandFlash sensed something was wrong. She instinctively grabbed Daeron's boot
with her teeth, growling and shaking it fiercely. "Daeron, no! Something's wrong,
stay near the walls!" Daeron struggled and tried to wrench his foot away from
the loyal Kougra, swinging his torch wildly. The two overbalanced and fell forward.
The floor shifted beneath them, rumbling slightly, then caved in. Flash and
Daeron screamed as they fell into the yawning pit of eternity, surrounded by
an avalanche of sand.
Discovery
SandFlash the desert Kougra gradually became aware of the sounds of shifting
sand around her. She sat up, groaning as she rubbed a large lump where she had
been hit over the head by Daeron's torch.
Daeron - she remembered their last frantic scuffle before the floor had caved
in. It must have been a trap, she thought, and desperately looked around for
her master.
The torch had been extinguished when buried under the sand, but Flash's keen
Kougra eyes pierced the darkness, soon coming to rest on the huge pile of sand
that had fallen with them. Her heart thumped in sudden fear, and she ran over.
Digging furiously, the loyal Kougra was dismayed when the sand simply shifted
back into place under her padded paws.
Flash dug faster, hoping that she would find Daeron buried somewhere in the
sand, alive, refusing to consider the possibility that he could be crushed underneath
the tons of sand.
Finally the Kougra leaned against the mound of sand, drained of all her energy.
Her striped body shook as her despairing sobs echoed in the darkness.
***
Daeron felt like he had been wandering in the dark for hours. He could only
guess that he had been thrown somewhere off into the darkness, as he had awaken
alone; though he had shouted, there had been no response from SandFlash. Now
he simply stumbled blindly onwards, with no idea of where he was going.
Suddenly his foot caught on something, and he fell, sprawling face-down on
the chilly sand. He felt around for what had tripped on, but only wound up clutching
fistfuls of sand. No, wait - here was something new.
Daeron's questing fingers touched something small, cold, and hard. The top
was round and sleek, the sides made of some smooth metal. He'd definitely found
something. He picked it up, consciously ignoring the sudden note of warning
sounding inside his head and instead puzzling over what the object actually
was.
Suddenly, there was a great flash of red light that illuminated the entire
chamber, momentarily driving away all the shadows. Then - darkness again.
***
SandFlash and Daeron found themselves outside the ruins, lying on the hot sun-baked
sand. They both threw up their arms to block the blinding light, which was painful
after being in the dark for so long.
Spying her master, Flash threw herself on him with a joyful growl. Surprised,
Daeron spun around, a dark aura crackling around him.
The Kougra's joy immediately turned to fear; her yellow eyes widened, and she
backed off. Daeron's eyes were filled with an angry red fire as he advanced
on his pet.
Flash whimpered slightly as she pressed her back against the remnants of a
stone wall, facing her master. "Daeron, what's wrong?" Daeron's eyes flashed
dangerously, and he raised his hand, obliterating a stone block fallen across
his path with a flash of dark lightning.
SandFlash's trusting eyes were filled with tears as she faced Daeron, trying
to keep the shaking out of her voice. "Don't do this!"
Suddenly, Daeron halted, and his eyes seemed to clear. The dark aura around
him faded, and he sank to his knees. "What happened?" he asked, confused at
finding himself in the bright sun again.
He saw the shattered pieces of the stone block he had blasted and shuddered,
suddenly remembering. "Flash - I'm so sorry!" he cried, sinking his face into
his hands. "It was so strange... I had no idea what I was doing."
Flash waved her striped tail compassionately, recognising the danger was over,
and walked over, sitting by his side. "That's okay; it doesn't matter now."
She saw his hand clutching something. "What's that?"
***
Daeron opened his palm slowly, showing the object to his pet. "Sometime when
I was alone in the dark I found this."
Flash took it cautiously, examining it. It was circular in shape, made of a
strange dark metal. Embedded in the centre was a curious gem, coloured deep
red and glowing softly. As she stared at it, she could almost imagine she could
see the reflection of raging flames in its surface -
"So what do you think?" Daeron asked quietly. "What is it?"
SandFlash murmured, "It looks like an amulet of some kind," and flipped it
over. "Hey, look at this," she called, and tapped a steel-grey claw on the back.
"Hieroglyphs," Daeron breathed, and tilted the amulet to catch more of the
sun's rays. "Can you read the back?"
The keen-eyed Kougra paused, then read the inscription. "FEAR THE NIGHT, BEWARE
THE SHADOW."
As she spoke the words, a cold wind picked up, howling across the desert landscape
and filling them both with dread.
***
Later that evening, Daeron and SandFlash lay on their backs on the still-warm
sand, fast asleep after the trials of the day. The shadows of the ruins loomed
behind them; they had decided to stay the night there before continuing back
to Sakhmet City the next day to find more information about the strange amulet
they had discovered.
The stone ruins cast solemn shadows upon the sand. All was quiet - but something
moved. It moved from shadow to shadow, staying out of the open as much as possible.
As it crawled closer, it stepped out of the shadow - and was revealed as a
red Usul. She froze in her tracks as Flash's tail twitched reflexively in a
dream, then let out a quiet sigh as the Kougra was once again still.
The Usul silently crept closer, bending over the sleeping form of Daeron. Her
eyes came to rest on his hand, which lay open on the sand by his side. Hissing
triumphantly, the Usul held the amulet up, catching the moonlight and casting
pale red beams onto the sand.
To be continued... | 
