The desert Aisha had lived there all of his life, and he felt that no other place could ever be his home. He knew there was much more to Neopia, and he hoped that one day his eyes would gaze upon new locations, but his heart would always bring him back here. Sitting upon a dune, he looked out across the dry landscape and watched as an arid wind caused the particles of sand to dance and twirl. That was one of the things he loved the most about this area. With the constantly moving sand, you often walked where no other had ever traveled before.

He saw a group of travelers struggling toward him, and his heart beat a little faster. He knew who they were and why they were here, but he still couldn't set himself at ease. Those strangers were from a distant university whose only interests were the discovery of new artifacts and the fame that could be gathered from such discoveries. Marid sighed to himself as he stood up and waved to the group. They had come to examine a new monument that they thought had only recently been discovered, and Marid was to lead them.

In truth, the monument had been known to his family for many generations and they had considered themselves to be its protectors. Had things gone as planned, they would have allowed it to remain a secret and its treasures hidden from the world, but it's rare for life to go exactly as expected. Marid's younger sister had become very sick. Medicines were costly, as was a trip to the Healing Springs in Faerieland. Marid knew his father had fought with the decision, but eventually he sold his knowledge of this unknown monument in order to obtain the Neopoints. At this very moment, his father was traveling to buy the much-needed medicine and Marid had been left here to act as a guide. As he watched while the archeologist and his team tried to walk closer, he remembered his father's last words to him.

"Show them the monument, son," he had said, "but only show the main passages. The hidden rooms must remain hidden."

The Chia who was walking in front of the group approached him. "You must be our guide," he stated, gasping for breath. Marid noted that his clothes might be stylish, but they were not suited for the desert.

"I am," he said. "Are you ready to go?"

The Chia nodded as he motioned to his group who were struggling with far too many supplies. "Is it far from here?"

"Not far," he answered, "just follow me. I'll lead the way."

Silently, he walked as he tried to ignore the grunts and grumbles behind him. These individuals didn't respect the desert, and he felt guiltier about this situation with each step he took. He tried to focus on thoughts of his sister in an attempt to drown the guilt. Soon, they had reached their desired destination. He pushed aside a large rock that concealed the entrance and suddenly the hidden monument was in plain view.

The Chia laughed and clapped his hands like a small child. "I've finally found it!" he squealed. "After all these years, I've made the discovery of the decade."

Marid wanted to correct him that actually his family had made the discovery years ago, but he bit his tongue. He lit a torch to lead them down the main corridor. Again, if things had gone as planned they would have seen very little and no harm would have come from this expedition, but the Aisha should have expected the unexpected. A Mynci who was carrying a rather heavy bag tripped over a stone and fell into a wall. Before Marid could yell out a warning, the wall gave way and the Mynci disappeared into a hidden room.

"Jensen?" the Chia yelled, "Where are you?"

"I'm here, Professor Swiggle," Jensen replied. "I've found some sort of hidden room. You have to check this out!"

His curiosity piqued, Professor Swiggle turned and took a few steps toward the room so that he could look inside, but Marid jumped in front of him. "You can't go in there," he said.

"Why not?" the Professor demanded.

Thinking quickly, Marid replied...

He heard the Mynci yelp in fright.

"Stay perfectly still!" he instructed Jensen. The less he moved, the smaller the chances were that he'd discover the contents of the hidden room.

"I am!" Jensen replied. No doubt the silly Mynci was even holding his breath.

"Will he be okay?" Professor Swiggle asked earnestly, moving forward. "He is my nephew... he is not even supposed to be on this expedition, but he begged me to go. I could not bear it if he is harmed!"

"You stay still, too!" Marid exclaimed. "You don't want to risk setting it off. I will go in there."

The Professor let out a ragged breath. "Please be careful."

Marid nodded, and thought quickly. He couldn't bring his torch, or else it would light the room and Jensen would see exactly what it was that they were trying to hide. Luckily, the Mynci was not carrying one of his own when he fell through.

Desperately going over the layout of the room in his mind, Marid took a deep breath and ducked into the hidden chamber...

Even so, the poor Mynci flinched backward at his touch and stumbled into something that fell to the floor and shattered with a crash. Coughing a bit in the cloud of dust kicked up by the disturbance, Marid quickly grabbed for his arm and began to lead him out of the room.

"Wait!" Jensen cried. "My bag of gear!" He stopped walking and stooped down, blindly flailing around on the floor with his free arm.

"Don't worry about the gear, Jensen!" Professor Swiggle exclaimed. "Your safety is much more important than those tools!" He snapped his torch on and began to point it toward the doorway. "Let Marid lead you out of there!"

As the Aisha tugged more insistently on his arm, Jensen touched something that felt like a sack. "I've got it!" he said, rising, as he let Marid pull him back into the light.

"Turn around," the Chia commanded, "and let me see that you're all right."

Marid breathed a sigh of relief as the group's attention was directed toward the Mynci, who, although sporting newly scuffed trousers and a generous coating of dust, indeed proved to be unharmed. He needed to quickly show them the rest of the monument so he could usher them back outside, where they'd be unable to stumble upon any more of the hidden secrets. The centuries old knowledge contained within the shadowy chambers would remain safely forgotten to the outside world.

His relief was short-lived, however, as one of the interns let out a cry. "Look!" she shouted excitedly, pointing to the sack still dangling from Jensen's hand. "That sack is stamped with the rune of the ancient Poogle scholar, Elias!"

Professor Swiggle looked down in surprise. "So it is!" he exclaimed. "But... that's impossible! Although he planned to travel all of Neopia, he never got the chance. It is written that, shortly after setting off on his great journey, he was trapped in the Ice Caves when a huge earthquake struck Terror Mountain, and he was never seen or heard from again."

His earlier apprehension forgotten, Jensen set the sack down and eagerly reached inside. "Let's see what's in here..."

The professor stepped forward. "Writing tools," Professor Swiggle said slowly, locking eyes with Marid. "These are writing tools, I believe. I saw some similar to these on an expedition last year."

Marid found his voice with some difficulty. "It's a Charcoal Bone Pencil." When all heads swivelled his way, he swallowed but continued. "See this here?" The Aisha tapped the end of one stick and held up his black-smudged paw. "This is charcoal. It's tied to bone with string and used as we'd use a lead pencil."

Jensen's expression brightened. "Cool." He once again rifled around in the sack and Marid bit out a caution at his enthusiasm. After all, what lay within might well represent the teachings of a bygone time -- such knowledge deserved to be treated with respect. The Mynci next pulled out a scroll. The thick bundle of paper was a weathered tan, fringed in lavender ink. What made the group take a collective breath was the strange purple jewel on its clasp. "It's a--" Jensen started.

"Scarab," Professor Swiggle said, his voice cutting over his nephew's. "A purple scarab!" The Chia's cheeks reddened as his excitement built. He looked round at his team and Marid saw the trio's expressions animate. Clearly they understood something that the Aisha did not.

"It's Elias's seal! The same as on the sack!" The intern who spoke was the shadow Kyrii who'd pointed the violet motif out earlier. Silar, Marid thought her name was. His eyes flicked from the bag to the scroll and he understood. They were, indeed, exactly the same.

"Quick!" Professor Swiggle ordered, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "What does it say?" His nephew fumbled to open it and the Professor seized the scroll from his paws. His glance skimmed hungrily across the runic script and, clearing his throat, he opened his mouth. "You have stumbled across my treasure trove," the Chia read, an exultant note in his tones. "Scrolls in numbers untold await you should you choose to explore further." Marid flinched at the last two words.

"The chamber isn't safe," Marid reminded the professor, feeling his unease resurface. He didn't like the gleam in his eyes. "I'd still prefer to stick to the main passages," he went on, projecting as much authority into his declarations as he could muster.

It was as though the professor didn't hear a thing he said. Intent on the scroll, Professor Swiggle leafed to the second page but the paper was blank. There was a shocked intake of breath and Marid turned to Jensen. The spotted Mynci's features had blanched white and he picked up the scarab clasp from the floor with shaking paws. The amethyst stone had lit up with an eerie glow. "Look," came Professor Swiggle's sudden cry. Hieroglyphic text was scrolling out across the empty page in the same luminescent colour. At the same moment that the light faded there was the sound of a resounding crash. A wall of rock had blocked off the entrance, and then a second wall cut off all possibility of continuing down the main corridor.

"It's caved in," Silar said blankly.

"How?" Marid felt as stunned as she looked.

Professor Swiggle lifted the scroll aloft, trembling from head to foot. In a voice so quiet that Marid had to strain his ears to hear, the Professor read the second page aloud. "Take the pencils and complete my test. The magic will judge if you are worthy." The magic?

"This is ridiculous." With false bravado, Professor Swiggle's other intern strode back to where they'd entered. The Gelert reared onto his hind legs and tugged at a root that wound through the cracks in the rock. As he pulled, a flood of dust and small stones began to fall.

"Watch out!" Marid cried. The roof had given in, and a nest of Wadjets streamed down upon them like rain. Alarm sped Marid's pulse. Was the place booby-trapped, after all?

"Hurry!" Professor Swiggle yelled. "We have to escape!" Yes, but where to? The professor pointed in the direction of the chamber Jensen had stumbled into. The cavity in the wall pulsated with a now-familiar glow...

"We're trapped," Silar moaned, shooting the Gelert a nasty look.

Marid followed her gaze and saw that the small opening leading to the hallway was now completely obstructed by stone. Even though their torches had been extinguished, a small light illuminated the room. The Aisha saw dozens of glowing scarabs embedded in a wall, burning faintly in the same luminescence as the roll of parchment in Professor Swiggle's hand.

Jensen rubbed his head and went to stand up.

"Don't move!" Marid cried, but the Mynci was already stumbling to his feet.

One of the glowing scarabs shot from the wall and Marid dove for Jensen, the scarab whistling past their ears and hitting the opposite wall, sending a new cloud of rubble onto their heads.

"You weren't kidding," Jensen breathed, looking at the hole in the wall the scarab had made. "This place really is booby-trapped!"

Marid stared in disbelief. He had thought he knew this monument better than anyone. How many years had he spent wandering the halls of this place? Now, here he was, in the midst of strangers and no more knowledgeable about what was going on than they were.

"Let me see the scroll," he said to Professor Swiggle, who carefully rolled out the parchment.

The entire archaeological team, crouching on the ground, peered at a new set of hieroglyphics that had begun to spiral themselves upon the surface of paper.

"What does it say?" Jensen asked, looking from Marid to the professor and back.

"It's a riddle," Professor Swiggle said as he began to read:

Only those of wit
Shall pass this room,
For the more you feed me
The more I bloom,
Yet one drop of water
Will seal my death,
And take from me
The last of breath.
I need my strength
To guide you through,
Without me by your side
You have no view.
Woe to those
Who are not clever,
For this room may be
Your home forever.

"It seems Elias must have discovered this monument at one time and wanted to keep the secrets of this find to himself," Professor Swiggle breathed. "He's testing us."

"What are we going to do?" Silar asked. The team exchanged glances.

"Well, obviously, the answer is fire." Everyone turned to look at the Gelert in surprise. "We have to light our torches," he added when no one said anything.

Professor Swiggle cleared his throat. "Excellent suggestion." He lit his torch, keeping one eye on the scarabs that twinkled serenely down at them.

The flame from his torch flared brilliantly and the light from the scarabs seem to shrink back within the wall. The others followed suit and, after they deemed it safe to stand, they all stood up without any disruption. Before any of them could speak, however, a loud groaning met their ears and the wall full of scarabs slid open...

"So, we go down there?" Jensen asked, gulping slightly.

Professor Swiggle nodded, looking as though he was hiding his nervousness as well.

Marid put an arm up before anyone could step forward. "Let's make sure this place isn't booby-trapped too, okay?"

The others nodded, peering around for any telltale signs.

"Well, I certainly don't see anything," Professor Swiggle announced. He didn't take a step forward, however.

Marid looked back down at the scroll, wondering if the riddle had changed. The words had disappeared, and in their place was a sketch of an ornate door.

"I think it's safe... we have to find this door, I'm guessing." Marid shrugged, starting to slowly walk forward.

When nothing happened, the rest of the team followed. Their footsteps echoed through the dingy hallway. After what seemed like forever they came upon the door that was in the sketch.

"There's hieroglyphics on this door as well... great. Another riddle." Professor Swiggle sighed.

"One, two, three, four,
knock upon the heavy door.
One, four, two, three,
choose your combination wisely.
Four, three, two, one,
or you'll be the unlucky one.
Knock once,
knock twice,
knock thrice,
knock four,
how many times will you knock on the door?"

They all stood in silence for a moment.

"What happens if we choose the wrong combination?" Jensen stuttered out, wiping his paws on his trousers.

"Let's find out," Professor Swiggle stated, reaching a paw out...

Meanwhile, Marid's father made the trek back to the Lost Desert with a heavy heart, turning over and over in his head the difficult news he'd received first from the nurse at the Neopian Hospital, and then again from the faerie at the Healing Springs and, lastly, the Faerie Queen herself.

Although there had once been a cure for what ailed his daughter, the illness was very rare, and the knowledge of how to treat it had been lost to time. He scuffed the sand with his feet as he walked, illogically feeling betrayed by the desert that had long been his home.

If there was no way to save Kiara, had he been wrong to leave the desert at all? Had he made the wrong choice by allowing those nosy, disrespectful scholars entry into the monument, his family's longest guarded secret? What if Marid was unable to keep them out of the hidden rooms, and they decided to bring reinforcements to study the artifacts? They'd turn his home into an archaeological zoo!

His thoughts were abruptly pulled from the disaster his life had become as a low rumble issued from the dunes ahead of him, followed by a sharp tremor that shook the earth beneath his feet.

He looked up to see a rapidly dissipating cloud of dust laced with tiny purple sparks, and all the hair on his arms stood straight up. That was definitely not what a benign tour of the monument should look like. "Marid!" he shouted and began to run...

Marid coughed in the dust. All around him, Professor Swiggle and company were coughing as well, but by this point the desert Aisha could care less about their welfare. He was still simmering at the memory of that obnoxious Chia just touching the door like that, out of complete ignorance, with no respect at all for danger.

Well, they were doomed now. It seemed they had triggered another booby trap of sorts. The ceiling had caved in, and the door--

"Um, uncle?" asked Jensen, who had scrambled up a pile of rubble with a clumsiness utterly unbefitting a Mynci. "The door looks to be open!"

"It's open?" the Chia roared, almost tearing the scroll as he charged toward the door. "We did it, then!"

"We did it!" Silar echoed, bouncing after the professor with equal disregard for the sanctity of the monument.

Marid sighed and dragged himself after them. He didn't bother to voice his concern that they might have permanently damaged this part of the monument.

"What's next on the scroll?" Jensen asked. He was squealing like a child.

"It looks like a diagram of sorts. A forked path?"

Marid cleared his throat. "We are in a forked passageway, sir."

The archaeologists looked at him like they'd just remembered he existed, and then the same stupid dependency came into their eyes. The same expectation that he would lead the way.

"Follow me," Marid said, choosing the upward-sloping path... and bumping headfirst into his dad. "Dad! What are you doing here?!?"

"The better question is, what are you doing here?" the elder Aisha said with a frown. "You weren't supposed to take them into the hidden wing!"

Silar's voice cut into their conversation from behind. "I thought our agreement was for you to give us a full and complete tour of the monument?"

Marid's father turned on the shadow Kyrii with the speedy venom of a Cobrall. "Yes," he said, "the monument -- not the tomb."

"Tomb?" Professor Swiggle echoed, huffing and puffing as he came up the slope.

"You heard me correctly, you Slorg... the tomb," Marid's father said, and his voice began to shake -- not with anger, Marid saw, but with fear and grief.

"What did the Faerie Queen say about Kiara?" Marid whispered.

"Just get these guys out of here. Get. Them. Out."

"We can't," Marid said. "The main entrance is caved in." He gestured accusingly toward Jensen, who only grinned.

Marid's father looked troubled. "I came in by the emergency portal," he said, "but as we know, it's one-way."

"Which leaves us only one more path, then," Professor Swiggle said, turning back down the slope toward the second path in the fork.

Marid and his father winced at Swiggle's use of the word "us." However, seeing no other choice, they, too, descended in the wake of Jensen's childish skip and Silar's cool stride.

Professor Swiggle and Silar were already bent over the scroll when the two Aishas caught up.

"Give me that," Marid's father said roughly.

The Chia gave him a disdainful look. "You don't know the first thing about the Poogle scholar Elias," he said.

"You don't know the first thing about the history of this monument," Marid's father snapped back.

"It might interest you to know," Professor Swiggle went on quietly, "that Elias was in search of an ancient cure."

"A what?"

"We are not gravediggers or robbers, Dirma," the professor said, straightening his collar. "We just want to follow the trail of Elias and try to uncover what he learned. His wisdom has been lost to time for a millennium."

"How many years in our calendar is that, Marid?" Dirma asked as he turned to his son.

Marid whispered the answer.

Dirma turned pale. "That is almost exactly how long the Aisha princess Laila has been buried for."

"It seems we have much to learn from each other, then," Professor Swiggle said.

Dirma sighed. "I suppose I have to agree. Watch your step, will you?" he added grumpily as he stepped forward.

"Sir, the map," Silar said.

"I don't need it," Dirma replied. "I've visited this tomb for years. I... I've never shown it to Marid, because it is not yet his time, but--" He pressed his lips together and didn't finish the sentence.

The narrow passageway opened into a wide, stone-paved room. At the center of it shimmered an elaborate casket.

"The Tomb of Shaila," the archaeologists murmured together, Jensen's voice on top.

"It's the Tomb of Laila," Dirma said, obviously annoyed. "Laila, my ancestor!"

"No, you don't understand," Professor Swiggle began -- quickly adding, in response to the look on Dirma's face, "no, uh... I didn't mean that in an offensive way--"

Silar stepped in. "Elias traced a key ingredient of the cure all the way to this location in the Lost Desert."

"Yes, yes," Swiggle almost chirped.

"Shaila -- the name by which she is known, in our lands -- was supposed to have died from that rare hereditary disease."

Dirma looked thunderous with hope. "Why didn't you say this sooner?!?"

"You wouldn't listen, sir."

"And neither, if I might say so, would you," Marid said. "I told you to stay on the main path."

Professor Swiggle's eyes twinkled good-humouredly. "And yet, here we are."

The group stood together for a moment, in silent reverence, before the casket and the stone walls.

Professor Swiggle smiled and blinked as the reporters milled around him.

"How does it feel, sir, to have your discovery listed in the journal of the Neopian Hospital?"

"How does it feel to know that dozens of Neopets afflicted with this rare disease can now be cured?"

Swiggle waved for them to be silent. "Before I talk at all about my part in the discovery," he said, "I must make my acknowledgements to a pair of desert Aishas. Their names are Dirma and Marid, and they are among the most courageous explorers I have known."

In a tent in the desert, under a deep shimmering sky...

"Kiara!"

"Dad! Marid! Oh... how many years have I been asleep?"

"It doesn't matter now, it doesn't matter." The sound of sobbing followed. "It is all over now."

All over.

The End