Brian Pratt - Warrior priest of Dmon-Li

Jiron reaches out to touch it as he passes by, but before his hand can connect with it, James cries out, “Stop!”

Startled, as though he didn’t even realize what he was doing, Jiron snatches his hand away and quickly hurries past. “Thanks,” he says. The others step lively as they too pass the pyramid. As the pyramid disappears behind them, the vegetation slowly begins to regain some life, but none of it looks remotely healthy.

The telltale prickling of magic subsides, but doesn’t disappear altogether. Even when they’ve put distance between them and the pyramid, far enough so he shouldn’t have been able to feel anything, still the sensation remains with him. James comes to the conclusion that there may be other sources of magic here other than just that lone pyramid. Keeping his eyes open, he follows Jiron as he continues his way north.

Everyone is on edge while they make their way through such a desolate locale. “Something’s not quite right here,” says Miko in a hushed whisper.

“I agree,” states Jiron.

James begins to notice that there are no animals here, not even birds high in the trees. Never in all the time since being washed upon the shore have the trees been silent, there has always been a bird or some other kind of animal calling out. This eerie silence just makes his anxiety grow.

Jiron suddenly comes to a stop ahead of them.

“What’s wrong?” James asks when he and Miko come to where he’s standing. Looking over Jiron’s shoulder to what lies before them, he says, “Oh.”

The gnarled and withered trees end a short distance ahead at a large clearing. In the middle of the clearing sits a large complex of buildings which have long since fallen into ruin. Portions of some of the buildings remain intact, while others have collapsed completely. Several of the buildings look to have once stood over two stories tall, sections of some still do. The buildings form a semicircle around a weed infested courtyard. All the vegetation within the clearing and bordering it show the worst signs of the withering.

Within the center of the courtyard sits a larger pyramid of skulls, two, maybe three times the size of the one they’d encountered earlier. Looking at it makes James’ skin crawl. “Looks like we may have found what’s killed all the trees,” he says.

“What should we do?” Jiron asks him, not once taking his eyes off the scene ahead. Unconsciously, he’s drawn a knife and is holding it ready in his right hand.

“Can we skirt around this place?” James asks.

Jiron looks around and then nods his head as he begins to move to the right.

James and Miko stay right with him as he slowly makes his way around the area, remaining within the vegetation.

Miko suddenly trips on an exposed root and looses his balance. Trying to remain upright, he ends up stepping out of the vegetation and finally falls upon the ground within the clearing, coming to land a couple feet from the edge of the vegetation.

As soon as Miko’s foot first steps into the clearing, the prickling sensation suddenly spikes. James’ attention is drawn to the large pile of skulls and it almost seems as if he can see an enormous pulse of energy suddenly erupt from the pyramid. Moving fast, the wave washes over them as it moves away into the swamp.

“Miko!” he cries. “Get out of there!”

Getting up lightning quick, Miko scrambles back over to them as he quickly looks around for the reason for James’ warning. “What’s wrong?” he asks, not seeing anything threatening.

Both he and Jiron look to him as he replies, “When you stepped into the clearing, I felt and I think, saw, a pulse emanate from the pyramid.”

“A pulse?” Miko asks, eyes widening in fear.

Nodding his head, he says, “Yeah. It seemed like it fanned out, moving out into the swamp.”

“What does that mean?” asks Jiron, nervously.

“I don’t know,” he says. “I’ve never encountered anything like this before.”

“Well, let’s not wait here and find out,” Jiron says, as he looks around. “Let’s move!” Without waiting for a reply, he heads out and they make it around the complex, everyone taking extra precaution not to step within the clearing.

Upon reaching the far side of the clearing, they put it behind them as they move quickly away from it and the ominous pyramid of skulls. As they leave it behind, the vegetation begins to improve slightly, though only for a while.

Soon, the vegetation once more begins to show drastic signs of withering and decay as they see another of the smaller piles of skulls appear before them. The prickling sensation grows as it did before when James approaches it.

As Jiron begins to pass the midpoint of the pyramid, he suddenly cries out as he falls backward into James, knocking them both down.

“What happened?” James asks as he picks himself up.

“I ran into something,” he says.

“Let me see,” James says as he cautiously approaches the pyramid of skulls. Holding his hand out, he walks slowly toward it. He moves around the skulls to the right, still holding out his hand. When he comes next to the pyramid, his hand touches a barrier.

Stopping, he places both hands upon it and pushes. It feels solid, smooth. He runs his hand along it as he walks several feet to his right. Pausing, he takes his hand and moves it along the barrier as high as he can reach. Unable to find an end, he turns back to the other two. “I think when Miko tripped and fell into the clearing, it activated some kind of barrier,” he explains.

“What do you mean?” Miko asks, confused.

James places his hand against it and says, “Come here and feel it.”

Hesitantly, Miko comes and places his hand upon it, eyes widening. “What is it?”

“Some kind of force field I’d imagine,” he explains. Then he turns to Jiron, “Kind of like the dome I used to keep the sandstorm out, remember?”

Nodding his head, he says, “Yeah, I remember.”

“What does it mean?” Miko asks.

“It means we’re trapped inside,” explains James.

Miko and Jiron have been sitting back from the little pyramid while James has been attempting to breach the barrier. After standing motionless in front of it for several minutes, he cries out as he stumbles back away from it.

Coming to him, Jiron worriedly asks, “What happened?”

Losing his balance, he sits down abruptly. James shakes his head as he tries to clear it and then says, “There’s too much power here.” Resting his head in his hands, he tries to still the aching in his head.

“Can you get us out?” Miko asks.

James glances over to him and says, “Not like this. Every time I try to do something, a surge of magic would come and counter whatever I tried.”

“What now?” Jiron asks.

Thinking a moment, he says, “I suppose there’s a chance there could be a spot where the barrier isn’t working, where we could slip through. But I doubt it.”

“How would we know?” Jiron asks him.

James thinks a moment before replying, “Only one way to find out. Someone has to walk along the barrier all the way around and feel it with their hand as they go.”

Getting up, Jiron says, “Then I better hurry, it’s going to be getting dark in a couple of hours.” Then he walks over to the skull pile and places his hand against the barrier. Moving slowly, he begins walking along the barrier, away from the skull pile. He moves his hand up and down the barrier in the hopes a breach may be found.

“No telling what could happen here when night falls,” James mumbles to himself.

“What?” Miko asks as he continues watching Jiron until he disappears in the withered vegetation.

“Nothing,” he replies, not wanting to give him anything more to worry about.