The midday sun bore down like an ancient curse, suspended above the dying sands of Solharbor, a place caught between myth and mirage. The heat was alive,a shimmering veil that danced across jagged stones, cracked mosaics, and the remnants of towers that leaned toward the sky like forgotten prayers. Solharbor was less a city now and more a fossil,a preserved echo of grandeur, dressed in ruin. Where once stone-paved roads bustled with knights and traders, only wind walked now, whistling through broken gates and down avenues where sand buried history.
Grimwillow's cliffs were far behind, swallowed by sea mist and distance. The Mermaid Princess, Kammy's modified sky-gliding ship,rested at the edge of the forgotten kingdom like a tired beast, its frame dusted with desert grit and Ygrene residue. Its crew, weary and sunburnt, now wandered the scattered bones of Solharbor.
Heat shimmered above them. Bones of enormous creatures lay half-buried in dunes,remnants of extinct desert leviathans that once roamed the kingdom during its golden age. Cracked statues of forgotten heroes stared blindly from temple steps, their stone gazes hollow and worn. On every wall and fallen monument, faded sun motifs marked the dominion of Solion Vareth, the kingdom's lost founder.
The crew trudged forward, spread across the ruins like curious ants. Kammy walked with a half-unfolded map stuck to her face, muttering things about ley lines, sunstone markers, and structural symmetry. Ogun wiped sweat from his neck with his shirt sleeve, while Jore chewed on a piece of cactus jerky and claimed it was a delicacy. Demi and Talo were trying to catch desert lizards by hand. Lumir had gotten distracted after thirty seconds and was now wandering off-trail, staring at something glinting in the sand.
"Hey, Lumir," Ogun called. "Please don't touch anything."
"That's a little specific," Lumir yelled back. "Why would you say it like that? I wasn't going to touch it, but now I have to."
"Don't"
"Touching it."
Kammy let out a groan. "If he triggers an ancient defense system, I'm rewiring his kidneys."
The glinting object turned out to be a rusted helmet,horned, dented, and filled with sand. Lumir placed it on his head anyway.
"BEHOLD," he bellowed, raising his arms like a prophet. "THE GOD OF CRACK HEADS HAS RETURNED."
Redda passed by him with a deadpan expression. "You look like a decapitated goat head."
Talo ran over to join the madness, followed by Demi, both of them still out of breath from chasing a dragonfly the size of a barrel.
"This place is amazing," Talo said, eyes wide as he looked up at a sun-bleached temple with half its front collapsed. "Like... cursed amazing. Like 'we're going to die in here' amazing."
"I want to steal something," Demi whispered.
"No stealing ancient relics," Kammy barked. "Bad karma. Cursed karma. Also, booby traps."
Then came the thunder.
It wasn't from the sky.
It came from the sand. A low, rolling tremor, followed by a screeching bellow that shattered the air. The ground quaked beneath their boots. Every head turned toward the western ridge, just beyond the fallen amphitheater,as massive shadows rose from the dunes.
The desert had come alive.
A creature lumbered into view, easily thirty meters tall, its body resembling a cross between an armored beetle and a hill. Its chitin glistened like molten bronze. Behind it came others,some horned, others with long necks and tusks. They moved with surprising grace, like titans in slow motion.
"...Oh no," Ogun said.
The creatures stopped. For a brief, almost holy moment, silence fell.
Then one of them blinked.
And Lumir blinked back.
And Demi, Talo, and Ogun also blinked.
There was a strange moment of shared comprehension,or perhaps mutual idiocy.
And then, in perfect sync, the four of them screamed and charged.
"DIBS ON THE BIG ONE!" Lumir shouted, sprinting full speed.
"I WAS GONNA EAT THAT ONE!" Talo howled.
"YOU GUYS ARE INSANE!" Demi cackled as she ran with them.
"MIGHT AS WELL!" Ogun roared, cracking his knuckles.
The giant bug-creatures did not understand the enthusiasm. One of them made a confused whimper and turned to run. The others followed. And so began a ridiculous desert chase, humans screaming and laughing like lunatics as they pursued towering beasts that wanted absolutely nothing to do with them.
Kammy, Jore, and Redda stood silently atop a ridge, watching the carnage.
"Are they... chasing the bugs?" Jore asked.
"Why are the bugs crying?" Kammy added.
"Why do we work with these people?" Redda muttered.
One of the smaller creatures,still the size of a house, ran straight toward them, panicked, and threw itself down at Kammy's feet like a toddler seeking protection. Its eyes were wide and tearful.
"Aww," Kammy said, patting its head. "You poor stupid idiot. You found the worst possible humans."
The beast chirped and curled beside her. Kammy sighed, pulled out a small scanner, and started reading its biometrics.
"Guess we have new companions. Name's Roachzilla."
"No," Redda said. "Absolutely not."
"Roachie it is."
After an hour of glorious stupidity, the crew regrouped near the old palace ruins. The enormous creatures, now docile and clearly intelligent, began following them like oversized guard dogs. Kammy hypothesized they were drawn to Ygrene residue. Or maybe just the chaos.
Solharbor stretched before them like a sunken cathedral, sand swallowing every secret it could reach. But there were signs. Clues. Carvings on walls, symbols scratched onto cracked stones, murals half-erased but still defiant.
As the crew ventured deeper, they pieced the truth together.
"This symbol again," Kammy murmured, brushing sand off a half-buried monolith. "Same sigil as the one etched on the church floor back in Grimwillow. The sunburst with five spears."
Jore leaned in. "And that inscription… 'Let the blade burn bright that none may pass.' Sounds like defensive magic."
Demi read another nearby engraving. "'The Abyss was our gate. The light was our guardian.' Weird."
Ogun stepped back, eyes narrowing. "What if the Abyssal Gaze,that oceanic stormwall near Grimwillow,isn't natural? What if it was created?"
Kammy looked up slowly. "To protect the village. Not to trap it."
They all turned toward a massive mural on a wall, cracked down the middle. It showed a figure,golden armored, wielding a sword wreathed in sunlight, planting the blade into the earth. Below him: swirling darkness. Above him: a city protected by rays of light.
"Solion Vareth," Lumir whispered. "He made the Abyss. Not to imprison. But to shield."
Talo gave a low whistle. "And Grimwillow honors that sacrifice. That's why Sunreaver's carving is in the church."
Redda frowned. "So where's the real sword now?"
Kammy pulled out the final piece of the map,an old, sand-worn drawing found days earlier in the catacombs. She traced the lines with her finger. "Here. Edge of the cliffs. The Stone of Sunfall."
They turned toward the horizon. Jagged cliffs met the sky where the land collapsed into the sea. And there, like a punctuation mark in the geography ,stood a monolithic slab, half-swallowed by earth.
The crew approached slowly.
The wind picked up, dry and sharp. It carried the scent of age and salt, of burnt stone and sun-blasted metal. The cliffs fell away beneath them, revealing a view of the yawning ocean beyond. And in the center of a flat outcropping of rock...
A sword.
Sunreaver.
Or what remained of it.
Embedded in the monolith, half-fossilized. The blade was covered in vines, its hilt cracked and worn. Runes had faded into obscurity. It looked like part of the earth itself. Holy. Unmoving.
And laying on the boulder beneath it...
A boy.
Blonde hair tousled by the wind. Boots kicked off to the side. Arms crossed behind his head. Sleeping.
The crew stopped. Silence.
Kammy blinked. "Is he?"
"...Sleeping on top of the ancient holy site?" Jore said flatly.
Arthur stirred, rolled over, then sat up with a yawn. He looked down at them, confused.
"Oh. Hey. Are you guys here to watch me pull the sword too?"
Talo broke the silence by laughing.
Lumir shouted, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?"
He stood up dramatically, raising one hand as if about to deliver a speech.
"I am Arthur Vareth, last heir to the Light of Solion, chosen of the flame, bearer of prophecy, and"
"Definitely delusional," Demi muttered.
"Wait, wait," Kammy said. "Did you say Vareth?"
Arthur grinned. "That's right. And that" he pointed at the blade "is mine."
He tried to lift it again.
It didn't move.
Lumir leaned over to Kammy. "How long has he been here?"
"Judging by the sand in his ears? Too long."
Arthur struggled. Pulled. Sweated. Groaned. Then fell back into the dirt with a dramatic sigh.
"It's just waiting for the right moment."
Roachie, their bug companion, chirped skeptically.
And that's when Kammy said, "Alright. Everyone shut up. We found the blade, and we found a idiot. Let's not summon giant creatures this time."
Lumir scratched his chin. "I dunno. Last time we summoned giant creatures we met those bugs ."
"DON'T SUMMON ANYTHING."
The sun began to lower, casting long shadows across Solharbor's ruins. The sword glowed faintly now,as if sensing the sun's descent. The crew sat down around the stone, staring at it in quiet awe.
The sun had dipped slightly westward, casting long, fractured shadows across the stone plains of Solharbor. Golden rays sliced through shattered archways and painted the ruins with a melancholic warmth, like a spotlight on a corpse. The wind whistled through collapsed columns, carrying with it the faint smell of salt, scorched metal, and something deeper,something ancient, like dust from a sealed tomb.
The crew sat or leaned around the half-buried monolith that cradled Sunreaver. The blade, still unmoved, loomed over them like a relic demanding silence.
Arthur was perched on the edge of the boulder, legs dangling, sipping from a dented canteen. He had the energy of someone who believed in his own importance a bit too much, but not enough to actually do anything useful.
"So you're saying," Kammy began, her hands on her hips, "you've been here for a whole day and learned exactly nothing?"
Arthur shrugged. "Well, I figured the sword would speak to me eventually. Or the wind. Or a ghost. Something."
"A ghost," Redda muttered. "Fantastic."
"Didn't ask for your sarcasm, knight girl," Arthur snapped, glaring over the rim of his canteen.
"She wasn't being sarcastic," Jore replied. "That's just how she sounds when she doesn't like someone."
"You'll get used to it," Talo added.
Arthur took another sip and gestured toward the surrounding ruins. "But in all seriousness, I tried. I walked the perimeter. Looked into the temple basements. Most of the carvings are either weathered away or... intentionally destroyed. Like, scraped out."
Lumir narrowed his eyes. "Destroyed? Why?"
Arthur leaned forward, suddenly more focused. "Exactly. That's what's weird. Like someone wanted Solharbor's past gone. Deliberately. There are places where inscriptions were just... ripped out of the stone. Not eroded. Cut. Scratched. Burned. Whatever this city held, someone didn't want it remembered."
Kammy frowned, her gaze drifting toward the horizon. "That... lines up with what we saw in Grimwillow. The cathedral had damage too. Certain names, certain symbols,gone."
Ogun folded his arms. "Not just time and weather. This was methodical. Someone covered tracks."
"But who?" Demi asked. "Why erase a whole kingdom's history? What were they hiding?"
Arthur rubbed his chin. "If I had to guess... Solion. The founder of Solharbor. The sword. The Abyss. It's all tied together. Maybe someone wanted to erase him."
"That doesn't make sense," Jore said. "Solion's a legend. Revered across coastal lands."
"Yeah, but legends are also dangerous," Arthur replied, voice dropping slightly. "And if someone feared what he knew,or what he did..."
He let the words trail off.
Talo stared at him. "Okay, wait. Are you actually... being smart right now?"
Arthur looked offended. "I am always smart. I just usually don't waste it on people who don't appreciate the majesty."
Lumir rolled his eyes. "Alright genius. Why don't you pull the sword, then? Since you're the heir and all."
"Okay," Arthur said, straightening. "New rule. Nobody makes fun of me unless they've tried to pull it themselves."
Kammy, arms crossed, raised an eyebrow. "You want one of us to try pulling the ancient historical artifact out of a fossilized altar so we can all confirm it's stuck and you're not just weak?"
"Exactly."
"Lumir. You're up."
Lumir, who had been poking at Roachie's armor plates with a stick to see if they were reflective, perked up. "Me? Why me?"
"Because you're annoying and I want to see you fail," Kammy said with a sweet smile.
"Fair."
Lumir swaggered up to the monolith, dust trailing off his haori. He stretched his arms like a street performer warming up.
"Step aside, blondie. Let a real man do the heavy lifting."
Arthur snorted. "You're gonna throw your back out."
"You're gonna throw a tantrum when I pull your birthright out of a rock."
They stood face-to-face. There was an immediate rivalry. Not deep, not serious yet,but like two dogs meeting at a park and realizing they were the same kind of stupid.
Lumir cracked his neck and grabbed the sword hilt.
He pulled.
Nothing.
He pulled again, leaning back with all his weight.
Still nothing.
Veins popped on his forehead. Sweat gathered at his temples.
Arthur crossed his arms. "Having fun?"
Lumir looked over his shoulder, grinning. "I loosened it for you."
"Oh really? Watch and learn."
Arthur marched back up. Gripped the hilt.
He pulled. Grunted. Flared his nostrils.
The sword did not budge. At all.
Now both of them stood staring at it.
Then, silently, without a word, they nodded to each other and grabbed it together.
Two sets of hands. One sword.
They heaved. Grunted. Roared.
Nothing.
Kammy sipped water. "This is the dumbest tug-of-war I've ever seen."
Jore leaned toward Redda. "Should we help?"
Redda shook his head. "Let them fail,it's fun to watch."
Arthur and Lumir gave one last mighty yank,and both fell backward off the boulder, colliding with a dramatic whump onto the sand.
"You elbowed my eye!"
"You headbutted me!"
"You're weak."
"You're weaker."
Arthur smirked. "How's it feel, peasant prince?"
Lumir narrowed his eyes. "You smug fossil-brained sandworm."
"Weak-wristed gold mop."
"Sunburnt donkey breath."
"Random insult."
"Fair."
They glanced at each other.
Jore started chanting, "Heave! Heave!"
Talo and Demi joined in.
Kammy sighed and covered her face.
Roachie waddled over and stared at them blankly.
"This is stupid," Redda muttered. "We need information, not slap fights."
"She's right," Kammy added. "Look, if Solion did create the Abyssal Gaze to protect Grimwillow, then maybe... the real threat wasn't outside the kingdom. Maybe it was from within."
Everyone went quiet.
Ogun spoke slowly. "You mean the World Government? Nero?"
"Maybe. Or something older. Something even they feared. Something that tried to rewrite history."
The air grew colder, despite the sun.
Arthur stood, brushing dirt off his coat. "I'm not good with conspiracies. But I know when something smells wrong. This whole city reeks of lies. Whoever wiped its past clean didn't do it just to hide shame. They were afraid. Of something."
Lumir looked at him.
For the first time, he saw something behind Arthur's arrogance.
He saw fear.
"What do we call that something?" Demi asked.
Nobody answered.
The sun lowered further.
Kammy finally broke the silence. "Let's camp. We'll keep watch tonight. Whatever's buried here... it hasn't finished speaking."
As the crew began to set up gear, a wind whispered through the ruins.
And somewhere beneath Solharbor, something listened. And waited. And remembered.