Deep in the desolate heart of the desert, Fa and her companions finally reached the legendary cursed ancient tomb. A bone-chilling wind moaned across the dunes, carrying the thick stench of death that made their skin crawl. The tomb's entrance loomed between two towering sand hills, swallowed by a shroud of darkness, like the gaping maw of some invisible leviathan waiting to devour any who dared enter. Above the entrance, a weathered stone tablet bore barely legible runes that seemed to whisper warnings to the foolish.
"We need to be careful," Fa said in a low voice, tension threading through her words. She gripped her short dagger tightly, eyes scanning the surroundings. "This place is steeped in curses and restless spirits. One wrong step, and we might never leave."
Arya nodded, fingers resting lightly on her bowstring, an arrow already nocked and glowing faintly with holy light. She watched every shadow, ears straining for anything unnatural in the wind. TISK clenched his warhammer, muscles coiled and ready. Salsa closed her eyes, quietly feeling the chaotic currents of magic in the air, searching for any thread of clarity.
They stepped slowly into the tomb. Their footsteps echoed heavily on the damp stone floor. The walls on both sides were carved with ancient runes that gave off a faint, eerie glow, murmuring secrets from a thousand years ago. The air was thick with mold and rot, pressing down on their chests. The deeper they went, the colder it became, the chill rising from the stone as if something watched them from the dark.
Suddenly, an icy gust roared from the depths of the passage, accompanied by shrill screams. Several translucent wraiths materialized from the blackness, their eyes burning crimson, hollow faces twisted in agony as they drifted toward the party.
"Battle stations!" Fa shouted, flipping her dagger so its edge caught the faint light.
Arya reacted instantly. She loosed a holy arrow that streaked through the air and struck a wraith; it shrieked as sacred light tore its form apart. TISK bellowed and swung his hammer in a devastating arc, shattering another spirit into fragments. Salsa raised her staff and chanted in a low voice; undead answered her call and rose to meet their spectral kin in combat.
The fight was brutal. The wraiths were fragile but endless, pouring from the darkness. Along the way they faced illusions and traps. Some illusions forced them to confront their deepest fears—Arya saw herself swallowed by infinite darkness, TISK relived the collapsing mine that once nearly buried him alive. Traps tried to separate them in shifting maze-like corridors, stone walls grinding shut without warning.
"Those illusions felt too real," TISK panted, sweat pouring down his face. "I really thought I was back in that damn mine."
Fa nodded grimly. "We have to stay sharp. The Star Eye will see through them." She closed her eyes; the stellar pattern in her right eye ignited like a newborn star, piercing the false images and guiding the party along the true path.
With the Star Eye's guidance, they avoided deadly traps and pressed deeper until they finally reached an enormous burial chamber. In its center floated a magic stone pulsing with ghostly blue light, surrounded by drifting mist. But it was not unguarded—a sinister skull-topped staff stood at the heart of the room, radiating malevolent power.
As Fa approached the stone, dark energy erupted from the staff. The floor shook. Dozens of skeletal warriors clawed their way out of cracks in the ground, rusted weapons raised, hollow roars echoing as they charged.
"Spread out!" Fa commanded. "Arya, holy arrows! TISK, hold the skeletons! Salsa, target the staff!"
The battle exploded into chaos. Arya's sanctified arrows struck a dark barrier and only cracked it slightly. TISK charged the front line, hammer blows turning bone to dust. Salsa chanted necromantic curses from the rear, trying to assault the skull staff directly.
Fa focused on observation. She closed her eyes again; the Star Eye pierced the darkness and revealed the staff's power source—the floating magic stone itself. She dashed toward the center.
A massive wave of dark energy blasted from the staff and hurled her back. Fa gritted her teeth, the Star Eye blazing brighter. Stellar power coursed through her dagger as she charged again, weaving through waves of shadow until she reached the staff.
"Break!" she roared, driving her dagger through the barrier and into the skull staff. A crack spider-webbed across its surface; dark energy began to leak out.
At that exact moment, Arya completed her purification rite. Blinding holy light flooded the chamber. The skeletal warriors crumbled to ash. The staff reached out as if grasping for something, then dissolved into black mist.
Breathing hard, Fa stepped forward and carefully took the magic stone. Its warm blue glow danced in her palm. "We did it."
Her companions gathered around, weary but triumphant, exchanging tired smiles and clasping shoulders despite their wounds.
"Now we can go home," Arya said softly, exhaustion softening her voice.
First Trial Passed
Carrying the three magic stones, Fa and her companions returned to the hidden oasis, bodies aching. The setting sun painted the dunes in warm orange. Saladin, the Sage of the Sands, already waited outside his dwelling, robes fluttering, a faint smile on his lips as if he had never doubted their return.
"You're back," Saladin said calmly. "And you bring three magic stones. Congratulations—you have passed the trial of luck and wisdom."
Fa nodded and carefully presented the stones. They glimmered in the sunset like living stars—crimson, emerald, and sapphire.
Saladin accepted them, studying each with approval in his ancient eyes. "Well done. You displayed wisdom and perseverance beyond my expectations. The hourglass has not yet emptied."
He waved his staff; the floating hourglass froze, its sands scattering into nothingness as time itself seemed to pause. "The first trial is complete."
Relief washed over the group. But Saladin gave them little time to rest. His gaze deepened. "Rest briefly. The second trial awaits."
Second Trial: Resonance of Four
At a flourish of Saladin's staff, the oasis ground rippled like boiling lava. Sand rose and hardened into crystalline walls that sealed the arena from the outside world, refracting the dying sun into seven-colored halos.
From beneath the dunes, a colossal mechanical beast arose with the sound of tectonic plates grinding. Its steel joints crushed stone; its chest core throbbed with eerie blue light. Crimson beams from its eyes scorched the sand into glass.
Arya pressed her longbow to her chest and whispered an elven hymn. Vines of living emerald crawled across the weapon; the string became glowing soul-thread. Barefoot, she stepped onto the sand—wherever her feet touched, tiny green buds sprouted in the parched earth, climbing her legs and weaving protective leaf patterns into the gaps of her armor.
Her first volley carried three layered elven spells: "Gale Fang" arrows spun with razor wind that tore away rust and plating from the beast's knee joints; "Thorn Bind" exploded into barbed vines on impact, trying to lock its movement; and most uniquely, "Life Resonance" arrows—holy light that didn't destroy but sprouted fleeting moss across metal seams, quietly corroding welds from within.
When the beast's iron fist thundered toward TISK, Arya's pupils contracted. She raised her bow like a shield; layers of green light rings bloomed before her. "Nature's Sanctuary!" The shockwave blasted away three feet of sand but could not breach the leaf-veined barrier. Using the opening, she leaped onto a suddenly grown giant cactus, drew her bow to her ear, and fused three arrows into one: "Trinity of Light, Wind, and Wood." The arrowhead bloomed into a green lotus that struck the beast's brow and detonated with force enough to hurl half a ton of steel backward.
High above, Salsa floated, staff tracing necromantic sigils in the air. Mist drew summoning circles on the sand. "By bone and covenant, awaken the tomb guardians!" Dozens of ancient skeletons erupted from beneath the arena, their rusted crests barely visible, yet their broken swords still swung with death curses.
"Corrupting Touch." Blood-red motes shot from her fingertips into the beast's joints. Black pus-like acid gushed from bearings; chains of necrotic energy wormed inside, cocooning the power core. Even deadlier was her "Soul Thorns"—when the beast stomped, spectral bone spikes of pure resentment pierced its mind, causing precious seconds of lag.
When TISK was sent flying, Salsa's staff carved swift runes. Three spheres of ghost-green flame burst beneath his landing spot. "Undead Guard—Flesh Wall!" Newly summoned skeletons threw themselves beneath the dwarf, their skulls crushed but buying him vital seconds. Seeing the deepening corrosion on the beast's chest, Salsa's lips curved in a cold, beautiful smile. That was the essence of dark magic.
The moment hammer met iron claw, TISK's armor crest ignited like magma. Muscles bulged as he held the blow, the sand beneath his boots turning to glass under pressure. "Come on!" he roared, flinging blood from his hair onto the beast's face. "My hammer hasn't tasted steel yet!"
His second strike targeted the knee—the thinnest armor. The hammer spun, spike drilling into the seam; he twisted his whole body, converting every ounce of strength into torque. BOOM. Armor plates shot away; the joint crumpled visibly. The beast retaliated with a tail hammer that sent TISK flying ten yards into the crystal wall, spider-webbing it.
He spat sand and grinned at the dent in his breastplate. "Now that's more like it!" Blood dripping from his armor fell to the ground and softened the crystallized sand—an ancient blood pact with the earth. When he charged again, molten shields of sand rose around him; each hammer swing pulled metal debris into a storm of steel rain.
While his teammates kept the beast occupied, Fa had circled the arena three times. The silver aura of her Star Eye swept over the monster, rendering its internals transparent layer by layer: twelve conduits linked the chest core to the joints, each bearing embedded mana crystals—the true power sources.
"Arya! Third conduit on the right shoulder—that's the balance axis!" Her dagger traced stellar arcs in the air, guiding her teammates. When Arya's arrow struck true, the beast's swing faltered. Fa seized the moment, leaped onto its foot, and stabbed a crystal in the ankle. Blue lightning coursed through her, but the Star Eye suppressed the pain. She climbed higher, dodging sweeping beams with preternatural precision.
The most dangerous moment came at the waist. The beast activated back-mounted cannons; a storm of sand bullets turned the air into hell behind her. Fa clung to the metal skin, dagger wedged into bolt seams, Star Eye predicting trajectories 0.1 seconds ahead. A fragment tore open her left arm to the bone; blood splashed onto the stellar mark and made its light burn even brighter—a sacrifice that awakened deeper power.
When the beast raised its fist to crush the gravely wounded TISK, four powers converged in perfect unison:
Arya's "Elven Oath" arrow pinned the wrist joint.
Salsa's "Undead Shackles" froze the mana flow in the conduits.
TISK's hammer smashed the already ruined knee.
Fa poured every drop of magic into her dagger and, guided by the Star Eye, leaped toward the final weakness.
"Together!" four voices roared as one.
Arya's arrow split into blades of green light that severed the brow armor locks.
Salsa's skeletons jammed their bodies into the neck joint, buying Fa two crucial seconds.
TISK's hammer blow tilted the beast's balance fatally.
Fa's dagger plunged into the energy core. The Star Eye resonated with the blue heart; silver and sapphire light detonated inside like a collapsing star. Conduits burst first, mana blood spraying; joints failed next, limbs crashing down; finally, when the core's explosion lit the entire oasis, the mechanical titan collapsed into scattered components.
Only Fa remained standing amid the raining metal, dagger dripping molten gold.
Saladin's slow applause cut through the settling dust.
The four adventurers helped each other stand. Arya bound TISK's wounds, Salsa smoothed scorch marks from her robes, TISK slung heavy arms around both women's shoulders, his blood-and-sand-smeared face split in a huge grin.
They knew this victory was not merely of weapons, but of souls in harmony—when elven verdance, dwarven iron blood, necromantic shadow, and stellar light became one, no fortress of steel could stand.
"The second trial tested your teamwork and bond," Saladin said, snapping his fingers. The sand now glowed with four intertwined colors. "Rest tonight. Tomorrow's third and final trial will be against my shadow clone. Don't worry—I'll use only one-tenth of my power…" His words dissolved into the wind, heralding the ultimate challenge.
Night fell. A campfire rose in the hidden oasis. The four sat around the flames, sharing the day's battle.
"Honestly," TISK said while polishing his hammer, still buzzing with adrenaline, "when that monster swung at me, I thought we were done for."
Arya laughed softly, fingers brushing her bowstring. "If Salsa hadn't frozen it at the last second, my arrow wouldn't have made it in time."
Salsa sat quietly beside her mechanical cat shell, her soul form shimmering in the moonlight. "It was everyone together. Fa's Star Eye found the weaknesses, TISK drew its attention, Arya created openings with perfect shots."
Fa listened in silence, the Star Eye flickering in the firelight. "Tomorrow will be even harder," she said softly. "Even one-tenth of Saladin's power is no joke."
TISK laughed heartily. "So what? We just smashed a walking mountain of steel today!"
"TISK's right," Arya nodded. "As long as we keep today's synergy, we'll pass."
Salsa's soul drifted among them. "I sensed Saladin's power is deeply tied to this oasis—both the desert's fury and the oasis's life. Tomorrow we may need to adapt our strategy."
Fa nodded thoughtfully. "You're right. When I observed Saladin with the Star Eye today, his energy flowed in a strange rhythm… like grains of sand dancing in the wind—both orderly and unpredictable."
They began planning for the morrow. TISK advocated stronger frontal assaults, Arya suggested using the environment, Salsa stressed timing, and Fa coordinated everything with the Star Eye's insight into a complete battle plan.
The desert night grew cold, but around the campfire the four felt only warmth. They were no longer just comrades; each trial had forged them into something deeper. In this world where magic and technology coexisted, such bonds were more precious than any power.
Tomorrow they would face Saladin's shadow clone. The outcome was uncertain, but their resolve was absolute.
They would fight side by side—until the very end.