Sett and Zainah moved like shadows through the dark Tomb, their footsteps silent against the ancient stone. At every turn, Sett paused—running his fingers along the walls, scattering pebbles, or simply trusting his instincts—to uncover hidden traps. Time and again, they veered just in time, slipping past unseen dangers as they pressed deeper.
"There are this many traps?" Zainah asked, hissing.
She and her sister hadn't run into a single one. If they had, they'd be dead. Had they really been that lucky?
Sett didn't even glance at her. "Not as bad as you think. You two were just running in circles near the surface. Now we're heading deeper. Of course, the real traps are down here."
Another mummy lurched into their path, its hollow eyes locking onto them. Before it could react, Zainah's bone flute was already at her lips. She blew—a single note—light, mischievous, and brimming with unseen power.
Song of Playfulness!
The air shimmered with an almost childlike energy, and in an instant, the mummy's menacing posture slackened. Then, it began to dance—its ancient, withered limbs swaying in an eerie, jerky rhythm.
Sett didn't spare it a second glance. Neither did Zainah.
Without a word, they sprinted past, reaching the edge of a long, descending stairway that vanished into the abyss below.
A stairway full of unmoving mummies.
Zainah's breath trembled as she pressed the bone flute to her lips, sweat rolling down her temple. The air was thick with decay, mummies closing in from all sides. Fear clawed at her chest—her Axiom worked, but standing amid death itself made calm impossible.
Sett saw her hesitation and smiled inwardly.
"As long as you don't stop singing, these mummies won't hurt you at all. Keep running, stairways don't have traps at D-tier Tombs, no need to worry about them."
They began descending.
"D-tier?" she echoed.
Sett shot her a sharp look. "You don't even know that?" His frown deepened. "Then why the hell are you in a Tomb?"
Just how bad had the empire gotten if people lacked even basic Tomb knowledge?
Zainah huffed. "Hard to learn when nobles hoard all the information. Selling or studying Tombs is illegal unless you're a registered Raider."
Sett filed that away. The kingdom had changed. This wasn't the empire he knew.
This wasn't his empire anymore.
"There are ranks—hierarchy of strength—for Tombs, Tomb Raiders, and Axiom Holders." He paused. "For Tombs, it is ranked through D>C>B>A>S tiers, growing progressively stronger and more complex.
"And for Tomb Raiders and Axiom Holders, we rank them from Tier 1 to 5, and Tier 5 is the strongest—for both Raiders and Holders. Tier 5 Raiders or Holders can handle S tier Tombs."
And theoretically, Tier 6 was the domain of Gods.
"There is such a thing?" Zainah was surprised. "What rank is this Tomb? What about me as an Axiom Holder?"
"As I said earlier, this is a D-tier Tomb, an apt place for Tier 1 fighters to fight in. You are a Tier 1 Axiom Holder, so this place is perfect training grounds for you—if you were in a team, that is."
Zainah couldn't help but pause.
"Your Axiom isn't really a battle-oriented one, it's more of a support ability. It could distract enemies, but not kill them. So, without someone who can deal damage, you wouldn't be able to do much in a Tomb like this. Even just a mummy bite and without someone's immediate help, you will be poisoned and will die shortly."
She asked: "Now that I have an Axiom, can't I also become a Tomb Raider by absorbing a Tomb Heart?"
"Not really," Sett sighed. "Some people can become both a Tomb Raider and an Axiom Holder, but those people are a rarity. Geniuses, in short. And as far as I am aware, you are not one. But well, an Axiom already gives you an edge, if you become better at using it, you won't really have to fight…"
"What will happen if I eat a Tomb Heart?"
"You'll get loose motion."
They entered a tunnel of sorts and began running straight. Zainah felt a weight in her heart, and she began thinking. Once she gets her sister back, she might be able to help turn her into a Tomb Raider instead of becoming one herself. Tomb Raiders had bodies as hard as steel, so if her sister became one—with her Axiom as support, they could live luxuriously in the outside world by raiding Tombs!
But what was Sett, the mummy's motive?
Would he give her the Tomb Heart?
Suddenly, the mummy came to a halt and she stopped along with him.
"What, another trap area?" she asked, then corrected herself, "Oh, it's another mummy!"
There was a broken coffin on the wall and a corpse stayed dormant inside. It had no movement, and in the dim light, she could barely even see it.
She grew wary.
"Will that wake up? Is it the guardian?"
"No, it's not a… Guardian," he said and walked up to the coffin.
Zainah grew silent, feeling a weird atmosphere in the air.
Sett touched the coffin and stared at the man inside it for a long while, then sighed. "I knew this man, he was an old friend of mine. A greedy one who always came to ask me for more gold, more money. No matter what he got, he wouldn't stop being greedy."
"..."
After a long second of silence, Sett shook his head.
"A tomb now suffices him for whom the whole world was not sufficient."
They began moving again.
But this confirms it—indeed, this is a Tomb from my era, Sett thought. Then who am I reincarnated as? What is this situation?
There were weird things at play here.
Meanwhile, Zainah was wondering with a rather fearful expression. Was he telling me not to be greedy like that corpse? Was he warning me against asking for a Tomb Heart? Can he read my thoughts?
They began running again, avoiding traps and hoodwinking mummies.
Soon enough, they entered an area that seemed to have some more light sprinkled around. It felt like moonlight but she couldn't find the source. They started to see more coffins around as well, along with some rusted swords and other metals—gold—laying around.
Zainah itched to pocket a crown or two but Zarah's situation held her at bay.
"Are we closer?" She asked, anxious.
Undoing the bandages around himself and revealing his rotten body to the air, Sett nodded and gave her a brief explanation, and soon, she looked forward with a grim expression.
There was a stone door before her, and inside it, according to Sett, was a specially segmented area of the Tomb where important mummies would be stored.
Sett pushed the stone door open a crack and it greased against the floor.
She readied herself, heart thumping as she sneaked a peak in.
A bright light made her squint her eyes but she still saw the picture beyond—a mummy sat in the middle of the room, wearing regal ceremonial robes.
Wine-green flames glimmered on the wall torches surrounding the royal mummy, while a small ball the size of a palm thumped, floating within a circular hole in the creature's chest.
"A tomb heart," she said, looking at the small ball.
She had seen it before.
Sett, on the other hand, was much more serious.
Before he saw the wealth, he saw the danger.
"That mummy is a Guardian," he said firmly. "It will have a body as strong as a regular Tier 1 Tomb Raider since this is a D-tier Tomb."
"What about Zarah, is she in there somewhere?"
"There are usually nine Guardian rooms, Guardians, and Tomb Hearts in any Tomb. Zarah must be in another one of them. I can't see any coffin here. But wait, let's go here first."
"No, let's go find where she is in!"
"Let's get that Tomb Heart first, believe me, we can do this quickly if you just do what I say."