Cold is the Void

[Amaterasu]

Expedition, Day 19 - Day 7 of the Ascent

The Seventh Hall: Greed

“We would like to embark…”

“... on the final leg…”

“... o’ our ascent…”

“... Senecianus. Please lead us.” They spoke almost as one now, feeling closer together than ever. The wampa examined them, one after another, then got on its feet. “You have… hmm, changed. But will it be enough to brave the hardest of all trials, I wonder?”

“We are ready”, said Fiara simply. And Senecianus led them through the tunnel, as it had done time and time again… and as the numerous times before, they now ended up in a cave. This one was the largest yet, a hollow cone whose upper end was far, far above them. It had to be at least half a kilometer high. And from what it seemed, reaching the top would not be easy.

All four of them had to shield their eyes from the blinding light when the seemingly omnipresent light illuminated the room: it was being reflected off of innumerable surfaces, off the floor and the walls, and multiplied in its intensity as it did. The room was the most luxurious cave of treasures that one could imagine, a hoard that would make any dragon or pirate jealous, gold in amounts that no king nor emperor could hope to amass. Gems the size of oranges, encrusted into ornate jewelry. Statues of silver and platinum portrayed - them! Amaterasu could see Urist, Fiara, Oki and indeed herself as well. Their features were captured in stunning detail, as if they could come alive any moment. As they got used to the light she noticed that the spot they were standing on was basically the only patch of land in this cave that was not covered with gold or jewelry.

“Welcome to the final Hall… you are, hmm, standing at the entrance to the Hall of Greed”, Senecianus declared. It pointed up. “Near the top of this cavern will you find the exit… should you be able to reach it, you will have passed the Trials of Sin and will be allowed to ascend back to the surface.”

“How will we reach the top?” asked Amaterasu. “I see no stairs or any other way to make it up there without literally climbing the walls.”

“Ah… this treasury holds not only gold and jewels, it also provides magical trinkets and artefacts of legendary power. Perhaps among these you will find what you seek. But before you proceed… hmm, allow me to ask. This is the Hall of Greed… so, what is it that you wish for?”

Amaterasu frowned. Obviously the wampa was not asking out of curiosity. But before she could tell the others to consider their answers, Urist took the lead, stepping forward confidently.

“Ah wish fer the safety of me comrades… an’ fer their safe return to Dwarfholm or whatever they may be callin’ home. If I don’ make it out, then ah want ‘em to raise a glass o’ good dwarven ale to me memory, an’ to a successful expedition.”

Oki stepped forward and put his hand on Urist’s shoulder while looking at the wampa, who turned its attention to the Oina warrior. “I wish for closure… not for myself, but for Urist. His father may have seen something that others did not and called him insane for that reason. Perhaps what he saw was real though. Perhaps it was not. He wants to know for himself, so that the uncertainty will never plague him again.”

Fiara looked at Amaterasu, and the Sun goddess understood. The Phoenix was asking her to go first. She stepped forward as well. “I wish for this world to come to peace, for enemies to set their differences aside and accept one another. And if that wish is too big, well…” She smiled at Fiara. “... then I at least wish for Fiara to recover the memories that she has lost when she died, searching for me.”

Fiara smiled. She took Amaterasu’s hand and gave it a light squeeze. “Thank you, Mother Amaterasu. I, too, have a wish for someone else…” She let go of her hand and stepped forward, closer than any other, and reached out to take the wampa’s massive clawed paw. “For you.”

The wampa looked at her, and for the first time Amaterasu could see surprise in the snow beast’s expression. “For me?” it asked.

“I have had… suspicions. The trials, the people being imprisoned into food, losing themselves… and you calling this trial the hardest. Is it possible that you have been hiding something from us, Senecianus?”

“What would I… hmm, have been hiding?” the wampa asked.

“About nobody having made it past the Trial of Sloth. You said that two people made it there, right?”

“I indeed said that.”

“Yes. But that is not all.” She put on a confident grin. “Senecianus… just like us, you were once a challenger, weren’t you?”

“...” The wampa gave no reply, it just looked at Fiara out of tired eyes.

“Why have we not seen anyone asleep in the Hall of Sloth? Because it was all covered in snow. A wampa like yourself would disappear in that scenery very easily, wouldn’t it? And you look awfully tired, Senecianus.”

“Wait. Are you saying that Senecianus failed the Trial of Sloth?” asked Oki sharply.

Fiara nodded without looking away from the big wampa. “The way that these trials are made… those who succumb to their sins become a part of the very trial… or trials. Have you never wondered why Senecianus leads us all through these halls? I have a suspicion.”

Still, no reply came from Senecianus, it just looked at Fiara out of those tired eyes. Amaterasu slowly came to realize what Fiara was going at. “Senecianus fell in the Hall of Sloth… and with it someone else. Maybe even someone that went along with it. But who would accompaign a wampa on a journey like this, other than-”

“- another wampa”, concluded Fiara. “Is it possible that you came here with someone else? Someone close to you?”

“I applaud your deduction, Fiara Moegami… you are more correct than you may realize. The Roof of the World… the wampas knew about the Trials of Sin for very long, but few dared to do them. It is said that if you could endure them you would be granted eternal happiness. I came here with my mate. Both of us were sick with an incurable disease and we did not wish to die young. We challenged the trials together, hoping to achieve what none has achieved before. If we failed, we would die together, but we were walking dead anyway. We thought that we had nothing to lose. We were wrong… for there is a fate worse than death.”

For the first time, the wampa showed true emotions. Amaterasu had not realized that they could shed tears, and yet it could see them now, forming in its eyes. Nobody besides Senecianus spoke now. The tension was like a bowstring, about to snap.

“We made it through until the Trial of Sloth… where we nearly failed. Both of us were weary from the journey, for we did not rest much. We had not the time. Almost, we fell asleep. But I begged for my mate to go on… I told her that if she made it without me, there was a chance to save me, as her happiness included me. But she was tricked. In the Hall of Greed she let her guard down. She was offered… something that made her very happy. It clouded her mind and as she took it she failed the trial. But the forces that have made the Trials struck a bargain with me. I would become the guide of the seven Halls… in exchange for Augusta’s life and for her freedom from this cursed place I would lead adventurers through the Trials of Sin forevermore. I, too, was tricked. I broke my promise that we would die together. She now lives somewhere in the Frozen Fields, alive and free. They… taunt me at times, show me visions of her. She is not happy.”

Fiara squeezed Senecianus’s paw. “Tell us, Senecianus. How is your spirit imprisoned in this place?”

“A gem holds my soul, but it is hidden here among the riches. It’s trapped.”

Amaterasu walked around the wampa and took a large blue vial with a liquid inside off of a pedestal. “I have understood how this trial works… Senecianus, no doubt are you not allowed to tell us, but this trial will present us with what we need to ascend. I recognize this for instance… the dust of a Yukionna, with which I could make an ice path. I did not fail the trial just for taking it, because I need it to reach the top of the trial. But if I try to keep it, to bring it with me, it will be Greed.”

“I understand…” said Oki, then with a nod picked up a lengthy rope from the ground. “The rope with which the dragon Karun was bound… with this scaling the wall should be a breeze.”

“Aye… an’ this is King Jorunn’s legendary warhammer, Wrathbringer. Legend has it tha’ he could shatter a fortress wall with jus’ one swing. Ah can use this ta carve meself a path through the wall”, Urist explained as he armed himself with an enormous, bland-looking hammer.

Fiara laughed as she picked up a tray of ash, from which a chick was poking its head. “And I will have this little guy carry me up. Go ahead without me, guys. I’ll be with you in just a bit.”

“Wait. What about the gem?” asked Amaterasu. “Senecianus, can you point us to it?”

“I can”, the wampa said. “But if you take it out you will be as trapped as me in here.”

“That will not be a concern…” said Oki. “I am deeply sorry, but the only release we can offer you now, Senecianus, is death. We will not take the gem, we will destroy it. Or rather, I will.”

“Nay”, Urist said. “Wrathbringer’s better fer two people ta climb than yer rope, an’ Senecianus can join me. An’ it can shatter whatever gem they got like glass.”

“True… but be careful, Urist.” With that, Oki and Amaterasu began their ascent using their respective tools: Amaterasu spreaded the dust before her, creating a spiralling path of ice along the wall that brought her up whilst Oki threw the rope out, which infalliably caught onto something where he could safely hang his weight from, then climbed, found a spot to hold onto, and tossed it again. Fiara followed as soon as the rapidly growing phoenix bird took her into its talons and with a majestic screech began to fly up.

Then, Urist and Senecianus began climbing. The dwarf swung Wrathbringer and each time broke out big chunks of the wall before them, carving a tunnel that had the wall on the left side and open space on the right, spiralling upwards like Amaterasu’s ice path. Senecianus looked out before giving directions and the dwarf followed them. But there was one final challenge to free the wampa’s soul…

“Bruenor’s beard…” mumbled Urist as, after almost an hour of smashing rocks and advancing a good distance, they reached a statue that was of solid gold with rubies as eyes and a crown ten times as luxurious as King Bruenor Battlehammer’s would ever be. He mumbled these words because of the expression that this statue had. With frightening detail the artist had sculpted the man’s face into an arrogant, evil smile. With both hands the statue held a lengthy purple gem that was slightly glowing from within. Its palms were up as if it presented its contents to whoever stood before it.

“Urist McGlodsson… be very careful. This statue is Midas, son of Gordias and known as the Golden King. Whatever his hands touch turns into gold… the gem is magically enchanted, but if you touch it…”

“There ain’t no need fer that”, said Urist. He grasped the hammer and readied a mighty swing, but Senecianus held him back.

“If you use the hammer, it too will turn to gold and you will have no means of reaching the top!”

“Senecianus, yer forgettin’ that ah’m not alone.” With that, Urist delivered the mightiest and last swing of Wrathbringer, a brutal strike downwards upon the gem. With an ear-piercing sound it shattered into a thousand pieces and Senecianus gave a relieved sigh as its body turned transparent and began to disappear.

“Thank… you…”

“Yer welcome. Ah wish ye the best in the afterlife”, Urist said while tossing the now useless golden hammer aside. Having lost his tool to climb, he sat down and waited. The others swiftly reached the top, where a big ledge provided them with safe standing and a short path to the exit out of the Hall, and simultaneously did Amaterasu toss down her flask, Oki threw the rolled-up rope and Fiara asked the kind phoenix to bring Urist up. The phoenix was the first to reach the dwarf, and much to everyone’s amusement carried him up as he screamed and thrashed. Dwarves did not like not having solid ground beneath their feet. They would never fly if they could help it. Yet he reached the top safe and sound, and the phoenix came to settle on Fiara’s shoulder like a loyal hawk.

“I’m sorry, dear friend, but you need to leave again”, said Fiara as she stroked the phoenix’s chin. The bird gave a low screech then plucked out a feather with its beak and handed it to Fiara as a memento, before descending. As it flew down it went up in flames and turned to ash, nicely heaped in a tray, as it reached the ground.

Fiara turned to the others. “Let’s get going. I’m not falling for the sentimental tricks.” She dropped the feather and let it descend into the pile of treasures below the ledge. “‘Don’t take anything out of the Hall of Greed’, said Senecianus. I didn’t forget.”

“I think you’ve grown”, remarked Amaterasu as they stepped into the darkness for one last time, now with no more guide to lead them through the tunnels. A bright smile lined her face as the darkness enveloped them.

27.161 + 2381 = 29.542 / 20.000 words.