Jay followed the Agen-Seps, calling out to try to get him to wake up. He even tried casting [Commune with Spirits] again to double up on their mental communication, but it wouldn’t even latch on to his mind. It didn’t even seem to register that there was a mind there to latch onto at all, as if the spirit’s body was completely empty inside.

  “Are you fucking possessed? Is that what this is?” Jay muttered. “There’s no way. You’re a spirit. Shouldn’t you be doing the possessing, not being possessed?” Something about the idea of possession didn’t feel right; [Sense Magic] hadn’t told him anything about nearby magic, which felt like a necessary part of possession. Unless it wasn’t.

  He still didn’t understand some of the rules behind these things. That needed to change. He needed to make it change, and sooner was better.

  Jay clambered up the rocks after his snake, though not with nearly the same kind of ease. There may have been a few muttered curse words. Maybe more than a few when the occasional slick spot disrupted his grip.

  After a dozen or so vertical feet of amateur bouldering, Jay found a crack in the rock that was just large enough to let him in. He could hear the Agen-Seps inside it, his scaled sides sounding like they were scraping themselves raw on the walls. With how much larger the spirit was than him, he was surprised it had chosen to go in instead of continuing to climb.

  He followed the noises, squirming through every tight spot in the network of cracks, but could never catch up. Somehow even while having to squeeze through places that really shouldn’t allow him through, the familiar still outpaced him. He kept pushing through, following the sound of snake-on-stone as much as he could.

  Until he couldn’t anymore.

  It happened at the worst possible time too, right as he came to a crossroad with three different paths to take. Four, counting backwards, but he knew the serpent hadn’t passed him the other direction so that was already eliminated. Which to take…

  There didn’t seem to be many distinguishing features between the three pathways. They all sloped upwards, though at different rates, and there wasn’t much variation in the gray stone that he could see. Honestly it was a miracle he could see at all, given that there wasn’t any light around to see by. It was probably magic of some kind. The Agen-Seps had mentioned that this plateau had a lot of ambient magic.

  That was one of his reasons for staying away from it. High ambient magic apparently had a lot of unusual and unpleasant side effects. But wouldn’t that have also been something that should have grabbed his attention with the new sense?

  What was the rule for mazes again? Always go the same direction? Until he got better information, he might as well give that a shot.

  Jay took the right-hand path. Then did the same for the next three intersections, despite everything he knew saying that he’d just be back where he started. Everything he knew seemed to be wrong in this case, as the fourth crossroad he came to had five paths. Four of them were unmarked as the last ones had been.

  The fifth had a carving above it. It looked almost like what the Agen-Seps had become after being flooded with Divinity: a scaled body with four limbs, claws on the upper arms, and a crest that rose from its back. It diverged a little in that the carving had wings and the back limbs looked like bird talons, but those were small differences.

  Was this some look at what the spirit could or would become? There was a label carved in the rock beneath it, but it was a collection of syllables that didn’t form any word that he actually knew.

  “Mushussu? Mushkhushshu?” Jay read, trying to get a better feel for it by saying it out loud. It didn’t work as well as he’d thought; trying to pronounce the word – the name? – made him feel like his mouth was full of oatmeal.

  Whatever it was there for, it was something to set one tunnel apart from another. He took that one and followed it until the next turning point.

  Only there was no next turn.

  The path just kept going, sloping gently but inexorably upwards for long enough that Jay’s feet started to hurt. It was gray rock the whole way until, so slowly that Jay didn’t even notice at first, it began to change into browner stalactites. Then those were overtaken by trailing vines that made Jay shudder every time one brushed him.

  He had no idea how they were surviving without sunlight. Not that he got long to think about it, though, since the cavern began to widen out into something that didn’t look like it could be real: a city. A giant city, lit by bricks that seemed to glow with no discernable reason, that took up the entire floor of the cavern. And the walls, except for the ring of blank stone at the same height that Jay had come out of the cave in. And the ceiling.

  There were barely any signs of any deterioration from what Jay could see, few crumbling walls and only a couple destroyed buildings, but it was still completely empty. A statue stood between him and the city itself, clearly depicting the same creature that the carving had shown. It was more intimidating than it had been in the carving, standing what looked to be a full ten feet tall and holding a staff that probably weighed more than he did.

  Jay couldn’t see any sign of the Agen-Seps, but there were other caves that looked to lead into the city. Maybe another branch of the cave network led to those and he’d show up from there. If that was the case, he was probably staring at the main entrance, since it was the only one with a statue.

  They’d only had the familiar bond in place for a few days but already something felt wrong about the spirit not being nearby. Maybe it was because he was the only other person – or person-like entity – Jay had actually gotten to know in his time on Halea so far.

  The best plan was probably to wait in the city itself for him in case that ended up being true. If they were both moving, they’d be more likely to end up missing each other by taking different paths. So Jay moved toward the city. It felt odd to be moving downwards after walking the caves that had been sloping upwards for so long. As he passed the statue, stone cracked sharply and a hand the size of his torso pressed down on his shoulder.

  “You do not belong here, human.” The thing’s voice wasn’t the same echoing resonance of the System’s notifications but there was power behind it that was entirely separate from how deep it was.

  “I don’t see a sign saying that anywhere,” Jay remarked.

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  Once the words had left his mouth, he realized how big of a mistake they might have been. He should have thought it through more carefully; this thing was gigantic and either made of stone or able to convincingly imitate it, so any damage it could do would be catastrophic for him. He wouldn’t put it past something of that size to be able to obliterate all sixty-four points of health he had left with no regard for the fact that it was still more health than he’d had when he’d first arrived after a day of drain.

  “I am the sign,” the thing said. “I am Mushkhushshu, guardian of this city. You are not among those who have been called here.”

  That was a massive dose of deja vu. It felt like being back in Rukai’s Redoubt trying to convince the Agen-Seps that he wasn’t going to hurt anything just by being there.

  “People are being called here?”

  “No. Tell me how you found this place,” the Mushkhushshu said. Its hand hadn’t lifted yet.

  Jay chose to take the smart route and answer truthfully. “I was following my familiar. A spirit called the Agen-Seps.”

  “In what form?”

  “A snake. Kind of. He’s not really very snake-like anymore.”

  “Because of something you did?”

  “Technically, yes,” Jay said, then scrambled to get the rest of the explanation out as he felt the grip start to tighten. “It was his idea. He insisted.”

  “We will see. It comes. Slowly, but it does. As if you weren’t following it at all.” Jay could hear the suspicion in the words, cold and clearly unmoved by what defense he’d already been able to offer.

  The spirit picked Jay up with a hand around his torso and carried him like that down into the abandoned city.

  *

  Jay had been slipping in and out of sleep for what felt like hours, pulled back each time he dropped off by some shift in the Mushkhushshu’s posture. Whatever stone covering had let it imitate a statue was still there and every shift made it creak and crack like collapsing shale. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the lizard-thing had been outside the little room it had stuck him into, but it insisted on blocking the doorway personally.

  There still wasn’t any sign of the Agen-Seps. Jay had tried to send thoughts along their bond a couple times, but never got anything more than the feeling of him still being asleep back. Whatever the call was that the big stone lizard had mentioned, it was either getting in the way of them communicating or making him sleepwalk the whole way. Not a good sign either way.

  “You will remain here. Another of the Called has arrived.”

  So it was more than just his spirit that had been summoned. “Sure. I’ll stay here.” He fully intended on leaving the moment the Mushkhushshu turned its back.

  “You will remain here. Or you will be retrieved and made to remain here.”

  Or maybe he wouldn’t.

  “You will not look at the Called. This is for your safety.”

  “Is it a basilisk?”

  The Mushkhushshu’s stony face twisted into what looked like a frown. “Maybe.”

  “You can just say it,” Jay drawled. “It’s not some betrayal if I already guessed it, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  The thing didn’t answer. It just left the room.

  Come to think of it, it was a little bit weird that there actually were basilisks here that were about the same as myths on Earth. Was that part of why Kalras’s binder had been green for this world? Some form of syncretism between the two worlds?

  Wait, since when did he remember enough about Earth to know that? Those memories had been a foggy soup since he found himself in the prairie in the afterlife. He dug deeper, trying to find out how much he actually remembered. He knew his age at the time of his death (twenty-three), the circumstances that led him to dying (a burned-out crosswalk light), and the feeling of dying (painful). He knew he had had siblings (two brothers and a sister), one surviving parent (that hurt a bit to remember), and what his bedroom had looked like (cluttered, in both childhood and adulthood).

  There were still holes. Every time he discovered one, it itched at him. There had to be some logic to it. Why could he remember siblings but not friends? Parents but not mentor figures? His bedroom but not his kitchen?

  It didn’t make any sense.

  Outside, something shook the city. Had that been the Mushkhushshu? The basilisk? Some other snake monster that had been apparently called here for some purpose?

  The familiar bond twinged. It almost felt like a guitar string that had been plucked, vibrating almost audibly. The Agen-Seps was awake.

  Awake and panicking.

  Where are you? he asked. Why am I in a cave? What have you done? With every question, his mental volume grew louder. And it had started at a shout.

  Jay decided not to respond out loud. Whatever was causing the rumbling hadn’t stopped, so it seemed better than potentially drawing its attention. I didn’t do anything. You’re the one that sleepwalked your way up the side of the plateau and into some caves. I followed. Now I’m in what looks like an abandoned city.

  I would not have done that. I know better than to come near this place. I warned you as well.

  If it makes you feel any better, I think it wasn’t entirely your choice. The thing that found me said something about a Call.

  Something found you? The Agen-Seps growled those words, mind heating up in a wave of pure anger.

  It called itself the Mushkhushshu.

  The anger wiped itself out like it had never existed, replaced by an overpowering emotion that felt like an amalgamate of trembling fear, reverential awe, and grim resignation. It called itself the what?

  The Mushkhushshu. It kind of looks like you, if you had one pair of legs from a lion and one from a falcon. And wings.

  Jay. This is very important. Is it there with you now? The thoughts were careful, deliberate in both the speed and choice of words.

  No, Jay responded. Why do you sound like I’d be about to die if it was?

  Because you might be. That thing is a god, Jay. A god famous for its dislike of anything that is not a snake. The spirit gave it a few seconds for the words to sink in, then spoke again. I will be there as soon as I can. Do not make it mad.

  Jay sent the mental equivalent of a nod across their bond and let himself lean against the wall.

  The Mushkhushshu was a god? It hadn’t seemed very godlike to him. Maybe it had something to do with the resonant voice or the fact that it could apparently be a statue that was still alive.

  At least it hadn’t incinerated him on the spot. With the memories that had bubbled up when the familiar thought about the dislike of non-snake entities, that seemed like it was well within the realm of possibility.

  He almost shifted the Crystalband to a sword, thinking about it so seriously that the armband began to liquify to make the change, but ultimately kept it in its dormant form. There was a chance that whenever those slamming noises ended, the Mushkhushshu would be coming back to make sure he had stayed in the room. Having a sword out was probably a surefire way to piss it off.

  So instead he made himself as comfortable as possible and started trying to think of strategies. It sounded like whatever the Call had been for, it would end in a fight. Maybe with the other Called, as the lizard-god-thing had called them, or maybe with the Mushkhushshu itself. Either way, he was level 1. He needed some sort of plan to not be immediately killed.

  Hopefully the Agen-Seps counted as a higher level. It would have a better shot and probably had to have a better shot, given that it was the actual snake of the pair. Maybe it would be good practice with [Bolt of Decay]. Maybe it would be instant death.

  But Jay hadn’t come back to life just to die here. He hadn’t even gotten to see what a Halean town looked like yet, much less live an actual life like he wanted. He wouldn’t – couldn’t – let himself give up without at least trying to reach those goals.

  Even if it meant fighting a god.

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