BOOK II, CHAPTER 1

BOOK II: ETERNITY AWAKES

CHAPTER 1

Sands of the desert

Cover an ancient secret

Lost in time, it waits

“The eight sentient species of Sankami each contributed great things to our culture. The squirrels brought a code of honor and duty, the foxes art and music, the wolves a desire to explore the land, the ferrets the gift of magic, the rabbits the advances in science and medicine, the raccoons an appreciation of the mysteries of life, and the skunks a system of order among our people. My own kind, the badgers, devote ourselves to the pursuit of knowledge and spiritual growth above all else. It is through this pursuit that we discovered something most unusual…

“According to various legends, long ago, before even the Species War, there existed another people, a ninth sentient race! Making their home in the southwest region of the land, their civilization ruled ours during the Lost Ages, the time before the Day of Three Gods. Supposedly, this “conqueror race” ruled with an iron fist for over a thousand years… Interestingly enough, accounts of this story have appeared in nearly all species’ histories, with the details relatively similar (though of course the raccoons’ version is kept mostly classified).

“So what happened to the great conquerors? Here the legends turn extremely vague, and a definitive answer is impossible. Some say they destroyed themselves in battle, or found a way to travel the seas that surround Sankami, to go to worlds beyond… Others claim that the entire civilization vanished like sand in the wind. The only truth is that the conquerors, if they existed at all, are long gone, and it is doubtful that any traces remain…”

[An excerpt from The Past, the Present, and What Lies Beyond, by Ashpaw Longstripe]

It… was… hot.

In the barren landscape of the Kamen Desert, the sun beat down upon the land as if trying to punish the mortals below for their arrogance. Nothing could be grown or built here; the entirety of it was smooth, featureless sand as far as the eye could see. Some species claimed that the God of Death’s gaze had fallen directly on this spot fifteen-hundred years ago, and had cursed it forevermore… On days like this, it was easy to believe. The only disturbance in the miles and miles of white sand was a stone edifice, jutting out of a pit that had been dug about fifteen feet deep only a short way from the desert’s border. The three figures that squatted at the bottom of the pit had barely any relief from the relentless heat, but they paid no mind. Their attentions were focused on the stone structure.

One of the three was an elderly rabbit, somewhat squat and round in stomach. He wore tiny glass spectacles and white hooded robes to shield him from the heat; his companions were similarly dressed. Despite his age, the expression on his face was one of a child having discovered a new toy. He actually clapped his hands as he spoke.

“Astonishing, simply astonishing! What a privilege to see it with my own eyes… My dears, do you know what this is?” said the rabbit, whose name was Parsus.

The first of his companions, a much younger female rabbit whose robes clung to her nubile body, spoke in a high-pitched voice. “It’s a building!”

The third figure cringed, but Parsus turned his ecstatic grin on the girl. “Yes, of course, Calliope, but this isn’t just any building. It’s a relic from before the Day of Three Gods! We’ve made possibly the most important discovery in the history of Sankami!”

Smiling underneath her hood, the third figure finally spoke. The robes kept her well-concealed, but underneath she cut an even more impressive figure than the jillrabbit next to her. A fluffy orange-furred tail with a white tip stuck out from underneath the hem, twitching with unbridled excitement. “So, exactly what is this place, Parsus? A house? A temple, maybe?”

Parsus mopped his brow with a handkerchief. “I’m not entirely sure, Miss… I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?”

“Hanami,” said Faun without blinking an eye.

“Ah, right, of course, Miss Hanami. As I was saying, we’re not sure what this structure is, but historical societies of both the rabbits and the foxes are hard at work on translating these runes. Whatever language this is, it’s definitely not Sankami Standard…” He indicated the intricate markings carved into the ancient stone. To Faun, they looked like a bunch of random pictures and unintelligible squiggles, but then, she wasn’t here for a history lesson.

Calliope flounced over to Parsus’s side. Faun had grown to loathe the jillrabbit dearly in the last hour… She was both insufferably perky and spectacularly dense, and Faun suspected the only reason she was here was to jump Parsus at the soonest possible opportunity. She was a rabbit, after all. Putting on a look of concentration, Calliope leaned over his shoulder, taking care to press her ample chest against his back. “What does this one mean, sir?” she asked, pointing to a bird-like design.

Faun smirked and slipped around the corner, deciding to leave the two rabbits to their history… or biology, whichever came first. Throwing off her robes in one fluid motion, Faun ducked underneath the stone archway at the back of the edifice. The archway leading into the structure had only recently been uncovered, and the rabbit historians seemed determined not to go inside until the translation of the runes was finished. The vixen had no such desire to wait, however. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was presenting itself, and Faun was going to seize that opportunity, along with all the priceless Lost Age relics within. Sliding gracefully down an incline of sand that had poured into the entrance, Faun grinned from ear to pointed ear, suppressing the urge to laugh until she was well away from where the rabbits might hear.

It was more than Faun ever could have imagined. Only a few meters into the corridor, the walls ceased to be dull and plain. The walls, the ceiling, and even the floor were inlaid with a spectacular array of multicolored jewels. In the few places there weren’t jewels, there was gold… Whoever had built this place was as fond of the metallic treasure as Faun was. Strolling down the passage in total awe, the vixen marveled as she beheld objects of every description coated in a brilliant sheen. Gold pottery, gold jewelry, gold scepters, gold statues… There was so much of it that she didn’t even need a torch. Her green eyes sparkling with unbridled greed, Faun fought the urge to simply throw herself into the nearest pile of gold coins and roll around in it.

Easy, girl, she thought, forcing herself to breathe evenly. Take the choice stuff first, then have fun. Oh, great Kyubi, I’m rich. I’m rich… See, Ma? Your little girl has finally made it…

The sight of one treasure interrupted Faun’s train of thought. It was a necklace, woven from impossibly fine golden chains and wrapped around the neck of a stone bust that stood at the end of the hall. Faun had always liked necklaces, and the artistry of this one was unmatched. Strangely, the bust itself was rather plain… One of the only objects she had seen that bore no decoration, the ancient stone depicted a strangely angular face with pointed ears that stood straight up. It didn’t look like anything Faun recognized. For a moment, she wondered whether the necklace was worth anything at all, to be adorning such a nondescript sculpture.

Oh, what the hell. The vixen shrugged and walked towards the statue. Gingerly she pried the necklace off the bust’s shoulders. She ran the interwoven chains between her black-gloved fingers, mesmerized… So enraptured was Faun that she failed to hear a small but audible click from within the statue the moment that the chain’s weight was lifted. Deep within the ancient structure, thousand-year-old gears ground into life with surprising ease, making a much louder noise that snapped her out of her spell. Before Faun even had time to wonder what the racket was, the floor underneath her feet dropped away, and with a startled howl she plummeted into the darkness below.

“Scared? Was I scared?! [noise of dismissal] Of course I wasn’t scared. Do you know how many trap doors I’ve triggered over the years, Stripehead? More than you could count. Yeah, it’s always a bit of a start when you first drop, but there’s always a slide or a cushion or something underneath to break the fall. I landed on my feet, naturally. And after I dusted myself off, I started looking around for more loot…”
[Excerpt from an interview with Faunelle Reinaka, conducted by Ashpaw Longstripe. Chronicler’s Note: Please be aware that events described by the vixen may bear little or no resemblance to the truth.]

With an undignified whump, Faun landed in a heap atop a large and ancient pillow that promptly and violently exploded into a cloud of dust under her weight. Coughing and sputtering, she waved her hand in front of her face to try to clear the stale air, at the same time trying to quiet the frantic hammering of her heart against her chest. Stumbling to her feet, she fled blindly out of the billowing cloud, her eyes watering… only to run slap-bang into a solid stone wall after a few steps, which laid her out flat on the stone floor again. A torrent of muffled obscenities flew from Faun’s mouth as she clasped her hands to her smarting nose. In short order she cursed the trap door, the wall, the pillow, the dust cloud, the builders of this place (whoever they were), the building itself, and life in general for failing to provide her with what should have been an easy profit.

Ten minutes later, having run through all the profanities she could remember, Faun got to her feet. The dust cloud had settled somewhat, and the dim light from the trap door above made it possible to check her surroundings. This corridor couldn’t have been more different from the one above… There were no adornments here, no treasure of any kind. Even the walls were blank and bare, free of the intricate carvings on the upper floor. The effect made Faun’s fur stand on end… Why would someone go through the trouble of hollowing out a passageway and not storing anything in it? Was this some kind of elaborate trap to catch grave robbers?
Calm down, Faun, the vixen thought to herself. You’re just a little rattled, is all. I’ve got more than enough bombs to blow my way out of here if I have to. So let’s just see what’s here…

Slowly she advanced down the hallway. It darkened the further she moved from the trap door, but Faun could see in the dark quite well, as all foxes could. After about twenty paces, she couldn’t see the trap door’s light at all… but strangely, there was a dim red glow at the other end. The vixen rubbed her eyes, thinking it was an illusion… No, there was definitely something glowing. Faun broke into a run, heading for the source.

The closer she drew to it, the more the glow intensified, its patterns casting flickering shadows on the stone walls. Faun turned a corner and gaped in astonishment… Sitting atop a plain stone pillar in a small alcove was the largest, most perfect ruby she had ever seen. There was a small light within it, like a tiny, brilliant star, brightening and fading in a steady rhythm as if the jewel were breathing. Faun drew closer to the ruby, spellbound, the treasure upstairs forgotten. She had never wanted anything as much as she did this gem right now… Hesitantly she put out her hand to touch it…

“Stop.”

The sound nearly gave Faun a heart attack, and her feet left the ground in utter shock. The word had been growled in a deep, dry, guttural voice that sounded like it had been dragged out of some vast dark pit; it instantly brought to mind every nightmare Faun had ever had. The fur on Faun’s tail stood straight up as she slowly turned around, her heart trying to claw its way out of her chest…

The opposite wall of the corridor had faded. In its place was a shimmering red barrier, crackling with magical energy. Behind that barrier was a very wide room with ancient carvings lining the walls, floors, and ceiling. The rest of the room was bare save for a mirror and a huge statue bearing the same design as the bust from earlier. At least, it seemed to be a statue… A tiny squeak left Faun’s lips as the towering figure took a step toward the barrier, and then another, and another…

It was a giant, probably even taller than Ashpaw and just as powerfully built. She could tell because its chest was bare, showing off the kind of musculature that one normally only saw in paintings of bygone eras. It wore a sort of white, knee-length cloth garment around its waist that had once borne intricate patterns, but was now long faded. Wrapped around each of its forearms were what appeared to be strips of linen. And its face… It was the face that terrified Faun the most. It wasn’t a face of any species she knew, it was too sharp and angular, the fur too dark… Most of the figure’s head was covered by an elaborate golden mask that only exposed its sharp muzzle and its pointed, upswept ears. The eyes of the mask were empty black slits; it looked like it would be impossible to see out of it, but Faun knew with terrifying certainty that it was watching her every move from behind those slits. Its jaw opened, revealing a mouthful of pointed fangs, and again the giant spoke…

“Who… are you? Why have you come to this place…?”

Faun gave a shaky bow, her eyes not leaving the mask. “F-F-F-F-F-Faun R-R-Reinaka, sir…”

The masked figure stepped closer and pressed its… his hands up against the crimson wall. “How long has it been…?” His voice sounded slightly less rough now, as if he were getting used to speaking for the first time in a long while.

Faun blinked. “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who are you? How did you get down here?”

The masked figure lifted his hands from the barrier and crossed his arms. “My name… is Renubis. I am… was… ruler of the Jackals …”

“Jackals?” Faun frowned. “What the hell is a ‘jackal?’”

“You do not know?” said Renubis, with a note of surprise. His head turned to the side. “Surely it cannot have been…”

Faun began to slowly back away from the barrier. As soon as she could convince her terrified body to move itself correctly, she was planning on bolting back down the corridor and away from this thing at all possible speed.

Somehow, Renubis sensed her intent and turned back to his, pressing one hand against the barrier. “Wait…” The vixen was shocked to hear that horrible voice softening. “Do not leave, please. You wished to take the ruby…?”

“Y-Y-Yeah, so?” Faun’s fur began to stand up again.
“Release me, and I shall grant you ten times, no, a hundred times its worth…” said Renubis. His voice trembled slightly with strange emotion… was it longing?

The words cut through Faun’s fear like a knife. “Release you? How? And is that treasure up there yours? Because, really, I could do with…”

“Remove the ruby from the pedestal. It is the seal that keeps me imprisoned…” There was something else in his voice now, a primal hunger…

“Oh, is that all…?” Faun turned back to the jewel, her mind racing. If this creature was telling the truth, it would mean profit that she could hardly imagine. If he was lying… she was reasonably sure she could outrun him and collapse the corridor behind her with a few well-placed grenades. Either way, it seemed she would win out in the end. “O-Okay, if you swear you’ll keep your word, I guess I can let you out.”

Renubis leaned as close to the barrier as he could. “I swear. A thousand times, I swear…”

Faun nodded. She turned to the jewel and took hold of it with both hands, pulling upward. To her shock, it came free easily… there then followed a loud crack as the crimson wall shorted out, and a dry, stale blast of air blew over Faun and rushed down the corridor. The ruby crumbled into dust in Faun’s hands as Renubis lifted his head and let out an eerie howl of triumph that echoed from one end of the ancient structure to the other. When he next spoke, his voice contained the most tangled mix of emotions that Faun had ever heard put into a single word, pain and joy and sorrow and ecstacy all mixed into one…

“Free…!”

END OF CHAPTER 1

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