Everglow: The Trials Of Agaron

8 - A Sinking Feeling

"Do not refuse the task you have been given.

To disobey him is something not easily forgiven."

Ko's eyes snapped open at the sound of the familiar voice. Her heart immediately began to beat faster and faster as that chilling feeling whipped over her tail. She prepared herself for the wall of static and flashing images that normally followed, but for some reason this time it didn't come.

"What you seek lies in the Temple of Agaron, sitting atop it's copper shrine.

Light the lantern and follow the path, or else be lost to the vicious hands of time."

She found herself sitting on top of a giant sand dune, one she vaguely remembered from a previous glimpse.

The desert around seemed to be made up of hundreds of tall sandstone pillars. They were scattered across the sand dunes like crops in a farm. From where she was sitting she spied a large stone mountain with a very ancient looking piece of architecture dug into the wall. It was hard to see from such a distance but it looked like some sort of giant doorway.

"Who are you? What do you want with me? Why do I keep hearing your voice?" She yelled out to the sky.

"I am your map little creature. And you are a piece on a chess board. You will play your part and you shall reap your reward."

Every time it spoke a huge crash of thunder echoed through the black clouds and a giant strike of lighting lit up the sky. She could hardly even hear herself think it was so loud.

"W-what reward? What chess board? What are you talking about, this doesn't make any sense!"

"In time, all your uncertainties will be quenched. Light the lantern. It will guide you through the fog. Agaron will not be defied."

The sky began to growl and shifted to a deep jet black as the voice spoke. Suddenly Ko felt something grasp her wrists tightly. A sensation akin to a sinking feeling began to cover her feet. Looking down she saw strange metal shackles had grasped onto her wrists and had buried themselves into the sand. They looked like they were made from charcoal, a black sooty texture covered them whilst lines of what almost looked like glowing purple veins streaked across them.

Looking down at her feet, she saw that they had begun to sink into the very ground beneath her, ground which had turned from a caramel yellow colour to a charred dark black. The sand seemed to flow inwards towards a singularity, pulling the helpless zapher down with it. Her cries of desperation went unheard as she saw the sand rising higher and higher on her body.

Slowly it made it's way up, swallowing her knees, then her hips, then her stomach, then her breast, then her neck.

With blood shot eyes and an inability to escape, she shrieked desperately as the sand tickled at her snout before finally completely swallowing her.