The Origin Of Gallahon

After witnessing the destruction of the Sphinx, Anubis, Gallahon and the others had made it to the temple. To enter the temple was to open a stone door. Gallahon tried to open it, but it was stuck. He tried budging it open, but it wouldn’t budge.

“The door is sealed shut. How do we get in now?” Gallahon asked. Anubis approached the door, shoving Gallahon out of the way. If anyone of them knew how to open the door, Anubis did. He took out his specter and placed it on the door. Then he said this:

“In the name of the Pharaoh, open this door.” With only that said, the stone door had opened. Anubis had scouted ahead and the others followed him into the temple.

“This temple is old, very old,” Anubis said. “No one had set foot in this place for 1,000 years. But the mechanics still work.” Gallahon saw a lever on the wall. He pulled it to see what it would do. He pulled it down and a swarm of darts flew out of the wall and onto the other. Luckily no one got hurt.

“Be careful!” commanded Anubis. “This whole place is booby-trapped. It’s designed to keep grave robbers away from the tomb.”

“Is there a safe way through this temple?” Gallahon asked. Anubis turned to face him. He gave Gallahon a blank stare.

“Now that wouldn’t be very smart now would it?” He replied.

“You’re right, stupid question.” The five of them walked deep within the temple. The stone door shut from behind them which startled them. It was pitch black inside the temple. Luckily, there were touches along the walls to light their way. Anubis grabbed some touches and gave one to each. “Keep your touches near you and stick close.” said he. Gallahon had felt something crawl up his arm. He looked at it and before he could shake it off, it stung him.

“Ah! Son of a bitch!”

“What’s wrong?” Anubis asked.

“Damn scorpion stung me. Am I going to die?”

“Depends. How big was it?”

“It was huge.”

“Good.” Gallahon looked at Anubis in question. “It depends on the size of the scorpion. If it’s big, you’ll be fine. But it’s the tiny one’s you got to watch out for. That and scarab beetles. They will eat the flesh right off your bones.” Anubis explained. They’ve heard sounds coming from where they were standing. Trenton lunged his torch forward and the light from the flame revealed a pit of scarab beetles.

“Careful around these things. These beetles will eat your flesh within seconds.” Anubis had warned them. Luckily, it was a small leap across the pit. One by one, they all jumped across and deeper into the temple. They’ve exited the dark hallway and into the chambers. The chamber rooms were bright enough to see in so there was no need for the torches anymore.

Anubis had lead them into the first chamber room which was filled with pits of quicksand.

“Great. How the hell do we get across?” Gallahon asked. Anubis had backed up far enough and charged towards the ledge of the pits. He leaped off the ledge and jumped off the walls until he reached the other side. When he had reached the other side, Anubis looked back at them.

“That’s easy.” Trenton said. He was so confident that he could do the exact same thing as Anubis just did. He backed up far enough and charged towards the ledge full speed. He then repeated the movements of Anubis jumping off the walls. He continued jumping until he reached the other side of the room. Gallahon backed up to try to repeat Trenton and Anubis’s jumping pattern. He then charged with full speed and leaped off. He jumped from one wall to the other.

As he jumped off the last wall, his foot slipped off the ledge. He held on to dear life, not to get swallowed by the quicksand. Aquanna and Nina watched in fear, hoping that Gallahon doesn’t fall in. Trenton reached for his arm and Gallahon grabbed a hold of Trenton’s arm as he pulled Gallahon up.

“Thanks. I owe you.” said Gallahon. As Gallahon scanned the room, he noticed a hidden lever on the wall. He pulled it, curious what it will do. A stoned pathway had raisin’ up from the quicksand. Gallahon looked over at Trenton.

“So your elf eyes didn’t see that lever?” Aquanna and Nina walked on the stoned pathway. They’ve both walked to the middle of the pathway until they heard a crumbling noise. They looked back and saw that the pathway was crumbling down. Aquanna and Nina ran as fast as they could to the other side. The path was coming down too fast. Just before the path was gone, they leaped off and safely made it to the other side of the room.

“That was too close.” said Aquanna in relief.

“We’ve got no time to waste.” Anubis commanded. “We still got six more chambers to go through if you wish to see your friend. Hopefully alive.” He had said nothing more. The others looked at him in curious volume as if they thought that he was up to something. But it was too soon to judge.

Anubis had lead them into the second chamber which was a giant pool of lava in the middle of the room. Luckily, there was a long beam running above the pool. Anubis had gone across the beam first to show them how it was done. His back was straight; his arms were stretched out on both sides of his body keeping him in perfect balance as he walked slowly across the beam one foot in front of the other. Anubis made it safely across. Aquanna and Nina followed as if they were perfect for this. Gallahon and Trenton soon followed.

Aquanna and Nina had made it across. Gallahon and Trenton only made it half way when the beam started to come down. The two thought quickly. There was a small ledge running along the side of a wall. Just as the beam came down, the two leaped and grabbed the ledge. They both started to work their way slowly to the other side. Gallahon got up and leaned against the wall and so did Trenton. They’ve both made it to the other side. As Gallahon and Trenton reunited with the others, Anubis kept on. The four followed as he led them to the third chamber.

In this chamber, the walls were covered with holes. They looked above them and there were spikes on the ceiling and holes. Anubis went first to show them what they must do. The walls spit out darts if you step on the wrong tile. Also, the ceiling was coming down so they had to fit the holes to avoid being crushed. The ceiling fell down, but luckily Anubis was safe. When the ceiling rose back up, Anubis stepped on the right tiles until he made it to the other side of the room.

“Remember the pattern of the correct tiles and go!” commanded he. Nina went first as she had a photographic memory. She was very careful not to step on the wrong tile. The ceiling started to come down again. She had made it to the center where the hole was and was safe. When the ceiling rose back up, she safely walked across the tiled floor to where Anubis was. Trenton decided to go after Nina. Followed by Gallahon and then Aquanna. They made it half way across the room. As the ceiling was coming down, they’ve made it to where the hole was. But the hole was big enough for one person. Trenton jumped through the hole. Aquanna held tight to Gallahon as they both could fit the hole. Trenton ran as fast as he could across the roof of the fallen ceiling.

Aquanna looked at Gallahon’s face and he smiled as if he felt something while Aquanna was holding on to him. Trenton jumped off the ledge of the roof to where Anubis and Nina stood. The ceiling rose up.

“Come on you two love birds!” Trenton shouted to them. Gallahon took Aquanna’s hand and stepped onto the correct tiles. But before they reached the end of the room, Aquanna stepped on a wrong tile by accident. Luckily through Gallahon’s training, he had great reflexes. As a dart blew out at them, Gallahon leaned back and missed the incoming dart.

“Be careful!” Anubis shouted. “Those darts are poisoned!” The darts were flying out at them. Gallahon and Aquanna ran for their lives to the others. Without a scratch on them, they’ve quickly moved on to the fourth chamber room.

Meanwhile back at the castle, two of the guards were bringing Slayer before the king.

“Mi. lord! We’ve found the masked man that was trying to kill the trespasser’s you’ve banished.” King Erloc looked into Slayer’s blood-red eyes.

“Leave us!” Commanded Erloc.

“As you wish.” The guards took a bow and left the throne room. Slayer’s hands were bound so he couldn’t reach for his sword. There, he stood face to face with King Erloc.

“Kneel!” Erloc commanded.

“I kneel for no one.” Slayer answered. “You don’t know who I am or what I’m capable of.”

“Perhaps. But you don’t know who I am either. Now, let’s get straight to the point. Why were you attempting to kill those kids? ”

Slayer had answered the king’s question with another question. “Why were you?”

“Tussah masked man. But I have my reasons. Now answer my question!”

“If you must know, your grace…. I am a cold-hearted killer and I don’t care who I kill. I just enjoy hearing their screams.” King Erloc said nothing. Slayer watched from the corner of his eyes as King Erloc circled around him like a vulture.

“Alright masked man.” He said finally. Erloc took his sword and cut Slayer’s bounds off.

“I’ll make you a deal.” Slayer listened as he rubbed his wrists. “If you can beat me in a fair duel, then you are free to go. However, If I win, you’ll be my puppet and do as I say. Do we have a deal?”

“I accept.” Slayer said. “I never lost a duel that anyone challenged me to.” Erloc and Slayer stood on opposite sides of the room armed with their swords. The duel had begun as they both rushed towards each other, clanging their swords together. As Erloc lowered his defense, Slayer swiped with his blade but missed as Erloc stepped aside. Slayer swung again, but Erloc lunged back away from the tip of Slayer’s sword. Erloc swung and clanged Slayer’s blade. As Erloc swung, Slayer side-stepped and kicked Erloc from the side as Erloc stumbled back.

“Impressive.” As Slayer went in for the killing chop, Erloc blocked with his blade. As Slayer’s sword was locked on Erloc’s blade, Erloc stepped back, causing Slayer to stumble forward. Erloc than kicked Slayer’s chin causing Slayer to fall back. Erloc rushed to Slayer and put his foot on Slayer’s chest while he was down, pointing his sword at Slayer’s neck as the duel was over.

“I win.” Erloc gloated. “Never lost a duel you were challenged to, huh? Ha!”

“I wasn’t at my full potential.” Slayer claimed.

“Guards!” Erloc commanded. “Take this masked man to the dungeons until I figure out what to do with him.”

“As you wish mi lord.” Two guards picked Slayer up from the floor and took Slayer away from King Erloc’s sight. The guards threw Slayer into one of the cells in the dungeon and locked him in. The dungeon was a long dark hallway with torches alongside the walls. The cells were on opposite sides of each other. Slayer could see a figure in the cell across from him.

The figure was revealed to be King Psygon, the rightful owner of this castle. Slayer was in awe to see Psygon locked away in his own dungeon.

Back at the temple, Anubis had almost lead Gallahon and his party out of the temple. There was just one chamber room left. Gallahon had entered the chamber first. The chamber was very dim lit. Gallahon could see in front of him an elderly man sitting Indian style on the stoned floor. A torch was lit on each side of him, left and right. Eight empty cups laid before him.

“You have done well to make it thus far.” The mysterious man said. “Very few had made it to my chamber. But those who did make it here….” Gallahon could see rotten corpses and bones in the room. “…Did not live to tell about it.”

“Who are you?” Gallahon commanded the man to answer his question.

“My name is not important. Considering the fact that I don’t have a name. Now, I suggest that we stop introducing ourselves and begin.