As if with some past muscle memory I knew just how to match the two artifacts; the stave in my grasp I was compelled to enter the palace. The guards upon seeing my determined eyes, rather pretended they didn't even notice me.

I told the Sheik that his throat would not be safe in slumber if his palace was not retaken from the evils gathering within its walls.

How many slaves does this vestige of a man require to feed his lust. Truth is not found in such matters.

Abhaya looked upon the valuable fabrics with their royal dyes and meticulously crafted patterns. Even silks were among them, along with gilded threads and badges. They were all sunken and stained with blood, never to see the light of day again.

I think that I should guide us to our huts for the night, maybe two. Such sights must have been horrid for a maiden.

So this is what the dead were guarding? Not even the temple guards have been able to venture here...

A guardian of this gateway thought himself victorious, his eyes ablaze with rage; death almost a gift for such creatures.

The in between states in your mind, when dreams find you waking, or the madness of thirst destroys your mind...that is how it feels in this realm.

Strangely, I can sense that some part of me belongs here. It is not nothing, but the ephemeral surplus of nothing -- less than nothing -- that fills this void. Abhaya seems to know the way; I wonder if the whispers of the forces here speak to her from within as well. There will surely be entities here that hold, sustain this matrix; We will be the masters of this creation and it will serve us well. Prepare for vengeance.

Some riddles challenge the intellect, but cosmic enigmas as this leave scars hard to comprehend. Demons and their lords fill the thin air here; they are no match for us. In a rare moment of lucidity, I noticed how odd it was that we were not weary. There is magic here, magic that bends the coils and springs of time.

An old wizard who had become too confident in his madness. I could feel the air shift around us as he fell, yet the gateway here did not close. This bastion of void is now ours.

Taking care to gain all knowledge here, we studied the symbols and tomes hidden here.

Six and Seven, Hell and Heaven.
Two from Thirteen, now Eleven.
Moons and Stars, Venus and Mars.
All forgotten, as their Tsars.

-- Pathei Mathos

Yet more barren sands, but something is different. We must return to make ready. Haste is our enemy for the moment, and I must have time to interpret what has transpired.