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Unexpected Detour (Razgriz x Wingshadow)

Sam was caught off-guard by this riddle; she was throwing them at such a fast pace at him that he barely had time to collect his thoughts. "Easy, Sam; she didn't specify a time limit. Think things through and don't get sloppy" he told himself, taking a calming breath to steady his mind. Alright, so it was largest in the mornings and afternoons, and smallest during midday. His first thought was the moon, but that didn't fill the recesses of his minds and it certainly wouldn't fill a pail riddled with holes; the thing wouldn't even come close to fitting into one of those things. And given that solar eclipses happen because the moon passes in front of the sun, it would indeed 'see' the sun.

However, that lead him to the clue that would seemingly give him the answer; the phrase "recesses of the mind" also greatly helped him solve the puzzle. "The answer is.......Darkness" Sam replied confidently; he had a really good feeling that that was the answer to her riddle. During midday, light was at its brightest, it never sees the sun, but because it was light's natural opposite, it is a lot closer to light than one might think.
 
"Very good... I was starting to wonder if you would get that one," the Sphinx's tail swished back and forth once again, kicking up some sand as she did so, "Let's move on to the real test, then... These last two riddles will be quite challenging, so please pay the utmost attention, Sam. Explain this to me: I hide away in a place where I eat and sleep all alone, yet I am not alone for someone else is always with me. I could be male or I could be female, but no one knows which. I am surrounded by a world of voices and ideas that I have neither seen nor understand. I am bathed constantly, yet I am never cleansed. I put no food into my mouth nor open it to breathe, but I neither starve nor suffocate. Nine times must pass over me before my time comes to an end, and another begins... What am I?"
 
Sam gave her a blank look at her comment, crossing his arms in front of him; he wasn't an idiot. But he realized that she probably didn't mean anything by it; he then briefly wondered if anyone ever came here to see the Pharaoh herself and had to answer the Sphinx's questions. If he managed to answer these last two correctly, he'd ask her those questions...if she stuck around after they were done. Some of the other Mamono were the rather flighty type, and the entry he'd seen in the Encyclopedia didn't give much description of her personality. Hell, it didn't even state that she'd ask travelers questions; he'd have to update her entry when this was finished.

However, he put those thoughts of his head as the Sphinx posed her next question; well, this one was certainly more challenging than the last three. More than he expected, anyway; just how the hell was he supposed to answer this? Nine times? The only quip he'd heard of regarding that was cats, but cats needed to eat and breathe, so that was out. For some reason, the phrase 'Nine times' kept ringing out in his head; it was like that phrase was the key to solving the riddle. "Nine times.....nine times......nine times" Sam then uttered lowly, his hand stroking his chin as he gazed down at the sands beneath, his brows furrowed in deep concentration.

"What has nine times before something new begins?" Sam asked himself mentally; then, it just hit him. He looked back up at the Sphinx and said, "An unborn human child" was Sam's answer; that had to be it. There was nothing else that fit that description....in his mind, anyway. For all he knew, there could be something else that fit the description he'd never even heard of.
 
The Sphinx appeared genuinely surprised that he knew the answer to that riddle, as she paused for a few long moments while blinking in absolute silence. During this time, Gnome was confused what the Sphinx's reaction might be while Undie knew all too well that Sam had managed to baffle the Sphinx. Had she intended to stump him with this a question? The answer to that question remained in the air.

"That is correct, human," the Sphinx finally spoke, "You know, when a friend of mine and I used to ask riddles of each other, that very question was one which even I could not answer until I was told the solution. Its very strange, indeed, that you were able to succeed where I had failed all those many, many years ago. You are certainly a worthy opponent, Sam, to consider my fifth and final question. Consider it carefully, and answer... I foresee that the solution to this riddle may even help you sometime in the future."

"Wait... The human gestation period is nine earth months, correct?" Gnome mentally asked Sam for clarification, "Also, those constellations that you mentioned earlier are only recognizable from earth or planets nearby earth. Why would the Sphinx have had a friend who was so familiar with earth? Something seems a bit off here..."

Before Gnome could continue her musings, however, the Sphinx presented her question to Sam, "Explain this final mystery to me: I have marked the beginning of many things, but also the end of just as many. I am sharper than a sword, but I am not a sword. I can travel in all directions at once, at a speed faster than any horse-drawn cart, yet I have no legs. At times I am mocked, and at others I am ridiculed, but I have a value far higher than any amount of gold or silver. I cannot be bought or traded, but I can be possessed. I have no weight, but I am very weighty. I can be carried or held but I cannot be thrown. I can be shared, but I cannot be given... What am I?"
 
Sam smiled inwardly as the Sphinx just stared at him; guess she wasn't expecting him to get it right. Even without her telling that he got it right, her reaction explained it to him for her. "Yeah, I answered your question right, now let's finish this" Sam said as the Sphinx told him that he was indeed correct; however, Gnome's questions made him stop to think. She had a point; how did the Sphinx know so much about Earth? Why would she, the one who guarded this Pharaoh, have associated with someone from his own planet?

But before he could ask, she posed the final riddle to him. Her initial words proposed to him two answers, based either a scientific or a religious approach. The next sentence made his mind swing one way, but the one after that made it swing the other way. One was indeed very valuable, but so was the other. Her words made it difficult to decide; both were weightless, but carried a lot of influence, nor could they be thrown. Technically, both could be shared as well, but it was physically impossible to give either one to anybody.

"Damn.....Which one to choose....." Sam thought to himself; he would remain in thought for quite a while, both on Gnome's words and the riddle at hand. It now bothered him how the Sphinx knew so much about Earth; even if the knwoledge was from her friend, Gnome's question was valid. Something wasn't right......Not right at all. But he would figure it out later; the way he saw it, he would have to answer the question she posed before posing his own. Which was quite alright by him; after his extended period of thinking was concluded, Sam looked at the Sphinx for a few moments, a slight wind blowing and ruffling the edges of his robes, making them flutter in a semi-dramatic fashion.

"The answer to your riddle, Sphinx, is.......Time" Sam then said in what many might consider to be an overly detemined tone; his golden hues peered into hers, waiting for the temple guardian to pass her judgment on whether or not he'd answered the question correctly.
 
Sphinx looked over at Sam with a calm, poised gaze, as if studying him for a reaction. She then looked down toward the sands as a soft, somewhat sad smile spread across her lips. Her tail curled up by itself beside her while she opened her mouth to speak, "You really are just like her in so many ways that you probably don't even realize. When she asked me this riddle, my answer was faith, but she said that only time could possibly hold so much value. Time is something that we should all cherish and hold dear, for it is a very fleeting thing, indeed..."

"You may continue to the Pharoah's pyramid if you wish, for you have passed my test, but remember... Do not pass up what you cannot loose for something that you can never obtain. That is my advice to you," she stood up onto all fours and began to walk away from him, adding in a barely audible voice, "...Use it to save her, for you are the only one who can."
 
Well, that was certainly not the reaction Sam was expecting; his head cocked curiously as she told him he was 'just like her', so much so that he couldn't even see it for what it was. "Thanks......I think" was what he eventually said. What on earth was he supposed to say to that? But at least what she said afterward was true; time was a very valuable thing indeed, one that was often underappreciated and understated. Sam would admit he sometimes didn't appreciate it like he should have, but he always tried to cherish every second of his life, as he knew his time in the grand scheme of things was limited.

However, before he could say anyhing else, the Sphinx started to walk away from. He held his hand out, his voice starting to call out after her, but cut off as she vanished. Well, damn, there goes the chance to ask the questions he wanted to ask. His arm fell back to his side, looking out to where the Sphinx had walked off to. Just who was it that she wanted him to save her? "Did she mean....." Sam stated aloud; however, a loud rumbling interrupted his thoughts. He looked back toward the Pyramid, then down as the sand started to shake; he had to jump back as the shaking grew more and more intense. Where he once stood, a giant lion's head had started to rise above the sand, the loose desert powder falling off the sides and top of the tan-brick structure as it elevated itself more and more.

Sam's eyes traveled up the giant feline head, marveling at the size of it; what happened next would surprise him even more. Another bout of rumbling, and the jaws of the head separated dramatically; the detail was amazing. Fine ornate fangs hung at the corners of the mouth, just like a real lion's mouth would contain, the 'tongue' laying itself in front of him as if welcoming him into its slowly gaping maw. As the mouth opened more and more, the pathway in was revealed: A seemingly infinite stretch of darkness. He could feel an overwhelming amount of dark energy pouring out of the Pyramid, washing over his form.

"Well....Here goes everything" Sam said, taking a quick swig of his hip gourd to relieve the dry mouth caused by his nervousness before walking into the wide open jaws of the stone beast. He took a few steps; he could hear the creaking and groaning, making to turn around to watch as the stone mouth closed behind him. All of a sudden, torches ignited to life along the length of the tunnel, relieving the tension a bit now that the path was mostly illuminated. "This feels like one of those old Egyptian myth films back on Earth" he commented; it was certainly creepy enough. But, he soon started walking forward again, his footsteps echoing down the long hallway as he unknowingly drew closer to the second obstacle in his path to meet the Pharaoh.
 
Before him lay a long, narrow hallway with Egyptian hieroglyphs decorating its entire length. Oddly enough, the planet-wide translation spell did not work on the hieroglyphs, so unless Sam could read them their message remained a mystery. The pictures that accompanied them, however, were far from reassuring.

They depicted scenes from some massive battle, where a large, winged figure with long black hair and white raiment along with her multitude of forces clashed against the armies of the Pharoah in a scale so massive that it filled the entire length of the wall. There were many casualties on both sides, and both seemed to be locked in a dead heat, although the Pharaoh herself (presumably), appearing much larger in scale than anyone else, appeared as a fearsome-looking creature with many long, reaching appendages, a body similar to that of a lion, and a tail which divided itself like a hydra's, each tipped with the head of a snake.

On the opposite wall was a large picture of a beautiful blonde woman, whose elegant, curled hair spread out like a halo about her head as she gazed down upon the entire planet which rested in the palm of her hand... There was something ominous and yet strangely familiar about this woman who held the world in her very grasp, yet neither Gnome nor Undie spoke a word. If they knew anything about her, they certainly were not feeling compelled to explain what they knew at the moment, as the low groan of stone rubbing against stone announced the approach of the first wave of resistance.

Small stone panels built flush against the wall pulled away and slid back to reveal over a dozen small corridors that ran along the long, narrow hallway. The sound of slow, padded footsteps could only mean one thing... Mummies, and from the sound of it, there were dozens if not hundreds of them making their slow yet sure approach. If they waited long, the entire hall would be flooded with them. They needed to get to a more open place to fight, as they couldn't move around much in this hall which could barely fit four men standing shoulder to shoulder across.

(In Egyptian art, the larger someone is in a painting or sculpture, the more important they are. This is vital to understand the importance of the wall painting.)
 
Sam looked along the walls as he made his way down the long hallway. He couldn't translate the hieroglyphs worth a squat, but at least he was able to recognize them for what they were; though he was surprised to see an ancient civilization from Earth having such a large influence here. He soon found himself questioning if the Egyptian motifs found their way here, or if the Egyptians stole them from this planet. The next scene, however, would distract him from these thoughts altogether. It was a battle; he knew enough about Egyptian culture to where he understood that the larger figures were the more significant players in whatever was being depicted. Maybe Sam was being stereotypical, but he imagined that the scarier-looking figure was the Pharaoh; damn was she an ugly thing. Though if that were the case, that meant the person she was facing had to be the Goddess.

Though upon gazing over at the opposite wall, that was thrown out the window; the elegance of the woman in this mural made it clear - to him, anyway - that this was the Goddess. But then, who was the woman in the other picture? Now the other picture didn't make any sense; he paused for a moment to think about what Poseidon had said. She and the Goddess of the Air, her sister, decided to wage war against the Succubus, both sides fighting courageously to what appeared to be a stalemate. However, the Pharaoh betrayed them and sealed her sister. But then the picture was lacking in detail; he didn't see Poseidon anywhere, and the woman with black hair was unrecognizable.

Before he could give it more thought, however, he heard the groaning of stone next to him, forcing the man to turn his attention to the source. On either side of him was another tunnel, leading into an infinite stretch of darkness. He could hear the scraping and shuffling of footsteps; it sounded like whatever was coming after them was dragging its feet. He would soon see that he wasn't far off the mark.

After squinting his eyes, he saw what appeared to be living mummies coming after him; they were slow as molasses, but he could see there were dozens of them coming from just this one door. He couldn't fight them all here, as it was much too narrow. So he took off down the hallway, hoping to find a larger area to ward off this first wave of defenders. As he ran, he looked occassionally to his left and right; mummies seemed to be closer and closer to this main hallway with each successive door he passed. "God damn it, how long is this?" he said disgruntledly as he continued to push his body; he would be soon thankful that he bolstered the Earth armor surrounding his body after his encounter with the scorpion-woman, for his foot accidentally tripped one of the many hidden dangers in the Pyramid.

Arrows flew from the wall at tremendous speed at him; the initial hit of the projectiles scared the crap out of him, making him reactively stop and duck. But after realizing that he was in no danger from them, he just kept running. This however, gave the mummies ahead of him a chance to form what seemed like an effective blockade; or rather it would have been had the arrows not shot out of the walls, impaling their frontmost comrades and making the now-useless corpses form a plug at the doorways. Sam just ran past them all, eventually leading to a large room where four unmarked tunnels branched from this junction. "Aw, hell, where to go now...." Sam muttered; he then turned around to see the mummies that hadn't fallen victim to the Pyramid trap approaching him from the rear, albeit slowly. He seemed to have forgotten that there was a massive army of Mummies behind him, all seeking one thing from the unfortunate male.
 
Gnome closed her eyes and let a small surge of her power flow into the Pyramid, and after a few moments she then replied, "All four of them lead toward a large room near the center of the Pyramid. However, the two in the center are less direct and have more corridors leading toward them, so we should take one of the two outer paths."

"Which one?" Undie demanded clearification.

"Either one! I can't detect the traps at this range so I can't say which of them is safer, so we will just have to take our chances. We really don't have the time to be arguing about this," Gnome gestured in the air, signifying the army of mummies which were slowly yet surely approaching them, desiring to drain Sam dry of his semen then drag his tired form to see the Pharaoh, who would doubtless put him to good use...

"So dry... I feel so dry... Don't you have something to make this dryness go away?" one of the mummies groaned, her bandage-covered fingertips reaching toward him, "Please, I always feel so dry..."

The mummies could smell him, their eyes which gleamed through the bandages seemed to glow with anticipation. Some of the closer ones began to unravel a length of the bandages, revealing their surprisingly well-preserved arms. They had some sort of tattoos marking their skin, which is what the Anubis which commanded these mummies used to control them, although right now it seemed they were moving about of their own volition. They were all artificial creations, unfortunate human women who had fallen prey to the Pharaoh or her Anubis and been turned into these sad creatures which possessed hyper-sensitive skin and the insatiable desire for semen to quench their body's raging dryness. They would use their bandages and their incredible physical strength to hold their victims and prevent escape while they extracted his semen, then once satisfied their ability to think rationally would be temporarily restored and they would become docile. However, there were so many mummies approaching Sam that satisfying them all was not even possible. They were quite similar to zombies, yet their bodies showed no signs of decay as they had been very well preserved... Perhaps they were not even truly dead, but merely suffering from some sort of curse.

In any case, they couldn't stick around and ponder this question for very long. Several of the mummies in the first line were already sending their bandages out toward Sam like magic-infused lassos, trying to bind him and draw him into reach of their hands. Although Sam was more than a match for a single mummy, if too many managed to get a hold of him at once, even Gnome's power wouldn't be able to break out of their grasp.
 
Sam turned around and saw the group of mummies approaching him; he couldn't have them following him throughout the Pyramid. Even if he eluded them now, all future encounters would have them at his back, and he would need to give himself as much of an advantage as possible. "Stop arguing, you two......We need to deal with these abominations first; we can't have them following us. It would be too much of a distraction" he then said; he was feeling a bit frustrated. The Sphinx made it seem like she was the only obstacle to the Pharaoh herself; though he guessed he should have known better. But still, she could have at least warned him about the traps and other defenses.

He backed up as the massive group slowly approached him, his mind trying to think of a solution as his eyes narrowed. He could just kick their butts back to the holes they came from. The only problem was, there were so many of them; he couldn't fight them all off, he would drain too much of his power that way. He needed a way to bring them all down and block any others from getting to him; he then looked up at the ceiling and got an idea. It would probably use up a fair portion of his energy, but he'd save most of it doing it like this. At least, that's how it worked out in his mind. "Gnome, lend me your strength" he said as he positioned himself so that his back was facing the farthest-left passageway and called upon his Earth contract, the insignia of the Earth burning brightly on his palms as he raised his hands over his head and focused on the ceiling. This stunt would require precise timing; one wrong move and he could potentially kill himself.

As the army of bandaged, bound souls drew closer and closer, Sam was trying to pull the ceiling down on top of them; for some reason it was exceptionally difficult, even with the advanced stage of his contract with Gnome. "Come on, come on" he grumbled, trying his damnedest to make the stone overhang collapse. He then heard what he considered to be a glorious noise; the cracking of stone, feeling small bits of powdered sandstone brick falling his head. He wasn't even considering that they might not be dead, but then again, it wasn't like they were exactly going to be considerate of his own personal well-being either.

Just before they were about to reach him, a loud explosion rang from above them; large chunks of Pyramid ceiling soon gave way and fell, landing with extreme force on top of the army of Mummies. Sam's eyes snapped open just as the relief from the strain was felt, making him throw himself straight back into the tunnel just as the roof caved in, unknown to the small band of travelers that he'd even sealed all four corridors. Sam lay upon his back as the darkness of the tunnel enshrouded him, the torchlight from the main entrance having been cut off due to his quick thinking. It probably wasn't the most ideal solution, but it was one that he saw that was the most efficient.

Sam just laid on his back, panting slightly from both shock of nearly getting crushed by his own trick and the rather pronounced exertion needed to pull it off. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he breathed out a sigh and rolled over onto his stomach, his heated hands pushing against the cool stone floor as he then rose to his feet. After dusting himself off, he made his way down the tunnel, trying to feel his way through the darkness. "Man, I can't see a thing....." Sam commented, his arms out in front of him as he navigated somehow, eventually seeing a bright light at the end.

Upon exiting the tunnel, he found himself in another large, very well-lit room. "Oh, great, now what?" he snarled; he was quickly getting fed up with this, even though he only experienced only one wave of resistance so far. This room was much larger; however, there appeared to be no way out. There weren't even any markings on the wall. "Great, all the paths to choose from and it leads to a dead end" he commented exasperatedly. Now what was he supposed to do?
 
The large square room seemed particularly bare, even devoid of any distinctive markings or hieroglyphs as if the room had been recently built and had not yet been given any memorial markings of any sort. This was particularly strange since there seemed to be even a large stack of stone blocks in the center of the room, perhaps leftover materials from finishing the construction of this room. There didn't seem to be any way out of here, as Sam had observed, with all the blocks in the walls identical to each other and firmly placed together.

"That can't be possible..." Gnome whispered, "I could swear I saw a path leading out of this room... Perhaps the Pyramid itself shifts like a giant Chinese puzzle box, making it very hard to determine the proper path. I can't say for certain, but I-"

The rest of Gnome's musings were cut off as the seemingly inanimate stack of blocks in the center of the room started to move. The blocks broke down into smaller brick-like blocks which shifted and moved until the large form of a golem came into shape. She had a human-like body at her center, but all around her she had blocks of stone protecting her soft body, some of which were drawn with sealing runes which gave her orders... The orders which now glowed on her shoulders were to defeat any intruder and bring him before the Pharoah. Without even pausing for a moment, the golem pulled back her right fist like a giant mallet and hurled it forward toward Sam's chest.

"Sam... Call upon my power," Undie's voice was firm and clear, "She might seem slow now, but golems build up momentum as they fight. I can help you in this fight, and it might be the only chance we have against her."
 
"It's not your fault, Gnome; we can find a way out. We just need to....." he then stopped as he gazed upon the shifting pile of stone blocks, watching as they formed a tall, stone-plated woman with long hair. He could see brightly glowing symbols, but didn't what they were. Just what the hell was this thing? He started to call upon his Earth power again, but was interrupted by Undine; a Golem? The hell was that? Some kind of stone monster, obviously, but he was getting weirded out by the increasing strangeness of these creatures and was about to ask Undine just who thought to create these things.

However, he stowed his question upon seeing the Golem start to throw a punch his way, shifting from Earth to Water, the green of his palms fading as the blue of his forehead took over, surrounding his body in a similar blue aura. "Undine, calm my mind and make me one with The Flow" he said, feeling the effects of Clear Mind taking over his body. His body leaped instinctively to the left, feeling the massive power of her fist miss him by inches and crash into the wall behind him. The blow was so massive that the middle two entrances to the room were now destroyed. It would up to Undine to help guide him through this fight; he didn't know anything about Golem physiology or weak points, so he was at a disadvantage here.
 
"Golems are ancient guardians of important places such as this pyramid. They are usually calm and non-violent unless they are low on power, but this one seems a bit different than the usual Golem. The strongest part of the Golem is her arms and fists, which are almost entirely made of stone... If you try to break off a part of the armor protecting her body, more stone will simply take its place. We don't have the luxury of repeating this process until she runs out of stones, but thankfully there is another option available to us," Undie explained, "Those runes on her shoulders are how her master gives her commands. They are written in an ancient language which I cannot read, but if we can erase them she should stop moving on her own."

The Golem made another sweeping strike toward Sam, which he could easily dodge now that he had entered The Flow. It was as if the entire world was going in slow motion, allowing him to perceive every aspect of its being and study its very structure. The runes on the Golem's shoulders were clearly visible to him, but being able to reach them while evading her attacks was a bit more difficult than it would seem at first glance.
 
Sam had indeed entered The Flow; however, his proficiency at using both Undine and Gnome's powers simultaneously was still imperfect. Even now, the natural Earth armor which surrounded him had significantly weakened when he summoned Undine's power to help him maintain the Clear Mind state; it could reduce the amount of damage taken should he suffer a direct hit from the Golem's massive fist, but it would still hurt like hell. But he couldn't afford to hold back, not now; he needed to use everything he had at his disposal. This was but the first major obstacle in his journey, and he would see this through.

"Alright, erase the runes on her shoulders.....Sounds easy enough" Sam then said, emphasizing the word 'Sounds' to indicate he understood that it wouldn't be as easy as it looked. Hardly anything was; there was a catch or a trick somewhere, he just needed to be careful and find it. Sam's connection to The Flow enabled him to sidestep the swing of the Golem's arm, feeling the blast wave as she crushed the passageway entrance to his right; even if the mummies made it through his cave-in, they'd have a hell of a time making it through the Golem's rampage.

Sam jumped onto the arm that the Golem just swung at him with, forming some of the rubble into a blade to try and cut the rune plate on her shoulder......If only it were that easy.
 
Just as he formed the stone blade and raised it up to cut away the runes, however, his Clear Mind state faded and the world instantly reverted to its former speed. The Golem easily shrugged him off herself, throwing him off-balance and clear into the air just as she brought up her other arm in an attempt to catch him while still mid-air. It wasn't a strong enough blow to kill him, as she was under strict orders not to terminate him, but it would feel about as pleasant as being punched by a eighteen-wheeler.

"Oh... I forgot to mention," Undie chimed in, "If you take any aggressive action the state of Clear Mind fades almost instantly as aggression works counter to The Flow. Its like trying to melt water and freeze it at the same time."

"You should have brought that up earlier!" Gnome remarked with poorly veiled anger, "How are we supposed to both erase the runes on her shoulder and avoid her attacks at the same time?"

"That's for you two to figure out," Undie quipped, "If I knew a way, I would have already told you about it."
 
"What the....." Sam shouted out as he felt his connection to the flow instantly sever; it wasn't long after that Sam felt himself get tossed into the air, his body flipping around as he watched the Golem's forearm close in for the kill. He managed to solidify his armor enough to where the damage would be largely mitigated, but the resulting collision from him getting hit into the final archway and having a pile of stone fall on top of him still hurt like hell. He pulled himself out from the rubble, his skin sporting a cracked, spotchy spiderweb appearance from his armor being fractured and broken heavily in several places.

"Well, that would have been nice to know" Sam commented, his breathing more akin to a heavy grunt, supporting Gnome but at the same understanding Undine's position; what good was it to tell them? But at least now he knew: He couldn't attack while using the Clear Mind. That meant it was a purely defensive technique. Which meant that a frontal assault like that was out of the question; she was too fast for him despite her size. "Alright, then.....we have to somehow get her into a vulnerable stance, one where she can't maneuver easily then break one of the rune plates. But answer me this, Undine....If the rune plate is shattered, can she regenerate it?"
 
"No, Golems can only follow the commands written on the runes. They do not have the ability to write their own runes unless they change masters, in which case they simply change the name of their master. They cannot write new orders for themselves, so if you destroy the rune plate she should stop moving. She can regenerate the plate all the likes, but that won't redraw the runes," Undie explained, "Of course, the reason why they are drawn on her shoulders is precisely because that is the hardest place for someone to reach, assuming they aren't extraordinarily tall."

"Well, we aren't extraordinarily tall," Gnome pointed out the obvious, "So, can you think of any other way we could get up there that does not involve growth?"

"Why don't you form stalactites out of the ceiling blocks and wait until she steps under them, then let them fall onto the rune plate and shatter it," Undie gestured toward the ceiling, "That way we can keep dodging on the ground and dont have to worry about climbing on top of her or anything like that... Aren't I smart? Please give me praise if you think I was smart just then."

"This isn't the time for this..." Gnome mumbled.
 
"So Golems are the robots of this planet, then......" Sam mused; robots from his world could only follow the instructions imprinted onto the memchips inserted into the back peripheral receivers. It was highly likely that he would have to destroy both plates, else the Golem would continue to assault him. This was no different, the exception being this one could fight back. And hard too; Sam's body was extremely sore and fatigued from the heavy blow he suffered. Luckily, their battle left all four entrances to the chamber caved in, so even if some mummies survived his own cave-in tactic, they couldn't get to him now.

His mind pondered Undine's suggestion; that could work. The ceiling was high enough to where it would reach a decent speed; he just hoped it would fall fast enough to crack the plate and that the Golem wouldn't smack the falling stone spearhead away. "That's not a bad idea, Undine..Good thinking". He took a deep breath, placing his hands on the ground and forming stone around his arms, creating a diversion for the Golem's attention so that she wouldn't see the stalactites forming above her. "Here's to hoping it works.....Undine, calm my mind and help me be one with The Flow" he then said; now he just had to get her into position.
 
"I suppose you could think of them in that way, but making them is a very difficult process, only possible with a large mount of magical energy... They aren't just a matter of putting metal parts together and switching them on," Gnome explained, although at this point it wasn't that important exactly what the Golem was when compared to a robot.

"The Flow is around us... The Flow is within us... The Flow is a part of us," Undie replied to Sam's request, linking his consciousness to her own and guiding him to a state of absolute calm and concentration upon the ebbing of the universe around them, bringing him into a state of Calm Mind. As she did so, the Golem spread out her arms and wound up for yet another strike, which Sam could easily dodge, followed by a faster, lower sweep across the ground that would force him to jump. As she moved forward, she stood below the stone spearheads hanging from the ceiling, which she didn't pay much attention to. After all, her orders were to defeat any and all intruders and bring them before the Pharaoh, not to observe the scenery.
 
Sam jumped back just as the Golem swung at him, Undine's assistance with The Flow proving to be invaluable; dodging and avoiding the strikes would be infinitely easier now. His body moved seamlessly, sidestepping and leaping over the blows the Golem threw at him to try and render him unable to resist. His mind flawlessly perceived every fluctation, every disturbance in The Flow and reacted instinctively, accordingly; it was almost like having a set of eyes looking into the future. Almost.

Sam's mind noticed that the Golem soon positioned under the stalactite group and reflexively, he severed his connection to The Flow and the state of Clear Mind. "Gnome, lend me your strength" Sam said, drawing now on the power of the Earth. The blue symbol of Water disappearing from his forehead and the twin symbols of Earth roaring to life on his palms, his aura instantly shifting from blue to green as well. His hand then slammed into the wall behind him, hard; the resulting collision knocked the overhead stone spears loose, forcing them to fall straight down towards the unsuspecting Golem. For Sam, anyway, they seemed to fall relatively slowly; he silently prayed that this would work as he watched them fall, drawing closer and closer to their victim.
 
With a loud, crunching sound the pointed tips impacted the Golem's armored shoulders and arms, breaking some of the runic plates and rendering the writing incomprehencible. She blinked twice, as if confused, and all at once the blocks began to fall away from her body as her soft human body tumbled down the pile of stone that had made up her armor mere moments before. She curled up into a fetal position and seemed to go completely dormant, apparently unharmed but no longer active. Gnome and Undie let out a sigh of relief, but it was far too soon for them to relax.

Some of the blocks on the far side of the room pulled out of the wall and shifted to form a hallway, but standing in the center was a tall woman holding a staff, wearing what appeared to be a black wolf-skin hat, gloves, and boots, complete with a tail. Her eyes were intense and demanded attention, a look of superiority and command graced her visage as she glanced down at Sam firmly, "Just what do you think you are doing? I felt a disturbance at the front gate and here I find the entire front gate destroyed and the guardian Golem inactive. You, human, must be the one responsible..."

"She's an Anubis, one of the Pharoah's underlings which commands the Mummies," Gnome told Sam, "They usually have a severe superiority complex, and their spells revolve around vocal commands and words, as well as charm spells using her eyes. If you want to get through this, we need to find a way to fight her without looking at her or hearing her... Or you could try matching wills against her and overpowering her in that way. That's known to work on occasion."

"Submit yourself to my will!" the Anubis barked out, her eyes flashing.
 
Sam watched the Golem quite literally crumble as the runes on her shoulders were rendered useless; though when she finally lay on the floor, all curled up like that, Sam couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of guilt. He indeed took solace in the fact that the Golem's now human-sized yet curvy form seemed unharmed; though the way she didn't move at all, so completely still, was admittedly unnerving. Well, that was anothe obstacle dealt with; little did he know that another would make itself known to him.

Before Sam could even think about checking on the Golem to make sure she was alright, a wall seemed to split open, revealing a woman standing a full head taller than he; the only differences being the wolf ears and matching front and hind paws at the ends of her human limbs. Her tail was long and bushy, just like a real wolf's would be. She seemed to command respect, her attitude making it seem that all should bow before her.

"An Anubis, huh?" Sam stated rhetorically, listening as Gnome explained the psychological profile of this species of monster girl. Superiority complex, eh? "I can beat her potentially by trying to match wills, hmmm? That should be interesting.....Let's give it a shot". Upon hearing her command to submit, Sam crossed his arms and replied, his intense gaze peering right into her own as he replied, "No, you're going to submit to me, Anubis. You will take me to see the Pharaoh......unharmed, untouched". He then cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders, his tone getting a bit more sinister, "Unless....you want to end up like the Golem". He nodded his head to the fetal-positioned woman laying on the ground, inactive from her fight with Sam.
 
"You will have to do a lot better than that to frighten me, Human," the Anubis turned her head to the side slightly, taking a few more steps closer to Sam as if observing him, clearly a bit unnerved at how her initial spell had failed to have any noticeable effect on his behavior. He clearly had a strong will to be able to resist her, but she felt confident that he would eventually crack under the strain. They all did, after all, and were much happier about it afterward.

"If you want an audience with the Pharaoh, you will have to approach her upon all fours and your head hung low, just like the meager slave that you are," the wolf-like woman declared with confidence, "Did you think that just by defeating one of the Pyramid's guardians you could just waltz into the throne room of the Pharaoh herself? Don't make me laugh... Just give up and give yourself over to me."
 
(Hehe, this is going to be fun)

Well, she certainly was a brave one; he knew he wasn't invincible, but he knew deep down he could easily best her in one-to-one combat. But he would rather avoid that; he consumed too much energy trying to combat the Golem. But he pushed those thoughts from his mind and focused on the Anubis. Sam smirked as she started to approach him, seeing that he'd planted the seed of doubt into her head.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I submit to no one." Sam replied, his will unwavering as he locked eyes with the Anubis, taking a few steps closer to her as well and closing the distance between them even more. "Now tell me, Anubis, why on Earth should I do that? This is so much more entertaining.....Wouldn't you agree?" He paused and took another few steps closer to her, putting themselves even closer together. "I bet no one's ever even so much as looked your way. You're sick of it, I can tell. You're sick of everyone noticing the Pharaoh, talking of the Pharaoh, when you're so much better than her..."
 
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