Chapter 12

A small altar that was almost negligible gave it away.

It stood close to a broken wall that was roughly triangular, with the jagged, chipped edges.

I looked at the altar as my camel rode past, and then looked away, going forward till I looked again, and saw another altar like it, just as small and near a roughly triangular wall with jagged, chipped edges. Then I rode forward again, and saw another altar like it, just as small, and near another roughly triangular wall with the same jagged, chipped edges. All similar.

At first, I thought this was something the king who destroyed the city had done, but it was all too similar. The same cracks and chips in the same places.

Swallowing, I held up my hand and watched the shadow of me on my camel by my right side. From the map on my system dashboard, I could clearly recall that I had been heading north all along, and even now, it was proof that I was still heading north. Then, urging my camel so that it went in the straightest line that it could, I continued, and after a thirty minute journey, saw the same small altar near the same rough, almost triangular wall, with the same cracks and chips on its body.

It was like I had been moving in circles all day.

Except, I wasn't. I was going straight, and still coming across the same altar.

My camel had not turned aside, not to the left, and not to the right, and neither did my shadow change in the slightest direction. All that had changed was that the shadow had become longer as the sun set and went lower down the horizon, which meant my direction had not changed, and I had moved in a straight line. Only time had changed as the sun moved.

I stopped the animal as the words Maia had said to me came to mind:

"Any passerby who did not know about the city got lost inside of it."

"Hades." I growled under my breath, incensed to suffer another trick from the deity. Now I was sure that I had first seen the altar in the morning, and had somehow moved in circles in a straight line without knowing until now.

My whole day was wasted, and I still had all the distance to Pella to cover.

"Maia?" I called, trying to use the calmest voice I could while knowing that my System Guide had its own temper and mood, which I would be foolish to disregard. Last time I was rude to the guide, I was almost lost to the Sand Demons.

"Yes?" Her voice answered, and I ground my teeth before speaking.

"Did you know that we've been… in a literal sense… going nowhere for the whole day?"

"I did. It's part of your test."

I shut my eyes and clenched my metallic fists at this point, holding myself from casting every obscene curse I had ever known on both Hades and Maia. I should have known it when I asked her how far I was from Pella and she said I was close enough. That had been a complete trap to keep me focused on the goal while a gulley lay between myself and it.

Around me, the earth was becoming darker, and I had not slept for the whole night and the day after. With all the effort I could, I held my rage in and went to tie my camel near the altar before taking off my hood and crumpling myself upon the floor for the night.

Thankfully, sleep carried me away.

Else I would have cursed Maia for sure.