The party walked together to the bottom of the stairs leading up to the dais the Akela was lounging on. The others seemed hesitant, which Qube understood. It was mildly uncomfortable to be stared at by a bunch of mummies, but she worked hard not to let her unease show.

“So, is anything about this striking you as odd?” the Chosen One asked her casually. For once he wasn’t leading the way, instead keeping step beside her and watching her face.

Qube coughed lightly.

“Well, I don’t really know what the SandBright people are like,” she said, “so I really couldn’t say. It’s certainly some very interesting infrastructure.”

“Don’t you want to talk to one of the people?” the Chosen One pushed.

“After we talk to the Akela,” Qube said. She wasn’t sure why the Chosen One was so insistent about wanting her opinion on the place — oh, unless he was trying to see if leadership had changed her? Or he was feeling awkward about being surrounded by mummies and didn’t know how to mention it in front of them?

She laid a calming hand on his bicep as they reached the bottom stair.

“Don’t worry,” she whispered, “if something goes wrong, I know we can deal with it.”

The Chosen One looked thoroughly confused by her support.

“Wait, so you do realise something is wrong?” he asked at a normal volume.

“Welcome to our finest work,” the Akela said, sweeping their arm dramatically to encapsulate the whole settlement.

Sewer Bard was staring at the Akela.

“I thought the pharaoh said the Akela was a woman?” he said very, very quietly to the others. “This individual sounds exactly like the pharaoh. Could he possibly have deceived us, and managed to teleport here?”

Qube bit her bottom lip as she tried to think.

“Hold on,” she whispered to the others. “I have an idea. If it’s the pharaoh, I think I can trick him into revealing himself.” She stepped forward, and swept a bow based purely on witnessing Sewer Bard’s efforts. It was a little awkward and jerky, but she thought she’d managed to conduct herself quite credibly.

“Oh great pharaoh,” she said grandly. “We have a gift for you!”

Then she waited.

Not by so much as a twitch did the figure indicate they’d heard Qube.

“It is a great gift, capable of helping you take over the entire world!” Qube said louder. “All I ask is your permission to give it to you!”

“What are you talking about?” Definitely Bad Guy asked her in a low voice. “Did you spot something in the tomb with abilities that I missed?”

Qube ignored him, instead watching the being in question like a Fire Hawk. But there was nothing. No movement. No acknowledgement of any kind. Qube relaxed, and tugged on Sewer Bard’s sleeve, drawing his ear towards her mouth.

“Sewer Bard,” she whispered quietly. “Ask them if they’d like to hear about our adventures.”

The Bard gave her a sharp look, his brow furrowed as he tried to figure out what the Healer was up to.

“Undisputed leader of this realm,” he said, giving a bow much more elaborate than Qube’s.

Show off, Qube thought.

“We have had many adventures, and travelled far to see you. May we regale you with tales of our efforts?”

The gold-dipped figure waved away his offer.

“While we are grateful to you for assisting us in our plight, we have no need to hear the minutiae of your toils.”

Qube grinned as her theory was proven correct and took a victory step forward.

“The pharaoh,” she said, spinning on one foot to face the rest of the group like she was giving a lecture, “could see me, thanks to the combined power of [The Bard’s Ballad] and my [Heal]. But this person cannot hear or see me.” She gestured at the figure, who continued to lounge on the stone throne. “Therefore, they are not the pharaoh!”

Qube swelled with pride as she saw the awe and respect in the other’s faces at the sheer power of her reasoning. Even the Chosen One was looking at her with admiration (and rather more surprise than she would have liked, to be honest).

“So this must be the Akela!” she finished triumphantly. “If you wish to check, we can return to the tomb and see if the pharaoh is still there!”

The Chosen One wiped an imaginary tear away from his eye.

“You’ve really grown,” he said, half jokingly, but with an undercurrent of real emotion.

Qube flipped her hair in a move learned from Sexy Screamy Spider Lady.

“Naturally, dear,” she said, imitating the Hunter. The Chosen One gave her a look of mock alarm.

“Oh no,” he said, “you’re even learning from each other. This is concerning.”

Qube rolled her eyes at him.

“You’re even learning sassiness,” he said. “What, are you going through your ‘teenage rebellion’ phase? Wait, actually, how old are you?”

“Chosen One, we’re supposed to —” Qube was cut off by the Akela, who couldn’t hear her, crooking a finger at the Chosen One, beckoning him closer.

“For your minor assistance,” she said, “you may return to us in a short while, and peruse any wares we have accumulated.”

“Ask her about the gem,” Qube hissed. The Chosen One glanced at her, and shook his head slightly. Oh! Of course! The party was supposed to be completing the Light Temple, not him! Shooting him a grateful smile for his subtle reminder, she turned to the rest of the group.

“One of you should ask her for her Light Temple gem,” she suggested. “And her people’s version of the flail, too.”

Sexy Screamy Spider Lady and Definitely Bad Guy both looked to Sewer Bard. The Bard smirked, and gave another bow to the Akela.

“Since our work is complete, we shall be continuing on our journey then,” he said.

And waited.

“You are excused from our presence,” the Akela said.

Sewer Bard gave the leader an irritated look, before moving into his diplomatic expression.

“While true heroes do not expect any kind of reward, would you happen to have anything that would help us with our quest?” he asked in tones so suave that, if Qube hadn’t seen that moment of anger, she wouldn’t have even known he was annoyed.

“You have your reward,” the Akela replied, irritated. The Bard’s expression became even blander.

“Is there naught you can give us to assist?” he asked.

“You have your reward,” the Akela repeated. “You may leave,” the Akela dismissed them with a wave.

“Wait, is she actually refusing to give us the gem?” Qube asked incredulously. They’d worked so hard to fulfil both chaos and order! She’d pushed herself to her very limit, travelling beyond this realm to touch the power of the Devs!

She’d modified the very fabric of the pharaoh to keep everyone safe, and this Akela wasn’t even going to give them their loot? No, wrong word; she wasn’t the Chosen One! Their quest items! Yes, that sounded better. Their very necessary tools to help overthrow the Evil Emperor and bring peace to the kingdom!

This was totally unacceptable! She looked at the Chosen One, expecting him to be completely furious at being denied what he, and only he, would classify as loot.

The Hero shrugged. “Pity.”

What?

“Yes, it’s a great pity,” Qube said cautiously. This wasn’t like the Chosen One at all! “Why isn’t she giving us the gem and flail?”

Had Qube not done what the Temple wanted? Or was the Akela just being difficult? Was she even allowed to refuse to give them their reward? After all, this was to save everyone! Was it because they hadn’t gotten the Bestowals?

The Chosen One scratched his nose.

“Ah, well, um,” he stuttered, frantically looking around. “Well, why don’t you check and see if she’s hiding it from us?”

Qube was about to reject this idea out of hand when she paused. While the pharaoh had obviously been in the wrong to murder his people, the Akela was also in the wrong to refuse to give them her gem and item. With her newly flexible understanding of Good vs. Evil, Qube would see that, while the Akela was obviously on the side of Good for stopping the pharaoh from slaughtering people, she wasn’t being Good by refusing to help them. Because that was hurting everyone.

Therefore, the Good thing to do would be to steal from her.

Qube snuck up the stairs and peered around the sandstone throne. Close up, the Akela looked even more like the pharaoh. The resemblance was really quite uncanny. The idea stirred in Qube that, while the pharaoh had done wrong in all the killing, he might have originally been driven to become pharaoh by the Akela’s refusal to do the right thing.

Could someone have Good intentions, but end up doing Evil?

A scary thought.

Carefully searching the area, Qube couldn’t find any sign of the gem or the Akela’s version of the flail. They must be held within her inner pockets! Would Qube have to shove her head into her body, like she’d once accidentally done with Sexy Screamy Spider Lady, and wrench the items out of her? What would that do to the Akela? Would that kill her?

Would Qube have then done something Evil for the sake of Good?

No. She couldn’t do it. Not even to get their rightful reward. She couldn’t deliberately violate and endanger someone just to get what she wanted. Qube swallowed hard against the bitter disappointment that rose within her.

Stepping away from the Akela, Qube noticed that the leader’s hand, which had been languidly waving back and forth, seemed to stutter for a second, before resuming its rhythmic movement.

How odd.

Returning to the Chosen One empty-handed, Qube gave him a worried look.

“I didn’t find anything,” she said, deciding not to mention her theory about accessing the Akela’s inner pockets.

“That’s fine,” the Chosen One said easily. “We don’t actually need both. It would have been cool, but this was also pretty fun to watch.”

Oh. Of course. The Golden Prophecy had never explicitly said that they needed to acquire two of each gem and item. It had just been the way they’d done every other Temple. And, Qube supposed, if they really got stuck trying to defeat the Evil Emperor, maybe they would be able to come back, and talk the Akela into giving them her gem and item?

It wasn’t the perfect ending to the Light Temple, and the rest of the party’s first foray into trying to do things their own way, but it’d still been an amazing experience.

Now they only had Definitely Bad Guy’s personal quest, and the final Temple, then they could take on the Evil Emperor and save the kingdom! With their powerful team cohesion, top-notch puzzle solving skills, and ability to face down any problem as a Golden Prophecy approved group, they’d be able to restore the king and queen to the throne and ascend to the realm of the Devs in no time!

After all, how hard could it be?

END OF BOOK TWO

Author’s Note:

Book two is done! Aaaa! There is an epilogue coming next week it is DONE!

Originally this was planned as a two book series. That… uh, well, that didn’t happen (obviously). This is gonna be a trilogy. I got distracted by side quests.

And, as always, this wouldn’t have been possible without Steven, best of bros and long-suffering housemate, who would go on hour-long walks with me while I ranted about the world of PAC, and offer suggestions that only served to enhance my work.

ANYWAY SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!