Guardian

Wine-green flames glimmered on the wall torches surrounding the royal mummy that sat in the room, while a small ball the size of a palm thumped, floating within a circular hole in the creature's chest, slowly rotating.

"That mummy is a Guardian," Sett said firmly. "It will have a body as strong as a regular Tier 1 Tomb Raider since this is a D-tier Tomb."

Outside the room with the Guardian, both Sett and Zarah began arguing in soft voices.

"Let's go in and hunt the Guardian, then we can go search for your sister!" Sett said.

Zainah shook her head resolutely. "No. No, that won't do. What if she is hurt before we reach her? What will you do then?"

Sett looked at her with irritation, then ignoring her protest, he pushed the Guardian Room open. She stared blankly and instantly brought the bone flute to her lips—the Guardian looked towards them, its mummified figure looking like an ancient tree branch.

"You just have to distract it with Song of Playfulness," he shouted, running to the side of the room where the wine-green flames were. "I will handle the rest!"

The Guardian slowly stood up and right after, it moved like a phantom towards Zainah herself. She froze for a second, not being prepared at all, and even though she brought her bone flute towards her face, it was too late.

A rustling noise of cloth filled her ears and she saw a piece of thick white bandage floating some meters in front of her. It was very tightly woven and it had a rock tied to its end. The rock flew through the gap between the Guardian's legs.

The Guardian didn't care and ran towards Zainah regardless but grinning, Sett pulled the other side of the cloth bandage, and the mummy simply… tripped.

Quickly, he ran closer, yelling: "Use the song, now!"

Zainah didn't bother arguing and entered the room herself—it felt extra cold. She placed the bone flute on her lips, felt the unique hardness of it, the slightly salty taste. Then, she blew into it gently. 

In her mind, she felt the world turn playful, stop all pointless battles, and become a paradise.

Axiom Tier 1 Attack—Song of Playfulness!

A music, one that played with the mind, echoed into their surroundings.

"Aurghh…" The mummy grew blank.

Sett wrapped his bandage around it forcibly and smirked, then dropped a torch of wine-green flame on top of the bandage itself. Immediately, it began burning, and afraid of the flame himself, he jumped out of the Guardian room with Zainah and closed the door.

A tragic weeping echoed out from within, muffled. 

Boom! Boom!

A fist smashed at the heavy door and they quaked, booming. But soon enough, the sounds stopped.

"You killed a Guardian that simply?" Zainah asked, breathing heavily. "And why is it surrounded by flames, which is its weakness?"

"I don't know really," he replied. "Nobody knows everything about the Tombs, except for the Gods perhaps. Inside these places, more often than not, there will be an antidote nearby if there is a poison. That's how the tomb is, almost as if it wants us to defeat it and become stronger."

Like a trial of sort.

He kept that part unsaid.

Zainah silently digested the words, fear thrumming in her chest. That mummy was so strong it could quake a door as heavy as the one they were behind while it was burning. 

"Just who are you?" She asked. "You seem to know everything, and you are so strong. You already knew how to defeat it before you entered—you used me as bait for it, then used the ribbon-like cloth to bind it, then made me use the flame. All of it was your plan!"

Sett puffed his chest up, squinted his eyes in disdain. "If you heard my name, you will tremble with fear. So don't even bother. Your sister is still not safe."

She nodded immediately.

Suddenly, Sett paused, feeling a peculiar sensation in his chest. Something warm seemed to have entered him.

What is this? 

They slowly opened the door and found the charred remains of the regal Guardian. Its body was as strong as iron, but if they didn't give it a chance to use it, such strength was useless.

Sett said jokingly, "Old crooks called this tactic defeating the forceful with the gentle. I, too, have grown old."

Zainah rolled her eyes. 

Sett squatted down and looked at the hole in the creature's chest. There, still floating was a small ball—the Tomb Heart. In every Tomb, there would be nine of these. He simply rolled it into his palm, sat down, and took a deep breath.

Zainah held back the urge to snatch it away.

Sett took a bite. It didn't have any taste—mummies didn't have the capability of sensing taste. But when eating Tomb Hearts, that was a good thing, these things were disgusting to eat.

Soon enough, it was all in his tummy and he closed his eyes to sense it. The energy would come in waves and it would at first, help him become a Tomb Raider.

But can mummies even become Tomb Raiders?

Sett snapped his eyes open. It was as if something began to crawl out of his rotten chest, like a centipede buried deep inside. Yet, that was just the feeling of his own skin writhing near his chest.

Wasn't this supposed to be a good feeling?

Maybe it was good that he couldn't sense pain. Seconds trickled away and before he knew it, a hole had grown in his chest and a ball—smaller than the hole—floated inside it. His hands clenched on the air, making sounds akin to iron hitting iron.

His broken and disfigured body began to look a bit more healthy, skin and bones mending to resemble a more lively human corpse. Still, he had the same crypt-like smell and looked like an ancient corpse.

He could tell all that just with Zainah's expressions and the skin on his arms.

"You became a… Guardian?" Zainah asked from the side, sinking her nails into her palm.

She was worried about the mummy growing stronger. It was a threat.

"I di..."

Sett droned off. A weird, emotionless voice of himself echoed inside his mind.

[Mummy Magic initial fusion with the Host Initiated!]

[Host suitability confirmed!]

[Fusion complete!]

He frowned.

[You have become a D-Tier (Tier 1) Mummy]

[Revealing refreshed stats.]

Sett couldn't help but be surprised. Not only hadn't he become a Tomb Raider, he had become something akin to a Guardian mummy.

He could feel his improved strength, and so could he also feel a refreshing sensation of growth. 

But what was that voice?

And Guardian mummies were supposed to be trapped inside the room they were born in. Will he be trapped, too?