Desert Wizard: The Youth Awakening the Ancient Magic

Chapter 6: The Ancient Temple

Karim and Safia went through even more days of exhausting walking in the desert. Their “companions” at that point were the burnt sun and the howling sandstorms. One afternoon, while the sun was perpendicular above the desert, giving it all its energy, Safia suddenly stood still. She was staring with concentration at the shadow of a building which seemed to be far away.

“Karim, look over there,” Safia said while indicating the direction. Her voice expressed happiness and hope with every word.

Karim glanced in the direction she pointed and was surprised by what he saw. Far away, at the end of the sand dunes, an ancient temple stood as the only thing that could be seen through the heat waves. The temple walls were made of enormous stones. The remaining parts still looked astonishing despite their decaying state. Parts of the walls were partially destroyed. At the upper side of the temple, a broken statue stood facing towards the desert, resembling ancient tales.

“That’s one of our destinations, an ancient forgotten temple. It holds many secrets about the magic of the ancients. Perhaps it can help you better master the ‘Soul of the Sand’,” Safia explained.

Karim felt the fatigue leave his body the moment he started noticing the details of the temple. The gates of the temple were locked, but he could see strange flickering runes carving out patterns beneath the sunlight.

“Step aside, I have to do some magic,” Safia said as she placed her hand on the gate. She whispered some magic words and motes of light started to dance from her fingers. He watched in amazement as the runes gained power and the gate appeared to open.

As soon as the gate opened, gusts of stale, dusty wind erupted, causing Safia to cover her mouth.

“Stay close to me for now. There’s no telling what new perils this place could hide,” said Safia, leading him deeper into the temple with curiosity guiding their every step.

Karim clutched his sand sword tightly and followed Safia step by step. The temple was quite dark inside. Only a palmful of sunlight trickled in through the holes in the ceiling, forming golden shafts of light on the floor. Sunbeams shimmered with light, and countless specks of light floated in the air as if telling the tale of the fascinating past. The walls were painted with exquisite murals depicting scenes of ancient sorcerers casting powerful magic and powerful beings battling mysterious creatures.

While they walked, Safia gave Karim some deeper insight into the meaning of the murals. "Look, these paintings depict some periods in the history of magic. Sorcerers controlled nature; the desert was also a friend. They protected the land through magic, and the most powerful magic was called ‘The Soul of Sand.’ However, everything came crashing down at some point. Powerful magic started vanishing, and with time this temple lost its relevance.”

Karim was paying very close attention now, his eyes glued to the murals. Suddenly he had a feeling that some magical energy hint was located somewhere in the furthest point inside the temple. “Safia, don’t you feel it? There is something very strange about this energy,” Karim spoke in a whisper.

Safia nodded, her expression sharpened. “Yes, it does look like there’s something off about the temple. Let’s advance, but with utmost caution.”

They strode cautiously through the corridor while the magic wave intensified. At the end of the corridor, there was a gigantic circular hall. The hall contained a stone pillar in the middle, with a blue light crystal in its centre. The crystal light illuminated the hall. Surrounding the hall were numerous sarcophagi and statues.

“As Safia said, this crystal does glow with immense amounts of magic, and maybe even more related to the ‘Soul of the Sand’,” Safia exclaimed as she tried moving closer to the stone pillar.

A heavy growl resonated across the hall. The floor started shaking violently, and massive skeleton warriors emerged from the sarcophagi. They grasped weapons in their hands and slowly moved toward Safia and Karim. Green flames blazed in their empty eye sockets.

“Karim, prepare yourself, I hope you’re ready for a brawl! These skeleton warriors guard the temple. There’s no way we can progress with the exploration without defeating them,” Safia yelled. She began moving her staff and magical rhythm towards the nearest skeleton warrior.

In a defiant show of strength, the skeleton warrior raised its shield and blocked the magic beam while roaring and charging towards Safia, sword raised. Noticing this, Karim rapidly condensed several sand blades and directed them towards the skeleton warrior. The sand blades struck the skeleton warrior, creating a dust storm, but did not achieve any meaningful results.

“Their bodies are enhanced by magic. Try to attack their leg joints to disable their movement.” Her words hurried past Safia’s lips as she avoided getting slashed by the skeleton warrior.

Sand warrior attacks are based on concentration and control, which means Karim had to sharpen all his focus on the blades he wanted to create and the bones he wanted them to cut. Luckily, he succeeded in amputation, decapitating one of the skeleton warrior's legs. The warrior teetered for a moment before losing all sense of balance and crashing to the ground.

Safia released all potent energy and concentrated magic in her staff to obliterate the fallen skeleton warrior, fulfilling his promise of destruction utterly. However, this prompted the other skeleton warriors into an even more frenzied attack. Shielding one another’s backs, Karim and Safia were immediately thrown into a wild fight with the skeleton warriors.

Karim repeatedly employed the “Soul of the Sand” magic technique to shape the sand into structures that would aid in defending against the attacks launched by the skeleton warriors and also provide means for him to attack. Safia made use of her experience and strong magics to launch decisive strikes on the skeleton warriors. They painstakingly fought their way through until the last of the skeleton warriors fell.

"Whoa, it's finally finished," Karim expressed, relieved as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Great job, Karim. Okay, let's study this crystal now," Safia proceeded to the stone pillar and began examining the crystal.

Safia closed her eyes and attempted to feel the information contained in the crystal placed before her. “Karim, this crystal does hold a relation to the “Soul of the Sand” magic. It records some ancient cultivation methods and techniques and will be of great assistance to your growth,” Safia said, visibly surprised.

“That’s incredible!” Karim exclaimed as he walked towards the crystal, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Safia said, “But to obtain this information, there is work that needs to be done. A test of the understanding and application of the ‘Soul of the Sand’ magic will need to be taken first. Only then, after passing the test will the secrets of the magic be revealed.”

Karim took a deep breath and said, “I am ready, Safia. Regardless of the test, I will give my best to pass it.”

Safia waved her staff, sending a beam of light towards the crystal, causing it to shine. “I must inform you that to shower like you intend, proper preparations are needed,” she said. The light coming from the crystal turned blinding and enveloped Karim, who only felt a flash of light. Upon regaining his sight, he realised he was in an otherworldly dimension.

The space was full of flowing sands that formed complex shapes and traps.

“Karim, in this space you will need the magic of ‘Soul of the Sand’ to overcome the obstacles and reach the end. Make use of the knowledge and skills you have learned flexibly,” Safia's voice echoed in the space.

To Karim, this was clearly one of the best ways he could improve himself. With determination, he looked around the environment and noticed some quicksand traps could be unfixed by controlling the flow of sand and others could be crossed by sand bridges.

Karim carefully moved forward. Every step he tried to take came with a hurdle. He had to fill out multiple quicksand traps using the “Soul of the Sand” magic. There were instances where as soon as he filled one trap, another one loomed behind. Or in other cases, the bridge he had built for the other side got swept away. But Karim did not give up; he attempted to modify his plan and learned from his past mistakes.

After tireless attempts, Karim managed to catch a glimpse of the light at the end of the space. He accelerated his pace, and just as a massive whirlpool of quicksand was about to engulf him, he sprang out of the space.

Safia smiled at Karim with pride as he surfaced from the reality space. “Congratulations, Karim. You passed the test.”

Arms raised in victory, Karim glanced at Safia with utter joy. At that moment, the illuminating crystal shimmered once more. Various mysterious runes and some figures began to materialise on the surface of the crystal and gradually, they blended into Karim’s consciousness. Shutting his eyes, Karim attempted to process this new information. Gaining a new understanding of “Soul of the Sand” magic, he realised many of the previously confusing magic points now made logical sense.

“Safia, I’m beyond excited. I feel as if I finally understood Soul of the Sand!” said an elated Karim.

“Excellent, my child. You are still at the very initial phase of the journey to acquire such knowledge and skills. Next, we’ll have to continue exploring the temple and see if there are other pieces of ancient magic scattered around,” answered Safia.

So, Karim and Safia kept on exploring the ancient temple. They had no idea what other surprises and challenges waited for them, but they were excited to find out. Because every discovery, in some way, brought Karim closer to mastering the powerful magic known as the “Soul of the Sand,” and brought him ever closer to defeating the “Shadow Eye” and saving his homeland.