by N Felts
central room. In a brief blast he plows through the thin veil concealing the room, landing harshly amongst the bouncing grains.
“Let’s not do that again,” the boy exhales, recovering from the brief injection of fear.
“Agreed. Still, if we’re going to explore everywhere we need to find a safe way down,” Mai adds, the room suspended from the ceiling offering no path in any direction. Back on his feet, Rift slowly turns in a circle only to realize the healthy flow of sand from above completely blocks his vision out of the room. Pouring down on all sides, the brightly glowing purple grains, all but diluted by the dead, pink ones, creates a persistent curtain cascading all the way down to the growing lake below. Pondering how he will even look for a way out, the boy suddenly remembers the hidden architecture of the Shadow Temple. With his knuckles pressed to the bridge of his nose, he gazes right through the veil of sand, studying the vast depths of the temple without hindrance. Finally spotting a distant wall appropriate for a portal, he drops through the floor and out of the wall a moment later. Still much higher than the large cone of sand, gradually rising higher into the room as it accumulates, Rift determines another portal is in order further below. Finally reaching the base of the growing pyramid, he is confused to find nothing of interest at the bottom. Stepping into the dim sand, he begins to trek up the growing mountain until a sudden landslide shoves him over aggressively, pushing him right back to where he started.
“Really?” He asks, releasing a sigh of frustration.
“That’s not going to work. The sand hasn’t had time to settle. It’s too unstable to walk on,” Mai points out, uncertain how to advance herself. Raising his right hand back to his eye, the boy spots the final lever room standing slightly higher than the sand has managed to reach. Held up by a single, massive pillar, the room rests exactly in the center of the rising sand, the dry waterfall concealing the room until now. Continuing to scour the area for clues, the obvious answer seems to leap out at him. A sporadic series of small platforms rest just beneath the unstable sands, each slightly higher than the preceding one and leading all the way up to the desired room. His path now clear, Rift lowers his hand to find he can clearly see the buried pillars now. Thinking back to his initial visit to this room, he recalls the forms hanging from the ceiling he couldn’t quite make out. Their purpose now obvious, the boy cannot help but sigh at the prospect of such carefully planned puzzles. With no hesitation, he pounces onto the first pillar, carefully deciding which to jump to next. The weak current of tumbling sand traces around his ankles, the platform residing just close enough to the surface to prevent another landslide from carrying him away. The random arrangement of stepping stones offers several paths to the top, and the fact has the boy feeling suspicious right away.
“Hey, you want to test that one out?” He asks, pointing to the option on the left.
“For you? Anything,” She sarcastically replies, bounding out of his form and landing upon the pillar safely. Following suit, the boy sees he has three options for his next jump, two rising to his left and one slightly lower to his right.
“Hmmm,” he mumbles, beginning to think he is being overly cautious. “Try that one,” he nods, pointing to his left. “Without the attitude this time,” he adds with a smile.
“Sorry,” she shrugs with a familiar arrogance, leaping to his pillar of choice. “The attitude comes wi-ahhh!” She squeals as the platform gives way. A sudden gush of sand throws her back toward the start as she vanishes from view.
“What was that? You trailed off there at the end,” Rift snickers, pointing to the right this time.
“Yeah, keep laughing,” she agitatedly smirks, hopping over to the next choice. “You wonder why I don’t want to talk to you anymore,” she mutters after landing safely this time around. “You’ve got a little too much attitude yourself these days.”
“I wonder where it came from,” he sarcastically retorts, following her each time she lands safely. Continuing the process, the duo slowly spiral around the massive dune, their banter passing the time more quickly as the rising mass of pink and purple begins to threaten the room housing the lever. Finally reaching their goal, Rift gives the handle a hearty tug and once more, the distant sound of a key turning within a lock echoes throughout the structure. Wasting no time, the boy exits the small room, lines up the portals that got him this far, and finally plants one on the ceiling of the central gazebo. The entire half of the hourglass he currently resides in has become all but pitch black, the glow of the purple sand drowned out completely by the lifeless pink. After a time, the top portion of the hourglass has nearly emptied, the barely perceptible landscape having risen all the way to the room where the duo currently bides their time.
“Alright, this is it,” Mai starts, attempting to get her companion psyched up for the coming ordeal. “As soon as it starts to turn we’ve got to get to the bottom before the sand does.”
“I know, I know,” Rift nods, clearly nervous.
“We’ve got this,” she concludes, watching the boy palm the wall beside one of the doorways in preparation. Right on cue, the final grains spill through the ceiling and the entire temple begins to shake. Struggling to retain his balance, Rift continues to eye a particular spot on the ceiling he found earlier, watching and waiting for the optimal moment. Gravity starts to pull him back into the gazebo as he shouts his command.
“Now!” He cries, dropping through the floor though the temple has only turned halfway over. Falling out of the ceiling, he begins to descend back downward but the spinning room alters his trajectory. Flying toward his goal on an arcing path, the room completes its rotation, and the sand is coming down with deadly weight and speed. A terrifying sound of descending death closes in much more quickly than the boy would prefer as he reaches his destination. Moments away from soaring completely over the funnel with excessive momentum, Mai appears ahead of him on the ground. Springing into the air gracefully, she opens her arms as the boy collides with her. Locking in an embrace, she alters his course enough to allow them both to fall directly through the narrow passage nestled between the four pillars holding up the central gazebo. The absurd amount of sand lands harshly in their wake, and the goddess vanishes while Rift falls into the mammoth, dark room. With no time to waste, he presses his right hand to his eye, searching for anything to slow his descent. Several places within the room stand out in the darkness, and without a second thought, the boy places a portal on a distant wall. The flat base of the gazebo is perfect for the dimensional window and with far more momentum than he is comfortable with, Rift soars out of the wall further below. The dry air whips against his face as he peers through the dark room in search of another flat surface. It quickly becomes obvious he will land upon a long section of stone jutting out of the wall at breakneck speeds in seconds. A pillar far below is the obvious choice as he narrowly lines up the portal in time. Flying through the stone and out of the pillar’s flat peak at eye watering speed, the boy finds himself ascending toward a flat surface beneath some sort of architecture above him. His only remaining option appears to be the very base of the entire temple far below, and without time to weigh his options, he commands Mai to place his new destination there. Quickly losing momentum, Rift isn’t sure if he will even reach the portal above, but soon enough he drifts through, rising out of the ground floor of the temple harmlessly. Flailing his body, he realizes he is about to drop right back through the portal that brought him here, but the instant before he lands, the blue doorway fades away.
“Adding that to the list of things I’d rather not do again,” he nervously laughs after recovering from his clumsy fall and getting his hastened breathing under control.
“I thought you might. We made it, though,” Mai shrugs, not caring for the utter darkness they find themselves in. Walking aimlessly through the indiscernible area, Rift pauses when he hears the distinct sound of falling sand to his left. Tracking the sound to its source, he pass
es through the circular veil of dark grains, nearly tripping over the chest residing in the middle.
“Finally, we found it,” he breathes with a smile. Throwing the chest open, the boy is confused as he paws at the dark interior. Sliding his hands back and forth along the base, he finds nothing but seasoned wood containing no treasure. “What? How?” He stammers as confusion and frustration suddenly overwhelm him. Without warning the dead grains of sand pouring all around him glow brighter than ever before. The mixture of pink and purple creates a potent magenta hue, illuminating the entire area. After lowering a shielding arm from his eyes, Rift can clearly see the chest is empty, his long quest and hard fought battles gaining him nothing in the end. Passing through the curtain of glowing sand, the boy finds a massive cage preventing him from leaving the area. The twisted black bars gradually spiral into a warped cube with no exit.
“It’s the light,” Mai points out, having figured out the riddle long beforehand.
“What? What are you talking about?” Rift insists, overwhelmed with confusion. “What’s going on?”
“The cage only exists when it’s in
