Go it alone
“Wow! What a nice place!” Casey whispered at the group, just loud enough for everyone to to hear, despite being completely enamored by the scene before themselves.
“Is this… It?” Duke came in just behind her, followed by Buddy, Barley, and the twins. The two house cats agreed, and soon, everyone had their chance to comment on the room.
“Is that supposed to be you?” Barley joked with you. “Looks like that… picture from earlier?” He mentioned, referring to the last screen you both saw before the first mysterious teleportation you had experienced in that skull room.
“That’s him.” You cryptically said, prompting the others to move in a bit closer to you. “That’s him. It’s been him this entire time.” you continued, subtly trying to make it seem as if you had known this whole time. “This must be his tomb.” you continued.
“Who’s this?” Buddy asked, wiggling his way between you and Duke. Questioning your all powerful knowledge.
“This was the creator of this tomb. Inevitably, his body is stored here as well.” You said. Duke smirked from the sidelines. “This being is said to have created this entire pyramid, not only for his entombment, but also to help power the city, his people… This tomb is for sustainability.” You continued as you slowly started moving towards the pulsing lights.
“Of course!” One of the twins said. “That makes so much sense… So does that mean…”
“Yes.” You answered him before even hearing the rest of his assumption. “His body is what’s powering everything.”
“So that means…” Casey started. “If we take the body, then will the facility no longer have power? Will everything else this generator may power also go out?” she asked. Before you could think, it was as if your words instantly gave her a response.
“I would assume so” you continued before approaching the tomb and touching it.
“Well.” Duke started. “We still have to do our mission,” he responded. That prompted you to think about your own mission. You too were faced with the same moral dilemma they were also struggling with. But only for you, there was another. You had to betray the people you had been traveling with for all these days.
In an instant, all you could think about was what the man had told you in your dream. ‘You must give up yourself.’ and for a moment you wondered what that could have meant. Did you have to sacrifice yourself? Did you have to sacrifice who you had become during this transformation? Maybe you were required to give up your previous transformation. You had no idea what that could have been about, but after a moment you realized what you had to do.
“I think… I’m going to go it alone.” You said. Everyone else looked at you as if you were crazy. Duke especially gave you some mad side eye as you made the suggestion. “I can get the goods and bring it out to you, if that’s fine with everyone? I’m not sure if it’d allow more than just one or two of us to go in at once.” You stated.
“Wait a minute.” Duke barked. “What if you don’t come back?” He asked. “That could compromise our entire mission?” The German Shepherd continued to argue.
“What!” You acted shocked, as if that wasn’t potentially part of your initial plan. “Why would I do that? Haven’t we been working together on this team for so long now? I don’t understand what intent I could have if not to help you all?”
“Yeah Duke!” To your surprise, Your good friend Barley jumped in. “He’s supposed to be our protector- he sure was mine- and honestly a guiding force? No?” He looked at you for your reassurance. Of course, that was what you told them you were there for. Maybe that’s what you truly were to them?
You couldn’t believe it, only moments away from your goal, this tension started to bubble up among the group, you didn’t know what to do. Once again, the disorganization in Duke’s platoon was absolutely clear. You wondered what your next step was but your mind’s racing was quickly interrupted by Duke barking another loud suggestion.
“BullCrap!” He said. “Are you sure this guy is actually some kind of protector, or spirit, or deity, or whatever the heck he calls himself?!” Duke pondered. “I mean, he just popped up from inside our cabin as we were going down! This dude could have been a stowaway or anything!”
Your eyes widened, the heartbeat in your chest started pounding harder than ever. This was the first time you heard anyone doubting you. “I mean I’ve been suspicious of this guy since day one!”
“But he’s helped us so much?” Casey added in. “If he was just any old person, he wouldn’t have done so much for us up until now, right?” The lioness looked at you with large glowing orbs.
“She’s right…” You said before allowing the others to converse.
“Oh yeah?” Duke gritted his teeth in frustration.
“I mean, he’s even been depicted several times, through this building as well, so I just figured he definitely had something to do with this place.” One of the twins suggested. “Don’t you think that means something, Duke?”
“You know that’s not actually him!” The German Shepard’s sharp eyes was also the first one to notice that it wasn’t you as well. Other than yourself of course.
“He is not me, but as you can see, I match his likelihood!” You stretched out your wings, trying your best to convince at least Duke of your intent. “I don’t mean to undermine your control, but you should know I’m only here to help, Duke.”
“Yeah yeah. Too little too late.” He brushed you off. “So what’s your plan? BOSS MAN?!” He said sarcastically. You focused a bit too much into convincing him that you realized that you didn’t even figure out what it was you had to do next anyway.
“I think…” You said aloud.
“Why don’t you take one of them?” Duke suggested. “If you’re so set on going alone, maybe you can just take one of us? Just to make sure you’re not gonna wrong us in any way?” He continued with crossed arms.
Written by Drifting Dragon on 02 February 2022