Mornings in the Sumeru desert were sweltering, and Lin En woke early from the heat.
Sunlight streamed through the window, and the whole room was like an iron box set over a fire. A fragrance lingered beneath his nose.
He opened his eyes and found himself leaning against Ronava, his head nestled in the crook of her shoulder. There was even a trace of drool at the corner of his mouth.
He froze, not daring to move from that position. He rapidly searched his memory of the previous night, unsure what had happened, then looked up at Ronava.
Ronava's eyes were closed, her breathing steady. She seemed to still be asleep. Her silver hair glinted faintly gold in the morning light, and she lay there quietly, without her usual unapproachable chill.
Lin En shifted slightly, trying to move back before she woke. He had barely moved when Ronava spoke.
"Awake?"
The shock sent him tumbling off the edge of the bed.
"Yeah..."
Lin En got up and scratched his head.
"Um, I didn't mean to?"
"What?"
Ronava rubbed the corner of her eye, her hair tousled around her shoulders and her whole face still sleepy.
She glanced out the window and looked a little surprised.
"It's almost noon. I actually overslept?"
She had always woken naturally at the first hint of dawn before. How had she slept so long today?
After a quick wash and a meal of bread and dry rations they had bought the day before, the two checked out.
When they walked out of the inn, the tribespeople in the courtyard had already left, leaving only a few half-dismantled tents and scattered camel tracks by the well.
The innkeeper stood at the door. When he saw Ronava come out, he hurriedly bowed and saw them off.
"Safe travels, both of you! Come again!"
Ronava ignored him and headed straight west.
After they left Caravan Ribat, the sand underfoot grew deeper and hotter.
The sand barrier stood on the horizon not far away. The sun hung directly overhead, reddening the back of Lin En's neck. After walking for only half a day, he had already drunk a quarter of his waterskin.
"So this is how hot the desert gets. How much farther?"
Lin En asked weakly. He hadn't expected it to be this hot, and the UV rays were strong too. If he hadn't brought an umbrella, wouldn't his skin have peeled all over?
"Do you see that mountain behind the pyramid up ahead?"
Ronava, on the other hand, was unaffected by the desert.
Lin En squinted into the distance. Behind the pyramid, the outline of a yellow mountain warped in the heat haze. Great clouds of yellow sand and dust circled its outer reaches, forming a shield around it. That was Mount Damavand.
"How much longer?"
"Half a day."
Lin En took a drink, put his waterskin away, and continued walking.
More than halfway through the afternoon, the two finally reached the foot of Mount Damavand. Looking up from below, it was somewhat taller than Dragonspine.
The wind at the foot of the mountain was fierce, pelting their faces with fine sand like coarse sandpaper.
Lin En held the umbrella low, standing to Ronava's side to shield her from the sand and dust. He was almost entirely huddled behind it, but the wind blasted in from every direction, making even the ribs creak.
"This wind is too strong!"
He shouted at the top of his lungs, but his voice vanished before it could travel far.
Ronava stood behind a protruding rock face, her silver hair whipping wildly in the wind. She held down her flying hair and scanned the surface of the mountain.
Mount Damavand's rock strata were dark yellow, their surface covered in wind-carved gullies, as though some enormous claw had repeatedly raked across them. She walked a few steps along the foot of the mountain, then suddenly stopped.
"Here."
Lin En came over and saw a fissure in the rock face before her. It was barely wide enough for two people to walk abreast and about three meters high. It was probably a path into the mountain.
The depths of the fissure were pitch-black. There was no wind inside, only a dry, stuffy air.
"Are you sure?"
Lin En craned his head to look inside, but couldn't see a thing.
Ronava didn't answer. She turned sideways and squeezed in. Lin En had no choice but to put away his umbrella and follow close behind.
The fissure's inner walls were rough, and the rock surface was uneven, making it especially difficult to walk.
The deeper they went, the weaker the wind became. By the time they rounded the first bend, it had stopped completely.
Everything around them suddenly fell quiet. Only a little of the wind outside could still be heard.
The darkness continued for about a dozen paces, and then a faint glimmer appeared ahead.
The two quickened their pace. The moment they emerged from the fissure, Lin En froze.
A vast underground space lay before them. The domed ceiling was so high that he could barely see the top. Only a few rays of light shone in from somewhere, hanging in midair like trailing threads of silk.
The rock walls were riddled with openings of all sizes, some as wide as city gates, others barely large enough for a person. They extended in overlapping layers in every direction, like a honeycomb.
The passages were extremely winding and crisscrossed one another. At a glance, there was no telling which were main routes and which were dead ends.
"Th-this place formed naturally?"
Lin En looked astonished. The place was like a huge mine in Minecraft; he couldn't make sense of it at all.
"Doesn't look like it."
Ronava walked to the nearest opening and ran a hand along its edge. The cut in the rock was smooth and evenly curved, with obvious traces of excavation.
"Someone must have spent a long time digging here."
She withdrew her hand and looked around, her gaze moving back and forth between several of the main passage entrances. Lin En noticed that her expression was somewhat more grave than usual.
"What's wrong?"
"There's a pattern to the way these passages run, but I have no memory of anything about this place."
Ronava had far more experience than most people. If even she didn't know about it, then the place was either too ancient or too well hidden.
The two were silent for a while. The light overhead began to slant, and the angle of the sunlight coming through the opening changed, showing that it was already late afternoon outside.
"Let's rest first."
Ronava made her decision and walked over to a flat spot by the wall. She sat down with her back against the rock, where she could see both the entrance and several of the main passages ahead.
"Have something to eat. I'll keep watch for a while."
Lin En didn't refuse. He really was tired and thirsty, and after walking all the way from Caravan Ribat, the soles of his feet were nearly blistered.
He took out his waterskin and drank a few mouthfuls, then broke off half a piece of dry bread and sat down against the wall not far from Ronava.
The cave was utterly quiet, without a sound.
Lin En chewed the hard, dry bread, his gaze drifting involuntarily toward the passage entrances.
"Where do you think all these paths lead?"
he asked indistinctly.
"I don't know, but no matter where they lead, one of them is the right way."
Lin En swallowed the bread in his mouth, capped his waterskin, and asked no more.
He leaned against the rock wall, feeling its chill against his back. Outside, the desert was as hot as an oven, but it was cool and dry here, as though it were another world.
After about an hour's rest, the light in the cave had grown a little dimmer, and Lin En had fully recovered.
"Let's go."
He stood up and brushed the nonexistent dust from the hem of his clothes.
Ronava looked at the passages ahead and said,
"Pick one."
Lin En stared for a moment.
"Me?"
"Your luck has always been good. Also, you were the one who held me in your sleep last night. I couldn't push you away, so I had no choice but to keep holding you."
Lin En's face grew hot. He was just about to explain when Ronava had already walked over to the passage entrances.
"Choose."
Lin En took a deep breath and walked up to the row of entrances, examining them one by one. A faint warm breeze blew from some, while others carried a damp chill, and still others showed no sign of movement.
His gaze settled on a passage just left of center.
"This one."