Slipping from the Border City without trouble, the four of them kept moving only taking a short break that night. They were nervous about camping, so they rested without a fire. They left the swamps and passed through a small grassy plain which they walked through the second day before arriving at the edge of a desert at night. Denise was surprised when she saw the desert, and questioned why there was a desert here where there was plenty of rain.

Nicole nodded and then said "This is one of our kingdom's anomalies. It's a circular desert where nothing can grow. It's about twenty-five miles in diameter. In the center of the desert is the temple tower we are going to. No rain ever touches this desert. There are no animals or monsters on the sands, so it is quite hard to live on the desert sands. Besides the Temple there is nothing but sand."

They rested carefully that night. For the most part they seemed to have eluded the Necromancer's so far. But Denise had a feeling they weren't too far behind them. Hopefully, that Landshark had decimated them so they wouldn't pose as big a threat. The Necromancers might not head into the desert actually as Undead had a hard time in the desert. The sun was harsh against their bodies, so if they wanted to pursue them they would have to traverse the desert at night.

When the sun began to peak above the horizon, they had already set out towards the tower. As the sun rose, the desert sands grew increasingly hot. Denise could make out the tower in the haze of heat over the dunes. The loose sand made each step a chore, as she had to fight not to fall into the hot sands. Sweat dripped from her nose into the sands, her armor padding was already soaked from the sweat. Glancing at her sister, she was a bit annoyed with her. Debra was walking easily without much issue from the heat of the sun thanks to her resistance skill.

Frankie, on the other hand, reached her limit, so Nicole was carrying her until she felt better. Nicole was sweating carrying Frankie on her back, struggling over each dune. As they climbed another dune, they could see the Tower clearer, they were less than a mile away. After some more struggling they finally reached the bottom of this massive tower. Denise was finally able to get a proper look at the tower. It seemed to stretch far into the sky. It was perhaps one of the tallest structures she had ever seen.

While Nicole sat Frankie down next to the tower, Denise estimated the tower was at least a thousand feet across. It was made out of a dark gray stone, that when she ran her hand along, felt cool to the touch despite being in the sun. It honestly looked like it had risen from the sands, there were no markings of having been built or carved. There were also no entrances she could see, though they could be on another side. There were also no windows, at least for the part of the tower she could see. 

The only thing that decorated the tower, was a broken statue attached to the side of the tower. Large pieces of the statue littered the front of the tower. The only whole pieces remaining were a pair of legs, and a stone book resting on one knee. While she was looking at the statue, she noticed there was a series of what looked like wheels in the wall next to the statue.

Following Nicole to the circles, Denise could see each of the wheels had symbols carved into the edges. Beneath each wheel, there was a small triangle carved into the tower. There was also a small hole carved into the stone wheel. She looked at Nicole and asked "So how are we getting into this tower?"

"Well according to the notes, we need to align certain symbols on these wheels to the triangles, and it will unlock the door." 

Walking up to one of the wheels, it was at Denise's head height. Prodding it, she found it would not move. She gave it a harder tug and it didn't move an inch. Nicole frowned at that and pulled out a rod and slid it into the hole carved into the wheel. Pulling on it, she also failed to move the wheel. "Strange, they should be able to move freely. What am I missing?" Nicole said while pulling out a set of notes.

While Nicole was working out what was wrong, Denise took a closer look at the wheels. She could feel some metal behind them. Concentrating on it, an image of a rod being jammed through the wheels appeared. Following the rod, she found it led to the broken statue. Examining the legs, Denise discovered there was a hidden lever behind the left leg of the statue and pulled it. When she did so there was a grinding sound and the wheels spun down.

"Good Job sis." Debra said.

"Great, you figured out the problem. Let's quickly get these set to the right setting." Nicole took her pole and moved the wheels to the correct positions. When she moved the final one, there was a loud grating sound and a door next to the statue's legs slowly moved into the ground.

Behind the door was a dark corridor. As the four of them began to walk down it, Nicole activated her light spell, and lit up the space. The walls were made out of the same material as the outside, and Denise found it was actually a little chilly in this place. On the walls were depictions of people reading, and being instructed. They kept moving forward until they finally entered a large chamber room.

With Nicole's light, Denise could see there were numerous books lining bookshelves around the walls. Near the back was a set of stairs that ascended into the inky blackness above. In the middle of the room could be seen a pedestal. Nicole walked over to it and pulled out a statuette of a person sitting and reading. It was made out of Lapis Lazuli, and she placed it onto the pedestal.

The moment she did so, lights began to activate throughout the interior of the tower. In the very top of the tower, a brilliant beam of light came down and lit up the pedestal making the statuette light up. Now that she could see more of the tower inside, Denise could see that every five levels the stairs leveled out, likely indicating a room up there.

Looking back down at Nicole, Denise asked "So how are we supposed to summon this Croeus?"

Nicole scratched her chin. "I'm not sure exactly. The notes, of course, don't mention anything, and unlike the other temples there are no carvings in here to give any hints."

"Perhaps the answer is in one of these books?" Frankie asked and walked over to one of the bookshelves and pulled one down and opened it. "Huh, it's empty." She tried another book, and Denise could see it was blank as well. "Are all these books empty?"

"Maybe Croeus needs to be summoned before you are able to read the books."

Nicole looked up and said "I've got a feeling we can find what we need at the top of the stairs."

Debra looked up and said "That's quite a climb. I'll stay down here and keep an eye on the door. Just in case someone or something comes in."

"Got it, be safe Sis. Message us if you see anything." Denise said, and the three of them began climbing the stairs. When they reached the first level, they saw a small corridor that led into a room with a table and more bookcases. They continued on, and nearly an hour after they started they reached the top of the stairs. There was a door at the end of the stairs.

Trying it, they found it was locked. Next to the handle of the door was a series of dials that spun. Each side of the dial had a symbol on it. There were ten dials on them, Nicole looked at them and then said "When we were climbing we passed ten rooms. The clues to these dials must be in them."

As they began to climb down to the room, Frankie said "I'm going down to check to see how Debra is doing."

They arrived at the tenth room, and Nicole and Denise began to examine the room looking for any clue. On the table was a set of three books that had blank covers. Trying to pick one up, she found it was stuck to the table and could not be moved. The other two were also similarly stuck. She could open them however, and in the middle of each had a large symbol.

Nicole walked over and said "Maybe one of these books represents the symbol we need for the dial."

"Maybe." Denise while running her hand on the table found there was something carved into the table between the books. Taking a closer look she asked "What are these?"

"Hmm, these look similar to mathematical equation symbols."

"Are the symbols in these books supposed to represent numbers then?"

Looking around Nicole said "Each of these bookcases in the room has a symbol. Three of these symbols look like they match those in the books. That might be a clue on what number the symbols are supposed to represent."

Denise took a closer look at the mathematical symbols and found there was three sets of them. "It looks like we need to do three different equations."

"Ah I think I got it, each equation will tell where to look. The first tells you which bookshelf, the second tells you which shelf, and the final tells you which book. The book we pick should have the correct symbol for the dial."

Swiftly Denise counted the bookshelves and said "There are twenty-three bookshelves all together in this room. Now which one is the beginning one? Does it even increase progressively or are the bookshelves in a random order?"

"No, I think it's progressive. Did you notice that the stairs ascended counter-clockwise? Perhaps that is a clue to how the numbers here are supposed to increase. If that is the case, the three book symbols are twenty, seven and thirteen."

Taking those numbers, Denise plugged them into the equations and said "The first equation comes to fourteen. The second equals ten. The last equation is missing two mathematical symbols, so I don't know how to calculate it."

"Let me take a look at it." Nicole ran her hands on where the symbols should have been. "This is strange, the first symbol is one for division. But if we do that, that will produce a fraction. I don't think you could have a fraction of a book."

Denise scratched her head and then said "Wait, what if we aren't missing any symbols, rather we need to go down instead of across for this? If we do that, it comes out to seven."

"Why would we go down, after going across?" Nicole asked.

"It's my gut feeling." Denise shrugged.

"Alright let's try it." Going to the fourteenth bookcase, Nicole located the tenth row. "I'm assuming we need to go right to left following the counterclockwise pattern." Nicole counted seven down and pulled out the book. Upon his opening it, a soft golden glow emerged, and Denise saw a golden symbol appear in the book.

"Good job Denise. We got the first Dial symbol we need." Nicole said and made a note of the symbol. Once she was done, they climbed down the stairs to the next room. On the table was carved out a map. 

Denise looked the map over and said I don't recognize what this map is supposed to be?"

"This is a partial map of the world." Nicole said after she had looked it over.

"What?" Denise said surprised.

"This continent here, is where we are currently." Nicole said pointing towards a continent that was near the middle of the map.

"Wait, how do you know this?"

"My father had several dozen maps in his office. One of them was from several explorations of the world. It looked very similar to this map, though not as detailed." 

On each of the continents on the table was a book that was once again stuck to the surface. Like in the room above. Each had a symbol in the middle of the book. The map also had painted lines that went from book to book. Beside each of the lines was a number.

"I think each of these lines is supposed to represent a trail an explorer is meant to take. They each have a number attached to them. That must tell us which bookcase, shelf and book."

Denise nodded and said "If that's the case, we must be limited to three trails. Look, at the top of the map, there is a circle of arrows. Maybe it's hinting we need to circle back from where we came from. Like an explorer returning home after an expedition."

Nicole pointed at the bottom of the map "Look at the bottom, there is the number twenty-three with three lines to it. Maybe it's saying the three lines must add up to twenty-three."

The pair of them began examining the table, there were several paths that added up to twenty-three, but only one that circled back on itself. The path they took was nine, twelve and two in that order. Going to the corresponding bookcase, they found the book and it let out that golden glow showing they had selected the right path.

After marking down that symbol they moved on to the next room below. The table in the next room had a string of words carved into the table. Denise did not recognize the lettering or language they were supposed to be in. Nicole looked at them for a bit and then said "I think this is supposed to be a poem?"

"How do you know that?"

"I feel the book at the end represents the end of the sentence." The books this time had several dozen symbols in the middle. "Maybe each of these lines is supposed to signal which symbol in the books is the correct one we should use."

"If that's the case, how do we figure out what these words mean?"

"Hmm, maybe we don't actually have to know what these words mean. I know certain poems are built on using limited words in each sentence. If this is similar, that could point to the symbol we need."

Denise looked over the lines and noticed one symbol had occurred every five symbols or so. Pointing it out, "I think this symbol denotes a breaking of words."

"If that is the case, that makes the poem a five-seven-five structure." Nicole said, then picked out the symbols. Matching them to the bookcases, she pulled out the book it indicated and was met with another golden glow. 

Moving down to the next room, the task they had to figure out was the path of blood flow in a carving of blood vessels of a human. It was by far the easiest to solve so far. Once they did that they once again got the symbol they needed for the dials. Before heading to the next one, Denise checked in with her sister.

"How is it going down there?" 

"Alright, we have set up a small camp. When you are finished getting all the clues, you should get something to eat."

Moving on, the next room dealt with color theory. They had to add colors together to get the correct books to use. After they had solved it, Nicole said "You know these rooms remind me of the classes I took at the academy."

"You went to an academy?" Denise asked.

"Yeah. For several years, I even advanced in the top half of my class."

The five remaining rooms were not overly difficult to solve. Like the ones above they seemingly dealt with topics that would be typically found in an academy. The only topic that did not come up was the more physical ones. The last room they did was about learning different languages. Granted they knew none of the languages they were tested on, but thankfully the table had depictions of what each word meant so they were still able to solve the puzzle.

Once they were done, they stopped below and had lunch with the others. When they were finished with lunch, all of them headed up to the top. They reached the door where Nicole inputted the symbols into the dial. When she did the last one, it clicked into place and the door swung open.

It lead into a room covered by a globe of glass. It was on top of the tower. Despite being in the sun, the room was surprisingly cool. They could look out and see for miles into the desert, though they were so high up, everything looked minuscule. In the middle of the room was a giant pedestal where a crystal book lay.

Going to it, Nicole looked it over and said "This looks like an incantation to summon Croeus."

Frankie nodded and said "Is there anything we need to do?"

"No, just let me speak it." Nicole said. She straightened and then a garble of words began to emerge from her mouth. 

Denise winced as the words tore through the air. It felt like Nicole was speaking words that felt like knives against her skin. When she finished the Tower rumbled and a giant chair emerged in front of them. There was a soft golden glow and a man reading a book appeared on the chair. 

"Oh?" He said. "It looks like I have been summoned. It has been a long time since I have been to this world. I thank you. I had been running out of books to read."

"Great Croeus we welcome you back to the world." Nicole said. Then she pulled out the package that Elyrias had given to them. "Your mother desired us to give this to you when you returned. She says she wishes to speak with you when you are finished speaking with us."

Croeus reached out and the package floated to him. He opened it and pulled out a large sweater. He put it on and said "So you have also awoken my mother. I thank you. I ask what reason have you summoned me?"

"My friend here has been cursed by the Goddess Luksami. We are going around and waking your group in an effort to help calm Luksami and get rid of the curse."

"I sense my friend Luksami has passed away. You know it will be a challenge to summon her?"

Nicole nodded. "I would do anything for my friend."

Denise saw that Frankie blushed when Nicole said that.

"I see. You have been touched by Divinity. You have stepped onto a path, one that is filled with hardships. Not even I, as a god of knowledge know where it will take you. But I grant you this boon, knowledge of words. You will learn languages far more easily. You will need it, for you will need to speak in the ancient tongues to call forth Luksami."

The god of knowledge then looked at Frankie. "You are the cursed one. I can feel your confusion, and the name my mother bestowed upon you. I grant you this boon, knowledge of self. You will understand your body far more clearly. It won't help with your confusion regarding your sex, but it will help you come to terms with whatever decision you make."

At that time he looked at Denise and Debra. "I see the pair of you are pursuing the trade of metalworking. This is practical knowledge that I enjoy. For you Blacksmith, I grant you the boon of knowing the strengths and weaknesses of metals. By studying any metal, you will know the best practice to use on it."

"As for you, I sense you are a master of the element of metal. In time you may master more. For you, I will grant you the boon of accurate understanding of metals. This will allow you to shape metal in way's you did not realize you could do."

They bowed and Nicole said "Thank you Great Croeus for the blessings you have bestowed upon us."

He nodded and said "I must leave. It has been a while since I saw my mother. She must be worried about me. Take care children. We will meet again when you go to Luksami's temple."

With that the god disappeared. When he was gone, Nicole turned to them and said "Well, I have some things we need to discuss before we head out to the next temples."

"Alright what do you need to talk about?"

"To begin with the next two temples are extremely far away. One was built near the coast, and the other is actually in the kingdom of the elves. My suggestion is we set our recall function here. If we do that, we won't have to travel all the way back. It will only take us about two weeks to walk to Luksami's temple from here. If we don't do that, it will take more than a month to walk back."

"Will that be safe?" Debra said.

"If we lock the temple, the necromancers won't be able to get in, but we can get out during the day when the undead would be the weakest."

"Alright. How long would it take to get to the next temple?" Frankie asked.

"Well if we manage to get a ride on a boat, we should be able to make the coast in two weeks. If not, it could be up to a month."

"We should head back down then and get set up for the recall function then."

ElKriJa

Thank you for reading my story. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Sorry they have been shorter this week. I've been busy helping my father build a set of deck stairs and I ended up pretty sunburnt.