Duat

The mysterious tower spawned dead in the center of Huoguo. However, it just so happened that the Fire Palace was also situated near the center of the land, since that was where the rivers converged, resulting in the best land for growing crops and, in turn, trading.

As such, it was a simple feat for Zhuque to make her way from the castle walls to an edge of the tower. She didn’t have a sure-fire way to check for time, but when she saw that the moon had barely moved over half its distance, the girl could breathe a sigh of relief.

However, it was only the least of her problems.

“This… isn’t the tower’s entrance.” Zhuque looked at her surroundings with a puzzled expression. Even though she had never seen the tower up close, its description was something that she had etched in her mind for years, after countless attempts of forcing her brothers to recount their tale every time. A large cave, its entrance spanning well over twenty men’s worth of width, separated from the outside world via a large rope fence, the rope being bright red like the color of blood. There was a distinct lack of an entrance around their area, let alone the rope.

“Is it on the other side?” Mumbled Zhuque. “That would explain the long survey, at least.”

“Ugh, but does that mean I have to go around the whole thing?” The princess continued to complain. “I don’t think I have enough time. Tianlong’s group took a whole day to go around the place, so if I’m fast, I might make it at the break of dawn, but…”

“... To heck with it!” In the end, she threw her hands up in the air in frustration. “I’ve come this far, so I’m not giving up that easily!”

With a kick of the horse, the princess dashed away like wind on a highland. What Zhuque had assumed before was true – if she picked up the pace, it only took her barely half the night to travel the remaining distance.

Soon enough, the princess had made it to her destination. Even in the middle of the night, the crimson rope was still too much of a stand-out, as if glowing in the darkness, guiding lost souls to its resting spot.

At the same time, even if she was outside, Zhuque could feel the clear chill down her spine. It was not an ordinary wind, however, but something deeper, more innate in her body, as if she was subconsciously fighting for her life to not enter the deadly abyss in front of her.

However, facing near-death experience had ceased to be a first-time occurrence for her. After tying the horse near the entrance, Zhuque raised her hand close to her mouth and went for a big and determined bite, enough to leave a mark and let out a steady stream of red.

“There. That ought to keep me awake.” The princess took another deep breath before finally taking her first step into the long-awaited abyss that she had spent her life chasing.

Her first view of the tower was not disappointing one bit. However, calling it a “floor” wouldn’t be accurate – it was more like a cave with no ceiling to be seen, all encompassed in a mesmerizing, but chilling blue light from a strange, glowing moss that covered the area. However, the structure was still man-made, and nothing showed it clearer than the obstacle standing before her. Only a few steps away from her original position was a giant wall, stretching out as far and as tall as Zhuque’s eyes could take her. Directly opposite to her was a stone door shut tight, while above and around it were carvings of various shapes and symbols – likely some kind of code, but to which it answered, she couldn’t know.

On the wall were, in order, the carvings of a scales, a feather, a bird, a pair of arms, and an eye.

“What is all of this?” The princess touched the wall of symbols, trying to feel the carvings on them. The cuts were new and sharp, meaning that they were undoubtedly made by human hands, but who was responsible for them would remain a question.

“I feel like I’ve seen this before, though…” Zhuque mumbled. Her brain ran through the knowledge that she had collected about the various stories and myths that she had learned during her childhood, about faraway lands that had either been destroyed in time, or changed drastically from what they were today, until something finally hit her.

“Wait… I definitely know this! The Judgement of Souls! Of course, it’s Duat! You can’t mention Duat without this!”

Duat – an ancient nation whose existence predated far from even Huoguo itself. It was a land whose name derived from the word “being”, its laws and rituals putting the sense of self above all else. Within the various myths and legends of Duat, the Judgement of Souls was the most well-known of them all.

The Judgement of Souls was an ancient ritual in Duat, where a person’s heart was placed on a scale alongside a feather. If the heart showed evil desires, the scale would tip in its favor, resulting in the soul being punished by a terrifying monster. However, if the heart expressed noble intentions, the scale would remain balanced, and the soul would be rewarded. There was no chance to lie as well, as the golden light served the purpose of cleansing the soul from its owner’s various masks.

“Scale, feather, bird; I know this, but what’s the chant to…”

While she was mumbling, however, a quake ensued, sending small rocks falling from above. It wasn’t too large a seismic shock to result in a collapse, but it was certainly enough to give the princess a jumpscare.

“Sheesh, I almost had a heart attack!” Placing her hands on her chest, Zhuque let out a sigh of relief. But in that same instance, the reaction caused her mind to flash an idea:

“That’s it!”

The girl approached the carved wall once more and placed her right hand on the symbols, while her left hand held onto her chest.

“I call forth the Judge of Souls.”

The moment she finished the chant, a split appeared on the wall, and from it, a blinding light engulfed the room. From underground arose an image of a giant golden scale, whose left side contained a bright ball of fire, while the right side was a pure white feather.

Meanwhile, the letters on the walls changed. This time, the hieroglyphs had disappeared, making room for a standard text in Huoguo’s writing system.

Let the Judge of Souls weigh your sins, the letters said.

For what purpose have you embarked on the journey to the surface?

“To the surface?” Zhuque mumbled. “Was this not the first floor? But I thought… Or perhaps, what we assumed was the first floor was instead an underground floor?”

Her intuition was partially correct. Her current location was in fact the tower’s first floor, but it was also a floor that resembled the underworld – by nature, it was a journey to the surface, or the world of the living.

“In any case… I wish to save my family and nation.”

The golden scale shone a brilliant light, and with it, Zhuque held her breath, awaiting its judgement.

Nothing happened. The scale remained perfectly balanced, but before the fact, Zhuque let out a smile.

Her answer had worked. And it showed on the wall in front of her.

The split mark rumbled, sending a small shock as usual, before completely healing itself. Meanwhile, the door behind her creaked open, revealing a path to further inside

“Yes! Once I get my proof, everyone outside will have to believe me!” Letting out a triumphant sound, Zhuque ran towards the door.

However, when she least expected it, there was a voice calling out to her, answering her cry of victory:

“Now here’s a surprise you don’t see everyday. What exactly are you doing in this hell, Princess of Huoguo?”

Even if the tone was several octaves higher than what she had heard before in her previous life, this cheeky attitude made the voice unmistakable. However, it was because of her knowledge that Zhuque was shocked to see its owner here in the tower.

“Ryuuhan?”