The desert gave way to green slowly and not by much. A small oasis spread between stone and sand at the base of a massive mountain, thin streams running through patches of grass, a few tall trees standing with their roots tangled in each other drinking from whatever spring lay hidden beneath.
Broken pieces of stone spirits lay scattered along the path behind them, the last remnants of the Vikritas they had moved through to get here.
Dia wiped sweat from her face and kicked a cracked stone spirit lying near her foot.
"How many of these things are there? Does mother earth really need this many?" Neither Dhira nor Aatreya answered. They kept walking.
The deeper part of the oasis was cooler.
Water caught the light between the trees, moss clung to old stones, the wind carried a different quality of air here. Dia looked around. It wasn't truly beautiful to her but after the desert it felt like something close to paradise. Dhira wasn't looking at the water. His eyes had moved to the old stone structures scattered through the green, broken walls and half-collapsed pillars and large stone slabs carved with murals worn by time but still readable.
They stopped under a large tree. Aatreya untied the camels and slapped one lightly on its flank. The animals wandered off into the green without hesitation. "We won't need them anymore," he said. "The desert is behind us."
Dhira walked to the nearest stone wall and brushed moss away from the surface with one hand. A face appeared in the carving beneath it. Long angular features, thick beard, hair carved to look like it was moving, the expression of someone who had never once considered retreat. A warrior's face. Dhira looked at it for a long moment without speaking.
Aatreya came to stand beside him. "We've reached the place."
They moved deeper into the ruins along a stone path, murals lining both sides. Battles carved into rock. Warriors mid-strike. Creatures towering over armies. Dia walked slowly, her eyes moving across them. "These tell a story."
"They do," Aatreya said.
"What place is this?"
"A mural of Ares. The God of War." And dia came close.
" The only ones of his in all of Asia." He ran his fingers across one of the carvings without stopping. "They tell the story of his battles. His wars. His conquest against the Titans." Dia leaned closer to a panel showing enormous figures collapsing beneath a raised spear.
"They're huge," she said quietly. "The Titans once ruled the earth," Aatreya said simply, as if stating something no more remarkable than weather.
They reached a massive stone entrance, no doors, just a dark opening leading into the mountain. Aatreya stopped and looked at Dhira. "You go ahead."
Dia looked between them. "Alone?"
Aatreya nodded. "What you came for is ahead." He pointed into the darkness.
Dhira looked at the entrance for a moment. No questions. No hesitation. He stepped forward and walked in. Aatreya's voice followed him into the dark. "Be careful. This place is filled with Vikritas."
Dhira didn't stop.
Inside the air was cooler and the stone walls swallowed sound. His footsteps echoed as he moved deeper into the mountain temple. Stone spirits stood along the walls on both sides, dozens of them, shaped like rough human figures, some leaning against pillars, some crouched low. All still. All looking like statues. Dhira glanced at them once and kept walking.
More murals lined the deeper passage. A warrior cutting through armies. Giants falling. The same figure standing over broken Titans. At the center of the chamber stood the statue of Ares, tall and moss covered, one arm raised with the fist open as if reaching for something in the sky, the other arm broken off at the shoulder long ago. Dhira stopped in front of it, studied the face briefly, then walked behind it.
The moment he stepped past the statue the ground trembled. A low rumble moved through the chamber and dust fell from the ceiling. Behind him stone scraped against stone. One Vikrita lifted its head. Then another. Then every spirit in the chamber moved at once, hundreds of them stepping out of stillness and out of shadow, all human-sized, all solid rock, all rushing him.
Dhira cracked his neck once.
The first one lunged and he drove his fist straight through its chest. The stone shattered and the pieces scattered across the floor. Another came from the side, he grabbed its head with one hand and slammed it into the ground. Three more rushed together, he spun, elbow taking the first one's head clean off, then grabbed the second by the arm and swung it into the third. Both came apart on impact. More came from every direction and he moved through them steadily, punching through stone, kicking torsos apart, grabbing one by the leg and using the body as a club until it shattered in his grip. One jumped onto his back and he reached behind, found its face and tore the head free with a sharp twist. Another tried to tackle him and he slapped it and the upper half of its body simply ceased to exist.
The chamber filled with the sound of breaking stone and rising dust. When it cleared the floor was covered in rubble and Dhira stood in the center of it, not breathing hard, wiping a small amount of dust from his shoulder, he felt like his skills has become little rusty.
Then the ground shook again. Harder this time.
The broken stone began to vibrate. Pieces lifted from the floor, pulled together, compressed. Eight shapes rose from the rubble, each as tall as a small house, arms thick as tree trunks, eyes glowing faintly through cracks in the rock.
One swung its arm down immediately.
Dhira jumped sideways and the fist cracked the floor open where he had stood. He dashed forward, jumped onto the creature's arm, ran up it and drove his fist into the shoulder joint. The arm broke free and fell. He turned as another charged from behind, kicked its knee and shattered the joint, then climbed its falling body and hammered the back of its neck until the upper half split apart. The remaining six came at once. One caught him mid-air, he slammed both fists into its wrist and the stone hand exploded. He landed, rolled, drove his shoulder into a leg, jumped and crushed the head of another. Each giant hit harder than the last wave. One blow caught him and sent him sliding across the floor. He stood immediately and went back in. One by one he broke them until the last collapsed and the chamber went still.
Dhira stood breathing harder now, knuckles bleeding, cuts across his arms. He leaned against a pillar. "Done."
The ground shook again.
The rubble moved. Stone climbed over stone, merged, compressed. Four shapes this time. Each twice the size of the previous giants. Their bodies were denser, their shadows filling the field entirely. The first strike came down like a collapsing building and Dhira barely rolled clear, the impact splitting the floor open beneath him. He rushed the nearest and punched its leg. The stone barely cracked. He frowned. They attacked together and one caught him in the ribs and sent him through a pillar and hit a tall tree, stopping his flight. He pushed himself up with blood at the corner of his mouth and went back in, climbing their bodies, hammering joints, tearing chunks free with his bare hands.
The fight took longer than anything before it. One drove him into the wall. Another crushed his shoulder before he wrenched free. But one by one they fell until the fourth collapsed and Dhira stood against a pillar with his chest heaving and blood running down his arms.
The ground trembled again.
He lifted his head slowly.
The rubble moved. Merged. Reformed.
Two shapes rose this time. Each nearly the size of a fortress tower, bodies thicker than anything that had come before, their shadows swallowing the chamber completely. Dhira looked up at them.
For the first time he didn't move, he couldn't.
One raised its enormous foot. The air shifted around it as it came down with a force that left no room for anything else.
Dhira closed his eyes. He didn't step away.
The foot connected.
The sound that followed shook the mountain.
His body crossed the chamber like a stone thrown by a giant, smashing through rock and flying through air. Mid-flight his vision blurred and then darkened and the darkness kept coming. He lost consciousness before he hit the ground.
His body slammed down and did not move.