Chapter Text
The teleport deposited them into a fairly generic patch of desert, made significant by the large looming pyramid Stella noticed when she turned around.
Sera’s excited twitching erupted into an eager run towards the pyramid and up the stairs, taking them two at a time. A frustrated growl rang out through the hot and still air when she reached the top, and from the way she slumped down on the large steps with her chin resting on her hands, it was clear that whoever had trapped Azzanadra in there all those thousands of years ago had been smart enough to lock the door.
Stella began wondering how Sera had done it as soon as she set foot on the stairs. They were steep. Stella had encountered cliffs with a gentler slope than this. The steps were tiny, and the whole thing was the barely something that could be considered a functional staircase. It had probably only been made to get the prisoner in, without any expectation that it would be used again.
“So, why is Sera’s mother trapped in here anyway?” It was going to be a fairly long walk, and it was necessity as well as curiosity that drove her to find some answers.
Wahisietel began his explanation with a question. “Do you know about the God Wars?”
“Yeah. Saradomin and Zamorak fought and then Guthix stopped them and established the Edicts so we could all live a life of balance.” Everyone growing up in Taverley knew that story, how the battle had raged on for a thousand years, ravaging the land and destroying cities until Guthix awoke and forbade any further destruction and healed the land before falling into a slumber much like young Stella was expected to after hearing the story.
Wahisietel shook his head and sighed. “That’s the tragic thing about history. So much is forgotten simply because they didn’t want to remember it. Many never made it into the history books, Azzanadra was one of them. I doubt you’ve even heard of Zaros.”
“Only from you,” Stella answered, wiping her forehead clean of the sweat from both the heat and the climb, “and the other Mahjarrat. Akthanakos said he was a great god. Is this something to do with why the Zarosians and Zamorakians don’t like each other?”
“Precisely. Zaros was our god; the god all the Mahjarrat followed, Zamorak included. He was mortal back then, or as mortal as a Mahjarrat can be considered. He betrayed us. He was the downfall of the great Zarosian empire which stretched from here to the Wilderness.” He took a deep breath before continuing, though whether from the emotional weight of the story or the exertion of climbing the pyramid. “After slaying our god, he declared war. At first it was the Zamorakians against, well, everybody, but then it changed to be the Zamorakians and the Saradominists against us. Azzanadra was our leader, and our champion. I cannot describe how incredibly he fought for us. Had I not seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t believe it. They feared him. They knew that as long as he, our leader and greatest weapon, remained on the battlefield, they could never win. So they set exactly the kind of trap you would except from those dirty Zamorakian traitors. He went to them believing it to be a ceasefire, a meeting to arrange the exchange of war prisoners. Only Azzanadra was allowed into the room where it happened. They trapped him here, with his soul bound into four diamonds. The four diamonds that you must now recover.”
“Man…,” was the only reply Stella could think of, “The God Wars are a lot more complicated than I thought.”
“There’s even more, but perhaps that’s a story for another time.”
Stella had lost count of how many times he had said that.
“You know, someday I’m going to have to come over to Nardah and just listen to your stories for a few days.”
“I look forward to that.” Wahisietel mused with a contented smile.
They were nearly at the top now, so it was good timing that the conversation had drawn to a close. Sera immediately filled the gap in the soundscape as soon as they reached the last of the many, many stairs.
“The door’s locked.” She grumbled from her position slumped up against it in one of the tiny bits of shade created by the indent it was in.
“That’s the first problem, unfortunately. The door can only be opened once the diamonds have been returned. Although Sliske claims he’s able to get in…”
“Wait, Sliske can get in? Then maybe that is the…” Sera inspected the door for a few moments before casually fading from existence.
“Wait WHAT? Where did she go?” Stella exclaimed, frantically surveying the desert. She had only been responsible for the young Mahjarrat for less than an hour and she had already let her evaporate. “Oh no oh no… I’m so sorry I have no idea what just happened, you saw that right?”
“Don’t worry,” Stella instinctively shied away from the comforting hand Wahisietel patted her shoulder with, “She’s just using the shadow realm. This will probably happen a lot.”
Sera reappeared in a few moments, making no attempt to control her laughter. “The door’s (heheh) open in the shadow realm. Come on!” She took Stella and Wahisietel’s hands and the world changed around them.
The sturdy stone door was now nothing more than rubble, easy for the two Mahjarrat to walk through as if it were nothing out of the ordinary while Stella stumbled along behind them, her mind contorting with disbelief.
“That’s the shadow realm. This will probably happen a lot too.” Wahisietel commented, watching Stella bend over to take deep, heaving breaths and discover that she could yet again rest her hand against the very solid door. “You’ll get used to it. After a few visits you stop feeling like your mind is being ripped in half. Come on, let’s go.”
Sera, however, was completely unaffected and was able to immediately take off running, crying out “I’M COMING AZZANADRA!!!” and disturbing the ancient dust and setting off every trap as she passed it. She had several poison darts poking through her slightly singed clothes and large black beetles pinching at small wounds on areas of exposed skin by the time they arrived at the heavy stone door Azzanadra must be behind.
“Come on! Help me out with this door.” Sera threw her entire weight against it and there was an uncomfortable cracking noise.
“Actually I think this one needs to be pulled.” Wahisietel said, brushing the dust out of a small slot carved into the stone.
“Wait first let me just-“ Stella reached towards Sera’s neck.
“Huh?”
“You’ve got, uh, poison darts and bugs all over you.” Stella’s fingers began delicately removing the poison darts and placing the bugs into a small metal box so that they could be fed to the frogs later.
Then Wahisietel managed to get the door open and they got their first glimpse of the prisoner within.
He was the size of most other Mahjarrat, though the pronged hat he wore made him seem taller. Dressed in an elegant outfit of red, black, and delicate gold details, he stared hopefully at the group until Sera ran through him with her arms outstretched.
It was when he reached down to help her up that Stella realised he was slightly transparent and no sound came out when his mouth moved. But he could definitely see them, and hopefully he could hear them.
“Uh, hello? Mr. Azzanadra?” He responded with a nod, so Stella continued: “We’ve come to get you out of here. I don’t suppose you have any pointers on how we would go about doing that?”
Azzanadra launched into a long, detailed and completely inaudible explanation.
“Wait, Azzanadra, we can’t hear you.” Wahisietel said, rummaging in his bag. “Maybe you could write it down?”
But the notebook Wahisietel produced fell right through Azzanadra’s hands.
“Oh. Ok, ok. So. Any other ideas?”
Everyone made a thinking face for a few moments before Azzanadra waved his hand and four diamonds appeared floating in the air in front of him, immediately prompting Sera to bat at them and find that they were just as solid as Azzanadra himself.
“Yes, yes, the diamonds! Where are they?” Stella exclaimed.
He waved his hands again and the sandstone walls of Azzanadra’s prison faded and was replaced by a vision of smoke and lava underground in the desert only a couple of days travel east, the scene revolving around a gem that seemed to be made of the smoke swirling around it and blowing away to reveal that the gem was now crimson and pulsing as if with a heartbeat in a town in a swamp that could only be Canifis, and then it was gleaming ice surrounded by gleaming snow, so far northwest that Stella thought it must be somewhere off the coast of Rellekka. Then the gem was made of darkness itself in an equally dark dungeon, in a slightly more western northwest direction and probably between Ardougne and the gnome stronghold.
“Nice. I suppose we’ll go get them now.”
Azzanadra’s calm expression of relief and anticipation indicated that Sera must have inherited her more dramatic reactions from Sliske.
“Let’s go!!!” Sera squealed.
“Remember, this won’t be easy. Even once you’ve found them, it won’t be easy to actually get them. There will likely be all sorts of traps and obstacles in your way, and of course there’s the guardians to defeat. But I know you’ll be able to do it.” Wahisietel advised. “Bring the gems back once you’ve got them. I’ll open up a portal to the outside of the pyramid so you can get back. I’ll stay here and keep Azzanadra company. Good luck.”
Sera seemed to have disappeared out into the desert before the portal was even open, gesturing eagerly for Stella to follow and calling out optimistic statements to her mother.
“You’d better hurry and catch up with her. I don’t think she has any idea where she’s going.”
“Alright. We’ll be back soon!” Stella waved goodbye to the two Mahjarrat she was leaving and caught up with the one who was accompanying her, breathing in the smell of adventure carried by the desert breeze.