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MAZE - Chapter 1111 - The Map
🕑 Added 2025-09-30 04:26:29 +0000 UTC"This is amazing," Shane was grinning from ear to ear.
"It really is. The fact that this survived this long is nothing short of incredible," Bonnie nodded.
"But do you think this is accurate?" Alex turned to the Ophidianite.
"I do," the Empress nodded. "Even if it's not 100% accurate, it's going to be pretty impossible for the Naga to have completely uprooted their cities and placed them somewhere else, especially considering their size."
Hera pointed to the capital, which seemed be a large metropolis enveloping an entire plateau. They even had entrances on the cliffs themselves, which made even more sense when thinking about the scale of the Naga constructions. If they were able to go several rooms away to create massive dungeons, it was expected that they would be able to make mega-structures like this one.
But that was just the tip of the iceberg. The map was thorough. In it there was even a place marked Au Dorado, or at least the City of Gold. Maybe back then the dungeon had a different name, as the actual representation of the Au symbol was nowhere to be seen. Nearby was also the location of the village that Hera had found with the Spirits.
There were drawings the doorway they used to get here as well as the one leading to the Aerie of the First Flight. Even another one way in the north, all of them with the snake head gates already present on their design.
They could also see that this cave was supposed to be part of a port, or at least some docks. And there were other places in the room that sounded interesting. The Poison Lake was, funnily enough, known as Clearwater Lake. And Hera could see even more villages and drawings of dungeons deeper into the room.
It was also very interesting to see how the map worked. You could only see the drawings of the locations. There was no written information anywhere on the map. But if she were to change her eyes so they would focus on the infrared light, she could see the names of each location written over them. That way they could pack more information into the same space without having to worry about one side blocking the other.
More impressive was the fact that it still survived all those years. Sure, it was encased in amber, but the amount of detail that was saved was just incredible. Even the colors were there. And the Naga also seemed to be able to signal the map with a scale. Although Hera herself wasn't entirely sure if their numbers were working properly since almost all civilizations of the ancient world struggled a bit to properly set up the scale of their maps. Then again, they could have powerful explorers or people who had math skills that were very accurate, and maybe those were the ones who created this one.
Hera was about to say something to Shane when she noticed the enchantress was already taking pictures with her tablet and passing the map through an infrared filter.
"This is incredible, isn't it?" Alex asked.
"It is," Shane nodded with a big smile that refused to leave her face. "It has everything. Everything we need from this place."
She glanced to the side and nodded. "It's even showing up on my own map."
"Really?" Hera pulled up her [Treasure Map] and found that while it wasn't a perfect transfer of data, many of the landmarks were also present on her map. The location of dungeons, or at least an area where they should be. In addition to the formation of the plateaus and any mountains that were too big to have been eroded over time during the few thousands of years since the creation of this map.
There were other things that were not there. For one, Hera's map still had blank parts that didn't allow her to see how the terrain would look like. The cities were also not there, likely due to the fact that most of them should be gone. Not to mention that even the things that were there weren't completely accurate. Instead of showing the exact location, they were only placed in a range, and if Hera were to zoom in the map, she would see a circle roughly around the area that the landmark should be.
It wasn't something entirely unexpected, but she had seen similar effects before. She had been through similar situations in the past. In a couple of rooms where people only gave her some glances at their own maps, her [Treasure Map] wasn't filled completely and instead just did its best to make sure the information was accurate.
"Take as many pictures as you can before we leave. We need to move quickly if we want to get there by the end of the day," Shane said, getting confused stares from the rest of the group.
"What are you talking about?" Bonnie replied.
"We came here to find the Naga homeland. Of course we should go there right away," Shane's eyes were still glued to the map.
"No, we came here to explore the room," Hera replied. "Not just the capital but everything. We're going to get to the capital. Just give it some time."
"Are you kidding me?" Shane snapped.
"No," Hera replied, not turning to face the enchantress.
"We just found the location of the Naga capital. We just found the place where they came from, the place where Darni was born. And you are now telling me that you want to wait? Why?"
"I mean, look here," Hera gestured to the map, "The capital is at least 5 plateaus away."
"So? We have ways of getting there really quickly."
Hera rubbed her eyes. "Shane, what if the ghosts are there? Then what?"
"Then we deal with them," Shane said.
"We don't know how to deal with them. That's the point. We don't know if spells work, if attacks work, nothing. I haven't tried interacting with them in any way aside from using some very basic traps and the roots."
"So we figure it out. Learn how to handle something on the go. But fine, if you don't want to go now because it's too late, we can wait until morning and then Nimbus can take us all the way to the Naga homeland. I'm sure that if you awaken him, he can reach there, and then we can come back without having to worry about the time or something."
"It would make much more sense to wait to awaken him when we come back. After all, we are probably going to have to be running away from something. Even then, we shouldn't rush things," Hera replied.
"You know what, Fine. You can stay, I'll go" Shane stepped towards the exit of the cave.
"Hang on. You can't go alone," Bonnie walked in front of Shane to stop her from leaving.
"Get out of my way. You don't want to go with me? I'm going. This is my dream," Shane said.
"Shane, this is ridiculous. You're not strong enough to handle this room on your own," Alex said.
"Oh, fuck off. This is one of those weird layers that have a very wide range of levels. I absolutely can handle myself here. The odds of something really strong showing up are very slim."
"Sure, you leveled up a lot since we started. Yes, but the Naga are known for having guardian beasts, powerful creatures that can level up, or did you forget that part?" Hera crossed her arms.
"I don't have to worry about that. They should be happy to see a person after all this time."
"Or they might have gone crazy after spending thousands of years without any interaction with people," Hera said.
"I like my chances." Shane huffed.
Hera felt like she was talking to a wall, but at the same time, as much as she wanted to just tell the enchantress to figure it out on her own, she knew that if anything were to happen to Shane, the Hera would never be able to forgive herself for letting a friend go on her own.
Frustrated, she turned back to the explorer. "Fine, then we go tomorrow. Nimbus can take us, and if we need to, I can awaken him and we can run away. Deal?"
Shane nodded. "That's fine with me."
"But Shane," Hera stepped forward, getting very close to the enchantress. "I'm going to say this only once. If we get attacked by a horde of specters or anything that feels like it's dangerous, we are running. I'm going to call you once, and if you want to stay behind, you stay on your own. I'm not letting all of us die just because you're obsessed with the Naga even more than the person who is actually part of the Naga species."
Shane gritted her teeth, "Fine. As long as you're not just running because there's a weird noise or something. If there's a real danger, I'm not going to say anything, if we have to run."
They continued to stare at each other for a few long moments before huffing and stepping away. Bonnie and Alex just let out a sigh as everybody walked back to the alcove created by Hera. And they soon prepared themselves to sleep with an air of tension looming over the group. Not because there was a giant ghost roaming around or because they were attacked by some sort of creature, but because of the conflict between the members of this group.
The next morning, less than half an hour after sunrise, they were ready to leave. This was just enough time for the day to shine across all the plateaus and get rid of the ghosts that were still roaming around. The group had climbed onto their mounts, Nimbus and Ruby in her eagle form, and they all started flying north towards the Naga homeland.
Alex was flying with Hera, and Bonnie was with Shane since the Astral Light decided that it was best to split up the explorers. They were too tense for their own good, and they were worried that during the trip they might start fighting and cause an accident.
Even with their high speed flying across the sky, unimpeded as the room seemed to be completely clear of any flying creatures, it still took them the better part of two hours to even reach a place where they could see the Naga capital approaching. But when they did, it was hard not to be in awe of the sight.
Even after thousands of years, nature was unable to reclaim the entire place. Yes, the base of the city was now a jungle intermixed with buildings and structures that likely housed the Naga once upon a time. But the top of the city, which was formed a wide gigantic tower slowly forming a tip at the very center, was still clear of the thickest parts of the vegetation. There were some vines and some flowers here and there, but most of the structures were still there, plain to see.
Large archways signaling the entrance to a place of worship. Massive roads that were likely made for gigantic snakes or guardian beasts to walk across. Wide open squares where people could gather and mingle. And at the very top of the city was a large temple dedicated to their first guardian beast. The Winged Serpent had many legends surrounding it, from being the creator of the Naga to being an ascended god, although that last part wasn't widely accepted.
Looking more to the east towards the shore of the ocean, they could also see another citadel nearby with a long tunnel connecting to the main center of the city. That was the Emperor's throne, an second city where the royal family, the emperor, and all its cabinet members would live and perform their duties, leaving the actual capital for the population.
This was the city of Shash na vash, or, in the closest translation to English, the Coiled Serpent.
