A Pug's Journey (Cultivation Starts with Breathing)

I stood beneath the stone arch again. It was the same one.

Same shape, same height. I circled it twice just to be sure. All of it matched.

I'd come back here. No doubt now.

Just to rule out my own error, I marked the sand near the arch by dragging a claw in a straight line. Then I picked a new direction; one I hadn't taken before, one where my earlier pawprints hadn't touched.

I made sure of it. I paced out a wide arc and scanned for any overlaps. This time, I walked with focus. No wandering thoughts. No wasted detours in my head. I kept moving.

My fur was short but dense—I really wasn't built for climates like this. I felt myself tiring even quicker than before.

My paws sank deeper than expected, maybe because I was more sluggish now. Two ttons mass meant that the soft sand sunk wherever I moved. I left a deep trail.

I followed a straight line for hours. No turns. No doubling back. Just a slow pace.

Same as before, when the heat pushed up behind my eyes, I sat down, opened the satchel, and bit through a water pouch and drained it whole.

I stood again. Walked and saw more sand. More sky. Nothing changed. No plants. No insects. No noise at all, except my own wheezing.

Eventually, I saw something ahead. A stone arch again.

I walked closer and saw the same mark I'd made.

So, I was actually looping no matter which direction I headed towards.

Was this the dungeon's first test?

Every book I read had focused on water. Flooding. Sea creatures. There hadn't been a single mention of a desert, not even in the more less-known books. As far as I was aware, this terrain didn't belong to Kethra or to any nation nearby.

I rolled onto my back, letting the pendant rest against my chest. The Tidemother's Embrace wasn't designed for this.

A useless tool in the wrong dungeon.

Left, right, forward. If none of it worked and every path circled back.

Then...

I turned my head and looked down at the sand.

If every horizontal direction closed, there was only one left.

'Fine.'

I stepped forward and dropped onto my belly. The sand felt hot but not scalding. My claws sank in and I began digging.

It was a slow start.

Sand isn't dirt; it doesn't keep shape. Every stroke filled itself back in, like trying to scoop out water with a hole in the bucket.

But each movement still pushed something aside. I pressed forward. My back legs kicked as my front claws dragged more away.

Time passed, but I didn't track it. The sky above didn't change. I stopped once to drink, licking the one of the 15 water pouches from the inside. Then back to it.

More digging.

I kept going.

Eventually, I hit a patch of something solid.

Stone.

I paused, breathing hard. I slowly widened the pit carefully. Bit by bit, making sure not to collapse it all.

The stone kept going. I cleared more.

That was when I understood.

The arch up above? It was just the top. A piece of something larger. A full structure buried beneath this desert.

I ran a paw over the stone surface I'd uncovered, searching for any hint of a doorway or seam.

The exposed slab was smooth and seamless, no obvious way in. If there was an entrance, it was buried under tons of sand. I didn't have the patience to excavate it fully, considering the heat out here.

No matter. If there was no door, I would make one.

Taking a steady breath, I focused my Qi and Claw Intent into my right paw.

I struck. Four parallel gouges scored across the stone in an instant. A second swipe crisscrossed the first, carving a rough X into the slab. With a heavy push with my front legs, I sent the loosened chunk of stone crashing inward.

A cloud of dust billowed out from the darkness beyond.

Stale air rushed past me, carrying a dry scent.

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I squinted, peering into the hole I'd opened. I couldn't see anything other than a cloud of dust.

I hoisted myself through the gap and my paws hit solid ground almost immediately. The drop was only a few feet. I had landed on something hard and uneven, it felt like steps.

I had fallen onto a wide stairway, descending steeply into the depths. The stairs stretched below into darkness, and behind me a faint grey light trickled from the opening I'd made in the ceiling.

I took one cautious step down, then another. Funnily enough, the stone steps were sized for something larger than humans. I pressed my body against the wall to guide myself..

A grinding noise suddenly echoed from behind. I froze and glanced back over my shoulder, up toward the hole I'd cut. The edges of the opening were… moving, sliding towards each other with a low, scraping hiss.

Shhk… Shhhk.

The opening was regenerating itself. Within a few seconds, the gap sealed shut, knitting itself back into a fixed ceiling. The last ray of light vanished.

Darkness, total and complete, enveloped me.

I growled under my breath. Turning back to the stairway, I descended slowly, step by step, plunging deeper into the black.

The silence was thick around me, broken only by the faint scrape of my claws on stone.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of blind descent, my forepaw hit the floor. The next step down simply wasn't there. I stopped just in time, probing ahead. My nose gently bumped against a flat surface, a wall blocking the stairway's end.

I drew my paw back and swiped. Claw Intent flowed through my claws once more as a harsh crack resounded, a jagged opening burst open in the stone wall before me.

Blinding light flooded through the opening, forcing me to shut my eyes against the sudden glare.

When I opened them again, I was squinting into a corridor lit by flickering flames. I stepped through the rough-edged hole I'd created, shards of stone crumbling under my legs. On the other side, I could finally see my surroundings.

I stood in a long hallway crafted from smooth stone blocks. Brackets on the walls held torches that burned with steady blue fire, illuminating murals etched into the walls. I could make out stylized shapes of beasts and symbols, but it was too difficult to understand..

I glanced behind me at the wall I'd just torn apart. As the dust settled, I realized there were hinges on one side and a heavy iron ring on the other.

It had been a door. Actually, it probably would have swung open with a firm push had I actually tried. I couldn't help but grunt with a mix of amusement and irritation.

'Too late now.'

A chunk of the door lay in pieces at my feet, my method was still effective.

Turning back, I padded forward along the torch-lit hall. The flames cast dancing shadows across the floor as I advanced. The air here was drier than above, but not as stale.

At the far end of the corridor, something large loomed in the wavering light.

It was a massive statue, crouched directly opposite the doorway I'd entered from. As I came closer, I could make out more details: the statue was carved in a hunched posture on all fours.

It had enormous stone paws, each the size of my entire body. Its body was a bit like a lion's, but above the shoulders, the stone shape transitioned into something with a human's face.

A woman's face was chiseled where a lion's head should have been.

I stopped a cautious dozen paces away.

As if on cue, I could feel a sudden tremor on the stone floor. The torch flames fluttered.

The giant statue began to move. Dust rained from its joints as stone muscles came to life. The creature's eyelids opened, revealing hollow sockets that, for some reason, were fixed on me.

It moved slightly from its resting position and was surprisingly flexible for something made of rock.

Now towering over me at easily five times my height, the statue spoke.

The voice did not come from any visible mouth movement. Instead, it echoed through the hall.

"Mortal beast," it said, the words reverberating off the corridor walls. "Only one who answers my riddle shall be granted passage."

I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could speak, the statue continued.

"Fail, and remain here as part of the sands eternal," the statue warned without emotion. "Succeed, and walk free."

Then it began to recite:
"For eons I wait, patient and still, devouring memory as is my will. Kings and beggars, to me all must turn, their deeds and their names in silence I burn. Monuments crumble, their legacies flee; in time, all things become me. What am I?"

The statue's voice fell silent, echo fading into the crackle of the torches. Its empty eyes watched me, waiting an answer.

I stood there for a moment, my tail twitching once in annoyance.

I understood the riddle well enough, and maybe I could even try answering.

But I had no interest in playing along.

I had crossed a looped desert twice and dug my way through sand and stone to get here. I was tired, thirsty, and now thoroughly out of patience.

Enough was enough. I wasn't about to humor an overgrown statue with puzzles.

My muzzle pulled back, revealing a hint of fang. "Why do I have to answer?" I growled, my voice echoing in the hall.

I took a step forward, muscles tensing under my fur, and fixed my stare on the statue's face. "Move," I snarled, "or I'll break you."

The statue did not appreciate my defiance. With a harsh grinding noise, it rose fully onto all four of its legs. The human-faced statue towered even higher now, its head nearly touching the ceiling above us.

Without further warning, one of the massive lion paws struck out, descending on me with terrifying speed..

I met the attack with every fiber of my tempered, Qi-hardened body.

The paw slammed down. The floor beneath me cracked in a spiderweb pattern, stone shards flying outward from the impact. A thunderous boom reverberated through the corridor as dust and dirt rained from the ceiling.

For a moment, nothing moved.

The giant paw had engulfed my body completely in its size. But the statue seemed to hesitate, perhaps not expecting me to be unmoving.

I could feel a dull pain throb along my back where the weight had hit.

Slowly, I raised my head. I locked eyes with the creature's blank eyes. Then I pushed upward with a growl.

The statue drew its paw back in what might have been surprise, if stone faces could show emotion.

With a surge of Qi, I leapt up and swiped at the statue's extended limb. I didn't even need to use Claw Intent this time—just raw, physical might channeled through frustration and anger. My paw struck the statue's stone paw.

BAM!—Crack!

The impact sounded like a boulder cracking. A fissure split through where I hit, and then the entire paw shattered from the force of my strike. Fragments of stone flew in all directions, pelting the floor and walls. A great chunk of the paw crashed down beside me, skidding across the floor.

The statue stumbled back, now missing half of its front limb. The stump of its leg was jagged, crumbling at the edges. It let out a deafening grinding howl, staggering as its balance wavered.

I landed on the ground and bared my teeth. I didn't have the patience for this farce anymore, and my anger was still palpable.

Staring coldly up at the crippled statue, I spoke each word with a threatening growl.

"I will not ask again. Let me through."