"Don't worry, I'll find you," the young Kyrii swore to herself as she slung a backpack full of supplies over her shoulder and headed through the tall doors of the tomb.

Just inside the entrance, sunlight reflected off the dusty air, making it impossible to see more than a few feet ahead of her. I hope it's not like this in the deeper places, my flashlight will be made useless, she thought.

Tiana continued down the winding and twisting paths until she kicked something with her foot, causing the unknown object to slide across the stone floor. Guessing by the sound, it was something metallic. She blindly felt the ground around her, until she found what felt like a... sword? Tiana gasped. It was Kiaran's sword! I must be on the right track. She gripped the sword tightly, and placing her hand against the left wall, slowly traced her way deeper into the maze...

Hanging Kiaran's sword on her hip, she took a steady grip around the flashlight and continued downwards. It was all a gigantic maze. She walked for what seemed like hours... down, to the right, to the left and up again until she had lost all sense of direction.

"Well," said Tiana to herself, hearing the echo of her voice coming back from the walls around her, "she MUST have taken this way... I haven't seen any other openings so far." Suddenly, as she took the next step she heard a soft "click" beneath her foot. A large portion of the floor opened up, causing her to fall into the blackness. She screamed as she disappeared into the darkness...

"Aaah!" She shrieked and backed up, almost falling off the other side of the ledge. Tiana fumbled for her flashlight, finally getting it to turn on after a couple sharp whacks. The scene the feeble beam lit up was not encouraging.

Before her stretched a giant room, the ceiling fading up into darkness, and the walls angling away out of sight. In the middle was a large platform, which was what she had landed on. Bones of various shapes and sizes lay strewn about the top of it. At one end of the room was a very large door, thick with carvings and encrusted with gems. Other that that, the place was empty.

Getting over her initial shock, Tiana scurried off the tall platform and searched the ground around it.

"Kiaran must have fallen through just like I did," she wondered aloud, "And that's why I couldn't find any footprints!"

As she continued to look for any sign of her friend, her foot caught on something wedged in the ground.

"Ow," she muttered, tugging the glinting thing from the dirt. She blew at the dust covering it, sneezing as it formed a small cloud. It was a metal object of some sort - like a thick braided wire twisted into shape, with a scarlet ribbon tied to it.

Tiana was turning it over in her paw, trying to figure out what it was, when she looked up and realized her search had brought her to the engraved door.

"Wow." She looked down at the thing in her paw, then up again at the door. "This pattern looks the same as what's on the door!"...

She swung the sword wildly, missing every time. That is, until the whooshing sound of the sword met with the horrible shattering sound of the arm... pieces of it flew in every direction. Tiana trembled with fear as she reached for her flashlight. The light shone on where the bones landed- or at least where they should have landed. There was nothing but piles of sand and dust. No bones in sight, not even the other skeletons were in the vast room. Suddenly fear struck her like a massive club as a horrible burning surged up from her foot. She yelped in pain, jumping back and looking at the ground. "The amulet..." she sighed in relief, "but why is it so hot?"

She gingerly stuck her paw out to touch the amulet and found the it was still very cool. Only now it pulsed with a darkness that crawled along the walls, leaving no light in any direction. Then it reached the flashlight beam. The darkness crawled up the beam until it reached the flashlight. The flashlight exploded in a brilliant puff of fire and smoke which fought the darkness briefly; then it enveloped her. She sat for hours in the harsh and bitter darkness, only dreaming of the horrible fate that must have befallen poor Kiaran, and would soon be hers...

Then, out of the gloom, came a massive Ixi. Not your average cute little Neopet, but a titanic one radiating evil. Its eyes were red slits burning through the darkness. Its horns and hooves were burnished copper, and as it came towards her she could hear the sharp crack as copper met stone.

Tiana was speechless with terror. As she crouched, back pressed firmly against the moulding stone, heart in her mouth, she knew what must have happened to Kiara. Her vision began to blur as hot salty tears rained down her cheeks. Obviously she wept because she was scared, but she also wept for Kiaran who had been her best friend even when they were still babies.

As the monster came towards her, she began to have flash-backs to her childhood. She remembered playing in the orchards with Kiaran skipping and jumping, two little Kyriis without a care in the world. Still the beast kept coming, swinging its ugly head from side to side. It finally reached her. Stopping right in front of her, so close she could feel its rank breath on her cheeks.

"No!" she shrieked, "This is not how I want to die!!!" But her cries went unnoticed in the dark unforgiving tomb. Or did they???...

"Back off, tomb-breath!" cried a familiar voice.

Tiana gasped. "Kiaran!" But before she could say another word, Kiaran grabbed her wrist and, stopping only to retrieve the amulet from the floor, pulled her down the corridor. "What was that thing, Kiaran?" asked Tiana breathlessly as they made their escape. There didn't seem to be any signs of pursuit... yet.

"I'll explain later," Kiaran said hurriedly. "The only thing we need to worry about right now is keeping this amulet safe. It's lucky you found it."

Tiana slowed her pace. "But what is it for? What does it do?"

"It has power over the undead," Kiaran, now slightly ahead of her, explained. "If that Ixi had gotten its hooves on it, it would spell curtains for us!" Kiaran turned, noticing that her friend was lagging. "Come on!" she urged, waving. "We have to make it to the center of the tomb, and fast! We're not safe yet!"

Sure enough, there was a faint red light illuminating the corridor behind them, accompanied by the sound of thunderous hooves drumming madly on the dusty stone. Tiana redoubled her efforts, trying to match her friend's speed. But suddenly, Kiaran stopped.

"What is it..." Tiana began, but stopped when she saw what lay ahead of them...

"No!" cried Tiana. "We're trapped!"

"I can see the tomb's centre! We must be able to get across somehow!" Kiaran looked wildly about her for a rope or bridge. Tiana turned to look behind her. The glowing red eyes of the Ixi were getting brighter, and she could feel its footsteps vibrating through the ground.

"It's getting closer Kiaran!" Tiana said.

"Help me look... we need a rope or something. Did you bring one with you?" Tiana searched through her pack.

"Yes! Yes, there's one here. It even as a hook." Tiana pulled it out and handed the hooked end to Kiaran. Suddenly they heard a thunderous roar. Tiana and Kiaran spun aroung to find the monster at the end of the corridor.

"Hurry!" cried Kiaran. "Hold it while I throw it across that groove in the roof." Tiana held the end of the rope tightly in her paws. Kiaran threw the hook and dived as it came hurtling back down. Tiana looked over her shoulder. The evil Ixi was stomping closer and closer. Tiana could hear its heavy and uneven breathing.

Kiaran threw the hook again and caught it in her paw as it came back down.

"Tiana!" she called, turning to her friend. "I'm going to try one more time. If it doesn't catch, we'll have to jump."

"J-jump?" stammered Tiana. "Ok."

"Ready?" called Kiaran.

"Ready!" Tiana called back. Kiaran threw the hook as hard as she could, and to both the Kyriis' joy it stuck!

"Right!" said Kiaran. "Hold on tight!"

"Shouldn't we check it?" Tiana asked. Kiaran looked at the Ixi who had now reached the chamber they were in.

"We have no time!" she cried as she grabbed the rope. "JUMP!" they ran and jumped just as the Ixi took a swipe at them with its razor-sharp hooves. Halfway across Tiana felt somthing slip.

"Did you feel that?" she asked Kiaran.

"Yes. I think it's the hook!" Kiaran tried to look up.

"I told you we should've check-AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Tiana's sentence ended in screams from both of them as the hook came loose, plunging them into darkness...

Kiaran was the first to wake up, as both she and Tiana were knocked out during the fall. Shaking her partner frantically, she was relieved to see her open one eye, then the other, and sit upright groggily.

"Great Meerca, what happened?" She wondered aloud, and then noticed their surroundings. They sat in a large stone dungeon, the skeletal remains of other unlucky explorers remained here, and there seemed to be no way out. Tiana began to panic, large tears welling in her eyes, while Kiaran sensibly looked around for more clues.

"Aha! Hurry Tiana, come here!" Kiaran shouted with excitment, as she grabbed a large dusty book from the ground and realized it was a traveler's journal. The pages were grimy and smudged, but the Kyrii explorer could make out a few words.

"What does it say?" Asked Tiana excitedly, as Kiaran scanned the pages before pulling the amulet from her pack. She pointed at the large stone wall in front of them. Tiana could notice similar markings on both the amulet and the wall, and she finally realized what Kiaran was up to.

"Careful Kiaran! Last time I used the amulet I felt something grab my legs! You yourself said that this amulet has power over the dead!" She squeaked. Kiaran could only smile grimly.

"Tiana, this is our last hope. If we can't get out now, then we'll be stuck here forever. It seems this whole pyramid is made of the dead. After all, a great Kyrii king is buried here. Since this pyramid is so closely tied with the dead, this amulet can control parts of the pyramid: it can open doors, fill pits, you name it. It says so right inside this journal. Sadly, the explorer didn't have the amulet herself, and perished here." Kiaran said, grabbing the amulet and concentrating. With a loud explosion, the wall crumbled to pieces and a large stairway leading up and outside the pyramid was seen.

"Great, Kiaran! When we get back home Professor Raine can look at this!" Tiana said happily, then stopped when two large red eyes appeared in the darkness. The Ixi's eyes...

"Come ON Tiana!" Kiaran shouted, grabbing her friends' hand, and running up the stairs. The Ixi quickly shook himself off and began to pursue them.

Kiaran glanced back as they ran, and knew that they would not escape. The Ixi was much too close. She did the one thing she could think to do. "Tiana, get behind me!" she shouted.

"Kiaran, NO!" Tiana cried, as Kiaran stopped on the stairs and stood in front of her. Ignoring her, Kiaran held the amulet out in front of her, and concentrated harder than she ever had in her entire life. The Ixi bellowed in triumph, thinking the two had given up. Suddenly, the walls exploded inward, and hoardes of dead skeletons marched out from the rubble.

The skeletons formed a barrier right in front of the rampaging Ixi. Its red eyes glowed with demonic rage as he charged directly towards the skeletons. Kiaran and Tiana stood speechless with fear as they watched, knowing that if he made it through, that was their doom. The skeletons stood impassively, watching the Ixi's charge. Then, with a explosive BOOM, the Ixi met the wall of skeletons. As the rubble cleared, the two girls saw neither the skeletons, nor the Ixi. They had vanished into dust.

Tiana threw her arms around her best friend. "Kiaran, we're safe!" she cried.

Kiaran smiled happily. "Come on Tiana, let's get out of here." she said. The two girls began climbing the stairs. As Kiaran looked back, she thought she saw the misty shape of a Lupe forming over the rubble. "That's strange." she mumbled to herself, "It almost looks like...no, it couldn't be."

As the two explorers emerged into the velvet darkness of the evening, Kiaran turned one more time. "Thank you," she said."To whoever you were who helped us." As the Kyriis walked away, a soft whispery voice from the mist was heard to say, "Thank you for coming here, young Neopet," before vanishing into the night...

"Yeah," Tiana agreed, "it certainly was an adventure!" She paused for a second. "You know, I kind of wish that we could tell more Neopets about what happened to us in that tomb; but we'd need proof and all that," she sighed.

All of a sudden, Kiaran snapped her fingers, "I've got it! We have all the proof we need! You still have that amulet in your backpack, don't you?"

"Yeah, I think I do," Tiana replied. "Let me go get my backpack." She disappeared down the hallway. After a minute, Tiana emerged with the yellow canvas bag in her hand. She sat down again and started going through the pack. "It should be in here somewhere, I was going to take it to Professor Raine tomorrow," Tiana said, rummaging around. After a minute, she exclaimed, "Hey! I can't find it!"

"Let me help you," Kiaran replied, taking the bag, turning it over, and shaking it until all the contents were strewn all over the floor. "Wow, Tiana. How much junk do you keep in here?" she asked, looking through the many hair clips, makeup products, books and candy wrappers. After searching through the pile of items, neither girl could find the amulet. As they were stuffing the things back in the bag, Tiana picked up a tiny yellowed piece of paper.

"Hey, this wasn't in my backpack before," she said.

"Hey, let me see it," Kiaran demanded, snatching it from her friend. She unfolded it and both girls peered at what was written. They were engulfed in a sense of happiness, because now it was all too clear as to where the amulet had gone. Scrawled on the paper were three simple words: I am free.

The End