Lazarus re-spawned in his grave. He sat up in the dirt groaning. Immediately a white furry head appeared over the edge of the grave. Anya gave a small whine and pushed a neatly folded blanket into the open hole onto him. She had re-spawned near his grave and waited for him.

The assassin wrapped it gratefully around him, covering up his nakedness and warming up his chilled body. Dying in intense heat and re-spawning in intense cold. Simtrixx had a sadistic sense of humour.

"Anya. Thank you," Lazarus said weakly.

"My Lord," a matured female voice called him.

He raised his weary head. "Keeper, you're here."

She bent down and extended a helping hand.

"Give me a minute. I need to catch my breath."

Anya jumped in and curled around him. He sat huddled against the warm wolf until he felt strong enough to climb out of the neat rectangle shaped hole in the ground.

"Here lad, take my hand."

His Battle Master had also materialised. Lazarus grabbed his hand and hauled himself up.

"I told you he would get himself killed again. It was a good idea to open up his grave. Better than suffocating and trying to crawl up through heavy dirt in a weaken state." The Keeper was tsk, tsk-ing at him in motherly fashion.

"Thanks," he said chagrined.

"You must be more careful in the future lad. The lovely lady here worries about you."

"Whose idea was it? To leave it open, I mean."

"It was the Keeper's. She said it would be more practical since you went on that dying spree that time." Dimitri jerked his head in the Keeper's direction and grinned slyly, "She didn't want to keep ruining her clothes digging you up."

"I certainly did not say such a blasphemous thing!" She protested. "Don't listen to him my Lord."

"You thought it." The Battle Master continued teasing the Keeper mercilessly.

Dying spree? Oh, that time when he kept dying at Valentine's trial ... and that time when Althea killed him. He had re-spawned and lain there in despair, his heart hurting, unable to move until Dimitri had bundled him up.

He shook himself. Get a grip of yourself and focus. She had moved on and he had to too. He must. They helped him up to his chambers and got him settled. Anya padded after them silently. She was recovering too. Cleaned and dressed, he messaged Valentine.

Lazarus : You okay?

Valentine : No, I'm not okay. That was crazy dying like that. Allegra cursed me for dying and making her panic. She had to dig me up and I had to set up my City Shield again.

Lazarus : LOL, I forgot you barely die in here.

Valentine : Want to try again?

Lazarus had to smile at his friend's enthusiasm. Wasn't he just complaining about dying?

Lazarus: No, not now. I want to do some research first. I'm logging out.

Valentine : Okay. I'm playing some more.

The assassin nodded to himself. Valentine was trying to level up so that he could cross the Portal too. Time was short. He sent a message to Nyx.

Lazarus : I'm logging out. Valentine is still playing.

Nyx : Okay. Thanks but I'm logging out too. My throat hurts from all that screaming. If I have nightmares about the walking dead tonight, it's all your fault!

Lazarus chuckled. No one said Constantine's trial was going to be easy.

Nyx : It was fun. Thanks for letting me tag along. Let me know if I can again. I'll do better, I promise.

He raised his eyebrows. She wanted to follow them again? So much for the scary rats, undead warriors and all the screaming she claimed she did. Lazarus shrugged and logged out.

-----------

Jace studied the picture of Khonsu, God of travel on his lap top. Then he closed his eyes and re-lived Constantine's trial in is mind. There must be something he was missing. Bits of the statue could be moved, he had felt that when he was examining it on the plateau. The moon disc, the staff in the statue's hand and the lever inside could be moved. Maybe there was something else?

What they needed was a key to the huge granite door. If they had that, they could open the door and escape inside before the ancient warriors could come out of the walls. Maybe one of them had the key and they had to fight them after all. They were guarding the door, right? He doubt Constantine would let them through without a fight.

He tried to recall everything about the guarded passageway leading to the door. On one end was the statue of the God, on the other was the door. In between them and on either side of the walls were hieroglyphs and picture of the guards. Lining the start of the pictures were repeating ankh patterns. He frowned. If he remembered correctly there was one discoloured one which seemed larger than the rest. He remembered thinking it marred the whole effect, spoiling the uniformity of the careful pattern.

He created a group chat.

Lazarus : Hey, did any of you notice a key on anyone or anything, in there?

Valentine : You know what? The statue was holding a staff in one hand and an ankh in the other. The ankh looks kinda like a key to me.

Lazarus : An ankh? Yeah it does look like a key doesn't it.

Nyx : Hi! I noticed something when I was looking at the picture of the warriors before they came to life.

Lazarus : You did? What?

Valentine : Anything would help if we don't have to die like trapped rats again.

Nyx : Ugh! Please don't remind me of the rats.

Lazarus : What did you find Nyx?

Nyx : The lead warrior, their leader had a chain around his neck but it was tucked in his leather armour. Maybe he has a key on it?

Lazarus : Maybe. We will have to try both then.

Jace smiled to himself. They had just confirmed his guesses. If the ankh was the key, they could take it when they got out of the statue. If not, they could kill all the warriors as they energed frim the walls and get the key. Now that they knew what to expect, it would be easier. Constantine had lost the element of surprise.

Jace frowned, something was bugging him. It couldn't be that easy could it? Suddenly he sat up. If he killed the warrior, it and everything on it would disappear. So that means, he would have to get the key off the undead man before killing him. Oh wow, Constantine was a tricky one. They would keep dying in that passageway if they couldn't get the door open. Even if they managed to kill all the warriors, they would be trapped there with no way out. The statue only went one way, down. There had to be a way out on the other side of the door.

He wasn't planning on dying unnecessarily.

Lazarus : Okay. I'm going to do some more research.

He logged out and spent the rest of the night surfing the internet, learning about ancient Egypt and their dead. The next day, he carefully crafted several items on the equipment editor referring to his meticulous notes, lists and drawings before storing them in his Inventory.

He called Ash. They discussed their findings and strategy.

Half an hour later, he was ready.

---------------

The group assembled and went in again. They went through the dark narrow tunnel and emerged at the flimsy chain bridge. Quickly crossing it, they made their way to the plateau and went directly to the statue in the middle. The pitter-pattering of tiny clawed feet could be heard.

"Hurry! Here come the rats!"

Without pausing, they turned the moon disc revealing the opening. They went down without incident. When the door opened, Valentine immediately stepped out to snatch the ankh from the statue's hand.

"Got it!"

"Nyx, which one had the chain?"

"That one." She pointed to a drawing in the middle. The leader had an additional leather breast plate covering his chest unlike the soldiers under his command. A chain hung around his neck and disappeared under his clothing.

"Okay. Leave him to me. You know what to do."

They went to their positions. Valentine, Tania and Nyx ran to the granite door to try the ankh. If it worked, they could all go through before the drawings fleshed out.

Lazarus and Anya ran to the middle facing the hieroglyph of the leader, ready to sprint to safety if the door opened.

"Ready, Anya?"

"I am."

He gripped the hilt of his sharp hunting knife. "Here they come."

The pictures had started moving, turning to face them. Bits of arms and legs started coming out the walls. They went to work, chopping and slashing at whatever protruded, killing the ancient soldiers while they were still only half-formed.

"The ankh key! It's not working. It doesn't fit!!" Valentine yelled from the large granite doors. "Get the leader. It's our only hope!"

Lazarus whipped his head around. Time for Plan B, like they had discussed earlier. They had to try everything. "Val! Plan B! You know what to do!!" Lazarus yelled before turning his attention back to the emerging warriors.

Valentine ran back the length of the corridor to Khonsu, dodging and slashing any dead who got in his way.

Tania and Nyx were hard at work, each attacking one side of the wall near the door preventing the warriors from materialising. Anya and Lazarus were working in mid-passage. Lazarus was helping Anya whilst waiting for the leader to emerge from the wall. She had strict orders to leave the leader to him.

Finally the leader stepped out of his drawing. He turned to face Lazarus, somehow sensing the assassin's intentions. The undead warrior gave him a gruesome smile and lunged at him. Lazarus dodged easily and responded with an attack of his own which the dead man blocked. Sparks flew as the khopesh and hunting knife met over and over, both fighters clashed fiercely not willing to back down. As minutes went past, Lazarus grew more desperate. He had to end this quickly or they would all perish again.

Using Speed, he jumped in close to the live corpse, grabbing at the chain around his neck. It came away with little resistance. Lazarus was ecstatic to find a heavy star shaped bronze key attached to it. The leader howled in anger and tried to slash Lazarus but the assassin was too fast for him. Lazarus twisted and jumped, using the wall to bounce back. The next second, Lazarus's hunting knife was plunged deep into the leader's chest. It was a fatal blow. He bellowed in fury and grabbed the assassin in a bear hug.

"Aarrgghhh!!"

The crazed warrior was crushing his chest and spine. He couldn't breathe. He had to escape before the dead man combusted or he would also be fried. Desperately he started hitting his assailant's ribs. Anyone would let go at the painful jabs. The dead were no different, maybe he had some feelings left in him or maybe it was some long forgotten human reflex. Whatever it was, Lazarus was glad when the dead man let go before he exploded. Lazarus dropped into a crouch on the floor and shielded his eyes.

Around him, the others were busy with the undead army. They were outnumbered. The undead kept coming out of the walls like never-ending carbon copies. What the hell? Where was Constantine's ethics of limiting the foes according to the Hero's levels? And Simtrixx had allowed this?

Lazarus yelled in frustration at the impossible situation. He looked around, his friends were slowly but surely being defeated. His hunting knife whistled in the air as he leaped into the fray, hacking and slashing, cutting off limbs. The dead exploded around him. More appeared. He heard Tania whimper and Nyx scream. They were hurt. He turned to check on them, hurt but not dead.

The momentary distraction landed him on his back, an ancient foot on his chest holding him down. The warrior grinned at Lazarus showing rotting teeth and raised his khopesh bringing it down onto the helpless gatekeeper. The assassin tried to block with his weapon. Suddenly, the dead man stopped and bellowed in anger. "Nooooo!! Get him!!" But they were too late.

Valentine had reached the far end and had placed the ankh 'key' he was holding to the discoloured ankh pattern in the wall, the extra-large one that Lazarus had noticed. It fitted perfectly. Immediately, all the ancient warriors froze in place, becoming statues. Just in time too, Lazarus heaved a sigh of relief as he wiggled out from under the sharp tip of the poised khopesh.

"That was close," he muttered.

"Laz!! We did it!" Valentine whooped and made his way to the group.

They gathered, avoiding touching the frozen men. They were caught in action, stilled in awkward fighting poses but were eerily silent. It was creepy.

They took stock of their damage. Fighting the frightening undead army had taken its toll. Nyx stumbled and Tania was limping. Anya hung her tired head. Bright red blood stained her white forehead where a gash between her ears. Valentine was still alert, keeping guard.

Lazarus wasted no time, walking to the granite door, he fitted in the star shaped bronze key and twisted. He thanked the gaming Gods when the key turned and he heard a click. They backed away when the granite doors started creaking and groaning as if resisting some hidden mechanism. Clouds of thousand year old dust billowed out at them. Reluctantly, the huge doors cracked open and swung outward.