The Immortals of Notoriouslandia
Chapter Twenty-Two: The Temple of Eternal Questions
The Temple of Eternal Questions rose like a silent titan from the canyon floor, buried beneath roots, time, and stone. It wasn't built—it was grown, carved by forgotten hands and laced with runes older than memory.
The team stood before its cracked, monolithic door.
Above it, etched in Immortal script, were the words:
"Within, you will be unmade by mind, rebuilt by will.Speak not lies. Fear not death. Forget not who you are."
Descentedrain stepped forward.
"Ready?"
Sapphire pulled her hood tighter.
"Only if you are."
The doors rumbled—and opened.
Puzzle One: The Trial of Strength
The first chamber was circular, walls lined with crumbled statues. At its center: a massive stone cube floating above a glowing pit. On it was carved:
"Only when that which cannot be lifted, moves… will the path forward open."
Mr. Shonk grinned.
"So... we lift the unliftable cube. Nice."
He tried. It didn't budge.
Descentedrain focused gravity manipulation—nothing.
Sapphire threw a blade—reflected.
"This isn't about lifting," Kukranchunlikryting muttered. "It's about motion."
Then Descentedrain had a thought.
He whispered to the cube:
"You can move… if you choose to."
He reached out, hand not to lift—but to invite.
The cube glowed, then rotated on its own.
The floor trembled. The next door opened.
Puzzle Two: The Trial of Courage
The next room was a black chasm, a thin bridge vanishing into fog. On the far wall, a timer of glowing runes ticked downward.
Above the bridge:
"Cross the path of false death. Only the fearless may pass untouched."
They stepped forward—
Immediately, phantoms rose: illusions of fire, falling rocks, giant blades.
Sapphire froze.
"It's playing with our minds."
Descentedrain looked across.
"It's bluffing. All of it."
He ran first. A flaming phantom boulder crashed down on him—
—and passed through.
The illusions weren't real. Just fear, given form.
They all ran together, eyes forward.
The phantoms screamed.
But none were harmed.
Puzzle Three: The Trial of Intelligence
A chamber of mirrors. Every direction was the same. In the center: a voice echoed.
"Only the reflection of the truth may show the way."
They stared into hundreds of versions of themselves—some proud, some broken, some monstrous.
One showed Descentedrain without his team. Another showed him as a villain.
Only one showed him with the team standing behind him, their backs together.
"That's the one," he said. "The truth isn't just me—it's us."
He reached toward that mirror—and it became a door.
They passed through.
The Guardian Awakens
The final chamber was vast—pillars of brass and onyx, gears frozen in time.
In the center stood a colossus.
Half buried, humanoid in shape, twenty meters tall.
A mecha.
Ancient, rusted, sleeping—until they stepped too close.
Its eyes ignited blue.
Its joints creaked.
And it stood up.
"Sentient structure—defensive system," Kukranchunlikryting growled.
"I thought this was a puzzle temple!" Mr. Shonk shouted.
"Apparently, the reward is a fight," Sapphire muttered.
The mecha's hand opened. Blades extended.
It charged.
All-Out Warfare
They attacked with everything.
Sapphire launched piercing crystal javelins at its joints. No effect.
Mr. Shonk struck it with amplified trident slams that shook the room. Nothing.
Kukranchunlikryting flooded the chamber with corrosive clouds—still nothing.
Descentedrain unleashed solar storms, kinetic waves, and mental ruptures—no damage.
"We're not even scratching it!" Shonk yelled.
Descentedrain floated up, eyes scanning.
And then he saw it.
Every time the mech roared—vents opened in its throat.
"That's it! The throat! That's the weak point!"
He focused his powers, coordinated with the others.
Kukranchunlikryting distracted it with toxins.
Sapphire blinked and stabbed directly into one vent.
Mr. Shonk launched Descentedrain upward with all his strength—
And Descentedrain drove the Galactic Sword into the exposed throat.
The mecha shook, screamed—then collapsed like a falling mountain.
The Final Note
Inside the broken core, a scroll floated.
Descentedrain caught it.
He read aloud:
"To those who survived the mind and the metal—Come now to the Castle of the Dead.There, the true story begins.Built two centuries ago, still alive in memory, still hungry."
Camp and Comfort
That night, they camped at the edge of the canyon, beneath the broken mech's shell.
Two huts again. Same roommates.
Descentedrain, with a tired smile, used his gravity-field heat dome to wrap them all in warmth.
He passed around new enhanced favorites:
Mr. Shonk received mango graham bars with golden freeze cores.
Kukranchunlikryting sipped ghost-pepper-acid cocoa with crunchy electric mistmallows.
Sapphire, again, received galaxy-sweetened crystal berries—this time topped with glimmerfruit nectar.
She looked at him, smiling.
"You keep spoiling me."
"Or maybe I'm just predictable," he replied, sitting beside her.
"No," she said. "You're just perfectly consistent."
He blushed slightly.
Mr. Shonk shouted from the other hut:
"AND HE'S RIZZING AGAIN!"
They all laughed.
But across the stars…
The Castle of the Dead was already waiting.
The Castle of the Dead
Dark clouds rolled over the landscape like spilled ink as the Unbound Team approached the Castle of the Dead—an ancient fortress of black bone, obsidian towers, and stained glass windows that wept shadow.
Perched atop a cliff like a predator's skull, the castle pulsed with necrotic energy. A massive gate opened on its own as they neared, groaning like it hadn't moved in centuries.
"Smells like unbrushed teeth and regret," Kukranchunlikryting muttered, drawing his vaporized acid daggers.
"I bet half the skeletons in there still have price tags," Mr. Shonk added.
Descentedrain didn't smile.
"Stay close. This place was built to kill heroes."
The Undead – But Upgraded
Inside, the castle erupted into a labyrinth of shadow halls, echoing moans, and sudden ambushes.
But these weren't typical undead.
They were reanimated knights, shrieking mages, and rotting beasts, each infused with dark-elemental magic:
Some hurled fireballs stitched with decay.
Others summoned frost chains that pulled weapons from their hands.
A few rained cursed lightning, trying to disrupt their coordination.
Still—they were no match.
Sapphire cloaked herself in mirrored flame and danced through their ranks like a ghost of vengeance.
Mr. Shonk crushed through necromantic knights two at a time, swinging his trident like a steel hurricane.
Kukranchunlikryting used mutating poisons to turn the undead against each other, unraveling necrotic bonds mid-spell.
And Descentedrain walked like a god of storms and gravity, pulling spells out of the air and slamming enemies into the floor with elegant brutality.
One by one, the dead fell again.
The Return of the Sage
At the castle's central sanctum, amidst a throne made of ribs and sorrow, the Bone Sage appeared once more.
This time, cloaked in slightly flashier robes. He now had silver-tipped boots, a slightly glowing staff, and—
"Wait," Sapphire whispered."Are those... glitter runes?"
The sage cleared his throat and raised his arms dramatically.
"I… am Grandalfert! Master of bones! Lord of parasites! Breaker of logic and time—"
"You're literally a knockoff Gandalf," Mr. Shonk interrupted.
"That's not—well, I prefer the aesthetic—"
"You named yourself Grandalfert?" Kukranchunlikryting growled.
Descentedrain's voice was flat.
"No speeches."
They Beat the Absolute Hell Out of Him
What followed wasn't a duel.
It wasn't cinematic.
It was a straight-up team beatdown.
Sapphire drop-kicked him into a wall.
Shonk hit him with a full-body shoulder tackle that shook the ceiling.
Kukranchunlikryting stabbed him in the shin with poison so strong his staff screamed.
Descentedrain threw him into the air, slammed him down, then disarmed him mid-sentence.
"You fools haven't even seen my true—"
BAM.
"You dare disrespect—"
CRACK.
"I'll return stronger—"
THUD.
He vanished in a puff of shadow-glitter, voice echoing:
"I will… be back! Probably. Maybe. Depends on the trauma!"
Gone.
Back to the City
By sunset, they were back in Notoriouslandia, stepping off a hovertram with mud on their boots and zero patience.
"Hotel?" Descentedrain asked.
"Hotel," everyone answered in unison.
He booked two rooms, same pairings—Mr. Shonk and Kukranchunlikryting in one, himself and Sapphire in the other.
Shonk raised his hands in celebration.
"If there's not a hot tub in that room, I'm breaking into the mayor's pool!"
Sapphire smirked at Descentedrain.
"You know, you're getting really good at this whole 'save the world and then casually book a room' thing."
"It's my real superpower," he replied.
She leaned closer.
"Still dangerously rizzed."
"Still unaware I'm doing it."
And the doors closed behind them.
A Moment Beneath the Stars
The city lights of Notoriouslandia shimmered below them—gold and blue threads weaving through quiet streets, a gentle hum in the air like the city itself was exhaling after years of war.
Descentedrain stood on the hotel balcony, leaning against the marble railing, his eyes scanning the skyline, though not truly seeing it. His sword leaned against the doorframe, silent. The fire in his aura was calm tonight.
Behind him, Sapphire stepped out.
No armor. Just a simple tunic that caught the breeze, her hair loose and swaying in the wind.
"You're always watching," she said softly.
He didn't turn.
"It helps me remember we made it."
She joined him, leaning beside him, letting their arms brush without pulling away.
"You're good at pretending you don't need anything," she murmured.
"And you're good at knowing when I do."
He looked at her then—really looked. The starlight caught her eyes, and for once, she wasn't a warrior or a strategist.
She was just Sapphire.
And she looked at him like he was more than just a weapon with a mission.
There was a long silence, heavy but comforting.
"I used to think loving someone meant being weak," she admitted."That if I let myself care too much, I'd break the moment they got hurt."
Descentedrain reached out, gently brushing her cheek with the backs of his fingers.
"Then why are you still here?"
"Because you're not a risk," she said."You're a reason."
She stepped closer, his hand now resting on her waist.
He didn't speak.
He just leaned in, forehead to forehead, letting the moment breathe between them like something sacred.
She kissed him—not rushed, not desperate. Just real. Quiet. Full of weight and warmth. The kind of kiss that didn't ask for anything but presence.
And he kissed her back the same way.
When they pulled apart, neither moved away.
"Stay with me tonight?" she whispered.
"Always," he answered.
They turned from the balcony, walked back inside together, the door closing gently behind them.
No fire. No storm. Just two people, in the silence between battles, finally home in each other.