text: I looked down the dark tunnel, and realized I was being paranoid.
  
  There should be nothing down here anymore. Not on any the levels we've been to before. There could be all kinds of things behind the sealed doors, although that didn't seem likely unless those tunnels somehow had their own water supply and ecosystem as well. Everything down here should already be dead. Just like the Detrite had been. Or Virtus' Immortal Legion had been. So forget that helpful thought.
  
  Still, though, I had executed the classic gamer strategy of thoroughly looting the dungeon and slaughtering everything we could. There should be no more traps. There should be no more undead skeletons. There should be no more lingering, whimpering ghosts.
  
  I told myself all that, and then commanded we kept our eyes sharp anyway. Through the mindlink, I felt everyone else's paranoia agree with that idea. So we walked back down into the tunnels, leaving the safety of the manor's meadow for the dark, still-probably-safe-but-hey-you-can't-be-too-careful caverns that reached under so many places in Avalon.
  
  "Good lesson," Eadric suddenly spoke up next to me.
  
  "Huh?" I asked the dwarf, not following what he was talking about.
  
  "What you told the young one about fear. That was a good observation."
  
  "Thank you," I said, surprised at the rare compliment from my stocky companion. Usually the three of them just teased me. I had gotten okay with it because I figured out it was just how they got along, but somehow that made it more real when they actually did say something nice. "It's something I gotta learn fast if I don't want to die. Again," I finished bitterly as my eyes kept scanning the tunnel we walked. "And I'd rather she not go through half of what I did. It's bad enough I couldn't stop what's already happened."
  
  "Spoken like an elder brother." The dwarf nodded, then pointed to the room ahead. "Gonna have to see how she handles that, though."
  
  As he said that, we entered the circular chamber that had led to the Rites.
  
  It had been cleaned up after the massive battle, so we didn't have to deal with the stink of a hundred decomposing corpses down here. That was yet another reason to write a thank-you card to Guineve for her fix-everything mist magic. But the oldest bones we had decided to leave here, partly because we weren't sure we could move them and partly because it seemed like their removal would violate the sanctity of this place somehow.
  
  And since no one but us had gone down here, Val was about to have the same encounter with her ancestors that I had.
  
  Her eyes widened as she took in the room.
  
  "Um, Wes?" she asked. "Why are there still bodies in here?"
  
  "They're kinda still guarding this place," I answered awkwardly. I couldn't put my finger on why it felt wrong to move them. Even taking their strange armor and weapons felt wrong. I guess it was because I could still hear them talk, and because it just wasn't their time yet.
  
  So I stepped over the ancient form by the door and brought my little sister into a room full of corpses. Through my mindlink, I could feel her having the same experience I did the first time I came in.
  
  They talked to her. They sensed the kinship they had with a fellow Earthborn. So they told the same story again, once more speaking the various different languages on Earth despite the fact that the bodies all predated the respective languages by thousands, if not millions, of years.
  
  <Hold the line,> they whispered in tongues from every continent. <Let the last of them escape. Guard the little ones as they run.>
  
  "Wes?" Val asked, shivering as the impossible words washed over her. "How… I thought this place was old?"
  
  "It is," I answered quietly. "It's been sealed longer than any recorded history on Earth. These bodies predate the oldest known civilization on Earth by aeons. I don't know exactly how long but it's possible they predate the Stone Age or even the dinosaurs."
  
  "That doesn't make any sense." Val shivered again. Her eyes widened further. "I mean… how? Why? What even…" She stopped sputtering, unable to articulate the giant question we had been both given that contradicted everything we had grown to know.
  
  "I don't know," I replied. "I still don't have an answer, and neither does Breena or anyone else who's lived here. But I think a giant lie wrapped around our world at one point, and it snatched away massive parts of our story."
  
  We continued walking around the different bodies, to let Val process a little longer. I was probably the only one who knew what she was going through. Just as I was the only one who knew how badly she needed to have this discovery.
  
  Because everyone from my world needed to know this story. The story of how we were something other than some weak, frail primates that were constantly on the verge of destroying ourselves, and that we had been that way for thousands of years.
  
  But these dead men and women said we were far greater than that. And maybe we could be greater still, once again.
  
  Val finally stopped trembling, and then she clenched her fists and looked up. Her eyes locked onto a shape I couldn't see, and then she spoke, first in Vietnamese, then in English.
  
  "Honored ancestors," she said, making a low bow while keeping her eyes on whatever she had seen. "Thank you for your story. I will also help."
  
  I couldn't tell what she was keeping her eyes on, and I couldn't tell what she was experiencing even through the mindlink. But a moment later, I saw her close her eyes and push.
  
  Her power shuddered its way through the mindlink. I felt a surge as well, though it wasn't enough to make me Rise in answer. A glance behind me told me Breena and others felt it as well.
  
  "Damn," Eadric grunted in surprise. "Can all of you Earthborn do that?"
  
  From what I could tell, the increase wasn't as great as it was the first time we all went down here. Just a handful of points to our Dexterity, in fact. I got a vague, shadowy impression of an Ideal I hadn't comprehended, but not enough to grant any new benefits. Everyone else seemed the same, although Breena seemed excited for some reason.
  
  "That's your new Ideal?" she chattered. "Val, that's awesome! You are going to have so much fun!"
  
  "Really?" she said in surprise, blinking and apparently still processing her own changes. "Is it a good one?"
  
  "It's a great one! I can't wait to see how you'll use it!"
  
  "Um, use what?" I asked, confused.
  
  "Check your mindlink, Wes. You can figure it out better that way," Breena lectured. I shrugged and did what she said, and was impressed. Shadow magic? No wonder she called herself a rogue.
  
  It was at that moment that a shape materialized in front of us.
  
  He was ghostly, just like he had been in the last vision. A man tall enough to tower over me, wearing winged plate-armor and Native American features.
  
  "Son of Earth, and Lord of Avalon," his deep voice washed out. "Thank you for taking our call. Thank you for not abandoning the least of Avalon."
  
  I didn't know he could tell that I was in charge here now. I had thought him to be a projection and not an actual ghost.
  
  "The once-dead shout your name when they are delivered. Once again you have upheld the old ways: All is not Lost. Failure is Non-permanent. The great blade on your side, Breaker, hums its agreement. Thank you. And thank you, daughter-Earthborn." The projection's head turned, facing my adopted sister and his voice grew gentle. "Thank you for answering the call as well. I grieve to see the wounds written on your soul. I grieve to see the guilt you feel over your brother-Earthborn's wounds, as if they could be your fault. You have been wronged, you have lost, and like him you have been told that you are less because of what you have suffered. But such lies are blasphemy. Know this: because of your courage, the dead will live again. Let no lie hide the fact that your actions in this place set back both the grave and the oppressor. Hold fast. You are needed. You are mighty. And you will take back treasure of both quantity and caliber far greater than what past fools dared to take from you. Seek the lost in this place, and I swear by Invictus you will reap a hundred times the harvest you dare to expect. For behold: victory is your birthright."
  
  The ghostly visage raised his gauntlet, and Val shivered again, her eyes wide once more. I braced myself for another rush of power, but this time I just felt her mind expand, as if she was seeing a whole world of events happen before her eyes.
  
  "That…" she whispered. "Can I really…"
  
  "No, daughter-Earthborn," the visage said gently. "You can do far greater things. Those meager images were just to ignite your hope."
  
  "Thank you," she whispered, her eyes watering as she looked up. "I'll believe you. I'll believe I can do it."
  
  "This thralled world needs you both," the visage said. "But go forth. Victory is your birthright."
  
  He shimmered again, and disappeared in front of me. Val turned to look at me.
  
  "Did you hear… was that really…" She trailed off.
  
  "Yeah, sis," I said, nodding. "He really talked to you. And he was specifically talking to you. I could tell because his talk with me before was completely different."
  
  "So I can…" Her courage was still struggling with the rest of her. But that was okay.
  
  "Yeah," I told my sister. "He wasn't lying. You can do everything he said and more." I pointed to the other doors. "You'll see, when we step through those doors and start helping people everyone says we can't."
  
  She shuddered again, then she suddenly hugged me tightly.
  
  "Thank you," she sniffled. "For letting me be a part of this."
  
  "You're welcome," I said, cautiously embracing my prodigal sis. "Now let's get this party started."