Somewhere further away in the temple, that hiss had echoed along the winding corridors, and Chronos found himself turning around to the sound, his orange ponytail whipping around his shoulder.

"What was that?"

"You'll want to keep going this way, trust me," Osiris answered and stopped to wait for him.

"That sounded kinda bad, or something that will become a bad thing later," Cider commented, who looked a bit more concerned than he did previously. He found himself waving away dust specks in the air that were dancing near him and sneezed before he could say anything else.

"That hiss was most certainly the sound of our friend the guardian, and he sounded quite unhappy," Osiris assured. "Wonder what your missing friend did to him..."

"That's it, I'm going back."

Chronos adamantly turned to leave, but Osiris bolted to the back to block him, his expression one of persuasion.

"Like I said, you'll want to keep going this way," He pointed forward. "It's faster. You won't get to him in time if you go the other way."

Chronos looked cross with him.

"He'll be fine, unless you want to keep pausing to argue over it. Time is of the essence, my friend."

Before Chronos could word his answer, Osiris bounced back to the front to lead on, confident that the orange haired male would give in. He glanced back to find Chronos stubbornly rejoin them, and now his eyes were set upon the two tunnels diverging before them. Osiris poked his head around to examine the right tunnel, then the left, and then he hummed picking the left one, before abruptly changing his mind to the right one. Cider scratched his head while watching his indecisiveness, and Hex narrowed his eyes as they too, were staring at the white wolf.

"This way."

Osiris' voice came from a few feet into the right tunnel, and he peered back around to make sure his entourage was heeding his instructions.

"What's down the left one?" Seris loomed in front of the opposite corridor, utterly dark in its appearance. There were no torches lit along its walls, and the sand along the ground remained undisturbed on its path.

"I dunno, I haven't been that way before," Osiris answered him and his brow furrowed as he thought about it. "This is the way we need to go though, no time for curious detours."

Hex motioned Seris to continue, pulling his attention away from the corridor. He waited for Chronos to go in front of him as well, who had been lingering in the back from earlier. Hex didn't need someone else sneaking off as well; One was enough.

There were several more open rooms and winding halls the group passed through before Osiris spoke again, setting his torch upon a holder fastened on the wall next to him.

"This is the last tunnel before we're next to the exit, so if we don't find him soon, I don't know what to tell you."

He rounded what was the very last corner they'd have to come across, and before them appeared a grand, open spaced cavern in which massive pillars protruded themselves from the ground to their right. They stood upon a small ledge they'd have to jump down, and after doing so, they caught the sight of a small pond with foliage spread about, as well as their friend Zephyr, who appeared unharmed as the edge of the pool. His attention was focused on the water as he knelt in front of it, and he did not seem to notice the enormous black cobra that loomed near him in approach. Cider thought it'd surely try to eat him, and he was the first to bolt from the ledge with an emphatic yell, his tail bounding behind him.

"Hey, you!"

Both the cobra and Zephyr turned, for two different reasons, to find a wolf-eared man sprinting towards them hysterically. When he was in reach, Cider slid on his knees in front of Zephyr, arms outstretched to protect him.

"You're gonna have to eat me first if you want to get anywhere near him!"

The black cobra tilted his head, fangs full of colorful flowers, and blinked. Can a snake blink? Cider didn't know, but he held his stance proudly, awaiting the moment when the cobra would strike. It made no move to do so, and a few of the flowers lost their grip, falling to the ground with a plop, and Cider's eyes bounced between the flowers and black creature.

"You some kinda vegetarian snake or...?"

"Get up, he's not going to eat you."

Osiris' voice came from above him, and he looked up to meet the white wolf's discerning gaze.

"Osiris, you're back early," the black cobra placed the rest of his flowers on the ground near the others.

Cider pointed to the snake, who in a shimmer of mist became a man with golden horns and a black scaled tail.

"Who is that?"

"That's Apep," Osiris answered him, playing with his gold bangles. "He's the temple guardian. Also-"

Osiris motioned to Zephyr sitting by the pond, petting a green snake in his lap, before his eyes met Apep's.

"You were supposed to eat him."

"I know, but I injured him and I felt bad. He's ok now though."

Osiris sighed. His plan wasn't working the way it was supposed to and before he knew it, Hex was right up next to him.

"You never said the temple guardian was your friend, what's your game?"

"I know it kinda looks bad, but things were supposed to go a lot differently; Apep was supposed to 'eat' him, then I was gonna come out like the hero and save him by fending the beast off."

Chronos raised a brow before Osiris continued.

"And then, after I saved Zephyr, you'd be like, 'Is there anything we could ever do to repay you?'"

Hex scowled, and the white wolf went on.

"And then I was gonna ask for extra cash."

The vampiric bat grabbed him by one of his fluffy white wolf ears and pulled him down a bit, his voiced lowered and intimidating.

"You were trying to con us?"

"First, ow. And not exactly," Osiris countered, trying to get his ear free. "I said I'd take you to a guy and that was true. Just thought I might get some extra cash by doing this-"

"Nice to see you again Apep," Hex turned to the golden-horned man in front of him, ignoring Osiris' attempts to get free.

"Ah shit, you two know each other?" Osiris was eventually let-go by Hex, and patted his disheveled fur back down on his ears.

"Yeah, this is the Hex I told you about," Apep explained, picking up his last bunch of flowers he collected and place them in the satchel. "The one that comes by my shop every few weeks, with Seris?"

"Thought that was a different Hex and Seris..." The white wolf trailed, not meeting Hex's cold stare. Had he done more research on his guests, this probably wouldn't be an awkward situation.

"I didn't know you did stuff like this Apep, with this guy," Hex motioned his head to Osiris.

"Normally I don't, but the extra money helps, especially with the prices in our economy. Ingredients aren't as cheap as they used to be. I'll go out of business if I don't keep up somehow," Apep answered and clipped his bag closed. "I could really use a new cauldron too. The place across the street has one, really nice looking, but I can't afford it quite yet."

"See, it's not like I wasn't doing it for a good reason," Osiris chided, who went to lean against flat stone near the pond. "If he goes out of business, then I go out of business."

"And what's your business?" Cider inquired.

Osiris tapped his index finger against his head.

"Being a good friend and making lots of money."

An 'ugh' was heard from Hex nearby.

"I didn't lie though. This is the guy who can get your Emberguard disguises." Osiris spoke, and his white tail curled around to the front of his waist.

"You guys came here for Emberguard disguises? What kind of trouble you looking to get into?" Apep questioned. It wasn't everyday someone came to him for disguises, let alone ones for something seemingly dangerous.

"We're gonna infiltrate, maybe kill people, and rescue a baby robo-goat." Cider answered, seeing his time to take charge.

"Huh. Sounds like a good enough reason to me!"