Destiny Rising

by Lachlan Wells

  “What’s wrong?” Myra tugged gently at her cloak.

  “Nothing. I’m here,” Adrianna murmured, shaking off the onslaught of doubts that were plaguing her mind. “I’m here...and I’m ready to find out what I am. Let’s do this.”

  Chapter 7: Riddles and Water and Snakes

  The party pushed open the door into the main chamber. Within it five torches surrounded the room, bathing it in a warm light. There was a chamber door shut tight with runes inscribed over the door frame. Myra pointed, “That there would be your first riddle.”

  The inscription read:

  I have no legs but I’m not a broken chair

  And twist and turn from head to tail

  I have scales but I don’t weigh things

  I scare many people but I’m not a spider

  Who am I?

  “So, do we just say the answer?” Hancock wondered, as he studied it. “Or is this more of an insert the item here sort of riddle?”

  “It’s Ari’s quest,” Myra shrugged. “So, it’s Ari’s answer that will count.”

  “I see you’ve done some dungeon delving, though,” Parrish’s interest suddenly spiked.

  “A fish!” Adrianna said immediately. “No legs and scales!”

  Click!

  The runes turned red and the door remained closed. “So, not a fish?” Adrianna frowned.

  Slots from the floor began to open up and a sharp chorus of hissing began to resound. Red, diamond headed snakes with bodies thicker than Adrianna’s arm slithered towards them with glistening evil black eyes full of rage, ready to attack.

  Encounter! Start initiative!

  Parrish immediately sprung into action, running as far from the snakes as possible, screaming, “Oh hells no! Why did it have to be snakes?”

  Myra kicked one that got close to her into the air and pulled out her dagger, opting to reserve her magic for later.

  Adrianna knew she didn’t have enough space to pull out her crossbow, so she dared to grab one of the snakes by the tail.

  Dexterity Check. Grab the snake and don’t get bit. 18 + 2 (Dex) = 20. Success!

  She swung the hissing viper around, catching two of the red snakes by surprise and knocking them over towards Parrish, who wildly swung his mace and hit them away with a “Nooo!”

  “Myra!” Hancock yelled, making a wide arc with his katana and catching three of them. “Hit them with one of your spells! We need them to be spread out thinner!”

  “They’re devil snakes!” Myra yelled back, stabbing into a snakehead and watching burst into black mist. “I’m not wasting my mana on devil snakes.”

  More red snakes started to pour out of the holes and Adrianna whipped around her snake catching one that entangled itself with another snake. She shook hard and sent the loose one flying into the wall were it dissolved.

  “They’re going to keep coming if you don’t!” Hancock growled, kicking a group of devil snakes away.

  “Ask Parrish!”

  “The cleric seems otherwise occupied!” Hancock gave a quick nod in his direction and, sure enough, Parrish was whacking snakes with his mace, yelling and cursing furiously.

  Adrianna swung her snake bat again and this time the snake tried to fight her as its body struck two more of the devil snakes. “Less arguing! More fighting!” She spun the devil snake, using its head as a weighted ball before slamming it into the ground and releasing her temporary weapon.

  Parrish finally forced himself out of the corner with a yell and started jumping up and down, smashing the red snakes into dust. He cursed with every step, kicking and digging his heels into the ground in a self-righteous fury. “Fear me, slithering beasts and die!”

  “Damn,” Hancock’s brow furrowed as he made his blade disappear.

  “Looks like we didn’t need magic.” Myra teased and Hancock scowled.

  The three watched as Parrish finished off the last of the snakes in a blind fury, scuffing up the remaining dust and stomping the dispersing piles.

  “Hey, Parrish,” Myra called but he kept going. “Parrish, hey!”

  “What?” he whipped around, his eyes intense and his mace ready. “What?”

  “I think you got them all,” Myra laughed.

  Out of Combat! You are safe! Earned: 100xp!

  “Right.” He nodded, clearing his throat and looping his mace around his belt again. “I knew that.”

  “Man, you really don’t like snakes.”

  “Anything that slithers on the ground should not be trusted,” Parrish growled. “You need legs to travel. Legs. Creepy little...reptiles.”

  “Ohhh,” Adrianna nodded as the correct answer to the riddle dawned on her. “The answer was snakes.”

  “Yeah, I could have told you that,” Parrish sneered.

  “Back off, cleric.” Hancock gave a steady look to him. “You aren’t being paid to patronize the party leader.”

  Parrish rolled his eyes, but obliged. Now was not the time for criticism.

  “It’s okay,” Adrianna shrugged. She largely wasn’t listening anyway. “Completely understandable.”

  The runes suddenly lit up again. The riddle was different this time, pulsating in a gentle light. Quickly running up to the wall, she read the new inscription.

  Without me and within me is death assured, but within you I am life most pure. What am I?

  “My riddles weren’t nearly as morbid as yours,” Myra sniffed, sheathing her dagger. “Nor did they attack me when I answered wrong. What’s with the death?”

  “Who’s idea was this anyway?” Parrish murmured, whipping away dust from his clothing and armor. “I hate snakes.”

  “That would be the bard’s,” Hancock replied. “It was her idea to be here in the first place. I still say we could have figured it out on our own.”

  “Don’t be such a cry baby,” Myra stuck her tongue out at him. “She’s a level four non-class and they do not last long out here.”

  “Why did you not use your magic?” Hancock suddenly asked. “I specifically asked you to use your magic.”

  “Okay, first of all,” Myra rolled her eyes, “I wasn’t going to waste mana on low-level monsters. These are challenges designed for Ari, not us. Second, you’re not my commander or anything. I’m under no obligation to follow your orders in any way, shape or form.”

  “Warmth!” Adrianna smiled, suddenly pointing at the runes. She ignored the whole conversation about her, using it as a white noise filter to think, and went with the first answer in her head. “Without it, you freeze to death and when you’re in it you burn to death, but inside you it’s all dandy!”

  “What?” Parrish snapped.

  The floor suddenly gave away, dropping the four into lower space. Adrianna tumbled head over heels uncontrollably as water started to pelt her as she fell. She could hear a scream to her right quickly get drowned out. She tried to grab on to something, anything, but the walls were smooth and the tumbling made her lose all sense of direction within the spiral of cold water pouring over her body.

  The party was finally dumped back into the chamber, splashing water across the room. Adrianna landed on her butt and groaned. Nothing about that had felt good.

  STATUS: stable, bruised

  “WATER!” Parrish yelled. “Your body is made up of seventy-five percent water.”

  “Oh--” Adrianna coughed out some water. “Well, it’s pretty obvious now. You could dehydrate without it, or drown with too much of it yet our bodies need it to survive. Why didn’t I think of that? Easy Peasy.”

  “Easy peasy, she says. It’s obvious, she says. For a player who just boosted her stats,” Parrish growled. “You sure are dumb.”

  “Oh, shut up, Parrish,” Myra said, but looked and sounded just as miserable. Her fancy clothes were soaked clean through and she was trying to pull a wedgie out of her butt. “Everyone knows attribute scores don’t apply to that much stuff. Man, I should have left in better clothes…”

  “And I think I definitely can’t
swim,” Adrianna suddenly couldn’t stop laughing. The whole thing made her giddy. She had never dropped into a magical hole that spat them back out to where they stated. What a story that will be some day! What other things did this place have in store? What kind of wild secrets were held in this temple of the Council of Lions?

  “Adrianna!” Hancock snapped, then took a deep breath as her laughter finally died down. “Adrianna, we cannot keep doing things like this. How about you don’t pick the first thing that comes into your head.”

  “That was like the third thing that I thought of, and it seemed pretty plausible.” Adrianna shrugged. “I’ll try to get the next one right, no problem.”

  “Adrianna,” Hancock said again, as she started to open her mouth. “Why don’t you think about the answer before you give a final one? Really think about it.”

  “Yeah,” Parrish grumbled. “I don’t want to take another swim. I can’t swim with armor on, I’ll sink like a rock.”

  “I think she’s got it guys,” Myra put a wet hand on her shoulder, hair stuck to her face, covering her thick eyebrows. “Just...take you time. Ask for help if you need it. There’s no pressure.”

  Ah yes. No pressure at all. Adrianna took a deep breath and turned to find another runed inscription.

  What am I?

  “What am I?” she whispered. It was vague. But perhaps the answer was pretty straight forward. It would be easy to say it was a door and take it as blatantly obvious. Or maybe it was a question and she could take it grammatically. What kind of sentence is this? The inscription seemed to be wanting to be taken literally, something tangible, but with simplicity.

  “Are you ready?” Hancock asked, and Adrianna nodded.

  “Positive? You don’t need to go over it with anyone?” Mya affirmed and Adrianna shook her head.

  “I swear if you do something to us again…” Parrish grumbled and stood up, his breastplate half off so he could air out his armor.

  Adrianna stepped up to the door and took a deep breath. “You are a riddle that needs to be answered.”

  The other three braced themselves as a resounding click! echoed in the chamber.

  Did she answer too fast again? The runes turned a bright blue and the door finally opened. A wave of dry heat hit them, helping to dry them off.

  “Praise the forces of fate.” Parrish murmured as they cautiously strode through the other side.

  Chapter 8: The Council of Lions

  A set of stairs led up to an upper chamber where Adrianna assumed the Council resided. “What happens now?” she asked Myra.

  “When you start off, you’ll only have so much time before they tell you to leave. After that you have to leave or they’ll do something nasty to you.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know, I don’t want to find out. They helped me find my voice before they told me to leave, but I heard the last person who didn’t listen to them was never seen again.” Myra explained. “As soon as we enter the chamber, though, you’re the only one talking. None of us will be able to use our voices to talk to the Council in that room. But don’t worry, I’ll be there with you the whole way.”

  A wave of encouragement washed over her.

  STATUS: stable, bruised, encouraged

  Somehow, she knew that even if she was feeling apprehensive, her resolve wouldn’t be shaken thanks to Myra.

  She glanced over at the men who had fallen silent. Well, Parrish was no quieter than usual, still wringing out his hoodie and watching water spill to the dusty floor, but Hancock was quietly watching everything, as if he was lying in wait for something to happen.

  “Do you do this for just anyone?” Adrianna asked Myra.

  The bard smirked. “Nah. I’m real picky about it and this is your lucky day.”

  “I hope so.” Adrianna didn’t want anything to go wrong here. And so much could. A sinking pit in her stomach began to drop faster as she thought about it and she took a deep breath. “Okay,” Adrianna nodded, looking up. “Let’s do this.”

  The chamber was a lot smaller than Adrianna imagined it would be. As she went up the stairs, she looked at the sight before her.

  A gold and red dais stretched across an elevated platform decorated with various different bones, arranged in a macabre fashion. Sunlight filtered through the skylight above and showcased three large beasts lounging in the heat, surrounding a stone lion statue at the base of the dias. Adrianna had never seen the likes of them before.

  The one to the right of the centerpiece was a fat lion with a large main. The only thing that was different was his humanoid face and folded wings resting on its golden fur. He regarded the party with calculating eyes for a moment before looking away with a sigh and folding its paws. Over its head, it said: Sphinx - Arcanist of the Lions.

  To the right of the stone lion was a taller lion. This one seemed like a sharper version of the fat one, adjusting his large bat-like wings. Tall and lanky, the mane and tail were full of spines and whenever it bared his teeth, he showed off a large maw with rows of teeth lining the inside. Manticore - Protector of the Lions.

  The final beast was a black-furred, black-skinned two-headed lion. One lion head protruded from it’s powerful shoulders, just as black as the fur. The other head was that of a goat that stared at the group gleefully. In the place of a tail was a snakehead, resting across its front paws. Chimera - Mastermind of the Lions

  “State your name,” their voices were all one, coming from their various maws. Five voices blending in a twisting fashion, making the room shake. “State your business.”

  “I’m Adrianna Swann,” she nervously called. “The one who seeks the Council of Lions.”

  “I am the one who sees all magic in mortals,” the fat one hummed.

  “I am the one who unleashed the fight within mortals,” the tall one gnashed.

  “I am the one who knows the hearts of quiet souls,” the black one hissed from the snake’s mouth.

  “We are the Council of Lions,” they all chanted in unison. “Why have you come?”

  “I…” Adrianna cleared her throat, which was suddenly dry. “I’ve come to figure out what my class is. Every time I level up, I don’t get an answer, and the question marks are holding me back.”

  The tall one smiled, a terrible grin of teeth. “Before we begin, know that you must be truthful with us. It is the only way we will assist you.”

  “If you are not, we will eat you,” the fat one added, nonchalantly.

  Adrianna stared at all of the skulls and bones scattered at the base of the dias and it occurred to her that they could very well be fresh bones.

  “You have the opportunity to train under us and hone your skills in your chosen class.”

  The tallest one smiled again, teeth snapping together. “You may choose one of us as a mentor, if you so please.”

  The thought of staying with the Council was disconcerting enough, without the threat of being eaten, but something in the back of her mind told her to keep moving. “No, no, I can’t do that.”

  “Ari,” Myra nudged her, fear behind her strained smile. “You don’t just say no to the Council.”

  Adrianna slowly shook her head, ignoring the bard. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate the offer, your honors, I don’t have that sort of time. I’m only out here because I’ve lost someone whom I care about a lot.”

  “And you only wish to learn your class,” he droned. “It is your day of birth, today, is it not?”

  Adrianna paused and raised her eyebrows. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess it is. I had forgotten.”

  “Swept up in the taste for adventure? The need to go forth and know?”

  “More like distracted by the whole fighting for my life and missing Uncle thing.” She quietly answered, trying hard to be respectful.

  “Curious,” the Sphinx hummed. “I sense the great potential for magic, but no desire or passion to learn to weild it.”

  “Her skills with weapons have mere moments before becoming
refined,” the Manticore growled. “But she is not a fighter. At least not physically. Her fight manifests in different ways.”

  “She could be someone of great speed and stealth,” the Chimera added. “But her very core does not care about being seen or not seen. Her quiet heart only craves to be satisfied.”

  “You are most difficult, Adrianna Swann,” all of them chanted.

  Adrianna looked at the Council and the sinking feeling returned. What if she just didn’t have a class? What if she was going to end up like that dead player on the side of the road--Xander--alone and forgotten. Dissatisfied without ever having lived or left a mark? What if she would die here? She shook her head. No. Not like this. She wouldn’t leave without knowing for sure. She needed to know.

  The larger stone lion that Adrianna had first thought was the centerpiece of the dias suddenly moved its head and gave her a slow blink. “Come now, Adrianna.” It said, voice much deeper than the others who all went silent at its first words. Stone Lion - The True Lion. “I seek truths. You are not just looking for your lost person, are you?”

  “...no…” The truth was pulled out of her like a rotten tooth. “...I don’t want to be ignorant. I want to see all there is to see. I want to find out what my friends’ stories are and where my Uncle is and figure out what’s actually happening here. Life out in the Quell is short and there’s so much to do.”

  “I think you already know what sort of person you are.” The Stone Lion turned away and suddenly became dormant again, hardening back into its stationary form.

  The others looked at each other and then at her. “That was a great honor, little swan,” the fat one growled. “One that does not come often.”

  “What does he mean?” Adrianna asked.

  “He means, you have known your prestigious class for a long time, and it is only now that you will have it revealed to you,” the black goat raised is horns and the voices all spoke again.