Destiny Rising

by Lachlan Wells

  Warning! You cannot level up in this area! Are you sure you want to proceed?

  “Anything else your weird little map can give us,” Myra stared at the door, tapping her thigh nervously.

  “I checked.” Adrianna shook her head. “I guess this is all we’re gonna get.”

  “Are we ready then?” Parrish stared at each member.

  “Yeah,” Adrianna nodded. “We want to proceed.”

  If you insist. Try not to die in there! Or do.

  The wooden door clicked and fell open to reveal stairs that spiraled down into the depths of the Maze.

  “We stick together this time,” Hancock firmly said, and the others nodded in response.

  Adrianna stared as their surroundings switched from the ominous and threatening island in broad daylight to a menacing and vague labyrinth with very dim light.

  Perception Check. Look for danger. 19 + 2 (Wis) - 5 (Darkness penalty) = 16. Success!

  At the base of the stairs, the group stopped as they encountered two figures draped in red cloaks standing in front of another wooden door. Her waypoint beckoning her forward, towards freedom. Over the heads of the figures in red cloaks, their NPC titles hung ominously.

  Keepers of the Red Army

  Both of them drew swords, and Hancock stepped forward as Adrianna pulled out her crossbow and Parrish unlooped his mace.

  “Turn back, travelers,” the one on the left said. “You will not survive the next moments ahead.”

  “I think we’ll be the judge of that,” Myra snorted.

  Adrianna prepared herself to fight, waiting for initiative.

  Hancock suddenly stepped forward and his black katana flashed as he swung his hand. Energy pulsed and Adrianna made the mistake of blinking.

  The next thing she knew, Hancock had both of the Keeper’s weapons on the floor and one of them knocked unconscious.

  “What?” she whispered staring from Hancock to her other two team members that seemed unphased by the ordeal. What in the Quell did she just miss?

  “Speak now, or return to the Quell in pieces,” Hancock snapped, his blade resting against the conscious red robe’s chin. “What are you doing down here and how did you survive?”

  “Stupid travelers,” he cackled. “This place is called the Maze of Horrors for a reason! You’ll face your ignored nightmares and inner demons here. You aren’t safe!”

  Arcana Check. How are they not affected? 13 + 4 = 17. Success!

  “Obviously you use something to stave off danger,” Adrianna finally spoke up, shaking off whatever detail had escaped her. “Or else you guys wouldn’t be able to just stand there and take it all, especially if the warnings are true. You obviously have some sort of protective charm or spell.”

  The keeper frowned at her and scoffed. The blade started to dig into his neck and he grunted. “Alright, alright.” He pointed to his chest and Myra reached into his robes and pulled out a familiar purple amulet. Adrianna’s heart beat a little faster. “That keeps us from being affected. Without that, your mind will burn from the inside out.” He grinned. “And you won’t have enough for all of you.”

  Hancock flipped his katana around and cracked its hilt across his head and watched him crumble to the ground.

  “We have two,” Parrish said, lifting the amulet from the other keeper.

  “Three,” Adrianna pulled the one she found from the shrine, letting it dangle in the air.

  “Where did you get that?” Hancock frowned.

  “It was around,” Adrianna shrugged. She didn’t feel like explaining the whole ordeal. This was no place for a recap. “Lucky I found it too.”

  “Alright,” Parrish tossed the amulet at Hancock and cracked his neck. “Let’s do this.”

  Hancock instinctively caught it and frowned. “No way.” He tossed it back. “I’m the higher level of you guys, I can take what it throws at me.”

  “Clerics are built to withstand mental attacks,” Parrish rolled his eyes. “Don’t be stupid.”

  “Perhaps, but I’m not going to have our Healer focus on other things aside from healing.”

  “I’m being paid to protect you. This is me protecting you.”

  “This is no time to play hero, Parrish. Take the amulet and let’s go.”

  “Oh my god.” Myra sighed and clasped the necklace around her neck as they went on and on.

  The amulet tossed back and forth until Hancock leaped and shoved it over Parrish’s neck. “Someone needs to keep her alive and that’s what you are paid to do.” He jerked his thumb at Adrianna. She frowned as the two boys glanced at her and seemed to come to a mutual understanding.

  “Fine.” Parrish sniffed. “But I don’t want to see your dead body on the way.”

  The four walked up to the door and Adrianna nodded. “Let’s do this.”

  The door opened and shut violently behind them, and Adrianna immediately knew she was alone.

  “Myra?” she whispered, and was met with silence.

  Chapter 19: The First Horror

  Adrianna forced herself to breathe normally. Panicking would do her no good right now. Her dark vision refused to adjust in the pitch black and her eyes locked onto her waypoint.

  Just use this to find the exit. Adrianna chanted to herself. It may be a maze, but I’ve got guidance.

  She put her hands out in front of herself and started forward, hoping that she’d find a light source soon. She had only taken a few steps before her waypoint disappeared, flickering once before blinking out of existence. Adrianna stopped again. Her hands blindly located her scroll. Maybe it needs to be recharged.

  She opened her scroll and it provided a sliver of backlight as she looked over her map.

  Her heart hammered as she stared at the scroll’s face. It was completely blank. No map, no tips, no nothing. The one asset she thought would provide her with some answers was useless and now she was back to square one. Using the dim light to move forward, she started in the direction she remembered the waypoint had been directing and--wham! immediately ran into a wall giving her a fresh, new headache. Just my luck. I just need to find the others--

  Rubbing her forehead, she groaned and squinted as a new light floated towards her. “Hancock?” she called, walking towards the light source. “Is that you?”

  Before she could find out, she heard a low wind and was startled to see red eyes gaze into the depths of her soul as five spectors began to materialize a mere few yards away from her.

  “Nope!” she squeaked and started to run in the opposite direction, only to find three more coming from several angles. As each one slowly descended on her she really wished she wasn’t alone in this moment. She’s hated ghosts ever since she had read about them in the library back home. It wasn’t the way they looked or how they were spectors of a foreboding nature, but it was the very concept of undead beings.

  She didn’t bother to pull out her crossbow--they were incorporeal, metal bolts were as good as nothing against them. Running would be her best chance. But where??

  Sanity Check. Keep your cool. 12 + 2 (Wisdom) - 10 (Maze Penalty) = 4. Failure!

  But without a waypoint, a viable light source, or even a clear ending point, she found herself frozen against the vision of horror. The ghosts surrounded her, suffocating her. Each one grabbed her, and began to pull her down. She struggled to fight against them, but she was met with the intense force of her own fear and the clawing of the creatures that were bent on her destruction. The feeling of them, never letting go--clinging on to another life in their spectral forms like the objects of envy--was overwhelming and made Adrianna fight even harder. She would not go out like this. There was too much for her to do!

  Strength Check. Fight against the horror. Natural 1. Critical Failure!

  The last thing she saw was the bastion of darkness consuming the backlight of her scroll, and the red eyes closing in finality.

  Chapter 20: Helpless

  Adrianna’s eyes fluttered open. Her heart hammered and her visi
on pulsed red. She slowly sat up and tried to get her bearing.

  LOW HEALTH

  STATUS: patched up, unstable, frightened

  In front of her was a stark white room that seemed to stretch in all directions. Loneliness crept at the edges of her heart, as she clenched her teeth. She had to find a way out of here. She could start walking and keep walking, but there wouldn’t be an end, would there? The Maze of Horrors would have her trapped in her own nightmare of eternal emptiness and loneliness. The disappointments of nothing but her own wild thoughts to keep her sane. What if she just gave up? Left it all and withered away into--

  No. She shook off the effects of the Maze and forced herself to focus. Why isn’t the amulet working? She looked to her neck and grabbed the amulet, clenching it in her fist. Why is the maze still affecting me? What did we do wrong? She shook her head. What are we missing is the better question.

  Arcana Check. What are the true properties of the amulet? Natural 20. Critical Success!

  Adrianna rubbed its face and she could feel a surge of power as she focused her attention. It gave her an idea. She started to focus on the only thing she desperately wanted-- the amulet to work. She let her thoughts fill with what made her feel fearless in the past. Those moments where she had climbed to the tops of trees without worrying about falling. Her uncle would call her foolhardy and told her she’d pay the consequences one day. She believed him, but she couldn’t help herself. She saw something new and she wanted to experience it. Every moment she wanted to explore in its fullest. She could not--would not let this stupid Maze get the better of her! She’s survived trolls, a pseudodragon and gotten out the Council of Lions alive. She would not let the Maze of Horrors get the best of her.

  Suddenly the white room disappeared as the amulet glinted and reflected the torchlight that lined the dank, porous walls of the maze. It was all an illusion!

  She needed to find her friends and she needed a way out of here. Ding!

  Five waypoints popped up in her vision, each one with a different color with the primary one being bigger, once again showing her the way out.

  She started forward with renewed confidence. The corridors were far less interesting now that could see everything. The waypoints guided her through the maze with ease and she smirked to herself. This is kinda cheating, isn't it? Adrianna wondered if the product of a player’s own mind was the reason for the intimately terrifying illusions that the Maze of Horrors created. Apparently the maze only exists because the players themselves keep it alive with their personal fears. She didn’t have time to think about it as she found one of the nearest waypoints—the purple one.

  She also heard screaming from down the hall, where the waypoint was leading her. She rushed towards it, hoping she wasn’t running into another trap, but felt slightly more prepared to figure a way out of it if necessary.

  A door stood between her and her destination. She shoved it open, as the screaming stopped and her heart skipped a beat.

  Myra was in a room by herself. Bent over, sitting on her knees with tears streaming down her face. As the door opened, she looked up at Adrianna, a feral, frantic expression burning in her eyes.

  “Myra!”

  “Le-leave me...alone!” Myra’s voice was shot, hoarse from screaming and crying, devoid of hope. “Just leave me alone…!”

  “Myra, it’s me!” Adrianna dared to rush over to her and grabbed her shoulders.

  Instantly, her world changed. Myra was in a dark room, voices pouring from all around. She was restrained by black chains around her ankles and wrists with the chains connecting her to the ground. The slurs and accusations intensified as she struggled desperately against the chains, to no avail. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t fight back. Worthless! Temptress! Pathetic! Fake!

  Adrianna could see the life draining from her body as the will to fight slowly diminished. She could feel the very thing Myra used as weapons in battle--her words--be turned into the thing draining her of the will to continue.

  “Myra,” Adrianna shook her shoulder. “It’s me.”

  The Bard looked up and gasped, trying to pull away. “D-don’t touch me…!” Her voice was full of fear, the words barely making it past her lips in a whisper. “You’re...not...real…”

  One of the silhouetted figures threw a red tomato at her and it smacked across Myra’s face as all of the shadowy figures started jeering. The more Adrianna was there, the more she realized that Myra’s horrors were more than the words.

  “Myra, you have to focus on your necklace!”

  “...stop--!” her words were interrupted by another tomato that socked her in the mouth, leaving a bruise. Her voice cracked as she screamed profanities into the air.

  Adrianna grimaced. None of this was helping.

  Dexterity Check. Catch the tomato. 15 + 3 (Dex) = 18 . Success.

  Adrianna palmed one of the tomatoes and lobbed it back towards the shadow crowd. Then she pulled out Myra’s amulet. “Listen to me. Focus on your necklace! Think about what makes you feel brave! You don’t have time to listen to people like this. There’s too much in life to waste on empty words and jealous people.”

  Myra went silent for a second staring up at Adrianna. “But...they see me. They know me…what they say...”

  “You know you.” Adrianna immediately corrected. She wasn’t sure how far her encouragement was going to go, but it was worth the shot. “You’re the only you anyone in the Quell has. What makes you brave Myra?”

  Three more tomatoes hurled towards Myra’s face and the look in her eyes changed. Defiance. “Stop!” The tomatoes stopped in front of her, suspended in mid-air. “Leave!”

  The shadow illusion shattered along with the chains. Myra gasped and leaned heavily on Adrianna as they watched the room melt away.

  “Thanks, Ari…” Myra pushed hair out of her face. “I owe you one.”

  “Repay it by staying alive.” Adrianna smiled, nerves still dancing along the edge of her skin.

  “For the record,” Myra whispered tiredly. “You’re the worst pep talker.”

  “I leave that to you, thanks.” Adrianna laughed. “Come on. We still have to find the guys. They’re probably worse off than you.” She joked, keeping light of the situation.

  Chapter 21: Futile Efforts

  The next waypoint led them to an arena shrouded in darkness. There was no audience, but the roars of cheering were overwhelming, almost deafening as Myra and Adrianna stepped into it.

  A monster that Adrianna had never seen before, hissed as its long body spiraled into the ground and convulsed to a stop.

  Hancock stood in the middle of the arena, sand kicking up around him like a halo of dust. His black beard was caked with blood as the remnants of a monster faded into a mist. He stabbed his katana into the ground and picked himself up, and the crowd went wild again.

  Hanock finally made eye contact with the girls and the dead look in his eyes made Adrianna’s heart skip. “Are…” he started, catching his breath. “Are you here to kill me too?”

  “What?” Myra snapped. “No! We’re here to get you out of here!”

  Before either of them could move forward, the mist arose around Hancock, and he stood up again, grunting. “Let’s...make this quick.”

  As he braced himself and held out his black katana, the mist formed into a large beast. It roared as it grew in size, snapping out all six of its limbs equipped with sharp claws that dug into the ground. The crowd jeered as Hancock took a deep breath and pointed his katana at it. “I’ve killed you before. I will kill you again.”

  The girls prepared for combat initiative, each pulling out their respective weapons, but it never came for them.

  “Hey!” Adrianna called, firing a bolt at it.

  The beast completely ignored her, letting the bolt dig into its hide as it swiped at Hancock with its four front paws.

  Hancock barely rolled out of the way, tumbling to his feet.

  “What kind of horror is this?” Adrianna hisse
d. “It is supposed to scare him or kill him?”

  “I don’t know, but if I get hit, that’s it for me,” Myra grunted and yelled. “Get out of there, Hancock!” Her words were drowned by the crowd’s heckling. “God, I hate loud audiences.”

  “Really?” Adrianna frowned.

  “There’s a difference between a rowdy room and loud audience.”

  Adrianna smirked and forced her attention back to the situation at hand. Hancock was barely getting by and the beast seemed to be toying with him, batting him from side to side as he struck with increased effort.

  Perception check. What are we missing here? 17 + 2 (Wis) = 19. Success.

  The mist on the sand was constantly swirling, building itself up with every strike that Hancock made. This wasn’t going to stop. He was going to keep going, and if they didn’t get him out of there, he’d be trapped, fighting forever...or until his heart gave out from the strain.

  Adrianna put her crossbow away. “We need to get him out of there.”

  “How?” Myra asked, pointing at the beast. “That thing is in the way, and I am not fast enough to get to him.”

  Adrianna glanced at her character sheet and took a deep breath. “I am.” Up until this point, she had ignored the red in her vision. She knew that one hit from that thing, and she’d be another unfulfilled player, dead in combat. “You make sure there are no surprises when we get here.”

  “Ari, hold on--”

  “I can get to him. This is his horror, so he has to leave it. We can’t drag him out of it.”