Soulstone_Oblivion

by J. A. Cipriano

  “Okay, look,” I said, keeping an eye on the timer. Ten more seconds. “Everybody gather around here and duck, so you’re under the top of the podium. It’s the only other thing in here. Maybe it’ll hold the ceiling up, if it doesn’t stop before then.”

  “Right. A bunch of wood and glass and gears is gonna stop three tons of rock,” Crash said, even as he hunkered down and pressed against one of the wooden sides.

  Everyone did the same. I stayed by the timer, watching the seconds tick by and praying I was right. But just in case, I started thumping the tiles around the podium, listening for a hollow spot in case there was a trap door or something. I was also ready to jump up and mash the reset button if the boulder got too close and we still had a few seconds to go.

  I held my breath as the timer ticked closer to the end. Four seconds, and there was still a good four feet between the boulder and the podium. Three seconds, still moving slowly.

  Two seconds, and there was a ringing clank somewhere in the machinery that sent the boulder into rapid freefall.

  8

  I came very close to pushing the damned button. But I held off at the last second, because not pushing it had to be the right move. There was no other possible play here.

  Knowing that didn’t stop me from shuddering with relief when the timer hit zero and the boulder jerked to a halt six inches from the podium.

  “I don’t believe this,” Crash said as the chamber filled with the sounds of whirring gears and clanking machinery, and the boulder started rising away from us. “Your crazy bullshit actually worked. What kind of stupid puzzle is this, anyway? Since when is the solution supposed to be ‘don’t do anything’?”

  “Dude, it’s a classic,” I said, looking around at George and Nova. “Everybody okay?”

  “I’m fine,” Nova said as she straightened slowly and watched the near-death from above retreat.

  George looked a bit miffed. “Don’t ever do that to me again, okay? I’m all for fighting monsters, but I refuse to be defeated by a rock.”

  “I’ll take that under advisement,” I said. “So where’s the door out of this place?”

  Just as I spoke, there was a grinding sound directly across the chamber from where we’d come in as part of the wall slid down, and a folded bronze panel emerged. Clanking and wheezing the entire time, it unfolded itself into a door that looked exactly like the one we’d entered through. In fact, it probably was the same door.

  “I guess that’s one way to save on materials,” I said as I started for the new exit. “Let’s blow this death chamber.”

  When I opened the door, a blast of stale cooled air washed over me with a sound like a moan. Directly in front of me was a rough-carved stone staircase leading down to a cave floor and an ornately carved stone archway standing by itself, with no door or walls. Beyond the archway was vast gloom. But even though I couldn’t see anything, it felt like a huge space.

  Nova went first, followed by Crash, then George and me. Apparently there was an unspoken consensus that we’d stick to this order. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we ended up loosely gathered in front of the archway. The carved stonework featured a pair of knights holding upright swords, one at the bottom of each column, and a bunch of snarling, dagger-wielding stone imps clinging to the sides the rest of the way up. Markings that were probably some kind of writing had been carved across the top of the arch, but it looked like complete gibberish. Most of the symbols didn’t even resemble letters.

  “Anyone know how to read … whatever language that is?” Nova said as she stared up at the writing.

  As Crash shrugged and shook his head, George said, “Don’t look at me. I’m a rabbit. I can’t even read English.”

  “We should probably try to figure it out,” I said, deciding to ask my HUD for help. “Elizabeth, what language is that writing up there?”

  “The writing is Sign Language,” Elizabeth said, and then helpfully clarified, “It’s language used on a sign.”

  “Yeah, I see that. Thanks,” I said, wondering if my HUD was trying to develop a sense of humor. “How can I read Sign Language?”

  “Would you like to learn the skill Sign Language?” Elizabeth said.

  “It’s a skill?” I muttered, shrugging. “Okay, sure. I’d like to learn Sign Language.”

  There was a dull, swelling pain in my head, which I guessed was all the new data being pushed into my brain. “You have learned the skill Sign Language, which allows you to read Signs throughout the kingdom of Ruul,” Elizabeth said cheerfully. “This skill is now available for use.”

  I blinked until the pain in my head faded, and then looked at the writing again. This time it appeared in English, though the letters were a little blurry. I checked the Skills tab on my display and saw that Sign Language was listed under Trade Skills instead of Combat Skills. Sweet. It wouldn’t take up a skill slot.

  “Damn. Guess I don’t have enough intelligence to get that skill,” Crash said as refocused from looking at his display. “You need at least 19. So can you read it, or not?”

  “Yeah, I guess I can.” I squinted at the sign, trying to make out the slightly blurred words. “Okay, it says, ‘Welcome, Adventurer, to the realm of the King of Knights. As you pass through this portal and turn on the lights.’ Cute, it’s a poem,” I said as I adjusted my squint to read the rest of it. “‘Here you will face each of the challenges three. Should you reach the King, you must take a knee. Death will befall the coward and knave, yet great treasures await for the bold and the brave.’”

  When I finished reading, Nova said, “Is that it?”

  “Yeah, that’s all it says.” I bowed my head and rubbed my eyes, trying to make them focus again. “Doesn’t seem very helpful.”

  “Why should it be? Nothing else in this place is helpful,” Crash grumbled. “Come on, let’s get this over with. Pass through the portal and turn on the lights.”

  We headed through the archway single file. Almost immediately, a pair of torches flared to life, each of them mounted on massive columns. These were smooth all the way up, except for the bas-relief carving at the base of each one — a snarling imp with a dagger, like the ones on the archway. The carved imps were maybe three feet tall and dressed in loincloths, with skinny knobbed limbs, big floppy pointed ears, and a lot of sharp teeth. Like evil little Dobbys.

  More torches burst into flames past the first pair of columns, revealing an endless double row of them marching into the distant darkness, all of them etched with lifelike imps.

  “Wow, this place looks like the Mines of Moria,” Nova said as she crouched to stare at one of the stone imps. “And those critters are ugly.”

  George hopped up and pressed against my ankle. “Hey, boss,” he said. “Is it just me, or is this place way too quiet?”

  “It’s not just you.” I didn’t like the lack of monsters either, but it wasn’t like we had a choice. We had to press on, and the only way forward was between those columns. “We’ll just have to stay alert. Let’s get going.”

  Our footsteps echoed all around us as we walked down the stone aisle. I was getting a little creeped out because the stone imps seemed to be watching us, so I decided to start a conversation. “So, Crash,” I said as I fell back a few steps to keep pace with him. “Now that you learned Star Scream, are you finally going to drop Spectral Blades?”

  He snorted. “Why would I do that?”

  “Well, Sabre said it’s a weak skill. She’s right, too,” I said. “Don’t those things do something like 15 percent damage? That’s nothing compared to Star Scream.”

  “They do 20 now. I leveled the skill on those trolls,” he said. “And I don’t give a damn what Sabre thinks. She doesn’t know everything.”

  Nova glanced over her shoulder at us. “Who’s Sabre?”

  “Remember the psycho bitch who seemed nice that I mentioned?” George said as he hopped up next to Nova. “Yeah, that’s her. But you’re not like that. I can tell,” he said. “I’m
an excellent judge of character. Most rabbits are, you know.”

  “Are you, really?” Nova said, smiling down at him. “So, what about these two characters?” She hooked a thumb at Crash and me.

  “Well, the priest is kind of a wet blanket. But I guess the boss is okay,” he said. “Most of the time. When he’s not being a loser. Of course, I happen to be awesome.”

  Nova giggled. “Of course you are. And that deserves a good scratch.” She stopped and put a hand on the nearest column to crouch down and reach for the bunny.

  The second she touched the stone, the carved imp at the base started to glow yellow. And it moved.

  “Watch out!” I shouted, pulling Nova away from the column as I grabbed my sword.

  The glowing imp plumped out rapidly, and then the arm holding the dagger popped free of the column. As a crack appeared in the surface of the column just above its head, the whole thing wrenched itself out of the stone and jumped onto the floor, a fully formed living statue.

  It bared its teeth at me and charged.

  “Skull Shatter!” I shouted, gesturing at the imp. A bolt of red light shot from my hand and blasted the little beast, freezing it in place. In the two seconds the damaging stun spell lasted, I pivoted on a heel and brought my sword around, slicing a downward stroke at the creature’s neck. The little stone monster shattered in a burst of yellow light shards.

  “Well, at least they’re weak monsters,” I said as I sheathed the sword. “Now we know not to touch the columns—”

  “Uh, Kahn?” Crash said as he stepped back quickly and pointed at something. “I’m thinking it might be too late to not touch the columns…”

  I followed his gesture and saw the imp on the column across from the one I’d just destroyed glowing yellow. And the glow was spreading to the pair of columns we’d just passed, and the ones before those, and the next pair. Every column behind us, all hundred or so we’d already walked by, was giving birth to a brand new bloodthirsty stone imp.

  “Oh, man! I knew it was too quiet,” George said. “No worries, though. We can take these guys. They’re total chumps.”

  That was true — one of these little things was a chump. I wasn’t so sure about a hundred of them at once. But they were coming with clattering stone feet and sharp little stone daggers and high-pitched screams of rage, like a pack of howler monkeys.

  So we’d just have to kill them all.

  9

  “Oh my God, I am so sorry,” Nova moaned as she backed away a few steps, retreating from the gathering swarm. “Why am I always the one to do the stupid thing? Terra says I’m—”

  “Don’t worry about that right now!” I shouted, swinging my sword at the nearest stone monster. My blow caught it in the chest, throwing it back to smash against a nearby column, but it hit the ground and clattered back up. “Just kill these little bastards. Looks like two decent hits should do it.”

  I proved my theory by blasting the one I’d hit with Star Scream, exploding it into pixelated light like the first one I’d killed. Which meant I couldn’t use my necromancer spells on these things. They didn’t leave bodies to turn into undead or golems.

  “Spectral Blades!” I heard Crash yell as the glowing weapons appeared from the ether. He went after the nearest imp with a flurry of attacks, exploding the creature in mid-air just as it leapt at him, its stone dagger drawn back to strike. “Okay, we have to slow them down somehow,” he said as he jumped aside, narrowly missing a blow from another one trying to stab his leg. “There’s too many of them.”

  I looked at the advancing wave of imps clambering over each other. “Right, I’ve got this,” I said. There was one necro spell I didn’t need dead monsters for. “Chaotic River!”

  Red energy flowed from my hands, and a jagged crack raced across the ground and split open. Blackened skeletons hauled themselves from the fissure with a rustle of chattering bones as they shambled toward the imps, bearing curved bone daggers. The two fronts collided, the occasional burst of light shards marking off exploding imps.

  But the surge of monsters kept coming, spilling around the outsides of the skeleton battle and headed for us even faster.

  “Damn it. Do that again,” Crash said as he sent his spectral blades flying.

  “Can’t. It’s got a three hundred second cooldown, but I have another idea.” I looked around and spotted George pelting an imp with blasts of ice. “Hey, George! Remember that combo we pulled off in the canyon?”

  “Aw, yeah!” George said as he hopped over. “Let’s do it up.”

  I nodded and moved ahead of Crash, closer to the oncoming impocalypse. “Water Wall!”

  Water bubbled up from the ground and erupted into a roaring tidal wave. As it crashed over the snarled mass of imps, George shot into the air, twisting as he blasted a massive ice attack that captured dozens of imps in place.

  The crowds at the back immediately started surging over their frozen brothers, but they were definitely slowed down.

  “Nice!” Crash called as he started hammering the moving imps with Spectral Blades again.

  I started to cast Stun Shock, but realized that with so many enemies, I’d run out of mana fast that way. Luckily, these things weren’t too strong. So I decided to try sticking with the classics.

  I aimed at the nearest imp and cast Energy Bolt. It still took two hits, but the creature detonated just the same as when I hit with Stun Shock and the sword. This way I could stay back and not waste mana. Sweet.

  Crash was making a dent with Spectral Blades, and George kept up the ice attacks, stunning or straight-up freezing imps left and right. Then there was a shout from behind us.

  “Weaken Horde!” Nova called. Bolts of white light raced past us like a meteor shower, raining down on the stone imps. I didn’t know that skill myself, but it had to have debuffed their Constitution, tanking their maximum Health. A few of them still trapped in the ice died instantly, and I one-shotted an imp that had just slid down to the front of the battle.

  I glanced back at Nova. “Did you just debuff all of them with that one spell?”

  “No, it only hits up to twenty depending on the roll. And I rolled for six.” She backed up a few steps. “Maybe we should run. If we can get out of this area before they—”

  “Bad idea,” I said, already shaking my head as I blasted an imp with Energy Bolt and finished it off with the sword. They were getting closer again. “We have no idea how much further this place goes, so it’s better to just stay here and kill them. They really aren’t that strong.”

  “But there’s so many of them,” Nova murmured as she took another step back. She really didn’t look so good.

  “Yeah, well just keep casting—”

  A cry from Crash dragged my attention away. One of the imps had landed on his chest and stuck its dagger into his shoulder.

  As I moved to help, searing pain shot through my left leg and my health dropped by ten percent. I twisted to look around and saw an imp grinning up at me, its blade plunged into my shin.

  “Little bastard!” I shouted, wrenching my leg forward to tear the knife out. I kicked back and caught the stone creature with a boot to the head, then spun on my good leg and whacked it with my sword. As the imp flew into the air like a golf ball, George leapt up and blasted it with ice.

  The imp fragmented into shards of light, and George glowed blue.

  “Yes!” he called as he did a twisting back flip. “Level 11, baby. It’s on now!”

  “Congrats. Now get to killing,” I said as I whirled to help Crash, more than a little pissed off. Damn it, that little stone dagger really hurt.

  Turned out, Crash didn’t need help. He’d grabbed his staff, pried the imp off and obliterated it with Star Scream. Now he was throwing Spectral Blades at a bunch more — but the ones imprisoned in the ice were starting to break free and join the fray.

  We needed to get rid of them a lot faster. Time to switch elements. “Fire Wall!” I shouted, blasting the nearest wave with a line
of flames. At least half a dozen went to their pixel-explosion dooms.

  “Good idea,” Crash panted as he cast the same spell, killing a bunch more. He snarled and held a hand to his bleeding shoulder, whacking an airborne imp with his staff. As it collided with a column, he hit it with Energy Bolt and the leveling glow surrounded him, healing his shoulder in the process. “Ugh. EXP or not, these things still suck,” he said. “Where the hell is Nova?”

  I whirled to look back as an ice attack from George shot past me. And I spotted her holding her staff out, generating an opaque blue shield between herself and four imps that were doing their damndest to bust through.

  Great, now I had to save her too.

  I rushed toward her and held a hand out, casting another Fire Wall. Flames engulfed the imps, and three of them exploded at once. The fourth leapt from the flames with its dagger upraised, straight at me.

  I brought my sword around and parted the little bastard’s head from its body. The separate parts burst into glittering light and vanished.

  As I moved toward Nova, I heard Crash call on Spectral Blades again, and George casting Cone of Frost seconds later. “That was the last of ’em,” George’s voice said behind me. “Damn, I wanted level 12. Somebody wake up more of these things.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m sure there’s plenty more monsters waiting for us,” I said, watching as Nova finally lowered her shield and clutched her staff in trembling hands. “Hey, are you okay?” I said to her. “Are you hurt?”

  She shook her head and stared at the ground, not saying anything.

  “What the hell was that all about?” Crash demanded as he approached us and glared at Nova. “You didn’t even kill one of those things. Did you choke, or what?”

  “Back off, man,” I said firmly, turning to scan the room. “Just give her a little space, so she can explain. We could use the breather, anyway.”

  “Whatever,” he murmured as he walked a few paces away and started his Priest’s Meditate spell to regenerate his mana.