by James Patton
“Hurk is almost right, but he’ll be surprised to know that I’ve thought about this a lot recently. I think you are doing something right, Boh.” Levi smiled at her as she looked back at him in surprise. “All of us keep doing the same things and failing. I joked about the gun, but the truth is you have an idea about what you want to do and are not deviating.”
“You are the first person that has—”
Hurk’s gun was out faster than Levi’s, and his agile thumb clicked back the hammer as his finger squeezed the trigger. Her face was still forming her next word as it shifted to a curse.
The two shots rang out almost within seconds of each other, and she felt no pain. Checking over her body, she saw no wounds and only felt more confused.
“Relax, some of us can actually shoot.” Levi joked with her but was oblivious to why she was checking her body. She played along with it.
“Ass.” She said but turned to find an aye-aye on the ground in front of her, and its creepy middle finger extended as if it had been about to attack. Up close it looked cute, but her eyes kept drifting back to that long thin middle finger and the monkey like body. Those things might replace her fear of birds.
“Did you see where that came from, maybe the ceiling?” Hurk asked as he looked around to find a hole or entry point they had missed.
“At least it triggered the trap.” She said pointing to the broken tripwire.
“Shit, run!” They both cried out in unison.
Levi shoved her forward, and they all three took off running in the same direction they had been traveling. Seconds later she heard the sound of breaking stone behind them.
Boh
Chapter 13
Choices
Dragons are terrifying creatures. I tamed one before they were civilized. I had to beat it into submission, and almost died for my efforts. Take away the Elders and Ancients, and you will see they have not changed.
-from The First Dragonrider
The cracking sound startled her, and she almost tripped over the aye-aye. She leaped over it, and her Agility put her at least five feet past the corpse. It had never occurred to her to try an Agility-based class, but the speed and acrobatics were worth it.
Their headlong run brought them to a junction of hallways. On a whim, she went left and almost careened into a wall. She had no idea where the other two were, but she felt confident she was safe now.
The floor was starting to crumble in the middle of the junction of hallways. Levi appeared and stepped lightly across the collapsing ground. He did not see her until it was too late and ran straight across.
Hurk’s low Agility was hurting him, and he stumbled across the broken floor attempting to catch up to Levi. The man panicked and dove to the closest side which was to the right. Half his body fell into the pit with the falling floor. His upper half remained on the solid floor of the side hallway. His feet scrambled to find a foothold, and then he was up and over.
“Well shit,” Levi said, breaking the silence. “And hot damn, Boh! You can haul ass; you outpaced us like a gazelle.”
“My Speed is almost maxed, at least until I get some Strength. Now what?”
“Just keep going,” Hurk replied. “We will find you, just watch for traps and the aye-aye. That tunnel collapse is bound to bring more of them because they are attracted to loud sounds.”
“Do us a favor?” Levi asked her and waited.
“Well spit it out man, what do you want?”
“Don’t use your gun.” He laughed and headed off the hallway.
“You are still an ass!” She shouted to his retreating back, but she found herself grinning.
“That trap is overpowered as all hell.” Hurk groaned as he pulled himself to his feet. “Well Boh, keep exploring. We will work our way through the crypt and find a way to get back to you. Stay safe, and if you find what your Remnant, give us an hour to locate you before you leave.”
Hurk limped off and was rolling his shoulder again, but she wondered if it was a phantom pain thing, because she never felt any aches in her body.
It did not take her long to find more Remnants, but these rooms were in bad shape. Tombs broken open and bones spilled out on the ground, archways collapsing under the weight from above. Piles of dirt were spilling out from where stone walls gave way, but even with that damage the objects were where they belonged and the plaques legible.
One room had several items based on agility, but it was the fifth room she stumbled into accidentally that she saw objects made of silvery substances. It was similar in color to the etching in the White Rune she chose earlier.
The mirrored surfaces of the items reflected the light making the room appear brighter than it was. One Remnant resonated with her before she even touched it. It was damn near vibrating in intensity, but she held off on grabbing it.
The Remnant was shaped like an eye and made of pewter. The dark silvery substance had a cat-like pupil carved into it, creating a dark aperture. She could still see pewter, but the carved recess made it appear darker.
The iris was polished to a high shine, making it lighter than the rest of the eye. Within the iris, she saw specks of glittering light, which in turn drew her eyes back towards the depth of the pupil once more.
The quality of the object was not any better than anything else, but she was ensnared by the intense, raw beauty of it. There was no telling how long she looked at the eye, but eventually, she read the description.
Pewter Dragon Eye - Resonates with all Affinities
- Attribute(s): Luck, Agility, and Magic
- Known Properties: Vision
- Potential Bonuses: Improved Elemental Shielding
The other two still roamed the halls looking for her. She remembered what they said about taking the Remnant, and that was the only reason she left it in place. There was no way to tell how long an hour was down in this crypt.
A nook between two pillars provided a place for her to sit and rest, and she had a direct line of sight to the Remnant she wanted. With her back to the wall, the only way to approach her was from the front. She must have dozed off because when she came around again, she could hear talking nearby.
“She was here; her footprints are all around these rooms.” It was hard to tell from their soft tones, but that sounded like Levi.
“Do you think she suspects us? It could complicate things.” That was Hurk, his voice was sharp and carried. Even in a whisper, his voice came out clear.
“Well, you might have overdone it with the stuttering on the beach. And do not lump me in with this, it was your dumb ass that mixed up with Maisa.”
“Maisa forces scenarios, and you know that.” Hurk was much closer now “Shit.”
Would they find her if she remained here? She hesitated. Everyone on this island, except maybe Lucas, Gatz, and the girl gardener, all had an agenda.
“Maisa is not going to be happy with us. If she pulls her protection, we will be at the mercy of Drater again. Should we call out for Boh?” Levi asked.
Maisa? She tried to recall if she had heard that name yet and came up blank. Every time these two opened their mouth, she felt more lost.
“I think she already knows we are here,” Hurk said in a normal voice. “What gave us away girl?”
They had moved past the tomb she was resting in, and she walked across the room to the eye. Her elven heritage and high agility made sure her movement remained silent as she approached the Remnant. Nearing it, she felt it vibrating once more and reached for it.
The slick surface caused it to slip her grasp and fall to the floor. Her quick hands almost snagged it out of the air, but the eye struck the ground. The metal rang out and then aye-ayes were all over the place. She scrambled across the floor and picked up her Remnant.
It tried to slip free again, so she put it in her pocket and felt the other objects there. Her fingers moved quickly and could hear the other two cursing as they fought the freaky creatures. The sound of the object hitting could have carried halfway through t
he crypt.
“There you are.” Hurk smiled, but it no longer reached his eyes. Here was a man that could kill and not think twice about it. “Going to need the Remnant. You can give it to us, or we can kill you and keep killing you until you drop it.”
“Or we can have a Sparkles party!” She exclaimed. Palm faced towards him the verbal cast triggered and the spell hit Hurk right between the eyes. Not wanting to waste a great party trick, she ran for the opposite archway.
Hurk was slapping at his face thinking it on fire, and Levi was shocked by the sudden spell that he forgot all about her. It gave her a head start on her headlong dash through the crypt.
One thing she remembered reading about gunfights is moving in random patterns tended to throw off the shot. So left and right she wove between rooms seeking something familiar. Before long she exited the crypt areas and found herself in a natural cave system.
It was here that she saw piles and piles of discarded bones, and shelves full of skulls. On one wall alone there must have been over a thousand skulls.
“What the hell is this place?” She heard Levi asking behind them, and Hurk remained silent. Both of them were still running after her but had not taken any shots yet.
The cavern wound around until she found herself coming to a fork and hesitated momentarily before going left. She was once more into a section created by people, but she was not sure it was the crypt either. In front of her was another intersection, but all three pathways led to massive doors made of metal. They were bigger than Midnight and probably needed a dragon to open them. She was trapped.
Sighing, she remembered what her Mercury Elf avatar had said about hand casting and worked her fingers faster than she had previously, hopefully drawing less energy.
“Give it up girl. Just toss us the Remnant, and we let you walk away. Maisa didn’t want us to harm you unless you did not cooperate.” Hurk told her
“Neat trick with the spell. Where did you learn that?” Levi asked.
“It is a spell all children learn in this world. It is supposed to teach them magic without harming themselves or others. Turns out to be a great distraction too.” She said turning to face them but spotted something familiar as she turned.
Taking two steps back both of their guns were raised and pointing right at her. She pulled out a round object from her pocket, and it glittered in the brightly lit intersection. “You want this?”
“Toss it over, and we will take it and leave.”
“Tell me why? I thought you wanted me to leave and draw that other asshole away. Why double cross me now?”
“It was not an easy choice. Risk losing our protection and hope you can complete the trials, or steal from you and secure our protection. Taking the Remnant from you is a sure thing.”
“For the record, I wanted to help you,” Levi told her. “Hurk knew you were nearby and let me talk out of my ass. After that…”
“I would not trust you anymore,” she finished for him. He nodded in affirmation, but she was not about to pity him.
She pulled at the tip of her ear with her free hand and finally tossed the object into the middle of the intersection, not far from her. It bounced a few times but landed more or less where she threw it, and still within range of her spell.
Hurk holstered his gun and came forward to grab the item while Levi’s gun never wavered and his eyes watched her like a hawk. She took a step back and felt the trip wire snap and hoped she judged the trap right.
Boh
Chapter 14
A. Proteus
The only science that did not bore me was Life Science. Did you know amoebas have 200 times more DNA than a human?.
-from Boh, Audio Roll 0078
Everything around her started shaking, and Hurk, the object in hand, looked around nervously. Until she saw his eyes staring at her feet and she started laughing.
Hurk’s eyes bugged out of his head, and his mouth gaped like a fish out of water. “What did you do?” He shouted, but she was no longer watching him.
Levi had turned to look over his shoulder, and her elvish hearing picked up the sounds before they did. The center of the intersection was collapsing, and water was rushing down towards them. She could even pick up on the change in pressure.
It was the sound of stone cracking that brought her focus back to the short man pocketing the glowing item. He was reaching for his gun when the entire floor he was standing on started breaking away. The weapon remained holstered as he rushed towards her but once more found himself hanging over an abyss.
A massive wall of water rounded the bend.
“Oh shit,” Levi yelled out before the impact of the deluge punched him over the edge and into the pit. The water did not have enough force to cross the entire gap, but Hurk was soaked, and she got a face full of mist.
It was wet enough that Hurk could not climb up, and they both knew it.
“Help me,” Hurk growled at her. It was wet enough that Hurk could not climb up, and they both knew it. The scholarly man that she felt an attraction towards was gone. In his place was this whining piece of shit that wanted to take from her.
“Why should I?”
“I’ll give you your remnant back. Please. I do not want to die.”
“Keep it.” Her foot came up, and she slammed the heal of the cheap boots into the man’s face. The man’s nose broke, and she felt herself shaking from adrenaline. Hurk was still hanging on.
“Dammit, what the fu—” Her boot came down again in the same place, and felt him slide sideways as one of his hands slipped.
“Boh sto—”
“A man without respect is a man without honor.” She said, quoting something her father used to tell her, but never understanding until now. This time her boot connected with fingers, and she was sure a few of them broke.
“I’ll kill you bitch!” Hurk called out with his bloodied face turned up in a snarl. Even after he disappeared into the darkness below, she still saw the damage she did to the man.
She squatted down and hugged herself as she rocked back and forth. She fought the tears as the adrenaline ran its course, but knew from experience it had to run its course. It was one of the reasons she hated confrontation. The adrenaline just took over, and her body her body suffered the after effects.
She suppressed what she had just done, deliberately killing a man. Her stomach clenched, and she vomited over the side of the pit. She tossed the entire incident into her vault of broken memories and glimpsed all the bad things she had done. One day she would have to confront the fact that she was not a good person.
Dark thoughts on a dreary day, she shook her head and took stock of her situation. It was a foolhardy plan and hastily thought out. Trapped on what might as well be an island with no way back across. The water had stopped flowing, but the big hole in the ground was much too wide to jump across.
She peered down into the pit and felt a moment of vertigo before looking away. It was not that she was afraid of heights, it was the fear of the unknown. Same reason she had issues swimming in lakes, because not being able to see the bottom bothered her.
Either way, it was one hell of a trap. Running away would not have helped, and doing what she did only prolonged the inevitable.
Rather than find a way across, she went towards the door. Checked to make sure there were no other traps, and then looked to see if she could open the thing. Her hand brushed the surface, and she jerked her hand back. It was not metal at all, and it felt like touching flesh.
The surface was a camouflage.
“What is this?” She muttered. Both hands pushed against the soft substance. Her hands created an indention, and she kept pushing until her hands went through the epidermis. Panicked, she yanked her hands back, and they slid right out with little resistance.
It reminded her of gelatin. Unsheathing her knife, she was unsure what the six inch blade could do for her, but she used it anyway. The line where she slashed it remained, so she shaped a square and then ran a
knife behind it. The cube came free from its host and rested in her palm like an ice cube. Seconds later it turned to liquid and ran between her fingers. It behaved just like water and did not appear to be harmful.
“What the hell?” The piece she cut away was still missing, and she wondered if it would grow back.
The next few hours she cut a tunnel through the substance, hoping to find a way through. She was soaked and miserable but kept at it. Occasionally, she stopped and rested, using up the last of her rations.
It was the lack of water that made her eye the liquid curiously. It was not that she had a death wish, but it was not toxic to the touch, and it could be water. It took a lot of willpower to keep cutting and ignore it.
Had she visited the leatherworker and picked up a waterskin she would have bottled this stuff. It was bound to be a rare substance, and she could not help but think she should know what this is.
It felt like she had been at it for days, and her muscles were shaking from exertion. Not just from cutting, the ground had gone soft. She had to high step the entire time to prevent herself from sinking into the floor.
She worked in cycles, cutting and backing out to rest. Every inch she gained now was fought for desperately as she moved her legs at a frantic pace to stay above the surface while cutting more and more of it away.
She was wet and exhausted when she finally gave in to temptation. Her water pods in her inventory were long gone, and she felt the need for hydration. Cutting off a chunk the size of a coin she tossed it into her mouth while she continued running and slicing.
The cube felt like jello in her mouth until it melted and the water rushed down her parched throat. Nothing happened, except maybe she was not as tired.
More and more she cut off chunks and drank or ate them until a message appeared.
You have gained the buff Enduring Breath.
Enduring Breath allows you to breathe underwater. The duration depends on the application, so be sure to check before diving into water.