by Andrew Rowe
I didn’t know if a healing potion would work on illusory damage, but it was probably worth trying. I opened the flask and took a drink. The liquid inside tasted foul, nothing like any healing potion I’d ever tried. I made a face. A whirring sensation started in my head as I handed the flask back to him.
I felt weirdly warm in the aftermath, and the leg did feel a bit better. “Thanks.” I fumbled to pick up my sword, sheathed it, and pushed myself to my feet.
The numbness was still there, but it felt distant and weaker, so I managed to stumble my way over to the pool. I started to reach down to the water, but Jin slapped my hand away.
“Wait.”
I turned, tilting my head at him in confusion.
He tossed an expended bullet casing into the water.
I watched as it disintegrated a moment later.
Oh.
Not water.
“Well, that complicates things,” I mumbled.
“Yes.”
I considered my original plan of clearing some of the water with my gauntlet, but the key was at the bottom of the pool, and the water from the goddess’ hands was flowing right on top of it.
I drew my sword again. “Might be able to freeze it.”
“Good way to break your magic sword.”
“You think the acid is that potent?”
He shrugged. “Just saying I wouldn’t risk losing a permanent magic item on an exam.”
There was wisdom in that. I waved the sword close to the water without touching it, hoping the aura of frost would be sufficient to freeze the liquid, but nothing visible happened.
I could feel the weapon’s aura, though. Not the chill consequence of its presence — the aura itself felt tangible in my mind, much like how I could briefly feel the mana in my dueling cane before it was released.
Why was that? I couldn’t feel the power from my demi-gauntlet or shield sigil while they were inactive. Was it because the sword’s aura was a passive effect and always on? Was it subtly drawing from my own mana at a rate too slow for me to detect, connecting me with the cold?
I wouldn’t know without further testing or research, but at the moment, that wasn’t what was important. It gave me a new option.
I leveled the tip of the blade, putting it an inch from the waterfall’s edge, reached out into the aura... and shoved.
Snap.
The aura lashed out with a piercing thrust of rime that breached the waterfall. It left a blade-shaped wedge of ice frozen against the statue’s surface, the still-flowing water above splashing against it and forcing me to step back to avoid the droplets.
Now that was interesting.
“Hm.” Jin looked bemused. “I was not aware you could do that.”
“New trick.” I smirked. “Time to get us a key. Take a few steps back?”
He obliged.
I swung the sword this time, feeling the aura whip along with the arc of the weapon. As the weapon traveled alongside the waterfall, I pushed again. The water froze as aura cut deeply into it, leaving a crescent-shaped platform to mark the blade’s passage.
The newly-frozen section was more effective, but the water still struck the top of it and flowed across it into the pool below. Considering for a moment, I changed my approach, freezing water just where it appeared in the hands of the goddess next. The flow of water ceased. I thought I could hear the ice cracking in her hands, most likely the result of pressure building from water behind it.
That meant I didn’t have much time.
I froze the water directly around the key next, took a step back, and blasted the section at an angle using my gauntlet’s knockback function. The frozen key flew upward, just as I’d hoped, but fell back into the water before I could do anything about it. I had to repeat the process twice more until it flew entirely out of the pool.
I heard the sound of something rumbling above me, blinking as I turned my head upward. Jin was faster, shoving me forward before the cage clattered to the floor with a cacophonous crash.
Fortunately, both the key and I had landed outside.
I pushed myself awkwardly to my feet.
“Thanks,” I said, turning back.
Jin was inside the cage, looking unamused.
Oops.
All six torches were still lit, so re-lighting them to raise the cage wasn’t an option. The key was still in a block of icy acid, and I didn’t know how long it would take to melt.
There didn’t seem to be any keyholes on the cage, though, anyway.
“Any ideas on how we can get you out of there?”
“Can you see the mechanism that raises and lowers it?” He peered out through the bars.
I looked up, but there was nothing visible. I turned my attunement on, but there was still nothing in the air. It was apparently raised and lowered through spells that were only active when they were in use. I shook my head at him, turning the attunement back off.
My head swam for a moment as my sight returned to normal. I felt off somehow. I was probably overusing my mana; my right hand ached when I thought about it. Something else felt amiss too, though.
I dismissed that line of thought as unimportant.
“Do you still have the return bell?” I asked instead.
“Ye—” He cut himself off. “Ah, I see. With Patrick incapacitated, how were you able to re-enter?”
“I just ran back to the door.”
He took out the bell and rang it, then vanished.
The bell itself dropped as he teleported, clattering noisily on the floor. I picked it up.
It took about a minute before he re-appeared in the room. “Patrick remains unconscious. There is no sign of the others,” he reported.
“Good. Hope they’re doing better than we are.”
“Yes.”
I handed the return bell back to Jin and he accepted it wordlessly.
The ice around the key hadn’t melted. It occurred to me after a moment that I’d never seen the sword’s ice melt naturally. In fact, it seemed to get worse over time.
It couldn’t last forever, could it?
The only way I’d seen the ice disappear before was from flame magic. “You wouldn’t happen to have any fire spells, would you?”
Jin shook his head. “I would not be able to tell you if I did.”
Cryptic as usual, but not unexpected.
“But I do have fire-starting supplies.”
Jin reached into his pouch, poured some of his... healing potion... on a rag and then set the rag on the floor. He withdrew a knife and a dark-colored stone of some kind, striking the stone with the metal to make sparks. The rag ignited a moment later, and he picked it up on the knife’s edge, and then dropped it on top of the ice block.
It took several seconds, but the ice melted enough to expose the key. Jin knelt down, carefully probing, and flicked the key with the edge of his knife. It flew out of the ice, skidding across the floor.
I walked over, kneeling down, but paused before picking it up. “Think the surface is still acidic?”
Jin nodded as he approached, pouring liquid from his flask over the key. “Yes, but washing it will probably be sufficient. I would advise you to use the gauntlet to pick it up.”
The inside of the gauntlet was only leather, but it was still a glove. Once the key had been washed, I picked it up. No obvious burning on the leather from contact. Good.
“Okay, now what do we do with this?”
Jin pointed at the two doors. “There are two visible exits, both with locks matching the color of the key. Each door has an inscription. The box is also inscribed, but it has no visible opening.”
I walked to the first door. In the greater lighting of all six torches, I could see words carved into the surface, much like on the tablet.
Only light can open the eyes of the faithless.
I frowned, moving to the next door.
Let fire purify the wicked.
I liked that message even less, but I turned to Jin.
“So, fire room or light room next?”
He folded his hands in front of him, head slightly tilted. “You carry ice, which may prevail against fire,” he mused.
“But it’s possible fire is the requirement for that room, rather than what we’ll face,” I countered.
“Possible. But I doubt it.”
I nodded. His preference was obvious, and I didn’t have a good argument to try the other room first; we didn’t have any great sources of light or darkness, either.
I turned the key in the lock. The stone door slid into the floor, reminiscent of some of the ones I’d seen in the tower.
Nice touch. Lends authenticity.
The jet of fire that emerged from the doorway enveloped us both in an instant, crushing our shields to nothing. In a panicked instant, I reached out for the aura of the weapon at my side, spreading it across my skin.
When the flames faded, I was shivering, my skin glistening with ice.
When I turned, Jin was already gone.
Annihilated, I realized, my heart pounding.
Stay calm. It’s just a simulation. He’s fine.
But this does mean I’m on my own now.
I stepped out of the doorway, not wanting to be caught by another errant blast of fire.
From an angle, I could still see where the fire had come from. A statue of the creature we’d just fought, stood directly across from the door. I could still feel the heat in the air and smell the acrid scent of the smoke it had left behind.
And I could see the glow forming in its open mouth, flames swirling and forming.
I stepped completely aside, watching as the blast flashed out the open door a moment later. It flooded the entrance for several seconds before receding again.
I glanced back into the room. The creature’s mouth was still open, a hint of flame already forming as it prepared another blast.
Looking from side-to-side, I saw... more statues. A dozen, at least, breathing their own blasts of flame at varying angles across the room.
And, even with only a moment to inspect, I could see gaps between those incinerating bursts of flame, and a door on the opposite side of the room.
I dodged back out of the way just as the next burst of flame leapt out the doorway.
A timing puzzle.
As the next flames receded, I was ready. I stepped in and to the left, swinging my head widely from side-to-side and confirming what I’d guessed while outside. There was a gap right here that no flaming breath would touch.
There were, however, statues staring directly at the spaces to my left and right — as well as the area directly in front of me.
In total, four statues on the opposite side of the room, two on the left, two on the right... and one at the far right corner on my side of the room, turned at a diagonal.
I winced, pressing against the wall as the next set of blasts seared the air at my right, then at my left a few moments later.
That revealed another important factor: they weren’t in sync.
That was both good and bad.
If the flames were dividing the room roughly into a grid, I could figure out where I could safely step and when. The diagonal-facing statue was going to be the hardest part; it breathed just after the flames near the center of the room let up. That meant crossing that area was going to be extremely difficult.
My reflexes weren’t bad, but I didn’t trust my life to split-second timing. Even with the heat of the room, though, the aura of frost was numbing my skin dangerously... and that frost was real. And sadly, I didn’t know of any way to diminish the cold without disabling it entirely.
I pushed the frost aura away from myself, shivering in the aftermath. I couldn’t risk causing myself real harm to shield myself from illusionary heat.
Was there some other way I could use the frost? I drew the sword, noticing for the first time how severely my hand was shaking. That was no good.
I took the grip in both hands and swiped it in the air, pushing the aura outward as I’d done with the waterfall. A crescent-shaped blade of frost leapt from my swing, cresting through the air only to be melted by a blast of heat from one of the statues.
I tried a second time, timing it with the blasts. This time I managed to hit a statue with the icy projectile, but the ice-wave just cracked harmlessly across the statue’s surface.
Frowning, I sheathed the weapon.
I watched the timing on the statues. Could I make the run?
The diagonal statue had another property I hadn’t picked up before: every three times the statues breathed their flames, the diagonal statue skipped one. A chance.
A deceptive chance.
I realized one critical flaw in my plan before I pushed myself to act. Even if I rushed for the door, ducking between fountains of flame, I didn’t have another key.
Where was it?
I found it hanging from a vicious-looking hook in the middle of the room, high enough that I could just barely reach it if I jumped. Maybe.
It was, of course, right within a zone where the diagonal statue’s flames would burn.
I stared up at it, considering. In the distance, I heard the sound of a gong — once, twice, and a third time.
What was that supposed to mean?
A time limit?
I clenched and unclenched my hands, still shivering in spite of the flames licking the air around me.
Okay. Think. What’s the best route to getting the key and getting across?
Teleporting, obviously. But I can’t do that. Or fly above the flames.
Could I jump from statue to statue?
I glanced at them, then shook my head. Nope. Too far.
Maybe I could have blasted myself forward with the kinetic energy from my gauntlet, but it wasn’t made for transportation; that wasn’t a reliable option.
Maybe I could switch out and hope Marissa was outside? She could probably handle this... and the bell was lying on the ground where Jin had once been standing.
That was kind of depressing, actually.
Another gong sounded in the distance. Definitely a time limit. Which meant gambling on Marissa solving this for me probably wasn’t an option.
Okay, doing this.
I raised the demi-gauntlet, hand still shaking, and aimed at the key. I had to steady my right hand with the left before I fired.
The first surge of mana missed. It was a small target.
The second whipped the chain forward, hurling the key at exactly the angle I wanted — right off the hook and toward the exit door.
As soon as the next jet of flames dissipated, I ran.
Even moving at full speed, I barely made it to the next safe “square” on the grid before an incendiary blast singed the air behind me.
Then I waited, as patient as I could be with blasts of fire raging all around me. There was a tiny voice in my head screaming all the while. I don’t want to die.
It’s not real, I told myself, but the terror whimpered again all the same.
Another blast of flame. Another step forward, and then I was in the toughest spot. I waited for the diagonal flame-breather to go through a full cycle, just to be certain I knew when it would be off.
I’d need to wait for the next flame to start right in front of me, rush into the diagonal statue’s line of fire while it was inactive... and then wait an agonizing moment until the next one faded. Then I’d run.
It seemed like a good plan. A clear plan.
The flames leapt in front of me, then faded. This was the moment of truth.
I rushed forward, finding that tiny safe spot, and waited in anguish, clenching my fists at the diagonal statue as it glared at me.
It didn’t breathe. I breathed deeply in response.
The next flames erupted in front of me, just as I’d expected, and I waited until they faded. As soon as they did, I ran into the safety of the next square.
Shivering and laughing with glee, I turned toward the diagonal statue, the danger that had pass
ed — and saw that it was looking straight at me, a burning sphere forming in its mouth, seconds from activating.
It had turned.
The reshing statue turned.
There were flames all around me; I had nowhere to dodge.
Instinctively, I drew on the sword’s power to shield me with frost.
I knew it wouldn’t be enough.
I felt a jolt of unexpected agony as the flames washed over me and my senses faded to dust.
Chapter XIII — Liminal Phase
I was shivering when I woke.
“Idiot.”
The voice was harsh, barely familiar. As my vision cleared, I realized it wasn’t one of my companions leaning over me — it was Professor Vellum.
I kept shivering. My limbs were numb, but shot through with vines of agony.
Vellum met my eyes. “Awake now? Good. Get rid of that sword.”
I frowned, still disoriented. The sword? What did that have to do with anything?
I was barely cognizant of the white aura stretched across my skin as I reached down, awkwardly fumbled with the hilt of my weapon, and half drew it from the scabbard. Turning over between convulsions, I barely managed to finish drawing it out of the sheath and shoving it to clatter across the stone floor.
Vellum mumbled something I couldn’t quite make out, and then snapped her fingers. I felt an abrupt shock as the white glow faded from my body. The numbness and pain didn’t recede, but I was vaguely aware that the source of the cold that caused them had dissipated.
The teacher turned to someone else. “Warm him.”
I wanted to roll over to see who she was talking to, but I didn’t have the strength. I heard a strong voice speaking an incantation as I slipped back into sleep.
***
Corin.
I was in a dense forest, a light rain falling from the darkened sky.
I held a woman in my arms for the last time. She would shed no tears here; she had always been the stronger of us. I ran my fingers through her hair, stained turquoise by the vast power that flowed within her.