by Shawn Wyatt
It’s HP dropped under the concentrated attack. I paused my own attacks only long enough to reload, and that’s when I saw one of the rocks from the shattered leg begin to move. “It’s getting ready to heal!” I shouted.
The rock never had a chance. A blur of motion swooped past me. Nova scooped the stone from the ground and carried it high into the air, disposing of it somewhere in the jungle. My jaw fell slack in disbelief, but I laughed as the bird dove again. She carried away the stones one at a time, separating them over too great a distance.
“It’s almost down,” Evey called. She nocked an arrow and drew back, channeling her limited nature magic into the shot. A normal arrow glanced off the golem, but those with concentrated magic penetrated the stones. The golem’s torso already looked like a pincushion thanks to her efforts.
Another thirty seconds and the golem dropped. The scattered rocks crooned once more and fell apart in a cloud of dust. I looked around at the party. It was over.
We’d won.
Whoops of victory sounded around the clearing, and Rune sauntered over to check if the monster had dropped anything worth claiming. The Berserker rummaged through the broken rocks before he stopped and lifted something small and shiny from it. “Ren?”
“What is that?” I asked.
“Gemstones. All the shattered rocks had gemstones inside. Rubies, sapphires, diamonds…take your pick.” His eyes flashed with greed. “We’re rich!”
I tried to stay focused on the task at hand, but I couldn’t deny the appeal at the huge number of valuable gems that lay on the ground. I knelt and picked out a few gleaming sapphires for myself, their sparkling blue drawing my eye.
Wish stood over the fallen golem and furrowed her brow. She paid the gems no mind. “What’s wrong?” I asked. She held one of the stones in her hands, turning it over and over.
“This is the same kind of stone that I carry,” she said. “A Spirit Stone. But it seems like all these stones were the same spirit, divided into different vessels.”
“Can you use them?”
She nodded. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen them. And because they we defeated the original spirit, I can refill them.”
I turned around in time to see Rune rear back, ready to smash another stone with his pickaxe. “Stop!” I said.
“What?” His shoulders dropped and he shot me an annoyed look. “Why?”
“These stones, whatever they are, are special. Wish can use them. I say we let her have them.” I looked to our resident Invoker. She was the quietest member of our party, and we rarely saw any equipment or gear that would benefit to her. “Any objections?”
“I’m fine with it,” Evey said.
Bastion and Quinn also agreed. Rune looked sullen, but shrugged. “Fine. Take them. Not like we could have used limitless wealth anyway.”
“If someone hadn’t dropped a ridiculous amount of gold on that enchanted armor set, you wouldn’t need to worry about money.”
The Berserker rolled his eyes, but had the decency to look sheepish. I turned to Bastion. “Can you top off our HP? It’s time we find the entrance to this temple.”
I waited a few seconds until his spells had settled and everyone’s HP was full—or near enough that it didn’t matter—and headed for the stone archway. It stood at the top of a series of steps covered in slick, green moss, the stones worn by time and exposure.
The temple was built from huge grey stones, each at least ten feet long and five feet high, stacked precariously on top of one another. The jungle had reclaimed the land over the last few hundred years. Trees had thrust through the rock and now grew inside the temple itself.
I searched for traps, but the temple looked as though no one had set foot on its surfaces in years. Thick moss grew wild between the top of the steps and the darkened entryway. There were no signs that even animals had come anywhere near the entrance.
Bastion approached the arch and looked inside. “It goes down,” he says. “Beyond what I can see.”
“We’ll need torches,” I said.
“Already on it,” Rune said. He pulled out a lantern from his bag. “Will this work better?”
I eyed the lantern. It had a full canister of oil with it. “Where did you get that?” I asked.
He grinned. “The craftsmen back on Toris have been busy cranking out everything they can. I packed it with me when I decided to find you guys. Thought it might be useful.”
“Good enough for me,” I said. “But you’re going to be in the center of the pack. That pathway is narrow enough as it is, and will probably get smaller the deeper we go. If you stay in the center and hold the lantern up, the light will reach farther."
“But why me?” Rune asked. “Wouldn’t I be better at the rear?”
“You’re at least a foot taller than the rest of us, so you take the center and be our lamppost.” I turned to the rest of the group. “Everyone ready?”
At their nods, I led the way into the tunnel.
We descended fifty feet down before the stone steps leveled into a hallway. The air grew colder with each stop. The soil and stone sheltered us from the jungle’s humidity. I kept my eyes focused on the path ahead, but they had begun to play tricks on me.
I swore I saw things moving in the shadows beyond the edge of my vision. The quiet didn’t help. After a few spoken words had echoed up the tunnel and raised the hair on the back of everyone’s neck, we fell silent.
I took point. Evey came next on Boris’ back, with Nova resting on the bear’s haunches. Rune stood in the center and kept the lantern held high above his head, with Quinn, Wish, and Bastion bringing up the rear. If we encountered any monsters in this tunnel, there was space enough to fight.
For now, anyway.
The floor took one a more solid quality, and eventually the rough-cut stones gave way to a single, solid path carved directly from the earth. I searched for traps, but found none. The only sound that filled the hallway was that of our own footsteps.
The path came to an end in a large, circular room, with a door on one side. Heavy iron hinges mounted the door to the rock face. A complex lock kept the handle trapped behind iron bars.
“That looks welcoming,” I said.
“Stop!” Evey’s voice snapped and echoed inside the room. “Take a look around.”
Small holes dotted the wall every six inches, all the way around the room. I glanced down at our feet. The floor remained solid, aside from six plates spaced around the room, each with a different symbol.
“Trap?” Bastion asked.
“Probably. And I’m guessing these plates are some sort of puzzle. We figure them out, and we figure out how to get inside that door.” Evey checked the floor around her feet again and slid off Boris’ back. “You and Nova stay here, in the center. Alright?”
The bear whined his response, but laid down.
I walked closer to the plates on the floor. Each was raised slightly, just enough that any amount of weight could depress them. The first plate bore with the symbol of a tree, and the second with the symbol of a turtle. The third plate held a jagged mountain peak, while the fourth plate showed an oasis. The fifth plate showed a glimmering city, with five spires rising from its walls. A butterfly shone on the sixth plate.
“Convenient that there are six of us, and six plates to press down,” Wish said.
I bit back a rueful laugh. “Almost like it was planned.”
“What are these?” Rune asked. “I don’t recognize the symbols.”
I had a hunch what the symbols were. The city with its five spires was Ilia, the capital city of Perla. If I followed that logic, then the other symbols represented the capitals of the other realms. The tree would be Grenay, and the turtle would be Shella.
I shared this with the rest of the group. “I didn’t make it to the capital of Horus before the beta ended,” I said. “I have no idea what it or the capital city of Riven is named, but we should be able to pick them out. Riven is the mountain realm, so
the peak should be its plate. And Horus is desert, so oasis.”
“But what about the butterfly?” Evey asked. “That doesn’t relate to anything. And even if we know what these mean, how do we know what order to press them in?”
I shook my head. “I don’t have the faintest idea.” I walked back to the door and its strange lock. The door was simple enough: made of thick iron, with a handle that needed to be pulled to release it. The lock that prevented access to the handle was the curious part: four different arms that joined together in a sphere.
I fiddled with the arms, but none budged. Each had a slight indention where they met the wall. They looked designed to retract. If they did, then the plates were likely the key to making them do so.
But what about the holes in the wall? I turned my attention back to the openings. “Hey, Rune. Bring that lantern over here.” I took the light and held it in front of the hole, trying to see as far back as I could. The light didn’t reach far enough to make out details, but I caught the faintest glint of metal inside. “Perfect,” I groaned. “Arrows.”
“The classics never go out of style,” Evey said. “So if we get the order of the plates wrong, we get turned into pin cushions. That about the gist of it?”
“That’s my guess. So no one get anywhere near the plates until we are ready to solve this puzzle. Now, anyone have a clue about the order?”
Most of the group shook their heads, but Quinn stood off to the side, a hand on his chin. “I may have something,” he said. “But I’m not sure.”
“What is it?”
“Remember when we started Perla Online? When you first logged in before you chose your character? There was an intro screen. Each of the different realms showed up, and then they all flew back to form a butterfly.” He waved his arms around to illustrate what he meant. “Do you think that could be the pattern?”
I turned back to the symbols on the floor. It had been so long since that first day that I had forgotten, but Quinn was right. This did look exactly like that. “I know what you’re talking about, but I don’t remember the order the realms appeared in.”
“Toris was the first,” Evey said. “I remember, because that’s what made me choose Beast Tamer—the sight of that shimmering green realm with all the animals on it.”
“And Shella came second,” Quinn said. “But I don’t know whether Horus or Riven was next.”
“Riven.” Wish’s spoke up in a quiet voice. “It appeared, and there were all those creatures flying in the sky. They looked like dragons.”
“So that leaves Horus, then Perla itself. And the butterfly came after?” I asked.
Everyone nodded. At least we were all in agreement on that point.
I sighed as the same, too-familiar tension crept back into my shoulders. “Alright then. Everyone spread out. I’ll take the butterfly.” It was the symbol closest to the door, and I wanted to be able to watch what happened.
Evey stood over the plate with the symbol of a tree on it. “Ready?” she asked.
I nodded. She took a deep breath and stepped forward, squeezing her eyes shut as she did so—but no hail of arrows emerged from the walls. I heard a grinding sound, and the sphere in the center of the lock spun 90-degrees counter clockwise.
“Okay. Quinn, go.” The Swashbuckler pressed the plate with the turtle emblazoned on its top, and the first arm drew back into the wall. “It’s working!” I said. “Keep going. Bastion, you’re up. Then Wish.”
Bastion’s plate caused the second arm to vanish into the wall, and Wish made the third disappear behind it. Rune stepped onto the fourth plate, and the sphere in the center of the lock clattered to the floor.
There were no more locks blocking the door handle. I looked down at the symbol of Ilia. “Should I press it?”
Everyone kept pressure on the plates, afraid that removing their foot would trigger the trap. “I don’t know,” Evey said. “It’s the last symbol, and the last part of the sequence.”
“Press it,” Bastion said. “Just be ready to duck if the walls begin spitting arrows at us.”
I nodded, then took one step forward. The plate clicked into place and locked. I heard a brief whir in the wall, and the entire room fell silent. “Well, we aren’t dead,” I said. “That seems to have done it. Evey, want the honors of opening the door?”
The Beast Tamer nodded and stepped forward. She grasped the large handle with both hands and pulled back. The door released and opened without even a squeak. Evey leapt back and dropped into a crouch, ready for anything that might be waiting on the other side of the door.
As the door opened, a soft blue light filled the chamber. Inside was a smaller room, identical in shape to the one we stood in now, with a pedestal in the center of the room. Something gleamed on the pedestal, shining with a light of its own.
I leaned forward and looked around the door frame and inside the room. “I don’t see anything that looks like traps,” I said.
“I doubt there would be anymore at this point. I’m going for it,” Evey said. She walked into the room and reached for the pedestal. As she did so, the item on its surface glowed brighter. Its name appeared at the bottom of my vision—a system prompt, shared through the whole party.
<<<>>>
Legendary Item Discovered: Bowstring of the Tempest
This bowstring is half of the legendary Tempest Bow carried by one of Shella’s great heroes. On its own, it adds an additional 15 damage per arrow to any bow it is equipped to. Combined with its original frame, however, the item becomes something new.
<<<>>>
Chapter Twenty Nine: Rakshasa
Evey whistled under her breath. In the dim light, the string would be completely invisible if not for its shimmering, iridescent glow. "We found one half.”
“And I know the way to the second.” I pointed at the far wall. When Evey lifted the bowstring from the pedestal, a portion of the wall receded into the ceiling. A tunnel lay behind it, so dark that it blended in with the stone.
“Oh, great. Another dark, unlit tunnel. That couldn’t possibly hold any nasty monsters,” Wish muttered.
“We better be ready then,” I said. The rest of the party fell into the same formation as before, and we made our way into the tunnel.
After only a few steps the sound of my footfalls vanished as the ground softened and the hard stone floor gave way to dirt. The smell of moist earth filled my nostrils. Moss grew sporadically along the walls and ceilings of the tunnel.
The temperature continued its decline. I rubbed my arms together and hoped it would level out soon.
We walked through the darkness in silence for so long that I lost track of the time. Only when Rune spoke did I realize how long it had been since I heard any sound.
“Ren, we may have a problem.” He pitched his voice low so that only Evey and I heard him. “The lantern is running low on fuel. If we don’t get out of here soon, we’ll be stuck in total darkness.”
I had never been claustrophobic, but the idea of this tunnel with no light raised hairs on my neck. “How long do we have?”
“Another half hour, but no more than that.”
I could ask Clint or Eastwood to breathe fire, but I didn’t know how long could sustain their flame. Creating a torch would be the better option, if we had anything to craft a torch with. “Let’s hope we make it out before then.”
I counted down the time, resetting in my head each time a minute passed. The lantern held fast, but eventually, it began to sputter.
And finally, it died, and darkness descended around us.
“What happened?” Bastion asked, his voice too loud in the pitch-black tunnel..
“The lantern ran out of fuel,” Rune said. “Anyone else have a torch? Anything?”
I heard the scrape of steel on leather, and the faint outline of Bastion’s blade appeared in the air. “My sword only puts out flames in combat. As it stands, the light is hardly even enough to see by.” A red and orange glow flickered up the blade
, marking the runes of the enchantment, but it was not enough to see by.
“Clint, think you can help me out?” I whispered the question to the little lizard on my right shoulder. He gave no response, but a moment later, a small gout of flame lit the air beside my head. I couldn’t resist laughing at the surprised shouts. “Sorry. It’s just the lizards. But the little guys can’t sustain the flame for long. Here’s my idea: we all take the hand of the person behind us, and we’ll make our way forward in the dark.”
“You want us to hold hands?” Though I couldn’t see her, I heard the skepticism in Wish’s voice. “Seriously?”
“Do you have a better idea?”
Silence.
“That’s what I thought,” I said. “And it will only be until we reach the other end of the tunnel. So come on.” I held out a hand to Evey. One by one, we formed a chain that stretched the length of the party. I moved forward with my other hand outstretched and felt for the wall.
Anytime I couldn't feel the wall beneath my hand, one of the two lizards would spit flame and light the darkness until I found it.
I kept my eyes closed and willed my other senses to compensate. If I kept my eyes open, my imagination ran wild. I saw movement in the darkness. Shadows on shadow. I swore I heard something slither over the wall, or soft whispers in the distance.
The sensory deprivation was playing tricks on my mind.
A shout and the clatter of metal on metal stopped me in my tracks. “What happened?” I called.
“I tripped,” Rune said, a groan of pain in his voice. “Missed a step.”
“Everyone okay?”
“Yeah,” Bastion called. “Wish, take my hand.”
“I’m trying, you idiot,” the Invoker hissed. “There. Happy?”
I frowned. The two of them normally bickered, but rarely did it devolve into an actual argument. We had to get out of the dark soon, before the mental strain on everyone worsened.
“Enough, you two. Let’s keep going. We’ll be of here soon.”