Maelstrom

by Ajdin K. Denic

  "Are you dead, K?" Laney asked, slumping to the floor somewhere beside him.

  "No, but I wish the answer was different in this situation," he replied, feeling all the fight gone out of him. Did she just call me K? I must have heard wrong, being too tired and all, he thought.

  "Why are you so quiet?" she asked again. "Are you dead now?"

  "No, I'm not dead!" he snapped back and sighed. "I'm wondering if life would have been different if we hadn’t met," he murmured. Both went silent as they thought about everything that had happened and what they had seen until now.

  "Do you regret it?" Laney asked after a while. Kaden didn’t reply immediately, thinking about it with his heart rather than his mind.

  "I don’t really know. My life was nothing special before all of this happened, and then you came into the picture. I don’t even know what you really are, or how to feel about you." He stopped to take a breath and rethink his next words.

  "I’m a fallen angel, quite simple," she replied almost mockingly.

  "So very simple. Right my ass simple!" He sighed and went on. "Then you came into my life. You gave me a birthday to remember, and now we are at each other's throats most of the time. You are super bossy and headstrong. You can be a great person, but how do I even act around you when half of the time I'm afraid you will feed me to a monster?" A moment later he regretted his words, but he felt a lot better getting everything out.

  "I'm sorry," she replied after a long silence. Kaden’s eyebrows lifted in surprise from hearing a real honest to God apology from her. "I know it was my fault for dragging you into this, but look at it from my perspective. I have lived for so long and witnessed so many things, whole civilizations rise and fall. In all honesty, would your behaviour be any better than mine after having lived through everything? Seeing everything I have?"

  Kaden had no real reply to her question. He did not know how he would have behaved in her stead, but his heart told him it wouldn’t have been much different. She was older, wiser and stronger than him in every way. Was the fact that she was a woman blinding him and his pride?

  "Anyway, can we talk about this another time? I don’t really think it's smart to lie here for too long. We might get swallowed by this slime." Laney chuckled at his response. "Let’s try and stand up together. Give me your hand." Reaching for her hands, he went on his knees.

  Laney tried to lift herself up as she pulled on Kaden’s hands, but failed miserably. Both fell face first into the sticky slime. "Idiot!" she snapped in frustration. "You are an Ice Mage, freeze everything underneath us!"

  Realization dawned on him as he chuckled. "Right. Ice can be manipulated in several ways, including the hardening of surfaces," he replied, laughing at his own expense.

  Kaden put his hands down onto the slime and focused on making the surface hard. His hands crackled as an almost unbearable pain shot up through his arms. Imbuing ice magic into such a large surface was on a different scale compared to a spear, and so was the retribution.

  Ice formed at his palms, freezing anything it came in contact with. Excruciating pain coursed up through his body, ending in his head which was threatening to explode. A chime rang out in his mind. He smiled at the news and then cried out as the pain became unbearable as his palms started bleeding profusely. Ice stopped forming around his palms and dissipated, leaving only two small patches of frozen slime to his sides.

  "Why are you crying? Did it work? Tell me already!" Laney said. "Oh wait, it really did. It’s getting cold in here already," she laughed.

  He looked at the direction her voice came from, not understanding her behaviour at all. "Calm down already, let me try to work this out. Shit does it hurt!" Kaden snapped back, annoyed by her banter. He closed his mind off to the numbing pain and called up the system messages.

  You have gained a new skill: Imbue Ice. Skill description: Imbues target with Ice Magic or freezes the target solid.

  Kaden lowered his hands onto the two frozen patches and activated his [Imbue Ice] skill. A rush of cold air flew from his hands as the frozen patches grew in size ever so slowly, enveloping all the slime underneath them. To their luck, the freezing process was slow so Laney could move on top as the ice reached her.

  "Ouch! This hurts, Kaden!" Laney yelled as she pried her fingers loose from the ice.

  He winced at her pain but was glad she had felt some of it as well. It had been only him getting fracked by the backlash of his magic powers.

  "Try to crawl onto the ice around me so I can freeze the rest." He ignored her outcry, knowing that there was nothing he could do about it.

  Laney grabbed his hands for the second time and pulled with all her might. She scraped her face, chest and legs by getting dragged across the ice and cried out for a second time. As she sat up to escape the cold, Kaden released another [Imbue Ice]. For a good five minutes, the ice kept expanding over the walls and the ceiling. "One down, one to go," he joked.

  "One to go? Which one?" Laney asked, her teeth chattering.

  "The light?" he replied, getting cold himself.

  Laney doubled over laughing. "Yes, I agree. We need light," she said. "Somehow I forgot about it as well. Oh shit it’s so cold!"

  Kaden shook his head and thought about how they could get light in there. "This might be worth a shot," he said. [Ice Orb].

  The spell burst into life and hit the far wall, creating sparks that illuminated the room for a mere instant. There could have been someone standing beside them and they would have never known about it.

  "I might have an idea myself," Laney said, moving around to stay warm. "You came up with that thing you do and created ice with your hands, making new skills that are not available to you through your class system, or whatever its name is. This is my theory. Using your existing skills in innovative ways can lead to new skills. Or through begging Bardos. Whatever suits you more."

  "Alright, but I don’t see how that applies to making light," Kaden replied.

  "Right, because you are dumb. Anyway, whenever I buff us, the slightest amount of light appears around us like a halo. It surrounds us for a few seconds and fades into nothingness."

  The room lit up for a few seconds and faded again. Laney tried it again, but as the buffs were active, she couldn’t cast the spells on top of existing ones. Multiple times the spells failed before she gave up and exhaled in exhaustion, dropping to her knees.

  The anger and rage wanted to be let out, so she dug with her nails and fingers into the ice, hurting herself in the process. She screamed as blood flowed from the sustained wounds. "Light up already! Light up! Light uuuup!" she screamed in anger, slamming into the cold, hard surface. She slipped on the blood and fell face first into the ice. A sound chimed out, forcing herself to read the new message.

  You have learned a new skill: Light. Skill description: Light up an area and infuse elemental matter with a light buff.

  "What?" she exclaimed, the anger present in her voice. "I light things up through the ice? What if there is no ice to begin with!" Kaden gave her a look she couldn’t see, but it was one that wondered if she lost it.

  "Are you alright?" he asked her, tensing for an argument. He had heard her slamming the ice and her outcry of pain, so he wasn’t quite sure how she was doing.

  "Of course I'm!" she snapped as she put both of her hands on the ice and closed her eyes.

  [Light]

  Her hands glowed faintly, infusing the ice with a soft light. Laney’s health bar dropped, ten health points a second. She screamed out in pain. ‘It hurts… so bad!’ she said through clenched teeth.

  Kaden, now able to see somewhat, grabbed hold of Laney and pulled her towards him into his arms. She kept screaming as her hands dripped blood. As nausea hit, she passed out from the pain in Kaden’s arms.

  Not really knowing what to do, he sat down and cradled her in his arms so she didn’t have to lay on the cold ice.

  The room was spacious, Kaden observed, but nothing too large. It was about twenty by twe
nty he imagined, as it looked like a square to him. It was fully covered in ice, the floor and the ceiling. Stalagmites and stalactites formed around the corners, giving it a strange feeling of an underwater cavern. He looked down at Laney and squeezed her tighter into his arms. She groaned in pain softly, but didn’t move.

  "Shit, how do we get out of this mess?" he muttered to himself. "Laney, I'll put you down for a few minutes, okay? I have to see if I can figure out anything." At his words, she clenched herself tighter into his arms and cried out. She was in pain and very cold, who knew how much more time she had? If they stayed there much longer, they would die for sure.

  "Don’t you dare! Carry me!" she shouted, looking up to find his eyes. With resignation, he nodded once and smiled. With the buffs still up, she wasn’t much heavier than a small child, so he could carry her around for a while, he guessed.

  Walking carefully as not to slip on the ice, he cradled her in his arms. Her warm breath caressed his neck, making him go places he shouldn’t in this situation.

  None of the walls had a doorway that would lead outside, or a switch that could be pulled to open a hidden trapdoor. Already desperate, Kaden had no idea what to do next. He just stood there, holding her in his arms and trying to keep both of them warm. She shook badly and lost consciousness multiple times in the few minutes, and had barely a quarter of her health left.

  "Maybe if I kill us both, we will re-spawn outside?" Kaden proposed.

  Laney’s grip tightened around him in protest. "No! Please don’t!" she said through clenched teeth, the pain so intense she was about to pass out again. Kaden sighed without knowing what to do next. "Try… destroying the room," Laney whispered. It was worth a try.

  "I guess I can try. But stay with me, alright?" he replied, casting the spells.

  [Frozen Armour]

  [Frozen Armour]

  A thin layer of frost covered their bodies, making her slip out of his grasp. As she was about to hit the stone floor, he grabbed her again and lifted up carefully. Minutes passed, granting them three stacks of defense. He walked towards what he thought would be the centre and focused.

  [Frozen land]

  New icicles and layers of ice rose up from the ground, ceiling and walls. Thick rods of ice, interwoven and misshaped, crawled towards the center where he stood. A sickening feeling crawled out from within his stomach. A shrill sound pierced the air, followed by a massive explosion that shred everything apart.

  The explosion rocked the room and ripped all ice from the walls, ceiling and floor, and destroyed most of the slime during the process.

  Almost instantly, Laney stirred in his arms. He had no idea how she hadn’t fallen from his arms as the ice had struck them both multiple times, but the three stacks were to thank for staying alive.

  The change in temperature was immense, going from a minus ten or lower to a plus twenty, at least. The humidity threatened to suffocate them, as breathing became hard labor.

  "What the… hell is with this place and the change of scenery?" Laney asked, tilting her head up to look at Kaden. The health bar above her had stopped going down and was flashing dangerously red.

  "You feeling any better?" Kaden asked with a charming smile. She shrugged half-heartedly in his arms, smiling shyly in turn. It was as if they had made love while drunk and then the morning after, impressions and excuses. They both sighed.

  "It’s warmer," she chuckled. "Give me a few moments and you can put me down again," she purred into his ear.

  "You shouldn’t say things like that in situations like these. It’s cruel." She was about to tease him some more, but a strange sound made them look around. It became worse with every passing moment. Something was obviously coming closer towards them and sliding along the floor as it did.

  "What the hell is that noise?" Kaden asked, turning his head towards where he thought the sound was coming from and frowned. "It’s in the wall?" Laney pressed herself into him, still weak from earlier. As it became louder, the sound was more horrifying. It reminded them of meat and bone being shredded together, and it sounded like it was being dragged along something rough.

  Twenty long nerve-wracking seconds later, a side of the wall slid open, making way for a huge blob that barely fit through the entrance. Apparently, the boss of the dungeon had just arrived. It slid towards them at a snail’s pace, letting loose bolts of acid in all directions as it moved towards the two. Focusing on the creature, a tag appeared in front of him.

  Above its head was a long health bar, making both Kaden and Laney’s look like nothing. An icon of a black monster head floated next to the green bar. It shrieked with an insane sound, launching new acid balls their way. They barely had the time to evade.

  In reflex, Kaden sent a [Magic Bolt] and after it an [Ice Orb] found its way into the maw. A mere instant later, Laney rebuffed them as well and ran as fast she could toward the furthest corner, leaving Kaden to tackle the thing alone.

  You have inflicted 77 damage to Slime Lord.

  You have inflicted 512 damage to Slime Lord.

  The monster’s health bar dropped by a few percentage points per skill, making Kaden chuckle. ‘Yeah baby! Eat ice!’ he yelled, running towards the bellowing creature’s side. Kaden released a torrent of spells, damaging the creature badly.

  You have inflicted 477 damage to Slime Lord.

  You have inflicted 82 damage to Slime Lord.

  Five magic spells slammed into the right side of the blob within a thirty second time span, riddling it with holes. The monsters resistance was almost nonexistent, but its health pool was quite different as it had only dropped to about sixty percent. Within the holes, ice started forming as Frostbite took hold, draining its health slowly and causing it pain.

  SHRIEK

  With a renewed bellowing sound coming from its maw, the creature reared up and spit acid in all directions, grazing Kaden’s leg and sending a world of pain his way.

  You have sustained 41 damage from Slime Lord.

  He dropped to the side, clutching at his wound and almost fainted upon seeing his own bone showing beneath burnt skin. His subconscious took over, shutting all pain away, and cast [Imbue Ice] on his leg, freezing the wound over.

  "You are insane! Your leg will drop off if it gets hit you idiot!" Laney yelled, though she knew there was no way her buffs would be of any more help. She cursed under her breath and prayed he would survive.

  Readying himself for a renewed barrage, Kaden put up his other hand. If he shot any more orbs from the right one within the next few minutes, it would probably explode as well. Crying out in pain, he released a second barrage of Ice Orbs and Magic Bolts.

  The second barrage was directed at the same spot, and with more luck than knowledge, it opened up a large wound which quickly froze over. As it tried to move around, pieces of frozen skin and meat dropped down as the ice broke off in chunks, taking away from the boss’s health bar drastically. It quickly approached the thirty percent bar as more and more chunks of meat dropped off its side.

  The Slime Lord roared in pain and made a roll, protecting its open wounds. A second later, smaller versions of the big guy came flying from its mouth. They were barely thirty centimetres long, but there were a lot of them. In a panic, Kaden cast another [Frozen Land] and ran over to Laney who was screaming erratically at him for casting the spell.

  "We are gonna die! You idiot! What were you thinking?" The curses and shouts went on until a deafening boom thundered through the large room, sending icicles and chunks of meat flying all over the place.

  Two of the smaller frozen worms hit Kaden in the left shoulder and right hip, slamming him hard into Laney who shut up instantly upon seeing the chunks of ice sticking from his body. She was in a dilemma. Her health was barely at a third, while Kaden’s had fallen to a quarter. If she healed him, she would probably die, but if she didn’t he would die and then she would as well.

  "Is it dead?" Kaden asked, his voice weak. She finally dared a look at the boss and squealed
in delight. It lay there, riddled with holes. The whole top of its body was missing from where the worms had come from.

  "I think it’s dead!" she yelled, hugging him. Laney put up the two buffs again as they dissipated, reinforcing both Kaden and herself. His pain threshold rose slightly, numbing the pain and stopped the acid burn.

  He breathed heavily, looking down his wounded leg, and sat down. He was battered and beaten badly, but alive. How much longer though, he had no idea.

  "I'm really disliking this world. Bardos is such a bastard," he whispered. Laughter echoed out in the chamber, low and evil. The room seemed to grow smaller by the second as panic set into the two survivors. Kaden tried to stand up but wasn’t able to as his body was too beaten up. Even the slightest movement caused him horrific pain.

  "You have done well, children, I have to give you that. To be honest, I helped you with the light skill, but it wasn’t anything game changing so. Now, let me take care of you once more as a reward," the voice said. An instant later, everything went dark and their guts felt like they were being rearranged from within. The next moment, they sat on the large tree from which Bardos had shoved them into the dungeon.

  A cool night breeze greeted them, blowing the stench away. They breathed deep and both laughed and cried at yet another situation they had come out of alive. The pain was gone, the wounds closed up and the clothing renewed to what they had been wearing. Neither spoke though, enjoying the drawn-out moment of victory and survival.

  Kaden looked up at his messages and found something interesting awaiting him. He found that there were three skill points waiting under the skill tab, which he greedily used on [Frozen Land]. A wide grin appeared on his face as the skill with an icon of a great wave lit up, unlocking [Flood]. The last skill point went immediately into the new skill.

  Frozen Land, Level 3: Freeze everything in a 10 metre radius and inflict 840 damage upon explosion, 170 extra damage per ice shard and add one of two debuffs, Frostbite or Slow. Use: 3 times.