Ascend Online

by Luke Chmilenko

  Why isn’t this room bleeding magic?

  “Caius still isn’t moving,” Sierra said with a bit of worry in her voice. “I think whatever sort of trap this is just reset itself.”

  “Well, fuck.” I cursed rubbing my face, thinking quickly. “Okay, Sierra, come with me. Let’s take a circuit around this room. The rest of you hold up here. We’ll use your light as a reference point for where we are.”

  “You heard him mention something about a man and goblin?” Drace spoke softly. “You think there’ll be trouble?”

  “I think we’re not the only people to fall into this trap,” I said with a sigh.

  “Seems like it.” Drace agreed. “Be careful. If there’s trouble, we’ll come running.”

  Keeping an eye on the carved design that ran along the floor, Sierra and I followed it as it curved south, keeping it on our right-hand side.

  “The walls here are rougher,” I said, seeing the jagged, coarse walls gleam in the meager illumination my Light spell produced. “They didn’t smooth out the walls in this chamber, this looks like it used to be a natural cave that was carved out.”

  “Maybe they didn’t have time,” Sierra answered with a shrug, squinting into the darkness ahead. “Hrm, more rubble ahead.”

  As we reached what I expected to be the southern-most portion of the magic circle, we found that a large portion of the southern wall and ceiling had collapsed, sending tons of debris and stone to the ground, burying the carvings that we had been following. Continuing on would mean climbing through the rubble and hoping that it didn’t trigger the magical trap.

  “Damn.” Sierra cursed as the mess became clearer. “No idea where the circle is now, should we turn back?”

  “Hmm, do you see any of those ‘statues’ Caius was talking about?”

  “Hm?” Sierra squinted into the darkness again. “My eyes aren’t as good as his, but no. I don’t see anything at all.”

  “It should be safe enough to cross. We’ll just have to be careful,” I said moving towards the rubble.

  “What are you hoping to find Lyrian?” Sierra asked with a bit of exasperation creeping into her voice.

  “Don’t know.” I shrugged, as I stepped out onto a rock. “I’ll know it when I see it.”

  “Of course, how silly of me.”

  We gingerly climbed and picked our way through the fallen debris, moving slowly to ensure that Sierra could keep up with my Light spell, which was centered on me. We had only climbed for a short distance when a wispy blue aura appeared near the ceiling, followed by another one in the distance, but at ground level.

  “There’s something magical up there.” I pointed into the dark, forgetting for a moment that Sierra couldn’t see magic the same as me, but then remembering she had better low light vision. “And another one further ahead.”

  “Hmm, I see something faintly shiny? Glass maybe, or crystal,” Sierra replied looking towards the ceiling where I had pointed, moving her head side to side as she tried to catch a reflection in her eye. “…want me to try shooting it?”

  “Let’s take a look at that other magic source first, I don’t know what shooting at it may do…” I shook my head at Sierra’s question.

  “Alrighty.”

  We continued to climb along the rubble, trying to hug the collapsed wall as close as possible and eventually made our way through to the other side. Back on solid ground once more, I quickly found the intricate carvings of the magic circle and we resumed following it as it began to curve back towards north. Taking a glimpse backwards, I could see a faint glow from Halcyon's Light spell as the rest of the party waited for our return.

  This room is pretty big. I thought as I walked towards the other magical aura that I had spotted. I can’t imagine what they could have used this room for…

  Almost at the exact opposite side of the room from where we had arrived, we found another ramp, this one leading downwards, even deeper into the ruins. Flanking the ramp on both sides, was a carved stone railing, likely intended to prevent unwary individuals from simply walking off the edge and falling down the gentle slope.

  My attention, however, was drawn to a small box carved out of the wall that held three fist-sized crystals cut into a diamond shape, suspended on their points, blazing with magic.

  “This looks promising,” Sierra commented. “Is this the magic aura you saw before?”

  “Yeah.” I nodded as I moved towards it, stepping over scattered chunks of stone. “All three of them are glowing, maybe they’re switches of a kind?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine, give it a poke,” Sierra suggested with a shrug, indicating my sword. “What’s the worst that can happen? It’s probably here for a reason.”

  Reaching out I gently tapped the crystals with Razor. They didn’t budge in the slightest, or react in any way that I could perceive.

  “Maybe by hand?” I said thinking out loud and reached out to touch one of the crystals. Placing a finger on it at first, followed by my entire palm.

  Even through my glove the crystal felt warm to the touch. Carefully I grasped the crystal and tried to pull it free of its place, to no avail.

  “I have no idea what I’m even supposed to be doing…” I told Sierra as I grabbed the next crystal in line, trying the same thing, with the same result.

  Sighing, I touched the third crystal and instantly felt a shock of electricity shoot up my arm.

  “Ow! Shit!” I cursed as my arm spasmed momentarily, letting go of the crystal.

  The entire chamber suddenly lit up, completely bathed in a sourceless light.

  “Hey! That worked!” Sierra exclaimed, giving me a playful punch in the shoulder. “Good job!”

  Without warning, a thunderous cacophony of voices echoed through the chamber.

  TRANSLOCATION GRID INACTIVE

  WARNING: ÆTHERWARPED LIFEFORMS PRESENT

  DISENGAGING TEMPORTAL LOCK

  EXECUTING PURGE AS PER STANDING ORDER #66

  “I take that back!” Sierra looked at me, eyes wide open in shock. “What did you do?!”

  I didn’t answer Sierra right away, my mouth working to find the words while I pointed towards the middle of the room. “Those weren’t statues Caius saw, Sierra. Those were creatures frozen in time.”

  ***

  There was a single instant of silence before all hell broke loose. To me, the instant stretched on endlessly, lasting years, decades, centuries even, as my brain moved with the glacial awareness of a brain that completely and irrevocably knew that it had somehow just screwed up.

  Looking out into the massive chamber, I saw row after row of spiders snap back to life, continuing their stride as if nothing had happened. Some were just lowly Spiderlings, others were the more formidable Giant Spiders.

  Were it just those creatures alone, I wouldn’t have worried as much.

  But as pale blue auras from dozens of Aberrations, Predators, and even larger shapes started to appear, my stomach did a flip.

  Oh… this is going to suck. I tapped Sierra on the arm as I started to sprint the way we’d come, not caring whether I crossed over the magic circle at this point. “Back to the party!”

  The room exploded into shrieks of surprise, and dozens upon dozens of spiders found themselves surprised by countless others of their species. Recovering with blinding speed, I saw a quartet of Predators launch themselves at a cluster of Spiderlings easily five times their number, tearing through a dozen of them in the blink of an eye. A trio of Giant Spiders instinctively moved to aid the overrun Spiderlings but were in turn assaulted by a small horde of Aberrations.

  As Sierra and I ran, I saw the scene magnify as normal spiders quickly ganged up on top of the mutated ones and the mutated spiders quickly returning the favor.

  “They’re fighting one another!” Sierra slowed not to outpace me. “We have a chance to get out! Let’s find Caius and let them fight it out!”

  “What about the man and goblin he saw?”

  “Fuck
it! Let them die!” Sierra sliced her hand through the air. “They probably started all this shit!”

  “But-” My sentence was cut off as a burst of fire caught the corner of my eye, followed quickly by several flashes of light. Primal reflexes kicked in, turning my head towards the source of the disruption. Standing near the center of the room, I saw the man squaring off with the goblin.

  In his hands he held whips of molten fire, slashing it furiously at the goblin, having it glance harmlessly off a translucent shield surrounding it. The goblin held one hand up high, while another was holding something I couldn’t make out.

  Did we just walk into a fucking mage duel on top of a spider war?!

  “Sierra! They-” I started to say.

  “I see it, Lyr! What the fuck did we stumble into?!” Sierra gasped as a bolt of lightning shot from the goblin’s hand, forcing the human mage to roll out of the way.

  ACTIVATING FIRE SWEEP CONTAINMENT

  “What?” Sierra and I stared at one another in confusion as the voice thundered through the air once more. “Fire Sweep?”

  What kind of place is this?!

  A massive wall of fire erupted from the ground ahead of us, stretching from the center of the magic circle to the outer edge, trapping us on the inside of the magic circle. Flinching from the sudden burst of heat in front of us and to our right, we ground to a halt in surprise. Before we could acknowledge our way out being taken away from us, the wall of fire started to move.

  Towards us.

  “Oh, fuck!” I shouted with instant understanding. “Fire Sweep!”

  “Lyr! Backwards and towards the middle!” Sierra yelled, yanking my arm. “Move!”

  Spinning on our heels Sierra and I turned to sprint diagonally towards the middle as the massive wall of fire began to move. The wall had barely traveled six feet before I saw it claim a cluster of spiders, sending them bursting into flames as they flailed wildly before being consumed by the fire.

  You’ve done this before Lyr! I told myself as I ran. It’s just like the countless raids you’ve done before. Just stay out of the fire!

  Propelled by desperation and the sheer animal desire of not wanting to be on fire, Sierra and I tore through the pre-occupied breeds of spiders warring between one another, quickly finding ourselves at the heart of the chamber just past where the wall of fire ended.

  Here I finally caught a proper glimpse of the mage and goblin, as they continued to battle one another, oblivious to the chaos that raged around them.

  I noted that man was a Human of an olive complexion, and reasonably young looking too, perhaps only in his early to mid-thirties. His head was a mop of thick brown hair, with a matching full beard. He appeared to have haphazardly dressed himself before somehow making his way to this chamber, wearing a thin, white undershirt with the sleeves cut off, loosely tucked into a pair of brown, travel worn leather pants, which in turn were tucked into a similarly colored pair of leather boots.

  First guess tells me that he didn’t come here willingly. My eyebrows shot up in surprise as the man tossed a whip at the goblin, only to have it turn into a fiery snake the moment it left his hand.

  The snake shattered the translucent shield that the goblin had conjured, forcing it to backpedal quickly. The goblin quickly traced a symbol in the air before touching its throat and exhaling directly at the snake. A magically aided burst of frost coated the flaming serpent, putting it out instantly. The goblin hissed as it made eye contact with Sierra and I, but quickly focused its attention back on the mage.

  “Lyr… the goblin it’s Blue!” Sierra noted with surprise.

  Dressed in a patchwork array of furs and leather, I quickly noted that the goblin’s coloration was indeed a pale sky color, a stark contrast from the grey-green skin the goblins invading Aldford had. Furthermore, despite the furs adding quite a bit of bulk to the goblin’s stature, I had to guess it was easily twice the size of a normal goblin.

  In its hands the goblin wielded a length of bone, quickly twirling it in its hand as it conjured a trio of purple glowing balls. With a flourish of the wand, the glowing missiles shot forth, each of them divided between the mage, Sierra, and myself.

  “Ah, shit! Aggro!” I leaned forward on the balls of my feet, starting to move towards the goblin, cursing that I had been caught standing still. I dared a glance at the mage, who in turned looked stunned to find other people nearby.

  “Who the fuck are you people?!” I heard him shout as the purple orb quickly closed towards me, suddenly splitting into three more orbs as they picked up speed, slamming into me before I had a chance to dodge.

  A [Blue Goblin Shaman]’s Spirit Bolt strikes you for 26 points of damage!

  A [Blue Goblin Shaman]’s Spirit Bolt strikes you for 29 points of damage!

  A [Blue Goblin Shaman]’s Spirit Bolt strikes you for 32 points of damage!

  “Aaaah!” I yelled in pain as the bolt of energy sliced through my armor, cooking my flesh. A similar scream behind me told me Sierra fared no better.

  Ignoring the mage I charged the goblin shaman, now drawn into whatever conflict they had between one another. At least the other mage didn’t just outright shoot me! That earns him the benefit of the doubt for now!

  “TRAIN TO MIDDLE!” Drace’s voice boomed over the chaos of battle. The words immediately sent my brain into Red Alert, adrenaline shooting through my body in response. Years of gaming instinct had my head snapping toward Drace’s voice.

  Somehow, the rest of the party had not only managed to also get trapped inside the magical circle but had also managed to somehow aggro the entirety of the spider horde in their immediate proximity as they attempted to escape from a similar moving wall of fire. To further add to my surprise, I saw my Nemesis keeping pace directly beside Drace.

  “CHOO-CHOO! THE PAIN TRAIN COMING THROUGH!” Drace continued to bellow as he sprinted past the outer edge of the Fire Wall. “NEXT STOP, ANYWHERE BUT HERE! OH GOD, SOMEONE SAVE ME!”

  “Who the fuck are you people?!” I heard the mage shout again in panic as he saw the party break through one of the several, clock-wise rolling walls of fire, which now divided the outer edges of the magic circle into five different sections. “Where the hell did all these spiders come from?! What the hell is happening?!”

  Ignoring the screaming mage, I fervently signaled Drace towards the goblin shaman while yelling, “Goblin is not on our team!”

  “Right!” He yelled as he shifted his sprint to intercept the surprised Shaman, who had literally seen him just burst from a wall of fire.

  I then noticed the Puma peeling away from Drace’s side, as it cut through the middle of the room, running ahead of another wall of fire as it attempted to find safety away from the growing chaos the middle had to offer in another ‘pocket’ of spiders.

  “Incoming!” Constantine’s voice shouted out, “From everywhere!”

  Driven by wild instinct, the assembled hordes of spiders had all attempted to flee the spinning walls of fire by running towards the single spot where they saw safety, the middle. Some, already far too wounded to run fast enough to escape the wall’s relentless passage burnt to ashes as it passed over them. Others, too slow to start moving, found themselves trampled by their brethren, leaving them stunned or maimed allowing the burning wall to claim them as well.

  Thankfully for us, that only left the quick and the lucky descending upon us, our lives becoming flashes of terror intermixed with copious amounts of blood and ichor.

  My scope of the battle quickly shrank to the reach of my blade, as I swung Razor in a desperate attempt to keep the horde of spiders at bay. At one point I felt Constantine fall in beside me, quickly followed by Sierra.

  I caught a brief glimpse of Drace catching a bolt of lightning on his shield before punching the goblin shaman in the mouth with the hilt of his blade. A repeated thunderclap of magefire caught my attention as Halcyon and Caius shared a desperate defense with the unnamed mage, barely fifteen feet away from us.

>   I kicked out at a keening Aberration, sending it sailing a short distance before it impacted another trio of Aberrations and exploded with a vicious splort, quickly setting off a chain reaction as a pair of the Aberrations erupted in sympathy, quickly followed by the third.

  Chaos roamed everywhere I looked, seeing normal spiders wage a brutal war against the mutated kind. I had long since lost any semblance of what was happening in battle, just trying to focus on my tiny little pocket as we slowly edged our formation towards the trio of mages.

  “Break forward!” I ordered, seeing a gap form in the chaos of creatures that would allow us to bring the mages within our defensive reach. Caius, seeing our advance, laid down a stream of fire from his hands to keep our path clear.