Was it an unwise decision?
What if he had chosen to beeline for the door instead? At that time, the swords were fast, but still manageable. But how was he supposed to know where the fucking door was? What if he had run east and died before he could retreat back? That didn’t make sense. One wrong choice, and he would have been lying dead right now. So every adventurer was supposed to rest near the basin—a basin of pure magic.
“AI, is there anything more you can analyze about the basin? I bet this has to have a key or a trigger to stop the swords.” Yerra bent down, conjuring a fireball on his palm to for light to study the basin. When he extended his fireball towards the bottom of the basin, a small piece of the basin melted from the heat. Yerra uncast the spell. His legs wobbled at the thought of burning the basin, his only source of safety.
The AI chuckled. “Master, there is a torch built into your helmet. Do you want me to turn it on for you?”
Yerra wanted to facepalm. Why couldn’t he think? “Shut up. I was checking the effect of my magic on the basin, not trying to burn it up.” He felt immensely stupid, but he couldn’t express his stupidity in front of the snarky AI. “Did you find anything with your perception spell?”
“Nothing unusual, other than it being made up of pure magic.”
Yerra gnashed his teeth. “Anything new?”
He continued studying the basin in the torch light. He removed his armor’s hand piece to touch the basin. It felt smooth and velvet-soft to his bare hand. When he tried to press his fingers inside, it squished a bit. That made sense since the simple fire spell could burn it rapidly. The basin wasn't solid, but rather made up of magic in a gelatinous state.
“This is weird. This place is on other plane, and this basin is made up of a jelly-like substance.”
The AI chuckled again. “Master, you are not making sense any more. We already know that. Can’t you think of anything useful?”
“Trust me, girl. If you were in front of my eyes, I would smack your head against this basin and put it on fire.” Yerra meant it.
“Ow! Would you do such things to your little sister?” The AI made the disturbing sound of a little girl—a disturbance that went straight to Yerra’s heart. Had he forgotten about his failure in the heat of battle? Had he grown accustomed to the voice of the AI that sounded so much like his little sister Sera?
His heart clenched in pain. “I’m sorry, Sera. I should remove the armor and welcome death.” That would have been a fitting tribute to his baby sister: death in the same temple where she’d died. He should have done it ten years ago.
“Wait, Master. Don’t you have a girl to save? Talia? Did you forget about her?” The words came out rushed and heavy, like she had run a five mile marathon.
Yerra came back to his senses. If he died here, that would mean his other little sister would die too. No. He couldn’t let her die, couldn’t tie another child’s death to his name.
“Yes, you’re right. I have to save her and then light you on fire in a room full of oxygen, so you will vaporize in an instant.” An idea popped into Yerra’s head. “Wait. Can you check the air composition of this room?”
“Why? Do you want to be a chemistry professor or something? This isn’t the time, sir!”
Yerra fought the urge to squeeze the AI’s head. Her quirkiness was increasing exponentially with each passing moment. “Will you shut up and do what I asked?”
The AI cocked her brows and displayed the air composition of the room. Yerra’s suspicion was correct. The air was mostly made up of oxygen. He could literally burn it.
“What’s the strongest fire spell you’ve got?” Yerra asked.
“Fire blast is tier three, so that’s the one. But the blast is small, and it would only destroy a few swords at a time. You could try disintegrate, but it's only level five, so it’s of no use in this situation.”
No, fire blast wouldn’t work. Yerra needed something bigger and better. “Anything else that’s big and flashy? It should cover most of the space.”
“Fire wall is my guess, but it’s a level seven spell. So technically it won’t stop the blades from reaching you.”
“Let’s activate it.” Yerra called on his fire magic and cast a fire wall in front of him which spread through the whole room in the form of a five-inch-thick wall. Now Yerra could see the swords as they pierced the wall, but each time one passed through it, it caught fire.
A couple of minutes passed, and the room blazed to light, lit by hundreds of swords covered in fire. They were burning and spreading the fire around.
“Master, the room’s oxygen levels are dangerously low.”
“Good. See, the swords are slowed and disintegrating.” The swords that had already caught fire were dissolving in the fire. They were made up of air magic, and air magic used the most available air element available at that time, which was oxygen. Fire burned the oxygen and produced carbon dioxide, which was another form of air element, but converting the carbon dioxide back into magic energy would take time. This was the thought behind Yerra’s trick, and it was clearly working.
The AI smiled. “Master, you’re a genius!”
Yerra conjured a level seven shield and moved his hand out of the basin’s protective radius. A sword collided with his shield and dropped, dissolving into patches of air.
Yerra mentally patted himself on the back and walked straight to the door. Swords kept flying at him, but they dissolved as soon as they struck his shield.
Yerra jumped through the door and found Patrick waiting for him in the next room.
This can’t be. He is dead.
Chapter 8
P atrick floated in an upright position. Two chains of black metal tied him to the ground in a metal plate.
Yerra's heart accelerated like a spaceship in hyperspace. “Patrick! But how?” He leaped forward but was immediately thrown back by an immense force. There was an invisible shield that separated him from Patrick. He placed his hand on the invisible shield. A bubble spread out from the spot he touched. “AI, analyze the shield.”
“Roger that.” The AI vanished from his HUD.
Yerra stepped back and drew his sword of flame. He charged it with level six magic. He raised it in high form above his head. His mind warned him not to free that thing, whatever it was, but his heart wasn't listening. There was no way Patrick was alive, but if there was the slightest chance he was ready to fight anyone, anything—even a god—to save that kid.
Yerra struck the shield with all his might. The sword crashed against the shield and shattered into pieces, its fiery sheathe displaced at the touch of the shield.
Nela coughed. “It won’t work. He is not fully formed yet.”
Yerra turned to face Nela, who sat on a stone with a weird smile on her face. Tears wet her face. She looked miserable, but her eyes bore a strange happiness.
“Nela, what is that thing?” he asked, kneeling in front of her.
Nela slapped him with such force that Yerra had to hold on to the ground to keep his balance. “That thing is my brother, you bastard! The brother you killed.”
“Master, that thing is not Patrick. I know that for sure. Why I know that, I can’t say, but there is something evil down there which shouldn’t be let free.”
“Will you please shut up, Sera? Don’t you see two adults are talking here?” He yelled in frustration.
Nela’s eyes jumped to look around. “Whom are you talking with? Do you see Sera as well? Is she talking to you?”
“It’s not Sera. Sera is dead and so is Patrick. I saw their bodies with my own eyes.” He breathed hard. Even today, the memory weighed on him like a mountain. “I’m sorry. I couldn't save him. But remember I lost my sister too.” He turned to look at the thing. “Trust me, Nela. That thing isn’t Patrick.” His mind begged him to believe the chained thing was Patrick, but his brain knew better. He had seen a shadow piercing Patrick's heart. He’d carried Patrick's body in his arms. How could that thing be Patrick?
Nela cackled. “You know nothing. Patrick is alive and will wake up soon, and then he will have his revenge. Do you know why I didn’t kill you? It’s because I want him to kill you.” Nela pointed toward the boy behind the shield.
“Master, get out of here! That thing is an anomaly in this world. You need to get help. You can’t beat them both with your current power.” The AI begged, fear on her face.
“Nela, we need to get out of here. Let’s go.” Yerra grasped her arm and started to pull her towards the door he came through. He was sure the door would lead to the stone room.
“Afraid already, Yerra? What will you do with the next room then?” Nela pushed him with all her strength toward the opposite door. Yerra tried to resist, but Nela overpowered him like he was a kid. ”Just clear this room and Patrick will rise. It’s only a few more monsters. Or die. Either way, Patrick will feed on a soul and come alive.”
“Nela, what the fuck are you talking about?” His words hung in the air as she pushed him into the next room. The door closed behind him.
Yerra examined the room. “AI, did you analyze that thing back there? Why did it scare the shit out of you?” The room was completely dark, but a point of light from the ceiling illuminated four pillars around a square area in the center. Four gargoyle statues stood on top of the pillars. He had enough experience with those creatures now that he knew not to touch them. He still felt the pain from his last encounter with those stone monsters.
“That thing in the other room is not one of the temple beasts, but something else. I sensed different kind of elemental magic coming out of it. Magic that would beat elemental magic anytime.”
“Is that thing from another plane, maybe? Like the room with liquid magic?” Why not? Yerra believed the temple rooms were connected to some other realms, otherwise why did the monsters keep spawning there after the room was cleared?
“No, not from other plane. But I heard there is a dark side of the universe too. The thing might be from that side. I'm sure it's from your plane of existence.”
Yerra scratched his armored chin. That was an interesting piece of information. “A dark mage. That makes sense. There are benders who theoretically can change the body structure. If it’s a dark mage then we’re good, we’ll beat it.”
“I can't gauge its power thoroughly, and I sensed something else too. That creature was feeding on the energy from the temple beasts. I sensed a thin thread of energy coming out of the other rooms,” the AI replied.
“Hmm, so Nela has something to do with this. What have you done, Sister?” Yerra wondered if Nela was telling the truth when she said the creature fed on the souls of monsters he slayed. “Anyway, tell me how you know about the dark side and some other minute details. I doubt your perception spell goes that far.”
“Hmm.” The AI made a snorting sound. “You’re the reason behind it, of course. You left me alone in the preparation room and I had time to kill, so I used my perception spell on anyone that entered there and listened to their conversations. Also, you might want to jump to the right.”
Yerra jumped to his right on the AI’s word. He had learned to believe the AI, if not trust her.
A large ax passed through the place where he’d stood.
“A trap room, great. I missed these fucking rooms in ages.” Yerra frowned. A trap room in full dark. The helmet light would not cut it here, so he summoned a fireball the size of a table and threw it toward the middle of the room. The surrounding room flared to life, and he spotted three large gargoyle statues placed at the three corners of the room. They were three times the size of the statues on the pillars. The room had various flying pendulum-like traps, two axes, and two stone balls. Chains connected those at the top.
“Should be easy.” Yerra jumped and hit the chain of one ax with a fire punch. The chain shattered, and the ax fell to the ground with a large crash and spread dust everywhere. Yerra landed on the head of the same ax. “See? I told you that would be easy.” He smiled.
Yerra leaped on the next chain and one by one he destroyed the remaining three. “Go ahead, AI. You were telling me something about your knowledge.”
“Yes, Master. I thought I’d give you a minute. Anyway, I was telling you about my activity in the last ten years. I listened in on the conversations of the various adventurers and their experience within the temple rooms. Only one person encountered this particular room in their trial, and what comes next is not good.”
Something below the dust moved. Three red eyes peeped at him through the dust. Then a stone spider jumped out of the rubble, a spider larger than the gargoyle statues placed at the corners, and landed in front of him, generating a force wave that pushed him back.
“Damn you, AI! Why did you wait until now? Why didn’t you tell me before?” Yerra Stood still and examined the spider. Each of its legs was as thick as Yerra’s own body.
“This one is in the same category of the gargoyle. It’s purely physical.” The AI smirked.
“Are you trying to get me killed, dude?”
The AI snorted. “I prefer you treat me as a woman, Master.”
Yerra chuckled inwardly. It was getting interesting, this talking AI with its own sense of identity.
“Let’s fire punch this thing, my girly AI.” Yerra moved away from the wall to avoid the spider’s next attack. A sharp pain shot through his back when he moved. His was back giving up on him. It was beaten and bruised to the extreme, and if not for the health potion he would have been dead already.
Yerra dodged the next stone leg coming at him. He leaped toward another leg and hit it with a fire punch. His tier one fire punch took scraps of the creature’s leg away. Yerra jumped back, avoiding a laser shot from the spider’s mouth.
“You gotta be kiddin me, girl. Now this stone creature shoots lasers too? What kind of magic is it?” Yerra asked, unable to identify the magic himself.
“Hmm. It's earth magic. The spider is manipulating it into a pure beam of energy.”
Yerra lifted his brows. “Can anyone even do that?”
“If you can liquify magic energy, then why not?”
Yerra frowned at the AI, who wasn’t necessarily giving him answers.
The spider once again shot the laser from its middle eye. Yerra jumped in the air to avoid that, but the damn monster shot another laser from its left eye which Yerra couldn't avoid. It hurt. It hurt like hell. He growled with rage and activated a tier two fire punch, leaping straight towards the spider’s eye.
The bigger they are, the weaker they are.
How naïve he was. The moment he reached the spider’s eye, a blast of sonic energy threw him back. His body flew straight toward one of the stone gargoyles standing on the pillar. Yerra only realized it after a powerful punch hit him in the gut. The four gargoyles, now awake, floated on top of spider’s head.
“Fuck!” Yerra yelled in pain, but he didn't make any move. Any new action would attract another unavoidable punch.
“I guess it’s getting interesting,” the AI said.
“Interesting, my foot!” Yerra jumped back to his feet to avoid an incoming laser but took a punch to the chest. At the same time, he took a swing at the gargoyle that’d hit him. He’d just have to do this the hard way.
Chapter 9
T his might have been a game for the guardian who created this trial, but for Yerra it was of life or death. And it wasn’t just his life on the line. Talia and Nela were inside the temple too, and if he didn’t get out of this boss room they would die, exactly like Sera and the others had died ten years ago.
A chill ran down his spine. The thought of losing his sisters once again weighted on him. He vowed to save everyone, including Nela, and get the fuck out of the temple when he felt the punch of the next gargoyle.
Yerra extended his fire shield to block the giant spider’s laser. His shield saved him from the spider’s laser but failed to protect him from the punches of the remaining two gargoyles.
The gargoyles went back to hover
over the spider’s head, but the spider was readying its next laser shot.
“This ain't gonna work.” Yerra leaped, hitting a gargoyle with a fire punch. The gargoyle dropped in pieces, but the other gargoyle was already upon him. Its punch hit Yerra in the gut, beating his body further. His body readout in the HUD turned amber. He had taken only four hits from the gargoyles, but every single hit had worsened his condition.
“Master, you can’t win like this. You must use the last healing potion from your inventory. You will die otherwise.”
“I can't. I'm saving it for Talia. Can you figure out where her signal came from, exactly?” Yerra asked while dodging the next laser shot and punching the last gargoyle. At least the gargoyles were down, so he could focus on the giant stone spider.
“It's coming from the door behind one of the giant gargoyles.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me, man. I have to fight those too? Fuck!” Yerra grimaced. The small gargoyles had pushed him to the brink of death; now he wondered what the large one’s punch would do. Yerra ducked the next laser beam. The spider took thirty seconds to charge its beam in between the attacks, and that gave Yerra enough time to predict its attack and dodge it.
“Master why don't you target its diagonal legs. If you break those legs, the spider should fall.”
“Theologically, yes. Let's try that.” Yerra shot toward the back leg of the spider and hit it with his tier two fire punch. His punch took out a large chunk of stone from the spider’s leg. He zipped beneath the spider’s belly and hit the diagonal leg on the other side. The spider bent its head, trying to lock on to Yerra. It couldn’t. Yerra was too fast for it. The spider kept shooting lasers without hitting Yerra while he destroyed its legs without taking a single hit.
Crystal of Souls_Fire Mage_Star Mage Novella Page 4