by Eric Vall
The rest of us hopped off the disk and breathed sighs of relief. It was good to have a floor void of gaping holes beneath my feet.
“Hey, where’s pudgy?” Rana smirked. “Don’t we have another round to get through?” The rest of us turned our heads in search of the bald deity, and we finally saw him floating toward us. His massive shoulders drooped, and he stuck out his flabby lip as he hung his head. He was grumbling to himself. Our triumph had greatly upset him, and I was pleased to see that the smugness had finally been wiped off his face.
“Hey, pudgy,” Rana called out to the sulking god. “Quit your blubbering and get over here. We’ve got games to win.” The giant glowered at the fox woman as he finally reached our group.
“You can’t talk to me like that,” the god said angrily. “I am a deity, and this is my dungeon. You can’t just--”
“Yeah, yeah, sounds riveting.” Rana waved her paw casually. “Get on with it, will you?” The round god pinched his lips together tightly. Suddenly his expression began to shift. His sour look began to transform back into his usual look of superiority, and he gave us a sinister grin.
“Alright then,” he said with a wicked chuckle. “You beat my maze, I don’t care,” the god said with a shrug. “That simply means I get to try something new.”
Chapter 16
“Well, are you going to tell us what the next game is or not?” Rana swished her tail impatiently.
The blubbery deity had been rubbing his hands together and licking his lips as though he had sat down to a great feast. Judging by his size, I was sure that he had overindulged in many a meal.
“Yes, of course, I’ll tell you,” the giant god said with a wicked grin. “I was simply savoring how ingenious my idea is. This is really going to be something, you’ll love it.” The deity let out one of his annoying high-pitched giggles. “You should be honored, actually. I have created a brand-new game just for you.” He pointed to the four of us. “If you thought my labyrinth was a masterpiece, wait until you see this.”
“Yeah, well, we didn’t think your little maze was a masterpiece.” Rana narrowed her eyes. “So, get on with it and stop wasting time.”
“Very well,” the hovering giant said with an overly toothy smile. I had expected the flabby god to whine or make a sour expression, but he seemed so pleased with himself that he didn’t seem to care about Rana’s rude remark. “This one is going to be quite simple,” he said proudly. “Nothing to wrack your brains over, and no twists and turns.” He chuckled. “It shouldn’t take you long to complete this one. In fact, this is the easiest game of them all. I’m doing you a favor. Actually, you should be thanking me,” the god finished with a devious smile.
“Is it going to be another riddle?” I asked the deity and hoped that his answer would be no. The second riddle had been simple and uninteresting.
“I told you, I’m tired of riddles,” the god said impatiently. “I have something much more fun planned than a simple riddle. All you have to do is make a decision, that’s it.”
“A decision?” Annalíse asked suspiciously. “What kind of decision?”
“Oh, you’ll see,” the giant said giddily, “but first, let’s have a change of scenery, shall we?” The god snapped his meaty fingers, and a rectangular piece of the wall in front of us began to slide back from the rest of the surrounding rock. The sound of stone scraping against stone filled the air as the slab moved to one side out of sight to reveal a doorway in the rocky wall. “Right this way if you please.” The childish deity smiled at us as he gestured for us to go through the newly formed entrance.
“You really expect us to simply walk right in there without question after all the stuff that you’ve pulled?” Rana said defiantly as she folded her arms over her chest.
“No.” The god chortled and snorted, “but you don’t really have a choice now do you?”
Rana mumbled something under her breath as she stormed toward the doorway. I couldn’t hear what she said, but I knew it had to be something insulting, most likely another comment about his weight.
The rest of us silently followed behind Rana. Once we fairly won one more game, this would all be over, and we could get Carmedy back. Then I would rip the insolent god’s power from his corpulent body.
As soon as we filed through the doorway, the stone slab slammed back into place behind us, once again forming a complete wall. We were trapped.
“Hey!” Annalíse pounded her fists on the piece of stone that had moved before. “What do you think you’re doing?”
The swordswoman desperately slapped her hands on the rocky wall, and when that didn’t work, she repeatedly shoved her shoulder against it in an effort to move it. Finally, seeing that her efforts were in vain, the freckled human growled in frustration and kicked at the stone once more before she crossed her arms and leaned her back against the wall.
“That’s just great,” Annalíse mumbled bitterly. Rana walked over and began to press her paws on various parts of the rock, and she ran her furry digits along the wall in search of cracks, but nothing happened. I expected as much, so I glanced around the room we were in. It was dark, small, square, and there was no apparent way out.
“Relax, my little playthings,” the god called out jovially from beyond the wall. He was still in the other room. “This is all part of the game.”
“Explain yourself,” Morrigan said plainly, but I could tell she was not amused.
“So rude.” The deity sighed. “But fine. I would like you all to look to the left wall of the room. I think you’ll find something there that is quite interesting.” He laughed obnoxiously. We simultaneously turned our heads in the direction that he had instructed. I hadn’t noticed before, but there was something there, or rather, it looked like someone.
“What is that?” Rana breathed as the four of us cautiously walked closer. It looked like a figure was standing in front of the wall, a strangely shaped one at that. Was there someone else in here with us? Parts of it looked human, but there were large shapes that looked like they jutted from its sides. A monster that was meant to kill us, perhaps? That didn’t make any sense. A simple monster wasn’t a type of puzzle. It wasn’t this deity’s style. A mere attack wasn’t nearly entertaining enough for him. The irksome god liked to show off, and his last puzzle had been quite elaborate. No, a simple fight wouldn’t be his way.
He surely had something far worse planned.
Finally, the figure came into full view. It stood about eight feet tall and wore a long black robe with a hood that concealed the being’s face. I now saw that the two shapes that sprouted from its sides were, in fact, humongous wings the color of obsidian.
Rana and Annalíse gasped at the sight of it while Morrigan and I walked a bit closer to study it. As I neared the ominous looking construct, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Not out of fear, but because I detected something… familiar. It was dark energy. I had never beheld one of these onyx-winged beings, but the dark power that radiated from the macabre statue was something I was well acquainted with. It was raw and unmistakable. Whatever this hooded thing was, its purpose was sinister.
I approached with caution and carefully touched a finger to one of the wings. They didn’t appear to be made of feathers. Instead, they were as hard as stone. Whatever it was, it wasn’t alive.
The strange statue held out its hands as though it were offering something to us. Its hands were void of skin, what remained were the hands of a skeleton that seemed to be made out of the same hard material as the wings. It was gruesome, peculiar, and intriguing all at once. Suspended in its bony clutches was a bowl of some sort.
Morrigan leaned closer to look at the bowl, and she raised a white eyebrow in surprise. This was no ordinary bowl. The dish appeared to be made out of an ancient looking skull. The rounded top of the head was cut off to create the bowl shape. I could see the holes where eyes had once been as well as the nose. The skull bowl had no jaw, only the top set of teeth remained.
Suddenly, a strange, deep sound began to come from the hooded figure, it sounded like some sort of chant in a foreign language. The four of us reeled back in preparation of some sort of attack, but the figure didn’t move. As soon as the chanting began, a sinister pair of glowing scarlet eyes pierced the darkness underneath the hood, but we still couldn’t see the being’s face. What was this creature? Was it the one saying these words or was it coming from somewhere else? All of a sudden, the chanting stopped.
“Isn’t that a work of art?” the chubby god called out to us from behind the wall. “Your reactions were hilarious,” he added with a chuckle.
“Wait, how can you see us if we’re in here?” Rana said as she looked around the small room.
“Oh, I have my ways. Surely you didn’t think I was going to miss out on the entertainment, did you? Now, what would be the good in that?”
“We are not here for amusement,” Morrigan said coldly. “Tell us what the nature of this puzzle is.” The elf gestured to the winged creature.
“I’m glad you asked,” the deity said excitedly. “This, my friends, is a soul collector. It feeds on souls.” Rana, Annalíse and I glanced at Morrigan and her pet ravens, but she slowly shook her head. She didn’t know what that strange skeleton monster was. “Oh, now, don’t worry. It’s not going to attack you because it’s under my control. Yes, I know they’re supposed to be extinct now, but I’ve had one all along. See, sometimes I like to have some fun with it.” His laughter boomed. “After all, there’s nothing more fun than letting it to collect souls.”
“And what does this have to do with our challenge?” I asked. I had, of course, heard of the monsters, but I’d never seen one before since they’d always been exceedingly rare and none had ever ventured into my dungeon. It’d probably been brought along to this one as a familiar to some hapless adventurer. It was good that this pudgy god had been lucky enough to find one since once I took his power for my own, I’d take the soul collector as well.
“It’s all very simple,” the deity continued. “As you might have noticed, there’s no way out of this room. All you have to do to win this challenge is to find a way to get through the closed door.”
“All we have to do is open the door?” I asked. There was more to it than that, some nasty surprise.
“Well, you see, you can’t open the door by, shall we say, conventional means. I wouldn’t bother trying to open it by force if I were you.”
“So how do we open it?” Annalíse huffed impatiently.
“You have to pay with a soul.” The god cackled.
“What do you mean by pay with a soul?” Rana asked.
“Give the soul collector a soul, and the door will open, that’s all there is to it.” The smugness in his voice was so overbearing that I waited anxiously for him to tell us why this was a particularly challenging puzzle.
“And where exactly are we supposed to find these souls?” Rana rolled her eyes.
“Well let’s see now, you have… four to choose from.” The god laughed uproariously. “You only have to choose which one.”
“You mean we have to--” Rana’s eyes suddenly grew wide with realization.
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” the god said with false sympathy. “To leave, you have to offer up a soul as a sacrifice, meaning one of you has to die. There’s no other way out. If you refuse, you’ll lose another one of your precious players. Tough decision I know, but hey, easy games are no fun, right?” He burst into uncontrollable giggles though I couldn’t figure out why. Did he not realize how easy this challenge was?
“All we have to do is feed the soul collector a soul, and we win this challenge?” I asked, and my words must have struck him odd because it took him several moments to speak.
“Yes,” he hedged before his voice slipped up several octaves. “It is a simple matter of choosing who you will sacrifice.”
“Very well,” I said and nodded. Now that I knew the rules, it would be a simple matter to beat the god’s puzzle. The only question was whether my minions would figure it out or if I would have to assist them.
“We will not sacrifice one of our companions,” Morrigan said sternly.
“Suit yourself,” the god said coolly. “Either way, I’ll have my fun. Oh, by the way, I wanted to make things a little more challenging, don’t want anyone to get bored you see, so I’ve decided to have a time limit. You’ll have… oh, five minutes to decide which of you gets to be sacrificed. Have fun!”
“You can’t do this!” Rana shouted angrily as she pounded her furry fists on the wall, but the god didn’t answer. The fox woman groaned as she ran a paw through her curly red locks. “What are we going to do?” Rana moaned in frustration.
“Do not fear, my minions. This is an easy puzzle to solve,” I said calmly as I swept my gaze over the three of them. “He has given us an easy path to victory because he does not know all you have to offer.”
“Well, that’s super helpful.” Rana snorted as she met my eyes. When I didn’t respond, she huffed and turned her attention to the other women. “Well, since I doubt anyone wants to volunteer to get their soul eaten, anyone got any bright ideas?”
“Maybe there’s something in here that we can use to break through the wall,” Annalíse said, and she began to look around the room.
“There’s nothing in here,” Rana groaned. “Just us and that creepy thing.” She nodded to the soul collector. “Besides, how could we possibly break through that wall? Did you see how thick those things are?”
“Yes, but we have to try.” Annalíse frowned. “We’re not going to pick someone to be killed.”
“Four minutes left,” the god called out teasingly.
“Well, of course not,” Rana said in annoyance as she ignored the deity’s words. “But why are you going to waste time trying to figure out how to break down the wall? He told us there’s only one way out.”
“Well, maybe he was lying,” Annalíse raised her voice a bit. “Maybe that’s the trick to this. Maybe he wants us to think we have to kill someone when, in reality, there’s another way out.” Her answer pleased me. She was clearly on the right path. That made a certain amount of sense. After all, she had been the one to figure out the riddle.
“Where is it then, Annalíse?” Rana gestured to the four walls that surrounded us. “Please show us because I’m not seeing any way out.”
“What would you sugge--”
“Sorry to be that guy, but you only have about three minutes now,” the deity called out in a sing-song voice. Rana moaned and shook her head. Then she began to pace up and down the floor.
“We can’t break down the wall, and we’re definitely not going to kill anybody, so what then?” the fox woman mused. “Morrigan, really?” Rana threw her paws into the air in frustration as she glared at the elf. “You could at least try to help us figure this out.”
Instead of participating in their discussion, Morrigan stood near the soul collector and muttered something to each of her ravens, and the sight of it made me smile.
“Now isn’t the time to be chatting it up with your birds.” Rana wrinkled her nose. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re kinda in trouble here. So if you don’t mind holding off on your conversation until we can figure how to avoid killing off one of our own team members, that would be great.”
Morrigan ignored the fox-tailed woman and continued to whisper to her winged pets for a few more moments. Then Rana groaned and turned away from the white-haired elf and continued to pace.
“I believe I may have a solution,” Morrigan finally said. Rana and Annalíse turned to look at her in shock. I eagerly awaited the she-elf’s plan. There wasn’t much time left, so if she hadn’t figured out how to defeat the god’s challenge, I’d have to tell them.
“Let’s hear it,” Annalíse said quickly.
“I have been speaking with Fea and Macha, and I believe that I can use them to aid in our escape,” Morrigan said matter-of-factly, and I couldn’t help but grin. Mor
rigan had figured out what I had known all along. Her ravens were the key to victory.
“Oh, Morrigan, I’m sorry,” Annalíse said as her face flooded with realization. “I know Fea and Macha mean a lot to you. It must be a hard decision to sacrifice one of them but--”
“I do not intend to sacrifice either of them,” Morrigan interrupted the swordswoman’s words.
“You don’t?” Annalíse’s face twisted with confusion. “I don’t understand. You said that you could use them.”
“I did, and I shall,” Morrigan said nonchalantly, “but not as sacrifices. You recall that Fea and Macha feast on the souls of the damned?” Annalíse nodded silently.
“You are going to use one of the souls your birds ate, huh?” Rana said to the white-haired elf.
“Indeed,” Morrigan said, her voice void of emotion.
“Hold on, you lost me.” Annalíse scratched her head in confusion. “You’re doing what with the souls?”
“I have asked Fea and Macha if there is a way that we can use a soul that they have already consumed, thus sparing our lives,” Morrigan said nonchalantly. Annalíse looked at her in disbelief.
“But, but is that actually possible?” she asked hurriedly. “How can they do that? And wait, what do you mean you asked them? They’re merely birds.”
“There are still souls within their bodies,” Morrigan explained as she ignored Annalíse’s third question. “The souls are not like food that passes through the body and is eventually expelled. They gather and are turned into a sort of energy that fuels Fea and Macha’s abilities. However, this process takes time. The souls are not transformed into energy right away. Meaning, we have some at our disposal.” The other two women gaped at the elf, and a slight smile spread across my lips. The beautiful elf was quite crafty, and I was glad she had figured it out.
“Alright, so how does this work?” Rana asked as she glanced at the black birds.