Arrival

by William Dickey

  You have ingested a delicious treat.

  For the next two hours, you have double health and mana regeneration.

  Max Health increased by 10%

  Critical hit rate increased by 30%.

  “Ahhh, that hit the spot,” I said, downing the final bite of Albert’s five star breakfast. “Is everyone ready to go?”

  “Remind me why I agreed to this,” Zelus groaned. “All this action can’t be good for my blood pressure.”

  “You know you’re enjoying this,” said Rose haughtily. “You’d do anything to keep your blood pressure up.”

  “Only when I have someone to lend me a hand,” said Zelus bringing himself to his feet. “I see yours are free.”

  “Let’s start with this door,” I said indicating the one Albert had triple sealed.

  “Vy? Shouldn’t ve zaffe dat one for last?” said Albert, backing away as far as he could from the door.

  “No, best we do it now. If we wait for later your buffs won’t still be in effect,” I said.

  “Buffs?” said Rose.

  “Albert’s omelets,” I started to explain. “When we ate them, didn’t you feel stronger, more buff?” As otherworlders, only Albert and I had received written confirmation of the food’s effects.

  “Now that you mention it, I do feel a bit more...” Rose struggled for the right word.

  “Libidinous,” Zelus supplied.

  “Energetic,” Rose finished with a frown.

  ‘Like that’s much different,’ said Mai.

  “Agree,” said Titania.

  “Really,” Zelus exclaimed. “Why don’t we take a break and settle ourselves? There are plenty of empty rooms upstairs. I’d love to see what you look like under all that armor.” Except for her helmet during meals, Titania never seemed to remove a scrap of her armor even to sleep.

  “No, mean agree with Rose,” Titania stated, meticulously crushing Zelus’ dreams. “Too feel significantly stronger after meal.”

  “Are we ready to go yet?” I asked.

  “Okay, let’s go,” Rose agreed.

  “I’ll chust be back here,” said Albert from halfway up the stairs to the next floor.

  I cast the unsticking sigil and focused it over the doorway. The hardened goop quickly liquefied, spilling all across the floor and wetting the soles of my feet.

  Bang. Bang.

  A large clamor rose from the other side of the door. This startled everyone. With the exception of Albert, none of us had heard any monster react before we entered a room. Albert finished the first flight of stairs before settling on the second floor landing. He tossed a few light cubes to ‘help’. One of which clanged against the side of my head.

  “Most zorry, chust trying to do mein part,” said Albert from his safer location.

  “I don’t know what you’re afraid of,” I told him. “You’re immortal.”

  “Yes,” he agreed. “But koing through death once vas bad enough.”

  “The pain doesn’t last that long,” I pointed out.

  Albert scoffed. “The pain? I vas talking about the veek. No sdeak. No appetisers. No pannekakes. I refuze to re-experience zuch a crucible.”

  “Stop acting like you were burned at the stake,” I said.

  “For me, I vould rather burn,” said Albert dramatically, flicking the single loch of blonde hair adorning his otherwise bare head.

  I didn’t share Albert’s fear and took a couple steps towards the door.

  ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ said Mai.

  “Zelus, the door,” I said. Albert may have been a nervous nelly who could be ignored, but Mai was a different story. Her advice was generally solid.

  “Sure thing.”

  Zelus cast a spell to turn the door handle and open it. The door slowly swung open but nothing happened. There was just an opening into darkness.

  “More light,” I hollered.

  Albert chucked a few more light cubes, but none of them made it inside. They all clanked off the walls before settling on the steely metal floor around the door.

  I took a few steps forward and I kicked a few of the light cubes through the door to light my way.

  The large room was filled with thick ropey strands running roughshod from floor to ceiling. I could still make out the ancient tables and benches filling the room, but everything else was mired in web and shadow. I couldn’t even view the origin of such a sinister tapestry so after a few bated breaths I was forced to duck my head inside for a closer look.

  In the corner of my eye, a shadow moved. It was one of those instances where you question your own eyes. I hadn’t gotten a good look and my head and body had been moving at the time. So it was normal for the shadows to shift.

  I took another step inside and kicked another light cube. This time I put some force it, driving the cube all the way to the back.

  Ssshhhheeeeehhhhh!

  Definitely not a shadow.

  “Fuuuu-.”

  I dove back out the door with a ravenous cloud fast on my tail.

  “Watch out,” I warned as the ochre gas spewed from the doorway. My warning didn’t come soon enough. I saw the gas coming and on the assumption it was bad, held my breath as it engulfed me. Titania wasn’t so lucky.

  The gas poured out the door and well into the lobby before dissipating. Other than me, Titania was closest to the door and inhaled the mysterious gas.

  “C-can’t m-move,” Titania grunted through gritted teeth, her body locked in an unusual position with her sword raised above her head.

  ‘Be careful, that gas is a paralytic. If you breathe it in you’ll be immobilized like Titania,’ Mai warned.

  Titania was helpless so I knocked her over, clear of the doorway. She was a lot bigger than me, so it was the best I could do to get her out of the way as the source of the paralytic cloud exited into the lobby. It was an unsightly creature whose awkward shape didn’t seem to fit in nature. It, like all the creatures in this place, was technically a plant. Its skin was made from a thick-ridged bark speckled with a luminous green moss, but its shape was a mix of a spider and a dragon. It had a head, body, and tail of a dragon, but instead of wings, hands, or feet, eight spindly legs that sprouted from its back held up the dragon.

  The second it shoved itself through the door, it jumped up all seven floors to the ceiling. You wouldn’t think something that large could move that fast or leap that high but it could.

  “Gottverdammt!” Albert hissed, cursing his over cautious nature as he leap frogged back down the stairs, four or five at a time.

  The dragon spider forewent another gas attack and instead shot from its mouth the long thick ropey strands that made up its web.

  “Rose, could you focus on the webbing. We can’t let it trap us,” I said.

  Rose started to deal with it, but it was a heavy task. The threads seemed mildly flame retardant and the dragon spider was able to replace the strands far faster than she could burn them.

  “Hov can I help?” asked Albert.

  “See if you can help Titania. Zelus and I will see to the monster,” I said.

  “Zure ding,” Albert replied, pulling out his miniature stove to prepare something to counter paralysis.

  Zelus and I ran up the stairs to chase after the dragon spider, dodging the sticky spider silk wherever we needed to. But by the time we reached the top floor, the dragon spider had moved down a couple floors, well below us.

  ‘You’re never going to catch it like that,’ said Mai.

  Zelus and I approached the dragon spider again.

  It moved again.

  ‘What did I tell you? The dragon spider is more than content at keeping this a long distance fight. You can’t keep up with the rate it generates webbing and eventually its net will be unavoidable and it will catch you. The monster knows this. You need to find a way to sneak up on it before it’s too late,’ said Mai.

  “We need to get close to it,” I told Zelus.

  “Any bright ideas?” he as
ked.

  “I have an idea,” I answered. “But I don’t know if it’s bright.”

  “Even better. I love bad ideas,” said Zelus.

  “Can you make me invisible?” I asked.

  “Only if you plan on sitting still,” Zelus replied, jumping to the left to avoid another web shot. “If you’re invisible I can’t see you either and won’t be able to tell if you need the illusion moved until after you leave it.”

  “I don’t think that’s an option,” I admitted. Another thought came to me.

  “Zelus. You made all those dancing bunnies before?” I said.

  “Yeah.”

  “Can you make one of me?” I asked.

  “Why?” he asked.

  “If I can’t make it so it can’t see me, I’ll make it so the dragon can’t tell which one is me,” I answered.

  I reached into my inventory and pulled out my flying claws.

  “Ready,” I said as more of an announcement than a question.

  “Hang on,” said Zelus but it was too late. I had already launched a claw, which hauled me up three stories.

  As I passed by, I thrust out my spear and stabbed the Dragon spider in the neck. Its skin was tough and my spear didn’t penetrate far, so I wasn't surprised when the level 127 monster’s health bar barely flickered. If I wanted to take this thing down, I would have to get more serious.

  The dragon spider fired back with webbing, filling the air with dozens of thick sticky strings simultaneously, forcing me to dodge by repelling down a floor. The shots came close and dodging at that range was too risky so it was a good thing I had help. Zelus’ illusion kicked in. The copies weren’t perfect. Some seemed to be twenty or thirty pounds heavier than they should be. Others had a pale sickly complexion. One was in black face. A part of me thought Zelus might have done it on purpose, but the mutated clones were good enough to fool the dragon spider and that was all that really mattered.

  ‘Look at the rings under that one’s eyes,’ said Mai, pointing. ‘That you looks more like an I-bag than an Isaac.’

  The dragon’s jaws snapped and shot webs at the dozen illusionary Isaacs as they swung through the air with their flying claws in a cringe worthy imitation of my own actions, enabling me to sneak around and get in a few well-placed stabs in. None of my spear attacks did much, but every little bit helped. Frustrated with being unable to catch its prey, the dragon spider tried a different tactic by opening its jaws wide and spewing another wave of orange gas. Rather than focus outward, the dragon spider shook his head all over, focusing the gas on itself, surrounding its entire body with the dangerous fumes.

  “Shit, I can’t get close to him,” I said looking down from the top floor to the lingering cloud three floors below. The cloud did more than just stop my approach. The poison cloud was thick and widespread, preventing me from seeing either the dragon or my companions on the lower levels.

  It also added a new challenge when dealing with the webbing. Before, I could always predict where it was going based on the position of the dragon’s head. Now we were in the dark as strings of spider silk darted out of the cloud in random bursts.

  I could tell Rose was fine, bursts of flame roared through the gas periodically. At first, she seemed to be trying to burn the gas itself but when it was clear there was little to no effect, she returned to focusing on clearing the webbing. As for the others, I had no idea of their condition. Zelus needed to see the places where his illusions were so as long as we were on opposite sides of the cloud his illusions couldn’t help me. As far as I knew, Titania was still paralyzed and Albert was still trying to help her. I was on my own.

  ‘Let’s get a better look at that thing,’ said Mai. My vision altered, the gas cloud became semi-transparent, letting me see the dragon spider hidden within. ‘Better?’

  “A bit. It doesn’t help me with my biggest problem though. I still can’t get anywhere near that thing without risking paralysis. You got any ideas,” I said turning to Mai who floated lazily on my left.

  ‘If you can’t hit it directly, force it somewhere that you can,’ she suggested.

  “Okay.” I couldn’t attack the beast because it was in the gas, so I needed to make it leave. I considered my options, several thick silky strands that ran to the ceiling and various upper floor landings were holding up the dragon spider. I could light the back of my spear and try to burn them the dragon spider down, but even if I managed to burn the threads faster than it replaced them, its long spider legs could easily reach across the entire length of the room and hold itself up that way.

  What I really needed was to knock it down by force. However, I couldn't approach the monster much less strike it and even if I could, the barky bastard must have weighed several tons. It would be like a fly crushing the swatter. That’s when it hit me; I just needed an even bigger swatter.

  Otheristry is a weird skill. So far, all it did was double the size of my space-defying inventory with each level. While this was handy the first few levels, now that it had reached level 7, Otheristry gave me a ridiculous volume I could never hope to fill.

  Still given the opportunity it provided, I used the extra space to hold a stockpile of food and water so should the need arise I could survive a long time even in the most desolate of environments.

  I only stored a moderate amount of food as it cost money, but water was a different story. It was cheap and all I had to do was wade out into a nearby river and stand there as the inventory gobbled up all the water I could ever want.

  “Heads up, I’m bringing it down,” I shouted, my only warning before tapping on the innocuous looking icon simply labeled: H2O (10,437 gallons).

  The water appeared all at once, a swimming pool of it, and for a brief instant it all laid suspended there, like the universe couldn’t keep up with the massive change that had occurred. Then time returned and the giant mass of water all fell as one.

  The water quickly picked up speed, turning into a massive gravity powered tsunami that bashed against the dragon spider, breaking its hold on the walls and sending it along with most everything else hurtling to the lowermost level.

  This was our chance. I had to make the best of it.

  I took a deep breath and let go. Not of the breath but of the grip of my claws and I fell through the weak remnants of poisonous fog towards my enemy. As I neared the bottom, I used the rocket on the backside of my spear to slow my descent as I came in for a landing.

  “Take this,” I said as the giant rocket flame seared off one of the spider legs and I made my rough landing.

  “I could use some help,” I said, looking over at the stunned faces of my drenched companions.

  Zelus’ mouth hung low and it looked like Rose’s eyes would pop out of their sockets at any moment, both had bent sent sprawling to the outermost edges of the room by the wave.

  The dragon spider tried to retreat, it was better suited for ranged combat, but all it could do was stumble as Rose burned off more of its legs.

  “This bastard is mine,” the recovered Titania roared as she charged in. She hefted her massive sword over her head and carried it through a big swing.

  Thud.

  The weight of the sword clashed against the thick barky scales along the dragon’s snout, taking a small yet significant portion of its health bar and drawing faint traces of sap-like golden blood.

  Thud.

  The sword went down again driving a bit deeper.

  Thud.

  Thud.

  Thud.

  The dragon spider shrieked as Titania drove her blade deeper and deeper.

  ‘Someone needs to learn to manage their anger,’ said Mai, to which I nodded.

  Thud.

  Thud.

  ‘Do you think she knows I Feel Pretty?’

  You gained 7612 EXP

  You gained a level.

  Thud.

  Thud.

  “Titania, that’s enough. It’s dead,” I said.

  “Never hurts to be sure,” she r
eplied giving it one last swing. “Besides deserves it.”

  “Is everyone okay,” I asked.

  “Yeah,” said Rose. “I just wasn’t expecting a fight like that.”

  Everyone else mirrored her opinion.

  “Let’s stop and get Albert to make sandwiches,” suggested Zelus, between gasps of air.

  “Seconded,” said Rose. “I think we could all use a break.”

  “We’d better not stop now,” Titania advised.

  “Vy?” asked Albert.

  Titania pointed to the shadowy web infested room the dragon spider came from. “We don’t know if there is anything else to worry about.”

  That ended all debate. We went through the dragon den and all the connecting rooms. There were no other enemies in these rooms, only a broken down kitchen and pantry filled with boxes of ancient food stuffs that had expired long ago.

  Over the next few hours, we cleared the rest of the complex. There were more monsters, but the dragon spider was by far the scariest thing we came across.

  As Mai had said, all the interesting rooms were on the lowest level. The first such room we came across was the engineering bay.

  A single large machine that took up nearly a third of the room’s floor space dominated the otherwise bare chamber. On one side were over a hundred bins labeled: Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, and all the other elements. And on the other were two larger containers labeled simply input and output. I excitedly used my game vision to analyze the ancient machine but that was left only with disappointment.

  †Broken Copy Machine†

  Traveler Machine. Currently inoperable.

  “All this work for a busted copy machine,” I said, voice filled with disgust. I had given up my treasury prize, dug a hundred foot hole, and gone through all this work to clean out the ancient traveler building, for next to nothing. The Traveler base was practically empty, as if they had stripped it clean before closing shop.

  ‘Why so upset?’ Mai asked. ‘It can be repaired.’

  “Yeah,” I scoffed. “But even if I did. What use do I have for photocopies?”