by Edward Brody
Chapter Forty-Seven
2/12/0001
Liam refused to let me follow him when he went to buy the imbued scrolls and wouldn’t tell me who his supplier was. So, while he went to buy the scrolls, I recalled to Edgewood to fetch my runes for both the Mage’s Hall and the odd room containing the puzzle.
When I returned to the Mage’s Hall, he was already back, waiting patiently behind the desk.
“Are we ready for this little trip?” Liam asked as he pulled one of the scrolls out of his pocket. The imbued scroll looked like any other scroll, but it had a golden hue to it, and a tiny, light blue ribbon was wrapped around its center.
“Yeah. You recall first,” I said. I pulled the runestone to the room out of my bag and held it out towards him.
“This is a safe area, right? Anything I should know about?”
“It’s safe,” I affirmed.
Liam held the scroll out in front of him and focused on the rune. The golden hue of the scroll grew brighter, and after a few seconds of channeling, the scroll faded into a cloud of golden dust.
Liam disappeared right after.
I looked down at the rune myself, cast Recall, and I found myself in the room with him shortly after.
Nothing had changed since the last time I was in the room.
Liam strode up to the metal bars inside and flicked his finger against one, causing a loud clanking noise. “This is an odd place, isn’t it? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Yeah, it sure is.”
He turned towards the buttons and handwheel on the wall. “So this is your puzzle?”
“Part of it,” I said. “But it’s merely a distraction.” I pointed towards the pipe behind the bars with the large globe and pan on top of it. “What we need to do is create steam in this pipe so that it blows into the pipe on the other side. With enough pressure, the button inside it should activate.”
“And what’s the hanging pipe?” Liam asked.
“Just another distraction. Whoever created this puzzle wanted us to focus on anything but the unobvious.”
“So how do we create this steam?” Liam asked. “Heat water from the spout over there?”
I shook my head. “There’s some sort of trap door in the pan that funnels into the globe, but it prevents the water from going inside. Instead it spills through the tiny holes in the pan. It needs weight.”
“Weight?” Liam rubbed his chin as if he didn’t understand.
“Ice,” I said. “If we fill the pan with ice, the ice can’t escape through the holes, and it should be enough weight to push the flap down—at least I think that’s how it works.”
“And then?” Liam asked.
“I’ll Fire Curtain the globe. After it heats up, it’ll start producing steam.”
Liam chuckled and glared at me from the side, licking his lips. “Maybe you do have a little bit of pizazz after all.”
“Yeah, whatever… Ugh. Let’s do this.”
Liam held his hand out and shot a ball of ice towards the pan, but the force of the blast caused it to ricochet out of the pan and onto the wall behind it. He tried again, and the same thing happened.
“Shoot at the wall in here, and we’ll just throw the ice by hand,” I said.
Liam turned, held a hand out in front of me, and then with his other hand, shot a ball of ice into the corner of the wall. After he had shot a couple more blasts, there was a decent sized pile of broken ice.
We collected shards of ice, and each of us carefully tossed the pieces towards the pan. It took a while for us to get our aim down, but when the ice entered the pan, it didn’t fall through the holes.
I was getting worried when the pan was almost halfway full that maybe the flap wasn’t going to open, but when Liam landed a particularly large chunk of ice on top, the flap opened, and all the ice spilled inside the globe.
“Yes!” I roared. “I knew it!”
“Excellent idea, Gunnar,” Liam said. “I believe it’s your turn now?”
I nodded and focused a Fire Curtain directly over the globe.
It took the full duration of Fire Curtain to melt the ice in the globe and heat it up, but after a brief cooldown, a second Fire Curtain caused the water inside the globe to boil.
Steam filled the globe at first, and then it slowly poured out of the attached stem. After a short time, that slow pouring of steam turned into a heavy blast, and steam made a whistling sound as it rocketed out.
“It’s working,” Liam said as we watched some of the steam coming out of the strange pipe enter the pipe on the other side. The button inside eventually started to depress, but it wasn’t until the water in the globe reached its boiling point and the whistle from the steam became the loudest that it finally clicked in all the way.
There was a loud clanking sound from above, and the bars in front of us began to slowly rise out of the way. When the bars were full up, the translucent shield surrounding the statue ahead of us disappeared.
“Hell yeah!” I yelled and held a high-five up towards Liam.
He looked up to my hand and raised an eyebrow. “Do you have a question for me?”
I put my hand down and shook my hand. “No, never mind.”
“Well good work solving the puzzle. I’m not sure I would’ve figured it out myself. You might be a little smarter than I’d assumed.”
“Thanks,” I said as I moved past the bars to inspect the room ahead.
I stepped through the gap between the pipes and started looking around but saw nothing of interest. There were no treasure chests, no weapons or armor, nothing. There was a small hidden area that wasn’t visible from behind the bars that would’ve been a good place to store a surprise, but it was empty as well.
There was literally nothing in the room but the statue and the door to its left.
I was a little concerned, since I had given Liam 5,000 gold to come there, but I figured maybe the riches or awesome weapons waiting to be found were hidden behind the door. As I headed towards the door, I heard a clicking noise behind me, and Liam screamed.
I turned around and didn’t see Liam immediately, but quickly noticed a square hole in the ground with Liam’s fingers desperately holding on to the edge.
“Help!” Liam yelled.
I dashed towards the hole, looked down, and Liam stared back at me with fear burning in eyes.
“Help, help, help!” he cried.
I kneeled, grabbed Liam’s wrist, and pulled as hard as I could while simultaneously trying not to fall into the hole. Thankfully, Liam was thin and not much heavier than Adeelee or Keysia, so I was able to pull him up out of the hole without too much struggle.
Liam’s eyes went wide when he was on safe ground. He huffed furiously and threw himself on top of me, knocking me over. He started kissing me repeatedly on my neck and cheeks.
“Get off me!” I grunted as I pushed him away. I sat up, brushed myself off and shook my head. “What is it with you and this kissy shit?”
Liam stared at me a moment, confusion in his eyes, and then he tilted his head back and laughed.
“Alright, I’m just gonna ask. What’s your deal? First I thought you were coming on to me, and then I thought you liked Adeelee, but now you’re trying to kiss on me again.”
“Oh… I like Adeelee,” Liam said lustfully.
“So, you like girls?”
Liam shrugged.
“Guys?” I asked
Liam shrugged again. “Girls, guys, elves… maybe even dwarves if I saw one cute enough. Why do I have to choose?”
I wrinkled my nose but couldn’t help but chuckle when I thought about him in a room, going about his business with elves and dwarves of every gender. “Well, whatever floats your boat. Just… don’t kiss me anymore, okay?”
Liam laughed again, and we both stood at the same time. He placed his hand on my shoulder. “I will respect your wishes, Gunnar.” He scanned me up and down and licked his lips. “But if you never try, you know. If you ever…”
I smirked and pulled away from him.
Liam tilted his head back and started laughing again. “I’m sorry. I can’t help myself. You’re just such an easy mark.”
I rolled my eyes and looked over to the hole that Liam had fallen in. It was deep, dark, and had nothing but long, metal spikes at the bottom.
“I must have triggered it somehow,” Liam said. “Thanks for saving me, my friend.”
I raised an eyebrow to him, not expecting him to say that world. Maybe Liam and I had simply gotten off to the wrong start. I guess he kind of was becoming my friend. “Yeah, no problem.”
I turned around and started back for the door but stopped to inspect the sculpture at the end of the room. I was a little cautious after being attacked by the statue at Dragon’s Crest, so I looked over it carefully.
It was smooth and beautifully molded, but the stand out feature was the painted mask that the figure appeared to be placing on his face. It looked as if the mask was part of the statue, but when I rubbed my finger across it, the material seemed like a polished wood, unlike the statue’s stone, and it shifted slightly in place.
I lifted it in my hands and exhilaration came over me.
You’ve received: Liar’s Mask. +1 Armor. Durability: 5/5. Quality: Exceptional. Rarity: Legendary. Weight: 0.2 kg. Grants the spell: Liar’s Walk: Become invisible for 2 seconds, leaving a deceptive façade in your place.
“What is it?” Liam asked.
I read the details of the item off to Liam, and he looked like he was foaming at the mouth for the mask.
“You know… if you don’t want the mask, I can return your 5,000 gold in exchange.”
I smirked at him, then leaned my head back and mocked his usual, annoying laugh.
He snorted and crossed his arms.
The mask had two headless, grey snakes running down each side, and on the forehead section, between the eyes, was what appeared to be a hole for a third eye. When I placed it up to my face, it seemed to magically attach to my skin.
Congratulations! You have learned the spell: Liar’s Walk.
“What the heck?” I uttered. “It’s not an on-cast but an actual spell!”
Liam nodded as I stared at him through the holes of the mask. “It seems you’ve found a special item that grants you a spell that’s only usable while you’re wearing it. It’ll cost you mana, but it doesn’t use charges like on-cast abilities.”
I grabbed the mask by the edge and lifted it slightly off my face.
You have forgotten the spell: Liar’s Walk.
When I placed it back on my face, I got another message telling me that I had once again learned the spell.
“Whoa…” I said.
“Try it,” Liam said.
I focused on willing a Liar’s Walk and looked to Liam. “Can you see me?”
He nodded.
I took a step forward, and when I turned, I almost jumped when I saw a perfect image of me standing in the exact position where I had been. It wasn’t moving at all, but Liam was looking at the image, rather than me. When I looked down, there was a hue around my actual body.
A second later, the fake replica of me disappeared, and Liam turned his head towards the real me at the same time.
“Okay, well that works,” Liam said.
I tried to Liar’s Walk again, and this time I dashed a few feet away.
Liam reached out for the image to touch it, but although the image looked real, his fingers simply passed through. “I can kind of hear your footsteps, and it might be a little bit obvious, since you’re not moving. But it’s quite effective, I must say.”
“Holy shit,” I cursed when I reappeared. I noticed that each cast had eaten away around 10% of my mana bar, so at my current mana levels, I could cast the spell up to ten times. In addition, the cooldown seemed to reset as soon as the spell ended.
Had I found the solution to defeating Meijir in the Arena? One thing that had always bothered me about him was the fact that he had the Shadowstep spell, that allowed him to blink from one place to another. I knew that I had to get stronger just to combat his fighting skills, but I had never come with a solution of how I could counter that. Was Liar’s Walk the answer?
I touched the cold, thin mask and smiled behind the wood, but my stomach did a somersault when another possibility suddenly crossed my mind.
Dragon’s Crest…
I knew after reaching the top of Dragon’s Crest that if a dragon saw you, you were dead, and no matter how fast you ran, the dragon would be faster.
But what if the dragon wasn’t attacking me, but rather a fake image of me? Two seconds of invisibility broken into ten subsequent casts would grant me almost twenty seconds of invisibility time. That would be plenty of time to get out of the dragon’s den if I could move fast enough.
Better yet, I could summon my elemental to add an additional distraction. Was Liar’s Walk and a Fire Elemental enough to allow me to escape Dragon’s Crest with Tymrial’s Blade?
I had promised my guild mates that I would give up my quest to get an ancient weapon, but with this newly discovered item, how could I not try one more time?
In fact, maybe I just wouldn’t tell them I was going. I could go alone and not risk anyone else’s life but my own. They didn’t deserve any more deaths if I was wrong.
Shivers crept over my body as I thought about entering the den of the dragons, but a sudden urgency came over me to get out of there, so I could race back to Dragon’s Crest. It was getting late, and the Magis’ deadline for an ancient weapon was dawn the next day. If I was going to try, I needed to get there soon.
“Listen, we have to go,” I said.
Liam creased his brow. “What, why? We haven’t checked the door yet.”
I licked my lips and gave a slight nod. “Okay, we check what’s behind the door, and then we leave.”
I removed the mask and rushed to the door, but when I looked down, there was no handle. There was nothing but a large circle engraved where a handle should be. I pushed the door once, and nothing happened, and seeing no other obvious way to open it, I placed the flat of my palm inside the circle.
The circle around my hand glowed, and the sound of rock grinding against rock bounced off of the trembling walls.
The door fell inwards a few inches, then gradually slid to the side. Cold air and the strong sound of wind flooded into the room. The door didn’t lead to another chamber but was an exit to outside.
There was only a little light in the sky, but it ricocheted off the ground, which was covered in thick, white snow. We stepped into the snow, and I shielded my eyes from the chilling wind with my hand. The door behind us grinded shut, and I when I turned to look at it, I was staring at nothing but a massive boulder. There was no indication that there was a door there at all.
“Where the hell did you bring me?” Liam asked in awe.
“I have no idea,” I said shaking my head.
We were on top of a large hill and the snow stretched as far as I could see. There were a few mountains and trees in the distance, and a single, wooden cabin standing a few hundred meters away.
We weren’t near Edgewood anymore, that was for sure.
“Shall we explore?” Liam asked.
I shook my head. “Another time. I have something I need to do.”
“Alright,” Liam said, reaching for his imbued scroll. “Get me out of this cold.”
I fumbled for my rune, and when I grabbed it, I looked up to Liam shivering in front of me. He was an odd guy for an NPC, but he really wasn’t that bad. “Hey… umm—”
“Hurry, hurry. It’s freezing.”
“Are you in a guild?”
“A guild? You mean besides the Mages Guild?”
“Yeah, like a real guild, not a faction.”
Liam wrinkled his nose and snorted. “Never had any interest. The only thing I want now is a million gold and to get out of this damn cold.”
“Alright, well, if you ever want to join a gu
ild, let me know.” I thought about what it would be like to have Liam around our village, and then I thought about Aaron. He had whined all the way to Highcastle when he rode bitch between Ozzy and me. I could only imagine how funny it would be if I could somehow convince Liam that Aaron wanted a piece. Rico Suave and the Horndog Sizzler deserved each other.
“Maybe one day,” Liam said.
I grinned deviously and held the rune out in my hand. “Okay. There’s someone I’d like you to meet. He’s kinda….” I waved around my hand trying to search for the right word. “Hot… yeah, hot!”
“Hot?” Liam asked and smirked.
“Yeah, he’s hot! He’d love to meet you.”
Liam shook his head and rolled his eyes. “You have no pizazz, Gunnar.” He held his scroll out, focused on the rune, and within seconds, he was gone.
Chapter Forty-Eight
2/12/0001
When I recalled to Edgewood, I quietly made it to my home without drawing any attention. I placed my runes on the shelf, and immediately recalled to the Vale. It was nightfall by then, and I raised my hands to cast Divine Sight to get a good look at the guards.
“Ambassador…”
I kneeled, and when they told me I could rise, I looked up asked, “Has the Queen returned?”
“I’m afraid not,” one of the guards said.
I took a deep breath, but that gave me even more rationale to do what I was about to do.
I walked away from the guards, and when out of sight, I slammed my hand into the ground. “Sora!”
Sora came running, and I was happy to see that she was vibrant and like her usual self. She purred when she approached me and lowered to the ground, sensing I needed a ride.
How are you? I asked.
I’m fine now, Gunnar.
I didn’t want to mention Tsarra for fear it would make her sad. I’m going to Dragon’s Crest.
