by Andrew Rowe
“Ahah!” Vanniv seemed less so, although still amused. “A wonderful suggestion. I was just noticing how terribly difficult this place would be to traverse for walking-type folks, you know? But alas, I’m not much of a builder. If you wanted to, say, construct a floor for the room, on the other hand…”
“That sounds like a perfectly excellent idea.” Lars smiled. “What are you offering?”
Kester groaned, leaning closer to Lars. “I might remind you that lava kills us, Lars.”
Lars shrugged. “Eh, if he’s offering enough we’ll sort that out.”
Sera whispered something into the air.
Vanniv’s smile brightened. “If you’re willing to go get a crew and begin the renovations immediately, I can offer you safe passage to the crystal chamber and one boon for every participant. This is, however, a limited time offer. Maximum of six people, and you’ll need to complete the floor within two hours.”
Kester and Lars exchanged glances. “Unlikely.” Kester mumbled.
“But plausible,” Lars countered, wheels clearly turning in his expression. “Worst case, we simply show back up with four more people, and what, start over?”
Kester shook his head. “Worst case, coming back with four more people ends up convincing the crystal that humans cannot be trusted. It then triggers a catastrophic magical event that obliterates all of humanity.”
“Hm. That would be bad. I’d lose a considerable number of my customers.”
“You’re…never mind.” Kester sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Actual risk factors are largely limited to failure. We persist in this course and succeed, two boons maximum. If he’s telling the truth, we up it to six and avoid additional challenge rooms, which could be substantial.”
Lars groaned, took one more look at Vanniv’s brightly grinning face, then looked back to Kester. “Three times return is worth the risk.”
“Right. Go time.”
Kester pulled something out of his pouch — a bell — and rang it once.
Then they were gone.
Sera breathed a sigh of relief. A moment later, Vanniv flapped his way back into the crystal chamber.
It took longer than I expected: apparently Vanniv wasn’t in the last room, but one toward the middle.
“Thank you, Vanniv.”
“Of course! I think your suggested reward was perfect in scope. Just enough to make it sound worth the gamble.” He gave her an appreciative nod. “We make an excellent team, yes?”
“We certainly do. Thank you again.” She turned to the crystal. “So. Last round, then?”
With a groan, she added. “It’s him, isn’t it?”
Then she sighed. “Very well, then. How much would it cost to retrieve the things they took out of the dungeon?”
There was a pause, then Sera took on a contemplative expression. “Hm. Cheaper than a full replacement, even with the rebuilding costs. Do that, then…wait. Can you retrieve something that was taken out of the dungeon by someone earlier? Like, say, a bag of gems prize, or…”
More silence as the crystal replied. From Sera’s grin, apparently it was an affirmative. “Excellent.” She clapped her hands. “I know how we’re going to play this. Let’s get to work.”
Minutes passed as Sera oversaw the repairs of the dungeon.
And then, as expected, Keras Selyrian appeared at the entrance.
Well, I considered, at least I already know Sera doesn’t die.
***
Keras stepped into the first room of the chamber, inspecting the newly-repaired statues and the treasure box.
With a growl, he approached the box immediately. There was a blur as he sliced the top off so quickly I didn’t even process his movement.
“Hm. Not a mimic.”
…I was beginning to wonder if all adventurers eventually had some sort of mimic-related trauma. If so, apparently I had something to look forward to.
Keras knelt down, cautiously inspecting the note and entirely ignoring the gigantic stone statues. “Huh. Iron to steel, eh? What do you think of that, Dawn?”
Silence.
“…Dawn? Did you fall asleep again?”
It was almost heartbreaking to watch him reach down to the golden-hilted sword at his side and pat it, an expression of concern on his face. “…Must have overworked her. Or…” He shook his head. “Nah. Can’t be. Okay. Iron. Could be saying I’m supposed to disarm into the box — zero chance of that — or just saying that if I leave something here, I get something superior later.”
He paused, seemed to contemplate for a moment, then pressed something on his belt and whispered a word. There was a flash, then an unfamiliar gold-hilted dagger appeared hovering in mid-air.
I blinked. That was a new trick. I’d seen him with daggers worn on his back during the fight with Katashi, but that belt thing was new. Did he have some kind of extra dimensional item that he hadn’t shown off?
I tried to get a closer look at the belt, but I couldn’t. My viewpoint was fixed, and Sera wasn’t looking at it.
Keras dropped the dagger in the box. Nothing seemed to happen. With a shrug, he said, “Guess I’ll check back later,” and walked to the cracked wall.
He punched the wall. It exploded.
Once again, I shuddered. If Keras…even this copy of Keras…had hit me with any intent to cause serious harm, I’d look a lot like the splintered bits of gravel on the sanctuary’s floor, except, you know, bloodier.
Keras whistled to himself as he inspected that room, catching an arrow out of the air and then hurling it to jam another trap that shot up from the floor. With a hop, he crossed over a pit and reached a treasure chest in the center, cut that in half, and then grabbed the bag of gems out of it.
Without a backward glance, he froze a fire trap in mid-air with a gesture, then hopped back to the entrance room.
With a single touch, he knocked the newly-replaced door off the frame.
The next couple rooms went alarmingly fast.
He caught the spinning blade trap with one hand, then snapped it in half and jumped across the pits.
Then, when the snake people attacked, he effortlessly disarmed them, threw them into a corner, and shapeshifted the stone to trap them in place. “Stay,” he instructed.
He got only hisses in return, but they sounded resigned.
When he busted off the door to the next room, there was no Vanniv this time. Vanniv was still waiting with Sera in the crystal chamber.
Keras took one look at the lava floor and fire elementals, then shook his head, reached down, and touched the stone floor of the room he was still standing in.
The floor rippled like liquid and shifted, forming a bridge across the lava. He walked across, casually swatting fireballs from the elementals out of the air with a bare hand.
The next door went down, showing me a room the other two hadn’t reached.
Inside was…a fake crystal. She’d taken my idea.
I didn’t begrudge her for it…much. But it hadn’t tricked Keras, at least when I’d done it. He’d sensed the location of the real crystal. Had she made some upgrades to hers?
Either way, Keras paused in front of it.
“Crystal, you know what to do.” There was no obvious confirmation, but then there was a flash as Keras reached out toward the fake crystal. “Looks like that’s my cue,” Sera shook her head. “Sorry, Vanniv. I’m going to need all my mana for this.”
“Understood, it’s no problem. You’ll show me later, yes?”
“Absolutely.” Sera grinned. “Vanniv, I dismiss you.”
Vanniv vanished.
Then Sera said the strangest words I’d heard in a while, “Spooky murder ghost, I invoke you.”
There was no obvious change at first…then Sera grinned as she began to slowly float just a few inches off the ground.
Then, as she looked at her arm, it began to fade into translucence. “Perfect.”
I’d seen Sera use her invoking powers so rarely that it caught me
off-guard, but I quickly processed what she was up to. Invoking gave her access to mana directly from her summons, as well as the ability to use some of their inherent abilities more easily than a traditional Summoner would.
When she’d Invoked Vanniv against Mizuchi, she’d formed stone armor and wings for herself, emulating his own body.
When invoking a ghost, then…could she have managed to make herself incorporeal?
That was impressive, if it was true. It also sounded hideously dangerous to do without extensive testing. A mistake with a spell like that could end up with someone getting stuck inside a wall, or a partially incorporeal body that couldn’t breathe, or…
I shut those concerns out of my mind. Sera was grinning cheerfully, and she looked fine. I mean, she looked like a ghost, but fine by ghost standards.
She dropped her backpack and most of her gear in the crystal room, picking up only a single item. A sword.
And I groaned when I put together her plan as she floated out of the true crystal chamber, through a trap-filled room and a monster filled one, and then straight through a false wall and into the false crystal room.
Yep, incorporeal. We’re going to have to talk about that later.
At least that lowers the risk that Keras will be able to…no, never mind. He can punch ghosts just fine. What’s her angle with all this?
Nearly entirely transparent now, Sera floated down in front of Keras, then knelt at his feet and stretched out her arms, presenting a sword of blue crystal. “Great hero, Wielder of Dawnbringer, you have come in a time of dire need. The Sun Eater rouses in his prison, his foul minions scouring our world and preparing for his conquest. You have proven your worthiness, gifting this shrine with a blade: and so I offer you one in turn.”
“Keras Selyrian, I offer this as your boon: Ceris, the Song of Harmony.”
I would have covered my face with my hands in abject dismay if I could have.
Really, Sera? Really?
Of course, Keras couldn’t see my reaction. He looked down at Sera’s spectral form, a look of surprising sadness on his face and whispered, more to himself than to her, “Oh…oh, no. Please…not another one.”
“The burdens of a hero are heavy, but…you are the only one who can save us.” Sera looked up with wide, pleading eyes. “Please, hero. I know I ask too much of you, but so many of us have already fallen. Do not let our deaths be in vain. Please…take this sword. The last legacy of a forgotten world.”
Keras hesitated, but…
She’d nailed it.
His hand reached out, grasping the offered hilt, and he said. “Rest easy, spirit. I will not fail you.”
And then, with the utmost reverence, he lifted the sword high, making some kind of salute.
Then Sera, bless her callousness, whispered, “…Thank you…now, to rest I can finally return…”
And vanished from sight.
…Having activated my circlet with the activation word “return”, which she’d managed to more-or-less seamlessly work into the end of her spooky ghost dialogue. She reappeared in the crystal room, next to where she’d set the circlet’s anchor.
Breathing heavily, she turned to the wall…and watched as Keras gave one final bow of his head to the departed “ghost”, saluted the crystal, and turned to leave.
When Keras stepped out the front door, he vanished.
Sera burst into laughter. “I cannot believe that worked. Oh, Keras…why are you so…archetypical?” She snorted, clapped as she continued laughing, and then turned to the crystal. “Okay, now I’ll pay the mana to bring Ceris back here. I think we’re finally done.”
***
Ceris reappeared next to Sera a moment later, then gleefully she picked it up, sheathed it, and laughed again. “Okay. So, crystal. I think I’m due for a boon.”
Silence. I still couldn’t hear the crystal’s response.
“Excellent. Now, let me give you some important context. I’ve got this mana scarring because of a potion-related incident…”
***
Sera was already upstairs by the time I finished the crystal. When I sat up from the bed, she turned toward me. “Good work, right?”
She wore a smile plastered over her face like a mask. Her voice was just as ragged as before she’d entered the shrine. No, maybe worse.
That means…
I returned her smile as best I could and tossed the crystal back to her. She caught it deftly.
She’ll talk about it when she’s ready.
I gave her an appraising look. “So, I didn’t see the start, but the box at the entrance…”
“People kept leaving things there, thinking I would give them upgraded versions later in the dungeon. It fits the transcendence theme, so they thought it was a plausible idea.”
“How many?”
“About half, meaning five people left something there, including Keras.”
“And those items…”
She lifted the Jaden Box. “Stored inside. They’re real, and the crystal let me keep them.”
“By real, do you mean that they actually function outside of the shrine?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “Haven’t done any extensive testing yet. I’m presuming they’re like…”
“That item Keras got from the simulacrum of his other friend when he went through the spirit shrine. That makes sense. Good idea. I liked the trickery with Ceris, too. I don’t know if I would have risked it, but…”
She waved a hand. “You’re so risk averse! I mean, except about dying. For some reason, you’re perfectly willing to risk death to finish a simple shrine.”
“Hey, now. I’ll have you know I’m not only okay with risking death. I also risk maiming on a regular basis.”
Sera snorted. “Point conceded. Very well. Any other questions or commentary?”
“Well, I do think using Keras’ heroing background against him like that was a little mean, and when that version of him gets his memories back he’s going to be very embarrassed…but I suppose that’s a good learning experience. Honestly? No stones to throw. Good work, Sera.”
Sera beamed. “My, you’re full of compliments today.”
“I’m in a good mood. You’re back here and whole. Isn’t that all I could ask for?”
Sera briefly froze, and I realized I’d just made a mistake. “…Whole.”
I winced. “I…I’m sorry, Sera. I didn’t mean.”
“No,” she turned away. “It’s fine. I…knew it was a long shot. And I did get a good boon, if not the one I wanted.”
“What’d you end up getting?”
“Something like what you did, but...” She gestured to the room around us. I got her meaning.
A bond to the crystal, then, and she doesn’t want to discuss it while we’re still here. Might be the same type of bond as mine, might not be.
“That’s a solid choice. And you got some loot out of the visit, too. Excellent work. We can talk about it more on the way home.”
She made a mock clapping gesture. “Congratulations. You’re getting better at remembering to be subtle.”
“And a compliment for me as well? What is this? Are we still illusions in the shrine? This seems fake.”
Sera laughed, but the laughter seemed…cracked. And not just because of the damage to her throat. I’d definitely messed up. I…wanted to fix it, but I had a habit of making things worse when I tried.
I tried anyway. “The deal with Farren. Did you decide if you’re…”
“I’m not.” Sera turned her head down, gazing at the floor. “As funny as it was to fake giving up Ceris, I absolutely wouldn’t do it in reality. Not even if she’d give me five attunements for it. And, knowing what we know about Farren now…”
“Artificial attunements would just give her more control over you. Yeah.” I nodded. “I agree. Is it back to pursuing Ferras herself, then? I still have the token. I could try to ask…”
“Thanks, Corin, but…we’re out of time. Vacation is over. I’
m just going to…” Sera went quiet.
“We could stay in Caelford a bit longer. Find a way back that’s faster than the train. Maybe Len could get us to Caelford, let us go in the tower, then carry us—”
“No.” Sera covered her eyes. “It’s…okay, Corin. I’m done.”
There was a pause, then…
“I’m done.”
After that, she fell silent, and I didn’t know what else to say.
Instead, I moved to her bed, sat down next to her, and patted the spot next to me.
And without a word, she laid her head against my shoulder and cried.
***
Late that night, after Sera had fallen asleep, I heard a knock on the door. Once again, Vanniv checked it with me. It wasn’t Constantine this time, though.
I found Len waiting outside. “I understand that you’re leaving tomorrow?”
I nodded. “That’s the plan.”
“Well, then, I have lessons that I owe you. Is this a good time?”
I glanced back at Vanniv.
“I can handle things here. Go on, shoo.” He waved at me.
I turned back to Len. “Lead the way.”
Len turned without another word and headed up the stairway, stopping at an unfamiliar room. She opened it, taking me into a small study, and took a seat at the solitary table. I closed the door behind us, then sat down.
“I won’t have enough time to teach you quite as much as I’d like, but there’s one particular thing that I promised you in specific, and I honor my debts.”
“The Jaden Box. You can teach me how to recharge it?” I asked.
“Yes, I can teach you the method, although I can’t promise that you’ll be able to use it with any degree of efficiency. Your magic is fundamentally different and adapting it to this purpose may prove to be a challenge to you.”
I nodded. That was within expectations. “Should I get it out?”
“Please.” She gestured.
I removed the box and sat it on the table in front of us. There was still a paranoid part of me that worried she might try to steal it, but if my suspicions about her level of power were correct, keeping the box in my pouch wouldn’t have made it any more secure than it was on the table. “So, what do I need to do?”
“First, we need to lay some foundations. You’re familiar with Valian runes, of course, but I presume you’re not familiar with Mythralian-style dominion marks?”
