I had my doubts about that, but I’d keep them to myself for now. We had to stay together — even if one of us was flouncing off in an ungrateful snit.
“You’re way better than your sister,” George said as the rest of our party went down the corridor after Terra.
Nova smiled. “And you’re the sweetest bunny I’ve ever met,” she said. “But really, Terra kicks ass. You’ll see.”
I could hardly wait for a demonstration of Terra’s kick-assness.
24
There was an unlocked door at the end of the hallway that led to another room. Terra had opened the door before we got there, but she waited outside until I cast Detect Trap inside and nothing stayed green. Then we all piled in.
The room was about fifteen by fifteen feet, with the door we entered through the only way in or out. Near the back of the room was a crystal altar with a glass box in the center, smaller than the one in the puzzle chamber, enclosing a small item I couldn’t quite make out. Two old-fashioned copper oil lamps straight out of Aladdin flanked the box on either side.
“Okay, we’re gonna need whatever’s in that box,” Terra said as she started across the room.
“Yeah, no shit,” I muttered. If this girl really thought she was hot shit just because she knew we had to collect prominently displayed items to get through a dungeon, maybe she wasn’t as amazing as she thought. “Look, it’s not going to be as easy as walking up and taking it,” I said.
She glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. “Do you really think I don’t know that?” she said. “Whatever happens, I can handle it.”
“Really. Like you handled that corridor out there?” I said, folding my arms.
Terra huffed. “You have no idea—”
A loud slam interrupted her as the door to the room closed itself.
“I didn’t do it!” George said as he headed toward me. “Not this time, anyway.”
Crash pointed toward the altar. “Yeah, let’s not worry about who did it,” he said. “Let’s worry about that.”
I looked to see thick blue smoke pouring out of the oil lamps. Shapes formed from the smoke and solidified to become grinning, blue-skinned guys with pointed ears, wearing turbans, puffy pants, and curly-toed shoes. Genies — and probably not the wacky Robin Williams kind.
The genies clapped their hands at the same time, producing bolts of lightning that headed straight for me and Terra.
“Shield!” we both shouted at the same time, holding a hand out. Opaque energy flooded out and formed a wall, taking most of the impact of the lightning bolts before they broke through. I hit the floor to dodge the weakened attack and noticed Terra doing the same thing.
Crash was already launching Spectral Blades, and as his attack hit, George jumped forward and yelled, “Cone of Ice!”
As Terra and I got back up, Nova gestured with the staff at her sister. “Warrior’s Blessing!” she called, and then hit the other genie with Weaken Armor.
The blast of golden light that flew from the staff hit Terra, surrounding her with a shimmering gold aura. As I joined Crash and George to fight the genie on our side, casting Chaotic River and then following up with Star Scream for a direct hit, Terra whirled and brought her hands together like she was about to cast a Kamehameha wave from Dragonball Z.
“Shadow Strike!” she cried.
A tangled stream of thick black plasma ropes burst from her hands, slithering like snakes as they headed for the other genie. The writhing bundle hit him square in the chest as the ropes headed in multiple directions, wrapping around the genies limbs, torso, and throat. Terra closed both of her hands into fists and pulled them apart, as if she was ripping something.
The black plasma ropes tightened and jerked, tearing the genie into pieces as blood and bone flew everywhere.
Holy shit. I couldn’t believe she’d one-shotted that thing.
“Star Scream!” I heard Crash shout. I turned my attention to the other genie in time to see Crash’s attack drive him to his knees, just after he’d killed the last skeleton from the Chaotic River. George followed up with Wind Blast, and the genie flew back to smash into the far wall, stunned but not dead.
A little irritated that Terra had killed one of these things so easily, I pulled my sword and ran at the blue-skinned monster. “Revering Vendetta,” I snarled as I lunged and jumped, plunging the green-glowing blade straight through the genie’s chest. Thick blue blood flowed from the wound and exploded from his mouth. As he slumped over dead, the closed door to the room became a shimmering, multicolored portal.
I pressed a foot against the body and yanked my sword free, dripping with blood. “I guess that wasn’t so bad,” I said.
“Uh, yeah,” Crash said slowly, staring at Terra. “Did you really just do that? How did you do that?”
“With a massive buff and a curse on your target,” I said as I started back for the center of the room, wiping a hand down the blade of my sword to get the blood off. “It was a bad-ass move, though.”
Terra shook her head, but she smiled slightly. “Nova and I have been doing this together since the beginning. But I’ll admit, you guys aren’t too bad. At least you know how to work with what you have,” she said as she flexed a hand and headed for the altar. “Now, let’s get whatever this is so we can move on.”
She stopped and drove a fist into the top of the glass box, shattering it with the spikes on her gauntlet.
“Damn. She’s kind of scary,” George said.
Nova approached her sister slowly as she swept glass out of the way and grabbed the object from the box. “Terra, I’m sorry I didn’t come with you,” she said. “I just …”
“Don’t worry about it,” Terra said abruptly, and then her features softened. “Really, it’s okay,” she said with a smile, putting an arm around Nova. “You’re here now. And look, we have a key.” She held up the object — a notch-and-barrel crystal key about two inches long.
I walked toward them with Crash and George. “Actually, it looks like we have two keys,” I said as I pointed at the box, where an identical key to the one she held lay among the broken glass.
Terra frowned and moved to pick up the second key, but her fingers seem to go right through it. “What the hell?”
“Let me try,” Nova said as she stepped around Terra and reached for the box.
“If I can’t get it, I doubt you can,” Terra said. “We should try a magic resistance buff, or …” She trailed off as Nova grabbed the twin of her crystal key and lifted it from the box. “Okay, fine. Maybe you can.”
Just as she spoke, a third key materialized in the same place.
Nova smiled a little. “Well, I got it,” she said. “Sort of.”
“I think it’s a party item. It’ll keep duplicating until every player in the party has one,” I said as I walked up and grabbed the newest key. I had no trouble picking it up, and another one appeared instantly. “That one’s yours, Crash.”
As he went to the altar and reached in for the key, George said, “Let me guess. No items for the rabbit.”
“Dude, you don’t even have opposable thumbs. What do you need a key for?” Crash said as his hand closed around the key. When he lifted it from the box, no replacement appeared.
George made a gesture that probably would’ve been obscene if he had fingers.
“Okay, boys. Enough squabbling,” Terra said. I thought she might’ve covered a laugh, but I couldn’t be sure. “We have the items, so let’s find out what’s through that portal.”
“Hold on. We don’t know what to do with them,” I said as I looked around the room again. “Maybe there’s something in here that’ll help us figure it out.”
“Yeah, like what? Directions?” Terra said with a snort.
“Actually, yes,” I said as I picked up one of the oil lamps from the altar. It looked like there was writing on the side, but I couldn’t quite make it out. I grabbed the edge of my sleeve, thinking how crazy it was that I was about to rub a genie�
�s lamp. Hell, maybe I’d get three wishes out of this or something.
I shrugged and rubbed the lamp anyway.
More blue smoke started pouring from the spout. I set the lamp hastily on the altar, stepped back and grabbed my sword, ready to kill whatever came out of there. But instead of a genie, the smoke formed rows of glowing, familiar symbols in the air.
“What language is that?” Terra said as the symbols finished drawing themselves. “Elvish? Orcish?”
“It’s Sign Language,” I said as I queued up the skill and focused on the writing, reading it aloud. “But even bound in solid form, they make a wicked foe. No force on earth will cut them down, they must be sent below.” The writing started to fade as I finished reading it, and I frowned and turned toward the others. “Well, that didn’t make a whole lot of sense.”
Nova stared at the vanishing symbols, and then looked at the altar. “That’s because it’s the second part of the message,” she said as she picked up the other lamp. “At least, I think it is. Maybe.” She pulled a sleeve up and rubbed the side of the lamp.
It worked. Smoke jetted out and formed a new set of symbols. “To defeat the spirits of the wind, they must be trapped within,” I read. “When the key is fit to their empty hearts, they’re drawn into their prisons.” Once again, the symbols faded after I read them. “Wind spirits. Awesome,” I said. “Those must be the things that brought us here.”
“So, we have to go back and fight them again?” Crash shook his head and sent an unhappy glance at the portal. “That’s bullshit. Nothing touches them,” he said. “Your little prophecy there even said no force can harm them.”
Terra gave him a narrow look. “Obviously, we’re supposed to do something with these keys.”
“Yeah, and I think I know what,” I said. “Those crystal statues on the wind demon platform have slots in their chests. Those must be their prisons, and we’re supposed to use the keys to bind them to the crystals.”
“And send them below,” George said, taking a few hops toward the portal. “Below where, though?”
“I guess that’s the only thing we still have to figure out,” I said as I crossed the room. “So, let’s go do it.”
25
The portal brought us back to the center of the floating platform. Nova came through last this time, and as soon as she stepped onto the stone ground, the shimmering door vanished, and the whistling rush of the wind spirits sounded all around us.
So much for catching a breath before the fight started.
“Just pick a statue and use your key on it,” I said as I ran toward one of them. “Come on, George! I want you to stay close to me.”
As I was closing in on the crystal statue, I sensed something rushing at me from above and ducked, just in time to have one of the wind spirits blow past me. I turned and glanced up. The smoke-swirling wind forms swarmed in the sky above us, darting everywhere and occasionally swooping down to attack. There were twelve statues, and it looked like all twelve of the spirits that belonged to them had congregated over the platform.
“Get a move on, boss!” George shouted, barely dodging one of the apparitions. “These things don’t freeze or blow away, you know!”
I thrust the key into the statue’s slot and turned it. As I did, there was a shriek of outrage from the sky, and a whirling funnel formed above the head of the statue and sucked into the crystal form. A deep red glow infused the statue, and it roared as it stepped down from the pedestal and started toward me.
I scrambled back and checked my skills list. Chaotic River had a fairly long cooldown, but it’d just ticked down and was available for use again. “Chaotic River!” I called, shooting a bolt of energy at the ground. The stone split open, gleaming with red light as the skeletons scrambled out and surged toward the crystal spirit. They dogpiled onto the creature and began hacking away with the bone daggers they carried.
But the crystal-bound spirit didn’t even slow down. It just kept coming, covered with skeletons.
“Okay, fine. Fire Wall!” I gestured at the spirit, and flames surged up in front of it, a wall high enough to block it from view. Seconds later, the animated crystal statue lunged through the fire with a bunch of skeletons still clinging to it.
“Incoming!” George yelled suddenly.
I dove for the ground without even looking up and felt one of the unbound spirits whoosh past me. As I rolled and stood, I grabbed my sword and charged at the crystal spirit.
“Anybody manage to hit one of these things with anything?” I shouted as I brought the sword around hard, catching the creature in the side. The blow lifted it into the air and sent it flying back a few feet to collide with the stone wall at the edge of the platform. But when it hit the ground, it started to get back up immediately.
“Not a damned thing!” Crash called back. I looked to see him moving rapidly backwards from an oncoming crystal statue, holding a hand in front of him. “Let’s try this. Malediction!”
Dark green light poured from his hand and struck the crystal spirit. The energy sank into the creature, swirling muddy green tendrils through the red glow inside it. For a moment the spirit slowed as the cursed energy filled it, but then a red spark flashed in the center of its crystal chest and spread. Within seconds it was back to full power again. “Shit! I really thought that’d work,” Crash said angrily.
“Shadow Strike!” I heard Terra shout from the other side of the platform. I glanced around, hoping her powerful attack would at least do some damage to these things. Nova had stayed with her, casting buffs and debuffs instead of trying to handle one of the statues herself. Considering how strong they were, it was a smart move.
But as the black tendrils of Terra’s Shadow Strike wrapped around the crystal spirit, it reached down, tore them away like they were cobwebs, and kept coming.
“This is dumb!” George said as he looked at the crystal spirit I’d knocked down. At least they were slow to get up. It had just gotten to one knee with its hands flat on the ground, starting to push itself up. “Well, you knocked it over, right? Maybe I can too,” he said as he bounded into the air and shouted, “Wind Blast!”
An immense gust of wind exploded from George’s furry body, lifting the crystal spirit from the ground and blasting it over the wall. The creature let out a furious roar, but the sound faded quickly as it fell into the endless nothing beneath the platform.
“George! You’re a genius!” I cried.
“I am?” His little face scrunched in confusion, and then he beamed. “Of course, I am,” he said. “Why, though?”
“They must be sent below. We can’t kill them, we have to knock them off the platform!” I turned and raised my voice so everyone else could hear me. “We’re supposed to push them over the wall! Hit these guys with anything that gets them airborne. We have to send them below.”
“Fucking awesome. I don’t have any wind skills,” Crash said as he pulled the Defender’s Sword and rushed at the spirit he’d trapped. When he struck it, the crystal monster flew back and fell at the foot of the wall. “Damn it, this is going to take forever! Get up, you stupid sack of evil wind.”
Terra cursed loudly. “I lost my sword fighting these assholes the first time,” she snarled, lunging aside as one of the free-moving wind shrouds rushed at her. “Nova, I need more power.”
Nova nodded and held a hand out. “Warrior’s Strength!”
The buff surrounded Terra with the same type of golden aura as Warrior’s Blessing. She spun and jumped toward the crystal spirit they’d been fighting, twisting in midair to land on her hands and launch herself feet-first at the enemy. Her booted feet struck the spirit in the stomach, lifting the thing clear off its feet and launching it over the wall like a missile.
Holy shit. I was really starting to see why Terra thought the two of them could take the dungeon. They made a hell of a team.
“Finally!” Crash shouted as he sent the crystal monster flying over the edge with a massive sword blow. He turned away,
glanced up and hit the deck as another flying wind spirit shrieked toward him. “I hate these things,” he muttered as he pushed back up.
“Yeah, well at least we know how to beat them now,” I said, moving toward one of the remaining statues as I grabbed the key again. “Nine more to go.”
George rushed along behind me. “You whack ’em, I’ll blow ’em,” he said. “Er. That didn’t sound right. You know what I mean.”
“Got it,” I said, laughing under my breath as I inserted the key and turned it. The scream of the spirit being sucked into the statue was followed by two more as Crash and Terra trapped them.
As the crystal spirit in front of me roared to life, I stepped back and swung my sword, smacking it into the stone wall. George was right there to follow up with Wind Blast. The bunny’s powerful attack sent the bound spirit tumbling back over the barrier, into the endless black below.
Just then, I heard one of the girls scream.
I pivoted and ran toward them, already assessing the situation. The crystal spirit had hit Terra with something that sent her sprawling. She was already getting up, but one of the flying apparitions was headed straight for Nova. It hit her full force, driving her back against the animated statue, and the crystal arms locked around her, pinning her hands to her sides.
The crystal spirit turned and started for the wall, carrying a struggling Nova and clearly intending to jump off with her.
“Get off her, you bastard!” Terra screamed as she shot a hand out. “Chains of Shadow!”
A thick black substance streamed from her palm and surged around the spirit, forming shackles and chains that bound it to the ground. It strained against the bonds, and one of them broke almost immediately.
I’d almost reached them when Terra rushed at the crystal spirit, drawing a hand back. But instead of casting a spell, she punched it square in the face. “Let go!” she cried, trying in vain to pull the creature’s arms loose. She rammed another fist into the crystal creature’s side, to no apparent effect.
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