The huge, whistling burst of air guttered the flames to nothing. But as George landed on the ground, sparks burst inside the brazier and built the fire right back up to blazing again.
Nova, who’d been watching him, dropped her Shield spell and turned toward the wall behind her. “Water Blast!” she called as she pointed her staff at the brazier. A jet stream of water poured from the end of the staff and hit the flames with a loud, hissing sound as clouds of vapor surrounded the fixture.
But as she lowered her staff with a tentative smile, the brazier started sparking, and then burst into fresh flames within seconds.
“Damn it, let’s just use those Water Gem things that Janno gave us!” Crash shouted as he bashed an imp from the air.
Shit, I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about those. I blamed it on Terra hitting on me and making me fantasize about a threesome, instead of focusing on the dungeon. “Yes! Everybody grab a brazier,” I said, scanning the room quickly for remaining imps. There was one fiery critter left, skittering across broken statues in Terra’s direction. “Listen, don’t kill—”
Before I could get the words out, Terra lunged forward and swung her blasting sword at the creature. The flames went out, and the darkened imp flew through the air and exploded against a wall.
“The last one,” I groaned as the firelight flared bright and the braziers started spitting again, each one of the four producing twelve fresh fire imps.
“Go! I’ve got you covered,” George said as he jumped in front of Nova. “Cone of Ice!”
The blue attack that burst from his body froze at least half a dozen imps in place. As I used Water Wall for about the hundredth time to drown an oncoming crowd of flaming critters, George leaped straight up and screamed, “Wind Blast!”
All of the frozen imps shattered under the assault, and George glowed with leveling light. My HUD informed me that my pet had reached level 15.
“Nice one, George!” I called, my shout turning to a snarl as two fireballs pelted me at once. I blasted yet another Water Wall and kicked a rushing, darkened imp into the stratosphere, then cut down another one with the sword.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Nova reach the brazier on the wall and toss the Water Gem into the flames. There was an explosive rush, a fierce bubbling sound, and water surged over the fire and poured through the slits in the sides of the brass fixture. It hissed and smoldered for a few seconds, but the fire didn’t rekindle. “It works!” Nova called out.
“Awesome,” I said as I ducked a fireball and slashed out at another imp. Across the room to my right, Crash was battling his way toward the wall through a surging wave of fire imps, and George was rushing over to offer his ice-blasting services.
That was when I noticed Terra backed into the far corner by at least a dozen of the fiery creatures. Her sword was powerful, but there was no way she’d be able to take out so many of them at once.
Nova spotted her at the same time and immediately started running toward her, throwing Water Blasts at the imps. I jumped over two of the creatures, knowing I’d probably take another few fireballs to the back, but at least I could get a running start.
Before I could try leaping the entire distance of the room, Terra shouted, “Shadow Step!” and lunged aside, into the flickering shadow of a mostly intact statue cast by the brazier on the back wall.
And she was gone.
“What the hell—” I managed, just before I heard a soft snap behind me that sounded like a wet stick breaking. I whirled around and watched Terra step out of another shadow, grinning through hard breaths. “Hey, for a minute there it looked like you were trying to save me. Thanks for that,” she said as she strode back toward the action, drawing her blasting sword back.
“Holy shit. I am totally stealing that skill,” I said, a grin spreading on my own face as I turned back to fight more imps.
Crash had managed to toss his Water Gem into a second brazier by now, and I blasted and smashed my way toward the wall where the door had been when we came through. As I whacked two extinguished fire imps with one blow, I pulled the Water Gem from my inventory and tossed it into the flaming fixture. I watched the fire bubble and hiss out, the water pouring from the brazier and splashing all over the floor.
Then a fireball exploded against my shoulder. I spun on a heel, ready to cast another Water Wall, but George was there blasting the creature who’d hit me with ice.
I brought my sword around and smashed the frozen bastard into smithereens.
“Okay, got it!” Terra yelled out as the last brazier in the room guttered and went out—plunging the place into complete darkness.
I sighed and held a hand out. “Light,” I called, and heard both Crash and Nova cast the same spell. The three soft white glows were enough to illuminate most of the room, and everyone walked toward the center.
“Looks like we’re done here,” I said as a grinding sound rolled through the room. At the end opposite from where we’d come in, a stone panel was sliding up to reveal a shimmering portal. “Er, but maybe we should hang for a few minutes anyway,” I said as I looked around and saw that we’d all taken our fair share of fireballs. A quick check of my stats showed that I had about thirty percent health and fifty percent mana left.
“Good idea. I’m spent,” Crash said with a groan as he sank onto a nearby fallen statue. “At least we can still say the water level sucked worse than this.”
“Yeah, for now,” I said as I lowered myself to the floor. “But we still have another level and a boss fight in here.”
Nova rubbed her arms and settled on the busted nub of a stone pedestal. “Don’t remind me. God, those fireballs really stung.”
“Come on. It wasn’t that bad,” Terra said as she stalked back and forth a few times before settling into a crouch.
“Right. That was fun, let’s re-light the braziers and do it again.” Crash smiled crookedly, then slid down to his knees and used his Priest’s Meditate skill, tuning us all out as he recharged his mana.
I cast Heal on myself and George, and Nova healed her sister first before she turned the spell to her own injuries. “Well, I guess it’s going to be a few minutes until we regen,” Nova said. “I just can’t believe we’ve gotten this far. Maybe we really can beat the dungeon.”
“Hell, yeah, we can,” George said as he hopped a few feet off and started grooming his somewhat sooty fur. “And I’m going to look damn good doing it, so don’t mind me.”
Just then, Crash broke out of his meditation and hauled himself back up onto the fallen statue. “What’d I miss?”
“Just George licking himself,” I said as I shifted position.
“Is it just me, or does this level seem harder than the others?” Nova said, looking at me. “Or at least, you know, more deadly.”
“Fire is usually the most aggressive element,” Terra answered before I could say anything. “Not that I’d know how hard the other levels were, since I was stuck in that damned hallway.”
Nova let out a sigh. “I said I was sorry—”
“No, I’m not mad at you. Don’t spaz out on me,” Terra said with a half-smile. “I’m just sorry I missed out on the rest of it.”
I shook my head. “Trust me, you didn’t miss anything worth seeing. A bunch of clockwork knights, a ship full of skeletons, ice monsters, a hydra—”
“Don’t forget the Big Red Button, and the dead fish,” Crash put in. “And the Drown Your Ass Room. That was loads of fun.”
Terra cocked her head slightly. “Water, huh?” she said. “I almost went there first, just to get it out of the way. The water levels always suck.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been saying,” Crash said with a laugh. “They’re the worst.”
“I guess we should be glad the worst is behind us, then,” I said as I stood and stretched, still feeling the effects of the latest fight. Getting hammered with fireballs was not cool. I almost wanted to summon Janno again and buy some more Water Gems, maybe even a quick snac
k. But more than that, I wanted to finish the dungeon. “Should we move on now, or what?”
“Not yet. I need some love to keep me warm.” A freshly groomed George hopped into Nova’s lap and snuggled down, blinking his bright eyes at me. “Plus, I’m still tired.”
Nova smiled as she ran her fingers through his fur. “Who’s a sweet little bunny?” she crooned.
“I am,” George said, beaming like an idiot.
Terra let out an explosive breath and stood, pacing away a few steps. “Why the hell is my mana taking so long to recharge?” she said, her gaze losing its focus as she looked at her screen. “My health’s back to full, but my mana is still at like fifty-five percent. It hasn’t refilled at all!”
I frowned and checked my own HUD. “What the hell? Mine’s still at fifty. And George is down to less than that.”
“Yeah, I’m still under sixty percent,” Crash said seconds later. “Looks like Nova’s around fifty percent too.”
“Okay, this is really not good,” I said as I scanned the room, looking for something that might be preventing a mana recharge — even though I’d never even heard of anything that could do that. “Elizabeth, do you know what’s going on? Why isn’t our mana refilling?”
“The fire level of the Dungeon of Oblivion has a dampening field that prevents natural mana regeneration,” Elizabeth said pleasantly, as if she wasn’t handing out a potential death sentence.
“Fuck! You couldn’t have told me that before we started the level?” I yelled, even though it wouldn’t do any good to shout at my computer. I sighed and looked at the others. “Apparently there’s a dampening field in this level, and we can’t regenerate mana.”
Terra grew even more furious, and Nova looked downright horrified.
“What do you mean, we can’t regen?” Crash said in a scratchy voice. “Are you saying we’re stuck with the mana we have until we beat the level?
I blew out a breath and forced myself to stay calm. “Elizabeth said it prevents natural mana regeneration, so I’m guessing we can still use stuff like Mana Drain and Body to Soul.”
“Great. So, we can burn through our health and die trying to get more mana?” Crash said as he stood and glared around the room. “This is bullshit.”
“We have to get out of here, right now,” Nova half-whispered, rising slowly to her feet and almost spilling George on the floor. “Oh my God, we’ll never make it. We’re all going to die!”
“No, we’re not,” I said firmly. “Our health still regens, so we’ll just take it easy and break after we complete the areas. And everybody can use Mana Drain and Body to Soul, right? Even you, George,” I said as my rabbit huddled against my ankle, trembling a little. “Well, you can use Mana Drain, anyway. We’re going to get through this.”
Terra firmed and nodded, putting an arm around her sister. “Kahn’s right. We’re gonna be fine,” she said as she rubbed Nova’s shoulder. “Come on, don’t fall apart on me. You’re brave now, remember? We can do this.”
Nova shuddered, and her lips quivered slightly. “All right,” she whispered. “But we have to stay together. All of us.” She swallowed and blinked back tears. “I might be brave, but I’m still scared.”
“That’s okay. Bravery’s all about doing things even when you’re scared of them,” I said, trying to offer a comforting smile. “There’s only one way out of here, and that’s through.” I nodded toward the portal across the room. “Just Mana Drain the crap out of everything you see, and you’ll be fine.”
We headed for the exit as I tried not to think about doing a boss fight without full mana. And I doubted I was the only one actively not thinking about it.
So much for the Water Level being the worst one.
31
When we walked through the portal, the stone panel slid down behind us and sealed us in. We were standing in a long, torch-lined stone corridor that ran left to right, with no visible doors and no indication of which way to go. But there were familiar symbols on the wall straight ahead.
“Oh, great. I bet it’s a maze,” Crash said as he looked down the hallway. “I hate mazes.”
“You hate everything, priest,” George said as he hopped toward Nova and Terra with a flip of his fuzzy tail. “How about we let them lead the way? Girls are better at not getting lost.”
“How about we read the sign first?” I said with a smirk, stepping closer to the wall as Crash came up next to me. I queued up my Sign Language skill and focused on the writing. “There’s just one sentence,” I said. “The true adventurer will never choose the safest path.”
Crash snorted. “Yeah, nice directions. Thanks a lot, you ever so helpful sign.”
Just then, the sound of sliding stone rumbled through the corridor and a panel slammed down from the ceiling, dividing the hallway in half — with me and Crash on one side, and Terra, Nova, and George on the other.
“Goddamn it, no!” I shouted, turning to pound on the wall. “Hey, can you hear me? George! Nova!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. “Terra? Guys, answer me!”
“Kahn, stop,” Crash said in a hollow voice. I glanced at him, saw the shocked expression on his face. “They’re probably screaming right now too,” he said. “And if we can’t hear them, they can’t hear us.”
I forced a breath through clenched teeth. “We’ve got to get this open,” I said, feeling the walls for a hidden switch or something. I used Detect Trap on the walls and the floor, in case someone had stepped on a tile, but nothing glowed green. “Maybe lock picking,” I said as I called up the skill.
“There’s no lock. Come on, dude, you can see that.” Crash put a hand on my shoulder, and I flinched. “We can’t get to them,” he said.
“No, we can’t leave them alone. We can’t!” I said, banging the wall again in frustration. “Maybe we can break it down. Freeze it or burn it, or something.”
An angry look flashed across Crash’s face for a second. “Look. They’re on their own, and so are we,” he said tightly. “We have to get through this level and hope they can, too.”
I didn’t want to let it go, but I knew he was right. There was nothing we could do. More than anything, I was worried about Nova and how scared she’d been — how desperate she was for everyone to stay together. But I knew George would protect her.
I only hoped he wouldn’t do it at the expense of his own life. I couldn’t stand to lose the adorable little smart-mouthed jerk.
“All right, fine,” I said at last. “At least there’s only one way to go now, so I guess we’ll head that way.”
Crash patted my back awkwardly. “That’s the spirit. Straight into doom.”
“Yeah, thanks. Very encouraging,” I said with a smirk.
We headed down the corridor, and it wasn’t long before we came to a T junction with more hallways branching out in both directions. To the right was a corridor just like this one, quiet and empty except for the torches on the walls. And to the left, the floor was lava with a bunch of stepping stones floating on top of it, around three or four feet apart.
“The true adventurer will never choose the safest path,” I said with a sigh, turning toward the lava hallway. “I guess we’re going that way.”
Crash groaned. “I knew you’d say that.”
“Tell you what, I’ll go first,” I said as I surveyed the stepping stone path. I didn’t want to try using the Leaping Cloak to jump over the whole thing, because I still didn’t have a lot of control over where I landed. But at least they weren’t too far apart for regular jumps.
I took the cloak off and stored it in my inventory, just to make sure I wouldn’t jump further than I wanted. “Here goes nothing,” I said as I took a few steps back, then ran and jumped.
My feet landed squarely in the middle of the stepping stone. It wobbled a little on the surface of the molten lava, and I could feel the intense heat below through my boots. As I turned back to tell Crash it was okay, the lava bubbled along the edges of the stone disc — and it started sinki
ng into the red-hot river below.
“Oh, shit!” I breathed, making the snap decision to jump back to the hallway where Crash stood instead of going to the next stone. I could always make the jump again.
But as I landed on the solid floor of the hallway juncture, Crash stared and pointed at the lava. “Oh, shit is right,” he said.
I spun around in time to see the first stepping stone bubble beneath the surface and vanish, leaving a space of about ten feet between the floor we stood on and the next stone disc.
I swallowed briefly. “It’s okay. The platform will respawn in a minute,” I said as I watched the lava-filled space. “We’re probably supposed to cross this stuff one at a time, or something.”
A minute passed, and then two. The first stepping stone failed to respawn.
“Well, I guess we’re done already,” Crash said, throwing up his hands. “The safe way is the wrong way, so there’s probably a bunch of traps or pitfalls down there that’ll trap us in this stupid dungeon forever.”
I shook my head, still watching the lava. The rest of the stepping stones seemed to be moving, re-spacing themselves. The nearest one had drifted a few feet closer, and the rest drifted along the lava until they were all spaced around five or six feet apart. Which was still doable.
But I had to assume every platform would sink into the lava after it was landed on.
“Okay, here’s what we have to do,” I said, praying that Terra and Nova would be able to figure it out too, if their half of the maze was even the same as ours. “We’re gonna have to jump these things together.”
Crash gave me a look. “Are you kidding me? How are we supposed to time all those jumps so we land at the same time?”
I grinned and held a hand out.
His gaze slid from my outstretched hand to my face, and he slumped in place. “If you ever tell anybody about this, I swear to God I’ll kill you,” he said as he took the hand.
“I love you too, Crash,” I said, trying to judge the distance we’d need for a good running start. “Remember, you have to believe you can jump that far. Like your life depends on it.”
Soulstone_Oblivion Page 21
