Soulstone: Oblivion (World of Ruul Book 3)

by J. A. Cipriano

“Well, there’s a ledge,” Terra said as she pointed to a flat stone shelf about a foot wide that ran all the way around the room and connected with the platform we were standing on. “Maybe there’s another door on the other side, and we can’t see it because of the column.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe,” I said as I moved to the edge of the platform, trying to see past the center column. It was too wide to look around. “It would make sense, given all the other puzzles in this place. But then again, between walking the ledge and getting to the center column, which one’s harder? I’d say crossing lava is the bigger challenge.”

  “You mean impossible,” Crash muttered as he started running a hand along the column on the platform. “We can’t exactly fly. I mean, maybe you can, with your flying cloak.”

  “It’s a leaping cloak. And yeah, I could probably make the jump by myself,” I said as I pulled the cloak from my inventory and put it on to equip it. “But I doubt I’d be able to carry everyone over there, even one at a time.”

  Nova peered over the platform at the drop off to lava. “Let’s not try to find out if you can,” she said, shuddering as she backed away. “If you don’t make it, I’m pretty sure that’s instant death, no matter how much Fire Resist you have.”

  That was true. Nova had cast the Fire Resist buff on everyone right before we came in here, but that sure as hell didn’t make any of us lava-proof.

  “Maybe I could freeze it. You know, like I did with those trampoline stairs,” George said. Without waiting for anyone to comment on the idea, he jumped up and aimed at the lava. “Cone of Frost!” he shouted.

  A huge blue blast shot from his body and pooled out rapidly across the glowing, spitting molten rock below. For a few seconds it looked like it might work, but then the layer of ice boiled off into hissing steam and vanished in the shimmering air.

  “Well, that was fun,” George said as he hopped away from the edge. “Anybody got a plan B?”

  “I don’t know about you guys, but my plan is basically ‘don’t jump into the lava,’” Crash said unhelpfully.

  “Yeah, great plan,” Terra said as she rolled her eyes and inspected the ceiling, like maybe there were some vines up there we could swing from. “How about Mr. Jumps-On-Dragons takes a leap over to that platform, to see if there’s a door on the other side of the room?”

  I shook my head. “Okay, first of all, if I ever need a Native American name, it’s gonna be Jumps On Dragons,” I said with a smirk.

  “Nice one. And the priest here can be Throws Dead Fish,” George chuckled.

  Crash shook a fist at him. “Try harder, Fluff Brain. You were almost funny that time.”

  “And second of all,” I said before they could keep sniping at each other. “I’m pretty sure I’d need a running start to actually make that jump, even with the cloak. That platform looks a lot smaller than this one, so even if I did make it over there, it’d be a one-way trip for me. Besides, there has to be a way for anyone to solve this puzzle room, even if they don’t have a not-really-flying cloak.”

  “Yeah, except this dungeon is instanced for our party,” Terra shot back, not letting the argument drop. “So, what if it’s considering the abilities we have — or the items we pick up here? That cloak was a boss drop.”

  “Okay, fine. That’s a valid point,” I said. “But—”

  “I’ll walk around the ledge,” Nova said quietly, looking at both of us.

  Terra stared at her. “You’ll what?”

  “I’ll walk around the ledge,” she repeated. “To see if there’s a door on the other side. I’m the smallest, so I have the least chance of falling off, right?”

  Great. Now I felt like a jerk for being cautious for once, but seriously, Nova was right about the lava. Landing in it would be insta-kill city for any of us. “No, you don’t have to do that,” I said, looking around for anything I might’ve missed. “There has to be a way to—”

  “Maybe this has something to do with it?” Crash said as he circled around from the back of the column, holding a massive coil of rope. “It was hanging on a big-ass hook back there.”

  “Huh,” I said, and pointed at the rope. “Identify.”

  * * *

  ROPE

  Material: Fiber

  Durability: 200

  * * *

  “WELL, there’s nothing special about it. It’s just rope,” I said as I turned in a slow circle, looking for something we could attach it to. The center column joined with the ceiling, so there was no way to loop it, even if it turned out one of us had lassoing skills or something.

  But then again, maybe there was a way to loop it.

  “How long is this thing?” I said, grabbing the rope from Crash’s hands. I tugged the end that was tucked under the coil and shook it loose, trying to estimate. At a quick glance, I figured it was probably fifty or sixty feet long.

  So, at least twice the distance to the center column.

  “What does it matter how long it is?” Terra said in an irritated tone. “There’s no way to anchor it to anything.”

  “Yes, there is,” I said as I slapped the column next to us and walked around the back of it. There was the big-ass hook Crash mentioned, driven into the stone about five or six feet off the ground. It looked sturdy enough, but I gave it a few hard tugs to be sure, and then grabbed it with both hands and hung from it. When it didn’t break, I tied one end of the rope to the hook with a double knot and circled around to the front of the column.

  Nova raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”

  “I tied one end to the hook back there,” I said, jerking my head toward the column as I wound the rest of the rope into a loose coil. “Now, if we just walk the rope all the way around the ledge, it’ll loop around the center column and we can tie the other end on the hook.”

  “And then we can climb across,” Nova said with a sudden smile. “Perfect. I’ll take the rope.”

  “No, I’ll do it,” I said, knowing how afraid of dying she was. “I’ve got the highest dex.”

  But Nova wasn’t having it. “I’m smaller and lighter,” she said as she took the coiled rope from my hands. “Besides, I have to do something … brave, you know? Just to prove to myself that I can.”

  Terra looked like she was about to stop her, but she backed down reluctantly. “Don’t you die on me, you got that?” she said, her voice slightly unsteady.

  “Don’t worry. You’ll still have your support,” Nova told her.

  Terra gave a genuine smile. “Who cares about support? You’re my sister.”

  “Aw. I love you, too,” Nova said as she moved toward the ledge and shuffled onto it, paying the rope out slowly. “I’ll be fine, I promise.”

  I watched her like a hawk for a few minutes, until I was relatively sure she wouldn’t fall and flash-fry herself right away, and then relaxed a little and fell back. “So, we’re on the last level,” I said to no one in particular. “We beat this one, and then we’ll probably have to take down that statue out there. Maybe we should work out a strategy for that?”

  Terra made a skeptical noise. “Nothing in here is predictable. I don’t see how we could possibly plan for something when we don’t know what’s going to happen.”

  “Hell, we haven’t planned a damned thing since we got to Ruul,” Crash said glumly, kicking a few loose pebbles over the edge of the platform and into the lava. “There’s never anything to plan for. Shit just happens.”

  I laughed a little. “Yeah, I guess it does. At least we’re handling it so far.”

  “Oh, you’re handling it?” George said with a snort. “Maybe everything but the crazy chicks. Present company excepted, of course — unless you’re a secret whack-job too?” he added as he looked at Terra.

  She flashed a dazzling smile. “I just might be, rabbit. I guess you’ll never know.”

  “Yeah, she’s definitely scary,” George said. “But I like her.”

  I nodded absently and did a check on Nova. She was out of sight on
the other side of the center column when I looked over, but after a minute she shuffled into view, still paying out the rope. She gave a little wave when she saw me watching her. I waved back.

  “You are hitting on her,” Terra said as her lips curled into a smile. “I knew it.”

  “Dude. If that’s hitting on people, I must be a total sex-crazed pervert,” Crash laughed. “Protective of your sister much?”

  “Nah, she’s the protective one. I’m the rebel, obviously.” Terra held a hand out and blew on her black-painted fingernails.

  I was about to say something about the whole Goth thing when a loud crack echoed through the room, and my heart jumped into my throat even before I heard Nova scream. I shoved Crash aside and moved as far back on the platform as possible, taking a split second to locate her and assess the situation — part of the ledge had broken off, and she was scrambling to stay on but losing the fight — before I took off running and jumped as hard as I could.

  “Are you out of your fucking mind?” I heard Crash scream behind me. But I didn’t have time to think about it.

  I tried to steer my trajectory as close to Nova as I could without landing on the broken part of the ledge. My leap had worked a little too well, and I was definitely going to hit the wall, but I couldn’t put my arms out because I’d push myself off the narrow ledge. I’d have to take the hit face-first.

  I turned my head as I smashed flat against the wall, letting my body slide the foot or so until my feet found the ledge. I’d landed within grabbing distance, so I reached out and curled an arm around Nova, pressing her against the wall. “Easy,” I said as she gasped and instinctively squirmed a little. “I’ve got you, okay? Just hold still.”

  “Okay,” she whispered shakily. “I … I trust you.”

  “Good.” I bounced a little on my feet, making sure the part of the ledge was standing on wouldn’t crumble away, and then eased my other hand over for a better grip on Nova, taking careful steps to the side until I could set her down safely. “You all right?” I asked her.

  She let out a long, shuddering breath. “I am now. Thank you,” she said quietly. “Guess I’m not so brave after all, huh?”

  “No, you are. You’re definitely brave,” I said, smiling as I tried to catch my breath. “You’re also not dead, which is the most important thing.”

  She smiled back. “And you’re crazy.”

  “Yeah, crazy is my middle name these days.” I took her hand firmly. “We do this together. We’ll both be brave, and we’ll both not die, okay?”

  “It’s a deal,” she nodded.

  Nova had already gotten about three-quarters of the way around, so it didn’t take long for us to get back to the others. I stepped back onto solid ground with more than a little relief and kept hold of Nova’s hand until she was safely on the platform.

  “I’ve got this. You catch your breath,” Crash said as he took the rope from Nova and headed for the column, giving me a smirk and a head-shake on the way. “You really gotta stop jumping at things that can kill you.”

  “Yeah, I’ll work on that,” I said as leaned back against the wall and sagged a little.

  Terra hugged Nova tightly without a word, and then looked over at me. “Thank you.”

  I nodded and lifted a hand. Maybe she’d think I was hitting on her, too.

  Hell, maybe I was.

  “For what it’s worth, you did it. We have a rope bridge,” Crash said as he came around the column and twanged one of the taut ropes. He’d tied it the smart way, shaking the other end down so the ropes headed for the center at an incline. We could almost slide down it. “So, who’s climbing over the lava first?”

  “I’ll do it,” Terra said, already headed for one of the ropes. She grabbed it with both hands, bent at the knees and swung her legs up, hooking her ankles over the top with the ease of an acrobat. “I’m so ready to get out of this stupid room.”

  She got going fast, half-pushing and half-sliding down the rope like a monkey.

  “Well, that doesn’t look so bad, I guess,” Crash sighed as he moved to the rope. “I’ll go next.”

  I glanced at Nova, making sure she wasn’t too rattled, and then crouched by George. “What do you think, buddy? Wanna ride with me?” I said. “I mean, I know how much you like your sweet hood action, but that’s not such a great idea if you’re traveling horizontal.”

  “You mean you’re not gonna jump across?” George said. “What happened to Jumps On Dragons?”

  “Right now, I’m Slides On Rope,” I said as I rubbed my still-sore chest. “I smacked into that wall pretty damned hard. If there’s a choice, I’d rather not use the leaping thing until I get a little more practice in.”

  George grinned. “Fair point. Then it’s you and me, boss.”

  Both Terra and Crash had gotten safely to the center platform, and Nova was standing by the rope, looking at me. “Are you going next, or should I?” she said.

  I shrugged. “You go ahead. I’ll hold the fort down here.”

  “Okay,” she said as she grabbed the rope and swung her legs up, just as easily as Terra had.

  These two were a couple of limber sisters.

  I watched until she reached the platform, and then scooped George into one arm. “Just a minute while I get up here,” I said, grabbing the rope with one hand. I had to move fast as I jumped and swung my body up and managed to hook it with one leg. Okay, so I wasn’t quite as graceful as Terra and Nova. I hauled the other leg up, twisted my torso sideways and set George on my chest so I could grab the rope with the other hand. “All right, hang on,” I told him.

  He gave me a look and raised a paw. “With what?”

  “Just try not to bite me,” I said, grinning as I started the scrunching slide above the lava.

  It didn’t take as long as I thought it would to get to the platform. When I was over solid ground, Nova reached out and lifted George off me, and I swung my feet down and pushed up. “Tell me that door opens, and there’s somewhere else to go behind it,” I said.

  “It does, and there is,” Terra said as she grabbed the door knob. “So, let’s go there instead of here.”

  30

  The next area was a large chamber almost as big as the main room of the dungeon, and the whole place was littered with busted statues and rubble. Four massive braziers, one mounted on each wall, blazed bright and threw flickering shadows everywhere. Nothing moved in the room until we shut the door, and a section of stone wall slid down over it, making the door vanish.

  I thought maybe the statues would reassemble themselves and start attacking. But instead, small wads of flames arched up from the braziers like they were spitting liquid fire. Each of the large bronze fixtures spite out three fire wads, and they landed around the room and blazed up into three-foot imps made of fire.

  Immediately, the fire imps started tearing ass all over the place, giggling and throwing fireballs as they ran.

  “Shit, there’s a lot of these assholes!” I shouted as I ducked beneath a zipping ball of fire. “Let’s put some of them out. Water Wall!” I called as I pushed a hand out.

  Water bubbled up from the floor in front of me and built into a wave, swelling and crashing over two of the imps. It would’ve gotten four, but the other two ran and jumped onto a half-busted statue that was just legs and a waist.

  George flashed in front of me, leaping into the air and throwing a blizzard of ice at another fire imp. I heard Crash and Terra start throwing offensive spells, while Nova buffed her sister and shot off an Ice Lance. The two imps I’d drowned were no longer on fire, but still alive. Now they just looked like angry, shaved monkeys with no tails.

  As I drew my sword to rush them, something hot and sizzling hit me in the back. I whirled around to see a fire imp standing on a pedestal, where a pair of jagged stone feet was all that remained of a statue. It was giggling, forming another fireball to throw at me.

  “I don’t think so,” I said as I gestured at the imp. “Water Wall.”r />
  This time the water bubbled up from the base of the pedestal and swirled rapidly around it, encasing the fire imp in a column of water. I heard scrabbling behind me and spun just in time to bring my sword around and blast a drenched, leaping imp mid-air. When the blade struck the little creature, it burst into red shards of light.

  I finished off the other one with my sword and turned back to the pedestal. The no-longer-fiery imp had clambered down and started a run toward me, so I drew a leg back and punted it like a football. The imp shrieked and flew through the air, exploding into pixels when it smashed into the far wall.

  “Chains of Frost!” I heard Crash shout behind me. I turned around to see a guttering fire imp bound to the leg of a statue with frosty blue, semi-transparent chains, and George launching a full-on ice barrage at the creature. When it was completely frozen, Crash swung his sword and shattered the creature into vanishing sparkles of light.

  Just beyond him, Terra brought her new sword around in a wide arc, sending a massive gust of wind at two more burning imps. Their flames went out as they launched backwards, smashed to the ground and exploded.

  “Well, that was easy,” Terra said as she lowered her sword.

  Crash glared at her. “Why did you say that? Never say that was easy.”

  As if the room wanted to prove his words prophetic, the braziers started spitting out more flame wads — six each this time. Within seconds, we had twenty-four imps zipping around the room, jumping over busted statues and chucking fireballs everywhere.

  “If these things spawn again, it’s just going to be an inferno in here!” I shouted as I cast Water Wall and managed to catch three of them in the resulting wave.

  Another fireball whacked me in the thigh, and I snarled and whirled to bat one of the flaming imps from the air with my sword. This one didn’t die when it landed — so the trick was definitely to put the flames out first, and then kill the little bastards.

  I cleaved two of them into bursts of light and washed out another four. Across the room, I saw Crash take three direct fireball hits at once and fall to his knees, the glowing corona of Sacred Spiral blowing damage back at his attackers right before he roared an ice spell at the nearest imp. George leaped past him with a Wind Blast on his way to Nova, who’d cast Shield and was firing ice bolts around it.