“Raphael, you still have your wings,” I said.
He lit up like an oversized, muscular firefly. “I do.”
“Duh! Okay. Knowing that, over there, is an actual, functioning door,” I replied, revisiting my earlier idea, “and given that, if I were the Soul Crusher, I’d design the two tiles in front of it with pressure plates and horrible traps, I say that our only remaining solution out of here is by flight.”
“Hold on. I mean, yes, that’s doable. But remember, these freezing particles are really doing a number on us. On me. On my wings,” Raphael said. I’d worried about that, too.
“But you can still fly,” Taeral chimed in, mirroring my smile.
“How about you spread your wings now and show us exactly how slow they are?” I asked Raphael.
He smirked and flexed his shoulders. His wings exploded outward, white and beautiful and covered in silky feathers, each spanning about ten feet in length. He moved them, cautiously at first, then flapped them hard enough to lift him off the ground.
He landed back on the same tile, his expression increasingly confident.
“I think you’re on to something, and I think it’s part of the reason why I’m head over heels with you,” he said, his gaze darkening.
I knew I wouldn’t make it to tomorrow without his help. But what would’ve tomorrow been, without him in it? At least, this way, as crazy as my plan sounded, we had a shot at finding out what the future would be like.
We only had three options here, two of which were painful, to put it mildly. We could quit, letting the end come for all of us and for every single living creature out there. We could keep trying the tiles until one or more of us died. Our crew was perfect the way it was, and if not all of us made it out of here alive, then there was a chance that retrieving Thieron might fail. Each of us was important to this quest. And we all had to survive it.
Therefore, the third and likely insane option was for Raphael to fly and force his way through that glowing door line. If that worked, then he could pick us up, one by one, and carry us across the threshold and hopefully out of this godforsaken labyrinth of ancient Reaper madness. I refused to think what would happen if it didn’t work.
Doing that would’ve tainted our odds of success. I hadn’t been superstitious before, but I’d been holding on to every single sliver of hope I came across, regardless of its origin, since I’d first faced the Hermessi. Maybe, just maybe, Raphael was my lucky charm. The luckiest of them all.
Raphael
I could definitely flap my wings. However, my movements slowed each time by a small fraction. I felt as though I had a limited flight time available before I’d take off and go down like a useless boulder, likely triggering one or two tile traps in the process.
Unwilling to risk it, I quickly calculated our odds. Eira, Lumi, and Taeral couldn’t be killed. I had to focus on getting Amelia, Riza, Herakles, Nethissis, Eva, and Varga out first. I had enough strength left in me to carry two of them at a time, but I also needed speed to go through that door.
“There’s no telling what opposition I’ll encounter if I ram through it,” I said, pointing at the glowing outline. “Let me try it on my own first.”
Amelia gave me a soft nod. “I trust you.”
“We all trust you,” Taeral said.
“I hope it’s worth it,” I replied. “I’m planning to get the killable people out first. You three might be left to tackle the rest of the tiles, if the freezing particles slow me down too much.”
Lumi, Eira, and Taeral stilled, their cheeks blooming in shades of pink. It made me laugh.
“But I promise I will try!” I added.
Flapping my wings, I lifted myself off the floor again. Tilting my body backward, I flew back to put more distance between myself and the door. I needed it all in order to attain a favorable speed. I reached the safe tiles at the back of the room and put one foot against the wall, using my leg as a spring.
I took off in full flight, prompting the crew to duck as I shot past them.
Positioning myself into a living battering ram, I let my shoulder take most of the impact force. I broke through the stone door, the bricks crumbling beneath me. I landed with a heavy roll, finding myself in another room.
“You have got to be kidding me!” I growled, noticing the hexagonal shape of the chamber and the absence of doors. “You son of a—”
“Ah-ah! Language!” the Soul Crusher cut me off.
“I’ll deal with you later,” I retorted and shifted focus back to my crew. They were still waiting in the previous room, their eyes wide and their jaws inches from the floor.
I flew back and landed on one of the safe tiles in the middle. I nearly fell over, the freezing particles messing with the center of my weight, but I managed to stay upright this time around.
“First of all, congratulations!” Herakles exclaimed, beaming at me. But the smile faded quickly as he pointed at the room beyond the crumbled door. “Second, what the hell, man?”
“What? I didn’t make this stupid puzzle!” I shot back.
Amelia sighed. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s get out of this one first.”
I put an arm around her and pulled her close, using my other arm to grab Nethissis, who was the closest within my reach. With both of them safely by my side, I flew through the door and left them in the third room.
The flight became more difficult with each turn. I knew this would happen. Herakles could tell, the moment I dropped him and Riza off in the hexagonal room. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and proceeded to get the others before it was too late.
“Deep breaths, Raphael,” Herakles said.
I stopped in the jagged doorway, which no longer glowed, and shot him a glance. “In and out. In and out. I know, buddy.”
He smirked, watching me as I flew once more, picking up Eva and Varga next. My altitude dropped significantly, Eva’s boots slightly brushing across the tiles. I almost crashed with them in the third room, but Herakles and Amelia were quick to intervene and smooth out my landing.
Breathing heavily, I worried I might not be able to get Eira, Lumi, and Taeral out, as well. Every joint in my body felt as though it had been made of lead. My legs weighed a ton. My wings literally hurt whenever I flapped them, as if I’d sprained them, somehow. I’d never experienced this kind of exhaustion before, and I had no idea how to cope with it.
My whole life, short as it was, I’d been nearly invincible, tireless and brimming with energy. Yet now, I was merely a small percentage of what I had always been. Barely a flicker of the real Raphael.
“Getting tired?” the Soul Crusher asked.
“Not tired enough to not punch your lights out when I see you,” I replied.
Amelia massaged my shoulders, smiling gently. “You’ve got this. I know you do.”
“Your trust in me is propelling, to say the least,” I said to her, caressing her cheeks.
Taeral cleared his throat from the other room. “Still here, in case you were thinking of getting us out, as well,” he called out, making me chuckle.
I walked back to the doorway, wondering if I had enough strength to get them all out. “What is it, Tae? Not feeling up to a few more booby traps?” I asked, feigning amusement. Deep down, I was worried. There was no way I could pull off two flights with the three of them.
I’d have to finish strong, so to speak, and carry Taeral, Eira, and Lumi at once—and even that was risky as hell, given what I’d just experienced with Eva and Varga. Nevertheless, it was our only option. Well, that or the pressure plate game. But I was fond of these three. They didn’t deserve what Death had bestowed upon them, and they certainly didn’t like being privileged like this. I couldn’t treat them differently just because of that.
Frankly, I couldn’t bear the thought of any one of them suffering, in any way.
“Nah, I can do this,” I whispered to myself.
I took a deep breath and managed a shaky flight back to Taeral, Eira, and Lumi. Taeral
was quick to stop me from falling over, giving me a concerned look. “Are you okay?”
“I’m made of rocks and lead and whatever else is used to keep something on the bottom of the deepest ocean,” I replied dryly. “But we have to try. I’m taking the three of you now. I won’t be able to do another round. I… I just can’t.”
Taeral frowned, thinking about it for a moment. He glanced at Eira. “You should be in the middle, since you’re the lightest.”
“Good point,” I said, and put my arms out.
Lumi and Taeral positioned themselves at my sides, smiling awkwardly as I put my arms around them, tightening my grip. Eira slipped her arms around my waist, trembling slightly. “I don’t know what else to do to make it easier on you,” she said apologetically.
“Put your legs up, too,” I said.
Herakles laughed so hard, it echoed across the room. My face burned, but satisfaction came quickly when I heard Amelia slap him. “You’re such a child!” she berated him.
Eira gave me a tense nod as she let go, then hopped and wrapped her legs around my waist, this time, and her arms around my neck. Taeral sighed, and I took off, instantly alarmed by how difficult this was. I could barely keep us a couple of feet above the floor.
My wings hurt, each flap so torturous that it felt as though they’d be ripped from my back. I kept going, grunting and struggling to breathe evenly. I managed to get us closer to the door, but I could feel us dropping lower and lower.
“Careful,” Taeral managed, and I heard a boot scrape against the tiles.
“Argh…” I croaked, just as we reached the doorway.
Lumi squealed and cursed. We all heard the click. I crashed into the next room, with the three of them in tow. I landed on my belly, nearly crushing Eira beneath me. Taeral grunted and pushed me off her, as my wings withdrew achingly under my shoulder blades.
Arrows shot through the second room, but none made it in here. I reveled in the sound of them falling flatly across the floor. Flat on my back, I stared at the ceiling for a while. The others talked around me, but I couldn’t focus. Exhaustion set in, every muscle in my body throbbing in agony. I doubted I’d be able to move anytime soon.
But we’d made it. Amelia appeared in my view, the ceiling light glowing behind her. She smiled, her blue eyes filled with love, and I was the sole recipient of all that beauty. I must’ve smiled, too, as she leaned down and kissed me.
“You were amazing,” she whispered in my ear. My limbs turned to mush, the muscle fever finally subsiding as I felt Eirexis’s touch on my neck.
It couldn’t stop the freezing particles from slowing me down, but it could still cure my inflamed and worn-out muscles.
Maybe I was amazing... But what really made me soar was the thought that I’d made her happy. I could spend an entire lifetime doing this. Making her happy. Causing those gorgeous smiles on her face. This… This was something worth fighting for.
Taeral
This was the third room we had to go through, and I was beginning to think we’d never get out of this thing in time to actually complete Death’s mission. Well, it was our mission, too, since we were saving our worlds. The fate of our worlds hung in the balance, and we were still struggling through the Soul Crusher’s puzzles.
Worst of all, Raphael was exhausted after what he’d just pulled to get us out of the second room. The rest of the crew was mentally and physically worn out, as well—there was only so much we could replenish through our healing methods, Eirexis included. If the brain was tired, it quickly translated into the body’s functions, as well, and those freezing particles that had slowed us down weren’t helping.
“What’s this one about?” Herakles asked, raising his voice. The question wasn’t aimed at us.
“Why, it’s the same as before. Find your way out,” the Soul Crusher replied.
“Helpful as always,” Raphael muttered, still on his back, resting, with Amelia by his side. “I’m going to sleep for an entire century when this is over.”
“Provided we save our worlds first; otherwise, you’ll be sleeping forever,” Lumi said. She shook her arms and legs, as if warming up for a gym session. “I think—emphasis on ‘think’—that those freezing particles are wearing off.”
Riza nodded, moving her arms and testing the theory. “You might be right. I’m not feeling as sluggish as before.”
“It’s probably because we’re out of the room, thus no longer within the particles’ reach,” Eva replied. She touched Varga’s shoulder, giving him a soft smile. “How are you holding up?”
“Oh, absolutely peachy. Thrilled to have another puzzle room to waste valuable time in.”
Nethissis chuckled bitterly. “You heard the old Reaper. Time flows slightly differently in here.”
“Hey, who are you calling old?” the Soul Crusher moaned. “Also, time flows slightly differently, sure, but it doesn’t give you forever to sort this out, and, by the stars, you people are taking forever.”
I let a deep sigh out. With it, a lot of tension seemed to dissolve, too. As if it had been piling up in the pit of my stomach, concentrating and contracting to the point where it had become difficult to breathe. One long exhale, and poof. It was gone. It didn’t improve our situation in any way, obviously, but it did help clear my head a little, and I analyzed this room carefully.
It wasn’t as big as the previous one, but its hexagonal shape was intriguing. The walls were smooth and shiny, and light beams were embedded into the ceiling. No doors or levers were visible. No tiles on the floor—just a long arrow pointing to one of the walls. It had been painted on the polished stone.
“I don’t think that arrow is randomly placed here, like this,” I said, my voice low.
The Soul Crusher laughed. “Found the genius in your crew. Sorry, Amelia.”
“Up yours,” Amelia shot back. Raphael pulled himself up and off the floor. She stayed by his side, watching him carefully, making sure he was okay.
Eira walked up to me, and a muted joy expanded in my chest. I’d been so stressed out over this puzzle, so desperate to keep the others safe, that I’d nearly forgotten how good she made me feel whenever we were close. “There might be something about that wall,” she said to me. “Maybe a hidden door?”
“I like where this is going,” the Soul Crusher cut in. “Have you two considered courtship? There’s definitely chemistry.”
“For the love of all that’s good and holy in this world, will you just shut the hell up?!” Eira snapped, pinching the narrow bridge of her nose. “Unless you’ve got something useful to say, just leave us be.”
I walked over to the wall in question, inwardly pleased to hear silence from the Soul Crusher. I was also impressed with how Eira dealt with her own limits. Given her mostly quiet and pensive nature, I’d rarely seen her react like this. There was fire inside her, the kind that inspired me to want to know more about her—to explore her character, to understand what made her tick. There was enormous complexity hidden behind those blue eyes, well beyond her Hermessi child nature. She’d grown a lot since we’d first met. Then again, fate tended to do that to people by tossing them into insane situations such as this one. Eira was holding up well, given the circumstances.
Running my hands along the wall, I searched for anything that might suggest a door or a hidden mechanism. But nothing emerged. It was just stone, cold but fine to the touch. I glanced back at the crew and shook my head. “If there’s a door here, I don’t think we can open it like this,” I said.
“There has to be another way,” Riza replied, looking at the other walls, then the floor with its painted arrow. I walked back to it, and Riza’s eyes grew wide as she watched me. Her attention seemed fixed on my leg.
Glancing down, I noticed why. Eirexis was glowing, its light increasing its intensity as I reached the arrow. Taking it out of its straps, I pointed it at the floor. The carved symbols shone white, and I looked at the crew for a moment.
“I think Eirexis has more
than one use,” I said, and pressed one end against the arrow, which instantly reacted, its color changing from a soft white to a bright and incandescent green. A flurry of clicking sounds erupted from the wall I’d just touched.
We all turned around to see what was going on. The wall separated itself from the room as an individual stone rectangle, pulled back and slid to the side, revealing another room. We rushed into it and found ourselves slightly discouraged. It was identical to the previous one, hexagonal, with an arrow painted white on the floor—this time, however, the arrow pointed slightly to the right, at another wall. Behind us, the hidden door clicked shut, and there was nothing we could do about it. Whatever had opened it in the first place, it was hidden, unseen by the naked eye.
“Well, there’s no point in going back, is there?” Herakles said, eyeing the door-wall suspiciously. He gave me a questioning look. “Now what? Keep playing with arrows and hidden doors?”
“I don’t think we have any other option,” I said, and touched the painted arrow with Eirexis, expecting a similar result. Indeed, the wall it pointed to clicked multiple times and pulled back, revealing another exit.
We followed it, only to be taken into a third hexagonal room. The floor arrow pointed to yet another wall—this time, to the left, at a ninety-degree angle. I heard myself groan with frustration.
“One can’t help but wonder whether this is actually leading somewhere.” Varga sighed.
No one in the crew seemed enthusiastic about this. Not that I could blame them. It was already looking like a futile chase of our own tails, hopping from one weird room to the next. How long would this take? Where would it eventually lead?
“What is the Soul Crusher trying to test about us this time?” Lumi asked, as if reading my mind. “Our patience, perhaps?”
Nethissis scoffed. “Yeah, we lost that a while back, thanks to him.”
“Let’s try again,” I said, and touched the arrow with Eirexis again. It glowed, followed by now-familiar clicks and the wall to our left pulling back and sliding open.
A Shade of Vampire 75: A Blade of Thieron Page 19
