Tech Duinn: An Ether Collapse Series (Ether Flows Book 1)

by Ryan DeBruyn

  Azrael jumped and felt his heart begin to beat rapidly. “Wait. Can you dig us out of here?” he asked.

  Apep didn’t answer, and Azrael growled. After five minutes of waiting he chose to do something else. For all he knew, the dungeon had just escaped on its own. Hopefully the contract prevented that, though.

  He looked through the rest of the gear from his ring. Only one of the earrings and a single ring held any enchantments. The other gear was mostly junk.

  Most civilized systems enforced a locked status on gear. Those systems only allowed a certain number of enchanted pieces of equipment to drop as loot from sapient kills as well. In essence, this was to promote peaceful relations. Instead of killing someone to gain what they had. On Tech Duinn, the system had no such restrictions.

  Ring of the Cow

  ● This ring looks like multiple woven strands of grass. It is cast of some mixture of alloys and is poorly formed. This will affect its ability to hold enchantments.

  Ether Pool: Small

  Current Ether Pool: 25/25

  Enchantments: Strength I (+1)

  --

  Earring of the Junior Sorcerer

  ● This ring has a chipped amethyst as its focus and can store a single spell in it. The spell cannot cost more than 20 Ether to cast.

  Ether Pool: Small

  Current Ether Pool: 20/20

  Enchantments: Spell Storage I (Minor Heal)

  He put on the ring and felt it adjust to his finger size as it crossed his knuckle. The earring he punched through his ear and winced at the pinching sensation. A small bleeding debuff joined his bar, and he shrugged it off. It would heal quickly, and if he must, he could consume the minor heal to fight infection.

  Azrael looked around himself and prompted, “Apep?”

  No response so Azrael jumped into the shower and began cleaning himself. The water was freezing cold and he was forced to jump in and out of the stream, shivering. There was a soap dispenser hanging on the wall which he used liberally.

  He was just about to jump under the stream to rinse off the suds when Apep spoke. “No, I can’t dig us out of here. This whole place is another dungeon, which far outstrips me in ranks. I am hoping I can tap into a few Ether veins… Got it!”

  Azrael cleared the soap from his eyes. Then sputtered, “Wait – you were doing that right now? What if it caught you?”

  “I would have been destroyed, absorbed, and he likely would have collapsed this area on top of us.”

  “How do you know that it didn’t sense you tapping its vein?” Azrael shrieked, looking at the roof. This stupid dungeon core was going to get him killed.

  “Obviously, I am still talking to you—aren’t I?”

  Azrael ground his teeth together. The core had just played chicken with his life, and he wondered if he should try to dig it out and kill it himself.

  The noise of people approaching sounded down the hall. Likely his friends were being delivered to the cell after their own labors of the night. He made a quick decision. “Never do something like that again without my permission! Don’t talk to anyone else. Only to me and when I am alone in this bathroom. Can you do that?” Azrael asked.

  Apep huffed, “I’m magic, I can do anything I want.”

  Azrael jumped back under the shower and rinsed off. Shivering, he began cleaning the clothes he had looted. He needed something to wear in the cell.

  Shivering even more, he looked critically at the hanging wet clothes. Inspiration struck. “Apep, can you absorb these and make me a clean set?”

  “I can’t absorb anything when you are that close to it. Move to the door.” Azrael did so and saw a single shirt dissolve into the stone. Apep continued, “That’s the max distance away I can absorb, and create. Toss everything there and get back to the door.”

  Soon all the clothes were gone, and a fresh set of dark gray trousers, undergarments, and a shirt appeared for Azrael. He looked disgustedly at them and asked, “Can’t you do color?”

  To his delight, Apep absorbed the clothes again, and a new set emerged. The new collection was yellow and black in a stripe pattern. Azrael hissed, “I am going to look like a giant bee! How about just black? Apep. Apep! Oh, come on!”

  Azrael was forced to wear the bee suit and pulled each piece on sourly. Once he was fully dressed, he turned to the doorway and exited the bathroom. He froze and gnashed his teeth together. Verimy and Jophi stood nearest to him. They cast glances at each other and outside the cell continuously. Outside the glowing wooden bars, Torin was leering at Azrael. Bat was on the end of Torin’s collar. The creature was battered nearly to death.

  Bat had clearly pissed himself.

  Azrael’s eye twitched.

  Shouldn’t you be happy it wasn’t you? He’s just one of your pawns, after all.

  Torin guffawed. “Is that the cleanest you found after the battle? You look like a giant Bumble. Careful everyone, don’t let him sting you.” The toad guffawed again, loudly.

  Azrael looked around. The cell block was empty, so Torin’s raised voice seemed unnecessary.

  Is the moron playing to an audience?

  Torin pressed a whimpering Bat into the grate bars. Bat began to convulse violently as soon as his bare skin touched them. His mournful howl sounded like a tortured cat. Azrael involuntarily stepped forward; that was his—his—the thing he saved. Torin pulled him off the bars as Azrael advanced to them. Still laughing, the toad approached the entrance to the cage, dragging Bat’s body over the stone floor.

  Torin deposited Bat inside the first door and closed it with a resounding bang. Azrael grabbed his nose as Torin pulled the loop aggressively over Bat’s face, remembering the same rough act breaking his own. The loop caught on Bat’s large ears. One of the fragile pieces of skin tore, and Azrael’s arms shook. The toad spat towards him, and he sidestepped the mucus to allow it to land on the wall. Their eyes locked together for a heartbeat.

  Torin showed off his massive yellow teeth. “I think I’ll volunteer ta watch over this floor. What da you think, little Bumble? We could become great friends.”

  Its maniacal laughter echoed down the hallway as it walked away. The second gate opened to allow the group access to Bat. Azrael rushed over and Analyzed him.

  Bat

  Apprentice-Sonar

  Level 12

  Health Points: 5/90

  Verimy must have Analyzed him too. “He is in pretty rough shape, but doesn’t seem to have any life-threatening injuries. What are we all doing here, Azrael?”

  Of course, Torin wouldn’t risk killing Azrael’s people. Oberan was counting on them as bargaining chips. Azrael turned to Verimy and told a half-truth, “Oberan wants me to fight as a Sovereign Son. I told him if I was going to do that, he needed to ensure that you all won’t be fighting.”

  Verimy squinted his eyes at Azrael. Did his trainer not trust him?

  Jophi jumped on the hole in his story, “What does that matter? If you die, he will just go back to using us as combatants—if he doesn’t kill us outright. Next time you should let the grown-ups do the planning.”

  Azrael glared at the woman. Adults? She was a teenager, at best!

  He’d already had enough of others making plans for his life. These adults wouldn’t be making the plans going forward—he would. They just would have to slowly learn that fact.

  If he could be sure they had no traitors amongst them, he could start coming up with an escape plan immediately. Unfortunately, Verimy or Jophi, or both, could be feeding information to Oberan.

  Azrael snarked his response, “Well, I asked to be let off this rock first, but he said no. At least now you have a washroom to do your hair.” Azrael motioned to the door of the bathroom.

  Jophi deflated and looked around the cell. After a cursory examination, she admitted, “It is quite the step up from the last hole in the wall I was in. I just don’t see how this helps us with getting out of here.”

  Clever. If she was a spy, that was a dig for his pl
an. Well, he wasn’t going to let her know, even when he did figure it out. Right now, it was best to test the situation. Azrael smiled and asked, “Do you have a plan, then?”

  Verimy stepped in front of the red-faced Jophi, interrupting her glare and asked, “Where is Dara, Azrael?”

  It was Azrael’s turn to deflate.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Just to recap our conversation from last night. Jophiel, you were brought to a laundering complex yesterday. Bat, you did some unloading of shipments in a warehouse. Verimy, you have done a few different tasks, but last night you were skinning?” Azrael paused as they each nodded after his summary.

  “The other chores we know of are wood cutting, stone gathering, and farming,” Jophi added.

  Azrael had left those off intentionally. They were the three they knew about that offered the best chance of escape for combatants. As the guards brought people outside the walls of Samheim. They were escorted by the military and in such high numbers that escape still seemed impossible, but it removed an obstacle if you succeeded in getting away.

  Azrael stood from his cot and moved to the center of the room. The cot was made of wood and had no pillow or padding. He would prefer something softer, but it was a definite step up from the rickety bed he had destroyed in his first-floor cell. He began going through stretches to remove some of his stiffness that had formed from sleeping on the planked bed.

  The others continued to plan as he went through his warm up, almost as if he wasn’t there.

  “Asking around, I haven’t heard of a single person escaping,” Verimy stated.

  “Azrael said that his butchering partner was destroyed by an enchantment. Or at least discovered by it. There are likely similar enchantments in each of the complexes within the city. We need to focus on the three I mentioned,” Jophi insisted. Like the night before, she was trying to take over the escape plans.

  They don’t even realize that I steered them to these plans. In time, they will realize I make the final decisions here.

  Azrael stood from his stretches and moved into his katas. Verimy saw his face and stood up to begin correcting him in the manner he used to as he continued, “Jophi, every slave will think the same as you do. The bigger question will be how to all get assigned to the same work duty.”

  The room went silent. Just like the previous night, no one had an answer to that problem.

  They needed to come up with a solution to that problem first. After that, he needed to be placed at one of those three chores to assess the security for himself. He wouldn’t trust any second-hand knowledge. Any one of them could be a spy for Oberan. He considered Jophi, or Ogma.

  A gnome walked down the hallway, interrupting his thoughts. The gnome balanced four huge trays. Azrael stopped his sword practice and watched the amazing feat of dexterity. The gnome stopped dead and squeaked, “If you attack me, you won’t get any food! Just stay back and let me set it down in peace!”

  Azrael stared at the gnome, not understanding the change. Verimy sorted it. “Put your sword away, stupid student.”

  “And go stand on the far side of the cell please,” the gnome said while staring at Azrael. The four trays were rattling around, and Azrael let out a defeated sigh as he went to stand in the washroom doorway.

  Sadly, the gnome still wasn’t comfortable entering the cell, even after Azrael stood far away. It would seem that most combatants weren’t allowed to keep weapons outside of the arena. That was a definite advantage in Azrael’s favor. Oberan spreading his class around made everyone assume it was a Soul Sword. No one would try to take it away. Theoretically, if they noticed his ring, they could have hung his Ring of Holding outside the cell, but he could still access it. Soulbound items couldn’t leave a person’s side and would always be close to the owner. Unless the thief spent an exorbitant amount of resources to break the bond—or killed the individual.

  Before the gnome got out of view, he Analyzed it.

  Louis Darft

  Journeyman-Saucier

  Level 37

  Health Points: 190/190

  Azrael shouted after Louis’ retreating blue hair, “We wouldn’t ever hurt you. I promise. Thanks for the food.”

  He wasn’t sure if it would help, but if it stopped spit from floating in his soup or porridge, he would be more than happy. To everyone’s surprise, the food was much better than the breakfast in the mess hall. Not quite on par with the champions’ opulent spread, but better than the standard. They ate yogurt with granola and some fresh fruit. There was more than enough to feed everyone and even have some leftovers. Azrael even got a small buff for being well-fed, which awarded him plus-one Stamina for six hours.

  Bat had fully recovered from Torin’s abuse but still seemed a little twitchy to Azrael. Even as Bat ate, he chose to sit on the floor with his tray. That might be the downside for Azrael’s group. Bunking with him meant that Papi and Torin’s hatred transferred to them.

  Jophi sat quietly as she ate and flushed red each time he looked at her. Was this a sign of her betrayal?

  What had the woman chosen to reveal about him to that guard? Maybe he should have let her stay in the cells below—Ogma likely would have found a way to protect her, after all.

  A small part of him wanted to ask her that right now, but a tightness in his chest stopped him. It felt like someone was gently squeezing his beating heart.

  He closed his eyes as food stuck in his throat. Why was his mouth so dry? Did he not want to know the truth?

  Why is my body reacting this way?

  After breakfast, he got back to his katas as he considered that very question.

  ***

  It had been three hours, and Azrael was pacing. He had expected there to be chores for them today, but discovered that the group was scheduled to fight this afternoon. Normally, there were three days between fights, from what he had been told, and combatants didn’t have to do chores on days that they fought. The fact that this was only day two of his schedule left him walking back and forth while he sweat.

  This could be nothing. They could have used Verimy’s fight schedule. Or this could be why the negotiations with Oberan were so easy.

  He heard approaching footsteps down the hallway. He watched the entrance to the cell block and saw something blue bobbing down it. Sure enough, Louis came walking into view, trays balanced. He approached the cell and muttered, “Lazy service guards—look, I don’t want any trouble. I am supposed to drop the food off on the table to finish the quest. Last time I failed because not all of the trays made it to the table. Who ate on the floor?”

  Azrael moved to place Bat’s tray onto the table and Louis took on a blank look. The gnome smiled before continuing, “Thank you. I’m going to be level with you. None of the guards or runners want to bring the food to an empty cell block up here. They don’t think the Etherience will be worth it. If I don’t run this food myself, you won’t be fed—”

  Azrael chose to help Louis out. “If you place the trays on the ground between the double gates, we will grab them and place them on the table for you.”

  Louis’ eyes widened comically, and he rushed to do as suggested. Once the trays were down on the ground, and the gate closed, his excitement seemed to dry up. He eyed the morning dishes and began to wring his hands. Sighing, Azrael went to the harvest table first and picked up the empty trays. He brought those trays to exchange them with the new ones.

  Once crouched, he motioned for Verimy and Jophi to help. His Dexterity likely wasn’t as high as Louis’ and he had no chance of balancing all of them. Verimy and Jophi came and together they placed the trays laden with lunch on the harvest table.

  Louis waited to collect the empty trays but then squinted at them. “Wait a minute! Where are the plates, the cutlery—the leftovers? I’m going to have to report this! You can’t make weapons or hoard them.” Louis held up a tray that was missing a corner. It looked like someone or something chewed on it.

  Azrael squinted and noticed th
at it wasn’t one large bite but thousands of tiny ones. He glanced back at the washroom, and then Bat. Thinking fast, he sputtered, “I’m sorry, our friend has a strange appetite! He isn’t hoarding them, just eating them…”

  Bat yawned, putting his small sharp fangs on display. Louis squeaked and stepped back, “Well, you tell that… thing… to stop eating the serving utensils or you won’t get any more food—eek!” Bat stood up, and Louis fled.

  Bat sniffed loudly and then three times in short succession. He seemed to follow his nose towards the table before exclaiming, “There’s rat meat! I haven’t had rat since I got captured from Berstrand!” Bat clumsily found a seat and sat down, his ears twitching as he turned his head left and right. “You all coming?”

  Azrael moved to join Bat and felt Jophi and Verimy eyeing him. They likely knew he had just lied, and his head fell when Verimy called, “What in the Broken Sanctum was that about, Azrael? Where are the plates and cutlery from this morning?”

  Bat interjected, “I am sorry, guys. I got famished. Azrael must have seen me eating them.” Azrael blinked and saw one of Bat’s ears almost fold in half. Was that a wink? He couldn’t believe that Bat would follow along with his ruse, but he’d just done it again.

  As confidently as he could, he motioned to Bat and then gave both Jophi and Verimy a ‘told you so’ stare. “You two ready to eat now?”

  Verimy raised an eyebrow. “Fine. What functions do sapient beings serve for Planetary Gods?”

  Azrael groaned. Guess they were going back to the old routines. He would play along for now. “Sapient beings perform multiple functions in the eyes of a Planetary God. First, they are a filter for Ether, calming its wild nature and converting it to a new form of energy upon death. This new energy is something that Planets can use.” Azrael left off the name Essence, which had been a hotly contested point at the Sovereign Halls. He now knew for certain that it was the name of the second tier of energy, but didn’t plan on sharing that. “Second, sapient life can protect a Planetary God from marauders and pillagers.”