by J E Mueller
“Want to do some wandering?” I asked casually. “I was talking with Clove and she suggested maybe some exploration of the first floor would jog more memories.”
Mare waved as Clove’s group walked over to us. “That sounds like a good idea,” Mare agreed with me.
“What does?” Cane asked.
Mare motioned to Clove. “Just giving Remi here a hand. Some wandering around the first floor would be great practice and see if it jogs any more information from past dreams.”
“Great idea.” Cane patted Clove on the back.
Clove gave a nod. “Well, it looks like I’ll leave you to that,” she said directly to Mare. “I’m sure nothing will be an issue with you around.”
“On the first floor? Of course not.” Mare laughed, turning from Clove to me. “Where do you want to start?”
Clove and the others headed out as I replied. “Why not just start on this side and work our way out?” I suggested simply.
Mare nodded and started to lead the way out. “Works for me. There’s a lot of little offices and rooms all around here. Some weird things too. We’ll avoid anything too dangerous.”
“What is too dangerous on the first floor?” I scoffed.
“The room with all the odd puddles. Of course, anyone who enters automatically feels a sense of unease and danger and usually leaves right away, but getting in there for more than a moment is likely very deadly.”
I nodded, remembering the conversation from yesterday.
As we headed out and talked casually, I debated showing her the papers. Maybe I was overthinking this. Maybe it was something harmless.
Finally, we reached a rather drab office. There was a heavy built desk in the center of the room with an elaborate chair behind it. In front of it were two nice chairs, but without all the crazy decorating. There were several shelves along the room, but no books. Just decorative nicknacks met my gaze.
“I’ve got a question,” I said to Mare, making my decision. “What do you think of these?” I pulled out the papers and handed them to her. “They’re a bit… odd.”
Mare took them from me and began to look at them. “They’re just recipes… oh. No, they aren’t.” She started to quickly flip through them. “This doesn’t look good. I’m not sure what’s going on. Maybe we should show Clove. Where did you find these?”
I blushed. and scratched the back of my head nervously. “Clove was reading them and set them down. I figured since they were just sitting there it didn’t matter what it was and took a look.”
Mare’s face tightened. “Either she found them and is looking into it, or she’s a part of whatever this is.”
“That was my best set of guesses as well.”
Mare shook her head. “I’m not sure what to think, honestly.”
“Does she look at things like this often? You seem to be with her more than enough.”
Mare hesitated. “I do know she likes recipes and she can cook really well. It seems too coincidental to tell.”
I nodded but honestly thought it seemed more like Clove was up to something.
“We’ll think on it,” Mare assured me. “This can’t be why you wanted out of the common room.”
“It’s not the only reason. Clove and I really did have that conversation. Also, there’s something about the artifacts.”
Mare nodded. “That Cane has a theory about them, right?”
Oh, so this wasn’t new news. “Yeah, she just told me.”
“Cane came up with it last night, so you just missed that information.”
At least that was fair. “Well, what do you think of the idea that the Creators didn’t just disappear? That they are really just trapped in a few artifacts?”
Mare stared at me blankly. “I mean, I suppose it isn’t impossible, but how the heck could someone trap them in objects they created? Come on. Think about it. We don’t have those talents.”
“No, but that is what the bracelet told me.” I shrugged, now wishing I had the Creator’s name so it sounded more legit.
“The bracelet spoke to you?” Mare raised an eyebrow and I knew how mad it sounded.
“It’s true, weird, but true. I think if we can get it back quickly we can prove that too, though I don’t know who to trust with that.”
“And why do you say that? Does the voice in the bracelet want released but not want to prove who they are? That sounds more dangerous than it being a Creator,” Mare pointed out.
“Nothing like that.” I shook my head. “They just know it was someone strong, someone from both sides that was likely a part of this.”
Mare rubbed her temples. “Fine. Let’s find the bracelet and go from there. We’ll just go in circles otherwise.”
I nodded. “According to Cane’s theory, it’s either in the basement or on the second floor.”
“Of course it is,” Mare grumbled. “Well, I suppose we can look on the second floor then.”
Just as we opened the door and stepped into the hall, Ze waved at us.
I glanced at Mare, wondering what we should do now.
“Clove said you’d be wondering around here,” Ze stated as he stopped in front of us.
Mare smiled brightly. “She sent you to make sure Remi stays out of trouble, didn’t she?”
Ze laughed. “Probably.”
“Want to go and do actual practice on the second floor? Remi won’t get much better with the things here,” Mare stated simply, solving the problems without any trouble.
Ze laughed again. “I can’t argue that, but if Clove asked, we were avoiding another group and just decided to stick to the second floor for a while.”
“Perfect.” Mare grinned and looked at me. “Want to try leading the way to the second floor? It’ll be good practice.”
I nodded and took the lead. “Why not? Anything is better than yesterday’s adventure.”
“Too soon.” Ze sighed.
“Yeah, right?” Mare gave a tired laugh and off we went.
Chapter 11
Once on the second floor, there was more action than I was wanting. Taggollurs seemed to be everywhere, and if by some miracle there wasn’t one of those there was a Moglozas rolling around, sending lightning everywhere.
It was quickly tiring, even with Ze being able to hide us. Illusions didn’t work on the Taggollur, as it turned out. They saw by motion, and nothing aside from blinding them would stop that. We finally holed up in a room with a passageway escape route so we could rest. There was too much and I wasn’t sure how one even found a bracelet artifact without someone who could magically locate them. Mare lingered near the door while Ze fell into the first chair he could find.
“Maybe this place is beyond me,” I stated as I laid on the center of the floor. I was too tired to care if it was made for comfort or not.
“It’s always beyond you at first.” Mare snorted, crossing her arms. “You’ve got to practice and improve. Your aim is getting better, and you really don’t have an issue calling your weapon. It’ll be more than just a couple of hours to conquer this floor. It might take you weeks to really get used to it.”
I didn’t feel like I had weeks.
“If I die in the real world, will I just fade from here or be stuck here?” I hated asking, but part of me needed closure.
“You’ll be stuck here, and like I said before, I’ll let you know if that becomes the case,” Mare stated firmly.
“Will you?” I rolled to look at her better.
Mare nodded. “I won’t worry you with minor details. People in comas or with major injuries can teeter back and forth on that line for a long while.”
That didn’t sound good. “What if I die in one of those teetering moments?”
“Psh.” Mare snorted. “A single second doesn’t impact things in that fashion. Your body can be revived for minutes after your heart stops. About four to six minutes. That’s probably why it took so long for you to come back, your body might have been fighting something. That’s life though. Just
keep going. Like you said, you wouldn’t stop saving people if you knew you would be dead dead.”
I couldn’t argue the point so I didn’t reply.
“Maybe we should take it a bit easier today, at least?” Ze commented after several moments. “I know a few have been wanting to find useful books, so if we keep it down and go through the rooms instead that might be easier. We’ll have to fight things for sure, but on that pace it’ll be less exhausting.”
Ze had no idea that was the exact plan anyway. “Sounds perfect if you ask me,” Mare readily agreed.
I nodded, finally pushing myself back up. “Good idea. I’m already sick of these creatures.”
Mare snickered for a moment. “Sick enough to fight another one or to sneak around them?”
“Sneak around them,” Ze and I replied in unison.
Mare lowered her voice. “Best get moving, we’ve got a Taggollur on its way.”
Ze was up in a heartbeat and into the tunnel before I was even ready to act. Mare snickered but didn’t say anything as she quickly followed his lead. Ever the two steps behind, I walked over to the tunnel and Ze offered a hand up, making it far easier to get into.
“Where to?” I asked as Mare looked around at all the cobwebs and dust.
“Away from here…” she muttered in disgust, picked a path, and started crawling along.
Ze gave a small laugh. “Um, well we’ve done a lot of damage on this side, I doubt many creatures will be on the other? That’s how it works, right?”
“Usually. Things have been weird lately,” Mare agreed.
“We haven’t seen those eel things,” I mentioned. Did anyone even tell me what those were yet?
Mare just cringed instead. “Those are annoying but yeah, there’s usually only one on the floor.”
“Usually?” I asked skepticality.
“Twice I’ve sensed two.” Mare shrugged, leading the way toward the other half of the second floor. “Once was when the Creators had warned us they were rebalancing things, and the other time was just after they vanished.”
That didn’t sound good on either account.
Ze frowned. “I had heard about that. Didn’t a lot of people die because of that rebalancing?”
“That was kind of the point.” Mare chuckled darkly. “There were what, maybe two hundred of us? Maybe not, but it was a stupid amount and we could beat anything just by numbers alone. People weren’t crossing and that is technically the point of this place.”
I took in all the information, trying to make up my mind about things. The Creators didn’t seem bad, until comments like this came up. Could things have worked themselves out without such interference or would the realm here overpopulate?
“That sounds pretty horrible…” I stated slowly as I thought things out. “Was it just the house here or outside too?”
“Everywhere.” Mare’s voice was hardly above a whisper. “From what I heard, the Watch lost the least, but they’ve always had smaller numbers. Less to lose but a high cost.”
“They keep getting mentioned, but I really don’t know anything about the Watch,” I admitted. The several minor details weren’t painting a picture for me.
Ze cleared his throat. “The Watch is located just past the end of the tunnel in the basement. They keep the bigger, crazier creatures from getting in. They have their own minor dwelling, but they don’t really get much in the way of resting easy. Creatures outside are far more active and numerous than creatures inside.”
“Aside from glory that most probably don’t know about, why would anyone join them? Couldn’t we just clear out the basement and set up a fortress there?” That sounded so much easier.
“Spiders revive at a stupidly high rate, it’s never worked before.” Mare shook her head. “And if it didn’t work at high numbers, can you imagine now? There is like maybe… I don’t know. Less than fifty of us inside. We have about twenty-eight on our team? But there are several that sneak between the two so I can’t give accurate numbers.”
I remembered her saying that there were those who were on both sides, but that didn’t bother me as much as spiders that could overrun so many people. “Is there a reason it didn’t work? Numbers usually work against creatures right?”
She and Ze both paused and shared a look, stopping mid-crawl before continuing.
“Well, there are several different kinds of spiders.” Ze gave me a shrug. “Some have shocking webs, some spit acid that eats through your clothes, into your flesh, and dissolves bone. Some paralyze, some are just pesky. Really, the biggest problem is the ones that can shoot acid. No defense is going to work against them aside from magical shields, which are very, very lacking. Anything built up against them gets fairly quickly destroyed.”
Ah. I did not need any more details so I just nodded. Mare started forth once more and I really hoped nothing involved the basement ever. I really hated thinking that I might not be so lucky with that.
After several minutes of silence we were back on the ground, and thankfully, not a creature on the radar. We started to investigate rooms, and I quickly noticed how most of them had next to nothing, and the few things they did have were exactly the same objects room to room. Over, and over, and over. The chairs didn’t vary. The knick-knacks were in different spots but still all the same in every room.
I hated how alike everything looked. When I had first started to see the different things, all of it looked so fancy, so intricate and well-made. However, I was ready to be done with this floor after a half dozen rooms. Artifact hunting was as boring as could be.
That was when I finally felt it.
Ah, there you are.
The familiar voice was good to hear again, and I truly hoped I was correct and that it was one of the Creators. Only time would tell. Now where was the thing?
Two more doors down from you.
I wanted to just grab it without Ze noticing, but to randomly split up now would make it far more obvious that something was up. I wondered why they didn’t try to reach out to me sooner.
You’ve been less receptive, making it harder to create a line of communication.
That sounded horrifying. Maybe I was dying.
It’s too hard to say this early on. A fever is weakening, but it helps get rid of the bad. Healing is full of ups and downs, and I am not anywhere near in my power to check.
I nodded to myself, trying to keep up the search. This room did have a few books, but they were the same three titles I had already seen. How to wield a sword, defense stances, and defense basics. I wondered if it was just this floor with all the same books or was it everywhere but the libraries?
“I’m ready for the next room.” I sighed, shoving the books back into their slot.
“I’m not.” Ze sounded distracted, catching both mine and Mare’s attention.
We crowded around him and saw he was holding a golden spoon with neat little paintings of fruit on it. The fruits were brightly colored, almost popping off the spoon. Ze twirled it around slowly as we inspected it.
“What the heck is that?” I asked curiously. “Did someone leave a spoon here for some reason?” I hated to think why anyone would try to eat here, though maybe they ran here from the dining area.
“That isn’t a kitchen spoon.” Mare smirked, amused by my comment.
Ze gave a nod. “This is likely an artifact. Which means something will likely be on our trail soon since I moved it from its resting spot.”
“Always the truth.” Mare sighed, sounding more tired than usual. “We should get going.”
“I say we press on,” I countered carefully and they both turned to me. “Well, we left the remaining creatures on the other side of the floor and we’ve slain a good chunk of them recently enough, right?”
Ze hesitated. “True, but I don’t know, maybe artifacts can reset the timers faster.”
“I doubt the Creators were that cruel.” I scoffed, crossing my arms. I hoped I was right on that.
Well, not all of
us. Marella has a bad sense of humor.
Ah… well… I shook my head. “Just a glance and go at least. I just feel like we’re going to miss something otherwise.”
Ze nodded. “Well, if you feel that in your gut, I’ll side with it.”
Mare just shook her head. “Is it really a gut feeling or stupid stubbornness?”
I looked her firmly in the eyes. “Both. Gut feelings are very stubborn.”
“Fine.” Mare opened the door and I could see the magic swirling around her hands and moving slowly up her arms. “We do have some time.”
Ze walked down to the next room and opened it. I went past him, “It’s a quick glance, might as well cover some distance this time.”
Now that at least that problem was taken care of, I opened the door to where the bracelet should be. Where could it be?
I wish I knew. I can’t see a thing in here.
That was fair. It would be creepy if the bracelet could see as well, though I wouldn’t have been surprised at this point anymore.
Nothing stood out on the shelves and nothing in the drawers. Everything looked exactly as it should be when I could hear the sounds of static down the hall. Freaking Moglozas. I did not have time to find this thing and beat a mutant hedgehog.
But that was exactly what I needed to do.
Someone else could find this if I didn’t, so I started to move things over roughly, letting them hit the floor as I searched. I heard Mare give a battle call as I saw her charge past the door at the creature. I needed to join her. I couldn’t let her fight everything alone.
Just as I grabbed the handle of the door, I thought to check behind it. Resting on the knob was the bracelet.
Slapping it on my wrist, I summoned my bow and charged out of the room, ready to do battle. To my surprise, Ze was already helping with his sword. I knew he didn’t feel confident in his swordsmanship, but he looked to be doing well.
Letting them take the brunt of the battle, I nocked back an arrow and sent it flying. When it hit the creature between the eyes, Ze looked back at me surprised as the creature gave a shriek of pain.
“What, did you forget I was here?” I laughed, pulling back another arrow, ready to loose at the right moment.
