Arcane Transmogrification

by Robert Harper

  “Frilly,” Willow offered.

  Danny nodded,”Yeah, that.”

  The stairway ended in another large chamber. This one had been covered in a light marble, from floor to the walls. The obstinite ceiling had been left unaltered.

  The new chamber had apparently been used as a living space, with three areas partitioned by marble walls not quite reaching the ceiling. Danny noted the ceiling here was not as high as the previous chamber’s. The marble wall partitions ran from the opposite side of the chamber toward where they now stood, leaving enough space to walk around them from room to room. The far right section was staged as a bedroom, while the middle had a full kitchen and dining area. The left-most section was a cozy den, with couches, fireplace, and a bookshelf.

  Everything in the room that was made from a fabric had as many ruffles on it as physically possible. Not just any kind of ruffle--huge, elaborate ruffles. Hanging from the ceiling were numerous ropes with round ruffled purple fabric cascading down them like petals.

  “She really took the wisteria theme to a truly uncomfortable level,” Danny said before shuddering.

  The princess shrugged,”I think it’s kind of cute.”

  Danny looked questioningly at Willow. He was obviously concerned about her mental health.

  “Now, I know why she hid this behind two enchanted doorways,” Danny scoffed as he took in the room again.

  *Cranny, when you scanned the outside of the vault, did it match up with the areas we have visited?*

  *No, there is twice as much left over to explore, but it should be below us.*

  Danny walked over to the den, “There has to be more. Let’s check the books for clues. She is bound to have an impressive collection.”

  The princess followed him, warning, “Be careful, Danny. Like you said, everything must be at least a millennia old by now.”

  Danny grabbed the first book on the shelf with care before realizing what he was looking at,”It’s fine. Everything has a preservation enchantment on it. I can barely look at the room with my mana sight without getting a headache.”

  With a magic light floating over his head, Danny started reading and stacking book after book onto the table beside the bookshelf.

  Willow was looking through some of the books Danny had already set to the side,”These are all poetry…poetry she wrote.”

  Danny grumbled, looking through the next book,”Yeah, and really bad poetry at tha…wait.”

  The princess moved closer to see what he is reading,”What is it?”

  Danny started laughing. The laughing got louder until he couldn’t stand up any longer and collapsed on a nearby couch.

  “Danny, what did you find?”

  Danny stopped laughing,”Figures, the first fictional novel I find in this world, and it’s a romance novel.”

  The princess looked confused, “This world…wait, romance, let me see.”

  Danny pulled the book away before she could grab it, “No, you will get unrealistic expectations about the size of… Never mind, that’s not why we are here!”

  The princess pouted and crossed her arms as Danny placed the offending book high on top of the bookshelf.

  Danny kept looking through the books until he, disgusted, reached the last, throwing it onto the pile of books next to him, “Poetry, every single one of them! Amateur poetry at that…”

  *Danny, I searched through everything you looked at, and there was no discernible hidden code or meaning. I would like to clarify that we never studied code breaking so someone else might actually find something. Also, we now have a section of the sanctuary’s library called ‘Poetry.’ I took the initiative and moved it toward the back.*

  Danny looked listlessly around the den but paused as he heard giggling coming from another part of the chamber. Realizing he was now alone in the den, he immediately looked to the top of the bookshelf to find it empty.

  Rushing into the kitchen, he found it empty as well and continued on. Entering the bedroom area, he found Willow laying on the archdruid’s bed, reading the romance novel. Her eyes were comically wide as she held her fist to her mouth, biting back fits of laughter. She hadn’t noticed Danny yet and must have crossed a particularly interesting passage, as the princess gave up all pretense of keeping quiet. Kicking her long legs, Willow rolled on the bed in a fit of laughter as she clutched the book to her chest.

  Annoyed, Danny asked, *Cranny, did you block me from seeing her take that?*

  Cranny didn’t hesitate to reply, *Yes, one of her previous comments made me realize that we are potentially reaching the uncanny valley with our abilities. Plus, the princess gets so happy and cute when she can surprise… Hey, Danny, what’s with that dresser?*

  Danny reluctantly halted his plans of tackling the princess on the bed. Only in order to get the book back, of course.

  He looked closely at the dresser in question, grumbling, *I-I don’t see it.*

  *Use your mana sight.*

  Danny made a face, *Uhhh, alright.*

  The room turned to a sickly white. With all the preservation enchantments assaulting his vision, he wondered how the archdruid ever found anything in here.

  *What am I looking for, Cranny?*

  *Look at what’s not there.*

  Danny rolled his eyes, *Thanks sensei Cranny…*

  *Near the bottom of the dresser,* added Cranny, helpfully.

  Danny studied the piece of furniture as he moved closer, only to see that Cranny was right. Down at the bottom, near the back, the preservation enchantment was oddly missing. There was a well-defined dark spot.

  Squatting down, Danny grabbed the bottom drawer and pulled it out. The drawer didn’t glide easily out as expected. Even with the drawer partially out, the dark mass stayed in its original location at the far back of the dresser.

  Searching around in the drawer, Danny did his best to carefully move aside the clothing that had been seemingly packed as densely as possible inside. The process was taking too long for Danny’s short patience, so he started unceremoniously scooping the material out on the ground around him.

  Danny didn’t know when she snuck up on him, but Willow’s concerned voice asked, “Uhhh, Danny, why are you playing in the archdruid’s underwear drawer?”

  Danny quickly released his mana sight to look at what was in his hands.

  They were panties. He now had both fists full of panties.

  *Fists Full of Panties… That would be an awesome band name! I am adding that one to the list below Savage Ponies…there, and done,* Cranny mumbled seemingly to himself.

  Willow continued in an uncomfortable tone, “The girls didn’t mention you having that…inclination. I guess I don’t mind, but please just put the archdruid's back. She is not here, and it’s really creepy…”

  Danny dropped what was in his hands to glance back at the princess with a long suffering look before leaning forward to dig something out of the back of the drawer.

  The entire back of the drawer was gone, and the…ladies underthings there were nothing more than remnants and dust. Danny felt a smooth and hard block of something at the back nearest the wall. It wasn’t that heavy, and he managed to easily pull it out. Panty dust flew everywhere, and Danny had to cough a few times until it settled down.

  Willow saw what was in his hands and could only manage an, “Ohhhh…”

  The object was a box made out of obstinite. It explained why the enchantments had unravelled near the back of the dresser. Didn’t make much sense if you were trying to hide it there.

  Cranny guessed, *Maybe something happened, and she didn’t think she would be gone this long.*

  Danny turned the box around until he located the opening on the side opposite the hinge. Carefully lifting the lid, something shot out across the room.

  Willow and Danny’s heads turned to follow it where it hit the bedroom partition with a loud clicking sound.

  Walking over to the partition, Danny just stared at the small disc no wider than his finger. It
had stuck flat against the short wall and quit moving.

  “Why did it do that?” asked Willow now next to him.

  Danny shrugged and reached out to pick the disc off the wall. While it was easy to do, Danny could tell the thing was still wanting to go toward the wall. The marble partition didn’t appear to be anything special. Danny knew from seeing the side that the wall was only maybe six centimeters thick.

  Willow suggested, “Try throwing it in the air.”

  Danny couldn’t hide what he thought about that stupid suggestion, when he frowned and shrugged, tossing it in the air. The disc flew up and then shot over the partition. On the other side of the room, there was another loud click. Danny looked at the princess in surprise as she had crossed her arms with a smug look on her face.

  Coming around the bedroom partition, they found the disc stuck on the kitchen side of the den’s partition. Willow reached it first and looked to Danny before reaching out, lightly tossing the disc into the air again.

  This time there was no click. Instead, there were the sounds of stone moving and separating.

  Walking into the den, Willow and Danny watched as the stone fireplace collapsed in on itself to reveal another set of stairs leading down into more darkness. This staircase was different, though, as it almost immediately spiraled as it travelled downward.

  The two shared a fleeting look before walking down into the darkness together.

  CHAPTER 23

  The spiraling staircase held no surprises like the last staircase. Unless you count it feeling as if they would eventually reach the center of the planet as they seemingly went on forever. Though when they started to reach the bottom, light started to filter up from whatever was awaiting them below.

  Danny insisted on going down first and checking for anything hazardous. Willow reluctantly agreed to wait, albeit impatiently, in clear view of the bottom of the stairs.

  Peeking slowly around the edge of the entryway and into the newest chamber, Danny discovered that a barrier of air magic was filling the entryway. He could tell that something was slightly different in this air barrier from the ones used in the sacred tree. However, just like the ones in the sacred trees, Danny’s head easily passed through so that he could carefully scan the rest of the chamber for potential threats.

  *Wow, there is a massive amount of free mana in here, and ugh, it’s extremely humid,* complained Danny.

  *Worried about your hair, Pretty Boy?* mocked Cranny.

  There was a large enchantment in the ceiling. It acted like a small sun to the dense jungle that blocked his view of the rest of the chamber. Through his mana sight, he could see mana pouring out of it like a water mister, pushing mana out and into the room. The ground, at least on this side of the chamber, was comprised of soil. Cranny pointed out a few sacred trees hidden amounts the other plants. With all the free mana, he couldn’t tell what else was out there.

  Willow whisper-yelled from where she was still waiting above, “Danny, what do you see?”

  Danny looked up at the princess, pleading, “Willow, I am going to ask you to stay there. There are some potentially dangerous things in here that I need to checkout first. Please stay where you are.”

  The princess looked as if she would argue but then silently sat down on the stairs.

  Danny moved into the room and paused, *What do you think?*

  *I don’t like it. Reminds me of the beginning to too many horror/suspense movies.*

  Annoyed, Danny grumbled, *That’s not exactly helpful…*

  *Let’s get out of Mana Aspect, and I will have Air Aspect ready to go. If we can’t cut the potential threat, we can always quickly retreat and grab the princess on the way,* Cranny suggested.

  *That’s a lot better! Remind me to give you another one of those raise thingies.*

  Danny sent his excess mana into the princess again, who made a cute shocked sound, before he switched back to Air Aspect. Flying high, he stopped over the vegetation but couldn’t visibly make out what was below. Even his heightened Air Scan seemed to be disrupted by all the free-floating mana.

  Danny decided to just keep going on to the far side of the chamber. Based on Cranny’s previous scans from outside the vault, this chamber should take up the same area of the other two combined.

  The jungle abruptly ended, and Danny passed through another odd (though similar to the previous) barrier of air magic. The oppressive humidity of the jungle area was immediately gone, and Danny paused to look over the new space he had just entered.

  Taking up roughly a third of the chamber, Danny found the hoped for archdruid’s workspace. Like the second chamber, this area’s floor and most of the wall was lined with marble.

  Long tables were placed on one side and a couple of bookshelves on the other. The tables were covered with what Danny could only guess were tools and projects in different states of completion.

  Drawn toward the bookshelves, he stopped himself with only the greatest effort, knowing that Willow was waiting on him. She too would want to see all this and wouldn’t be content to wait much longer.

  Turning back, he started to fly over the jungle again, when he decided he should see what it was like inside. Releasing his Air Aspect, Danny chose to continue on foot.

  Danny was pleased to find a pathway he hadn’t noticed before running down the middle of the jungle. Moving aside branches and stepping over shrubs, Danny did his best to keep to the path.

  Danny couldn’t hide his frustration and shock, *I can’t believe all this survived for this long down here.*

  *Danny, was that something on the sacred tree to your left?*

  Danny stopped and turned back to the tree they had just passed. There was a squirrel just sitting there, looking down at Danny. Its body was completely made of the same material as the vault.

  *Cranny, am I seeing this right?*

  *Yeah, that is the reddest squirrel I have ever seen. You think it dyes its hair?*

  Ignoring Cranny’s quips, Danny asked worriedly, *You think it’s dangerous?*

  Cranny scoffed, “Danny, it’s just a cute fluffy squirrel…*

  Danny stepped a little closer, and the ‘fluffy’ squirrel lunged at him.

  A huge ball of air blast shot away from Danny, hitting the squirrel dead center, but it was only halted mid-lunge, falling to the ground.

  Cranny yelled, “Damn, that thing is heavy! Let’s just run, Danny!”

  Danny rushed through the brush, back toward the workspace. Another ball of air shot out of Danny, and a second squirrel was halted only centimeters from hitting him.

  Cranny worriedly yelled, *Air Scan is buggy as hell in all this mana. I can’t really spot them until they are almost on top of us.*

  Detecting another ‘furry’ missile, Danny turned in a panic, his go-to fireball prepared to cast in his hand.

  Pushing the squirrel away with air, Cranny admonished, *No fire! Enclosed, air tight spaces, and flammable plant matter do not mix. Use something else!*

  To his horror, more obstinite squirrels poured from the underbrush and surrounding trees. He had been hoping that the one squirrel was just really fast.

  Cranny tried to surround them in a cushion of still air, but there were just too many. While some squirrels were halted mid-air by the dome of stilled air, the other squirrels started slowly kicking and knocking each other through. It wasn’t long before Danny was being turned black and blue from the deluge of little furious paws and bodies.

  “ENOUGH,” screamed Danny, and an area of two meters around him froze in an instant. Little frozen red ice cubes and vegetation fell all around him.

  *Wow, Danny, good job! I should have thought of that…*

  *Did I get all of them?* Danny asked as he looked around in concern.

  Cranny paused, *I think so. Otherwise, they would probably still be attacking.*

  Danny took a moment to catch his breath, *Why didn’t we just fly out of there?*

  *…uhhh, I don’t know. Why didn’t you think of tha
t earlier?*

  Danny admonished, *You were the one who said you would have it ready when we first came in here. You should have thought of it!*

  There was a cracking sound, and Danny’s head turned toward a red shard of ice to his left, *Are they breaking out?*

  There was another cracking sound to his right, and as he turned, another of the red ice cubes started to shake.

  *Danny, let’s get out of here. Now!*

  The sound of more ice cracking filled the air behind him as Danny ran as hard as he could toward the work area.

  Cranny’s panicked voice pierced through Danny’s frantic thoughts, *Ahhh, what are you doing? Fly Danny!*

  Danny activated Air Aspect and flew the rest of the way to the barrier. As he passed through the barrier over, a dozen squirrels bounced off it, as if it were a solid wall.

  Danny turned around, ready for a fight, only to find dozens of obstinite squirrels just standing there, facing him, unmoving.

  *Ahhh, that’s so damn creepy! Make them go away!* screamed Cranny, hysterically.

  Danny floated away slowly and switched to Mana Aspect, *Can we deactivate them like the doors?*

  *Hang on, let me see. Uhh, they are too creepy, and the air in there has so much mana.*

  Danny agreed, *And here I thought her choice in decorating was what was messed up.*

  Danny looked around the jungle to see if he could spot any more squirrels, not already patiently waiting to play Kick the Ascendant.

  Danny spotted something odd near the edge of the air barrier, *Cranny.*

  *Hang on, Danny. These things are a lot more complex than those doors. If we had encountered these first, I would never have figured the trick out. And…I got it.*

  One by one, little red bodies tipped over to lay on the ground.

  *Now, what is it, Danny?*

  Danny floated over the jungle to hover next to one of the sacred trees. The tree was not very large, being confined to the chamber. What Danny had spotted were the large fruits hanging along one of the branches.

  *It has a connection to the source,* exclaimed Cranny reverently.