Trial and Flame

by Kevin Murphy

  “As long as it’s not too big it shouldn’t be a problem,” said Dakkon. “These wrist wraps should have a limit before they need to recharge, but I’ve never reached it. Freezing the water’s pretty easy on my mana supply, too.”

  “Good enough for me,” said Mina.

  “All right, let’s get to it!” Melee yelled, clearly eager to get to the combat. Despite the large cavity of the room there was no discernable echo.

  Jinx went rigid, eyes fixed on the ceiling, growling lowly in apprehension. Noticing the wolf’s agitation, the group paused to turn and look for whatever had disturbed him, but there was nothing save for translucent crystal without nooks or crannies large enough for anything to hide in.

  A quick check with his heat vision revealed only the familiar cold blue of the visilium. Dakkon looked to Jinx’s master for reassurance. “I don’t see anything up there—what do you think, Mina?”

  “I think maybe he’s just a little nervous,” said Mina, as she bent down to place a reassuring palm on Jinx’s neck. “This is his first time in a crystal cave, after all. Lots of new things to see.”

  “Him and me both,” said Roth. With the interruption aside, they moved ahead, and Jinx seemed relieved to be moving onward.

  Leading the way forward, Melee and Roth walked into the left tunnel—far smoother than the chamber from which they’d come—with eyes peeled for any explicit signs of danger. Being in an alien crystalline environment, the subtler hints were lost on them. The others followed cautiously. They knew they were walking toward a fight, sooner or later, and the uncertainty of the wait made them uncomfortable. Things would become simpler once they’d had an opportunity to weigh the strength of the tunnel creatures.

  As they walked, the party caught whiffs of a repugnant scent akin to the stench of churning long-untouched compost. Infrequent at first, the smell gradually became ever-present. Air quality wasn’t the only thing changing. The solid crystal of the tunnel began to show more and more imperfect splotches of stone and dirt. Along with the changing terrain came clumpy mounds of soil that had clearly fallen from the growing number of dirt-filled cavities above them. Unsure whether the mounds were simply the result of gravity and time or the work of tunneling critters, Dakkon quickly checked each cavity and mound for warmth before they passed them by.

  Before anyone else could see or hear a thing, Jinx began to growl again, this time facing forward. From the path ahead, new revolting noises greeted them. Not unlike the unrestrained smacking of large, slimy lips, the wet sounds of creatures eating, working, or spawning grew closer, though sight of the sound’s origin was still obscured by the gradual leftward bend of the corridor. As the group inched forward, the noise grew louder and louder until, abruptly, it stopped.

  The party instinctively froze, waiting to see if their approach had already been discovered. They weren’t sure what would happen next. The inhuman squelching noise came again, much more strongly than before. This time it was accompanied by wet wriggling sounds, drumming slaps of flesh against earth, and subtle tremors within the ground around them.

  Melee looked back to Dakkon, wordlessly asking if he could see anything else.

  Dakkon focused on his eyes, pouring in more mana than he’d spared for his earlier spot-checks. The bodies of his party members bloomed with radiant reds, oranges, and yellows. Ahead, Dakkon saw that the dirt-filled portions of the walls and ceilings began to faintly glow.

  “Move back! I think they’re trying to come through the wall!” Dakkon tried to warn his friends, but by the time the words had finished leaving his mouth it was already too late.

  The dirt patches on the walls in front of them, around them, and behind them burst outward with the wriggling bodies of fleshy, many-legged horrors each about a meter long. It was immediately clear that these creatures were the source of the prevalent stench. Their skin was creamy and bulbous, with two large, hard, black eyes on either side of their sickly pink heads. The fleshiness of their bodies was akin to the corpulence of carrion larvae, though covered with a thick slime. Unlike their scavenger cousins, these maggot-like creatures were clearly eager to hunt for their meals.

  Melee let out a wild scream as she broke rank and recklessly swung her sword in massive arcs, splitting each insectoid that her large blade connected with into squirming lumps. Roth batted away an airborne bug with his mace just before it could hit him, then crushed another that was came up from the ground below with his gauntleted right fist.

  [You have gained 150 experience!]

  [You have gained 150 experience!]

  [You have gained 150 experience! EXP until next level 3,816/6,660]

  Mina was overcome by the suddenness of the attack. Three worm-like creatures wrapped around her legs, immobilizing her. In unison, fleshy folds beneath the creatures’ eyes opened to reveal tucked-away mandibles along with a screeching cry—comparable to a teakettle at full boil—which became muffled as they drove their pincers firmly into Mina’s leg.

  Jinx evaded one of the creatures that had leapt at him and the wolf bit down—tearing at one clamped around his master’s leg, trying his best to free her.

  Cline and Dakkon evaded the initial lash of the insectoid monsters. Dakkon tried to invoke his skill, Burning Sigil, to draw a line over the two bugs in front of him that were latched to Mina’s left leg, but—unskilled as he was in casting under duress—his concentration wavered as another larva-like critter wrapped around his leg and tugged him to the ground. The creature reared back its head, fleshy folds splitting to reveal its maw. Thick green liquid dripped freely from the points of its fang-like mandibles and it screeched loudly just before one of Cline’s arrows ended its assault on his downed friend.

  Dakkon heard another screech directly beneath him. Before he had a chance to roll away from the hole he had landed on, one of the burrowing terrors dug its mandibles into his stomach, piercing through the leather armor that he wore.

  [You have been bitten for 57 damage. Remaining HP 618/675]

  [Acid courses through your veins! Your health will slowly drain away.]

  “Agh!” Dakkon cried out, squirming at the sensation of something foreign being injected into him. The pain of an insect ripping at him was excruciating, but it paled in comparison to the fiery torture he’d put himself through a week beforehand. Whatever the creature had pumped into him, on the other hand, was a different story. It burned far worse than the bite itself. Dakkon tried his best to temporarily ignore the creature attached to him in order to help Mina who was struggling just out of reach in front him. As he moved forward, the sinister thing beneath him held fast, jerking him back to the ground.

  [Acid consumes you from within for 30 damage.]

  [You have been bitten for 64 damage. Remaining HP 524/675]

  [Acid courses through your veins! Your health will slowly drain away.]

  More acid pumped into Dakkon’s body. If their effects stacked, as he feared they might, then he seemed to be in trouble. “Don’t let them bite you!” Dakkon struggled to yell.

  Pulling against the insectoid’s pinching mandible, Dakkon moved forward and swiped his dagger at the two creatures coiled around Mina’s left leg. Their bodies perfectly aligned to be raked with a single attack. The creatures fell mostly limp, heads still locked into Mina’s skin.

  [Acid consumes you from within for 60 damage.]

  [You have slashed a shrieker for 242 damage. Shrieker has been slain.]

  [You have gained 200 experience!]

  [You have slashed a shrieker for 245 damage. Shrieker has been slain.]

  [You have gained 200 experience! EXP until next level 4,816/6,660]

  Cline had spun around and was stemming the tide of flanking shriekers by firing as soon as their heads appeared from the clusters of dirt patches behind the party. Melee continued her wild swinging chops, forcing Roth to step further back and closer to Mina’s side where he proceeded to pound bug after bug with his mace to grand, splattering effect as though he were playi
ng whack-a-mole with overripened melons.

  [Acid consumes you from within for 60 damage.]

  The blue light of Mina’s heal covered her own body, driving the still-clinging shrieker mandibles out from her skin along with a drizzle of caustic green sludge and freeing her to aid others in the fight. Seeing Dakkon on the ground, she began to chant again.

  [You have been bitten for 58 damage. Remaining HP 346/675]

  [Acid courses through your veins! Your health will slowly drain away.]

  Having dealt with the bugs on his healer, Dakkon now turned his attention to the one that had been gnawing at his stomach. He sunk his dagger into the creature’s emotionless black eye, causing it to shudder then cease fighting him, though—even in death—it refused to fully release until he was bathed by Mina’s healing light.

  [Acid consumes you from within for 90 damage.]

  [You have been healed for 355 hit points. Remaining HP 611/675]

  The pleasant wave of blue energy which washed over him momentarily allowed Dakkon to forget the pain he’d just experienced, but he could still feel the caustic scald of acid lingering beneath his skin. Not wishing for any more surprises, he leapt to his feet and began to spray water from his Dousebinders in an attempt to plug up any dirt holes that immediately surrounded them, but his efforts were proven ineffective when a shrieker wriggled through his partially-formed ice patch to meet with Roth’s eager cudgel.

  “Uh, guys,” Cline said with worry in his voice. “We’ve got a big problem back here.”

  Dakkon spun around to see what his friend was talking about. The tunnel behind them—in the direction they’d come from—writhed with slimy flesh.

  [Acid consumes you from within for 90 damage.]

  Melee let out a panicked scream as the bulk behind them surged forward.

  “Now or never.” Dakkon abandoned his failing attempt to plug holes and instead used his Dousebinders to form a shallow brace against the curvature of the tunnel’s wall. He focused on producing his new Afterburner skill by willing it to happen—the same way he’d learned to use all of thermomancy. Though he’d had a chance to practice on the road, this would be the combat trial for his new, last-resort technique. Dakkon nestled himself against the ice-brace just before the voracious mass was upon them. As the small, conical flame began to spout forward from the palm of his hand, he grabbed his arm in support and directed it toward the wriggling throng.

  [Acid consumes you from within for 90 damage. Remaining HP 431/675]

  “Afterburner,” Dakkon thought. He invoked the skill’s name and his blood ran icy cold from so suddenly spending his entire mana reserve. The explosive multiplying power of casting a skill two ways at once surged forward, devouring the tunnel in bright light.

  The tunnel lit with a three-second jet of focused fire. Sounds of sizzling and screeching filled the air alongside a wave of intense heat. Dakkon’s body pressed hard against his quickly-erected ice barrier, ice cracking behind him and beginning to give way. Another couple of seconds would have sent him tumbling backward once his brace failed.

  [You have burned a shrieker for 340 damage. Shrieker has been slain.]

  [You have gained 200 experience!]

  [You have burned a shrieker for 362 damage. Shrieker has been slain.]

  [You have gained 200 experience! EXP until next level 106/6,950]

  [You have gained a level! You have 5 free stat points to distribute!]

  [You have slammed yourself into a wall for 73 damage. Remaining HP 627/700]

  [You have burned a shrieker for 343 damage. Shrieker has been slain.]

  [You have gained 200 experience!]

  …

  The messages continued to flood in, even while the remaining shriekers re-amassed to continue their assault. Somewhere buried in the mess of text was a message about Dakkon harming himself. The skill proved to be insanely powerful even with its drawbacks, and there could be no better setting for it than inside a tunnel like then and there. Unfortunately, it hadn’t been enough to completely eliminate their larva-like foes.

  Roth rushed to the new front line, beside Cline and Dakkon, to meet the next wave of the fight when—from deeper into the tunnels—a huskier shrieking call carried down the passageways, driving the remaining shriekers back into the walls.

  Melee pivoted around wildly, taking deep gasping breaths as she looked for more bugs to finish. The other warrior, Roth, had managed to keep his cool. He looked to each of his party members to figure out the state of things.

  “Is everyone all right?” Roth asked.

  [Acid consumes you from within for 90 damage. Remaining HP 537/700]

  Mina let out a heavy, pained breath before she spoke. “I’m going to have to keep healing myself,” she said through gritted teeth. “Dakkon, too. Those things—they inject some sort of acid.”

  “Can you cure it?” Dakkon asked, wincing as he spoke. He’d seen some amount of the stuff pushed from his wounds as they closed, however, he fully expected that if she could have expunged the acid, she’d have simply done it already.

  “No,” Mina said, clearly suffering. It was apparent she had gotten more of the acid in her system than Dakkon. She struggled for her words. “Poison, I can cure. Even venom—but acid…”

  “We’ve got to get out of here as quickly as possible,” Cline said. “No way to be sure they aren’t about to pop out of the walls again. They didn’t look like they were done fighting before they left.”

  Melee didn’t need any more convincing. She shoved her way past Roth and Cline to lead the retreat and the others soon fell into step behind her.

  “What’s wrong with Melee?” Roth asked Mina in a low whisper that would prove inaudible to their female fighter who stomped ahead of everyone else, barely still in view.

  “Amelie can just about deal with slimy bugs,” Mina said with an equally pained and apologetic grimace. “But, she hates parasites. Really hates them. Anything alive that wants under her skin drives her crazy. I wouldn’t even mention them around her. Those things we fought look a lot like oversized parasites, and the way they latch onto us—well, I think they’re close enough.”

  Dakkon could feel the little hairs on the back of his neck prick up. “That’s a pretty reasonable thing to hate, but—”

  Mina cut him off. “It’s a phobia and she gets irrational. It’s not something we’re going to solve with a chat.”

  Dakkon nodded. Perhaps exploring the tunnels beneath the mines was a bad idea after all. His draining health and sore stomach certainly seemed to think they were. At least it had been a worthwhile testing ground for double-casting a spell in combat. Even if it didn’t leave him with any mana afterwards, it was an incredible trump card to have.

  Melee had reached the geode-like room they’d entered the bug-tunnel from well before the others, and when the rest arrived behind her, they saw her standing still while staring at the ceiling. The handholds which they’d used to climb down into the geode-like room now terminated in a solid wall of rough crystal. The exit had been sealed and their way out had disappeared.

  “Dakkon,” Roth said. “This room is completely crystal, so those bugs shouldn’t be able to pop out in here. Can you plug up the other hole while we think?”

  Dakkon nodded. Once he’d recovered enough mana to seal the left-hand, bug-infested tunnel, he did so with a barrier twice as thick as he’d used to cover the right-hand one—nearly half a meter strong.

  Melee stood, back still turned to the others, staring upward at where the passage out of the caves had been. Mina appreciatively stroked Jinx’s neck between rounds of healing herself and Dakkon as their bodies battled with the acid in their systems.

  “I’m… sorry guys,” Melee said without turning around. “I just…”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Roth said. “You gave those bugs hell.”

  “Yeah, it’s not like you held us back or anything,” Cline said with a nonchalant flick of his wrist. “If you’re trying to be a hinde
rance then you’ll have to find a way to be less useful.”

  Melee turned around and saw Cline and Roth both grin broadly at her. Her cheeks blushed a surprised scarlet for only a moment before she fell back into her usual, hardened mindset and quickly found something different to focus on.

  “Are you two all right?” Melee called over to Mina and Dakkon who were seated on the spiky crystalline floor, eyes shut and resting.

  Dakkon looked up and gave a small smile of his own, while Mina only nodded—eyes remaining closed.

  “It looks like we’re losing hit points just a little bit faster than Mina’s getting her mana back at the moment,” Dakkon said. “So, we’re just going to take it easy for a while. Would one of you, fortunate, bite-free individuals be so kind as to bring us some food?”

  \\\

  By the time the acid had stopped ravaging their systems, Mina had been reduced to 28 percent of her total mana reserves. Those were bad numbers for the party. If another had been bitten, there might not have been enough healing to go around. If they’d all been bitten, then they’d likely have had to decide who got to live and who had to die.

  During their break, Dakkon used a souped-up Thermal Sight by flooding his eyes with additional mana to reexamine the room where they sat. He could see no evidence to betray why or how the ceiling had grown to cover the hole and closed them in. It looked as though the crystal had always been there.

  Cline climbed the handholds to get a better look at the new patch of ceiling. There appeared to be something seam-like to the edges of the crystals, but there was no yield when he pushed against the mass. Its sudden appearance aside, nothing about the new crystal seemed extraordinary compared to the rest in the chamber.