by Taran, David
“Impossible!” Uckey exclaimed before charging forward again. “How could this be here?”
“What is it?” Sarena asked.
Uckey must be able to see further than she can sense down here. Tyrus thought.
“It’s a wall. The tunnel ends,” Uckey said, his voice trembling.
Wait. What? That’s not right.
“What are you saying Uckey? There’s no wall there; it opens up into a cavern,” Tyrus said in confusion.
“Ah! Uckey is right. It’s a dead end. I can’t feeling anything but more stone behind it,” Sarena chimed in.
Tyrus knew they were wrong. The closer they drew the more he was able to feel of the cavern. It wasn’t very big; maybe only twice the width and height of the tunnel. But there was no question it was there. How come Sarena can’t sense it? Even if she can’t see it, her stone magic should be able to feel it.
“Could it be that someone created an illusion here?” Uckey asked as they drew to a stop in front of the cavern’s entrance. “I suppose it is simple to find out.”
Uckey stepped forward towards what must have been looked like a solid wall to him, but as the closer he came the slower he went. Finally he stopped barely an inch from the entrance, turning around and walking back a few feet.
“I see! Not an illusion! Just a wall!” He proclaimed.
“What! Uckey you didn’t even get close enough to touch it! How can you say it’s not an illusion?” Tyrus yelled at him in frustration. What kind of test was that supposed to be?
“But...I’m sure I tested it. I went right up to it and felt it was stone! Illusions can’t be solid like that!”
“Tyrus is right. You turned around too early,” Sarena said while jumping from Uckey’s back. She took a few steps towards the entrance before stopping and looking back at them. “How close to the wall am I, Tyrus?”
“Maybe a foot away. What’s going on?” Tyrus answered. He thought he knew what Sarena would say, but he wanted to make sure first.
“I thought so,” she said while nodding. “That’s where I sense the wall at, but I feel like I’m leaning up against it right now.”
Uckey huffed and pranced in place in excitement, then abruptly charged forward. Tyrus felt him slow down as he went, almost slowing to a walk as he passed through the entrance into the cavern. As soon as he was through he burst back to full speed.
“A warding! How marvelous!” Uckey said.
Sarena stared at where Uckey had gone before rushing at the entrance in the same way. Tyrus felt her drawing on her power to boost them forward for a moment before they crashed through into Uckey’s side.
“How come only I could tell this was here, Uckey? Shouldn’t Sarena have been able to feel it also? And what is a warding?” Tyrus asked as Sarena found her footing again.
“Illusions and wardings only work on those that are weaker than them. I doubt you’ll ever even notice they exist with the power you have,” Uckey answered. “And a warding is a very simple general spell that has any number of uses. This one was meant to keep people from touching the illusion and realizing it wasn’t there, but it could just as easily have been an alarm to tell the creator of it as we passed through instead of stopping us. Some of them will even kill you if you try to force your way through. They’re the main specialty of the gnomes!”
“Wait, kill us? Why did you just charge through then?” Sarena asked. Her aura was starting to show signs of frustration again.
“It was just a repelling ward of course! Wardings can’t have multiple functions!” Uckey defended himself.
“Just drop it Sarena. It’s over and done with, no harm done,” Tyrus said.
Sarena pursed her lips, obviously wanting to say more but holding herself back.
Tyrus sighed to himself. He knew what Uckey was doing. Just because the original warding wasn’t dangerous didn’t mean there couldn’t be a second one that could kill them just beyond it. Uckey knew they had no choice but to go forward, and he must have felt guilty about pushing Sarena so hard. She wouldn’t have been willing to let the gnome risk his life like that if she knew the truth beforehand.
I guess he can’t be all that bad sometimes. He thought.
“What is this place?” Sarena’s voice brought him out of his thoughts.
The chamber stretched for around fifty feet in front of them, empty except for the object in the center of it. It had drawn Tyrus’ attention as soon as he could feel it. There was a whirlpool of power floating several feet above the floor, different from anything he had felt before. It was barely the size of a fist, but it somehow twisted the space surrounding it. The world immediately around it swirled and disappeared into it constantly as if it was a bottomless pit. He couldn’t make any sense of it.
“It can’t be...” Uckey trailed off in shock. “That- how can it be here?” He stumbled forward, legs shaking as he slowly moved towards the strange whirlpool.
“What is that thing Uckey?” Tyrus asked. “You recognize it?”
“Of course I do! The pendant of Ardreth has always been a legendary artifact! But...it shouldn’t be here. It was created five thousand years before my time, when the elves had been pushed back to their capital, Felaenahona. Ardreth was the most powerful High elf at the time, and when it was clear they couldn’t hold out he chose to sacrifice himself to save his people. He did the same as you Tyrus, except using life magic instead of mana. The sheer number of lesser races that were created by his power caused every country to have no choice but to pull out of the war to defend their own lands.
“Once the life storm had died down he was transferred to the pendant you see there. But the pendant has been passed down through the royal line since then. Every elven ruler has worn the pendant. It is considered their most precious artifact; they would never just abandon it in the Labyrinth for no reason,” he explained.
The same as me? Does that mean his mind still exists within it, trapped in that void?
“Did he become an elemental then?” Sarena asked, voicing Tyrus’ thoughts.
“No idea! The elves would never let us study it! One gnome even lived with them for four hundred years to try and convince them, but they didn’t so much as let him touch it,” he answered.
“Well it’s here now. Why not take it with us? It’s not doing any good just sitting here in an empty tunnel,” Tyrus said.
Sarena shrugged and started walking towards the floating pendant. Tyrus could sense that Uckey was nervous about taking it, but he stayed silent even while his aura roiled with unease and anticipation. When Sarena plucked the pendant out of the air Tyrus felt a change in the world around them. The whirlpool of power instantly disappeared as if it had never existed, while in its place another surge of power appeared.
“Get away Sarena! Something is coming!” Tyrus yelled in a panic. Even as he yelled he knew it was too late.
The world around them faded away as the power enveloped them. A strong icy chill pierced him as fell through a black void. It only lasted a heartbeat, but that was more than enough for him to feel a deep, ancient terror claw at him. Memories flashed through his mind of another time. The scent of damp stone filled his nose, along with the sound of dripping water echoing around him. It was gone before he was able to grab onto the memory, but the impression it left on him was not.
A seed of burning anger was left within him. He could feel it there, waiting for release, but he had no idea what it was directed at.
His mind was in turmoil as the world jumped back into place around him. The tunnel was gone, replaced by a large open room made of wood. The size of it was staggering, being at least two hundred feet long and half as wide. Above them the ceiling was open to the sky, with the walls ending jaggedly all around. In some places it reached as high as forty feet above them, while others were low enough for Sarena to reach over. And from what Tyrus could feel it was all made from one giant piece of wood.
Before Tyrus could get a better grasp on his thoughts he felt Sarena throw herself to the
right as a massive shape crashed through where she had stood a moment before.
Chapter Thirteen
Sarena felt the world disappear as a wave of cold seeped into her bones. She opened her mouth to cry out, but no sound would come. Less than a heartbeat passed before the darkness exploded into a world of light, blinding her with its abruptness. Her eyes had become used to the depth of the Labyrinth, so when the blurry mass in front of her shot towards her she was barely able to dodge in time. Grasping onto her wind power, she threw herself to the side while continuing to squint.
Seven hells! Why can’t we find something that doesn’t want to kill us for once!
Another huge blur shot towards her, and Sarena skipped backwards as it crashed into the ground where she had stood before. The earth beneath her trembled upon impact sending a shiver down her spine.
Thank the gods that this thing is slow. One hit from that would flatten me, even if I had Tyrus’ strength.
She continued to jump around the creature as her vision slowly returned. At one point she thought she heard Uckey’s voice cry out in reply to one particularly reckless swing of the monster, but she put it out of her mind right away. Uckey could take care of himself.
When she was finally able to see enough to risk fighting back, she slung the glowing green pendant over her neck and drew Tyrus. As soon as Tyrus had cleared her scabbard, something wrapped itself around her leg and pulled her to the ground. She spun her torso and lashed out with unnatural grace, slashing through what looked to be a root as she reached out with her left hand and pushed off the ground. Her body flipped through the air as a rough, gnarled hand smashed into the earth where she had been about to fall.
It wasn’t until she landed that she had her first clear view of the creature she was battling. She could see that it had arms and legs like a human, but the similarities ended there. Standing at least twenty feet tall, it was a mass of twisted roots, bark, and moss. There was no face aside from two knots where the eyes should be, and its arms were as thick as Sarena’s shoulders were wide. Currently its left arm was pointed straight down, with the roots that made up its fingers extended into the earth. As soon as Sarena realized what that meant she heard Tyrus’ voice.
“It’s attacking from below!”
Instead of dodging out of its range again, Sarena rushed forward hoping to catch it off guard. She had no idea if it worked, but it didn’t move to defend itself as she sent Tyrus slicing through the air towards its left knee. At least, she thought it was a knee. How does a tree even move? Will it just grow a new leg if I cut it off?
She was sorely disappointed when Tyrus slashed into its leg with a thunk. He barely penetrated an inch before stopping. Well, I guess it wasn’t surprised. Why bother defending when you’re made out of magical wood? Pulling Tyrus back, Sarena slipped past its side right as a handful of roots as thick as her arm burst from the ground.
A quick glance around showed that they were fighting in a huge open room, but there was no time to discover more than that. Abandoning her plan of fighting with wind, she drew back until there was a good fifty feet between them. She hoped its roots couldn’t reach so far. As it turned around to face her she pulled enough stone out of the earth to create a spear half again as tall as herself and as thick as her head. It hovered in the air next to her as the creature began to sprint towards her. Gods help us! How can a tree be that fast?
Sarena launched the spear forward with all of her might as soon as it was finished. It was her first time actually throwing something instead of just dropping it, but she didn’t think she could summon enough stone to crush her opponent this time. Her jaw dropped as it flashed towards the monster so fast that she could barely see it. In the blink of an eye it collided with it only twenty feet away. A loud explosion rang out upon impact. She stared as the tree monster was brought to a halt instantly, its head snapped back to face the sky with half of her spear sticking out of it.
Before she could begin to celebrate, its head raised back to its normal position and stared directly at her. As if nothing had even happened it began to dash forward again, completely ignoring the stone spear jutting out of its head.
What! How is that possible? It’s not even hurt after that?
She dashed forward again with her wind, dodging the trees attacks and roots while opening up almost double the amount of space she had before. I really could use some fire magic right about now.
“Uckey, what is this thing!” Sarena called out. She knew that gnome was around here somewhere. “And how do I kill it!”
“A treant,” Uckey’s voice answered shakily after a few moments. “Nobody has ever killed one, so I don’t know. They only exist in one place, and the elves have forbidden anyone from entering.”
The treant was already halfway to her when she started drawing stone into the air again. After the success of her stone spear she had a new plan. It was a gamble, but she didn’t really have any other ideas. As the giant tree drew closer, her stone finished forming into the shape she had planned. An eight foot long sword in the same shape as Tyrus floated in the air next to her, creating a large drain on her power as she waited.
The spear had been easy. Just quickly forming and tossing it hadn’t taken much out of her. But the sword was different. So far she hadn’t been able to hold both stone and wind magic at the same time, and it took far more power to manipulate stone from far away. She would have to avoid the treant’s attacks without any magical aid while also fighting back with her new sword.
I’m not strong enough to cut it down with Tyrus, but my stone magic should make up for that.
When the treant was close enough to reach her it swung its right fist straight away. While it may be able to run fast, its attacks were pathetically slow for its size. Even without her wind Sarena was able to step to the left and avoid it, her sword sagging in the air as her concentration dropped for a moment. As soon as she felt the wind of the arm passing by less than a foot to right, she swung the massive blade at the elbow of the creature. The sword whistled as it cut through the air, moving even faster than Sarena had been expecting. At the last moment she remembered what had happened with the spear.
There was barely enough time to cover her ears and throw herself to the ground. Her control of the sword dropped as she did so, but it was too late at that point. An explosion rang out only a few feet away, sending her tumbling across the uneven ground. When she stopped rolling her head was ringing while her body ached all over. She carefully raised herself from the ground, making sure nothing was broken. Well that was lucky. I’m an idiot. I knew that was going to happen. I should have aimed higher.
When she looked up at the results of her plan she couldn’t help but break into a grin. The treant’s arm had been obliterated. It had staggered back and fallen, and was just now starting to stand. It didn’t seem to realize its arm was missing though, and kept waving its new stub at the ground below it before losing its balance and falling again. Globs of white sap were dripping from the shortened appendage. Lying on the ground next to it was the sword Sarena had created. Its blade was shattered, but it had done its job brilliantly.
Without wasting any time, Sarena created another sword and lifted it into the air. Her power had grown tremendously after creating the hole into the tunnel, but even with that she was starting to feel lightheaded. The sword weighed several tons, and she was continuously holding it aloft while also using a huge burst of power to swing it. I can probably manage it twice more, but I’m not sure my body can handle more than one swing. I can’t risk breaking a leg now that Tyrus can’t heal me anymore.
She rushed forward at the struggling treant as soon as her sword was finished forming. It had finally realized it was missing its right arm, and was instead using its left to support itself. The explosion hadn’t sent her that far away, so she was able to reach it before it had finished standing. Instead of getting right up next to it like before, she stopped ten feet away and launched her stone sword at its head using
all of her strength. Instead of dropping her control like before, she poured everything she had into it to increase its power.
The treant didn’t even have time to react. Her blade slashed down onto the top of its head and caused another explosion, only this time it was somewhat smaller than before. She could feel her sword starting to break upon impact and used her strength to hold it together as it crashed through the treant. Her power was draining at an alarming rate, faster than ever before, as it continued to cut through the treant’s head into the torso. When it reached where the stomach should have been she felt her strength give out.
Her body fell to the ground as her vision swam.
I really need to stop doing this. I’m getting tired of passing out.
She felt herself go numb as the world turned dark around her.
*****
“-out of here?” Sarena heard in her mind as she struggled back into the real world from her dreams.
“I don’t know. Felaenahona was destroyed long before my time. Nobody, not even the elves, have stepped foot in here in thousands of years. How am I supposed to know how to get out of here?” Uckey’s said.
“Felaenahona? Didn’t you say that was the elven capital?” Sarena asked as she rubbed her eyes. Her body was sore all over, and she could feel cuts and bruises everywhere, but none of it felt serious.
“Ah good! You’re awake finally! Are you hurt anywhere?” Tyrus asked hurriedly. She was a little surprised at the concern in his voice. Shouldn’t he be able to sense if I was actually hurt?
“I’m fine. Just some bruises, nothing serious. Why didn’t you just check my aura instead of worrying?” She answered.
“I...For some reason I can’t sense your aura anymore. It’s like you disappeared. If it wasn’t for the bond connecting us I wouldn’t be able to tell you were there at all,” Tyrus said. “It’s not like the goblins. That just felt like an empty hole. Easy enough to find if you know what to look for. But this...it’s actually as if you don’t exist.”
