by Jared Stone
Lucian looked back out at his roommate scurrying back and forth across the plain like a manic squirrel. It seemed as if he would go on like that for eternity if allowed to, forever chasing the closest gate and never actually reaching any of them.
“Blake, come back!” Lucian cried out into the open space with his hands cupped around his mouth. But Blake continued to drift around aimlessly, unable to hear or heed his roommate’s words.
“BLAKE!” Lucian screamed even louder, hoping beyond hope that somehow his voice would cut through the murderous tempest.
Just as Lucian lifted up his hands to call out yet again, he saw from his right a red ball of energy shoot out and fly toward Blake. Colliding with the ground just inches from the boy’s handhold, the blast erupted in fragments of shattered clay, and Blake was violently tossed to the side. This was the only opportunity the wind needed; the boy was immediately pushed all the way back to the point at which he started, rolling over several times before coming to a stop. He lay there for a second, seemingly stunned.
“Blake!?” Lucian exclaimed, kneeling to the ground and rolling the boy onto his back.
“Ugh,” Blake mumbled. “Wha- What happened? I was… almost… there.”
“You were nowhere near,” the professor countered scoldingly. “If we had not intervened, you would have been out there chasing fantasies for Heaven knows how long.”
Blake, with his wits about him once again, sat up. “I could’ve made it…,” he grumbled.
Schuntz let out an exasperated sigh. “It is far more likely that you would have continued pursuing your misguided perceptions until you died of exhaustion.”
“What do you suggest then, huh?” Blake challenged. “Just giving up? On the very first challenge? No. I’ll chase these gates til I die if I gotta! We’ve gotta get to that key before the bad guys do, at any cost!”
Lucian appreciated his roommate’s spirit, but he had to admit it seemed a little extreme. On the other hand, they were now stuck on a plain between realms with no way back and no idea how to continue any further. Schuntz just shook his head in disapproval.
“Do as you must,” the professor stated dismissively. “However, after observing the utter futility of your efforts, I must say that I am perfectly content with being where I am. Galavanting around, chasing after every unobtainable goal which catches one’s eye is a young man’s game. One which I have no desire left to play. No, I would prefer to work on finding a way back out of here through the gate we currently do possess.”
With this, the professor turned around to face the gate behind them in an effort to inspect what other options might present themselves. There, before him, now stood a swirling vortex of blue energy.
“What the…?” Lucian asked in awe, standing to his feet and staring at the newly generated portal.
Schuntz crossed his arms against his chest and shook his head. “How terribly quaint,” he muttered.
Lucian turned to the professor. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“That word in Lí’ísedón above the gate when we entered,” Schuntz elaborated. “It seems now that it was a clue of some kind. A sort of theme for this challenge. I presume that the only way to overcome this stage is to be content with what one has and not pursue any other desires…, even the next gate. This would be the antithesis of the root defilement of lust. When I instead chose to stay here and examine what I already possessed, the gateway revealed itself.”
Lucian nodded silently, unsure of whether or not he truly understood the professor’s explanation but not wanting to seem completely clueless by asking for clarification. It at least partially made sense to him, and he was honestly a bit relieved to have some kind of clues for subsequent challenges. He looked up above the gate and saw new symbols now carved into the arch.
“And what do those say about the next challenge?” he asked the professor, pointing up at the unknown word.
“Míyárfín,” answered the professor. “If I remember correctly, it would translate to something akin to ‘defilement of endless hunger.’ Perhaps the most accurate term would be ‘Gluttony.’”
Schuntz paused and thought about something for a second. “This seems to support a theory I have had since we began this journey,” he then informed the boys, “but I would prefer to gather more information before I make any definitive conjectures regarding the subsequent gates….”
“So, what should we expect on the other side of this one, at least?” Blake chimed in, now standing once again and staring apprehensively into the swirling blue vortex.
“I dare not even hazard a guess,” Schuntz admitted honestly. “My assumption would be some manner of hunger-related challenge. But the metaphorical and symbolic associations with such a concept are so thick, it is impossible to know for sure.”
Lucian swallowed hard. “Well, I guess we have no choice but to continue on, then,” he said, his voice trembling ever so slightly. He looked at both of his companions, who seemed to be waiting on him to take the first plunge. Lucian took a deep breath in and released it to calm himself.
“On to challenge number two,” he said, closing his eyes and stepping through the blue energy field.
10 - Gluttony
???
Lucian put his foot down on the other side of the gate and heard a sickening sploosh as his leg sunk almost up to his knee in a slushy, frigid mix of water and mud. Immediately, he experienced the disgusting sensation of liquid pouring into and filling up his shoe, but it was already too late by this point to save the other leg from the same fate. As the second limb became similarly submerged within the freezing concoction, Lucian also became aware of the steady stream of sleet which rained down upon his shoulders and head, beginning to coat and soak his whole body. He turned to complain to the others of how gross it was on this side, but, upon looking back, Lucian saw no one. Blake and Schuntz were not standing behind him. In fact, not even an empty gate stood at the spot from which he had just entered. All he could see was a steady curtain of frozen precipitation, destroying any visibility farther than a couple of feet away and blocking out almost all light coming from above. The boy could feel icy slush running down from his hair into his eyes, obscuring even further his ability to see.
“Blake? Professor?” Lucian screamed out into the sleet, reaching up and wiping away the layer of ice which had already accumulated on his forehead and cheeks. His bare fingers, ears, and nose were quickly turning numb, and the water seeping through his coat chilled him deep in his core. He brought his hands up and tucked them inside his armpits for warmth. As he listened for a response, all he could hear was the endless plip plip plip plip of frozen pellets plunging into the murky water below.
“Hello!?” Lucian called out again, squinting his eyes and trying to discern anything in his surroundings. As far as he could tell, he was in an empty, icy void which contained nothing but water and the mud that he felt further engulfing his shoes with every second he lingered there. “Can either of you hear me??”
Lucian still heard nothing in response. Figuring that he shouldn’t remain in one place for too long, lest he sink even deeper into the cold, gelatinous substance beneath his feet, he convinced himself to move on in search of his comrades. He lifted his right leg up out of the muck with significant difficulty, as the sludge beneath him seemed to want to suck his foot back in any time he attempted to pull it away. With a schluck schluck schluck, Lucian waded his way forward slowly, holding one arm in front of his face to shield his eyes from the endless downpour and swinging the other arm by his side to maintain his balance as he lifted his knees up to his stomach with each step. He was briefly reminded of the slushie drinks he enjoyed so much as a child, and he imagined that this whole experience would be so much more enjoyable if the disgusting slop around him was, in fact, raspberry flavored.
Ugh, where the heck are they? Lucian pondered. And why does this have to be so miserable? This isn’t really very much of a challenge. It’s just extremely unenjoyable. And w
hat could this possibly have to do with gluttony? Lucian began to think that perhaps the professor’s hypothesis was in error.
Stopping again in the middle of nowhere, Lucian held up his hands to his mouth. “Blake? Professor Schuntz?” he cried out as loudly as he could. Still, he heard no response, and he began to fear that he might never be able to locate them amidst this confounding puddle from Hell.
I guess I’m just gonna have to find this gate on my own, then…, Lucian reasoned. Maybe the sleet will stop if I can manage that. But how should I even….
Midway through his flow of thoughts, Lucian swore he felt something brush past his leg in the water. The boy shot his glance downward. The pool below him was pitch black with a top layer of crusty white ice floating atop. Lucian could not actually see anything below his knee, but he saw no evident cause for alarm either.
Okay…, let’s just hope you were imagining things, Lucian thought to himself, trying to not get wrapped up in his imagination. It was probably just….
Lucian quite clearly heard something glide through the water to his left this time. Looking off to his side, the boy saw ripples on the surface floating toward him from the wake of whatever had just passed by, but he could see nothing else through the ice particles relentlessly raining down from the sky.
“Blake? Professor?” Lucian asked out loud, though considerably more timidly than he had before. He peered through the darkness around him, hoping desperately that Blake or Schuntz would come sloshing toward him. But all that greeted him was the lonely plip plip plip of falling ice.
Without warning, the sky around Lucian seemed to explode with red light, as if lightning had fired off in the distance. Knowing only one person with red energy, Lucian began running in the direction from which the light had come. Or, at least, running the best he could, given the circumstances. It was truly more thrashing around wildly through water and muck, trying to balance moving forward with falling face-first into the frigid pool beneath him. At least the physical exertion helped to warm him up a bit. As he scrambled onward, another blast of red energy lit up the sky around him, providing further evidence that he was still moving in the right direction.
“Professor!?” Lucian called out through harried breaths. He had forgotten just how taxing it was to run through deep water, especially when every step tried to suck you back down into the depths.
“Lucian!?” Blake’s voice hollered back. “Lucian, where are you??”
Oh, thank God! thought Lucian. Blake’s there too! This would make reuniting their party considerably easier.
Lucian stopped running for the moment and tried to catch his breath. He looked around him, but he still couldn’t find his missing companions. “Marco!” Lucian finally shouted, chuckling to himself a little.
“Dude, get over here!” he heard Blake shout back, obviously not enjoying his humor as much as he had.
Lucian hurried again toward the place from which Blake’s voice seemed to have come. He continued running blindly until he saw someone dive across his field of vision and into the water to his left. Seeing that it was Blake struggling to once again stand up, Lucian took a few long strides to go help.
“Blake, what the heck’s going on?” Lucian inquired frantically as he grabbed hold of his roommate’s arm and tugged him up from the mud. The terrified look on Blake’s face which became visible in another blast of red light did nothing to calm Lucian’s nerves.
“Dude, you gotta go help,” Blake insisted. “Schuntz is….”
The dark haired boy would not get the opportunity to finish his thought, as some kind of slick tentacle swung up out of the water and collided with his midsection. He flew once again through the ice-filled air and splashed down into the water several feet away. Lucian jumped back in alarm, barely avoiding plunging into the muck himself. In the next flare of red light, Lucian saw something rising up and towering over him.
The creature before Lucian was a hideous, slimy monstrosity, whose segmented body gave off the appearance of an enormous earthworm. The top of its long neck or body – Lucian couldn’t be sure either way – had no visible eyes or nose; only one giant, gaping hole filled with row after row of razor sharp teeth. It writhed around blindly before stopping and turning toward Lucian, seeming to somehow sense his presence. It began rearing back as if it was about to strike, and Lucian found himself momentarily paralyzed with shock and terror. He knew he had to try and empty his mind and generate his qi, but it seemed as though his entire nervous system had temporarily gone offline.
BANG!
The worm jolted sideways as a blast of red energy exploded against its flank. It wavered momentarily, seeming partially stunned, before shaking it off and eyelessly glaring down at the boy again.
“Mr. Aarden, I would advise you to move, now,” commanded Schuntz as he waded toward Lucian from several feet away. His partially hairless head was caked in ice, and the thick-lensed glasses he wore were so coated in a solid sheet of frozen slush that Lucian had no idea how he was even able to see. The professor held out his hand and gathered within it another ball of red energy. This was all Lucian needed to regain his thoughts, and he leapt to the side just as the giant worm-beast’s head hit the water where he had stood. Slithering down into the pool around them after the strike, the monster glided past, then once again reared up and glanced in the boy’s direction.
Lucian struggled to climb up from the freezing sludge that enveloped him. It was very difficult without anything upon which to brace himself, but he finally managed to stand upright once again. He was shivering uncontrollably by this point, terrified and absolutely chilled to the bone, but he knew he didn’t have the luxury of focusing on his bodily discomfort at that moment. Closing his eyes only briefly, he emptied his mind and generated a ball of qi in his palm.
“Eat this!” Lucian cried out as he fired off the energy at the worm. As soon as the blast had launched from his hand, the monster turned all of its attention toward it, lunging after the qi as if it was a dog catching treats. With one giant gulp, the worm consumed all of the energy mid-air, and the icy fog around them turned dark once again.
Lucian could see Schuntz off to his right gathering another blast of red energy within his palm. The brave professor stared down the worm before him, seemingly without fear or apprehension. As the man reached back in preparation to hurl the orb at his foe, Lucian saw something rising up behind him in the ambient red glow.
“Professor, behind you!” Lucian called out as loudly as he could. Schuntz glanced back just in time to see a second set of teeth shooting through the air in his direction. He reached up and released the ball of energy only a few feet away from the second worm’s head, providing enough force to shift the beast’s strike away from his body and harmlessly into the black waters beside him.
Lucian was still trembling from cold and fear as he once again attempted to empty his mind and generate qi. One of these creatures was bad enough, but two seemed absolutely unmanageable. He couldn’t figure out how they were ever supposed to….
“Lucian!” Blake’s voice cut in from behind the boy. Lucian turned and beheld his roommate gripping onto the toothy jaws of a third worm beast which was attempting to consume him. The dark haired boy’s demonic strength was luckily enough of a deterrent to prevent him from immediately becoming a snack, but Lucian could tell that he likely would not be able to keep it up for long, especially as the force exerted upon him drove him deeper and deeper into the water below.
Clearing his mind again, Lucian fired off a brilliantly white ball of qi in the monster’s direction. It flew toward the struggling adversaries, sparkling off of the ice crystals hurtling through the air as it went. Although Lucian had overcompensated on trajectory to ensure he did not hit Blake, the worm actively disengaged with the boy and lunged at the qi. Swallowing it whole, the worm then collapsed into the water and slithered away, back toward the pair of fellow monsters. Blake immediately came sloshing over to Lucian.
“Thanks, man!”
he exclaimed as he came near. “That gross thing almost had me!”
“No problem,” Lucian stated absently, his attention turned wholly on Schuntz, who continued to rapidly fire off round after round of red energy to keep the attacking monsters at bay. “We’ve gotta go help him!”
Before Lucian could run to help, Blake grabbed his shoulder. “Listen, I think they’re going after our energy or something,” he told Lucian. “Keep blasting them to keep them distracted.”
Easier said than done, thought Lucian.
“We can’t just do this forever, though!” he countered in exasperation. “They just eat all of it, and I don’t think they’re ever gonna get full!”
As the words left his mouth, Lucian suddenly had a thought arise in his mind. “Full…,” he mumbled.
“What?” Blake asked, confused and clearly running short on patience.
“Full!” Lucian repeated like an epiphany. “Hey, if I distract them, would you be able to find them something else to eat?”
Blake looked around. “What, like a sandwich!?” he yelled out sarcastically, throwing his arms into the air. “I don’t know if you’ve looked around, man, but we’re not exactly in a café here! All that’s here is ice-water and mud!”
Lucian stayed silent for just a second, looking down into the murky water below him. Then he shrugged. “Mud will just have to do, then!” he stated.
With this, Lucian plodded off in Schuntz’s direction, leaving Blake to put together the rest of the pieces of the plan himself. The elderly professor was clearly beginning to tire, and he looked relieved when the boy came to his side.
“What took you so long, Mr. Aarden?” he scolded through heavy breaths. “I was beginning to believe I was the only one here! Now, listen, they sense and feed off of our energy, so we must….”
“We have a plan, professor!” Lucian interrupted, stepping in front of the man. “Don’t worry.”
“I hope you are right,” Schuntz stated, stepping back and allowing his student to take his place in the fray.
