by Ian Rodgers
But even they’d been worn down by several fights, long hours spent walking, and spending time in the oppressive atmosphere of the uninhabited realms of Gaeum. A nap was desperately needed to let their minds and bodies adjust and recover.
As they one by one drifted off into slumber, Long-Tail-Shadow remained vigilant, eyes peering into the darkness at the edge of the dwindling fire. In response to her stares, the darkness shifted and writhed.
“Is that how you wish to play-hunt? So be it,” the Rakkar thief muttered, removing a pair of long knives from hidden spots in her clothes and taking a defensive stance at the entrance of the tiny safe spot they’d claimed. “Come and fight-struggle if you do not fear death-oblivion!”
∞.∞.∞
Dora’s nose tingled, and she scrunched up her face, eyes still firmly shut. She wanted to rest some more. No matter how long she’d already slept, she wanted more. Despite her wishes, though, her nose continued to assault her with annoying sensations.
‘Why do I smell blood?’ she wondered groggily to herself.
Upon thinking that, her sluggish, sleep-addled brain suddenly began grinding away into action and she sat up like a bolt of lightning had struck her, eyes wide.
“Long-Tail!” she shouted, her nostrils heavy with the copper-iron stench of gore, and she looked around.
By some miracle, the small fire Enrai had started last night was still going, filling up the perpetual darkness with pale light. In that weak glow, Dora saw Long-Tail-Shadow hunched over the flames, roughly tying a crude cloth bandage around a ragged wound on her right arm that wept a liquid that was not blood.
The Rakkar woman’s face showed shock and surprise, and a hint of embarrassment for some reason as she stared at the half-orc who had cried out at her.
“For Cynthia’s sake, what were you thinking?” Dora demanded, crawling over to Long-Tail-Shadow’s side and placing her hands on the Rakkar’s arm, sending magic through with the contact. The Healer winced as she saw the injuries Long-Tail had suffered in the time she, Ain, and Enrai had been asleep.
“How did you get all of these and not manage to wake us up?” Dora asked as the anger at the guide faded to confusion. She glanced back at Ain and Enrai, who were both still asleep, though the mumbles and groans they were emitting spoke of encroaching wakefulness on their parts.
She shook her head. ‘No time to worry about them! I have to tend to these injuries!’ Dora thought to herself, and proceeded to feed Healing magic into the large cut on the Rakkar’s arm, purging it of the strange pus-like matter that had taken root in the wound.
“We learn-discover from a young age not to show-speak our pain,” Long-Tail-Shadow replied quietly. “No matter how much we suffer, a Rakkar never cries or screams aloud.”
“That sounds terrible,” Dora muttered. “Yet at the same time, I can’t help but feel respect and awe towards that sort of inner strength. I don’t know if I could endure the same things you have without breaking.”
Long-Tail-Shadow’s tail twitched at that, and Dora was reminded of a dog wagging its tail after getting petted. She buried that thought under her work, however, and frowned as she healed up the various wounds the Rakkar had accrued through the night.
“I’ve mended your wounds, but your stamina and physical strength have been greatly depleted. You won’t be able to walk very fast or far in your condition. Which means we’ll be taking it easy today.”
“All is fine-alright, Miss Dora. I can still keep up, there is no need to slow down for my sake-wellness,” Long-Tail-Shadow replied with a shake of her head. “I am…”
“Not going to worry about that,” a voice, laced with sleepiness, called out, interrupting the Rakkar. Dora and Long-Tail glanced over to Enrai, who was sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
“Morning, Enrai,” Dora said, giving the Monk a polite nod. “You have a solution for the problem?”
“Yeah, I’ll just carry her,” the Qwanese warrior stated blandly, stretching a bit. “I’ve carried sacks of flour and entire boulders around as part of my training. A woman who is practically skin and bones isn’t an issue.”
“Oh. Okay, then!” Dora said with a shrug. She turned back to Long-Tail-Shadow who was staring at the two as if they were spouting craziness. “So, Long-Tail, as I said, I’ve healed your wounds completely. Now you just need to rest and recover.”
The blonde half-orc then began to rummage through her pack for some morning rations while Enrai woke Ain. She removed a few food items Lady Dramhyda had given her. They were tiny little cubes in various colors, that according to the Water Exarch were condensed units of nutrients. A single one was the equivalent of a whole meal, plus desert afterwards.
“What flavor do you want? We have food cubes in cherry, apple, pork jerky, tuna fish, and cake,” Dora said, holding out her offerings.
“What kind of cake?” Ain asked, one hand hiding a yawn as he got up.
“Um, it just says ‘cake,’” she replied after looking at the words stamped onto the side of the pink and white colored cube.
The Spellsword shrugged and took it all the same, popping it into his mouth and chewing thoughtfully. After swallowing, he nodded in approval. “Not bad! Vanilla with strawberries. Could have used more icing, though.”
“Tuna for me, please,” Enrai requested, and Dora passed the baby blue cube over to the Monk. She herself chose apple for her breakfast, same as Long-Tail-Shadow.
Popping the yellow and red cube into her mouth, Dora prepared for the day. She removed a rectangular magic lantern from her Bag of Holding and filled it up with her mana. Then, she spent a few minutes sorting potion vials and holstering them in a pouch at her side. Lastly, she fastened the rolled-up Depiction of Utopia to her belt, allowing her to easily reach for it in times of need.
“Mmm! Tastes like apple pie!” Dora said after eating the cube. Her stomach felt full, but not heavy, which was for the best, given the long walk ahead of them. “Long-Tail, how much further to the Thirteenth Floor?”
“We’re currently on Floor Eleven,” the group’s guide revealed, tracing images into the dust at her feet. “If we don’t encounter anything dangerous-monstrous, we should reach Floor Twelve in… ten hours. But, that’s only if we avoid monsters and demons prowling the area-region. And if the route-path is still the same as the elder remembered-recalled. It could have changed-shifted in the years since.”
“I suppose that’s better than going in utterly blind,” Enrai commented. Having finished his tuna flavored meal-cube, he was currently shifting through his own Bag of Holding. “Say, Dora, do you have any spare rope? I cannot for the life of me find any in here.”
“Uh, yeah, I’ve got some. But there should be a couple feet of basic rope in your pack,” Dora replied. “What do you need it for, anyways?”
“Tying up Long-Tail-Shadow onto my back so she doesn’t fall off. I assume she won’t be able to hold on properly if we go full force, and I’ll need my hands free if we end up having to fight,” he said. “Also, not to complain or anything, but even though these new Bags of Holding you got for free are nice and roomy and all, there’s so much space in here it’s hard to find everything!”
“He’s got a point,” Ain agreed, head buried in his own pack. “You could fit a whole mansion and everything in it within these bags!”
“I thought you two were supposed to be macho super warriors? Quit the belly-aching,” Dora teased the pair, and huffs of laughter escaped their lips. They eventually found whatever it was they’d been looking for and prepared to leave their hiding spot.
As Enrai had promised, he tied up Long-Tail-Shadow to his back. From a distance, it looked like he was carrying the Rakkar piggyback style. Their guide had a blush that was just barely noticeable underneath her fur, and her whiskers twitched so hard from embarrassment Dora thought they’d fall off if she wasn’t careful.
Enrai took the lead, with Dora behind him and Ain taking up the rear. Stepping over the puddles of gore
and limbs Long-Tail had severed while the trio had slept, the half-orc activated the enchanted lantern and filled the long-abandoned Floor with a tiny bit of light. Normally she’d have used Dancing Lights to illuminate the area instead of using a magic tool, but the Dark Element energy in the air, as well as the crushing, ever-present Earth mana, made her Light magic-based spells much weaker.
Ain had his saber out, and kept an ear open for any unnatural sounds or noises. Enrai was listening to Long-Tail-Shadows whispered instructions as he walked through the darkness.
“Does anyone else have the feeling we’re being watched?” Dora asked, glancing around the shadows.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Ain agreed, tightening the grip on his weapon. “Probably thanks to the lantern.”
“One of these days I’m going to learn a spell that’ll let us see in the dark,” Dora promised, uneasily glancing over her shoulder as something skittered loudly across the ground nearby.
“That would be for the best. I know of a few spells that can increase the range of an eye’s field of vision, but nothing for seeing through the gloom. Definitely something to rectify,” the Spellsword declared.
“I think spells like that lie in the Element of Dark, though,” Enrai said, his own eyes glancing around sharply as Long-Tail-Shadow’s words guided his feet. “Better off buying enchanted eyewear that lets us see in the dark.”
“I always feel weird buying and using magic tools and artifacts, though,” Dora said, looking down at the magic-infused lantern in her hands. “I mean, I can cast most of the spells that the items replace. I can’t help but feel like I’m wasting gold whenever I have to buy enchanted items.”
“Such a terrible conundrum us mages face,” Enrai said drolly.
“We’re actually a fairly unusual group, Dora. Not everyone can cast magic with as much ease as we can. A Monk, a Spellsword, and a Healer all in one party? A single one of us is rare enough,” Ain pointed out.
“How did we go from talking about being watched to debating the rarity of magic users?” Dora asked after a short lull in the conversation.
“Talk-rambling helps keep the mood up-light,” Long-Tail-Shadow replied from Enrai’s back. “It is an unconscious action to make the shadow-gloom more bearable.”
“Oh. Fun,” Dora said slowly. Before she could say anything else something dark and possessing too many claws and teeth lunged out of the darkness. No need for the Healer to scream or panic, though, as Ain’s saber blurred through the air, slicing through the ambusher and spilling its guts all over the walkway.
“Ugh! What is that thing?” Dora asked as she tried not to gag on the foul stench emanating from two halves of the corpse. She bent down, the light of her lantern revealing a cat-like monster but with six legs and a tail covered in thorny barbs. Its pitch-black fur blended in perfectly with the surrounding dimness. Even its claws were a dark shade of grey to help it hide in the dark.
“A Shadow Stalker,” Long-Tail-Shadow spat when Enrai turned her around so she could see its remains. “Mean-nasty monster. Hides in shadow-dark, and ambushes weak-lone prey.”
“Not too smart, though, if it went after Dora while I was right next to her,” Ain commented. He nudged a part of it with the toe of his left boot. “Do these things hunt in packs?”
“No, like ordinary felines they are solitary hunters,” the Rakkar assured them.
“That’s a relief,” Enrai sighed, releasing a great deal of worry he’d been carrying.
“That creature was barely D-rank, why are you so concerned?” Ain asked the Monk.
“Because it’s dark out here. We barely had time to react before that Shadow Stalker appeared,” Enrai replied. “Next time, it might not be a D-rank monster that comes after us, but C-rank, or gods forbid, B!”
“Ah, I can see the problem,” the Spellsword said slowly, glancing around at the oppressive darkness surrounding them. Anything could be lurking within it.
And on that cheery note, the group continued deeper into the depths of Floor Twelve.
“Where exactly is the entrance to Floor Thirteen?” Dora asked as the trudged onwards through the gloom.
“There are several ways to get to it, but the easiest-fastest way the elder told me about was to travel-move upwards through the attic of this Floor’s Grand Palace,” Long-Tail-Shadow replied.
“Let me guess, the Grand Palace is where the rulers of Down live when the Floor is operational,” Enrai hypothesized. “And because of its size and grandeur, it’s always taken over by the biggest and meanest looters and squatters when the time comes to abandon the Floor.”
“Very accurate-perceptive,” Long-Tail said, confirming his guess.
“Wonder what lives inside of it now?” Dora wondered.
“Probably something huge, gross, and hungry, knowing our luck,” Ain sighed.
The Grand Elf’s words turned out to be disappointingly prophetic, as after a long day marching through the ruined streets of a crumbling city, the group came upon the ruins of the Twelfth Floor Grand Palace.
What had once been a beautiful bastion of high society and fabulous wealth was a torn down wreck infested with dozens of large, scaly monsters that hissed angrily as the light of Dora’s lantern fell upon them.
“Uh-oh!” Enrai shouted, jumping back as one of the hideous creatures lunged, trying to take a bite out of him. He retaliated by shoving his boot through its skull.
“Sewer Drakes!” Long-Tail-Shadow exclaimed as the brown and dark green scaled reptile was slain by a devastating kick, courtesy of the Monk whose back she was strapped to.
“Any hints?” Ain asked as he darted forward to protect Dora from one of the overgrown beasts chomping her leg off.
“They’re a fusion of dragons and alligators! Not only are their jaws strong, but their bite and breath are toxic, same as their blood!” the Rakkar warned.
“Stay away from the head, got it!” Enrai said, throwing a fist covered in fire at another Sewer Drake that tried to attack him. His burning punch sent it flying, face and upper body scorched badly, but it was still alive. The thin traces of dragon blood in its veins granted it just enough immunity to magic to survive the mystical flames.
Of course, a crossbow bolt through the eye ended its life regardless of its draconic lineage, and Dora reloaded her weapon with a calm expression on her face.
“Ain, there are more of them near that big collection of pillars. Don’t let them get close,” Dora ordered. “Enrai, remember you have a passenger. Don’t do too many flips and acrobatic tricks.”
“Ah, right, sorry about that, Long-Tail,” the Monk apologized to his rider.
Before the Rakkar had a chance to reply, Enrai was on the move again, fists and feet crushing and smashing apart the monsters nesting in the Grand Palace’s ruins.
Ain was a blur as well, lightning wreathing his blade as he carved through the Sewer Drakes. His new sword was sharper than his old blade, and it sliced through hard scales with ease. Combined with Magic Edge, Ain could cut a Sewer Drake clean in half.
Despite the casualties, the monsters just kept coming, jumping out of the large tumbled down mansion. Their legs were unnaturally long for their alligator-esque form, but it granted them greater leaping power. And as they closed in on their targets, their open maws oozed a dark purple gas.
Yet as dangerous as it might have been, the toxic gas was either blown away by Enrai’s Wind magic, or rendered ineffective thanks to Dora’s antidotes and Healing magic. The main advantage the Sewer Drakes usually had was gone. But they still charged into the meat grinder.
Watching their reckless assault, Dora frowned. “Something feels off,” she commented as she put another crossbow bolt through another reptilian brain.
Eyes suddenly widened in realization and she quickly put a hand on the Depiction of Utopia at her side, covering herself in a coating of indestructible magic.
Just in time too, as the ground beneath her gave way as a great, fang filled maw burst upwards. Her lef
t leg was grabbed by the Sewer Drake’s jaw, but thanks to the barrier around her body its teeth gnawed uselessly against the divine magic.
With a growl, she pointed her crossbow downwards and put a bolt through the eye of the poison-filled reptile. It screamed and released her, allowing Dora to hop away from the hole in the walkway. The flailing monster was shoved aside from the opening in the ground a moment later, and a new Sewer Drake began to emerge.
“They’re called ‘Sewer Drakes’ for a reason, you guys! Because they hide in the Cynthia-damned sewers!” she shouted at her friends, who belatedly realized that the monsters had flanked them.
A manhole cover nearby was tossed away as the head of a Sewer Drake pushed its way through, its body tearing the opening wider. Soon, the two monsters were joined by two more, and then another pair joined that. The available space to stand on was starting to get crowded with hostile creatures.
‘Maybe that’s what they’re going for: cover the ground with their comrades so we don’t have any footing!’ the half-orc thought.
Aloud, Dora asked, “By Selika’s moth-eaten robe, can this get any worse?” She immediately regretted it as the ground shook with heavy footsteps, and out of the Grand Palace an enormous Sewer Drake burst forth, easily four times the size of the other scaled monsters. It crushed several other smaller kin as it emerged, maw drooling thick, viscous toxic fluids.
“Thanks a lot, Dora!” Enrai shouted at the Healer, who blushed sheepishly.
“Come on you two! We have to fight right now! There’s time to complain when the enemies are all dead!” Ain shouted at them. After the scolding, Ain raised his blade horizontally to his body while turning to face the surging Sewer Drakes emerging behind the group.
“Devour the earth and bones! The wrath of the sky knows no restraint! Forked Lightning Barrage!” the Spellsword shouted. Golden strands of lightning coiled around the blade, and he swung his saber at the Sewer Drakes. A dozen bolts of crackling energy arced forth from the sword, twisting and snapping at the monsters. The attack electrocuted the draconic reptiles, their screams echoing loudly through the darkness.
