The Shadow Labyrinth: A LitRPG Adventure

by Thomas K. Carpenter

  "It might, but that won't help us. High Keeper Astran had nothing to say about this room, other than the name," said Terran.

  "A shame."

  "I wonder what we're supposed to—"

  The words had barely left his lips when the splatter of liquid startled them both. Watery red liquid arced from the holes near the ceiling, splashing them in the shins.

  "Wine," said Terran, facing the goblets. "Now where's the revelry? Any ideas?"

  "Five identical goblets."

  Terran snatched one up, examining the bottom, but finding no markings. The other four were similar, made of brass with gold filigree along the edges.

  "I hope we're not meant to drink our way out of here," he said, holding a goblet beneath a fount of wine, taking a sip before washing it around his mouth and spitting it out. "Not bad. Not good either, but I've had worse."

  Within minutes, the floor was covered in a few inches of wine and they'd gotten no further in figuring out the room. Terran tried pouring wine from one cup into the other, filling one up and chugging it (resulting in a disgusting belch), and trying to use one to plug up a hole after Chanterelle gave him a boost. They tried a half dozen other variations with the goblets and wine, but the room kept filling up at an alarming pace.

  "Another few minutes and this will be over our heads," said Terran, wading through the watery wine.

  "What if we're meant to do something when the room is underwater?"

  "Underwine, you mean."

  Chanterelle rolled her eyes in a manner that should have annoyed him, but it only highlighted the smokey accents, which he could have stared at for hours.

  "Wine and Revelry," said Terran, hitting the wine with his fingertips to make a tiny splash. "I don't get it. What's the revelry?"

  "Don't look at me," said Chanterelle, scowling as the wine rose above their waists. "I was a refugee for a long time and barely had time to train as a warrior in the Glen. Revelry is a foreign word."

  Not knowing how to answer, Terran waded to a wall and rapped on the tile with his knuckles. "Maybe there's a hidden mechanism. We need to tap the right colors or something."

  "That doesn't seem like the answer," said Chanterelle, crossing her arms.

  "That's all I got," he said as he started pushing tiles randomly.

  "Fine," she said, taking the opposite wall.

  They didn't get far, not even the length of the longer wall, before the wine was above their armpits, tickling their chins. He noticed that the goblets were still under the surface, which was strange because they didn't feel heavy enough.

  Terran kicked to the center of the room, took a deep breath, and dove under. The watery wine was faint enough that he could see through it, but it stung his eyes. The five goblets were exactly where they'd left them.

  "Did those goblets feel heavy enough not to float?" he asked.

  Chanterelle pushed away from the wall, doggy paddling to his location.

  "No. That's strange."

  "Yeah, but I don't know what it means," he said.

  The gap between the surface and the ceiling was only a couple of feet, and the wine was rising fast.

  "What do we do?" she asked, alarm in her eyes.

  Terran positioned them on the table, which allowed them to stand without having to swim. Their heads were close to the ceiling, but that wouldn't save them once the wine climbed the final gap.

  "This trap didn't give us enough time," he said.

  "I think that's the point."

  As the wine rose, they turned their mouths towards the ceiling, and when it passed their lips, they each took a final breath. Beneath the surface, Terran held Chanterelle by the arms. The ache of breath burned slow, but it was worse for her, because she didn't have the bardic training he had. Soon, her eyes were bulging and her throat moving up and down as she wanted to draw breath, but knew that would be her death.

  [You have increased the skill Bardic Endurance]

  Skill: Bardic Endurance 19 (CHA)

  Awkward time for a skill increase...

  Terran jammed his mouth against hers and blew breath into her lungs, giving her a bit of his air, not that it would matter. There'd be no escape from the Room of Wine and Revelry, except through death's door.

  When she struggled again, he moved to give her more air, but she shook him off, cupping his face in her hand as she moved close. Chanterelle didn't have to say it, but her eyes told the story of how much she missed him.

  Then she opened her mouth and breathed in the wine.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The gasp was brief, but it was enough to get a lungful. Chanterelle writhed in pain, clawing at emptiness, while Terran watched. He couldn't take witnessing her drown. Even though he was next, it didn't frighten him. Not as death had when he first joined Kingmakers.

  He couldn't stand to do nothing, so he kicked towards the stone door, reached out, and tried to trigger it as if it were deep stone, but it rebounded on him, the energy like a shock to his system. The slab had been enchanted to keep mages from escaping.

  Terran pushed off the stone and swam to a hole near the ceiling that was no longer leaking wine. Air burned in his chest. The urge to open his mouth like Chanterelle was growing. He shoved his fingers into the hole, closed his eyes, and imagined that it was one of his walls and that he could stretch it open, just like he'd modified them on the Arena floor.

  At first, the effort was like pushing against a mountain, but then a part of his mind shifted, like a gear falling into place, and the stone moved, stretched, cracking and spitting tile away from the wall as he opened up the hole. He kept pulling and tearing, ripping the hole further and further, until he could see a surface leading into an upper chamber.

  [You have increased the skill Earth Sense]

  Skill: Earth Sense 16 (END)

  The bardic skill increase has no manners.

  Fighting to keep his mouth closed, he swam back to Chanterelle's lifeless body. She floated facedown, arms slack, hair a black halo.

  Tugging her by the arm, he yanked her to the hole, then wormed his way through, gasping as he stuck his lips into open air. Keeping his grip on Chanterelle, he pulled his body into the chamber, then worked her into the room, laying her facedown. He placed his arms under her stomach and lifted her, yanking upward then releasing. The motion pushed wine out of her throat and lungs. Terran kept at it until nothing was coming out, then he flipped her over and started giving her CPR. He'd learned the technique on the Reliant, but had never thought he'd be using it in the game.

  After a minute of breathing into her lungs, he was afraid that he'd been too late, but he couldn't stop. After the second minute, he knew she was gone, but stopping would only acknowledge that truth.

  Crouched on his knees in an empty chamber in the middle of the labyrinth, Terran stopped breathing for Chanterelle. His hair was plastered to his face, sticky with wine, as he heaved with sobs.

  "Aggtha...phhttt..."

  Chanterelle arched with a cough and rolled to her side, spitting, suddenly breathing heavily. Terran's tears turned to laughter as she sputtered and spat, cleaning the wine out of her lungs.

  Eventually she could lie on her back without coughing. Terran held her hand as he knelt by her side.

  "Owww...my lungs," said Chanterelle with a hand to her chest.

  "Usually you drink the wine to get that sort of effect, not inhale."

  Keeping her head steady, she looked around with only her eyes. "Where are we?"

  "I tore a hole through the ceiling using one of the wine holes. I think we're in the chamber where the wine waited to drown unsuspecting fools," said Terran.

  She looked right at him. "I'm not a fool."

  "You are for fooling me," said Terran.

  He noticed she didn't have anything more to say. Terran got comfortable, leaning against the wall with her hand remaining in his. After a time, she sat up, cracking her neck.

  "Is there a way out?"

  "Not that I can tell
. It looks like a holding area for the wine. Not sure if the trap resets manually, or some keeper of the labyrinth comes along to fix it, but I'm not ready to return to the wine pool just yet," he said, gesturing towards the faint glow of watery red wine.

  Without a word, Chanterelle sidled next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. Their breathing became linked, the ebb and flow of living entwined. He met her lips without wondering if she would respond, because she'd had the same thought.

  Fingers pressed against skin, pulling wet leathers off. Before long their naked hips ground against each other in blissful pleasure, the final cries echoing in the stone room. When they were finished, they lay with foreheads together, smiling silently.

  He woke later to find her crouched naked at the edge of the pool, staring into its lighted waters. Chanterelle's dry hair fanned out across her back, forming an ebony cloak across her dusk-infused skin.

  "Looking for fish?" he asked, leaning on his elbow.

  The corners of her lips curled upward, eyes lit with mirth. His heart warmed at seeing her smile. Since she'd joined the Lady of Shadow, her expression had been grim, like a war-hardened dwarf.

  Her gaze flitted to the amulet in the shape of a prismatic leaf on his chest.

  "You have my gift." The corners of her eyes rounded. "Ara does such beautiful work."

  Terran caressed the iridescent surface. "I treasure it."

  The moment lasted until Chanterelle gestured to the crimson pool "The wine is receding. Slowly."

  He slapped the stone where he lay. "At least it's not filling back in here."

  "That's what I'm afraid of. Not that it will, but what comes next," she said.

  "Since I'm naked and can hold my breath longer, let me take a dip, see if anything's changed," he said.

  He slipped into the pool of wine easily, stroking to the stone slab, floating before it. His earthen sense felt different than before. Less buzzing electrical field, more inert stone.

  When he reached out to reshape it, it didn't rebound his energy. Encouraged, Terran focused on the specifics, imagining a human-sized hole in the center of the slab. The stone stretched, a hole forming then growing into his general shape. The moment the gap passed through the slab and the wine began to escape, he felt the tugging of current. The emptying of the wine took long enough that he had to return to the little room for air, but once he'd put his clothes back on, they were able to escape without further trouble.

  Still sticky from the old wine, Terran and Chanterelle left the Room of Wine and Revelry behind. Since they hadn't solved the puzzle, they had no idea if they were merely backtracking, or if the labyrinth had changed while they grappled with the challenge, but after the harrowing experience, neither cared.

  An hour after they resumed marching, they heard a faint howl. Mournful, hunting, in pain? They couldn't tell because of the thick walls of the maze, but it meant the Hounds of Shadow were still on the prowl.

  A few hours later, they entered a large room with a cathedral ceiling covered in colorful paintings that depicted idyllic farmland tended by enormous metal beings. At the back of the chamber was a hulking iron statue covered in strangling vines. The place looked like an old overgrown temple, except the growth was on the inside.

  "Those look like the statue," he said, gesturing to the ceiling.

  "I don't think we're going to be farming," said Chanterelle with her hands on the hilts of her twin daggers.

  Terran whistled when he saw the level of the creature.

  Cultivation Golem - Level 31

  He plows his fields like he plows his women—with care.

  The golem's eyes glowed like a furnace the moment they crossed the midpoint of the cathedral. Blades appeared in Chanterelle's fists as she shifted into a battle pose, while Terran held his staff before him, grinning at his companion.

  "I missed fighting with you."

  Chanterelle rolled her eyes playfully. "Let's reminisce after we kill this thing. I still have nightmares about the swampkin."

  When the golem marched forward, Terran expected the vines to tear away, but the mass of vegetation came with the metal creature. Terran started humming in search of the Killing Harmonics. He found it on the fifth note, and the golem went into a frenzy, thundering across the room with its fists raised for pummeling.

  Chanterelle rolled past the charging golem, slashing its calves. The strike sent up sparks and sliced through a few vines, but barely slowed the creature as it punched Terran in the chest, throwing him against the far wall.

  The impact knocked the air from his lungs. Terran staggered, trying to find his feet, but the golem had knocked him silly. The only thing that saved him from being finished off in his delirious state was the fury of blades that Chanterelle unleashed on the golem, keeping it distracted.

  When he could breathe again, Terran quickly dismissed attempting the Killing Harmonic again, switching to a Void Blast, which hit the golem right in the back, turning vines to black crispies, but barely left a scorch mark on the iron surface.

  "This damn thing is so high level we're barely doing damage," said Terran as he waded in with his staff, using it as a melee weapon with Reverbslam.

  The enormous golem swung its fists ponderously, which Chanterelle easily avoided, even with the vines strung around the room, making movement treacherous. They chipped away at its health, but the pace would take them hours by his calculations, and while he had a demigod's stamina, Terran wasn't sure if even he could sustain the fight that long.

  "There has to be a weakness," said Terran.

  The golem shook suddenly and went into a rage of fists. Chanterelle danced backwards, but was quickly cornered, her escape routes cut off by vines that strung from the golem to the walls. He was certain she was about to get turned into elf dust when she stepped through the shadow of the golem and appeared next to Terran.

  "Nice." The golem punched the empty air, then turned to charge them. "Not good."

  The Cultivation Golem chased Terran around the room, fists swinging wildly. He barely kept ahead of the creature, dodging and ducking through the stringy vegetation, staying one step ahead of the golem until it finally slowed, its killing rage spent. Terran's stamina was down to half.

  "We can't keep this up," he said.

  "I know, but I don't know how to damage it," said Chantelle, staying on the balls of her feet, slipping the blade past the enormous arms to spark her blade across its metal skin.

  "What about—"

  "No," she said right away. "The Lady will know where I'm at, which will bring the Hounds directly to us, and there's no guarantee my dragon form would help against this bastard."

  "There has to be a trick then. Otherwise, this thing is unkillable."

  Terran looked back to the ceiling. Chantelle followed his gaze.

  "The vines," they both said at the same time.

  He'd been reserving his Void Blasts since they took so much mana, but he wanted to test his theory, and aimed his staff at the mass of vegetation at the base of the cathedral wall. The golem had been focused on Chanterelle, but as soon as he annihilated the lump of vines, the golem turned on him.

  "That's it! Go after the vines," he said as he fled from the golem.

  Terran did his best to avoid the golem's fists, focusing on evasion rather than damage, while Chantelle moved like a gardener enraged, slicing vines, cutting away the golem from the vegetation until nothing living connected it.

  "Is it my imagination, or is this thing smaller now?"

  When the golem turned back to Chanterelle, he blasted it with the gray crystal, the hit dealing a small chunk of damage.

  "It's working!"

  The pair took turns attacking and fleeing, with occasional stops to clear vines that had snuck back to connect with the golem. After ten minutes of battle since they'd cut the golem from its power source, Chanterelle struck the final blow.

  Chanterelle has killed the Cultivation Golem!

  You are now level 25!


  The golem exploded into ochre dust at its death and the vines curled up like a dead spider's legs.

  "Oh, thank the gods," said Terran, leaning heavily on his staff. His health was above half, but his stamina was dangerously low. Had the fight gone on much longer they wouldn't have survived.

  "There's a door now," said Chanterelle, gesturing to the back of the room.

  Not wanting to get trapped in the room, he followed her out, before stopping them to level up. She crossed her arms, eyeing him with a smirk on her lips.

  "What?"

  "You're cute when you're doing that leveling up thing. Your face goes all slack, but there's a hungry excitement, like a child who's expecting a gift," she said.

  "That sums it up." He smiled. "I promise I'll be quick."

  Chanterelle slipped her blades into their sheaths. "We've been in this labyrinth for quite some time. Don't you think it's time to rest?"

  By the ravenous gleam in her eye, she had no intention of resting right away.

  "I could take a break."

  They took a break right there in the hallway of the labyrinth. Two breaks, actually. Afterwards, Terran slept better than he had in a month.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Terran opened his interface to level up after he'd eaten a cold breakfast in the darkness of the labyrinth, while Chanterelle curled against his hip, snoring softly. He dumped his points into Intelligence and Charisma.

  Character: Terran [Demigod]

  Protector of the Rock Leaf Elves

  Level: 25

  Class: Earthen Mage

  Crystal Bard

  Subrace: Rock Leaf Elf

  HP: 1,250

  Mana: 1,440

  Sta: 4,100

  Strength: 12

  Intelligence: 28 (38)

  Endurance: 28

  Cunning: 11

  Agility: 12

  Charisma: 28 (38)

  After the fight with the Cultivation Golem, he'd briefly considered putting a point into Endurance again, but his melee days were few and far between.