The Land: Forging (Chaos Seeds Book 2) (44 page)

Quest Update: The Right Tool for the Job. You have found a higher quality metal. Bring this metal back to the dwarves of your village. Once you have picked which metal you will use to create your Magic Forge, your quest will be finished. Make your Forge, and collect your prize.

My thoughts exactly, Richter thought with a smile. They loaded the rest of the metal, and left the treasure room. The Bag was extremely heavy now, but it was still well below his max carrying capacity of 290 kilos. Daniella had fallen back asleep, and was snoring ever so
softly. Yoshi’s chest continued to rise and fall regularly, but he still hadn’t woken up. The smile slipped from Richter’s face when he saw his injured comrades again. Despite having restored their health points as much as he could, some things apparently still took a while to recover from. Whatever toll the crypt mistress’s last spell had taken, Yoshi would still need more time. As for Daniella and her wan complexion, healing did not replace the blood she had lost. The smurfette would need to replenish her fluids.

Richter looked at Sion, whose own mood had sobered as well, “We need to get out of this dungeon. We can’t just sit, and wait for them to heal though. Who knows if this disease will ever heal on its own? It might even get worse. I say we open the next hatch and face what comes.”

Sion nodded, his face firm, “The two of us have always been enough in the past. We will be equal to whatever challenge comes our way.”

Richter nodded and set Sion to gather their things. He moved around the rooms and collected the weapons and armor from the fallen draugh. Nothing was left of the crypt mistress but ash. His dagger was laying in the remains. The queen’s spell had removed sixty durability, but the impossibly hard glass dagger still had 73/250 durability left. He resheathed the weapon at his waist and moved on. The draugh had a combination of bronze, iron and steel weapons and their armor was iron, leather or hide. None of it was noteworthy, but ‘waste not want not’ was Richter’s policy. His Life dagger had not fared so well as its glass counterpart. Only 10% of its original twenty durability remained. He knew he couldn’t trust it in a fight again. Not that he would have even if he could. Both daggers’ attack stats had decreased with their drop in
durability. He placed the Life dagger in his Bag nonetheless, in case it could be repaired by his smiths. By the time he was done, Sion had rolled up his bed roll and gathered up Daniella’s items, now ready to move.

She gave a slight whimper as he picked her up, but otherwise didn’t complain. Richter picked Yoshi up in a fireman’s carry and started walking back towards the central chamber. Sion followed quickly behind, and Futen hovered above them, illuminating their way. Alma was flying ahead crooning in delight. When he asked why, she sent him an image of a stunned rat. The dragonling had apparently found something to break her fast of dried tack, and her recent feast had put her in a grand mood. Soon all of them were back in the light of the golden column.

They left their wounded comrades right next to the column, but they arranged them so that the column was between them and the hatch. If any enemies emerged from the soon to be open round door, maybe Yoshi and Daniella wouldn’t be noticed at first. Every second they went unseen was another second that Richter and Sion could deal with the potential threat.

The two friends buffed up, and then stood in front of the hatch. Richter also allocated Alma’s new points. Staying with the same plan, he increased
Brain Drain
by two levels, using all five of her unused points.

You have chosen to increase your familiar’s ability: Brain Drain to level 3. Successful kills will now give 3% of total experience to both you and your familiar. Drain occurs faster. Stun can occur on enemies level 11 and below.

You have chosen to increase your familiar’s ability: Brain Drain to level 4. Successful kills will now give 4% of total experience to both you and your familiar. Drain occurs faster. Stun can occur on enemies level 16 and below.

Richter would have to wait four more levels before leveling
Brain Drain
again. Luckily there didn’t seem to a time limit to allocating points for his familiar, like there was for himself. He checked her status page.

He was happy to see her basic stats had increased with her level. Also she remained disease free. Either she had been immune to the demon’s disease spell, or she had avoided it all together. She hovered in the air above his head, ready to face whatever danger was about to come. The hatch wheel easily fastened to the indentation set into the round door. Sion stood several steps behind him and to the right. An arrow was nocked and partially drawn. With a last nod to his Companion, Richter took a deep breath and twisted the wheel. He yanked the hatch open, ready for battle!

There was no one to fight. Taking deep breaths to calm his racing heart, he looked at Sion and laughed shakily. The sprite was clearly relieved as well. All that the hatch revealed was a narrow tunnel slightly smaller around than the hatch itself. Brown vines hugged all surfaces of tunnel that Richter could see. Having a high suspicion of what to expect, he immediately shone his wand on any surface it could reach. Words were soon revealed, emblazoned on the stone around the lip of the tunnel. The area had been completely hidden by the edges of the hatch, but it now revealed their next riddle.

As we all enter, so do we all leave. Obey this truth or be crushed by your weakness.

Richter looked at Sion confused. He was really getting tired of riddles. His Companion looked back at him with a sure expression.

“Alone.”

“What,” Richter asked.

“Alone,” Sion repeated. “We all enter this world and leave it the same way. By ourselves. The riddle means only one of us can enter at a time.”

Richter grimaced. He didn’t like the idea of splitting up. This dungeon had almost killed them plenty of times, but the fact remained that they had to get out of this place. If there was one thing that had held true so far though, it was that obeying these riddles would keep them alive. He nodded and began to take off his arms and armor. The tunnel would be too small for him to crawl through wearing what he had on. Sion stopped him.

“I am the one that should go,” the sprite said. Richter shook his head and prepared to argue, but Sion cut him off. “You know that in that small space, I’m the better choice. You were already about to remove you weapons. I don’t like the idea of us splitting up either, but the idea of going into a new area of this dungeon without protection is insane. I will handle this. You focus on protecting our friends.” Sion gave him a cocky smile, “This is what we do, brother.”

Richter couldn’t keep the smile from his face even though he tried. He agreed on the condition that Sion tie a rope around his waist. If he got into trouble, Richter could pull him out quickly. Sion agreed, and handed him his pack. Richter gave him two health potions just in case. After slipping the potions into a belt pouch the sprite got into the tunnel and started walking forward at a crouch.

The tunnel couldn’t have been longer than fifty yards. Richter cast
Far Light,
anchoring the ball of light half way down the tunnel. Richter watched his Companion move forward, ready to pull him back in an instant. After Sion had crossed the half way point though, suddenly Richter couldn’t see him. The sprite hadn’t disappeared. Instead, the tunnel now ended in a blank wall, illuminated by a hovering ball of white light. The rope led directly into the rock.

Alarmed, Richter shouted and tried to pull the rope. It was like he was trying to rip a piece of a mountain off. There was absolutely no give no matter how hard he pulled. Dropping the rope, he started to climb into the tunnel. As soon as his hand crossed the threshold though, a grinding noise ensued. The tunnel started constricting like an iris. It wasn’t just the opening though. Richter could see that the entire length shaft was getting smaller. He withdrew his
hand quickly. He didn’t have more than a fingertip in for more than two seconds, but the tunnel had perceptibly shrunk. There was no way he could reach Sion before the tunnel was completely shut, let alone have enough time to bring him back to safety. Richter had no idea how solid stone could flex like a muscle, but he did know that his Companion was on his own.

Sion didn’t hear anything strange, but he sensed something was amiss. He looked back and saw only a blank wall of brown stone. His heart started slamming painfully inside of his chest. He couldn’t be trapped! Not again! His fear threatened to incapacitate him, but then he heard the trilling call of a forest lark.

Sion turned his head back forward. He was confused but was intending to scramble the last distance out of the tunnel, but stopped, shocked by what he was seeing. He was in the forest, on an exceptionally beautiful day. It was autumn and the beauty of the changing leaves complemented the smells of the changing seasons. There was the sweetness of decay from the fallen leaves. The somehow sharp scent of cooling wind down from the mountains. He didn’t understand what was going on, but there was something familiar about the scene.

“Sion! Why didn’t you wait for me? I told you I was coming too!”

When he heard that boyish sprite voice, and even greater feeling of dread rose in his breast. He turned, and saw the face of his best childhood friend, Kurian. The sprite’s youthful cheeks were somewhat ruddy from both the run he had just finished and the brisk chill in the air. Sion now knew what day this was. It was the one day he spent his entire life trying to
forget. The events of this day were why he had let Richter be torn apart by wolves. This was the day that he had killed his best friend.

The one thing that all sprites learned from an early age was to avoid human lands. It was drilled into them again and again. Sion had needed to prove himself, though. So he goaded his best friend into coming with him on a horrible misadventure.

Seeing Kurian again after so long, Sion’s spirit tried to shout, ‘Turn back! Don’t do this,’ but he had no control over his younger body’s actions. He was trapped as a spectator, just along for the ride.

“Don’t take so long next time, Kurry,” young Sion said laughing. “I heard the hunters talking about how they had seen humans at the boundary of the forest. Are you ready?”

Despite his earlier protestations, Kurian’s face adopted a doubtful expression, “Yeah. Of course, I am! But maybe we should go tomorrow or the next day. Elder Yamin is making sprangle berry pie today, and-”

Sion cut him off, “If you are too scared, just stay behind.” He turned to go, but waited expectantly before starting to walk again. Kurian immediately hurried to catch up to him, espousing his limitless courage. He fell into line just as he always did when Sion bated him. Just as Sion knew he would.

The two boys ran through the forest. The sprite’s racial ability of Concealment made it easy to avoid any predators. They were instinctually in tune with forest around them. They also knew that they would not be missed anytime soon. It was the nature of sprites to wander
the woods communing with nature, so their absence for a day would not raise any suspicion. All the elements for their trip were in place.

That night they drank sweetberry juice that Sion had stolen from his mother’s larder. They praised themselves for embarking on such a grand adventure. What brave explorers they were! When it was time to sleep, both climbed into the limbs of a massive oak. Well hidden by the changing leaves, they both let themselves be carried away into dreams of adventure.

The next morning, Sion awoke first and nudged his friend. After performing the necessary functions of every morning, they resumed their great quest to see the humans. They played tricks on each other while the traveled. Kurian would peg the back of Sion’s unsuspecting head with a mud pie. Later during a noon nap,
somehow
a newt wet from the river would make its way down Kurian’s shirt. Sion looked on with a shocked and innocent expression while his friend shrieked and cursed. They both enjoyed their journey, and nothing seemed to be able to ruin their mood. That was when they found the body of a deer.