Chapter 53: Chapter Fifty-Three: Stumble

“Don’t step too far forward.” Siofra shouted to Altria as she entered.

Altria, who was already being cautious stopped where she was only a few steps into the room.

“If it’s the same as before, we should be alright if no one walks past the first three rows of tiles. Any further and it triggers the trap. We don’t want to do that until we’re ready.” Explained Siofra.

The new room we had entered was larger than either of the rooms we had been through previously. The brightness of the room was because it was lined with white stone from floor to ceiling. It was still only lit by torchlight, but it made it appear much brighter than the other rooms. Upon further inspection, I could see that there were two gaps that cut the whole way across the room. There seemed to be a sheer drop and from where I was stood, I couldn’t see the bottom.

“What is that?” I said, pointing at the gaps in the floor.

“Something we’ll have to jump across, it’s a long way down. No one would survive the fall, so we’ll have to be careful.” Explained Siofra.

“Well, what are we waiting for, we can easily make that.” Altria said moving towards the gap.

She got about half a step before Siofra grabbed her by the shoulder.

“Hold on, it’s not that simple!” Siofra warned.

“Why not?” Asked Lillia.

“Because the moment we step past the third row of tiles the trap starts. We’ll have to time getting across carefully. It speeds up as time passes, so we’ll want to be quick and not trip it until we’re ready to move.”

“I think we’re all ready to move when you are. Everyone seems to have caught their breath after the last fight.” Added Serin.

“It’s okay Siofra, trigger it.” Lillia instructed.

“Okay, it's probably is easier to see for yourselves than explain it. Just be prepared to move. The interval decreases every thirty seconds.” Warned Siofra.

Siofra stepped forward onto the fourth tile. There was a loud swooshing noise and a giant axe swung across the room where the first gap in the floor was. About five seconds after that there was a roar as a jet of fire sprayed across the room in the space between the two gaps. Another five seconds passed, and a second giant axe swung across the room in the second gap, five seconds after that a jet of flame sprayed across the room in the final section before the rooms exit.

“We’re going to have get across all of that?” I asked nervously.

“Yes. There is no other way to get further into the dungeon.” Answered Siofra.

“That looks pretty dangerous!”

“It is. The axes will kill you. The fall will kill you and the flames will burn you to a crisp. You can’t get caught in any of them.” Siofra said elaborating further.

“Don’t worry, you’ve got this Theo.” Serin said reassuringly whilst placing a hand on my shoulder.

“But how?” I asked.

“like this.” Altria said stepping back.

She waited until the closest axe swung, then sprinted for the gap. She leapt and made it cleanly across. Then without stopping, she ran across the next section of floor before the flame sprayed and leapt across the final gap before the axe swung. She made it cleanly across and sprinted to the exit. She made it there well before the flames spewed out.

I was pretty sure that Altria made it look much easier than I would find it.

“Thirty seconds have passed the interval is going to decrease.” Warned Siofra.

“Then we should hurry. Theo you should go next.” Lillia suggested.

“I can’t watch the others first?”

“No! You heard Siofra, the interval decreases every thirty seconds. It’s only going to get harder. You need to go now.”

“Fine.”

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I stepped back, quickly checking my gear was all tightly fastened as I waited for the closest axe to swing by. I took in a deep breath as I looked at the gap I had to jump and tried to calm my nerves. The axe swung past and I sped off as fast as I could manage. I leapt across the first gap, I landed a little awkwardly, but managed to keep running. I reached the second gap before the axe and leapt across. I made the jump, landing a little awkwardly again and started to sprint right away.

I made it four wobbly steps as I tried to run as fast as I could, before I eventually fell. I hit the floor hard and slid across the smooth tiles. I could hear everyone shouting at the top of their lungs from behind, for me to get back to my feet. As I pushed myself up a hand came down from in front of my face. I grabbed it and was pulled to my feet.

“Run.” Atria said urgently.

We both ran for the exit while the others were still shouting at us to hurry. We both jumped in through doorway. There was only a second to spare, before the flame sprayed out across the section that we had crossed only a moment before. I lay on the floor breathing heavily for a moment.

“Thanks Altria, I don’t think I would have made it in time if you hadn’t helped.” I said as soon as I caught my breath.

“Don’t worry about it. It would have been a waste of your skills if I had let you burn.” She replied with a cheeky grin.

“I’m glad you find me useful!”

I could see the relief on the others faces even from here. They were already preparing to make it across. Another thirty seconds at least had passed and the interval between the axe swings and bursts of flames was noticeable.

The next to attempt the room crossing was Lillia. She made it across without incident. Soifra was the next after her and finally Serin followed. None of them had the slightest trouble getting across, all of them making it look almost as easy as Altria did. They were all ranking adventures after all, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise.

“You really had me worried there for a moment Theo! What happened?” Asked Serin when she safely made it across.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know. I just landed a little awkwardly and fell over my own legs. I’m lucky that Altira was here to help me.” I explained.

“You need to be careful. Things are only going to get more difficult as we head further inside.”

“I know, I’ll try harder.”

“I think we should take a break.” Announced Lillia.

“Already? But we’ve only just got here.” I asked.

“Yes. It isn’t going to do any good if we get worn out before we step into a difficult fight. I doubt walking all morning and two back to back fights helped you stay on your feet.” Explained Lillia.

“It’s okay I can go on without a break.” I argued.

“I expect you can, but a rest is for the best.” Lillia wasn’t going to budge.

“She’s right Theo, you usually move better than that. We should stop now and rest before we move any further in.” Altria said agreeing with Lillia.

“Okay, okay. I just don’t want to hold you all back.”

“Well, all of this will be for nothing if you get yourself killed.” Serin pointed out.

“Can we assume we’ll be safe here Siofra?” Asked Lillia.

“Yes, at least I never encountered any monsters or traps in the corridors of the early levels.”

“Good, then we’ll stop here for a bit.”

The rest of the party had already taken their packs off and sat down, getting out some food and water. The corridor was dark and dingy compared to the white tiled room we had just left. This was just a short corridor unlike the one we had passed through earlier, probably only about ten meters long before it reached a stairwell that presumably led down to the next level.

It wasn’t a particularly pleasant place to take a break, but it was probably about as nice or safe as we were going to get until we made our way out of the dungeon again. It was hard to gauge the time being underground, but it had to be late morning, if it wasn’t lunch time already. I had to wonder what we would do when it was time to sleep.

We took a proper break. After eating lunch and resting for about half an hour, it was time to carry on. There were still several more floors to get through until we reached the master of this place.

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