Chapter 14: Chapter 14

“So none of you went through any sort of maze?” Helbram asked.

“Aye, when we came to we were here,” Leaf explained, “Couldn’t go anywhere since both doors were sealed. Twas a bit boring really.”

“Truly a tragedy,” the armored man said in a dry tone.

“Well no need to sound so bitter, it’s not like we chose to sit here while you were off getting lost.”

“That’s certainly one way to describe it…” Helbram shook his head.

Leaf placed a hand on the armored man’s shoulder and gave him a soft smile, “I’m truly glad you’re safe.”

Jahora pat his knee at the same time, “Me too, it can’t have been easy.”

“It wasn’t,” Helbram said with a bitter laugh, “but what’s done is done. Petty bitterness aside, full glad am I to see all of you are safe and well,” He nodded towards Elly, who stood a little ways away. She nodded back, but stayed silent. The dusk elf showed some concern when he staggered through the door, but stayed some distance away when Jahora and Leaf ran up to meet him. He could understand that, it was always awkward being the odd one out.

“So, any idea where we could be?” Helbram asked the scholar as he walked towards the center of the room. It matched the plain aesthetic of the maze he emerged from; rigid, smooth stone, with lights focused at the corners of the room. A singular orb of light attached to no apparatus sat at the center of the ceiling, illuminating the rest of the room in its pale white light. At the opposite end of the room was another door, but it remained sealed just like the one that had closed behind him when entered the room.

Elly perked up at his question and pushed herself from the wall she leaned against, “Truthfully, I don’t know. Given your description of the maze and its apparent size, it being under the mountain seems unlikely.”

“Why is that?” Leaf asked, “It’s not like the Ruhians couldn’t just dig a bit deeper till they had enough room to build it.”

“While you are correct you have to question the logistics of it all,” Elly explained , “Given the singular door this was most likely a personal project of Azator himself, and while that is certainly not an abnormality for him that amount of work would require years of solitude.”

“Was the man the reserved sort?” Jahora asked.

Elly made an unsure gesture, “It depends. All accounts place him as the opposite and you will find his trademark design in many a Ruhian ruin if you knew where to look, but he was also very private about his personal projects. The lock marks this as his own, but it is as I was saying, even if you were the most resourceful mage on the planet, would you waste your time digging such a large structure?”

Leaf rubbed his chin, “That is a fair point…”

“Even so, he had to have dug it out somewhere,” Jahora said, “what does it matter where it was?”

“I think she’s suggesting that this structure is not real at all,” Helbram said.

Elly nodded, “Pardon my cryptic nature for a moment but what about the design of this structure strikes you the most?”

“How lifeless it is,” the armored man responded, “it feels… sterile, made without an ounce of passion.”

“It’s like the walls are sucking the life out of me the longer we’re here,” Leaf added.

“It almost seems like that was the point,” Jahora said.

Elly nodded, “All correct. People often underestimate the impact that one’s surroundings can have upon them, and the Ruhians were far more aware of these things than most. Sculpting and design were their passion, and within their cities and houses you shall find a multitude of flourishes and designs to elicit some sort of feeling. Now consider possessing that kind of cultural passion, only to carve such a lifeless structure at your leisure; would that not drive you insane?”

“Aye, it would,” Leaf admitted.

“So rather than use your hands to make such tangible lifelessness, why not utilize the mind to make it intangible?”

The dusk elf snapped her fingers, releasing a pulse of light that formed itself into the image of a labyrinth that spread across the floor.

“Though certainly not on the same scale you’ve been through, with just a bit of Aether and some imagination I’ve crafted a maze that any man would spend hours wandering upon.”

“So we’re in an illusion?” Jahora asked.

“Yes, and worse yet it is one that we perceive to be real, or rather we dream to be real.”

Helbram sighed, “That does make sense. Rather than fool any one sense it just fools the source behind them… I knew this sensation felt familiar somehow…”

Elly looked at him with curiosity, “Really? You’ve been trapped in an illusion like this before?”

“More just trapped in my own head,” Helbram explained, “but tis not important at this time.”

“But wait, if we’re here then what about your master?” Jahora asked.

Elly snorted, “I think she’s beyond the point where she’d fall victim to such tricks, though knowing her she’d most likely dive headfirst into them if she could glean some semblance of knowledge from it… gods I can hear the questions being asked already,” she said with a small smile.

“If we make it out,” Leaf said with a sigh, “the room has got us trapped like…” he snapped his fingers, “a fish in a barrel, without water,” the half elf gave a satisfied nod.

Elly tilted her head, a confused expression quickly spreading across her face.

“That wasn’t even clever,” Jahora said with a groan.

“I’d like to see you come up with something better,” Leaf said with a huff.

“Like rats in a cage, don’t go being obtuse because you can’t respect the classics!”

The half elf scoffed, “Don’t go shaming me for mixing things up, some people I swear.”

Elly snorted, but quickly covered her mouth when it drew Helbram’s attention. She cleared her throat soon after, “Regardless, our silver tongued friend does bring up a good point, we’re not going to make it far in this illusion if our exits are sealed like this…”

“Could you not interfere with the illusion somehow?” Helbram suggested, “Send some sort of signal that could wake us all up from this dream?”

Elly shook her head, “I’m afraid not; a mage of the second circle doesn’t possess enough power to break a spell like this, even if I have some skill in illusions… I’m afraid all we can do is wait and see what is in store for us and overcome any trials that come our way.”

As she spoke, the sound of stone sliding against stone replaced her words. Everyone in the room directed their attention to the door at the end of the room, which was now open.

“Like that… quite a coincidence,” Elly said with a perturbed tone.

“Onwards I suppose,” Jahora said as she walked to the door in a slow pace.

The rest followed after the gnome, funneling into a large, much more spacious room that was at least triple in size compared to the room Helbram had traversed at the end of the maze. However, rather than possessing a large gap at its center, the entire room ramped upwards at such an incline that Helbram could not see past the top. The ramp itself was not of stone, but was instead of a fine, pale sand that lay undisturbed aside from the numerous stone platforms that jut out from the ramp.

“Gods… that is large,” Leaf stared up at the top of the ramp, “My mind’s wondering if we need to walk up or just climb the damned thing.”

“Considering Helbram’s previous adventure, I’m sure it’s more complicated than that…”Jahora said with concern.

Elly walked up to the ramp and pressed her hand against the sand, noting the slight impression that it left, “It’s firm…” she rubbed some of the sand between her fingers, “Yet the texture implies it’s going to be quite the challenge to navigate…”

“A physical test then?” Helbram asked, “And here I’d thought I’d be exempt from such trials…”

A mote of light formed at the midpoint of the ramp, and from it a voice rang down towards them.

“Welcome, welcome… I must congratulate you all for making it this far,” It was the voice of a man, one that bordered between playful and sickly sweet from the casualness of his tone.

Elly’s eyes widened, “Is that… Common?”

“Yes… the plaque at the entrance was written in Common as well, remember? I never expected a Ruhian construct to speak it to me, however…”

“No doubt you all have many questions,” the voice continued, “And I can safely say that I have… no answers for you.”

Helbram felt his eyebrow twitch.

“After all it would hardly do to reward falling into a trap now would it? Though if you do make it through this next trial I could entertain a question or two… but if you’ve slipped into this little mind prison of mind I find the chances of that to be quite unlikely. Till next time I suppose, and do be careful will you? Or not, I care little either way.”

The mote of light disappeared right after.

“What the hells was that?” Leaf said with a befuddled look, “Did he just show up to be a right bastard then piss off?”

“The least the arse could have done was given a hint of what was to come,” Jahora added in an equally confused and irritated tone.

“Would you reveal the secrets of your trap to invaders?” Helbram asked.

“Well… no, but he did have to be such a sod about the whole thing.”

“Given historical accounts… that was quite in line for Azator…” Elly said in a resigned tone, “though I certainly didn’t expect him to speak in our tongue,” she rubbed her chin, “I suppose if this is a perception of our mind some sort of translation to fam-”

Helbram straightened up as he saw a flash of light at the top of the ramp, “We’ll have enough time for discussion later,” he said while motioning towards the light.

When the flash faded, it left behind a few words that hung in the sky.

 

Trial Two

Begin

 

As the words faded Helbram widened his stance and braced himself, expecting the words to be a signal for some sort of bombastic event. To his surprise, and mild embarrassment, the only thing the words left in their absence was silence. 

To his relief Leaf and the others had done the same as him, the half elf crouched down in a stance that Helbram could only assume he was going to run from. A frown steadily grew across his companions face and Leaf eventually right himself before walking towards the slope.

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“Dammit, and here I thought that something was about to explode…” he murmured as he pressed against the sand with his foot.

“Let’s not rule that out entirely,” Helbram said as he approached the ramp as well, “Last time the real trial didn’t begin until I was halfway through the course. I suspect that this is a similar case.”

“Right… wouldn’t put it past the arse either if he came out and taunted us like that…”

“Regardless, I’m afraid there isn’t much we can do besides moving forward, “ Elly said.

“We should stick together, just in case,” Jahora suggested, “best to be close whenever the unexpected happens.”

Helbram nodded, “She’s right, I’ll take point. Leaf, you keep an eye out from the back. Jahora, stay at our center and be ready for anything,” he turned to Elly, “Could I ask you to assist her? I’ve a feeling we’re going to be falling back on magic with this one.”

Elly nodded, “Yes, certainly. I shall keep an eye out for anything familiar as well.”

Helbram placed a hand on the dusk elf’s shoulder, “ I thank you, let’s just hope we make it through without incident…”

Helbram pulled the shield from his back and readied it in front of him, but kept his other hand free. When the others took position behind him, he took a step onto the slope. His foot dug into the fine sand and gave him enough purchase to push him up the slope, but he could feel the muscles in his leg strain as he did so, unused to the awkward footing they worked against. He grit his teeth and continued up, noting that his feet tended to slip back slightly with each step. From the various curses that sounded behind him, Helbram could tell that he was not alone in this sensation.

“We need to pick up the pace,” Leaf said through gritted teeth as his feet slipped back, “the more cautious we are the more we’re gonna slip.”

Helbram nodded and pushed forward, heeding the half elf’s advice. His steps did not slip back as much as he kept his feet moving, and with this new stable pace he now felt the familiar tingle of Aether being focused behind him. He continued to lead them up the ramp until he decided to stop at one of the stone platforms that jutted out of the sand.  Tension left his legs as his feet fell upon more solid ground, and he heard Elly give a sigh of relief as they all stepped onto the platform.

“Well, this is thoroughly unpleasant,” Jahora said as she sat down and kicked her feet out, “I suspect the man somehow determined the exact angle that would cause the most grief.”

“Given the Ruhian’s tendency for precision… it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise,” Elly said, “But I believe that I do have a spell to assist us with our journey.”

The weaver flicked her hand and swept it over the sand, wisps of yellow light threaded between her fingers as she did so. The sand in front of them started to flatten further, forming a path that was as wide as Helbram’s shoulders and long enough to reach another platform in the distance. When Helbram tested it, he noted much less strain on his legs, like he was walking on packed dirt, though the incline itself still proved to be difficult to navigate.

“Apologies for not casting this earlier,” Elly said, “I wanted to make certain there was nothing else that could complicate matters first.”

“Oh complications are comin’,” Leaf said, “they always do.”

Helbram sighed, “He is right, but thank you Elly, at least the walking part won’t be so difficult. Is everyone ready to continue?”

The others nodded and Helbram continued up the ramp, quickening his pace further with the newfound stability beneath him. His eyes remained fixed towards the top of the slope, keeping watch for whatever it was that was to come. Nothing did, and they managed to make a second stop without incident.

“This truly is terrible,” Jahora said in an exasperated tone, “Just waiting for something to happen, knowing it will, but not when.”

“Tis the intent, most likely,” Helbram said, “An arse thing to do but I must admit that it is effective.”

Elly waved her hand over the sand and created another path, “Yes… I must admit this is not my favorite experience with the Ruhia.”

“I hope so, I’d be concerned otherwise,” Leaf said.

At their current platform, Helbram could tell that they had only made it a fifth of the way up the ramp. What lay beyond the crest of the hill remained elusive to him, but before he continued on he took in a deep breath and channeled his Ether into his ears once again. The stillness and silence around him grew more prominent, but even his enhanced hearing could not pick up anything beyond that hill. He continued onto the new path, eyes searching, but more importantly, ears listening for any sort of sign of movement. He made it halfway up the path before he felt it, right beneath his feet.

The ground shook beneath them, undoing Elly’s spell and forcing them to stop as they tried to regain some semblance of footing on the newly unstable sand. Footing they never found, for soon after the spell ended the earth beneath them erupted into a gout of sand. The force of it knocked Helbram from his feet, and before he landed on his back the eruption transformed into a shockwave of earth that caught him at its crest. With no way to get his feet under him, he could only flail against the sand as the wave carried the armored man with ease. The wave then stopped abruptly, throwing him from its grasp and onto his back. He started to slide down the moment he landed, but before he slipped too far he rolled and dug both hands and heels into the slope to stop his descent. Staying as still as possible, he looked back up the ramp and groaned when he realized that he’d been knocked back near the first platform they made it to.

Not just that, but the shockwave has separated them all. Leaf was carried as far back as he was, but was now towards the opposite end of the ramp compared to him. Elly and Jahora has somehow been carried further up the slope, but, like the two men, they had been separated in the process.

“Is everyone alright?!” Helbram yelled.

Jahora groaned afterwards, but gave a wave as she lay flat against the sand.

“I’m alright,” Elly said.

“Godsdammit! I’m going to learn how to raise the dead so I can kill the bastard again.”

“Leaf seems fine,” Helbram said with a sigh. He looked over their positions again, “Trying to group up again will just waste time!”

“I agree!” Elly yelled, I’ll see if I can make it to a platform from here.

“I’ll meet you there!” Jahora said as she scrambled to her feet. A ring of Aether appeared around her head as she did so, and before she started to climb back up she ran her hands along her books, a green glyph formed at her palms. 

“Leaf! Let’s you and I do the same!” Helbram yelled to the half elf.

His companion nodded and started to crawl to the platform that lay between them. Helbram copied Leaf’s movements, keeping his limbs planted onto the sand as he tried to crawl up to a platform. It was slow, but he was making progress. 

When he looked back up he noted that Elly was walking across the sand with far more ease than he was. A ring of Aether was wrapped around her ankle, and as her foot touched the ground it created a patch of packed sand for her to stand on with ease, much like it had with her previous spell. However, when her foot left the ground the sand started to loosen once again, leaving no path behind her as she skipped across the slope and toward the platform nearest to Jahora. Helbram recognized the grace behind her movements, motions that become instinct only through repetition and practice, but he did not have the time to dwell on such things.

He crawled towards the platform that sat between him and Leaf, noting that the half elf was working his way across in a fashion similar to his. There was no sign of any rumbling from within the sand as he moved, but as he shook off the shock of the previous eruption his ears started to pick up a familiar, recent sound from above.

The sound of stone sliding against stone.

His eyes darted to the top of the ramp, and his heart sank as he saw the small constructs from before start to peak over the horizon. Their small, slit like eyes peered at them without emotion, but from the ways their heads tilted he could almost feel curiosity from their smaller frames. The notion was soon banished from his thoughts as he saw them aim their hand down the slope, the glyphs in their palms bleeding light.

“Take cover!” Helbram barked.

A hail of magical projectiles followed, bolts of soft white like shot dust and sand into the air as they struck against the ramp. Helbram quickened his pace towards the platform as the shots started to land around him, and he managed to get his shield between him and the construction just in time to block a blast that would have hit him directly. The attack slid him down the slope as energy splashed off of his shield, but beyond the initial impact he felt no shock travel down his arm as he pushed himself forward. Leaf managed to leap from his position and onto the platform before the armored man arrived, dodging a flurry of bolts that stuck his previous position. As Helbram finally got to the platform he scrambled to his feet and placed himself between Leaf and the constructs above. A continuous stream of magical bolts followed, all failing to break through Helbram’s guard as he angled the shield to catch each bolt. Above, he saw that Jahora had brought up a barrier around her platform, which showed no signs of faltering from bolts that struck it.

Leaf pushed himself to his heels and drew his bow, pulling one of the wide headed arrows from his quiver. He pulled the bowstring past his chest with a grunt and loosed the arrow up the ramp. The arrow struck a statue in the head, shattering the stone in a burst of light and dust. As it fell back, the firing stopped.

Then all eyes fell to Leaf.

“...shite.”

Helbram grabbed Leaf and pulled him off of the platform as all the constructs turned their hands to them. A stream of magical bolts followed after, biting at Helbram’s heels as they fell from the stone and back onto the sand. He scrambled to his feet and made a break for the underside of the platform, but the hail of projectiles had followed him. He raised his shield, catching the constant flurry of attacks against it, but his feet could not find purchase on the sand below him.  The attacks continued their rapid cadence, each bolt landing with enough force to push him further down the mountain until they knocked him off balance. 

The next shot knocked his shield back, leaving his chest exposed to the follow up shot from another construct. His brigandine absorbed most of the attack, but he was knocked off of his feet and tumbled down the slope and directly into Leaf. The half elf was unable to keep his footing either and fell with Helbram, bouncing and sliding down the sandy ramp until Helbram landed at the bottom, directly onto his chest. Leaf followed soon after, sliding off of the sand until his head was level with the armored mans. They share a moment of silence between them.

“Let’s not do that again,” Helbram said in a tired voice.

“Right, yeah that was a bit of a shite move,” Leaf admitted.

“Just a bit,” the armored man stood up and looked back up the ramp. The constructs had redirected all of their focus back to the women, who remained protected under Jahora’s barrier, but immobile. 

“Come on, we’d best move while they’re dis-”

Helbram’s words were cut short by the sight of a large, spherical boulder cresting the top of the hill. He could not guess its exact size from his distance, but he knew one thing.

It was heading straight for Jahora and Elly.

It did not roll, but instead slid and bounced down the hill at an increasingly rapid rate. The moment it began its descent Jahora dropped her barrier and dove off of the platform with Elly. The dusk elf managed to find easy ground with the aid of her magic but when she stopped to help the gnome up the boulder struck the platform they had just stood on. The resulting collision was enough to send a rumble that even Helbram could feel beneath his feet. Both Jahora and Elly struggled to maintain their footing even on the stable ground that the dusk elf had made, and the women were eventually knocked from their feet as another gout of sand erupted from beneath their feet. The shockwave that followed rippled through the sand, carrying the two women further down the ramp and towards its side until they let themselves slide off of the slope. The boulder listed over the platform before continuing its journey down the hill, its path going directly to where Helbram was standing.

Both Helbram and Leaf stepped out of the way, allowing the boulder to roll off of the hill and directly into the wall behind them. It landed with a rumble and loud thud, cracking the wall as it impacted against it.  At a closer look, Helbram noted that the rock was of equal size to him in height. He did not examine it further and joined Leaf in checking up on the women, who remained laying on the ground next to each other.

“Are the both of you doing alright?” Helbram asked as he knelt down next to them.

Elly, who laid face down on the ground, raised her hand, “Beyond a brutally bruised ego, I’m right as rain.”

“I concur,” Jahora said as she jut her hand up as well.

“Good,” he peered up towards the ramp, “oh Gods, do they have to be doing this again?”

Jahora sat up from her position, patches of sand clean on her face, “Again? What do you me-” she looked up at the constructs, “oh.”

The constructs were beating their chests, the knock of stone against stone a distant chorus that prompted Helbram’s eyebrow to twitch.

“Ruhian constructs do have a tendency to inherit some traits of their creators… I suppose this confirms that the man was a bloody arsehole,” Elly said with a frown.

“The little stone bastards have stopped shooting at us, at least,” Leaf said, “though I suspect they’ll start blasting the moment someone touches that hill.”

‘You’re probably right,” Helbram said, “Though I will say that while those bolts of magic sting, I cannot see them striking any of us dead. I’d say that Azator was not in the mood for taking lives but…” he motioned to the large boulder.

“It's not just the Golems that we have to contend with either,” Elly said, “I suspect that we’ll have to deal with those random bursts of sand if we’re going to make any serious progress.

Helbram rubbed the back of his neck, “We also don’t know what happens if we ‘die’ within this dream world either… let’s just err on the side of caution to be safe.”

“So, we have a small legion of stony bastards waiting for us at the top, the possibility of more rocks being tossed down the ramp, and temperamental sand that seeks to blow us up or carry us away on a whim?” Leaf listed.

“Yes, that is the right of it…”

Leaf scratched the back of his head, “It’s never simple, is it?”

The half elf sat down on the ground and let out a long sigh, “Let’s just get to plannin’.”

___

Author's Note: Alrighty, now the action is in full swing. I really liked writing this chapter compared to my usual fight scenes. You can't really fight your way out of an obstacle course and I wanted an event to get all four of these characters to work together, but of course I had to throw a wrench into those plans at the same time. Let me know what you think of the pacing and description! I wanna know if it was easy to follow because there was a lot going on.

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