Spa and Apologies

Wanderer didn't know what to do.

Their Spirit had always been resolute, if a bit panicky, in their moral fibre, yet despite how long they had lived, even they could get disappointed.

The Vessel knew, of course, that their guide was not infallible and that they weren't all that different from the humans around them or even Wanderer themself.

But despite all they had seen, it surprised them that an emotion such as disappointment was capable of arising in their companion.

Quite unused to calming their Spirit from anything but a panic, the Golem sent messages of assurance and understanding, even if they did not truly understand.

But it was useless, this was a mark against the Spirit’s honour, against the intelligence and wisdom they had built for thousands of years, no mere placation could fix it.

They insisted that Wanderer let it be, that they would deal with it themself, and with little other options Wanderer followed their orders.

With a final flex of their will, they straightened their magic channels as best they could and moulded the last of their flesh, having to settle for a slight reduction in the power of their limbs in order to prevent their channels from breaking.

When they exited their focus, Emio was waiting for them, eager to head inside the steam and give the tumblers a piece of their mind.

A little to their own surprise, Wanderer found themself eager to enter the steam as well, wishing to see if their revelation of intimidation would let them go through without being attacked.

Together, the trio walked back to the billowing doorway, on high alert for any approaching lizards.

Wanderer was scarcely two steps in when they nearly trod on a tumbler, who was eyeing the Golem with malice.

A series of yelps echoed from every direction, the apparently every monster in the room on high alert.

Unwilling to waste any time, the Vessel rose themself on the tips of their hooves and spread their arms out wide, Emio following along behind with a few poised tendrils for good measure.

Another round of yelps ran through the room as the tumbler in front of Wanderer took a step back.

The Golem puffed themself even higher and stuck their clay chest out as Emio followed suit, even Spirit seemed to bolster themself a little, for what good it would do.

For all the damage the lizards were capable of, they were equally as cowardly, as at that final show of false bravado the tumblers seemed to have forgotten how close they had brought Wanderer to defeat and sprinted off into the deep corners of the room, as evidenced by their retreating yelps and vocalisations.

A wave of relief spread through Wanderer, though they didn't dare relax their posture as a result.

Now that the immediate threat was gone, the uncomfortable heat of the room turned sauna once again made itself apparent.

As with before, the heat was not enough to have any true effect on the Vessel, yet it was enough that they still wished to search for respite.

The glow of the active lava to their left repulsed them, as they could feel its radiant heat from their position by the doorway, as such, Wanderer decided to go to their right and try to find the pool of water they had seen earlier, in hope that its depths would cool them down.

After making sure that Emio would follow and follow close, the party pondered their way into the fog, eventually making their way to the place where Wanderer had first encountered a tumbler.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

The Golem’s Spirit was on high alert, having not lived down their previous failure and not all too eager to be caught off guard once again.

The Vessel themself, however, was rather relaxed about the whole situation, they were confident that their intimidation had worked and possessed no real grudge against the tumblers, they only attacked out of self defence after all.

Perhaps it would be reasonable, even wise to possess a greater disdain for the living boulders, yet this was hardly the first near death experience Wanderer had faced and out of all of the enemies they had encountered, the tumblers were probably the most agreeable.

The Vessel did wish that they would stop having to be in so many near death scenarios, they were getting better at bouncing back from them but they certainly were not pleasant.

And even Wanderer knew there was only so many times you could cheat death.

Moving on, Wanderer found the pool of water once again, noticing now that it seemed to have been born from a large circular indent built into the structure of the ruin.

The Golem dipped the edge of one of their hooves into the water, finding it hot but not unpleasant.

Once Wanderer confirmed the water's safety, Emio lept in with a splash, quickly swimming out of the Vessel’s limited viewing range.

Worried that the verdestry would get lost and separated from the group, the Golem and their Spirit followed suit moments after, wading into the shallow water after the little monster.

The hand carved basin didn't go very deep, seemingly never having been intended to be filled, it was, however, large, apparently taking up a great fraction of the fog covered room.

Its construction was rough and natural, made of the same stone as the ground, in all likelihood it was the groundwork for a greater feature which had been hastily abandoned.

As they followed Emio’s trail in the unintentional pond, Wanderer was led to the centre point of the construction, an odd carving, half submerged in water and being eaten away by moss that the verdestry was using as a lounging station.

The floor around it was developed in the red stone that Wanderer had come to associate with the properly constructed areas of the basement, curved tiles making a small ring that likely would have covered the whole basin when finished.

On a wooden pedestal rested a large wooden ball, with intricate yet seemingly pointless carvings of squiggly shapes and vast flat areas that reminded Wanderer a bit of a map.

That was a silly thought, what map was round?

Nonetheless, if there were greater secrets to the object they had been thoroughly destroyed.

Like a living carpet, greenish brown moss covered the orb and obscured nearly all of its details.

Where the moss wasn't, the high humidity and temperatures had worn away at the bare wooden structure, causing it to rot and balloon in a ugly way.

Wanderer stood and observed the object for a moment before calling Emio from their perch, they wanted to continue on so that they could be well and truly out of the way of any pursuers.

The Vessel couldn't see any true way in which their pursuers could catch them now, humans were not as resilient in high temperatures as they were.

Wanderer was cautiously optimistic that they were safe now that they had passed into the steam.

Nonetheless, staying within the very first room seemed unwise, so they instead decided to continue a little deeper into the complex and try and find a way back to the surface.

They hoped such a way existed.

Reunited with their friend, the Golem moved forward into the fog once again, finding a set of stairs that led out of the basin which was apparently its intended entrance.

The stairs led to a half constructed path which split off into three separate corridors, each one as obscured as the next.

Perhaps, if the steam had not been present, it would be an easy decision, but as it was, each corridor was nearly entirely equal.

Before Wanderer could even begin to work out the right answer, their Spirit lept into action with ferocity, eager to prove themself after their previous mistake.

Three images flashed through the Vessel's mind in rapid succession, the signature garble of information that comprised their Spirit’s unique vision.

Yet Wanderer already had difficulty parsing any information from the odd perspective when only a single image was shown, let alone three overlapping.

A jolt of pain flashed through the Golem’s mind at the information overload, painful to the point that even Wanderers curiosity couldn't reconcile seeing it any longer.

Yet it didn't stop coming, their Spirit kept sending information at different angles, eager to mend their mistake by being as helpful as possible.

Wanderer knew that their Spirit was only trying to be useful, and for that reason they tried to contain an outburst and instead ask their Spirit gently to stop.

The Golem’s admonishment was light, but their guide reacted as if they had been assaulted, immediately rescinding their visions and providing a wave of apologies.

The Vessel accepted these with grace, yet determined that this hypersensitivity, this need to prove themself, had to stop.

“We need to talk”