CHROLLO (POV)
Rosh, the name of the person trapped within the cellar below the tower was someone who raised speculation. Leo seemed to be more than optimistic about following the plot line that the dungeon had placed us on. Despite his wit, he didn’t seem to bat an eye at the thought that maybe he was down there for another reason. Elex, on the other hand, appeared to lean toward the side of skepticism. Me? I simply played along. I didn’t think my word would have any impact on the decisions the group would make. Of course, there was no indication or sign that they didn't want to hear my opinions or that they would disregard my thoughts, but I preferred to observe and see how things played out. Albeit, I can’t deny the fact that something doesn’t sit right within me when it comes to Rosh. However, even if things were to turn south, I'm more confident I could protect myself and those who are important to me.
On another matter, the ruins were something to be feared, even if you had prepared for the worst, they would bite back at you in ways you wouldn’t understand - or so I’m told. I recall my sister telling me that despite the fact that the dungeons are separated by different difficulties inside the Gala, each and every one of them still takes into account other factors. Factors such as knowledge, intelligence, numbers, and individual power. This would be my experience to test whether her words were true.
I took a step back as I let Christina, Zack, and Emily observe the one-way entrance to the next room before we progressed through. We had split with the others and made our way through another door on the bottom floor of the tower. I wasn’t exactly fond of my partners - not that I was fond of anyone besides Leo and Elex - but I suppose a benefit is that they don’t have clashing personalities.
“What is this place?” Zack said walking around the darkened room.
Like before, I lit a blue flame with the tips of my fingers and brought light to the room where we stood. Before us, exposed by the light, were five stone statues standing in a circle looking away from each other.
“These statues, what do you think they are?” Christina asked as she walked up to one of them.
To get better vision, I lite torches that were perched up on the side of the wall. Only then could the rooms mysteries be clearly seen. There was a statue of a dove, a king, a slave woman in chains, a jester, and finally a ragged man who’s body was completely concealed by wrapped cloth - a vagrant. They stood on slightly elevated platforms which held rotating bolts on their surface.
“I’m not sure, but look here,” Emily said pointing at the feet of one of the statues.
Engraved on the small platform where it stood, it held words that were etched into the surface of the ground. She read aloud the words that were contained under the feet of the king's statue.
'The lust of kings can be strong if not tamed, their desires are merely a step away and they have every right to engage themselves in coitus with whomever they wish. Marriage, on the other hand, is a political matter. The only thing that can question a king’s resolve. Despite the power he may obtain, his love for the woman he cannot have is obstructed by the very thing that grants him that power. The crown.'
“What does it mean?” Emily said,
“Check the others,” I replied.
Zack eagerly walked to the statue of the young woman in chains, her posture slightly slouched with an expression that was dwindled by the effect of time on the material of the stone. He read the words at her feet aloud nonetheless.
'Shackles of steel, whips of leather, and a life held within the hand of another. Decisions are not an option, ultimatums are their portion. There is only one thing a slave can wish for, only one thing a slave should wish for.'
As he finished reading, I passed by the statue of the jester. Its form was slightly unnerving as its stone cap decorated with bells hanging from the two sides was stained and scratched. His eyes held an expression of sorrow while his mouth bent into a smile. What shocked me the most was that he held a knife, etched into his torso as liquid - which would have been red if it weren't a stone statue - dribbled down his body.
'Lovely,' I thought to myself. I had always had a slight distaste towards excessive theatrics.
'A life of solace turns a man into wanting more, the attention of others is what brings pleasure, and what better way to gain someone's attention than by the humiliation of another. Or better yet, the humiliation of one's self. And who else’s attention would you want aside from he who owns the world.'
“It’s strange,” Christina said, “I’ve seen other things around the tower. Writing, words, and signs. However, none of them were in a language I could understand or recognize. Why is it that these statues have words written in our common tongue?”
She was right. I too had seen many other words written under paintings and signboards around the bottom floor of the tower. However, I deduced that the answer was quite simple.
“It’s because of the dungeon,” I said.
“Care to explain?” Emily asked while looking down at the words engraved beneath the dove.
“It means that this room, this area of the tower,” I said waving my hand around at the space we were in, “has been altered by the dungeon itself to accommodate our arrival.”
“Please, for the sake of my knowledge, elaborate,” Zack said turning to face me with a smirk.
“The dungeon gates that reside within the Arcadian ruins don’t just act as gates that take people to new worlds to solve puzzles or defeat monsters. They’re more than just that. The dungeons create new things within the places they send the adventurers who enter them to make up for their difficulty.”
“So, you’re saying that this place was never meant to be here in the first place? ” Zack said.
“The room, perhaps. The challenge, maybe not. There very well could have been a different obstacle here, but I think that the tower has most likely increased the difficulty or completely changed the obstacle due to our appearance.”
“So, the more difficult the challenge . . . ”
“The stronger the tower assumes us to be.”
“Hmm, and how do you know all about this?” He asked.
I looked away from him and the rest of the group, slowly walking toward the statue of the stone dove.
'Wings stretched out wide and the sky is the limit. When the air is your playground, your wanting shall cease, your pain shall be no more and your bliss will be everlasting. Captivity is a foreign thing, a mere concept of theory.'
“From my sister,” I replied.
“I didn’t know you had a sister?” Christina finally said.
Those words were the first she had said to me in a while. It wasn’t as if we were on bad terms with each other, or at least it should be that way. However, the way she had been acting toward me made it feel as if I had been doing something wrong. I understand that before she wanted to speak with me quite a bit. Perhaps my . . . reserved attitude toward her attempts at friendship was finally showing its consequences. She quickly, but discreetly attempted to turn away. Maybe in hopes that she would give off the expression that she didn't really care about my life at all?
“Well, you never asked,” I replied.
She looked as if she was going to say something else, but then forced herself to keep quiet and turned away.
For the next half hour, we worked together in hopes of making sense of what to do with the statues. Zack was aimlessly rotating each one in position on its disc plate as the rest of us looked around the room for clues.
I walked up to the statue of the slave girl and observed the words written at her feet again.
‘There is only one thing a slave can wish for. Only one thing a slave should wish for.’
A slave. A soul trapped within a body that belongs to another. As if they were held in a cage and refused to live the life they deserve - let alone the life they want. I felt as if I could relate to the slave girl in a way. I felt like I was being held back from my true purpose at home - not that I actually knew what it was, but I felt held back nonetheless. I yearned to leave so badly that only once I had left the kingdom itself, I truly felt free. Free from the shackles of a legacy forced upon me.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
I looked up at the slave girl, meeting her eye-to-eye.
“Freedom,” I whispered under my breath.
I glanced over at Zack who stood around the statue of the dove. He spun it around slowly as he analyzed its rotation.
“Hey, Zack,” I called out, “come here for a second.”
“What is it?” he asked as he approached.
“Have you figured anything out by rotating these things?”
He shrugged, “Nothing much really. Although, whenever I pointed one of the statues in the direction of another, It would sort of click in place before letting me continue rotating it.” He finished.
I looked at the statue of the dove where Zack stood, then brought my attention back to the slave girl. I grabbed her waist and began to rotate her body in the direction the dove resided. Zack was watching me through the entire process.
“Figure something out?” he asked.
“Maybe,” I replied.
“Well, don't keep it to yourself then,” Emily said eagerly joining the conversation.
I turned to look at her, “I think that we have to make the statues face in the direction of the things they want,” I said.
“The things they want?” Zack repeated with skepticism.
“It's only a hunch, but, we don’t seem to have any other ideas, do we?” I argued.
Christina sighed as she stepped into the conversation from her corner of the room, “So, what do you think should be facing where?”
“The statue of the slave girl,” I said nodding at her in front of me, “says that a slave should only wish for one thing. And that thing is freedom. If you then look at the words written beneath the dove, it says that captivity is something it does not know. So, the bird must represent freedom, right?” I exclaimed.
“Well, let's see then,” Zack said, walking over to the statue of the girl and finishing rotating her body to face the dove from where I stopped. He shifted when it clicked into place, and we all waited in silence.
“Hmm,” he sighed.
“Well, naturally, we would have to do all of them,” I said.
“So what about the jester then?” he asked.
Emily walked over to the statue of the man with the knife embedded in his chest. She bent down to read the words more clearly.
“Who else’s attention would you want aside from he who owns the world.” She read aloud.
“A god?” Zack said.
“Not a god, but a King,” Christina replied.
He moved over to the statue without protest and rotated its body to face the king. Like before, the click that was made was not heard but visibly seen as his body jerked it into place.
“So that's the slave and the jester. Who’s next” Zack said.
“Let’s try the king,” Emily suggested.
Zack made his way over back to the stone monarch, but my eyes wandered over towards the vagrant. His clothes were rugged, ripped, and generally in a mess. He stood with a slight hunch in his back, yet, his feet stood completely straight. A posture no normal person would find comfortable. Its head was slightly covered with a hood, so, its face was concealed from those who gazed upon it.
‘To be fair, it is a statue,’ I thought to myself.
I turned my head to look at the rest of the group, only to see Zack shifting the statue of the king in the direction of the slave girl.
“Well, Chrollo, apparently the dungeon thinks were idiots - according to your theory about our presence,” he said while finishing the movement. “Because this task is unbelievably easy.”
“So what's left?” Emily asked.
“The dove and this man here,” I replied.
“Well, if the dove represents freedom, and considering it has written under it ‘Your wanting shall cease’ I guess, it shouldn’t be facing anyone.’” Zack said.
“Hmm, probably,” I agreed, “but what about the statue of the man? It’s the only statue without words written beneath its feet and on top of that it can't be rotated.”
“We can figure it out after,” Emily waved a hand dismissing my concern.
Zack moved over to where the dove was held and began rotating its figure to face away from the other statues. Once it was set in place, unlike before, there was an audible clicking noise and a loud one at that.
The elevated pieces of ground that each statue stood on began to descend. All for except one - the rugged-looking man. The loud groans of stone were heard as the others descended slowly beneath the ground and the room slightly began to shake.
“Get back near the door,” I shouted to the group as I raised my guard.
They took their stances behind me as the room continued to shake causing any loosely hung torches holding fire to hit the ground and break.
“What’s going on?” Christina said worriedly as we stood with our backs to the closed door.
“Just be prepared for anything,” I replied.
The rumbling came to a stop and the only thing that remained standing was the statue of the man. The blue flames from the torches I had lit were slowly spreading throughout the room and creeping toward us. However, seeming to protrude from the wall opposite from where we stood, looked to be the handle of a key.
“Look there,” Zack said pointing out at the object, “I’m guessing it's something we’ll need, right?”
“Your guess is as good as any,” I replied. “But, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to collect it.”
“Let's not waste time then,” He said taking a step forward back to the main section of the room.
“Wait!” Christina called out with an arm stretched out. “Did you see that?”
“See what?” Zack asked, slightly flustered.
“The statue, it. . . it moved,” She said with caution.
“Don’t play games with me,” Zack said jokingly.
“I’m not, I-” The stone that was held around the statue, began to crack and fall piece by piece to the floor. As the segments of stone fell, the man remained standing in front of us, unveiled by his prison of stone. Only that this wasn’t a man, not anymore anyway.
“It's a mongrel,” I whispered
“Only one?” Zack whispered back, “Don't they usually appear in hordes?”
“I’m not sure, let's just make sure not to trigger this one awake.” I replied, “You guys watch it, I’ll go for the key.”
They all nodded as they took their stances facing the Arcadian creature. In theory, I could most likely take down a single mongrel with ease . . . I think. However, I had never actually seen or encountered one in person, I’d only read and heard about them from other sources. The one thing I did know, and what most people knew, was that they won't react unless triggered. As if they were in a trance, they would sort of just stand there and wait for something to cause them to attack.
I walked cautiously around the creature which now seemed to be creating a slight drone noise periodically, Since the stone had moved away, the putrid stench that emanated from its body was off-putting, but I focused on my objective.
Slowly, I approached the key bulging out from the wall and placed my hand on its bow. With a slight grunt, I jerky at the object in hopes of setting it free, however, it seemed to be lodged within the wall tightly.
I looked back at the mongrel to see if my efforts on the key had woken it from its form of stasis. Luckily not. I turned back to the key and infused mana with my fingertips - probably something I should have started with.
“Let's hope this works” I whispered under my breath.
With a quick tug on the body of the key, it jutted out from the wall as smoothly as removing a lodged knife from butter. However, as things were going so well, the wall that the key had been removed from, seemed to crumble comedically in front of me as I stood there with it in hand. The crash creating an echoing sound that fills the entire room, allowing everything within it to hear.
“Chrollo look out!” Christina shouted from across the room.
I turned my head swiftly to see what she was talking about when my body was forcefully pinned against the broken cobble behind me. I grunted in pain as the impact of the push left my back to interact with the awkward angles of the now broken wall.
The mongrel had awoken from its trance and was pinning me against the wall with its two rotten arms. With it now right in front of me, I could see its face more clearly than ever, and smell its horrible odor as it leaned on top of me. Its nose had been damaged beyond repair, and its skin held a gray tint with red gashes of flesh that were splayed randomly across its body. Its hair was practically nonexistent and if any teeth remained, they were decayed beyond belief. Its breath was pungent as it groaned while pinning me to the wall.
With a mana-infused kick, I used my legs to shove the mongrel off of my body and into the spreading flames at the side of the room. Its body caught fire, and it screamed in agony whilst persistently chasing after me.
“Hurry, get to the door, Chroll!,” Zack called out as the rest of them were exiting their room. Smoke was beginning to fill the chamber heavily, and breathing as well as seeing was becoming difficult.
As I made my way toward the door, the creature chased after me with dedication. It flailed its arms and legs as it ran in a fiery roar with shocking speed. As soon as I made it through the exit, I turned to face my perpetrator and mustered up a deadly wave of flames to send it back across the room. Zack slammed the door shut and then stomped his foot on the ground which then fortified the door with a conjured wall of stone from the ground.
“You have an affinity for earth?” I said while panting.
“Well, it's either that or the tower has decided to help us get away from the monsters.” He said with a cheeky smile.
“We should head back to the others. We need to tell them about the key,” Emily said.
The rest of us agreed and we made our way back to the main hall on the bottom floor of the tower where we all split before. However, when we arrived, we saw a group of people crowded around Leo already.
“Hey, guys, come see this,” Elex called out to us as we approached.
Leo turned to us to fill us in on their finding and we listened with interest. “Now I'm not saying it's the answer to all of this, but we found this journal in a study on the fifth floor of the tower. It's written in a different language but fortunately, it's the same language that our guide, Thomas, gave us the translation booklets to read.” He said holding up both books.
“So what have you figured out from the journal?” Emily asked.
“I’ve been looking at the first couple of pages for some time, and I haven't completely learned the language yet, but I've been able to make out a few words. Fortunate, the way the langue is built, it's somewhat similar to our own.” He said. “The author of this journal was a man named Morsom - probably the guy who Rosh was talking about.”
“You have any proof of this?” Someone else from the group asked
“Well, in the first couple pages, it talks about the notes that the person who was with Rosh before Morsom had arrived, left behind, and how Morsom was nervous about being chosen as the next Shandel - which I think is the position to come here and figure out a way to help Rosh out.”
“So, naturally” the girl named Sarah added, “we assumed that the people who stayed here watching after Rosh, lived the rest of their lives here and left guidance and help for the next appointed Shandal. However, that's about as far as Leo discovered.”
Leo nodded in agreement, “Right, I still need more time to translate the rest of the book, but with the help of Emily I should be able to do it quicker.” he said looking at her, “After all, I know you had been learning some of the language yourself before we entered the ruins, haven’t you?”
“I’ll help as much as I can.” She responded. “But there is something we need to show guys,” she said looking at me.
I pulled out the key and held it up to the group “We got this key after completing a challenge within the tower. It wasn't exactly hard but we did run into our first mongrel.”
“Mongrel? Not mongrels?” Leo asked.
“This one was alone,” Christina answered “As strange as it is, we think that this could be a key to getting Rosh out of his chamber.” She said.
“Let me see that,” Elex said taking the key from my hand.
He analyzed it intently, looking at its every curve and ridge. The key was no different than your normal household key. Normal, until you got to its tip where it contorted and bent into strange shapes that almost resembled runic symbols.
“Do you really think this could be enough?” he asked. “I’m not sure I remember there even being a keyhole on that door down there.”
“Well it has to be used for something,” Emily insisted, “Chrollo could have lost his life after the mongrel appeared.”
Zack burst out a loud scoff, “He was fine.” he said with a wave of his hand. “We can see if the key can be used for anything holding Rosh’s door, If not, then we keep it until we find what it's really used for.” he finished.
“Agreed.” Leo nodded. “Well, let's head down there and see. Maybe we could find out more about this Morsom guy from Rosh himself.”