Then there was the fourth floor, with screaming in the wind. Nothing like the fifth floor, with goblins making a din. There was no warning for the sixth, where all was water and slime, but at least the seventh seemed just fine.
As they ascended the lift, they were brought out to a corridor dimly lit by flickering torches.
Smolder stepped out, looking around. The corridor stretched in two directions, and off in one direction an intersection could be seen. “So… what’s this floor’s thing?”
Spike brushed the last of the slime off of his boots. “I dunno, but we’re neither being attacked nor is there slime, and I am alright with that.”
Sandra giggled at Spike, the only of them covered in slime.
He glared back back at her, and she turned that giggle into a conspicuous cough. “Well, maybe it’s just a maze? We should make sure we’ve got enough light…” She put her hand on the side of her golem. “Maybe it’s time I swapped back… take a rest.” She concentrated on putting away her golem, and then tugged on the magic for Aiden, pulling him forth with a burst of light and flame.
It drove away much of the gloom nearby, although it only reached so far.
Garble looked down the hallway. “Well hopefully there’s something good to fight on this floor.”
“Only one way to find out!” Sandra announced, pointing forward dramatically. “Into the darkness!”
The four of them began exploring the floor. Intersections were usually marked with a symbol. A fish for one, a bird for another, a campfire for another, but so far nothing else notable was seen. At least, until in the distance they could see a bluish lantern in the middle of the corridor, as well as a clanking.
Garble grinned madly, pulling his sword out of his sheath and putting it aside. “You hear what I hear? I hear a monster coming!”
Sandra rolled her eyes, and raised her staff. “Yes, we see it.”
The four adventurers prepared themselves for the confrontation, which slowly plodded into view with a distinctly frigid atmosphere. A giant animate set of armor marched into view, but where a head would normally be was instead a cold miasma emitting from it. It held a large sword in one hand, and a glowing blue lantern shaped like a skull that generally failed to illuminate much of anything in it’s other hand.
No sound but the clanking of metal could be heard as it held the blue lantern up, and it blasted a frosty orb at the party. The orb landed in the middle of them, and it burst, covering the whole hallway, and the adventurer’s clothes, with frost, chilling each of them.
Sandra scampered away, the frost already fading from her even in the motion. Aiden threw its wings wide and launched at the lumbering golem without any spoken command. The dragons reacted far more slowly, showing a hint of their reptilian origins, though they all scattered slowly or not.
Spike grabbed his staff in both hands, a great shield of energy blinking into place just in time for the next frost blast to crash against it, creating a spiderweb of cracks through it surface, bits of it flaking and falling free, already looking ready to crumble. "This isn't good!"
The golem didn't react to Aiden, stoically accepting the wash of flames that did little more than make its frost run wet for a moment before freezing just as solid as it began. Emerging from the brilliant flash, Garble came from the darkness in a grand jump, slamming down his sword against its side.
Electricity crackled and its metal dug with futility, for barely a nick was formed as Garble clenched his teeth. "C'mon, this thing cuts things in half! Respect my blade!"
Smolder tossed something goopy and yet frozen at once. "It wasn't a frozen treat before, but it is now, eat up!" She flashed her daggers, darting forward at an angle. With a blurring rush, she zipped to the next bit of cover. "Don't panic!"
The headless armor brought it’s sword arm around, slashing at Garble, who ducked underneath the swipe, swinging his own sword, striking at its side, giving it just about as much damage as before.
The armor raised it’s skull lantern, icy mist pouring out of it, blanketing itself in chilly mist.
Garble grit his teeth to stop them from clattering as the cold poured over him. “So, what, do you think a little cold is gonna stop me!” He raised his sword above his head, and called out, “Lightning Lace!” A snap and crackle resounded as a lightning bolt struck his sword, coming from somewhere unknown between the sword and the ceiling, and it crackled with greater arcs of lightning, and Garble roared as he brought it down on the armor, scoring a direct hit on it’s chest.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He looked up at his handiwork, to see that there was a cut, deeper than before, scorched along the edges, but still not anywhere near the damage he was hoping for. The armor was already rearing back, and Garble wrenched himself back, but to no avail as the armor’s sword slammed into his side, knocking him down and biting heavily into his breastplate.
Garble gasped for air on the ground. The chill was worse than before, and this thing hit like a roc. He looked up to see it bringing it’s sword up, ready to plunge it down on him, and he scrambled back.
Fortunately, Garble was not the only person fighting, and at that moment two fiery daggers appeared at its side, with Smolder pouncing on it, shoving her daggers where a weak point would be on any normal combatant. She scored two more scorch marks, and there was sizzling that could be heard from the melting ice, but it barely phased the monster, who brought it’s sword down just outside of Garble’s legs.
Sandra waved her phoenix away with one hand as the other raised, palm-side to the ground, swapping between her spirit friends and sending the rock golem charging towards the greater one of ice and steel. "I don't think this is working and I swear this is not me being nervous here."
"You don't have to tell me." Spike lowered his staff and raised an arm with a shield attached. "This thing is way advanced compared to the other things. I say we get out while we can."
"I almost have this." Garble ducked between its towering calves as the sword came down behind him, almost ridding the dragon of his tail. "Don't be cowards. We have this!" With a deft twist, he scored a spiraling scratch along the thing's metal hide, another superficial hit on the unstoppable force.
Smolder threw her hand wide, launching a great volley of spices in the thing's lack of a face. The cold mist seemed to somehow catch it, igniting in brilliant bright blue puffs of anti-flame. The thing staggered back, stunned perhaps from having paprika applied directly to its lack of eyes. "Yeah, take--"
The great skull it held suddenly sneezed. It was as if the very nature of cold bloomed outwards from that place and time, washing Smolder and the ground all around and behind her in a layer of frost. Her skin cracked audibly, starting to bleed as she staggered back, only half-thawed. "Nevermind!"
Spike stepped up, his staff glowing, and he raised it up, a spiral of bluish magic spinning around Smolder, closing up her wounds. The frost began to come off in chunks, and Smolder breathed on her daggers, setting them alight again. “Cmon, Garble, let’s go!”
Garble hissed as the blade cut down his side, leaving a great gash in his armor even as it parted his flesh as if it were that of a newborn child instead of a hardened dragon. "You'll pay--" He stepped forward with a firm striking upwards, throwing his entire body behind the weight of his great crackling bade, shoving it right between plates into the unknown innards of the creature.
The two were perfectly still a moment, as if both the golem and Garble were just as shocked at the successful strike. Sandra's stone companion broke the silence, smashing into the back of the great set of armor, driving it into that sword even as it light up, all three of them illuminated in a great roaring crackle of lightning, the thunder of which rushing out over the area, rustling hair and clothing with its force and striking the combatants deaf for a moment.
The dust and mist cleared, with Garble falling to the ground as the armor evaporated into magic, as all monsters do, and he landed on the ground deftly, and, still bleeding from his side, he slung his long long blade over his shoulder, looking back at the party, the cockiest grin ever on his face. “I told you, I got this.”
He then immediately doubled over and fell to his knees, gripping his side. Smolder and Spike both jogged over to him, Spike already casting a healing spell, ready to help him recover. Smolder, for her part, leaned down with concern. “Oh crud! You okay, Gar Gar?”
Garble just smirked. “Better than you, when you got sliced up.”
Smolder frowned and punched him in the shoulder. “Yeah, he’ll be fine.”
Garble laughed and groaned in pain. “As long as you keep making with the healing.”
Spike’s staff continued to glow as he more spells, green glow punctuating with soft runes that appeared for moments before fading away. “You know I don’t have an unlimited amount of this, right? It takes energy to do this, energy I can run out of.”
“Oh yeah?” Garble raised an eyebrow. “So why ain’t you out yet?”
Spike hiked a thumb behind his shoulder. “Because we got a cook, remember?”
“That’s right, because my sister is awesome. So eat up and we’ll keep going.”
Smolder passed a gooey globule to both Spike and Garble. “We’ve been eating these nearly as fast as I make em. And that big tin can didn't give me any materials to make new snacks.”
Sandra patted the back of her new friend gently. "You all did great."
"You too," suddenly blurted Spike. "Your golem came in at just the right time. Thanks." He flashed his spare hand in a thumbs up at Sandra, then her golem. "How are you feeling, Garble?"
He rolled his shoulder with a low grunt. "I'm alright, but my armor's had better days." There at his side, the gash was still visible, broken and unaided by the healing magic. "Can you do something about that?"
Sandra shook her head. "Your armor isn't alive, Garble. Healing magic won't work on it." She looked thoughtful, but it faded almost as quickly as it came. "We should… Make getting to the checkpoint the priority. That stupid big golem didn't even have the etiquette to drop anything."
Smolder made gun motions with her hands. "Which is a hint. We aren't even supposed to fight it. Let's get past this floor."
"Spike, your readings are dim again. Is everything alright?"
Spike perked at the sound of Twilight's voice only he could hear. "We're alright. I guess that just happens when I use a lot of magic." He popped the snack Smolder had passed into his maw, chewing quickly. "It should get better."
Smolder turned away from Spike even as she grabbed his free hand. "He'll be talking to Twilight a little while. I say we get moving. This floor we play the stealth game. Move like the shadow." She made a smooth sailing motion with her free hand, cutting through the air with her claws.
"I don't want to be a broken record," assured Twilight. "Just checking in... I think I might have found something, but I'll let you know when it's more than a theory." Her presence seemed to fade.
Sandra waved goodbye to her golem friend. He would not help them when stealth was the goal.