Helbram waited for the others to stir before he moved. His body was heavy, still fatigued from the previous trial and his brief nap did only the bare minimum to relieve him. Leaf woke up first, groaning as his eyes fluttered and looked up at the bare stone ceiling.
“Here I was hoping I wouldn’t be here when I woke up,” the half elf said as he stretched his back, wincing as his arms raised over his head.
Helbram snorted, “Would that not be convenient? Though truth be told I was thinking the same.”
The two men stood up, sharing a sigh and a laugh. While Leaf knelt down and gently shook Elly awake, Helbram made his way to Jahora. The gnome had laid flat against the stone, and while she was not snoring her breathes were loud as her chest rose and fell in her slumber. Helbram placed a hand on the gnome’s shoulder and nudged her, prompting a small whine from her lips.
“No, I don’t want to wake up…” she murmured as she rolled over.
Helbram smirked and shook her again, “Well we cannot have that, who knows what will happen if you start having a dream within a dream?”
Jahora groaned, but sat up with a mix of a frown and smile tugging at her lips, “But what if that’s the point? Consider it a bit of experimentation.”
“Let us save that for far more controlled environments, shall we?”
The gnome fluttered her lips, “Fine, give a lady a hand then, will you?”
She held her hand out and Helbram took it, pulling her to her feet with little effort. The mage clapped her hands to her cheeks and her expression brightened immediately. She gave Helbram a brisk nod before adjusting her equipment, and Helbram started to do the same as he scanned around the room once more.
Elly had taken less time to wake up, and was in the midst of tightening the sleeves around her legs. The dusk elf took a few practice steps and, seemingly satisfied, pulled her notebook from her waist and began to peruse its contents while muttering to herself.
“Trying to take a guess at what’s ahead?” Helbram asked.
The Weaver made an unsure gesture with her free hand, “To an extent… Consider it more sorting out some thoughts. I’m half tempted to jot down a few notes but given current circumstances that practice is rather useless at the moment.”
“Well if you have any nuggets of wisdom feel free to share,” Leaf said as he restrapped his quiver, “Gods know we need everything we can use.”
“I shall do my best, though given the current trend I wouldn’t be surprised if the next trial is just dodging rocks all day.”
“Please no,” the half elf said with a groan, “Couldn’t it just be a riddle or somethin’?”
“Given current patterns, I am afraid not, my friend,” Helbram said with a sigh. He finished strapping all his equipment back on and put his helmet on his head, “Let us just get this over with, but keep your eyes open everyone, who knows what else Azator had up his sleeves when he made this,” he tossed Leaf his pickaxe, “Use that if you get cornered, aim for the joints or head.”
The archer nodded and looped the tool to his waist. He then readied his bow, waiting for others to get into position before the group finally took a step into the room ahead.
When Helbram crossed the door’s threshold, he thought himself to have stepped into another structure entirely. Gone were the barren floors and walls from before, replaced by white marble that had streaks and waves of black woven throughout its make. The floor was seamless, but the center of the room was broken by tall pillars evenly spaced around a ring brass inset into it. They bordered around a ring of brass which encompassed a large arena of gray stone. At the center of this arena stood a golem constructed from both stone and metal. Its shape was humanoid, with its major joints reinforced by the same brass material that lined the edges of it’s arena. Contrasting the rough appearance of its smaller brethren, this golem’s was made of a smoother, gray stone that, were it not for the many grooves that lined its structure, would have appeared finely polished. The grooves only lined its limbs, feeding into what Helbram could only assume was the inside of the golem rather than the surface of its torso, and metal rods as thick as his legs jutted from both of the golem’s elbows. Like the constructs from before, it possessed no features to its face, save for the slit that ran across where eyes would normally be.
“Shite… we’re gonna have to fight that aren’t we?” Leaf said in an exasperated voice.
Helbram looked around the edges of the room, “Not just that, I am afraid…”
The half elf followed his eyes and made a strangled noise when they fell upon the numerous alcoves that lined the edges of the room.They were shallow, only meant to provide enough space to shroud the statues that stood within them in shadow. Helbram recognized them as the same statues he’d fought within the maze, though these were only armed with the same brass-like swords that glinted from the shadows, reflecting the light from the array of orbs that orbited around the ceiling. More than any of that was the ever more present feeling of weight to the air around them, like a rope that was steadily tightening around his neck.
Jahora sighed, “Well I hope they have the courtesy to come at us one at a time.”
“Now you’ve gone and jinxed that haven’t you?” Leaf said in a defeated tone.
Elly joined Helbram at the edge of the ring, peering at the large construct at the center, “A Goliath…”
“Is that what it is called?” Helbram asked, “Any weaknesses we should be aware of?”
Elly waved a hand over her eyes, bringing a sheen to her golden irises, “Let us see… unfortunately there is no universal design to these colossi, but the make of this one does appear to be more rudimentary than most,” she rubbed her chin, “Its Aetheric Core is right at its center, but unfortunately that is also where its armor is the thickest.”
Helbram nodded, “Already a promising start… what of the rods that jut from its arms?”
“Pistons,” the dark elf explained with punching motion, “It can use those to deliver a blow of great force, but it does take some time for such attacks to recharge, so if you can bait it out of it somehow…”
“And not get pulverized in the process,” Helbram added in a dry tone.
“Yes, but do not be fooled, that is not it's only method of attack,” Elly held up her palms, “I’m detecting Projection runes within its palms, but unfortunately I cannot discern their nature.”
“I see… that information is much better than nothing at least.”
Jahora and Leaf joined them, focused as they listened to Elly’s explanations.
“I think I have a plan on breaking through its armor,” the gnome said as she looked over the statues in the alcoves, “It’s going to need many weapons.”
Helbram nodded, “Then that’s our goal.”
“We can hardly ignore the big one while doing that,” Leaf interjected, “One of us is going to have to distract it.”
Helbram grimaced behind his visor, “You are right there… I will do it.”
Leaf snorted, “We’ll switch off, it's the only fair thing to do. Besides, I’m sure I’ll be able to hold its attention more anyways.”
Helbram chuckled, “Is that so? Might as well make a bet of it.”
“Ten Marks,” The half elf said as he held out his hand.
Helbram shook it, “Deal.”
They retook their positions, filing behind Helbram before he took a cautious step into the arena. As the last of them crossed the threshold of the ring, Helbram felt a snap reverberate through the air, and fell into a defensive stance as he felt the tension to the air release. The Goliath’s arms shifted, signaling a chorus of stone that slid against stone as Helbram could see movement at the corner of his eyes. He took in a deep breath and rolled his shoulders as the grooves on the Goliath’s limbs started to fill with light. A small orb of light formed within the slit on the golem’s face, sliding back and forth within the small groove as it scanned the arena. The orb eventually locked in place, focusing on Helbram.
He looked back towards the group, “It appears I am up first.”
The others nodded back at him, remaining at the edge of the ring as Helbram walked towards the Goliath. He kept his shield in front of him, but did not have any weapons drawn. His hand hovered over his sword once again, but he clenched his fingers to stop the instinct to draw it. Illusory construct or no, a sword would do little against stone without any Ether or magic to reinforce it.
He felt the familiar snap of Aether accompany the draw of a bow string from behind, and out of the corner of his eyes he could see the statues from the outside slowly moving in. He took in another breath, stared at the Goliath, and charged directly at it.
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The large construct moved with an alarming quickness, swinging its arm in a backhanded motion as light gathered at its palm. Helbram rolled as he saw the motion, hearing the air displace above him as a large blade of light cut where his head would have been. He carried himself back to his feet following the roll only to see the golem’s other arm swinging at him, Aether surging from the rod embedded in its elbow. The metallic piston shot forward, slamming into its arm with a metallic clang that rung Helbram’s ears. Its fist thrust forward at the same time, the stone limb a blur from the speed at which it closed in at his torso. Helbram jumped to the side, the fist almost grazing him as it passed by him and into the ground. The floor cracked as its fist struck it, and he could feel the tremors beneath his feet at the moment of impact. As its fist retracted Helbram put the shield on his back and drew the hammer.
He had no defense against such overwhelming force.
By the time he drew his weapon the Goliath already recovered, its torso rotating independent of its legs to face him. It swung its hand in a backhanded motion as it spun, just barely telegraphed by its large size. Helbram stepped back to avoid the attack by a hair, but as he made to lunge forward the golem’s opposite hand followed its first strike, its palm once again filled with light. Helbam ducked under the blade of light that formed and made to strike at the construct again. A grave mistake, he realized, as its torso continued to spin, bringing back its opposite arm in the same backhand motion from before. He was too committed to his movement to leap out of the way entirely, but Helbram turned with the blow, reducing it to a glancing strike against his pauldron. A small blessing, for even with such minimal contact Helbram felt shock throughout his body as he was lifted from his feet. His head felt numb as he hit the ground yards away, bouncing against the stone on his opposite shoulder and ending up on his back. His vision was a blur, but stone and the glint of metal filled his vision as it cleared, revealing the statue that was driving its sword towards his chest.
Before the blade could make contact an arrow struck the statue’s head, staggering it back and damaging its stone helmet enough to allow its inner light to leak through the cracks. A stone followed the arrow, driving into the fractured helmet and shattering the statue’s head. Light wisped from the construct as it fell to the ground, but Helbram ignored it as he felt tremors beneath him, followed by the approach of thunderous footsteps as the Goliath pursued him. Helbram scrambled to his feet and jumped back just in time to avoid the golem’s piston fueled punch, watching the ground he had just stood on crack as a stone fist dug into the ground below. The construct attempted to retract its fist, but paused as the limb remained stuck to the ground.
An arrow struck the Goliath’s head as an opening formed, its broad headed tip bouncing against the stone as another arrow struck the same spot. This arrow ricocheted off as well, but instead of a third what followed was Leaf leaping and driving the pickaxe against the golem’s head. The blow bit into the construct’s head enough to leave a scratch, but it did nothing to stagger its constitution as it ripped its fist from the ground. The half elf wove through the arms that attempted to snatch at him, and Helbram could now see that the Goliath’s attention was now focused on the one who managed to scratch it.
“My turn!” Leaf yelled as he drew the Goliath away, the construct managing to keep up with the half elf’s speed as it moved with surprising agility.
“The sword! Bring me the sword!” Jahora yelled from the far end of the arena, and as Helbram turned to look at her he saw three of the statues closing in on the two women. Rubble littered the ground around them, and he saw that a sword already lay at Jahora’s feet.
He picked up the blade from the fallen statue next to him and ran to the casters, thankful that his shoulder was able to move after the blow he suffered. A newly formed dent in his pauldron was now rubbing against his skin, but it was not enough to impede its movement.
The statues were already upon the women by the time he made it halfway across the arena. Two set upon the gnome, and the mage managed to force one away by striking it at its chest with a bolt of Aether. She was unable to do the same with the other, and just barely managed to block its sword by summoning a barrier in front of her. The brass blade slid off of the magical shield but the construct kept its flurry at such a pace that Jahora was forced to keep blocking. Elly stood at her back, the dusk elf’s arms wrapped by a sheen of translucent Aether that deflected the repeated strikes of the statue that was attacking her.
Helbram slid the blade in his hands across the floor towards Jahora and readied his hammer. He closed in on the statue that had been repelled and drove the tool into the back of its head. The blow landed with a resounding crack and snapped the construct’s head forward. Helbram managed to control the momentum of the blow enough to bring the hammer back for another strike, hitting the same cracked spot from before. The statue’s head split following the blow, bleeding light into the air before it collapsed to the ground.
Before it fully hit the ground Helbram had already grabbed the blade from the construct’s now loosened grip and threw it at the statue that was attacking Elly. The sword struck stone with its handle, but it was enough to create an opening that the Weaver quickly exploited. The dusk elf slammed her palm against the statue’s torso, a pulse of yellow light surging from the ring of Aether around her ankle and up to her hand. Aether surged from her palm, forcing the statue back and leaving a singular thread of yellow light that linked her hand to its chest. The Weaver snapped her wrist as she slammed her foot into the ground, sending another pulse of Aether through her body that fed into the thread. A small orb of light trailed through the string and into the statue’s torso, bleeding into the stone like a web of cracks. The light swelled within the statue’s chest before bursting, shattering the construct and reducing it to a pile of rubble.
As the Weaver performed her spell Helbram had already closed in on the construct that bore down on Jahora. He struck the statue at its side, driving through with enough force to cause it to stumble. The Mage dropped her barrier as the assault against her paused and gathered a larger mass of Aether between her hands. She released the mass of energy into the crack formed by Helbrams blow, the bolt surging through its torso before bursting out and destroying its head.
The three of them shared only a brief nod before they gathered up the fallen statues’ swords and placed them around Jahora. While the gnome peered at the weapons Helbram turned back to Leaf. The half elf’s agility was serving him well, allowing him to slip between the Goliath’s arms but stay close enough that the construct could not perform any of its wider sweeping attacks. Leaf held the pickaxe in hand and managed to leave a few knicks in the Goliath’s stone armor, but beyond that he had not made much headway to leaving any real damage to the construct. As Leaf continued to dodge each blow the golem started to spin its torso much like it had with Helbram earlier. Leaf was quicker to catch on than he was, and leapt back as the spinning attack swept over where he had just stood. The golem stopped its motion the moment that the half elf created some distance and replaced its flurry with a single swing of its arm as light gathered at its palm. Leaf leapt towards the construct as the blade of light surged from its hand, diving under the attack and landing at the golem’s feet on his chest. He rolled out of the way of its following stomps and just managed to scramble to his feet by the time the Goliath delivered a piston fueled punch to where he lay. Helbram could feel the tremor even as he stood so far away.
“There!” Jahora exclaimed, “Leaf! Face it this way!”
“Aye!” Leaf yelled back. He drew the attention of the Goliath to where they stood, facing its torso their way.
Helbram turned back to the Mage, noting that one of the swords hovered between her and Elly. The Weaver kept her arms moving back and forth over the hovering blade, forming wisps of green Aether that flowed around the weapon to keep it afloat. The sword itself had a single glyph placed at its center, and yellow Aether bled from the symbol through the rest of the blade like cracks. Helbram stepped to the side to give the casters a clear view of the Goliath, and as he did so Elly thrust her hands forward, shooting the blade towards the construct at such speed that it only registered as a blur in his vision. It struck the top of the golem’s torso, the blade landing with such force that it caused the Goliath to stumble back. As it recovered Helbram could see the blade now embedded into its stone armor, biting deep enough that it remained still as the construct resumed its charge towards them.
Jahora and Elly readied another blade, but as they did Helbram saw light pour from the Goliath’s palm; from the hand that had not yet used a spell. Before Helbram could mention this, the two casters released another sword at the golem. Light flared from the golem’s palm, forming a barrier in front of its hand that deflected the improvised projectile.
“Ahhh shite,” Elly spat, “Give us a godsdamned break!”
Helbram readied his hammer again and ran forward, “Ready another sword!” he yelled back, “The moment its arm drops loose it again!”
He did not look back to see if they were following his command, and instead passed by Leaf to intercept the Goliath. The golem caught sight of Helbram closing in, but rather than stop its charge it kept the shield up and swept at him with another projected blade. Helbram rolled under the attack and leapt over the following back swing. He brought the hammer down on the golem’s shield arm as he fell back to the ground, striking it at the elbow with enough force to drop the arm down. Another blade struck it in the torso the moment its arm fell, sending the Goliath stumbling back once again. Helbram cut eyes around the room in the brief opening he was provided, noting that more statues were closing in on Elly and Jahora.
“Go back and cover the others!” He yelled to Leaf.
The half elf did as he said, switching to his bow and loosing his arrows towards the approaching statues to keep them back. His assault managed to destroy one statue that closed in on them, but the others still approached as the two casters readied another sword.
Helbram closed in on the recovering Goliath, striking its shield arm to keep it from being raised over its torso. The blow did no visible damage to its arm, but he managed to maintain an opening long enough for another sword to embed itself at the center of its chest. However, the golem managed to brace itself against the blow this time, and rather than stumble back it raised its sword arm. Its hand surged with Aether once again, but rather than project a sword it instead continued to gather more and more energy within its palm. Another blade struck it in the torso, but it was not enough to make the statue move this time. Helbram circled around and struck the raised arm with his hammer, but still the golem did not move. He kept swinging, feeling his arms grow heavier the more he struck the stone. His efforts bore no fruit, for when the light within the Goliath’s hand grew dense enough to be blinding, it shifted its arm, pointing its Aether infused fist directly to the ground.
A chill swept through Helbram when realization dawned on him. He drew his shield again and kept it raised as he started to retreat away from the Goliath.
“Take cover!” He barked at the rest, but he was unable to see if they heard him as the clang of the Golem’s piston drowned out his voice.
Helbram jumped back the moment he saw the fist strike the ground, keeping his shield between him and the Goliath.
Stone struck the floor, light and chaos followed.
A shockwave burst from the impact site, surging towards Helbram in a tide of Aether and fury. His shield shattered the moment that the wave struck, reducing the wood to splinters and dust. He was pulled from his feet soon after, carried back as the wave washed over him, forcing the noise from his ears only to replace them with a ring that signaled the rest of his body going numb. White filled his vision as it looked up towards the ceiling, and in the next moment he found himself on the ground, wind forced from him as his back struck the rock. He could move, but felt almost nothing as he pushed himself up, and there was a strange stillness to accompany the ringing that persisted in his hearing. He continued, for he did not have the luxury of slow movements at this time.
Yet his body would not listen. When his feet were finally under him he fell to his knees only a few steps later. He crawled for a moment before pushing himself to his feet once again, this time finding more stability as the ringing in his ears finally stopped. He trudged towards the hammer that had been knocked back with him, eyes cutting to his companions as he marched. His heart fell for a moment as he saw them on the ground, giving way to relief when he saw them start to move. The statues that were approaching them also fell victim to the wave and had been knocked off their feet. However, these too were still moving, and getting to their feet as Helbram’s group still struggled to recover.
He could not go to them, for when feeling finally returned to his feet, tremors beneath them greeted him. The Goliath lumbered towards Jahora and the others, swords still protruding from its chest as light flared from both of its palms. Helbram grit his teeth and picked up the hammer.
He had a Goliath to take care of.