Skria looked at Lilijoy, her eyes even larger than usual. “No!” she cried. “You are not allowed to even think of doing what I think you might be thinking!”
“But it just makes sense,” Lilijoy said, feeling a bit defensive. “Maybe I only need to use one eye, and then no one needs to respawn.”
The idea of replacing one of her eyes with a burning coal was not particularly appealing, but it seemed better than any of them needing to die, as long as her healing skill could keep up with the damage.
How bad could it be? I’ll just turn off pain and keep most of myself on the Outside.
“We don’t even know if it would work! And how would you even light it on fire?” Skria protested.
“Well, you were the one wanting your head chopped off!” Lilijoy countered.
Jessila watched the two smaller girls argue. They bickered back and forth, and at one point Skria took the black shriveled head and pressed it against the ceiling with her air magic to keep it away from Lilijoy. Watching Lilijoy jumping and splashing around the room trying to catch the flying head, Jess heaved a great sigh and walked to the chamber’s entrance.
“Door,” she said.
Lilijoy and Skria were too involved in head keep-away to notice her.
“DOOR!” Jessila roared.
Lilijoy and Skria froze. The head fell with a splash.
“We should close the door,” Jessila explained. “Before...” she made a gesture that managed to simultaneously convey decapitation, mutilation, and her own irritation.
Lilijoy would have sat down and held her own head if the floor weren’t flooded. I just spent a subjective half hour convincing myself that I could handle replacing at least one eye with burning coal, instead of fully modeling the situation.
She was pretty sure she could handle it. She thought she had had found ways to use her system and her path together to manage any trauma from the self-inflicted injury. After all, it would have been her choice. She didn’t think the Inside wasn’t real, that somehow events and injuries suffered there should have no impact, but the lesson of Rule Three was still with her. The probability fields of the Inside weren’t particularly deterministic, its version of reality was more fluid, and she felt it was reasonable to adapt to that context emotionally as well.
Well, really I always have. It’s sort of the default for Outsiders.
She also spent some time evaluating the nature of her intelligence. While there was no guarantee that closing the door to the chamber would impact their circumstances or the nature of the problem they were attempting to solve, it was an entirely obvious and necessary step, in hindsight. Deconstructing exactly why it hadn’t occurred to her wasn’t that difficult. It was a defect of a linear narrative thought process. She had gotten trapped in one set of solutions that resonated with her desire to be clever. The speed of her thinking had no real advantage in such a situation, nor did the size and scope of her quantitative memory.
Speak friend and enter, she reminisced. What would be needed in the future was a better architecture to use her intelligence, a way to loop and contrast her narratives comparatively, using her direct and inherited experience as a reference.
Or isn’t that a big part of what experience really is? Learning from mistakes?
It wasn’t hard for her to search her internet memory and come up with a thousand instances of similar mistakes made by very intelligent people. It made her wonder what other mistakes and assumptions she was harboring
While she was thinking, Jessila began to shove the door closed with all her might, pushing back the silty mud that had flowed into the chamber. Skria went to assist in clearing out the hinge areas, and Lilijoy soon joined her. It was an irritating process that took far longer than it seemed it should, but eventually, with a final push that matched the intensity needed to open the doors in the first place, the doors were sealed shut and the room plunged into darkness.
For Lilijoy this was not a problem at all, though the dome shape confused her echolocation to some extent. She walked over to the sodden skull, retrieved it from the water and placed it back upon its pedestal.
Immediately the coal in the eye sockets and mouth began to smolder, casting only enough dark red light to show the black smoke trickling forth. After a few seconds a low moaning growl issued forth, which caused Skria to make a high chirp and wrap herself around Jessila’s face. Lilijoy was a bit surprised too, though she had disabled her physical startle reflexes ages ago.
The skull moaned for another second before the sound resolved into speech.
“What the hell took you so long?”
***
Magpie rarely closed her eyes for the transition to the Inside. For whatever reason, she found the moment her senses were replaced, the blink from reclining to standing, from the dark confines of a pod to the dappled light of a forest grove to be exhilarating and challenging. Every time she went through the process, she tried to capture what happened during that split second, to recognize when the new smells and the feel of the cool breeze on her face entered her awareness.
She knew it was silly, that it was all unfolding far faster than her consciousness could possibly capture it, but some childish part of her felt like between the Inside and Outside there must be a place, a transition, and she wanted to know what was there too.
“It’s been a while,” she said to herself, looking around the wooded edge of Averdale.
Magpie was aware, broadly, of the events that had transpired after she had last logged out. The first place she went was the abandoned camp of the Wraiths, mostly because as an Outsider she hadn’t been allowed to earlier. She spent a few minutes there, poking through the abandoned lean-tos and perching structures while she thought about her next step.
It was a strange feeling, not to have a plan. It was tempting to return to the Academy, where all she would need to do would be to go to classes and develop her magic, but then she would have to deal with her trainer, and all that implied.
No, she thought. That would be too weird. There must be other places I can learn what I want to. Places that aren’t so… structured. Places where nobody knows who I am, and nobody has an agenda for me.
Now she just had to find one.
***
“Well, that was disappointing,” said Anda.
“Give them a little time, they’ll come around,” replied Mr. Sennit. “Besides, I’m not so sure they’re wrong.”
The two men had just met with the rest of the Fogeys, those that were Inside anyway, to relate the threat by the Corp representative against Mr. Sennit. It had been suggested that he lay low, perhaps leaving town for, potentially, ever, to avoid any further scrutiny.
Anda groaned. “It’s frustrating,” he said. “You guys were doing so well.”
“We’re old, Anda. It was nice to have some fun, to play at being rebels for a bit. But let’s face it, most of us would rather have a little bit of comfort at this point in our lives. Taking on the Corp in any tangible way… well that’s just not going to happen.”
“So you’ll just give in? Give up paying off your family’s debts?”
“I don’t know for sure what I’m going to do. It doesn’t seem that I’m significant in their eyes, not enough to bring in the clan that holds my family’s debts anyway. I figure I had my lucky break, and it’s time to cash in before I lose it all.”
Anda clapped his shoulder. “I understand, my friend. Would you take him up on his offer and try to become a clan associate?”
Mr. Sennit scoffed. “I’m not going to involve myself with a clan that has no power where I live on the Outside. Better to be ignored than be a minnow among fish. No, I’ll close up shop for a bit, maybe wander around and enjoy the scenery when I come Inside.”
Anda kept a light smile on his face. He didn’t feel it was his place to tell the older man how to live his life, though it was hard for him to imagine being so fatalistic.
A lifetime of low expectations and learned helplessness, he mused. This is the reality for most people. Am I just as helpless to help them?
“You know,” he said. “Just because you want to avoid problems with the clans doesn’t mean you need to stop growing. You can come with me.”
Mr. Sennit turned to him with a quizzical expression. “And where exactly are you going?” he asked.
“Well, first I’m going to the Boiling Plains.”
“After that?”
“After that, Purgatory.”
“Anda, I’m level nine, I’m old, and I can’t fight worth a hang. Are you having me on?”
Anda chuckled. “That’s all true. Just tag along for a bit and see what happens. It’s not like you have anything to fear while you’re in the Garden, once the Corp has lost track of you anyway.”
“Other than pain, you mean.”
Anda winced a little. He had forgotten that Mr. Sennit’s system didn’t have many bells and whistles, or any, really. In particular, the clans made sure that the less expensive systems they provided had no pain dampening capability. In the Maasai clan, using pain dampening was a sign of weakness, so he could relate, though it still threw him sometimes, the way people like Mr. Sennit allowed their fear of pain to control their opportunities.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
It’s too bad the kid can’t give him the Tao System, he thought. I wish the Outside had instanced travel.
Though Anda frequently found himself urging more caution and patience upon Lilijoy, in truth he was burning to actually do something. He knew the Tao System was going to change everything, eventually, but it was times like these that he felt the very urgency he counseled against.
After we get up to Taos, it will really start to happen, he comforted himself. Hopefully we can find a way to distribute the system safely. Maybe if we do, it will be worth taking the risk for me to develop Stage Two.
“Pain is temporary, especially here,” he said. “I just hate seeing you discouraged. The more powerful you get here, the more options you have if another piece of luck comes your way.”
Mr. Sennit frowned. “Damn, guy,” he said. “It’s only been an hour. Give me a chance to wrap my head around it.”
They walked in silence for a little while, headed for the shelter Anda had constructed.
“What’s Purgatory like anyway?” Mr. Sennit asked as they hopped the low fence that marked the edge of the furthest field. It was woven from fallen tree branches, and he took a moment to note the technique of the builder.
Anda smiled. “Caught your curiosity, did I?”
“Well, the name’s a little off-putting, but it can’t be that bad, right? Else the clans wouldn’t be so fired up to get there.”
Anda just shook his head. “Unfortunately, I can’t talk about it. Everyone just needs to see it for themselves if they want to know. What I can tell you is that you don’t need to be any particular level to go there. Fifty is the maximum for the Garden, but not a minimum over there.”
“Uh huh,” the skepticism in Mr. Sennit’s voice was apparent. “Maybe I’ll bring the grandkids there once their systems are all paid up. 'Course, by that time, I’ll probably have great-grandkids.”
Anda only shrugged. “Whatever you decide, I have a request for you. Or perhaps a commission would be a better word for it.”
“I’m listening.”
“Have you ever seen pictures of shields woven from wicker? They are stronger than you might think. Used by the Persians in ancient times, and parts of Africa much more recently.”
Mr. Sennit was nodding. “I’m loosely familiar. You want me to try my hand at one for you?”
“I’m sure you’ll do more than try. And if it works out, you may find a market far beyond spoiled clan children.”
***
“What the hell took you so long?”
The voice coming from the skull was Rosemallow’s.
“I was going to make my voice all scary, see if I could string you along,” she continued. “But honestly, I lost track of that idea about thirty minutes in.
I can’t believe I almost turned my head into that skull. That would have been so embarrassing, thought Lilijoy.
“Master Rosemallow, you wouldn’t believe what Lily was about to do!” said Skria.
Lilijoy began to wave her arms in a shushing motion.
“I’m sure it wouldn’t be any worse than the time that party tried a blood sacrifice. The idiots didn’t even think to close the door first," Rosemallow relied through the skull.
“Well, actually--” Skria began.
“Or there was that time they attacked the skull. They were stuck in the room for weeks, the morons.”
By this time, Lilijoy was actively wrestling with Skria to try and get a hand over her mouth. Both of them froze when the room began to jerk and vibrate. Ominous cracking and grinding sounds could be heard from the door.
"Anyway,” Rosemallow continued, “now the fun can begin! You three are a bit underleveled for the way I set this place up originally. Just try not to die too many times.”
“Won’t we--” Lilijoy began.
“Actually, now that I think of it, best not to die at all. Very inconvenient, the way things are at the moment. Plus the whole recent experience loss thing.”
“What do you--”
“Nope. That’s all I’m saying. Oh, except bring the skull along, just in case.”
With that the room plunged into darkness again.
“What do you think she meant?” Skria asked.
“Probably something to do with respawning,” Lilijoy replied. “We don’t know what the respawning rules are here, but maybe they’re messed up somehow. She built this place as a trap after all.”
The room continued to vibrate, and Lilijoy could tell it was slowly rotating.
Guess the door in is about to become the door out, she thought. Or is it the other way around?
She passed this on to the others. Since there was no ambient light, Jessila prepared a vial of glow-moss, one of the cheaper lighting solutions available. Skria still had the goggles they had taken from the Sinaloa fighter in Averdale, and Jessila had decent Low Light Vision, but neither had any ability like Lilijoy’s Echolocation. Glow-moss, when combined with the correct reagents, would produce enough light to see by for a few hours. They were reluctant to use it unless absolutely necessary, as the person carrying it became a prime target, and it would more or less spotlight the entire group, but it was better than no light at all, and far superior to a torch.
After another minute the vibrations stopped, and the small group gathered around the door. After Lilijoy used her Earthen Sense to check the space beyond, she whispered for Jessila to open it.
It took a few tugs, but eventually the stone slab released, and the water around their ankles began to gurgle and flow into the space beyond. The air that greeted them was stale and smelled thickly of peat and old rot.
Lilijoy took the lead, with Jessila just behind her, Skria riding on her shoulder as always. The space beyond was a misshapen corridor, the walls and ceilings undulating with larges lumps and cavities, the floor descending steeply. The only sound was the water from the domed chamber running along the floor. Jess shook the vial of glow-moss violently, and its pale luminescence kindled, revealing dark walls covered with bits of dead moss, more cave than corridor, other than the relatively flat floor.
Even knowing that the space had persisted for decades, Lilijoy felt nervous as they began to walk. The irregular walls and ceiling looked soft and far from stable, clearly carved from the lower levels of the peat bog, and the ground beneath their feet was turning soft and muddy with the running water. Still there was nowhere to go but forward.
And forward.
The passage descended, the walls gradually changing to rough stone, losing the odd bulging as they did.
“This is a boring labyrinth. It just goes straight and straight,” said Skria, after about fifteen minutes of silence had worn away her caution. Lilijoy could only agree, though she thought it was tempting fate to say as much aloud. The only change she could detect was a gradual steepening of the grade.
After another minute, the slope to the floor became even more pronounced. Thankfully, the water they had released from the entry chamber had long since been absorbed when the floor was still somewhat soft and muddy, or slipping would have been a major concern, at least for Jess. The farthest echoes returning to Lilijoy’s ears told her that things were not going to get better. In fact, the floor continued to get even steeper.
Finally they stopped to take stock of the situation.
“I think we’re on a giant curve,” Lilijoy said. “It keeps turning down for as far as I can see.”
“I should scout ahead,” suggested Skria. “Steep doesn’t bother me.”
Lilijoy and Jess were reluctant to split the party.
“Vorpal crows,” was all Jess said.
Nonetheless, after a few more minutes of very slow progress, Jessila was forced to turn around and begin to crawl down backwards, and Lilijoy wasn’t much better off. She was using her Climbing mana to maintain a grip with her feet but it was clear that the hall was well on its way to becoming a shaft. It didn’t help any that the floor and walls were becoming smoother as well.
“Now will you agree? You need to know how far down this will go,” Skria said.
“It doesn’t get better for a while, I can tell that,” said Lilijoy. “Fine. If Jess agrees. But don’t go too far.”
After Jess grunted her assent, Skria floated into the darkness. A few minutes later, Jess began to fidget.
“She’ll be back soon,” Lilijoy said.
“She’s so… breakable.” said Jess. “Master Rosemallow’s labyrinth will not be kind to her.”
Lilijoy could only agree. She decided to change the subject.
“How’s your earth magic going?”
“Hard,” Jess replied. “Stuck on Matter Clade.”
“What spell are you trying to get?”
“Sculpt. Basic earth shaping.” Jess shook her head. “Maybe someday.”
Lilijoy tried not to feel jealous. She had been experimenting with Nandi’s Boon whenever she got the chance, trying to make sense of its often unpredictable behavior. Now that she knew her soul vortex functioned as a source of energy for the Boon, it was much easier to use, but also more constrained. As far as she could tell, when she was first using it she was positively overflowing with the necessary emotions. Now, the process was a bit more self-conscious, manufactured.
I’m not going to be pulling out any Nasty Hanging Tentacle Monsters again anytime soon, that’s for sure.
If she took the time to cycle her energy vigorously, she could still do quite a bit though. She had found a quiet cave in the Trial space and started to use it as a huge inventory space. There she had collected just about everything she thought she might need, and quite a few things she probably wouldn’t. It took her a bit longer to use than her normal inventory, sometimes quite a bit longer, and it could be exhausting to use, but overall she was very pleased.
Still, elemental magic was really interesting. She wanted to be like Echelon, or even Skria and Magpie, casting lightning and calling the wind as they pleased.
She chatted with Jessila for a few more minutes, and just as they were both beginning to get nervous, Skria reappeared.
“Sorry that took so long,” she said, once she was in talking range. “Getting down wasn’t too bad, but getting back up was trickier than I thought it would be. Something down there made me really tired, or weak, or something.”
“Poison gas?” Lilijoy guessed.
“Don’t think so,” Skria replied. “I know my gasses, poison and otherwise. Anyway, the good news is that there’s a bottom, about the same distance from where we are as when the floor really started to slope.”
“So a couple hundred meters,” Lilijoy supplied.
“Thereabouts. Flying down and back up gave me a bit of perspective. I think the hall is tracing a circular shape. It became purely vertical just at the end. If we have enough rope, I think it won’t be too bad.”
“Assuming we can tie it to something,” Lilijoy said, looking at the smooth floor and walls.
It took some doing, but after Lilijoy produced a couple rusty spearheads she had first retrieved from Fort Groveship, Jessila was able to pound them into a crack where the wall and floor met and use a few straps of leather to create a suitable attachment point. Fortunately, they had rope in abundance, some of it made by Lilijoy herself.
They walked backwards, playing out the rope wrapped around their waists, while Skria flew in circles around them. Soon they were essentially rappelling, or Lilijoy was. Jess switched to more or less a controlled dangle, lowering herself hand over hand. The farther down they went, the more Lilijoy felt her muscles straining. She could hear Jessila’s rope creaking and stretching in an alarming fashion.
“Something’s not right,” she managed.
“That’s what I was saying,” Skria said. “It’s like I’m getting heavier.”
“You do remember whose labyrinth this is, right?” Lilijoy asked.
“Oh. Right.” Skria said.
“Gravity,” Jessila added unnecessarily.
Thankfully, it wasn’t much of an increase, about twenty percent, Lilijoy judged. The only one who suffered was Jessila, as her hands began to slip on the rope when they reached the entirely vertical portion. By that time, the floor had come into view of the feeble light emitted from the glow-moss vial. The large girl released her hold and allowed herself to fall the last thirty feet, landing with an enormous thud.
“Ow,” was all she said. Her fall raised a cloud of dust reaching all the way up to Lilijoy, and for the next few seconds the green light of the glow-moss vial was obscured and refracted all around the shaft. Lilijoy could see great columns of shadow rising from Jessila’s arms, joined by another as Skria landed on her favorite perch. The ominous magic of the moment was broken somewhat when both of her friends sneezed at the same time.
“Is that just dust down there?” she called, remembering her very first scenario, the moldy village. Rosemallow had found the place delightful, which had Lilijoy a bit nervous when it came to clouds of floating particles.
Her friends nodded, so when she was just a bit lower, she jumped too, her Invulnerability more than enough to protect her from the fall, even with increased gravity. She made sure to breathe out through her nose, just in case, as she took in a new view.
The shaft turned at a ninety degree angle to form a level corridor. What was new was the archway marking the juncture, a combination of frieze and sculpture composed of hundreds of intertwined arms, their hands clawed and contorted, some reaching outward, projecting into the framed space.
“I’m a little scared they’re going to grab us when we walk through,” said Skria.
Jessila snorted. She approached the archway, a bit cautiously, Lilijoy noted, and prodded at one of the hands with her ironwood club. When that action proved uneventful, she walked quickly through the arch.
“Oh,” Lilijoy heard her say.
“What?” Skria called.
Jess shook her head. “You’ll see. Come.”
Skria glided through the center, and Lilijoy followed after, wincing just a little.
It would be just like Rosemallow to set a trap for the last person through.
Just after she passed under the grasping hands a message came to her internal awareness.
----------------------------------------
You have entered the Trial of Strife and Struggle.
The only way out is through.
Respawn point set.
----------------------------------------
Oh.