~Run 7, Magic Carpet Ride. Floor 2, The Fallen Merchant City of Aerlyn~
I was wary as I stepped into the room. The last time I went through here, while I earned a fantastic reward—quite possibly the best I had ever earned—I also endured the most exhaustingly painful experience yet in the dungeon. The way the carpets moved was nauseating to my senses as I stared at them, waiting for the reaper to jump out at any moment. Goosebumps rose on my skin as I looked into dark corners, wary but determined to find the carpet that descended far below instead of just going up and down a few feet.
I started jumping between carpets, catching my breath as I did so, waiting and watching my step. "It wouldn't do," I muttered to myself, "to go through all this trouble and end up with a new run with much less power to dominate this floor."
The carpets were farther apart than I remembered, but my determination and the fact that I had already done this before meant I was no longer stumbling when I landed on a carpet.
After jumping through fifteen carpets, I finally saw the one that lowered into the depths. As it approached, I aimed my jump to land on level ground. Once it was in sight, I pulled out a torch, wary of previously unseen enemies or a trap that could still end this run. The flickering torchlight spread through the abyss, casting eerie shadows on the walls. I could make out three shapes in the distance, and a broad smile came unbidden to my face.
I'm not sure what to do. I thought, adrenaline coursing.
"Elizabeth, I don't see a carpet, though there could be a platform to land on. But getting back-up here would be a pain. What do you think?"
[I'm certain that is where you need to go. You have plenty of supplies in your inventory, maybe there is something you could use to make your way back up.]
My inventory! That is exactly what I needed to hear. A plan had already formed in my mind.
Thinking quickly, I threw the torch in my hand, aiming for the handle but hoping I'd miss just enough not to send it flying off the platform. The torch landed with a thud, illuminating the full platform as the carpet I was on rose again. There wasn't enough space. I would definitely have my work cut out for me.
As the carpet descended, I prepared myself for the running sprint. I was on the edge opposite the handle, and as soon as the ascent started, I took off, hoping the extra elevation would give me the little oomph needed to jump. I flailed through the air and barely caught the edge with my fingertips. I slammed against the platform wall, terrified I would fall back into the abyss, but my fingers somehow held up, and I managed to pull myself onto the platform.
The spout handle was a godsend as I reached out my hand to its magical presence. "Finally," I breathed, "the Djinn Lamp Handle."
A little inventory message popped up; one Elizabeth hadn’t shown in a while because of all the Aerlyntiums and item harvesting I did in my last run.
Inventory: Run 7
Death Boons: 2
Name
Amount
Effect
Description
Djinn Lamp. Relic.
3 of 3.
Congratulations, you have completed the set and have the key to defeating the Djinn.
Rub the lamp in the Djinn's presence, and you will have one wish. Terms and conditions apply but are not valid in the state of Utah.~
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Phenomenal cosmic powers! Itty bitty living space!
“What’s Utah?”
[Oh, that's not important, but there is one thing you can easily do to fix this situation. You can wish yourself out of here. Back to life.]
“I could do what?”
[Think about it. You have a wish that you can freely use—one time. Sure, you can use it to fix this broken hell of an afterlife or save yourself. Wish yourself out of penance and be alive again—what everyone in here is always dreaming about. ]
“But at what cost?”
[What do you mean?] Crystal asked innocently, but I could tell there was something in her tone.
"What I mean is that I use the wish to bring myself back home, then I abandon you, Thomas, Klericho and all the people stuck here. They will never be able to get through the Djinn's magic. I wouldn't betray everyone like that." I paused, waiting for Crystal to respond, but she didn't.
"Look, I know I've messed up and made some bad choices here and there that messed things up on purpose multiple times, but I never did that on purpose. Recalling my scattered memories, the one thing that stood out to me was that I never wanted to be the kind that hurt people. Sure, I helped destroy that zoo and probably got caught trying to kill the king. And I guess I stole, too, but that was always from people who had more than enough or wouldn't miss a meal over a lost item.:
[Stealing is still…]
I cut her off. "Is it worse than the theft they already do from everybody else? I know it is still wrong and evil, but I'm not defending my actions. I'm just saying that even alive, I wasn't entirely the person I've been here, and If I use that wish that way, I won't be that person. Besides, there’s no way I can wish for that, or the gods would have appeared the second I grabbed the last piece. No, there is only one way for the wish to work: if I use the magic on the Djinn itself."
[What are you gonna do with that wish, then?]
"I don't know, but I’ll figure it out. Is it a wish?”
[Yes.]
“Like infinite lives, money, becoming a god, those kinds of wishes? From the stories?”
[Affirmative.]
“Then I guess it depends on how the fight goes or what limitations exist for that wish. This could be an easier fight than our friends let on. They were wrong about everything else. I mean, why would they never try anything other than the suicidal charges they kept attempting? It doesn't make any sense. What if there is some stupidly obvious mechanic to the fight, and they never even tried it."
[Good for you, Rod.]
“What do you mean?”
[You are changing. The wish didn’t even tempt you, and you’re questioning whether what someone told you is true.]
I shook my head and paused. Why wasn’t I being greedy? A few runs ago, I would have been all about a wish that gave me everything I wanted and let me escape.
“Maybe I am, but it’s a moot point. We’re trapped here unless you can levitate me, too.”
Dwelling on the mystery of the wish wouldn't do me any good when I had to figure out a way out of my current predicament. I stared at the carpets, too far away for me to reach them unaided.
[I’m going to try to be nice today, even though I already helped earlier. There are quite a few solutions to your problem. You could wish your way out, remove the platforms you used up above, or try placing Aerlyntium pieces down as well. There are so many choices.]
I frowned. That was a pretty smart idea.
My current platform and the few I had built likely would need something more to make a bridge to the other platforms. But if I started building more, I could eventually spread the material enough to reach the two crates, chests, or anything glinting in the darkness.
The laziness in me wanted nothing more than to ignore the items in the room and get up, but I knew I could barely afford any more mistakes when it came to laziness. What was it that Bonrellum had said? That our sins aren't often the problem? But rather our perception of those sins and the harms they do to others?" It felt cryptic then, but the thought still lingered in my mind.
As I gathered more materials from my inventory, I fashioned them into boards and managed to force them together; it didn't feel very stable, but what would I do? Sprout wings and fly? I laughed and got back to work.
At the end of about 30 minutes, I had fashioned something that managed to reach the other platform and felt stable enough to climb out over it. As I moved out onto the makeshift bridge, things felt mostly stable until, about halfway through, a piece of metal attached to the bridge fell away. I shuddered in fear, thinking the bridge would collapse as it started to bobble. I would hate to have to restart, I muttered, but I didn't stop moving. The shaking got worse and worse and worse until I got to the chest and realized it wasn't the bridge shaking at all, but instead, it was me.
Slowly, I breathed in and out, intending to calm down. It took a minute, but eventually, I stopped shivering and felt my breathing return to normal. I was afraid of heights now. That's good to know. Next time, Klericho or Thomas could handle this room, and I would just make my way to the end and wait.