Progress was incredibly slow as we made our way through the mess of tunnels. I tried my hardest to stay focused on the task at hand, but every step forward only served to increase my anxiety, each footfall echoing off of the walls and playing tricks on my mind. As the different sounds of our breathing and walking clashed, they would occasionally meld together to form the illusion of a sword being unsheathed behind us or a soft chuckle down an adjacent path.
After an hour of pure paranoia, still nothing had happened. No bodies had turned up, no spikes had shot from the wall, no surprise attacks. It was almost enough to be boring, if I didn’t feel like danger was lurking around every corner. I started to see shadows creeping at the edge of my vision, and did what I could to shove the sight out of my mind, but something kept nagging at me and led me to a horrifying realization. These aren’t night vision, they’re IR.
I stopped dead in my tracks, causing the others to bump into me. “What’s going on,” asked the first to collide with me. Despite almost toppling over, we all managed to maintain our footing and I kept my eyes dead set on the shadows lurking at various intersections.
“I think I know why we haven’t encountered any traps yet,” I whispered. “I need you to draw your weapons very slowly, try not to make it obvious. Get ready, because it’s about to get very bright and very loud in a moment, here.” Once I was finished speaking, I could hear the muffled sound of swords being pulled from their sheaths, and I slowly drew my pistol, never taking my eyes away from their targets. I made sure the safety was off, and in one swift motion I dropped the binoculars onto my neck to hang from their strap, while I brought my other hand to my gun and switched on the flashlight mounted under the barrel.
Light flooded the tunnels, bouncing off of the walls and reflecting to every surface it could reach. One unfortunate surface was four pairs of glowing eyes, all aimed straight at our group. Thankfully, the creatures’ eyes were about as adjusted to the light as ours, and the effect was like staring at the sun. Suddenly, an ear piercing cry flooded my ears, similar to a tea kettle boiling over, as the monsters reeled from the pain. The light of the IR binoculars gave my eyes a split-second edge in adjusting, and I lined up my sights between the closest creature’s eyes, firing two shots in rapid succession.
The rounds flew true, both scoring hits on their intended target. Sadly, all that seemed to do was daze the thing, each bullet passing cleanly through and striking the wall beyond. As the monster recovered from its dazed state, the others started to close in. They weren’t incredibly fast, but they were near enough to us to begin with that it didn’t matter too much. I attempted to swing my aim to the next closest target, hoping to buy some time to think, but I was thrown aside by the larger dungeoneer.
“Get back,” he yelled, as his friend grabbed a flask from his hip and drew his arm back, throwing it into the middle of the hallway ahead of us. As the apparent grenade impacted the ground, the glass shattered, releasing an eruption of scorching fire. Two of the monsters were caught in the explosion, nearly instantaneously burnt to ash. The shockwave launched us several feet backwards, but didn’t have the same effect on our opponents. Instead, they stood behind the wall of fire, presumably screeching, although the ringing in my ears made that hard to determine.
The flames burned incredibly clean, not allowing any smoke to billow up. However, regardless of the lack of smoke, there was a black aura enshrouding the inferno. I tilted my head, an idea beginning to form. That’s not normal fire at all, I thought. I focused in further on the fire, trying to figure out what set it apart, and it hit me. It wasn’t a regular incendiary grenade, it was fueled by magic.
Unsure of how much time left, but sure I had to act, I stood back up and holstered my pistol. Extending my arms, I switched my attention to the monsters attempting to reach us. I calmed my breathing and closed my eyes, trying to focus just on the energy around me. It didn’t take long until I could feel the turbulent energy of the fire, and then what lay beyond.
While their visage was indescribable, the monsters’ energy was something else entirely. It was even more turbulent than that of the flames, violent and hungry. I could almost feel them trying to pull on us, draw us in to feast. Multicolored streams of energy tried to reach out and grab us, but were forced back by the impenetrable black wall in between. With a plan solidifying, I focused back on the fire.
The flames were beginning to die out, and the monsters could tell, their prodding becoming more frequent and persistent. As a conservative estimate, I had maybe ten seconds to act, so I made use of them. Slowly, I started putting more and more power toward my goal. Spread the flames. Initially, it felt as if the heat were being drawn from the room and I was gradually being wrapped up by a spider. Then, I reached a tipping point. An intense chill shot up my spine, and the cocoon morphed into a bear hug, trying to squeeze the life out of me.
I quickly broke off the flow of energy, but my efforts had been enough. The flames raced forward, engulfing the monsters and their screams as they turned to ash like their friends. It was as fast as it was anticlimactic, being over in the blink of an eye, and the tunnels were quiet once again. I slumped my shoulders, my anxiety finally having a chance to melt away, and let out a heavy sigh.
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“Thanks, that was-” As I turned to express my gratitude for the quick save, my heart sank. In the heat of the moment, I failed to notice that the firebomb had managed to knock the rest of my party out, and severely injured two of them. The largest of the bunch seemed to have taken the brunt of the shrapnel that was headed for me, and Irayim also had several new holes. The grenadier didn’t appear to have any shrapnel wounds, but he was bleeding from where his head had met the wall as he was thrown back.
I quickly threw off my bag and grabbed my first aid kit, getting ready to get to repair the injuries that I could. Starting with Irayim due to his lack of armor, I gave him a quick inspection. He had as many holes in his back as he did in his front, which as far as I was concerned, was the best news possible. No fishing would be required, just patching. I slowed my breathing and tried to focus on each injury, slowly increasing power toward a healing spell. Unlike with the fire, it didn’t take much before Irayim’s wounds closed up.
Immediately moving on, I switched my attention to the larger man. He wasn’t as lucky as the historian, the shrapnel having carried enough energy to pierce through the front of his plate in a few places, but not the back. I struggled for a moment, but eventually managed to get his armor off. He didn’t appear to be bleeding as badly, but his skin was beginning to swell. I quickly placed my ear on each side of his chest, listening for any gurgling to indicate that he had a punctured lung. Thankfully, both sides sounded clear, so I opened up my first aid kit. I found my coagulant powder in short order, and dumped a generous amount into each wound. It acted fast, and the bleeding was stopped within thirty seconds. I bandaged the man up, and moved onto my last patient.
He wasn’t sporting any obvious injuries other than a cut on the back of his head, but that was more concerning than anything else in that scenario. Head injuries weren’t so simple to treat like a cut or a bullet hole, and I was certainly underqualified for that sort of thing. I placed my ear to his chest, and put a finger to his wrist to feel his pulse. His breathing sounded incredibly labored, and his pulse was wild and erratic. Time slowed and my heart almost stopped as I brought my hand to the back of his neck and felt a lump.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! BleedStop isn’t going to fix this, I thought as my heart started to race. While the man was still alive, his neck was broken and I didn’t know how much longer he would last. Frantically, I leapt back to the other two and started trying to shake them awake. Irayim started to stir first, so I focused my efforts on him. After a few more seconds, his eyes shot open and he sat up, clutching his head.
“Oh, Gods, what happened,” he croaked out.
“No time for that. Does healing magic work on a broken neck or can it make things worse,” I shouted. Irayim recoiled from the volume momentarily, but then noticed the other two lying unconscious. His expression hardened upon the sight, and he turned to address me.
“It can work, but it is difficult. Have you done such a thing before,” he asked. I shook my head, and he nodded back. “In that case, I will return soon.” Before I could question what exactly he meant, Irayim pulled a cloth from his pocket and unwrapped it to reveal a familiar black crystal and touched his finger to it. In an instant, he was gone, leaving the crystal to clatter to the floor.
I sat there for a moment, staring, shock mixing with anger at what I had just witnessed. My only hope of a solution had vanished, leaving me high and dry. As I clambered back over, a flash of light came from behind me, followed shortly by another. When I turned around, Irayim was standing there with a robed woman. She quickly rushed over and shoved me aside, hovering her hands over the man’s neck. A vibrant green glow wrapped itself around the injury, swirling around as its effect took hold. There was a sickening crack, and his head shifted slightly to the side.
After a few moments, the glow died down, and the man gasped a deep breath. Panicking, he patted himself down and tried to steady his breathing. As he was recovering, the woman briefly checked on the other dungeoneer. While I had stopped his bleeding and stabilized him, I wasn’t able to get any of the glass out. Apparently, that was no problem for a healing spell. The woman held her hands over his wounds, and a much softer glow appeared than before. As the magic healed his wounds, several shards of glass were pushed out with the coagulated blood mixture.
After all was said and done, we were left with just a few scars and a new appreciation for the danger of a dungeon. The woman left as soon as her job was done, touching her hand to the crystal on the floor and vanishing into thin air. Once she was gone, Irayim rewrapped the crystal and placed it back into his pocket. We sat in silence for a while, trying to recover from our shared near-death experience.
“I suppose official introductions are in order,” I said, breaking the silence. “I didn’t do it before because I didn’t know how this would all turn out. After that, I’d be remiss not to get your names. I’m Zach, thanks for the save.” I extended my hand toward the grenadier, and he extended his in turn, giving it a firm shake.
“Arlis. You make an excellent distraction, Zach.” He gave a wide grin, and I turned to his friend, shaking his hand as well.
“Name’s Selka. It’s a pleasure to work with you,” he said, giving a polite nod.
We sat for a while longer, but eventually put an end to our delay. I took a short look at the piles of ash left behind by the monsters, but there wasn’t anything that stood out. They were ashes like any other. Satisfied with my investigation, and properly calmed down, we continued our advance into the maze much more warily than before.