They waited a long while in the room. The wings, shrieks, and door-scratches of the Razortongues soon decrescendoed and dissipated when they could no longer hear the adventurers on the other side of the door. The danger felt like it was over, save for Rep’s injury. After about two hours of rest and waiting, Zalan asked Yelsa how Rep’s wound was doing. She gave him a look.

“You could simply ask him yourself,” Yelsa replied.

“You think he’d be honest with me?” Zalan replied.

Yelsa weighed the question in her head and shrugged, deciding not to be glib.

“The bleeding has stopped. I would not be concerned about going forward with him, but I do not expect him to be of much help in future rooms. He can not assist us in any physical capacity,” Yelsa replied.

“You didn't tell him that, did you?” Zalan asked seriously.

“And make him feel worse? Please, Zalan, we are not all lacking a heart,” she said snidely.

Zalan scoffed, having nothing to say to that. He looked over to Rep who was staring at his bad arm, sulking. He sat alone in the other corner, Yelsa having tried to encourage him to join the others to no avail whenever she checked how the cut was healing. The three travelers next to Zalan looked to him expectantly at the news that they could continue. Zalan didn’t want to be the one to apologize first, but he knew there was no better way to get this over with than to just swallow his pride despite feeling he was in the right.

Zalan stood and hesitantly made his way over to Rep. Rep looked up and regarded him with a slight nod, then went back to looking over his arm in shame.

“I wanted to apologize for earlier. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. Sorry,” Zalan said, setting his back against the wall and sliding down to sit next to Rep.

“I think I should be the one apologizing. You only wanted to make sure I was safe,” Rep murmured, keeping his eyes fixed on the bandages on his arm.

“I also wanted to thank you,” Zalan added, ignoring Rep’s self-deprecation.

“For yelling at you?” Rep asked sarcastically.

“Remember back when the Mind of Madness hit me? I don’t think anyone really knew what to do. But you acted immediately,” Zalan said.

“I did not know what I was doing either,” Rep said sincerely.

“Even then, you acted immediately,” Zalan said.

Rep thought back to the situation, biting lightly on the inside of his lip.

“You saved me from a Flamestriker, too,” Zalan added, trying to gain momentum.

“No, do not try to attribute that to me,” Rep denied. “Sir Kilile saved you. I barely held my own.”

“I would have exploded without you,” Zalan insisted. “And I think that counts as saving me. I just want to try and make sure you realize that you’re a really big help. And… it might be kinda sad to admit this… but you’re one of the closest friends I think I have. And I really needed a friend right now.”

Rep smirked to himself and finally met Zalan’s gaze.

“It is not as though you have made a lot of friends in this realm,” Rep replied.

“I meant in both worlds,” Zalan said.

“Oh,” Rep blinked to himself in thought. “You know, you may be my closest friend as well.”

“That’s definitely sad,” Zalan laughed. “I’m not even from here! How do you not have friends?”

“I suppose I never made the time back home,” Rep shrugged.

Zalan stood up and offered Rep his hand.

“Then let’s both go home so you can make more time,” Zalan said confidently.

Rep looked down at his bad arm one last time and then back to Zalan with new determination.

“Indeed,” Rep said, taking Zalan’s hand and pulling himself up. They turned to the other three group members to see them already standing and ready to move forward.

“Splendid! No more little things to hold us back from a dragon!” Fran said eagerly.

“By ‘little things,’ do you mean the argument or Rep’s serious, critical wound?” Yelsa asked, slightly concerned.

Fran simply smiled in response.

With that, they finally joined back together in a group and approached the door. Fran looked back and nodded to her companions, who all nodded back, indicating they were ready to move forward. She pulled the door open, its creak sending shivers down Zalan’s spine. He was suddenly worried that Razortongues would be on this ceiling and the creaking would be enough to trigger another swarm to come after them. But after the door was open enough for him to see through, he saw that there were no creatures prowling along the walls.

“Thank God,” Yelsa breathed, speaking for them all. Except, perhaps, Fran who was always prepared for another grand battle.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Even though the room looked clear, they still traversed it with an abundance of caution, making sure not to make too much noise. Their eyes would scan all areas of the room quickly, confirming that nothing was living in or on the walls, preparing to pounce on them the moment they got within striking distance. There was nothing but overturned furniture, torn banners, and stuffing from cushions that were long gone. The room passed by them quietly and Fran laid her hand on the next door, turning back to nod at the group. They nodded back, and again she drew the door open cautiously.

To their surprise, shining light spilled out of the doorway. A bright yellow hue casted itself on the floor and wall of the room they were in as Fran pulled the door further open. Where Zalan expected to see a sunroom or a wall of windows, he instead saw that the source of light was sitting at the top of the room, like a light fixture. They stared at it, not moving another step forward as they tried to figure out what it was.

“A lantern?” Gorb asked, taking a small step forward to get a better look.

Rep breathed in sharply and pulled Gorb back. Gorb, instinctively, pulled Fran away from the doorway as well. The siblings ducked, thinking they were about to be hit with a weapon, then looked back to Rep who was entranced by the shining yellow object. Fran looked annoyed that she was made to panic for a moment, but Gorb didn’t seem to mind as he studied the look on Rep’s face.

“That is an Artifact. I am certain,” Rep said.

“What manner of Artifact?” Gorb asked.

“I am uncertain. It may be a simple Radiance Orb. But why would they put it in this room? It looks rather plain,” Rep said.

“Is a Radiance Orb just like a… torch?” Zalan asked. He was originally going to ask if it was like a lightbulb before correcting himself.

“Indeed. Imagine a lantern, but instead it never runs out of light to emit,” Rep said.

“Amazing,” Yelsa said as she looked on.

It sounded a lot like a lightbulb to Zalan.

“What other Artifacts might it be?” Gorb asked, looking around the room to try and piece together evidence of what it was. The room was almost entirely empty. Eerily so. There were two doors on either side and no windows for fresh air like in the room they stood in. There was no evidence of Castle Docrun memorabilia like the banners, cooking utensils, or broken seating found in many other rooms. But there was a set of two human skeletons in one corner, and another human skeleton in the other corner.

“It may be a Shadow Net of some sort. An Artifact that scans the area for anything crossing in and then strikes when it senses something within its proximity. It is a trap that watches keenly like a guard,” Rep said.

Gorb nodded, looking to Yelsa. Yelsa took a moment to understand his gaze, then pulled out one of her arrows and threw it into the room. It clattered to the floor, basking in the brilliant yellow glow. The group looked at each other, then back to the arrow, then to Rep.

“Perhaps it needs to be heavier to trigger the trap?” Rep suggested.

Gorb nodded once more, pulling one of his two sheaths off of his back. He pulled out the sword and gave it to Fran to hold. The group stepped back as Gorb tossed the scabbard into the room, then directed his arms downward sharply, causing a burst of air to slam the sheath into the ground. The group stared at the sheath silently, the arrow rolling to the side slowly after having been touched by the power of the wind. After a few seconds of waiting, they all turned back to Rep.

“I do not have a clue,” Rep shrugged.

“Should we continue forward, then?” Fran asked expectantly.

“I do not know if it is safe,” Rep said.

“Then it is dangerous?” Yelsa asked.

“I do not know,” Rep shrugged.

“What if Yelsa shoots at the Artifact?” Zalan suggested.

They looked at him with mixed emotions.

“It is best not to try and harm Artifacts you do not fully understand. In fact, it is best not to touch those you are not familiar with,” Rep suggested, sounding deadly serious.

“Yes, that is like waking a sleeping monster that you are totally unaware of, and being unable to handle it in battle,” Gorb agreed.

“I get that you’re trying to make a point, but I’m pretty sure we’ve woken up multiple monsters I wasn’t qualified to fight in these past few days,” Zalan grumbled.

“The difference here is that we will not do it this time on purpose,” Gorb said.

Zalan shrugged in agreement and everyone turned their focus back to Rep who shrunk under the attention.

“Why are you all looking at me?” Rep asked. He raised his bandaged hand, as if to remind them that he was of no help.

“You are most knowledgeable when it comes to Artifacts,” Fran said simply.

“But I do not know what this is!” Rep repeated, pointing at the room.

“It is either this room, or back to the Razortongues,” Fran said.

They all turned back to the Artifact on the ceiling, studying it as much as they could from their distance. For a few seconds, some put their attention on the skeletons on the floor, trying to figure out the story of how this room ended up their resting place. Zalan peered as hard as he could at the yellow, bright light, feeling like a small sun sitting within the castle. It occurred to him how much lower this ceiling was than every other ceiling in the castle. It was a little over twice his height, where most others looked to be at least five times his height. After a few seconds of staring at its luminance, he let out a sigh.

“Can we just go inside? I’m not dealing with that Razortongue room again,” he suggested, impatient.

The others nodded, not wanting to have been the one to suggest it, but all agreeing it was better to just get it over with. Fran tried to walk through first, but was pulled back by Gorb’s powerful arm. Instead, he took the lead. He signaled for the other four to wait behind him for a few moments, waiting for a trap to be sprung. When nothing happened, Gorb shrugged, picking up his sheath and Yelsa’s arrow and the others followed him inside.

Again, they traveled across the bare room carefully, keeping a close eye on the Artifact as it watched over them, bathing them all in the all-encompassing yellow light. Zalan looked around the room, trying to understand why nothing was inside but skeletons, but not getting anything out of his random glances at different walls and corners. When they reached the center of the room, the Artifact stood directly above them. Each of the five looked directly up at it as they passed under, trying to glean what they could from its shine. When Zalan looked back down, he realized he must have turned himself around absentmindedly as the door to the next room was no longer in front of him. He turned to the next wall and saw another distinct lack of a door. He blinked, checking the next wall, noticing his other companions were turning themselves around as well.

The room was now a simple, blank yellow, covered in the light of the Artifact. There were no more doors or windows. Only skeletons and walls.

“Has anyone else lost the doors?” Fran asked, annoyed.

Zalan passed back to the other side of the room to see if the Artifact played tricks on their eye. Hoping it was an optical illusion, he squinted in search of doors that only appeared at certain angles. No such luck, all the walls were bare no matter where he stood. He pressed his hands to the wall, wondering if it was an illusion. Again, he was met with nothing but walls.

Rep was staring up at the Artifact, his face going from a slight fear to full horror.

“This is a Chaos Chamber,” Rep determined distressfully.