LIGHT

"Back away... slowly."

The words hardly exited his mouth when he joined the trail of billowing dust. With a slam and a clank, they shut and locked the door. The flickering light from the scattered torches fell on their heaving chests. The bearers of those torches had long since skittled down the stairs. Chu broke the monotony of heaving and panting sounds.

"I said slowly."

He reached for a torch with a trembling hand. Breathing in the stale air, he then calmed his nerves. Chuckling lightly, he gazed at the jittery companions occupying the stairs. Chu focused on steadying his words.

"Look at you guys, scared to even gulp a mouthful of air. Lucy, pull those two idiots apart, a champion and a half-grown man shouldn't be chattering and embracing each other."

Chu admitted this scare ranked among the best, far better than any he experienced while sitting on the couch. A movie wasn't as thrilling as having your own personal adventure. No one recalled who among them bolted first, but like a frightened pack of monkeys, they fled together.

"A statue, but a mighty real one."

Ming complained while patting his heaving chest.

"I agree. Otherwise, it would have munched us up already."

Miki added.

"Chu, the other one..."

Chu nodded his head in acknowledgment while glancing at Lucy. Statue or no, what caused his muscled to shake like jelly, lay in the location. The spell on the door, the traps along the passages, heightened his fears of the magical unknown.

Could the statues come to life?

In a world where arcane technology competed with developing technology, his limited information proved a serious handicap. At this moment, he could only rely on trial and error. Chu gazed around until his eyes rested on the lone goblin accompanying them.

"Let's head down and have a good meal and rest. We'll tackle this after."

A few hours later...

"You have all shamed me, and also slapped my face in front of the Devils. We goblins, hold the invincible goblin tide, fear nothing. Prove yourself for your Champion. Now, which goblin will venture out with pride?"

With a creak, the door opened as a goblin gingerly hopped out, while holding a torch. He turned with a forlorn face towards the peering heads. Zubyia Rang took one look again at the grim faces and hobbled out. He cursed his earlier, blazing retreat for landing him in this predicament.

Picking up an extinguished torch and lighting it, he forced his knocking knees towards what seemed like certain doom. The shape of a massive monster emerged out of the darkness.

The light flickered on some fist-sized, ruby-red eyes that revealed their intentions. His heart failed as his bowels emptied, relieving the constricting tension.

"Good job, now circle it from a distance."

Chu instructed from behind the crack on the door. It helped to have a goblin who understood the human language. With no strange activation taking place, a few goblin scouts exited the door. Chu used little Rang to instruct the goblin scouts.

After some time of prancing, jumping and searching, the children ventured out.

Chu studied the large monster. With a mouth large enough to swallow a goblin, it possessed some mighty long, serrated teeth to chew its meal. The massive forepaws ended in four wicked curved claws that swung off the ground, ready to swipe its prey.

A long thick tail aided in balance.

"This thing looks like a cross between a Snow Bear and a mid-sized T-Rex."

Chu muttered while walking and inspecting the fearsome beast. The taxidermist had done a stellar job, in providing a terrifying expression on this large furry, killing machine. He bent down for a closer look at its thick, matted fur when Lucy called.

Knowing what she wanted, he gulped in his throat and licked his dry mouth. Calming himself, he held the torch up high and walked towards her. Behind this monster, lay a small open room. Before fleeing, they both spotted something inside the open door. Chu slowed his steps on approaching something he never wanted to see.

A wolf demon.

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He approached the semicircle of torches held by curious onlookers. The braver goblins cleared a path as he joined Lucy at the front. Ming and Pug circled around the beast while poking it with their daggers.

"The first time I saw it in the crow's nest, it terrified me. When I looked at the menacing face later on as Ming and Clod beheaded it, I felt a little pity. I feel as if I have a part of it with me."

Lucy said. She closed her blue eyes and slowly opened them. A pair of yellow eyes glowed in the faint light. She stood before this wolf demon without any signs of fear. Chu knocked the heads of Ming and Pug dragging them away from the standing demon.

The wolf demon stood on a flat pedestal, standing on its hind legs while displaying a menacing facial expression. The open jaws added to its ferocity. Chu's interest, however, lay in the object held in the clutches of its forearms.

Making a slight bow of respect, he grasped the thick tome, trying to tug it from the clutching claws. Unsuccessful, he twisted his mouth into a wry grin. Wiping his brows he turned to Ming and pointed.

"Don't just stand there, hand me that tome."

On an open space, Chu kneeled over the strange book. Lucy and the others sat around him, holding the torches in anticipation. Chu backed away as he used a wooden spear to pry the ancient book open.

"Did you think there is a trap?"

Chu nodded, holding the torch. The pages consisted of a thick material, while the writing though faint, remained legible. He rubbed the edge of a page between his fingers, browsing the pages. Shaking his head, he turned to Pug.

"Champion says goblin writing not many, goblins use song and story to remember ancestor teachings."

Little Rang translated.

"Send a goblin to escort the Scholar. Bring him here."

Chu ordered. He stood up and walked around the hall, popping inside the smaller rooms for a look. Stepping over to the center of the large hall, he paused by an intricately looking fountain of some sort. Over the years it had been covered in dust and cobwebs and also emptied of water.

"It's strange."

"What's not strange. Who keeps a lifelike statue of monsters in a dark open hall? Can you imagine walking through that door in the dark?"

"That's what strange about it. This is the second floor of the Tower, but I haven't seen any windows. The walls of these rooms don't reach the ceiling, judging from the beds, this place served as some type of living quarters."

Chu chatted with Miki. Between the staircases on either end, rooms with beds had been fitted for some residents. Did the mages like the darkness that much?

The goblins hauled up a battered and bruised Scholar Rang from below. The man had suffered injuries, not from the goblins but from his efforts to escape what looked like certain death. On flipping through the pages, Scholar Rang shook his head in the negative.

"You can remain here and nurse your wounds."

Chu said. A book found in the clutches of a wolf demon statue could never be simple. The poor lighting was not the right place to be investigating an ancient book.

While they spent time searching the hall, Chu had the goblins enter the stairs searching for traps. By the time they walked up the stairs, the goblin scouts had taken the initiative and explored the floor and already on the stairs leading to the upper floors.

"This looks like some sort of workshop. Look at all the desk and tables."

Chu muttered as he walked around with the torch.

"Wow, look here Chu, Sakura would swoon if she saw so many parchment papers."

Miki giggled while pointed to a room. Inside it consisted of shelves filled with numerous stacks of parchment. On the shelf at the rear contained blocks of charcoal and old ink slabs. Decaying feather-like quilts occupied a pigeon-hole with some turning to dust as she tried to hold them.

Treading carefully so as not to set the tower ablaze, they journeyed upwards. The next floor caused his heart to flutter and thump wildly.

"Nooooo!"

Ming yelled as Chu stepped into what looked like a large library. High shelves circled around the perimeter as a circle of desk dotted around the familiar center fountain. Chu passed between the desk as he glanced at the open and discarded book scattered around.

The workshop below had parchments scattered around the desk, but he considered it the result of a sloppy worker. The condition of the library, however, proved that something had taken place for the owners to beat a hasty retreat. Large tomes, ripped pages, and flipped chairs, were all strewn on the stone floor in a haphazard manner.

Near the outer wall, small rooms contained bunk beds for the users.

They spent some time resting again before continuing.

"The writing is nearly unrecognizable, but it looks the same as the book down below."

They entered the fifth and final floor to find the goblins chattering near the center. This one had locked rooms lining the walls on one side. At the other end, wide stone steps sprouted from the walls, leading up to a large platform that dangled from the ceiling.

"Goblins say key not open lock to rooms. That one also injured when striking door."

Little Rang informed.

A little disappointed in not finding something amazing or heaven boggling, Chu followed Miki as the curious girl ascended the steps. They found themselves standing on a large platform with an opening in the center. Large iron chains secured this hanging floor, that rocked very slightly when they stepped on it.

"This counter looks strange. What are all those contraptions?"

Miki asked. Her fingers dusted off a lever. She grimaced on exerting herself as she pushed and pulled it. When Chu turned around and spotted her, it was too late. With a triumphant yell, the lever moved forward.

What the heck?

Was this the legendary trap; placing a button with the sign-- don't push!

A creaking noise resounded as the rays of the morning sun filtered through open vanes on the walls. Chu had lost track of how many days they had spent exploring the tower in the dark. One of those rays struck a large disk in the center, causing the layers of dust and cobwebs to dazzle them from the brightness.

Chu halted his steps and gazed at the large curved metallic design. Holding his torch, he noticed similar devices bolted onto the walls of the tower. He stared down at the fountain-like object, plum in the center down below. A stroke of realization soon dawned upon him.

"Ah, I know what this is used for! I saw something similar in a movie!"