Chapter 46 – Floor 5: Part 7

Mathew stared at Oscar’s body in stunned silence. He had been around people who had died before plenty of times. He had even lost close friends and companions on the previous floors, but it was the ease with which Oscar had been killed that left Mathew upset.

They were supposed to be Champions, much more formidable than regular people. They were given the Blessings of the gods and fantastic Disciplines to enhance their abilities, but they could die just as quickly as all the others.

While Mathew watched, Oscar’s body gradually began to fade away. Faint sparkles of light began to drift into the air from where he had been. In moments, he was gone and in his place was a small bag.

His wristband began to vibrate, indicating an incoming message from whatever entity was overseeing the Tower.

You have lost a member of your Party. Their inventory will remain for your use. Floor rewards will be augmented due to increased difficulty.

That was the first time Mathew had seen anything like this happen before. In the previous Floors, the bodies of players would remain. During the conflict with the Goblins, the locals would come out after a battle to collect the bodies and burn them.

What was even stranger was that a player’s inventory would never remain after they died. Whatever items were inside were lost forever. It was something Mathew and Greg had discussed in the past when dividing equipment. It had been a concern that if one of them died, the other would not be able to access what they had.

“Take it.” Alivia said, standing up from the ground and wiping a hand across the knees of her jeans to remove the dirt.

“Why me?” Mathew asked, tentatively reaching for the brown leather bag that had appeared.

“Because all you can do is create little fires and fling things. At least you can huck some of Oscar’s explosives at whatever we’re about to face.” Alivia reasoned, and Mathew nodded at the logical response.

Picking up the back, it disappeared into motes of light the same way Oscar’s body had vanished. Checking his Inventory, Mathew saw that he had several new items.

He had a few more of those acid bombs that had killed the creature, as well as a few other bombs. There was also a wooden staff that had a strange aura about it. The inventory didn’t give any description of it, but Mathew could only assume that it was magical in some way.

Closing the inventory again, Mathew climbed to his feet and joined the others where they were peering over the cavern's edge.

The actual bottom of the Pit was only about a dozen feet or so below. As Colonia Neilson had explained, it was a warren of tunnels.

Mathew could see dozens, if not hundreds, of passages honeycombing the walls beneath them. The body of the creature they had killed lay on the floor directly below, occasionally spasming in its death throes.

“Do you see a way down?” Mathew whispered, looking for a ladder or rope.

Alivia looked at him with pity before she leapt from the ledge, landing silently on the ground beneath without trouble. Ken followed soon after, and Mathew was forcibly reminded of their enhanced strength from the ‘Body’ stat.

An average person would have been injured from the fall, but to Players like them, it was just a short drop.

Mathew felt the draft coming from below him as he dropped down. The Aether saturated the air beneath the ‘web’ the creature had made. Perhaps that was the point of it, to prevent Aether from escaping from below?

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Whatever the reason, it lay so heavily about them that Mathew had trouble breathing. The spicy scent he had noticed above was also thicker to the point it was now burning his nostrils with every breath.

“Where do we go now? Ken, you take the lead.” Alivia said, turning to peer down one passageway to the next. It was a confusing mess, and neither Mathew nor she knew where to start.

The Burglar looked about them for a moment, slowly walking to the center of the chamber to have as clear a view as possible. The teen even placed his ear against the ground and took deep, long breaths as if he were trying to source the Aether or the Spice in the air.

After a few minutes, Ken pointed.

“This way.” The teen was pointing to a small tunnel to the group's right, one that Mathew would not have noticed as it was wedged between two larger passageways, and the light barely highlighted its presence.

“How can you be sure?” Mathew asked in curiosity.

“The draft is coming from that tunnel. It’s carrying Aether from below.” Ken explained as if it were obvious.

“Find where the Aether is coming from, and we can probably cleanse the Pit. Good going.” Alivia agreed, patting the teen on his shoulder as she walked forward. She had a tight grip on her deck of cards while Ken gripped a knife, ready to throw.

As for Mathew, rather than preparing one of Oscar’s bombs to throw and risk collapsing a tunnel or drawing too much attention to them, he had a small bundle of scrap iron rods. Each was around three pounds each and came in various sizes. The pieces had a pointy end that Mathew would ‘Fling’ at an enemy.

Carrying the bundle his arms, he followed his companions into the passageway.

The walls and floor were unchanging, and with nothing to break up the monotony, it felt like they walked in silence for hours. Mathew laboured under the weight of the bundle of iron, but he refused to put it away. After seeing how quickly death came for Oscar, he wanted to be ready.

Finally, the passage opened, and a flood of light could be seen at the exit. Quickening their pace and straining their senses for danger, they broke out of the tunnel into a vast open space.

They found themselves in a massive chamber, far more extensive than the circular Pit they had arrived in. The cavern arched hundreds of feet above their heads. Mathew could hear the steady sound of dripping water echoing throughout the space.

What made the companions halt was what was filling the entirety of the Chamber floor. Thousands of large vats were stored here, each taller than a person. Lines extended from the tops that stretched to the ceiling above, and they could hear the vast bubbling as magical fires were lit under each one.

Worse, there were more bodies to be found. Each of the vats had a glass viewing window in the side, and Mathew could see a corpse floating in clear liquid within.

A haze of Aether permeated the ground, and the smell of spice was overpowering.

“Have you ever seen anything like this?” Mathew asked quietly. Ken shook his head, but Alivia paused for a moment before replying.

“I think…I think whatever did this is making Aether.” Alivia replied.

“Making it? I thought Aether was produced by the Tower?” Mathew responded, and this time, Ken provided the answer.

“I don’t think so.” Ken licked his lips nervously, staring at the vats as if the dead inside would awaken at any moment to attack them.

“I think it’s inside living beings, and the Tower captures it.” Ken finished, and Mathew remembered something he had heard on one of the previous floors.

“The prayers and piety of the faithful, condensed into physical form. Someone is harvesting it.” Mathew whispered, and he suddenly heard the clapping of hands. The loud sound echoed throughout the chamber, and Mathew winced at the abruptness of it.

“Outstanding, Mr. Larson. You are bright!” Ben Olson sauntered into view. His inhuman features were hidden, and he appeared to be a regular person, but Mathew remembered the monster within.

The Greater Mimic was joined by a dozen other creatures in human form.

“Aether. Wonderful, isn’t it? Lifeblood of the gods, power beyond comprehension. And you ‘Champions’ use it to purchase a pittance while ignoring its true value.” Ben Olson finished. Their group stood in front of the Champions, and Mathew carefully set down his bundle of iron.

“What is it you’re doing here?” Mathew asked, looking to buy them some time to prepare.

“Harvesting Aether, but you already knew that. Faith and Piety in physical form…accumulated over time. It’s like farming, Mr. Larson. You can wait, hope and pray that the seed turns into a tree and eventually bears fruit, or you can go out and pillage another’s field. It may be wasteful, but it's efficient.” Ben Olson explained, waving his hand extravagantly to the vats around them.

It was clear the Mimics were using the dead and dying bodies to create Aether through some unknown means. Mathew didn’t know why they wanted it, although he could guess. Aether enhanced the Players of the Tower, and he imagined it could do a similar thing to these creatures.

Mathew understood why they were called here to cleanse the Pit. These abominations had to be stopped.

“Now!”