<~> CHAPTER 42

My long wolf ear twitched at the sharp plinking sound I could hear from a ways off. The sound came from far enough away that I couldn't get a clear idea of what I was hearing at first. I stopped and tried to focus my attention on the direction it came from. All I could hear was the repetitious plinking sound.

("Helena? Are you alright?") Luna asked.

("I hear something, but I'm not sure what it is.") Now that everyone stopped I closed my eyes and really tried to focus on the sounds but they were still too far away. ("Whatever it is, I can't tell from here,") I told her.

"I hear something. It is far," I told the others out loud while pointing in the direction.

"Is it a monster?" Maxwell asked.

I shook my head. "I don't know."

This started a conversation among them. They seemed to be trying to decide whether or not we should check it out but with my limited vocabulary, it was hard to weigh in. I also didn't really know if it was a good idea or not. Surprisingly it was Aria, the new girl, who seemed the most interested in checking it out.

("Luna, why does Aria seem to want to go?") I asked her.

("She thinks her friends may be there so she wants to check if it's them.") Even with the rings, Luna was often left out of conversations like this a lot of the time. If she feels strongly about something she can use the rings to speak up but most of the time that isn't necessary. This floor isn't conducive to writing in the dirt either. There's nothing but rock and puddles of water everywhere.

I nodded, ("That actually makes sense. She doesn't know what happened to them but if they got split up somehow, then seeing them on a higher floor doesn't sound crazy. If we ran into other people would they be worried about us?")

("Well...") Luna hesitated. ("The decision has been put off in favor of talking about you.")

I turned to face her. ("Me? Why?")

Luna scratched at her big pointy ear. ("Well... She doesn't think it's a good idea to show you off to other people. She thinks that other groups might attack us if they saw you with us.")

("I could just shift back to my human form,") I said with a shrug.

("Well, she thinks that your eyes stand out when you're in your human form too. From far away, on a floor like this, she thinks that people might attack without taking any chances.")

Piper was digging through her bag until she pulled out that weird blindfold we got from the chest in the minotaur room. She waved me over. "Helena, .... and put this on."

I turned to Luna who translated for me. ("She wants you to turn back to your human form. Shapeshift.")

I turned back to Piper. "Shift?" I asked, repeating the word. I wasn't sure if it had other contexts like the word shift does for me, but for now, thinking about it as shift is good enough. I'm actually rather glad she gave me a word for it.

"Yes, shift and put this on," she repeated.

I scaled back down to my human form and put on the blindfold. Unlike last time things looked quite a bit different on this floor. The maze had a small amount of magic in the walls, enough that I could see their general shape. But on this floor, the large glowing crystals all over the cave walls were like giant lamps that illuminated everything. It wasn't exactly like normal sight, but the glowing crystals were giving off magic, enough that I could clearly see the lines and contours of my friends despite being blind in the traditional sense. The sight was stunning, awe-inspiring.

("Helena? Is everything alright?") Luna asked.

("Oh, yeah. It's weird, I can see pretty well down here with this, those magic crystals give off... Magical light? I don't know how else to explain it.") I took off the blindfold and handed it to her.

She held it up to her eyes and gasped. ("It's beautiful...")

Piper looked back and forth between us. "What?"

Luna handed it to Piper next who looked through it after hesitating for a moment. Piper was speechless, she just looked around amazed. The two others became curious, so we spent a while taking turns looking through the blindfold at the magical light the giant crystals gave off. Eventually, they handed the blindfold back to me and I put it on, covering my eyes but replacing my sight with something else. I'm sure all of them got a sense of what my sight would be like with this on, combined with my hearing I wouldn't really be affected negatively. I adjusted the ribbon on the back, tying it tightly in place. All things considered, it was pretty comfortable.

When I shifted back to my wolf form the effect of the blindfold disappeared and I could see normally again, without the magic sight. Part of me had been hoping that I would be able to see both at the same time but however my transformation worked made the effect disappear too. I was a bit disappointed. For now, I stayed in my wolf form. My hearing was improved when I was a human too but it was more clear and I was able to follow the sound better with the little satellite dishes I called ears on my head.

"I will shift when we get closer," I told the others.

When everyone was ready I led them in the direction the sound was coming from. A stray thought made me imagine another world where I was leading them based on my nose instead of my ears which made me blush a little. Luckily my fur didn't give me away. Not that they would be able to see my face clearly enough on this floor anyway. It was easy to forget that my sight wasn't normal either.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Eventually, we got close enough that I could hear voices and distinguish what they were doing. ("I think they're mining the crystals and loading them into carts of some kind,") I told her.

She nodded. ("Tell Piper.")

I repeated what I said to Piper through the rings and shifted back down to my human form since they were plenty close enough that I could navigate to them without any trouble. My revelation led to another short conversation but it quickly became clear that we were going to check it out anyway.

("They think that even if the group isn't Aria's friends, they may have seen them, so we're going to ask anyway,") Luna told me.

("Sure, sounds good,") I replied.

After a while we got close enough to the outcropping of crystals I was pretty sure the others could see them. It was a bit hard to tell since I was looking through the blindfold now but it wasn't like I didn't know what they looked like without it. These ones did look quite bright though.

("Can you guys see them from here?") I decided to ask.

("We can,") she replied.

I stopped and turned to Luna. ("How does Maxwell want to do this?")

She paused and listened to what Maxwell was saying for a moment before responding. ("He thinks it would be best to send you, Maxwell, and Aria to go ask them about her friends. She can't see the group well enough to tell if her friends are among them from here. She does doubt they would be here guarding a random mining group though.")

("That's okay with me then,") I told her.

Luna tapped Maxwell on the shoulder, nodded to me, and then gave him the equivalent of their 'ok' sign.

Luna tapped me on the shoulder and when I turned to her I was caught off guard when she gave me a kiss on the cheek. ("Be careful over there. I don't think I'll be close enough to translate for you but I'll stay in range of the rings.")

I couldn't help but smile where she had kissed me. A part of me wanted to kiss her back but I also didn't want to make things weird so I held back this time. ("Okay,") was all I could manage to reply.

I turned away from her before I burned up from embarrassment and stepped over next to Maxwell and Aria. I rested my large axe on my shoulder with the blade behind my head. I hoped it was the kind of stance that showed I was ready, but not hostile. I looked at Maxwell and nodded toward my weapon. "Good?"

He nodded. "Yeah, that's good."

Aria looked me up and down, smiled, and said something I couldn't understand. I turned to Luna.

Luna giggled ("She says that despite holding the giant axe, you look less scary than you normally do.")

I grinned and turned back to Aria. She laughed and rolled her eyes before nudging Maxwell forward. As was obvious he would be doing most of the talking. We advanced slowly and it didn't take long for their group to notice us. They called out to Maxwell and he stopped. I took a few more steps forward and stopped next to Maxwell before looking around at the people. Everyone had some level of innate magic I had noticed, enough for me to see them clearly through the blindfold, but the 'light' of the crystals made them all look much more defined than their own glow did. There was one person in particular though that glowed a lot and based on the staff that she carried I assumed she must have been some kind of magic user like Luna.

Maxwell and the guard that approached a bit closer started talking at a distance and since I could barely follow the conversation I decided to focus on watching the people instead. I would follow Maxwell's lead but I didn't think this would go anywhere dangerous. Unlike last time, we were the ones approaching and these guys clearly had their own operation going mining the crystals. They probably made plenty enough money that they didn't need to bother fighting with adventurers that didn't mean them any harm.

After a while Aria handed her sword to Maxwell and walked a bit closer to the guard and started talking to him more directly. Seems they were willing to talk about her missing friends as long as she approached unarmed. The other people in the mining group were still wary enough to watch us but I could tell from here that they had relaxed considerably once they found out what we actually wanted. It was a bit frustrating not really knowing what all they were saying but at least it let me focus on the people.

Suddenly I heard some thumping coming from my left so I quickly turned to see what it was. With the blindfold I could see it clear as day, it was one of those barletts. It looked like it was charging me and Maxwell so I turned, gripped my axe with both hands, and hurled it at the monster. I got a lucky hit and the axeblade dug right into the monster's head, splitting it in half and making it slam on the ground and slide to a harmless stop.

When I turned back everyone was gaping at me except for Maxwell who was laughing with exasperation. I was a little confused by their reactions so I just shrugged. "What?"

Granted it was a great throw... maybe it was because I threw it at all? The weapon is more awkward than heavy but I suppose it was pretty amazing if I considered trying to attempt a throw like that before I came here. It didn't feel all that impressive when I watch my girlfriend throw fireballs, Piper stitch up wounds, and Maxwell cut through metal spider legs with a single swing though.

"I go get axe?" I asked.

Maxwell guffawed and waved me on. I awkwardly looked around at the other people as I made my way over. I wondered what it looked like to them that I was gazing at them while wearing a blindfold. I wonder if the red stylized eye on the front looked creepy. Aria seemed to think the blindfold made me a lot less scary than my spooky eyes did. It was hard to disagree, I still remember when the eyes were hunting me.

I ripped the axe out of the barlette's head. The blood and meat made me lick my lips but luckily I was still full from earlier. The last thing I wanted to do was tear this thing apart and eat it in front of everyone. It was probably a good idea to hunt one of these and eat its heart before I was compelled to do it at a less convenient moment. I would have to remember to be careful of that. ...I wonder if this ties me to the dungeon though. Would staying up on the surface be hard for me by the time I got there?

I shrugged off the thought and came back to Maxwell. It looked like whatever they had been talking about was taken care of and most of their guards were still watching me like a hawk now that I had retrieved my axe. I suppose watching me make that throw so effortlessly made them pretty wary of me again. Go figure.

Maxwell and Aria waved at the guard and motioned for me to walk with them. I took one last glance at the mining group behind me and followed them away while keeping my ears peeled in case they tried to shoot us in the back. Thankfully, that never happened.

Once we got a little farther away Maxwell laughed and shoved me. His mirth was infectious and I started laughing too.