Chương 55: 55 Loop 2, Part 9

The hole in the floor was as thin as I remembered. But thankfully, it wouldn't be a problem. Well, maybe a small logistical one, but it was what it was. I sat in my chair at the edge of it and looked down. The ladder was made of rusted iron rungs, bolted into the rock face, and descended too far into darkness. Last time through, I hadn't really had time to consider what I had been doing. But now, as I stared down, I felt a tiny flicker of nausea. I pushed it away.

Any real fear of heights had been lost years ago to the knowledge that magic made no fall life-ending. Besides, this time, I wasn't facing anything alone. I had a literal army.

"Okay," Finn said, leaning over the edge next to me.

"So we just leave them up here, right?"

"Um, excuse me?"

"The golems. They stay up here. We climb down, see this supposed Lost Library, find your uncle or whatever, wake him up, and then climb back to the top. That'll be easy."

"Finn? Are you fucking crazy? What's the point of an army, man?"

"Uh... to not die to artillery fire?"

"I mean, sure, but no." I paused for dramatic effect.

"The point of an army is having it with you."

"I can carry them down," Flag offered. He stood at the lip of the shaft to my left, mannequin arms raised.

"I think I could do this one at a time. Down and back up. Down and back up. I'm very good at stairs now, and ladders are like stairs. Kind of." I did the math quickly. And did not like it one bit. Besides the fact that Flag and a golem wouldn't fit two at a time down the ladder…

"We'd be here until next loop," I said out loud.

"That's fine. I like it here. There's a lot of stone."

"You're not helping, buddy." Finn had gone quiet and tilted his head, as if listening to something I couldn't hear. And then he sighed.

"The axe has a suggestion."

"I'm listening."

"He wants to be thrown down."

"Thrown?" I asked, squinting at him.

"He says, 'A warrior does not climb.' He says, ''cClimbing is for prey animals.'" Finn rubbed his face with both hands, as if regretting his life choices.

"He's chanting now. He's just saying the word 'throw.' Over and over.

'Throw, throw, throw, throw, throw, throw, throw.'" I looked at the axe golem, which stood at parade rest. Its cobbled arms held behind its back, its bearded axe-head catching the light.

"You know what? Given what Flag survived my last time through this week, he's probably the most durable thing in here. And it's one less golem we have to force through the actual solution, if it doesn't work."

"So after forcing me to soul-bond with a random axe, you want me to throw it down a thirty-foot hole."

"No, he wants you to throw him down a thirty-foot hole. I'm just respecting his choices." It took both of us and two of Finn's golems to get Axe over the shaft. Finn counted down from three, which was unnecessary. And then we let go. Axe dropped like he was a quarter-ton of stone, which I guess he was. Halfway down, he clipped the ladder. There was an awful crunching, clanging sound, and then a boom from the bottom when he landed.

"Is he okay?" I asked, leaning over the edge. There was a pause, and then Finn's shoulders hunched down as he said, "He's laughing. The dude's actually laughing. He says it was glorious, and he wants to go again."

"See, everyone's happy." I peered down again before casting a [Light] on a [Marble] and dropping it. As the marble fell, I noticed several rungs now had a distinct bend to them. Which had me a little worried. I probably wasn't going to be able to use it for its intended purpose anymore. It landed and clinked against Axe, who was buried, axe-head down, in the ground. The problem with golems—well, the ones without souls—was that they were very, very literal.

They only knew a few commands, and they did exactly what you said with them. Not what you meant, nor what you intended, but what you actually said. Tell one to walk, and it would walk until the continent ended, because "stop" was a separate instruction. And remembering that was your job, not theirs. Before anything else, I needed my own pair of eyes down at the bottom.

"Hey, Flag, are you willing to jump down there? Join Axe?" I asked my own golem. I noticed his [Float] was still active. Finn and I had canceled our [Float] s back when we were meditating in order to more quickly facilitate our mana regen. But now, with a fuller mana pool and a finished army, we could afford to cast the spells again. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Oh, sure. I don't mind. I'd honestly like to see what's down there. Is there more stone? I love stone."

"Yes, Flag, it's all stone. The whole entire thing is made of stone."

"Oh, that's wonderful." He stepped off the edge like it was a curb. Well, he floated over the edge like it was a curb. And remained in the air above it. He waited there for a few moments, just flapping away like a bird.

"I don't understand. Why can't I go down?" I vaguely recalled having the same problem." [Float] is a great spell, but you need to learn how to maneuver yourself with it. You'll need to orient yourself, Flag, and then try to swim down.""'Swim'? What's that mean?" My palm met my face.

"Okay, Flag. Flap your arms and head downward. Angle your head that way, and just move through the air. Like you're flying down." Ugh, I was doing a terrible job of explaining it. But it worked anyway. He started drifting past the rungs. He waved at them on his way.

"Hello, Ladder. Sorry about Axe. Hope he didn't hurt you too much."

"Flag, when you get down there, I need you to cast something for me. It's really easy. It's a spell called [Wideview]. You're going to pull mana through the tether, and then say the word as you imagine the world getting bigger around you."

"Oh, a new spell? Is it hard?"

"No, not at all. It's harder to say than to cast, honestly." Eventually, I could feel him reach the bottom, right before he said, "Hi, Axe." And then I felt the tug on my mana pool as he said, " [Wideview]," in an excited, giddy tone.

"Oh," Flag addressed me a moment later.

"Oh, Lazlo. I can see everything. There's a wall behind me, and I'm looking at it. I'm not even turning around. Is this how you see all the time? I like it. No wonder you never turn your head."

"I never need to."

"Oh, I have so many ideas. Oh, oh, wait. Wait." He paused and did literally tilt taps.

"I could see through the windows and the tops of the desks at the same time with this. What a wonderful spell. Can I cast this when we're back above?"

"Sure, buddy. Hold still for a moment." Because here was the thing I'd been chewing on since the first time he'd cast a spell through our link. If this tether was able to move mana between our souls, then would the spell effects move through our link, too? Just like what happened with my uncle and the mysterious time loop spell? The spell was cast with my mana and anchored to his soul, which was anchored to mine. So, in theory, the connection should run both ways, meaning I could see what he could see. Right?

I closed my eyes and leaned into the tether. Metaphorically, I guess. And then the bottom of the shaft opened up around me, just like when I cast [Wideview] myself. It was one continuous field in every direction at once. It worked; I was seeing through Flag.

"You're in my eyes," he said.

"Hello! Do you want to look at the walls with me? They're very pretty. And rough. I like that they're rough. Nobody sanded anything." This had so many implications. What else could I manage to do with a golem and soul tether? I took in the surroundings and Flag's excitement, and then Axe. And then I noticed a huge flaw in my plan. Though hopefully, it was just because Axe's head was… well, an axe. The floor down there wasn't smooth, worked stone like the rest of the library. It was made of raw, rough-cut rubble.

And Axe's axe-head was planted in it.

"Okay, new problem. That floor is probably going to stop some of our golems."

"It didn't stop me."

"You're floating, Flag."

"Oh. Right. I forgot. I'm doing so many new things now. Thank you again, Laz. I enjoy doing new things." I pulled my vision back into my own head, which was not a sentence I'd ever expected to think. I opened my eyes and looked at Finn.

"Alright, golems next. Let's see how long before going down causes a problem. Red 1, walk over the edge." Red 1 stepped to the edge and walked right off. However, because of his size and the speed at which he walked, he started hitting the rungs as he fell. The third bent. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and so on gave entirely all the way down, rupturing the metal. He dropped the rest of the way and landed at the bottom with a thud. But as best as I could tell, he seemed fine. Just buried to the ankles in stone.

I sent my vision back down to Flag to examine the golem, and I was right. He was perfectly fine.

"Red 1, walk forward." I braced for a bad result. But I already had the rescue spell floating on my tongue. Red 1's legs moved. Just fine. He lifted his feet out of the loose gravel and walked forward—and then kept walking, because I hadn't told him to stop. I yelled, "Stop!" and he stopped. My whole worry about the other golems... I wouldn't need it all. Like most efforts, it was for naught. I sent my consciousness back to my body, and then looked at Finn. But before I could say anything, he beat me to it.

"So they can just fall," Finn said.

"That's easy."

"Yes, it looks that way."

"Do you think it'll work with all of them?"

"Only one way to fall, find out. Red 2, 3, walk over the edge." And just like that, the two remaining red golems walked forward and plummeted. The booms came back up the shaft one after the other. Before I could send the purple golems down, Finn abandoned all caution. He shouted, "Greens, walk over the edge!" Four golems went to the hole at once, one after the other. The shaft was practically raining golems. When all four made it safely, Flag applauded. I could hear the tiny stone echoes wafting from below.

We repeated this process with the remaining golems. And when all twenty golems were down below, Finn said, "That was the stupidest thing I have ever been a part of. Why are we friends again?"

"Admit it. You had fun with this," I said, rolling my eyes at him. Pure theatrical complaints. He had never once failed to go along with one of my schemes. That was what true friendships were about. Which left the two of us, my chair, and a hole where a ladder used to be. Finn stood at the exit, staring down the drop with a panicked expression.

"So, how do we get down? Because I'm not jumping."

"What do you mean? Jumping's free."

"That's... fine," Finn said, in the voice of a man who meant the opposite.

"But not how I intend to die."

"Dude, I'm joking. Isn't the answer obvious? Magic." I pulled my wand and cast [Float] twice. We went down the shaft together.