Chương 25: Braziers and Riddles

Time until next Elemental Storm: 5 Days and 6 Hours [+50 Credits] [+30 Credits] [Bestiary Updated!] [+50 Credits]... Ethan pulled out his red glowing spear, hissing at the pain in his arms. The right was covered along the forearm in heavy burns, and they pulsed with pain every second. He'd taken it trying to keep his face safe from the magma. Ugh, nope, not dealing with this, Ethan thought as he fixed the skin underneath.

The burns left a slight mark on his body, but it was nothing compared to the pain he'd been in moments before. The others thankfully didn't notice it, busy as they were dealing with their own wounds. They played much safer in fights, only taking risks when they were guaranteed to win in an exchange. Ethan had his chestplate to thank too. Without it, he'd have massive gashes and even more burns to contend with.

"Everyone alive?" Jeffrey asked, and Ethan raised his spear in response. The others slowly raised their weapons too, or flipped him off in Mia's case, but they were all fine. Emma took a sharp breath as she dismissed her armour. Her pinky finger had been caught by one the magma blasts, and singed heavily.

"At least we made bank off of the fight," Bradley said, rolling his head.

"Agreed," Ethan replied. This and the last two fights had earned Ethan 400 total credits, and much faster than he would've gotten in the first shrine.

"Mass Magics' selling a special burn cream, half off."

"Oh, piss off. It's like they're taunting us," Bradley scowled.

"Taunt or not, we need the cream. How much, lass?" Jeffrey asked. She bought one tube for everyone there, but Ethan refused it.

"I'll just heal from the fight," he explained.

"Oh! Forgot that, babe, sorry," she smiled, before putting the tube back in her bag.

"Nah, I should've said. I'll pay you for it, how about that?" Ethan offered, but she gave him a frown.

"No way. We're a party, we share. None of this debt stuff, understand?" Penny told him.

"Best to accept it. She won't take no for an answer," Bradley chimed in, before guzzling his entire water bottle in a second.

"Fine, no debts. But I still owe you one," Ethan replied. She accepted that at the very least, and they finished up with the monsters. Ethan swallowed up more of the essences across the lizards and axolotls that had attacked them, and they checked the map once more.

"Halfway there," Jeffrey said, exasperated. They were travelling painfully slowly as a group, making sure that nothing leaped out and surrounded them. Ethan most likely could've just ran past the monsters, but that'd leave the rest of his team helpless. He'd never considered that downside before, but now it was making every wasted hour feel more and more heavier. At least he could practice his skill in the meantime.

He reinforced the parts of his chestplate armour where it broke the easiest, keeping his movement still in mind. Once that was done, he decided to move onto a helmet. That part was trickier. He started with a skull design expanded slightly bigger than his own head, with the jaw extended to leave room for him to speak. The helmet functioned like the front of cars. They would crumple and shatter, so Ethan's own skull didn't. While he worked on the design, one small issue popped into his mind.

How am I gonna take it off? Making a latch mechanism made the most sense, but that would require adding complexity to the design. So, instead, Ethan tested out a different hypothesis. Just like he'd done when he'd first used the skill, he made cards out of bone, and held them between his fingers. But instead of throwing them, he simply willed whatever kept them in place to disappear. Vanish, disappear, go away, he tried a bunch of different thoughts, but none seemed to work. Mind and body over matter, right?

That's what Raphael had told him about using Skills anyway. So, Ethan focused his mind and flexed his arms. Immediately, the cards vanished from his hand. Alright, now let's try it on something else. He materialized his rough looking bone chestplate over his body, and kept that feeling in mind he had before. As he flexed, the chestplate vanished too. Nice. Now it's time to try out the real helmet. He held out his hand while walking, and over it, the helmet materialized.

"Bradley, can I ask you something?" Ethan consulted. He brought up the helmet to his face.

"Do you think this'll fit on me?"

"Don't think skeletons'll much scare the monsters here, Ethan," Bradley replied.

"Right, but it'll keep my head safe." Bradley scrutinized his design, taking it from Ethan's hands.

"Needs to be a little bigger in the back. Lots of `head still there," he said, tossing the helmet back. Ethan dissipated the helmet and formed a new one in his mind's eye. This design had the elongated back Bradley asked for. He took a deep breath, and materialized it over his own face. The first thing Ethan noticed was that the eyesockets were too far up. The second thing he noticed was that the nostrils were too small, and he could feel his breath fogging up the inside of the helmet.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. But at least it fit, no matter how hot it was on the inside. Ventilation. It needs more ventilation, Ethan noted down. He was about to start working on a third design, but something caught his attention out of the corner of his eyes.

"Huh? It's here too?" Ethan whispered, confused. Writing in life force spread across the obsidian walls, addressed to Alphome and talking of dragons.

Fire and dragons have been interlinked since before they even spread across the stars. They always considered themselves of fire, calling it the source of all life? Well, aside from their haughty disposition, there may be some truth to those words. Which brings me to Dragonmount itself. I've created it to evolve life that can live in hot temperatures, and harness it in their own biology. It has produced some promising specimens so far, mostly reptiles and amphibians, but not what I'm searching for.

But even if it's not a success, you have to admit, Alphome, that they're fascinating creatures in their own right, Ethan didn't note down the three different entries for fear of the others finding out. The notes were written in the same style as the ones across the wood shrine, explaining the purpose of the dungeon and the creatures living inside. But they didn't give him any insight into the mechanics of the shrine itself. Or maybe the mechanics were added later, he considered as he committed the words to memory.

The entries became more numerous the further down the shrine they went, but they always led off into tangents. Explanation of monster biology, the setup of the lava and that its makeup was actually quite nutrient rich. Normal lava would not flow so easily or allow creatures to live within it. But a mixture of minerals that would all melt around the same time creates a mixture that can actually sustain life. Sadly, that will still not allow us to recreate the natural powers of dragons.

But I won't stop, old friend, not until I prove their self-professed special nature to be nothing but luck. Whoever the writer for the shrine had been, Ethan considered them more and more insane with every new entry. They had a weird obsession with dragons, and he didn't know why. He did understand now where the giant bones for the treant snakes back in the wood shrine came from, though. It must have been these dragons the writer spoke of. They wanted to… remake them again for some reason? Just to prove he could?

They're still off their rocker. I'll have to ask Alphome about all this once I'm out of the shrine, He told himself, looking away from the entries on the walls. The rest of his party were holding up well, but they were still nursing their wounds. Ethan felt guilty at the fact. He wanted to help heal them, but if he kept it up, they'd catch on sooner or later. Instead, he'd have to let them suffer. At least, until he could trust them. Not happening with Jeffrey. But Brad and Penny might understand…

The same feeling as when he'd entered the shrine took him again, taking his attention away from his thoughts. What is that? He wondered, but it was gone just as fast as it had come. He thought the feeling was coming from the pockmarked obsidian walls, but it was gone before he could really analyze it. Thankfully, the rest of the hallway was mercifully quiet. A wall appeared at the end of the hallway, and in front of it was a set of stairs leading to a brazier.

Monsters swam in and around the lava, but they looked lazy and uninterested in the party. Despite that, Ethan and the rest kept their weapons bared, and he even formed his helmet over his face. The new design didn't obstruct his view, thankfully, so he could keep an eye on when the monsters turned aggressive. When they reached the base of the stairs, he saw them turn their heads, but none moved towards them. As soon as they all stepped onto the steps, the monsters turned away, like they'd turned invisible.

"Mia, Penny, you two are on watch. The rest of you, come with me up the stairs," Jeffrey ordered, and they took their positions. Ethan and the rest made it to the top of the staircase, where a giant bronze brazier sat, ashes and kindling sitting inside. The brazier felt like it was in its own world, as none of the hot wind blowing through the rest of the shrine reached it.

The back wall was actually a few feet behind the brazier, and in between there were two more magma channels going off into the walls and fed by spouts.

"There's nothing here," Jeffrey said, disappointed. He looked around, but other than the brazier and some railings, the platform was completely empty.

"What about those channels? Those any use to us?" Bradley asked.

"I think… they connect to the other points on the map. Jeffrey pulled out the map, and they found their current position on the bottom left point of the pentagon. The lines indicating the lava channels matched up with what they saw in real life, and went straight to the other points.

"Every point's connected to every other point through the rivers, great. But what help is that to us?" Jeffrey asked. Ethan shrugged.

"Maybe we need to see the other points, and we'll find the answer?" Jeffrey turned to the brazier and frowned.

"We spent the entire day trying to reach this. Wouldn't make sense to go back empty-handed," Jeffrey said.

"Bradley, give me a match."

"Wait, stop," Ethan replied.

"How do we know lighting this thing won't have consequences?" He'd seen those firsthand with the pedestals in the wood shrine. Though he wasn't sure if Jeffrey's party had dealt with the same gimmick.

"It's the only choice we got, lad. Look at the time limit. It'll take too long to search the other hallways," he replied. He pushed past Ethan and grabbed the matchbox out of Bradley's hand. Ethan still felt off about it, but the man had a point. If they didn't try anything, they'd die before they reached the end. Jeffrey lit a single match and dropped it into the middle of the brazier. The kindling inside immediately caught fire, and started to spread to the corners.

The team backed off as the flames grew bigger and hotter.

"Is it working?' Ethan asked aloud. The flames kept growing, forcing the party back onto the steps. Penny and Mia came back up to join them, and they watched it touch the ceiling.

"What's going on?" Mia asked in a hoarse voice. The flames began to pop, and the ground shook. Ethan looked behind himself, and he saw more spouts on the wall starting to drip lava. The ones already active started to spit lava faster, and the river grew in height right in front of them. Thankfully, the growth stopped shortly after it started, and Ethan let out a breath. It had only risen a foot or two, and the monsters within still remained as docile as ever.

"Tsk, bad idea, Jeffrey," Bradley said. Ethan turned back to the brazier, only to find that it was completely dim now.

"Why did it stop?" Ethan asked. He looked around himself for any more changes, but he couldn't find them. The lava rivers still ran in the same direction, the walls were still full of holes, and the statues of the dragons stared outwards from them. So, that's not the way to beat the dungeon. The others realized it too, and Jeffrey wiped sweat from his brow.

"This heat up here's more bearable. Let's set up camp. We'll go back in the morning," Jeffrey grunted.

"What about the monsters. Are we sure they won't attack us?" Ethan asked. To test that, they decided to send out one of Mia's drones near the lava. She found a lava axolotl sitting on a rock in the river, and blasted him with lasers. Then, Mia disappeared her drone, and they waited for its response. Ethan stood at the base of the stairs as their bait. When the monster finally noticed him, it hissed, and began climbing other rocks to reach him.

As soon as he stepped on the stairs though, it was like the axolotl lost interest, and went back to its rock to laze around. Wait, can't we farm credits this way? Ethan wondered, only to have his own mind dash away the ideas. Firstly, he hadn't shown he could use death essence yet. Secondly, the only other people who could fight at range were Mia and Penny, and Mia's drones were weak, while a single mistake would destroy Penny's falcon to crisps.

Ethan still wanted to try it, but the rest of the group called him back for dinner, and after that they had to rest however they could Ethan woke in the middle of the night, or what he thought was night, as that same familiar feeling returned. Only this time, it was strong enough for him to recognize. The feeling was his Talent, and it was guiding him towards something. With one last look at the sleeping figures of his party, Ethan put on his clothes, and followed it away from the brazier.