Luckborn

Gravity seized Otter like a hook and yanked him into freefall. His stomach lurched; the roar of wind swallowed every other sound. Air tore past his ears, whipping his hair back, but he kept his body arrow-straight, eyes locked on the glint below. The amulet's shine was growing fast.

He lunged, fingers snapping shut around the cold metal. As soon as it was secure in his grip, the magic took hold. His terrifying dive melted into a slow, gentle drift. Otter floated downward like a feather, the amulet dangling from his fist on its fine chain. Around him, the wind continued to howl, but he remained untouched in the center of the vortex.

His mind was anything but calm, however, as he now had time to consider what waited below. The pool. And the water elemental. It was obviously a guardian, and while it had helped him reach the upper chamber, he doubted it would it would greet him with such magnanimity on his return. He couldn't know for sure, but it was a gut feeling. One that he trusted.

As the surface of the pool came into view, it began to churn, dark spirals boiling up from the depths. The water rose, swirling into its towering, formless shape. It was coming for him. That was certain.

Otter's pulse spiked, fear squeezing his chest—then his fingers brushed the warm, veined surface of the stone in his other hand. Was this the key? Element against element? Fire to destroy water? The thought made sense—more sense than hoping the amulet's feather-light magic would somehow help him fight a creature made of liquid muscle.

The moment his boots skimmed the surface, the guardian surged toward him, a cresting wave ready to crash. Otter held out the stone and closed his eyes, preparing for the worst, so he did not see what happened next. But he felt it.

A warm pulse bloomed in his hands, running up his arms, through his chest, and outward into the air, pushing back the chill of the pool.

The roar of churning water cut off with a strange, almost mournful sigh. There was a soft whoomph, and then the air filled with the hiss of escaping steam. A hot mist exploded around him, wrapping his face in a sudden humidity that clung to his skin and hair.

Otter coughed once, blinked his eyes open, and found the towering shape gone.

The pool lay still beneath him, ripples spreading in lazy circles from where his feet broke the surface. Wisps of vapor coiled upward into the shaft above, fading into nothing. The water that remained looked ordinary now—deep, calm, and unguarded.

Soon Otter found himself bobbing gently in the middle of the now-still pool, the amulet looped around his wrist and the glowing stone clutched tight in one hand.

"What in all hells was that?!" Milo's voice cracked as it bounced off the stone.

"You just—" Erin gestured wildly at the pool, words failing her. "—and it—" She made a vague exploding motion with both hands.

Jasper's eyes narrowed. "Where's the elemental?"

Otter treaded water, grinning despite himself. "Guess it didn't like what I was carrying." He held the stone aloft, its molten veins gleaming in the torchlight.

Milo perked up. "What's that?"

"No clue" he said, swimming to the edge of the pool. Once he clambered out, he handed the stone over.

Milo took it gingerly, turning it over in both hands. The molten orange veins pulsed faintly beneath the glassy surface, shifting like slow rivers of lava.

"Definitely magical," he murmured, brow furrowed. "And old. Pre-Kaos War at least. These sigils… I've seen the style in a few recovered fragments, but never intact like this. It's… almost like it's alive."

Erin peered over his shoulder. "Alive?"

"Not alive alive," Milo clarified. "More… reactive. Like it responds to things around it. Or to the person holding it."

Otter rubbed water from his eyes. "Well, it responded just fine to that elemental."

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Jasper crossed his arms. "Think it's safe to keep?"

Milo smirked faintly. "Safe? No. Useful? Absolutely." He passed it back to Otter.

Otter slid it into his pouch. "Alright. Now that the big guy's gone…" He toed the edge of the pool and peered down into the depths. Something twinkled at the bottom. "Time to see what it was guarding."

Without another word, he dove in.

He angled downward in strong, practiced kicks, bubbles trailing from his nose. The bottom came into view—a carved basin in the rock, and at its center, resting in a groove, was an object about the size of his palm.

It was bronze, worked into the shape of a wave curling over a gemstone the color of deep ocean.

Otter wrapped his fingers around it and pushed off the basin floor, rising toward the surface. His chest began to burn just as he broke through, gasping in a breath.

"Got it," he said, holding up the artifact, and handed it to Erin as she helped pull him up.

She nearly dropped it. "Gods, that's heavier than it looks."

crouching beside the torchlight to examine it. The bronze was flawless, the wave's crest curling over a gemstone that shimmered like trapped ocean.

Milo ran a finger along the curves. "It's enchanted, no doubt. But I've never seen anything like it before." He turned it over slowly, the blue gem catching flickers of torchlight. "If it has a specific function, it's not obvious. Could be defensive magic… or something tied to water manipulation. I honestly can't tell without studying it for a while."

"Any guesses?" Otter asked, wringing water from his sleeves.

Milo shook his head. "Just that it's connected to water. But I think that's pretty obvious. Whether that means summoning, shaping, or something else, I can't say yet."

Once they'd wrung the worst of the water from their clothes and repacked their gear, the group retraced their steps through the dripping passageways, the torchlight bending shadows across the carved walls. The heat from the fire chamber stone was a welcome counter to the chill clinging to their skin.

Before long, they were back in the first great chamber—the "earth" room, as Otter now thought of it. The chisel still rested in its velvet cradle, the spiral carvings on the floor seeming to draw the eye toward it.

Otter set his pack down, studying the thing as if it might lunge at him. "So… how do we get this without ending up part of the floor décor?"

Milo glanced between the artifacts they'd gathered—the molten-veined stone, the feather-light amulet, the heavy bronze relic from the pool. "Maybe it's a matter of weight transfer. We should swap it for something equal."

"That wave piece from the water's heavy," Otter said. "Might be close."

Erin crossed her arms. "Close isn't good enough. If this is down to the ounce, one mistake and we all get squashed."

"What if it's not about weight at all?" Jasper offered. "What if one of these other artifacts can disable it? Stone for chisel. Or maybe the amulet. That's 'air', right? Air is opposite of earth."

Milo shook his head. "Possible. But we don't know the triggers. If it's magically bound, putting the wrong thing in there might trigger a worse fail-safe."

They tossed out a few more theories—balancing the pedestal with gear, using rope to yank the chisel clear from a safe distance—but every idea carried the same flaw: if they guessed wrong, the ceiling would drop before they could escape.

Finally, Otter exhaled and stepped back. "It's too dangerous without more information. I vote we leave it where it is. We've already got more than we came for."

For a long moment, no one spoke. Then they all nodded.

Packs were hoisted, straps cinched. They gave the chisel one last, reluctant look before turning toward the exit. Their footsteps faded down the dripping corridor, the earth room falling silent once more—its secrets left undiscovered, for now.

***

Jasper led the way back to the entry room. He worried that Rell had broken his bonds and lay in wait for them.

"That seems unlikely," said Sage. "Wouldn't it make more sense to flee if he'd escaped?"

Jasper simply grunted and muttered something about better safe than sorry.

It turned out that his fears were unfounded.

The ruin's front chamber was exactly as they'd left it, save for the faint drift of smoke from the dying fire.

Rell sat slouched against the wall, ankles still bound, wrists still tied in front of him. His eyes tracked them the moment they stepped through the archway.

"You came back," he said, voice low and uneven.

"Why wouldn't we?" said Jasper, kneeling down to inspect the man's bonds.

Rell licked his lips. "I… I've been thinking. I'm as good as dead back in Aurelia. They'll execute me for sure. And you lot seem like you wouldn't want that on your conscience. So, if you let me go, I'll make it worth your while."

"How's that?"

"I can give you names. Faces. Where the rest of the Blackridge crew holes up when they're not out robbing travelers."

Otter leaned forward. "Is that the name of your gang?"

"They're not my gang anymore." His gaze darted between them, quick and calculating. "They wouldn't take me back now. Hells, they might kill me outright. But if I take you to them, you could hit them before they know what's what. You could take their stash. Be heroes."

Otter crossed his arms. "And you just walk free?"

"Well, yeah. Time to turn over a new leaf and all that."

Otter exchanged looks with the others. Rell was offering them the most valuable thing he had—information. If he really could lead them to the bandit hideout, and they could apprehend the rest of the gang, they'd make a name for themselves. Build their reputation with the Guild. And likely earn a lot of experience.

It seemed like an opportunity too good to pass up.