The Ruby Magician

Wyn didn't bother skirting around the room for a better vantage point to attack. He was focused on thing, and one thing only.

Kill the monster.

He sprinted in a straight line towards the last enemy, covering a great distance in seconds that wouldn’t have been possible without his skill.

John yelled with his approach, running across the room as well. The Fighter also ran straight at the mage, though was slightly slower than Wyn despite his aura improving all of his physical attributes.

The snake-like mage's snarl turned to a raspy hiss seeing the Climbers rush towards it. A bright green aura coated it like the pillars. Like a Climber’s aura. It then raised and pointed its staff at them, and a large green rune formed at the end of its weapon.

Both John and Wyn instinctively moved to either side, noting the imminent threat. A blast of stone exploded through the room as huge chunks of rock shot from the mage's staff like large, blunt arrows.

The attack forced the creature to stand still, taking the seconds needed for the spell to be cast and being unable to move. Wyn tried to take advantage of the opportunity and pinch the monster on one side while John attacked on the other. He both saw the Fighter move into position and heard him yell a war cry, fiercely determined to kill the creature in a rage that Wyn didn’t know he possessed. John was a great combatant and Climber, sure, but his fun demeanor and joking personality wasn’t anywhere to be seen in his pure rage.

The enemy stopped its spell and blocked John’s strike with its staff though left a large opening at it’s back. Wyn performed a slash of his own, though it wasn’t as effective as he would’ve liked. The green aura still radiating from the monster prevented most of the damage from his wind-element spear, and only a shallow cut was made in a diagonal along its back.

The monster tried to twist its body to reposition between the two warriors but Wyn was faster. He stabbed at its lower half where the torso was more tail than abdomen, and was able to pierce through its tough hide most of the way up the spear head. The creature yelled in pain, a piercing screech that jolted the Climbers in surprise.

John raised his sword ready to attack again, a smirk plastered on his face. “Magic Break,” he said, and his sword began to pulse with a similar red aura that still cloaked him. It was different, though, as it seemed to undulate and move across the blade. He slashed down with his sword quickly, and the monster was too distracted to block it or dodge. The sword cut was shallow like Wyn’s, but the effect was the primary goal.

The pulsing red aura shifted from the sword to the mage monster’s body. It continued to vibrate, though it didn’t do much more than just exist.

At least not that Wyn could immediately tell.

The monster maneuvered its staff to be able to point right at Wyn. It lit up again as a green rune formed on the end of the weapon, but it flickered several times. The creature’s face went pale at the horrified outcome - its spell fizzled out, unable to be compete. The red aura was buzzing around it now, interfering with its ability to properly form a spell.

Marcy appeared from seemingly nowhere and stabbed the mage directly in the side while it was distracted, and she took all three of them by surprise. She twisted her kukris that were nearly hilt-deep, and blood began to seep from the punctures.

John and Wyn followed suit and attacked the monster in a barrage of blows. It failed miserably to defend itself, pinned in place by the warriors on three sides and unable to block all of their attacks at the same time. Its magic was useless, too, having been nullified by John’s skill.

In seconds the three Climbers wordlessly chopped, stabbed, and slashed the monster to death in a gruesome fashion. They did not hold back. No mercy was shown for this enemy.

No one said a word when the final pillar dulled its light and released the last bar. It was quiet except for boots clopping on the ground to return to Tasha to make sure she was alright.

No one noticed the portal becoming clear, signaling their triumph and allowing passage to the third floor.

Everyone had their eyes on the Divine Mage who was sitting up beside Cal. She was breathing heavy and sweating more than when they were in the jungle. Her previously white robe was caked in blood at her abdomen.

“We won,” Wyn said. “Are you alright?”

Tasha sat there unmoving, still except for her chest rising and falling with each breath. She barely blinked. “No. But I’m alive.”

Wyn furrowed his eyebrows. “Do you need more healing?”

“Not physically. My body seems to be fine.” She stared past him, focused on the portal.

Silence filled the air louder than any scream or spell for a lingering moment.

Wyn nodded slowly, understanding what she meant. “We’re almost done. One peek at the next floor then we return. We’ll take some time after this.”

“We need it,” Marcy said. “In more ways than one.”

Wyn helped Tasha to her feet and she slowly began walking to the portal the instant she was standing. She didn’t bother looking at anything or anyone else in the room. Her steps were even and methodical, slow but purposeful, her staff bobbing up and down giving off light like a moving lantern.

Wyn looked at John who only shook his head. His aura had faded and he looked like he could fall over any second. His hair was plastered to his head with sweat, his clothes were cut up and dusty, and he was leaning to one side with a hand on his hip.

“One more bit of treasure,” Marcy said, almost in a whisper. She pointed with her head away from them towards Tasha.

Wyn looked around and saw that the halberd-wielding monster had some loot on its body, and a small chest appeared beside the pillar that showed the glowing staff. He trotted to the body to grab it before Tasha made it to the portal since she walked right beside it, obviously uninterested in rewards at the current moment.

The body held a claw and fang, similar to the Lacert's but obviously a component of this monster. A piece of leather armor was resting on the ground, too, shimmering with a blue aura. Wyn's heart skipped a beat. This was the first piece of armor he found he could wear, and it was blue rarity at that. His desire to immediately identify it wasn't quite as high as his desire to make sure Tasha was alright, though, and he placed the armor in his bag to inspect at another time.

He worked his way over to the chest next, though John beat him to it. The Fighter impatiently opened it right away. They were both in a hurry to keep up with the rest of their group who were still walking to the portal.

"I found some armor on the body," Wyn said. "Leather. And a few components."

John nodded while opening the chest, the wood creaking with each inch and magical light shining out like a bright lantern. "Good, we need more items. Let's just collect what we can and sort through it later." He reached inside and pulled out two gemstones that he immediately pocketed, followed by handfuls of coins.

Wyn joined him by reaching in and finding a large wooden staff. He didn't hesitate before yanking it out of the chest, having to stand and pull it as it seemed too long to be stored inside, though the magical essence of the chest defied logic. It was shimmering with a blue aura, similar to the leather armor.

John cut his eyes at the staff, and scoffed. "You know, I bet it's the staff that damned mage used." He spat on the ground and slammed the chest shut.

Wyn put the magical weapon in his backpack beside the piece of armor. If John was right, it meant that Climbers could find weapons and armor similar to what the enemies they defeated used. He knew there was a high chance John was, indeed, right.

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. The piece of armor was likely a similar piece to the one the halberd-wielding monster wore. They found a necklace earlier in the floor that the mage also wore around her neck, further proving John's assumption.

Marcy abruptly pushed Wyn's back, causing him to lurch forward awkwardly. "Come on, Wyn." She pointed to Tasha, who was about to enter the portal. "We need to go."

Wyn nodded and hurried along with the others. Their original plan was to see what the third floor was like, use a key to open a portal, and return to the base to challenge it next week. Tasha's behavior was understandable given the situation, and he wondered if she would choose to return to the base alone or continue with their original goal.

"Wait," Wyn said, reaching for Tasha before she could enter. Either she didn't hear him or simply ignored him, because she walked into it without so much as an acknowledgement for any of them.

Marcy sighed. "Let's just hope she's on the next floor, or this will get more difficult fast." She stepped into the portal next, followed immediately by John.

Cal was standing beside the portal, hesitant.

"Are you ready?" Wyn asked him.

"It was my fault," Cal said, staring at the portal. "I wasn't able to protect her."

Wyn shook his head. "No, it wasn't. Don't think like that. It wasn't anyone's fault - it just happened, plain and simple."

"I don't see it that way. I'm supposed to protect others, and I failed."

Wyn furrowed his eyebrows. "No offense, Cal, but you're a Mapper. Your job is to help us navigate the tower. Protecting us means you’d be a Climber instead.”

Cal turned his head to look at Wyn, and he straightened his posture, taking one step closer to the portal on the staircase that loomed over him. “I have a class, Wyn. All Mappers do. I was a Climber before and stopped. If anything, this helped me to see that I made the right choice.” Cal looked back at the portal and took a deep breath. “From here on out I won’t interfere again. I’ll stand to the side and do my part. No expectations about protecting anyone.”

He stepped into the portal without waiting for a response.

Wyn only stared at the empty space where Cal stood, dumbfounded. How could he have known Cal used to climb and stopped? Did something similar happen to make him stop? He knew the Mapper was reserved and wondered if something happened. The way that Cal talked before he thought it had something to do with his life before he came to Alestead entirely, but now he wondered if something else happened here.

He looked around the room one more time, unsure of their future. Unsure of his own. He hoped Tasha would come around, and Cal, too. His family needed him to keep climbing, and he needed his friends to survive.

Wyn stepped into the portal without another thought, knowing that he’d have answers sooner rather than later, or not at all.

*****

Wyn emerged from the portal in a barely lit room. To his relief, the rest of his party was standing around, including Tasha. She was staring down the empty and dark space ahead, but she was with them. And for now, that was enough.

The Red Mage looked around and felt a pang of disappointment. He expected some big transition but the environment was exactly the same as what they’ve been exploring. Refined stone made up every surface, the room was quaint and empty, and two small torches set in sconces were giving the party a minuscule but acceptable amount of light. Tasha had obviously cancelled her staff’s spell of Torchlight, though in their small room it didn’t seem to matter.

What was eerie, though, was that the only path forward was completely black and void of any light, even dim light, and noiseless to an unsettling degree. Tasha stood right at the precipice, as though she tested the space between light and darkness, either unafraid or uncaring about what lied beyond.

“Tasha?” Wyn asked. He looked around, and everyone else seemed too sheepish to approach her. “What are you looking at?”

Tasha didn’t answer. She held her staff beside her like she was about to walk into the darkness, but didn’t move.

Wyn walked up beside her and stared into the inky black room, wondering if she was seeing anything he couldn’t. Nothing stood out to him, and the sheer absence of light was disorienting. When he blinked he saw a similar amount of darkness, and he had to turn his head back to their dimly lit small room to differentiate between his eyes being closed and open.

“I nearly died,” Tasha whispered, low enough to where Wyn had to lean in close to hear her. “I could swear I was going to.” She turned to look at Wyn, her eyes relaxed and her face complacent though her eyes were red and bloodshot from crying. “And then you gave me that potion and cast that spell. You literally saved my life.”

Wyn looked in her eyes and was mentally taken out of the tower. He remembered his soldiers, those brave men and women under white sheets who didn’t feel the same sentiment Tasha did, or who were already gone from this life to speak their mind. No one told him he saved their life because he never did. War was ugly and destructive, and he had the misfortune of leading most to their deaths.

Now, though, with his abilities and magic in the tower, he could change his story. He already saved Cedric’s life, and now Tasha was thanking him for saving hers. Maybe there was hope for him as a leader to keep his soldiers alive after all.

“I don’t know if I can ever repay a debt like that,” Tasha said.

Wyn wasn’t sure what else she said before that, and he blinked quickly, snapping himself back to the present. “You can repay it.”

“How?”

“By helping mine and my family’s.”

Two tears fell down Tasha’s cheeks. One to mourn her innocence before the threat of death came knocking, and the other to mourn the change she was going to make.

She wiped her face with the sleeve on her robe and took a deep breath. “Alright. But first, we see what in the hells waits for us on the third floor.”

Wyn smiled. His friend was back, determination dripping on her words. He could sense her newfound confidence and smiled subconsciously.

Tasha tapped her staff two times on the stone floor, the thud echoing out in front of them in the darkness. At the second tap her staff shown with the Torchlight spell, her intention to light their path carried through her magical weapon.

Everyone’s mouths fell, and Wyn could hear several audible gasps. The chamber in front of them was massive, and the light from Tasha’s staff set off a series of torches that reacted to her light and their approaching presence. It was larger than the entrance at the base of the tower, larger than any castle Wyn had walked through. The ceilings were easily over a hundred feet tall, and the walls stretched an even larger distance on either side of them.

Wyn realized they stood at the entrance of the temple and this was the opening chamber. It could easily hold hundreds of people, possibly a thousand or more. The strangest part of it, though, was that it was completely empty except for three evenly spaced paths on the other side of the space with some kind of markings above each of the archways.

“This is unreal,” John said. “I just can’t believe something like this exists. Huge doesn’t even begin to cover this size!”

“And this is only the entrance,” Marcy said, her mouth stretched wide in a giddy smile. “This place probably has multiple layers to it. I bet most of this season’s floors are deeper in this very temple.”

“Only one way to find out,” Wyn said, hurrying ahead across the chamber.

The others soon joined him, curiosity pushing them to see what was next. All of them were enjoying the openness and freedom except Cal, who took his time and crossed the empty room steadily, staring all around him in awe.

They approached the three paths and studied them. Wyn didn’t recognize the markings above the archways as they looked to be in another language. It was a strange language, though, as it was mostly made up of pictures and images rather than symbols like letters or numbers.

“Do any of you know what these mean?” Wyn asked. “Or what it could signify?”

“Not a clue,” Marcy said. “I can ask around in Alestead, though not sure it would mean much to us.”

Each archway was spacious, large enough to easily fit a full party. The paths were also completely dark, and Wyn wondered if they lit up when entered like the chamber they were currently standing in.

“Guys?” John said. “What’s that?” He pointed to the left wall where a section of stone was now gone. A light was forming behind the wall and growing quickly. The wall was quite a distance away, but it was a strange sight like most things in Alistair.

“That’s not ominous,” Wyn said. “Maybe it’s another party?”

The others just stared, unsure.

Noise began to rise in the room. Roars, chirps, and chattering were growing along with the light, and Wyn felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand.

“That is definitely not a party,” Wyn said. “Can we get that key out, now?”

Marcy immediately put a hand in her belt and pulled out a key. She pushed it in the air, turned it, and created a portal back to Alestead in seconds.

Everyone waited, though, curious to see what emerged from beyond the new path. As the noise continued to rise, shadows formed and moved chaotically.

A stampede of Lacerts clawed their way through the door, some even attacking their allies to be able to make it out as fast as possible.

There were easily a hundred enemies total, racing across the room to the Climbers. They were snarling and screaming, eager to rip them apart if given the chance.

Marcy turned to look at everyone, her eyebrows raised. “Time to go!” She backpedaled into the portal, instantly disappearing.

The others all locked eyes and mimicked the Lacerts, fighting over each other to see who would enter the portal next. In a large rush, the rest of the party left, returning to the base and ending their current climb.