Cursed Explorer of the Arcana

Was really it the smell that gave it away? Are rotten eggs even combustible? Did I really just sniff out the danger like some magical bloodhound?

None of those actually, not even my sense of danger or bad vibes of mana tingling. I was just curious where the smell was coming from. Despite seemingly running around carelessly I did pay attention to my surroundings using both my regular sense and Mana Perception.

Two things caught my attention in particular. One, I took the first left three times in a row now and counted my steps after the first corner… it still doesn’t add up. Second, this place used complex illusions combined with conventional weapons to make a deadly trap. The fact that I can’t see any magical anomalies doesn’t mean we’re safe, it only means I’m too blind to notice when we’re already on the knife’s edge.

So at the first sign of something irregular, I stopped, and what a blessed decision that was. I was ready when the spark jumped out of a tiny hole in the wall. Not prepared for flames exactly but just generally on my toes.

The combustion that followed the spark was nearly instantaneous, spreading way too quickly to escape and looking just hot enough to melt my eyeballs. I also realize that this smell, or something air is acting as fuel for the fire since I still failed to see even the slightest disturbance on the tapestry of mana.

So I just need to cut that off and puff, problem solved. In a fairy tale maybe.

I don’t even have the time to shape my magic properly so I rely on Elemental Burst to create a violent pulse of air just in the last second. It’s not enough to stop the encroaching explosion but just what we need to avoid the brunt of it.

Raising my arms and hoping for the best is all that’s left to do as the searing hot air touches my skin and the actual shockwave hits me hard enough for the world to go dark for a second.

My ears are ringing, my eyes feel glued down and my body aches worse than after a cruel round of morning exercises. It’s awful. I roll to my side with a low grunt, checking my condition and searching for my partner in doing stupid shit. Bones seem fine, although it wouldn’t be my first time overlooking something serious and suffering the consequences later. Bruises are all but guaranteed and no serious burns either. That’s good.

Valka is in an even better condition, up on her feet and ready to fight whoever dared ambush us. I’m pretty sure she would’ve lived even without my intervention anyway.

“It’s okay, mostly.” I chuckle while massaging my temples. “That was another trap. One probably too old to function properly anymore, judging by the spike trap and the fact that we’re alive.”

I expected living things to be our main source of trouble here, not decrepit tricks left behind by some mad cultists. Not to mention those pulses of mana… they’re getting louder than my own thoughts.

“Why did it go off now when there are hundreds of rats down here with us? Why not for them?” Valka grumbles while carefully taking a few steps to the now blackened ground, sniffing the air like a bloodhound.

“I think it did.” The smell of ash still sticks to my nose. “And even more scary is that it used no magic.”

Now aware of the danger I drain a bit of the Hadron crystal I looted after getting stranded in the forest to replenish my reserves before pushing the air through the tunnel. Whatever that smell was I don’t want it anywhere near me. With that said…

I approach the tiny hole I saw in the wall where the first spark jumped out of, walking like I’m in the park simply because I stripped that little cavity of air the moment I came to. I’d like to avoid another explosion if possible. Eyeing the thing and knocking on the wall reveals nothing so I request the assistance of the brute hiding behind me.

“Could you knock on this wall for me?” I point at a crack, taking a step back to let her do her thing.

Then my hand comes to life to deliver a mighty facepalm when she starts just gently to tap on the carved stone surface. You’d expect a meatshield who can survive being impaled, shredded, burnt, and beaten to be a bit more daring but…

“Just smash the damn thing.” I claw at my face before pushing her aside. “Chicken.”

A tall white big-mouthed chicken is what she is. A chicken I’d hide behind the moment something tried to bite off my head but a chicken nonetheless.

Since I can solve this with brute force I rely on Chaotic Touch to dismantle whatever shenanigans the ancient builders’ Skills did to reinforce the wall. The mana in the stone is a lot less stubborn and it takes only seconds for me to liberate the surface under my palm and pull out a cylinder of stone without any difficulty.

A quick glance inside reveals… many things. Gears, levers, wires, a container, and a metal frame just to name a few. Their individual functions are beyond me but the outcome is no longer a secret.

“Should be that container…” I mutter and carelessly stick my arm through the hole.

“Are you insane?” Valka whispers. Like, being quiet won't change a thing at this point. “What if-”

“Shush! Help or be quiet.” I hiss, faced with another dilemma.

I’m stuck, the container is bigger than the hole…

“Maybe if I turn it and pull harder…” I mutter before the sound of something very clearly cracking reaches my ear. “Uh-oh.”

“What do you mean uh-oh?” My companion asks for an explanation. Not that she’ll get one because now is not the time.

“Okay, when I say run- Are you kidding me?”

Valka is already off, sprinting down the corridor the moment the word run left my mouth. I guess it’s only fair, she can’t help much here but leaving me alone like this…

“Aarrhg, fuck it.” I flip the container and let it fall, spinning on my heel and taking off down the dark corridor narrowing in the distance

I hear only the beating of my heart, the sound of my bare feet taping on the cold stone, and the eerie silence before the chaos. Time seems to crawl to a halt while the distance between me and Valka’s head popping out of a corner is no less than me and the moons.

The more time passes and the closer I get the stronger the sense of impending doom gets in the back of my mind. It could go off any minute now… any second…

“What did you do?” Valka’s voice reaches my ears and only now do I realize I arrived right next to her. No explosion, no nothing.

“I dropped it and…” Then it hits me. “Oh… I’d move behind the corner if I were you.”

As a precaution, I prepare a pure arcane shield by my side before sending a spark down the now completely dark corridor. I decide against observing the little wisp of light growing distant and instead address my grievances.

“You left me!” I poke at Valka’s chest.

“You told me to run.” The outrage on her face couldn’t be any less convincing. “And you deserved that for almost drowning me.”

“It was conjured water you idiot, it already disape-"

BOOM

The walls shed their dust cover as they tremble caused by a deafening roar of the shockwave where the full might of the trap finally revealed itself. The local earthquake is followed by enough light and heat to help me imagine what standing face-to-face with Solaire could feel like.

The layout of the tunnels helps and my arcane blanket holds pretty well yet the warning is clear… One wrong move, a single hasty step and we’re very very dead.

“See? That’s why you shouldn’t just fool around.” I walk past Valka - hehe - acting like an adult with an unruly child.

Her face… it says it all. I really missed messing around with people.

***

Despite the perilous situation and the constant presence of beasts about as dangerous as a single rat we simply failed to take things deadly seriously. Even though things were literally dead serious.

The endless stone corridors we passed were home to mostly bugs and smaller rodents along with snakes and weird mole-like plant creatures. We even found a small meadow where nature invaded this underground place through a crack in the wall but other than filling our water reserves from a cute little pond there it wasn’t of much help.

I wasn’t comfortable with digging ourselves out, not because I was scared the tunnel I’d make would collapse, not only that but mostly because I lost track of how deep we’d wandered. A map sounded like an obvious solution and I really did try making one on the back of a random slave contract with some dirt and water but this only confirmed my suspicion.

The steps and directions simply don’t add up, nor do any markings I leave behind, be that dead bodies or a literal hole in the wall, and lastly the reason why the traps don’t seem to be magical.

“I never thought I’d say this in real life because it just sounds stupid but I think this place is constantly rearranging itself.” I break the news to Valka who skillfully observed many times already how incredibly long this… whatever this place is.

Not once did we see a room, like an actual room that was not a collapsed pitfall trap or a segment of the wall slamming at us like a trapdoor. It’s all just one infinite corridor. Except that also does not add up because space magic of this scale would require more mana than I’ve seen in my life. Every second.

“You’re telling me the walls just move every time we don’t look?” I don’t appreciate Valka’s sarcastic tone, nor the doubtful eyes but that’s the only idea I have at this point. So I nod. “Uhum… so what now?”

That’s the big question, isn’t it? No element or perception Skill can help me divine our path, especially because I have no idea where even… Where anything is…

“You said you have a good hearing, are you sure everything is quiet?” I ask once more before picking the only difference I found between corridors. The loudness of the mana pulses.

“Beside your bitching and the rats hiding in the cracks? Nothing.” I’m clearly not the only one sick and tired of wandering aimlessly. Still, rude.

“Fine, don’t blame me if this doesn’t work.” I sigh and start walking back to where we came from.

“That’s where we-”

“I know, just… don’t question it.” I really don’t need her to point out the obvious. “Either this or digging our way out.”

Right after the first turn we take the noise changes, coming from behind this time. So I spin on my heels again only to find a path straight forward that wasn’t there a second ago and start walking in that direction. Soon we reach a cross-section where both to the left and right the echoes are about the same volume… So I turn right, then left, then left again which is already fucked up before walking straight for a while.

“You’re lost, aren’t you?” Valka’s grumpy comment is almost refreshing after too many minutes of silence.

“We were lost from the start, it’s not like it can get any worse.” And at least I’m not completely useless.

Okay, she did kinda save me today so I can’t really complain. Surviving in ancient ruins and dealing with traps was never part of my curriculum, and I highly doubt it is a common skill in the first place. Like, other than to hide why would anyone build extensively underground?

Okay, that sounds exactly like something gangs and other illegal businesses would do…

“Stop, turn again.” I still have not caught a glimpse of how this place rearranges itself, but I swear I’ll tear it down if that’s what it takes to reveal the secrets.

It’s almost as if the corridors can sense where I’m looking and are playing a little hide and seek with me.

“Why do we have to go back again.” We begin to walk back to where we came from accompanied by some whining only for the noise to play games with me again.

I stop and Valka miraculously takes the first step towards developing mind reading. “It’s behind us again, isn’t it?”

How? What sick fuck designed this place?

***

We had to walk backward… Then walk some more… then deliberately fall to the bottom of a pitfall trap and lastly walk through what seemed like a completely solid stone wall. This last one filled me with hope because it was finally the work of magic and not some bullshit tripwire or sinking floortile those mad builders used to create this labyrinth.

“Should I be happy or worried?” Valka asks right after we step through the illusion to a corridor illuminated by yellow star-shaped crystals all over the ceiling.

At this point, I can barely hear a word she says. Not that I mind after listening to her bitch for hours but even that would be better than these sharp pulses that are making my ears ring.

“Would you rather go back to the tunnels or see what we have here?” I know I just wasted a lot of breath and words instead of just saying shut up and walk but that’s just how I am.

Needless to say, we proceed even more carefully now, checking every crack in the walls and putting all the goof on a dark shelf in the back of our minds. All the traps we encountered until now failed to kill us for two simple reasons. One, they were so old that it’s a miracle some of them still went off, and two, we were lucky.

This place seems well-maintained and clean. Even the air feels more refreshing here as I take one deep calming breath after another.

“Do you think-” Valka tries to chit chat, a different way of coping with stress.

“Sssh!” But I’m not up for it.

From the moment we stepped through the wall three doors were visible right across with five more along the corridor lit by artificial stars. Unlike the endless decrepit tunnels outside the walls here are adorned by carvings depicting a serpent wrapped around what looks like a lake, a tree with roots holding continents, and a mountain touching the stars.

I guess whoever made this must’ve been fond of drugs.

There’s also what I can only guess to be writing below the images. Blocky and snaking lines glowing blue and… I can’t read it. I’ve seen human, elves, gnomish and even dwarven letters but this is unlike any of them.

Reaching the first door to our left my eyes meet with Valka’s and I point to the weird gnarly handle with my head. You go! The message is obvious and so is the reluctance on her face.

The mimicry conversation then goes something like this: Why me? What do you mean why, you muscle head? You can spot the traps! And you’re the one who can survive them.

I like the company but I value my own life a little higher.

“Rock paper scissors!” I declare just to be fair.

Many believe it to be a game of pure luck but Victor explained to me in great lengths just how wrong that assumption on mine was.

We’re surrounded by stone, and judging by her hair she’s never seen a scissor in her life… I’ve got this in the bag.

“Rock, paper-” I start the play but it seems like the stress was simply too much for someone.

“Ah, fuck it!” Valka yells bashes the door in, rushing into the room like a charging beast.

Not what I meant by checking the room… Rushing in like that is basically asking to be ambushed.

“It’s empty.” She declares the obvious as I enter right behind her.

Well, not completely empty. Smashed furniture, decaying sheets of cloth, pots and other tableware… Someone used to live here. The items vary greatly in size, as if some of them were made for adults while others were used by children. And the quality is also all over the place.

A quick yet careful scavenging run yields us a few cups, forks and knives although I doubt they’d be able to hold their ground against a chewy cut of meat as rusty as they are. The other rooms offer just as little with most valuables probably already taken and the rest smashed for good measure.

Not that we’re here for any treasure, a staircase upwards is all I’m asking for.

This leaves the last three doors. The big ones. Their surface is like a mirror, made of some silver-like metal with a purplish hue. They all have the same five symbols on their surface depicting what I can only guess are fire, wind, earth and water… But something from their center is missing. A circular indent shimmering with a cold light, as if yearning for something.

“I see no handles.” Valka gives the one on the left a slight push but even after throwing all her might against it the door doesn’t even budge.

Yeah, no handle. The noise on the other hand… It’s coming behind the door to the right, I can feel it.