Trapped in a Game Pt. 04

I withdrew some of the food I'd stored from earlier and ate, before retrieving my sleeping gear and setting up a tent.

As I went about my business however, Dana kept studying me with guarded curiosity.

"Seriously? You're gonna rest?" she asked, and I rolled my eyes, ignoring her question as I proceeded to prepare some alarm rituals on either side of the pathway.

Truthfully, I wasn't entirely convinced that such preparation was necessary, but wasting a few materiel components to screw with her after all of the problems that she'd caused seemed more than worth it.

She wrapped her arms about herself, as a feeling of unease began to set in.

"W-why are you doing that..." she stuttered, her show of indifference beginning to give way. "D-do you think there's something down here?"

"Who designs a maze in a video game without a monster?" I responded in my best imitation of Serra's matter-of-fact tone, and Dana immediately stood up from her resting spot against the wall, and began to approach me gingerly.

"M-maybe we should stick together," she mumbled, glancing around warily, and I shrugged as I settled in to get some rest.

"Keep watch- and I'll do the same for you after," I muttered, and she made a soft whimpering sound as I closed my eyes and turned on my sleep function for a four-hour nap.

While my fall had damaged me significantly, Dana's healing had brought my health points back up a bit, so a short rest was more than enough to get me back to full strength.

When my alarm eventually roused me, I woke up to find Dana sitting in front of my tent, and tossing pebbles absently down the pathway to the north.

"Hey," she mumbled, as I stirred on my sleeping mat.

As I crawled out of the tent then stretched a bit, my virtual muscles seemed to cry out achingly from the fall damage that I'd taken earlier.

It was so strange.

Our character's bodies healed with superhuman speed, but they still ached and pained afterwards in a way that was eerily human.

"So how was your watch? Any monsters to report?" I asked teasingly, and she made a clicking sound with her tongue in disapproval.

She shuffled away from the tent and then lay back on the ground, gazing off into the darkened space above.

"Just us and how much ever time it takes before someone finds a way to get to us."

As time wound on, the feeling of worry began to creep back into my heart and a couple of times when Dana's attention was elsewhere I quickly tried to get messages through to Kelly and Serra, but to no avail, so I decided instead to pass the time by reading through some of the guides that were available in game.

"You don't really think there's something in here, do you?" Dana asked, as she surveyed the walls about us. "I keep getting the feeling that something's watching me."

"It's probably just your imagination." I muttered dismissively, hiding a little smile.

It was sure easy to get to her, I thought, but Dana didn't seem convinced, as she continued to study the walls apprehensively, never straying too far from the tent.

"There! What was that?" Dana asked, and I dismissed my reading materiel before glancing over to where she was staring.

"What was what?" I asked, as I surveyed the length of the wall and saw nothing but the barren rock face that we'd fallen past.

"Just wait," she added, holding up a hand as she turned her ear to the wall, but despite her insistence I heard and saw nothing.

"I don't hear..."

*Krrrrrrrooooooooonnnnnnnngggg!

I leapt to my feet midsentence as without warning, my alarm spell went off, and Dana shrieked as she dashed to me.

Dana's hands were wrapped tightly around me, and she was shaking like a leaf.

She continued to clutch onto me as I remained on alert for several more minutes, but at last, the tension in the atmosphere began to dissipate, and Dana eventually relaxed, easing her grip on my shoulder.

"Is it gone-?"

"Look out!" I cried out, as a long, wicked claw suddenly shot out of the wall to my left, near to where the alarm spell had been triggered, slashing at us menacingly.

I shoved Dana hard, throwing us in opposite directions and out of the way of the intended slash, and she let out a wailing scream as a monstrous looking creature began to emerge from the wall in front of her, a shadowy aura radiating from it.

It stood over eight feet tall, it's faceless head swiveling unnaturally as it advanced on spiny, bone like legs and brandishing a pair of clawed upper limbs

I drew my rapier as Dana continued to shriek in terror.

"Get up!" I called to her, but she was terror-struck, and as I darted at the monster poised to attack, he slashed at her, tearing a gash across her torso before my rapier clashed with the second appendage, deflecting it out of the way.

Dana cried out in pain, and I lunged at the creature with my rapier trying to draw its attention away from her, but to my utter shock, I fell flat on my knees as the weapon passed harmlessly through its black, spiny frame.

"Shit," I cursed, and the creature immediately made another slash at me, and as I rolled out of the way, I placed my hand on the ground and chanted, "earth tremor!"

But to my further shock the earth refused to shake, and I barely managed to roll out of the away again as the creature made another swipe.

"Sonic blast!" I yelled, and this time the spell threw the creature completely off balance mid-attack, and I stowed my rapier as I dashed towards Dana and pulled her roughly to her feet.

She was holding her hands painfully over her ears, and I grasped her by the hem of her robes and pulled her with me as I darted down the corridor, away from the monster.

"What is that thing?"

"I don't know, just run!" I yelled.

I chanced a backward glance as we ran, and to my relief the monster didn't seem to be chasing; but my relief was short lived as the creature's claw suddenly emerged not from behind but from the side, and I grabbed Dana, and rolled away from the wall just as the wicked appendage sliced across the narrow passageway.

"Ngh!" she cried out, as the claw disappeared right back into the wall; but the assault had just begun, as several spear-like protrusions shot out of the wall at us.

I rolled out of the way of the first two, but with Dana in my arms I was slow, and the third grazed the exposed skin on my right shoulder before the forth struck me directly in the back.

It didn't pierce my leather armor, but the blow left me reeling, and I stared on helplessly as the creature began to emerge from the wall again.

It can attack at will, but emerging from the wall takes time, I noted, as I hung onto Dana, half-hobbling and half-pushing her down the corridor.

Third left, fourth right, all the way to the end then left; I struggled to keep a mental note of our path in hopes of preventing us from becoming completely and hopelessly lost.

Left, left, two down, right, third left, fifth right.

"What the hell is that thing?" Dana asked, panting heavily, as we came to a pause after rounding a few quick bends.

"Might be a displacer beast, I'm not sure" I muttered in between pants, withdrawing my water tankard and taking a quick sip in hopes of regenerating enough stamina to keep running.

Serra had made me study the game manual and examine every creature known to exist in the game; but this thing? The displacer beast was a close fit, but there were differences that I couldn't account for.

Why didn't it have a face?

And more importantly, why couldn't my rapier land a hit?

It seemed to have a corporeal form, yet the blow had gone right through it.

"I really fucking hate this game!"

She spoke the words a bit more loudly than the hushed tones we'd been speaking in, and almost on cue the monster's shadowy presence began to envelop us.

"Are you kidding me?" Dana cried out, and I pulled her close to me just as spikes began to shoot out of the wall, aimed directly at where she'd just been standing.

Interesting I thought, and as she tried to turn to start running, I pulled her to me again.

"What the fuck-?"

"Shh," I whispered, as I put my hand over her mouth, "just play along."

I turned as I pulled her with me to the opposite wall, shielding her with my own body, and sure enough two more spikes shot at the spot where we'd been moments before.

Dana's eyes were locked onto me, wide with terror, but to my relief she didn't resist and remained at my side, clutching my shirt tightly as the creature began emerging once more.

I withdrew three bronze ball-bearings from my inventory, and as the creature emerged I threw one of them down the corridor, on the other side from where we stood, and it immediately turned and slashed at the item with its claw; but the distraction was only momentary as it turned back to us, and aimed a slash at us just as I rolled, with Dana in tow, out of the way.

"Wha- hey!" Dana complained as I let go of her mid-roll.

I shot her an apologetic glance as I got to my feet, before facing the creature and drawing my broadsword from my inventory, instead of my usual rapier.

The creature took one step towards me before slashing at me, and as I parried the blow I tossed the other bearing at the creature's spiny frame, and to my relief it bounced off of it.

Just to make sure though, I thought, I lifted my hand and in an exaggerated movement of making an attack, I tossed the final ball-bearing at the monster, and this time I noted a subtle shimmer in its appearance as the ball went through it's body, and hit the wall behind it.

"What in hell?" Dana muttered-

"Sonic blast!" I yelled, and the creature shrieked, backing off slightly as I grabbed Dana's hand and quickly pulled her with me down the corridor, taking a quick series of turns.

Left, third right, two corridors down, then right; I noted the corridors as we ran for a little bit before I pulled Dana to a stop again.

She was about to speak when I cut her off.

"Shh," I muttered in a hushed whisper, trying to catch my breath before continuing; "speak softly, I think it's tracking us with sound."

After drinking I offered my tankard to Dana who took a long swig as I pulled up my interface to again save the directions as a message.

"Shouldn't we be running?" she asked, despite continuing to pant from our all-out sprint, and again I shook my head.

"If we burn out our stamina only to run straight into it, we're done for. We need to figure out how to escape completely, or come up with a plan to take it on."

"You're fucking crazy," she muttered, as she took another drink, before adding between pants; "If we weren't about to die it'd be kind of hot."

"Please tell me you have the silence spell," I asked, ignoring her comment, and as she shot me a telling look of disappointment I breathed out a heavy sigh.

Dana tensed as the creature's shrieking cry came from somewhere off to our left, so I pulled up my character interface to send a message to her:

"What offensive spells do you have?"

I kept my eye out for the creature's shadowy aura as she typed her response:

"Light shackles, radiant light, blindness, curse."

I sighed.

My heart sank as none of those spells were of much use in our current situation.

I was wracking my brain trying to come up with something else, when another message came.

"Oh, and thunderclap," she added, and as my worried face broke into a broad smile, I pulled her in for a rough bear hug.

"What was that for?" she asked in a whisper, and I quickly relayed my plan.

***

"You're crazy," she muttered for the fifth time since we'd started putting our plan into action, but to my relief she was still going along with my suggestion so I couldn't complain.

"Ready?" I asked, and she took a deep breath, steadying herself, before nodding, and I placed a hand on her shoulder before muttering, "Thaumaturgy."

"Come get us, you stupid fuck!" Dana yelled at the top of her voice, and I winced a little as the words, amplified by my spell, echoed loudly through the corridors, and after a brief pause a loud shrieking call came echoing back to us.

"Ok, go!" I called, and she reluctantly stepped away from me, before heading shakily down the corridor to get into position, where she threw Serra's chameleon cloak over herself.

"Illusion," I chanted, quickly creating a series of platforms, giving solid form to each platform as I leapt from one to another.

Fuck.

I cursed internally as I stumbled a bit, trying to get a stable foothold on the slick, rocky cliff side.

My initial plan had been to use my 'mold earth' spell to create the platforms needed to climb, and create a stable place to stand, but for some reason none of the earth related magic I possessed seemed to be working here.

It made me think that maybe this was an elemental plane where the earth was materially different from that of our plane, but I had little time to think about it now.

I gulped nervously as I looked down from my shaky little foothold, standing at least fifty feet from the ground, then took one final deep breath before dismissing the illusion that was my only lifeline.

My fingers whitened as I gripped onto the rocky protrusion for dear life, before raising my other hand to cast the 'Major illusion' spell, projecting a tangible illusion of Dana and myself, standing below and appearing ready for combat.

'Major illusion.'

It was my class's upgrade to the minor illusion spell, which allowed me to make flawless copies of anything I'd seen or could imagine, along with the scents, voices, and even the subtle mannerisms of whoever of whatever I wanted to conjure.

Please don't see me, I thought to myself, as I focused all of my concentration on maintaining the illusion below, and trying to ignore my own vulnerable state, clinging helplessly onto to this little ledge.

A loud roar echoed from below, and I looked on with bated breath as the shadowy figure began to emerge from the wall.

"Get behind me, I'll protect you!" my mirror image uttered heroically to Dana, and as soon the creature emerged fully from the wall, I focused on making the copies take defensive maneuvers.

Now! I sent the message to Dana, and without hesitation she emerged from her hiding spot.

"Thunderclap!" she cried out, and a thunderous boom emanated from her outstretched hand, its effect magnified as the sound waves reverberated painfully across the narrow chasm.

The creature fell to its knees, wailing as it clutched at the sides of its faceless head, and I smiled as the flickering form of its body seemed to shimmer into a solid shape.

With my rapier in hand, the 'enchant weapon' imbuement already cast on it, I took a deep breath in preparation for what I was about to attempt.

As I glanced down I noted Dana's eyes on me, a worried expression of concern on her face.

Please be as good as Serra! I thought, as I held firmly onto a rocky protrusion on the wall, before taking aim at the monster below:

"Catapult!" I yelled, and I went flying from the wall with incredible speed.

Please don't miss, I prayed, as I came hurtling towards the fiend, my rapier poised to strike.

"Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh!" I screamed as I thrusted the blade forward, and the very ground beneath the monsters feet seemed to scream as I collided with it, erupting the earth into a shattered mess of rubble, and creating a veritable crater where I'd struck.

As soon as I hit the floor, Dana cried out in pain, and though my own body was reeling from the force of the impact, I looked over at her and noted that her form was cloaked in a shimmering white aura.

Guardian angel, I thought.

It was the ultimate protective spell which allowed the caster to absorb a significant amount of the damage done to those that they had designated under their protection.

Catapulting into the ground from that height might very well have killed me had I mistimed my strike, but by sharing the damage between us, Dana had protected me from the possibility of death.

I rolled over in my pit of shattered stone, catching my breath, then poked at the fallen creature beside me, making certain that it had in fact met its demise, before daring to let out a little mad laugh.

Dana screwed her face up at me, but as I stared up at the never ending darkness through which we'd fallen, an almost insane burst of laughter came from my lips, and as I laughed she eventually joined in.

"You and that girl... you really killed all those things without cheating, huh," she muttered, after the high of our insane laughter faded, before continuing; "Jeez, you two must be fucking nuts."

I sat up, then smiled to the invisible heavens.

"She's the crazy one... I just follow orders."

"Uh-huh... hey, what is that?" Dana asked, and I followed her movements as she sifted through some of the rubble and retrieved what appeared to be a stone of a deep purple color.

"Precious stone?" I asked, and she nodded as she inspected it.

"Fucking huge though, never seen one this big."

"Well... let's hope it's worth a fortune," I muttered.

"How do we split it? Fifty-fifty?" she asked, putting a finger to her lips cheekily, and I rolled my eyes as I waved her off dismissively.

"Obviously."

"You're serious?" she asked, studying me incredulously, and I glanced back at her, unsure of what she was getting at.

"What, did you think I'd let you keep it all for yourself?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Uh- no... I'm kinda surprised you'd split any of it with me at all."

I scratched my head, before getting up and dusting myself off a bit.

"Well- we need to get out of here alive before we can start counting our eggs anyway." I muttered, but as I got up I noticed that she was still holding onto the rock and staring at me perplexedly.

"What?"

"Nothing," she muttered, before quickly getting up and stowing away the stone.

Following my directions we managed to make it back to the spot where we'd first landed when we came into this labyrinth, and we quickly ate and got set up to rest.

"So- uh, what now?" Dana asked, and I gazed up the wall face in front of us as I pondered our situation a bit.

"I dunno," I muttered absently in response.

Our original plan was to wait here, but it was now safe to assume that if anyone was coming to get us, they would have done so by now.

We did, after all, fall through a collapsing dimension door, so the entry point may no longer be usable.

But was there any point in travelling aimlessly through a labyrinth?

With my elemental conversion spell we would have access to water, but our food supply was limited and sooner or later we'd run out of tents leaving us with no safe space to rest.

And that wasn't even considering that the monster might not have been the only one.

Hell- it might not even be the worst thing in here.

"You're seriously letting me keep that stone, aren't you," she noted, and I sighed again before responding with exasperation:

"What's the big deal?"

"Do you even realize you're in a death game? There are people who would kill you for much much less..."

"Uh-huh. And I guess I should be like them too, huh?"

She snickered, and I tried to ignore her as I continued to ponder our situation.

"So that's why those two are fawning all over you, huh. You're all 'mister nice guy' and they go nuts. Probably even risked your life to save them a few times?"