23: Riyan's Dome Of Horrors

To both Vir and Maiya, the past week had felt like an idyllic dream. With Riyan holed up in the training dome, they had the vast abode to themselves, and Vir enjoyed the experience far more than he’d expected.

He’d never felt that way when Rudvik had left him alone to go lumberjacking expeditions into the Godshollow for days at a time… Maybe it had to do with the size and opulence of Riyan’s home.

Plus, there was just something undeniably special about hidden underground homes.

Their instructor had locked himself within the training dome, sawing, hammering, and doing who-knew-what all day, every day. At night, he’d retreat straight to his room. The two went entire days without spotting him, and they wondered whether the man even ate, since they never saw him in the kitchen either.

But that didn’t mean they slacked off on their training. They knew full well what would happen if Riyan discovered that they’d taken things easy, so they had practiced diligently under the heat of the desert sun outside, each and every day. When the stifling heat became unbearable, they retreated to the living room—the one with the sandy floor—shuffling sofas around to give them enough space to duel.

Neel had initially watched each fight with rapt enthusiasm, but he’d eventually grown bored with the spectacle. The bandy now napped happily on a sofa nearby.

Their duels followed a pattern, where Maiya won less and less often these days. Her rate of progress simply couldn’t compare to Vir’s. Realizing that stamina was his weakness, Vir had developed several tactics to bring their duels to a close quickly.

When he’d started winning consistently, Maiya become dejected, putting less and less effort into each fight. Which, of course, only made Vir’s victories even easier. At one point, their battles had devolved into entirely one-sided affairs.

Easy fights were of no use to Vir or Maiya, so Vir had agreed to use handicaps: the duel had to last five minutes or it’d be Vir’s loss, or Vir would use only his left hand. The list went on. Vir found it exhilarating, and Maiya won often enough to keep her morale high, so their battles once again became ferocious and competitive.

“My win,” Maiya proudly proclaimed as she stood above Vir in Riyan’s sandy living room, her foot on his chest, katar aimed at his throat. Their latest fight had some pretty brutal restrictions for Vir. With his right hand tied behind his back and the duel’s minimum time set to ten minutes, it was little wonder he’d lost.

“Your win, Maiya,” Vir echoed, gasping for air. The beautiful sunset bathed the earthen room with a gorgeous orange light. “That was great, Maiya. Nice work. Now let’s go get washed off.”

The best part of the day was always the hot showers and grotto pool soaks that followed their intense battles. But the massages afterwards came a close second, in Vir’s mind.

“Who said you were done? Your day is not yet over,” Riyan proclaimed with arms crossed, his hands blackened and dirty.

His thundering voice startled Vir and Maiya—neither had noticed the man’s approach.

“How long have you been standing there?” Maiya said.

The tall man cracked a grin. “Since the start of your last duel. I see that these fights have become too easy for you. Good. I have something that will challenge you both.”

Their instructor looked as fierce as usual, but Vir thought he spied a bit of pride as well.

“Come with me,” he said, walking away at his usual brisk pace.

Vir exchanged a glance with Maiya. What’s he up to?

They followed. Curiosity spurred them as much as their fear of punishment did.

Vir’s excitement grew when he realized Riyan was leading them to the training dome. Maiya flashed him a smile; she’d come to the same realization.

We’re finally gonna see what he’s been up to!

Riyan stopped in front of the training dome’s doors before throwing them open and stepping inside.

Vir followed immediately, and the first thing he noticed upon entering was the lack of light. Or rather, the light from the myriad of Magic Candles was being occluded and reflected by… something. Something utterly massive.

Vir’s jaw hit the floor at the same time as Maiya’s did.

“What is this?” He said in awe.

The wooden structure Riyan had built spanned almost the entire width of the dome and reached up to its very ceiling. It stood over five stories tall. Vir still couldn’t make out what its purpose was.

“This is your new training room. From now on, you will spend your days navigating this obstacle course. You must cross the balancing beams and brave the rotating poles. You must dodge the swinging scythes and jump across the great gaps. This course is specifically designed to foster Talents. Apply yourselves diligently, and if you are capable of learning Talents, this course will help you manifest them.”

Vir grew excited, but his instructor’s next words killed any anticipation he had.

“Should you fall, ensure that you fall early in the course, while you are still close to the ground,” Riyan said, gazing up at the tallest part of the obstacle course, “because I cannot guarantee your lives if you break your neck falling from the roof.”

“This is barbaric!” Maiya objected. “No way. No way you’re subjecting Vir to this. We’d rather leave than go through this torture. You’re going to kill him!”

Riyan glanced across his shoulder at Maiya. “Oho? And what makes you think this is just for the boy? You think I spent my effort building this contraption to benefit only him? No. You will also take part.”

Color drained from Maiya’s face.

Vir knew exactly how she felt, because he felt the same way. This was a death trap.

The array of swinging scythes—while made of wood—would surely hurt them. The posts with the rapidly rotating wooden swords would be disastrous to get through. He couldn’t even see a safe path through them from down here, let alone chart a route through. And then there was the height. The floor of the dome may have been deep sand, but a fall from five stories above?

Vir gulped, craning his neck to stare up at the tallest parts of the structure. He grew dizzy merely looking at the thing.

We’re gonna die here. We’re so gonna die.…

He looked to Maiya, who lacked his dexterity and acrobatic prowess. If he was dreading this, then what hope did his clumsy friend have?

It seemed that she had arrived at the same conclusion herself.

Riyan observed them with a bemused expression. “There is a saying from the Age of Gods. A wise saying, and one that you would do well to remember. ‘Failure is the best teacher.’ Fail, and learn. But do try not to die. I have spent many resources putting all of this together for you. It would be the least you could do to thank me.”

“How could you possibly build all of this in a few days?” Maiya said, changing the topic, determined to quell her unease. Vir somehow doubted her tactic would do what she hoped it would.

“I merely reassembled what already once was. Magic helped, of course,” he said, tossing a utility orb in the air. “None of this would be possible without Lighten Load, Sharpen Edge, and several others.”

Sharpen Edge? Vir thought, taking another look at the rotating swords and the swinging scythes. All of a sudden, those seemingly benign wooden contraptions looked far more lethal to his eyes.

“Do not worry about keeping the orbs charged. I shall graciously handle that for you,” their instructor said with an evil smile. “You will attempt this course every day until you can clear it blindfolded.”

Blindfolded!? Vir did a double take. Impossible. Utterly impossible. Suicidal. For the first time since he’d started training under Riyan, he felt terror. True, abject terror.

He glanced at Maiya, who looked off into the distance with eyes glazed over, her fists tightly clenched.

Ah, Vir thought. So she’s already resigned herself.

“But I am not unreasonable. I would not blindfold you or replace the blades with real ones before you can successfully navigate it,” he said, walking toward the exit. “We can discuss course modifications after that.”

“Uh, Maiya? Did he just say ‘replace the blades with real ones? He did, didn’t he?”

“What, Vir?” Came Maiya’s weak reply. “Sorry, I was busy imagining all the ways I’d die. It’s been a good life, y’know?”

Vir ignored his suddenly nihilistic friend.

“Wait!” He shouted to his instructor, “You’re not going to show us how it’s done?”

Riyan dismissed his fear. “Failure is the best teacher.”

“Any tips?” Maiya asked, now fuming with anger.

Riyan turned and grinned. “I meant what I said. Don’t die. It truly took a great deal of effort to build. And I encourage you both to try all the different weapons in this room when engaging the course. While specializing in one weapon is useful, it is prudent to be familiar with them all. After all, one can never know when their enemy’s weapons will become their own.”

With those enigmatic words, their instructor left the room, leaving the two friends alone with his death contraption.

“Well,” Maiya said, “at least it’s sandy. It shouldn’t be too bad if we fall…” she looked up at the highest level of the course, “Yeah, no. We’re gonna die.”

Vir stared at his dear friend, who had lost her mind. “Thanks, Maiya. Very encouraging.”

Maiya failed to hear him. “How do you think these things move, anyway?” She asked, pointing to the rotating swords.

“Riyan said magic helped, right?”

“But I dunno if you can use magic to do these things. You see the little puffs of steam coming from the posts with the swords? I think some of this stuff is actually mechanical!” she said with fascination.

“Does it really matter, Maiya? Not like that makes it any less lethal.”

“No,” Maiya said, coming back to reality. “No, I suppose it doesn’t.”

Vir retrieved a wooden katar and a small buckler shield from the racks and equipped them.

“Well, here goes nothing.”

He ascended the five stairs to the first platform. The test was composed of three balancing beams, each five paces long and half a foot-width across. They were suspended by long pieces of rope that connected at their ends and tied to a horizontal log above. That log seemed to serve as part of the second level of the obstacle course, but Vir ignored that for now. One thing at a time.

Balance and acrobatics were his forte, so he held a bit of confidence for this first test.

Vir grasped the rope suspending the first beam and attempted to step onto it, but immediately discovered what made this test difficult. By holding the rope, he’d twisted the beam. Stepping onto it further magnified the torque, causing the beam to sway to a thirty-degree angle. Vir’s bare foot slipped off and he fell to the sand below, landing on his toes.

Maiya clapped slowly from the sidelines. “Bravo, Vir! Bravo! At this rate, you’ll finish in no time at all!”

“Don’t act like this doesn’t affect you!” Vir said.

“I know, I know,” she said with an exaggerated sigh. “I’m gonna make an even bigger fool of myself, I’m sure. That doesn’t mean watching you fall isn’t funny… As long as you don’t hurt yourself, of course.”

Vir shook his head and tried again. This time, he gently touched the rope suspending the beam, careful not to rely on it overly much.

It worked. He gingerly placed a foot on the beam, swaying slightly. Then another. Then he let go of the rope and extended his arms to the sides for balance. The beam threatened to sway and slip out from under him with every tiny motion, but he was pretty good at balancing on things. He took another step. Then another.

He finally made it to the other end of the beam and grabbed the rope on this side.

“Now comes the hard part,” he muttered. He had to transition to the next suspended beam, the second of three.

Vir paused, then carefully placed a foot on the next beam. He was now straddling both of them, putting him in a precarious situation as each beam moved separately. To keep his balance, he continuously worked the muscles in his legs, and they were quickly growing fatigued.

Wasting no time, he grasped the rope suspending the second beam and lifted his foot from the first one.

But he put slightly too much of his weight on the second beam’s rope, causing the beam to twist out from under him. Vir desperately tried to muscle himself upright, but he was simply too fatigued. His legs gave out and he once again hit the sand below, this time less gracefully. He hit shoulder first, and his head soon followed, sending crunchy grains into his mouth.

Vir spent the next several minutes attempting to spit the sand out of his mouth while Maiya tried—and failed—to contain her laughter.

“You think you’re hot stuff, huh?” he said. “Your turn.”

Maiya stopped laughing. She heaved another great sigh and plodded over to the stairs as if she was walking to her execution. She stood atop the platform and carefully placed her foot on the first beam.

“Don’t put too much weight on the rope,” Vir said.

Maiya promptly ignored his advice and grabbed the rope with both hands, clinging to it for dear life.

She fell, comically faceplanting into the sand.

Vir could only shake his head as she desperately tried to rid her mouth of sand.

He stared up at the death trap that his training dome had tragically mutated into. It was now a true dome of horrors.

What had they gotten themselves into?