A Soldier's Life - 333 - A Long Way Down

Chapter 333: A Long Way Down

We climbed back up to our shelter as night settled across the mountain. The thermal stone heated the cave, and the waves became a solid block of ice from the diffused heat of the thermal stone. While Konstantin and Navek expressed some excitement about exploring the depths of the chasm, I didn’t quite share their explorer’s outlook.

I studied my spell form in the dreamscape for a few hours before taking the watch from Konstantin. Without his ring of sustenance, Maveith snored contentedly through the night. It also meant Konstantin and I were the only ones on watch during the night.

When the sun started to rise, my companions stirred with it. We packed up the shelter—or I should say I stored most of our gear. We were soon navigating down the cliff's other side to reach the chasm's opposite side. The soft blue glowstones were still there, and it was easy to find a landing about fifteen feet down from the ledge. The stairs didn’t extend all the way to the top of the fissure, as a sheet of ice dominated the area.

The morning sun's reflection off the snow and ice was blinding, and Konstantin urged us to hurry. We soon all stood on the landing below, slightly warm air pulsing up from below while drips of water fell all around the crevice. The steps looked like they had been chewed into the rock, with jagged edges.

As we gathered ourselves, Maveith commented, “They are large steps, like they were made for a giant.”

Raelia studied the wall. “They were not carved by a man’s hand. I think they were carved by massive claws.”

There were not many possibilities, and Navek voiced one of them, “A dragon?”

“Possibly,” Raelia said, “But whatever carved the stone, it was a long time ago.”

Pools of water and signs of erosion were evident, so I nodded in agreement. “How long can dragons live?” I looked dubiously down into the pit.

“There is a saying among my people: let sleeping dragons lie,” Maveith mumbled, getting uncomfortable.

“We have a similar tale among my people of a foolish elf who stole a dragon egg. The dragon then laid waste to every city in five hundred miles, killing hundreds of thousands of elves, humans, and dwarves,” Raelia said in a whisper.

“There is no dragon. We will explore far enough down until it becomes unpassable. Keep your bow strung,” Konstantin muttered to Maveith and scrambled down the rocky steps. Navek tailed behind, keeping an eye for danger from above.

The opening above us shrank smaller and smaller, much too quickly for my liking. Water dripping from above was unavoidable, and soon, we were all soaked. Thankfully, the air temperature was mild. I noted that Raelia was wearing a ring of warmth. We were all experienced and relatively quiet on the spiraling descent. I pulsed my earth speak as we descended but didn’t get any unusual feedback.

Konstantin had paused ahead, looking at a large pile of scat. Navek and Maveith joined him as they studied it intently. Watching the three hunters so fascinated by the pile of shit was amusing to me. It was relatively dry, and they sifted through it, discussing what they found. “Manticore?” I voiced my guess as they finished their examination investigation.

“Giant goat, and the seeds and grasses are not found on the mountain. The giant goats likely originated in the dungeon,” Konstantin said matter-of-factly. Navek nodded in excited agreement as this was another sign we would likely find access to the dungeon below.

As we continued our descent, we found a few rusted manticore tail spikes in the rocks, but nothing recent. We also found shattered remnants of the blue glowstones Maveith had tossed, the smaller the fragment, the less light it gave off. We hadn’t encountered a span we couldn’t cross easily enough, so Konstantin urged us cautiously downward.

The light above was just a prick of light now, and my group had glowstones out for light. The water now only ran along the walls instead of dripping on us, but the change was unlikely to help us get dry. I didn’t like the fact that the glowstones we carried were a beacon in the darkness. There were horrid monsters in the Endless Dark, and as we descended, we were getting closer and closer to that realm.

The fissure started narrowing and twisting as the pinprick of light above disappeared as we corkscrewed deeper and deeper. I began to think hunting the manticores in the jungle and open cliffs was not so bad. Konstantin found some old bones that everyone agreed belonged to one of the giant goats.

When we paused to eat, a quiet discussion ensued. “How far down have we come?” I asked.

Maveith answered, “It has been half a day, we are at least halfway down the mountain, but we still have not found most of the blue stones.” Maveith’s had an uncanny time sense, so I nodded.

I edged over and looked, and all I could see was a pit of darkness. “We should rest here,” I said as the fatigue was growing among us. “I don’t like being on the open stairs, so I will create an alcove for us.” There was no disagreement, and I removed a massive block of stone. I considered dropping it into the crevice but instead deposited it on the steps when my aether recovered. I did this two more times, having to wait for my aether to recover because of the mass, to provide us with a small alcove to shelter in. “I will stand watch but cover your glowstones.”

Navek explored the ten-foot-deep alcove and nodded to me in respect. He had already seen me do something similar with our ice shelter. Revealing my abilities to the goliath hunter was not my first choice, but doing everything I could to make sure we were safe trumped my reluctance. The others were appreciative of my contribution, and Konstantin muttered something about wasting my potential.

I settled into the entrance as the others settled down for a rest on the stone shelves I created. When the glowstones winked out, I shifted aether to my eyes and kept on alert. I didn’t feel it was time to study my spell form in the unfamiliar environment. My mind kept drifting to the possibility that there was a dragon at the bottom of this hole. How large would such a creature have to be to claw out the wide staircase? And why would a dragon care about a staircase? They could fly.

The sound of water streams echoed in the hole, and I started to hear other things, faint sounds, echoing from below—or maybe above—or maybe I was imagining them. I thought I saw a flash of movement headed up—or maybe down, but was not confident enough to leave the alcove and get a better view. Maveith’s light snoring was comforting, knowing he was behind me.

The hours passed in darkness, and Konstantin was the first to awaken, followed immediately by Raelia. I took the opportunity to get an hour or two of sleep myself. Raelia woke me, and we continued our descent. The stairs started to become difficult to pass with larger and larger stone debris on them. It was also more difficult to stay silent as a group as stones shifted and tumbled down the stairs when you traversed them.

One such stone caused a minor chain reaction, causing a number of stones to tumble off the stairs below. We all froze and listened. The stones bounced a few times before splashing sounds echoed up to us. That couldn’t have been too far below, and if there were water below, the remaining glowstones would have sunk to the bottom.

We waited for something to happen, but nothing came from below or above. The next hour took us to the bottom of the stairs, and a large pool of slow-moving greeted us. “We should be close to the base of the mountain. This water must join the Giltara River,” Navek speculated.

The water reflected the glowstone's light, making it seem like a black flowing pool. The river was not wide, perhaps thirty feet across, and the far shore had strange shadows, suggesting a possible passage. Pulsing my earth speak, I sensed that the slow-moving water was less than five feet deep. “Do we cross?” Maveith’s voice echoed like we were at the bottom of a well.

“Eryk?” Konstantin looked at me.

I was beginning to feel some claustrophobia, but my mind set aside those thoughts. “The water isn't deep, but you can all follow me across. Just quickly follow in my footsteps. The air shields only last about twelve heartbeats.” And that was how we crossed the subterranean river.

The passage on the far side was a wide, mostly round tunnel. The walls appeared somewhat smooth, and Navek found something that resembled writing. We all huddled around the scratches on the wall as we tried to read the writing. “It’s stone giant…” Maveith said after a time. “I only recognize a few words. Flight—or fly. And sky—or up.”

“Didn’t the manticore that we fought speak stone giant?” I recalled.

Maveith nodded emphatically, “It did, but not very well. These marks are much older than the bull was—but perhaps the manticores are like the elven shapeshifting children we encountered and remember their past when the dungeon recreates them.”

“The manticores we killed did all look alike,” Raelia stated, inspecting the walls. “What do you think made this tunnel?”

Maveith looked at the rounded passage that was maybe fifteen feet in diameter and said, “I have been told there are enormous worms that burrow through the Endless Dark, making passages. Maybe one such creature created this.”

“Progress should be quicker in this tunnel,” Konstantin offered brightly. It looked like we were going to continue the exploration, with only myself feeling apprehensive the further we travelled from the surface.

“At least there was no dragon at the bottom of the well,” I mumbled.

Maveith looked at the modest tunnel and said cheerfully, “Maybe we will find a small dragon.” Raelia laughed, her voice echoing as she understood my humor.

As we traveled, the passage clearly sloped downward. We encountered a series of intersections, but at each one, there was engraved script in stone that helped us stay on track. The thrill of exploring the unknown made time fly by. At one intersection, we discovered bone splinters, dried blood, and fur, most likely from a goat.

A thought occurred to me as we continued. We were most definitely below sea level by now, and on an island. Why hadn’t these tunnels been flooded with salt water? I didn’t voice my thoughts to my companions, but it layered a new fear onto me.

When I was in the middle of the group, I began cycling the spell forms for mind fortress in my head to distract myself while intermittently pulsing earth speak. I knew I had been close to imprinting the spell form, so when I felt my aether core take the new spell form, I was not surprised but extremely giddy.

I paused in my steps to channel aether through it like I did with my slow aging. It took a moment to get a feel for dividing the aether bleed through both spell forms at once, but when I succeeded, it felt like a weight had been lifted off my mind. My worries about being crushed, eaten by a dragon, and drowned by the tunnels flooding with seawater were suddenly gone. No—not gone, but all the anxiety and fear had been turned off.

I turned off the spell form, and those feelings slowly returned but were not nearly as intense. I turned back on the spell form and felt my thoughts crystalize. I wondered if this spell form synergized with the amulet of clarity. Now was not the time to experiment as the aether shield amulet was much more welcome in my current circumstance.

We paused for another break at an intersection, and I distributed food to the others while Maveith attempted to decipher the scrawl on the wall. We had been heading steadily downward for hours and, fortunately, had not encountered any horrors I had read about that resided in the Endless Dark.

I knew Maveith had learned little about the stone giant language from an ancient monolith in his clan’s village. Goliath’s used to be subservient to the Titans, helping them build wonders. The monolith was a relic from that time. “Maveith, try this,” I said, seeing my friend struggle. I handed him the amulet of clarity. He recognized it from the Shimmering Labyrinth. The silver chain barely fit around his thick neck and didn’t resize when he channeled aether into it. His emerald pupils dilated, and surprise crossed his face

“What is it?” Maveith asked some awe in his voice.

“An amulet of clarity. Crafters treasure it, but it may help you read the manticore writings,” I said. Raelia was looking at me, her eyes narrowing slightly. Konstantin looked at me similarly, but his face was less scolding than Raelia’s. I hadn’t told them about the amulet yet. I would have gotten around to it—eventually.

“I think we are close to the source,” Maveith announced, breaking the other’s focus on me. “The writing says to trust the directions, and they will take you to the surface. Or something close to that,” he said excitedly. “I remembered parts of lessons from long ago with this,” he said, fingering the amulet.

“Keep it until we find access to the dungeon,” I said. I could already tell Raelia wanted to try the artifact as well, wanting in her eyes.

In the next hour, we crossed two more intersections before Raelia suddenly stopped in front. She held up her hand, and Konstantin asked irritably in a whisper, “What do you see?”

“Nothing,” she replied. “But I suddenly felt a rush of aether and—unwelcome.” I moved to stand beside Raelia, ready for a fight, and felt the same thing. The aether was slightly thicker, easier to draw in. I sensed a pressure on my mind as well, my mind fortress spell form responding to something.

I knew what this was—we had entered the domain of a dungeon.

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