V2Ch22-From Childhood’s Hour

Yulia Danailova felt nervous and excited at the same time as she approached the group.

They all looked so much more prepared than she felt. Jose Dante and his brother wore Mage and Healer robes respectively and wielded matching staves. Cara Dahlhaus wore Light Warrior armor. Detective DaSilva looked a bit like a tank in his Heavy Warrior gear. The other Warriors likewise bristled with armor and weapons. Even the other Mages and Healer of the group, despite having no armor, just looked more confident and ready for action than Yulia felt.

She was dressed in her warm Winter clothes and coat. She had her stave in her bag if she needed it, although Mina had suggested to her that a stick was an almost useless piece of equipment for a Mage or Healer. But she didn’t feel like an adventurer yet.

Going into a dungeon is just like talking to a boy you like, she told herself. You start out nervous, and then slowly it turns out that you didn’t need to be. She thought of her sister. Mina believes in you. You can do this. Her teeth chattered. And at least it will be warmer inside the dungeon. Probably.

She looked back to face her sister one more time. Mina gave her a smile, and Yulia returned it. From that distance, she won’t be able to tell how anxious I am. No take backsies!

When she turned back to the group, Yulia noticed that Jose was looking at her as if he knew what was going through her mind. The way he smiled, it felt almost as if he wanted to transmit his confidence to her. They had spoken a little during the last challenge while Mina was shooting targets, after Yulia caught him checking her out. He seemed sweet but a little shy. She hoped he wouldn’t be distracted from the dungeon.

Thinking more seriously about their situation, she placed a hand in her pocket, where she usually kept her crucifix. She sent out a quiet prayer: Dear Lord, please protect me as I descend into the Earth, as you protected Daniel in the lion’s den. Please protect Mina as she waits here alone, where I can’t reach her if she needs help. I know she doesn’t believe in you, but she is the best person I know. I don’t know what I would do without her. She cut the prayer short there with a quick Amen. She’d prayed for James and the rest of her family before she fell asleep last night, as well as herself, Mina, and their mother’s soul. But today, she felt that she and Mina needed it more than anyone else.

As the group began moving forward, she focused her mind on the cave.

Observing the group, Yulia thought that Detective DaSilva had noticed her—she was probably moving her lips while she prayed again.

But while she kept her faith private from Mina, who had a skeptical view of religion at best, she didn’t think she needed to hide it from the Detective. She’d seen the thin necklace he always wore, and she was pretty sure he was Catholic, like most Italian-Americans.

When their eyes met, he just smiled and touched the necklace where it dropped under his shirt. Where the image of Christ must be.

She smiled back, and then returned her focus to the cave.

It grew darker the deeper they walked, and quieter. The first part of the descent took place to the sounds of loudly dripping water. Then the dripping gradually became quieter and less regular. When Yulia looked back, she saw the cave entrance had become a light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel image.

Then the cave twisted, and the entrance moved out of sight completely. The darkness was almost complete.

Still, they moved forward. They no longer had a choice, since the proctor had mentioned they would be unable to leave without completing the dungeon. And at least the descent wasn’t too steep. If this was the most physically demanding part of the challenge, Yulia thought Mina would have managed. The air was better at this slightly lower elevation than it had been outside.

Yulia felt something cold touch the bottom of her neck, and she jumped half out her skin.

Everyone around her started at her sudden movement, and a few suddenly drew weapons.

“Are you alright, Yulia?” DaSilva asked in his rumbling voice.

“Yes, sorry,” she said meekly, looking down at her feet. “A drop of water landed on my neck.”

The droplet had rolled down the back of her shirt, and that was what told her that she wasn’t being attacked by some slimy monster. It was just water.

Everyone relaxed a bit, though the tension didn’t completely fade away.

A light appeared in the distance, and Yulia sensed that the challenge was about to really begin.

The whole group let out a collective sigh of relief, and the fear of the dark that had silently surrounded them began to dissipate.

They walked along until they were within sight of the light source. It was a brightly glowing orb—whether of Mana or something else, impossible for Yulia to say—affixed to the wall. It shone the vibrant orange color of torchlight. Beside it stood a stone door with writing inscribed on it. The cave looked to be a dead end at the door—unless you could pass through.

But it had no handle, and the stone looked dense and heavy to Yulia.

As they stepped closer to the door, she could see something was inscribed on it.

[From childhood's hour I have not been

As others were; I have not seen

As others saw; I could not bring

My passions from a common spring.

What am I?]

A riddle?! Oh, no! Is it too late to go back for Mina? Will we need to answer this to get through the door?

A figure stepped forward. Yulia saw it was Jose. He glanced back—At me? she thought—and then moved through the group and got up close to the door. And he simply tried to push it open.

It didn’t budge.

Oh. I thought maybe he knew.

“Urrggggh!” Jose threw himself against the door for another few seconds, grunting with exertion, before he gave up and turned away, his face downcast.

“Don’t feel bad,” she said quietly as he returned. But her voice was so soft that she wasn’t sure if he heard. He didn’t say anything back, and she didn’t want to repeat herself and embarrass him.

“Alone,” DaSilva pronounced quietly. The door began sliding open.

A few people looked at DaSilva in disbelief.

“It’s not a riddle,” he said. “It’s an Edgar Allan Poe poem. What, you guys thought I was just a pretty face?”

Yulia smiled. That lame dad joke sort of remark reminded her of James. And it seemed the group was in good hands even without Mina there this time.

DaSilva led the group through the door into a hall lit by torches. It still felt like a cave, but the walls were smoothed down as if thousands of hands had felt their way along it. And there was no longer a sound of dripping water accompanying them as they trudged forward into the depths.

As they all advanced into the hallway, the door suddenly slid shut behind them, and the torches flared up, illuminating the walls.

Inscribed on the right side wall was a message that hadn’t been visible before.

[Keep your heads!]

“What do you suppose that’s about?” The Detective asked. He leaned in closer to get a better look at the wall, and there was a sudden mechanical sound. Springs released, and a sudden spray of projectiles flew through the darkness.

DaSilva barely had time to turn his head. Arrows struck him in multiple places. Most of them clanged off his armor. One penetrated through the chainmail over his leg. And another hit a gap in his armor, at his armpit.

A last projectile flew forward: an ax that hurled itself at DaSilva’s neck!

But Jose leaped in from the side and blocked it with his stave. He couldn’t stop the axe’s momentum, but the axe ricocheted off and changed direction, slicing into the floor instead of DaSilva. Then it lay still.

Incredible! Yulia thought, eyes full of admiration. That was amazing. He didn’t hesitate at all! So brave! Jose cut a rather dashing figure when he was saving someone’s life.

She took a breath and also noted that the staves were not so useless after all. She opened her bag and quietly drew her own.

Jose’s weapon had been practically chopped in half by the collision with the axe. But it only needed to save your life, or someone else’s, once to justify its existence.

Everyone was nearly frozen for a few seconds.

Then DaSilva spoke.

“Looks like I triggered a trap.” He gestured toward his foot, which appeared to have sunk slightly into the ground. Some form of trigger set off by his weight. He nodded to Jose. “Thanks for saving my life, young man.” Speaking to the group as a whole, he added: “Everyone stand back, without stepping on anything that’s uneven with the ground like I did. I’m going to lift my foot, and I don’t know if it’ll trigger something else.”

I don’t know how he can keep so calm with two arrows sticking out of him, Yulia thought. But she hastened to follow his instructions.

The group stepped back. DaSilva took a step, and nothing happened.

They let out a collective sigh of relief.

The situation had momentarily calmed.

Yulia took a few steps forward to get a closer look at DaSilva’s wounds. Then she and Adelaide pulled the arrows out—the Detective barely grunted, although he looked very uncomfortable—and they began healing him with Laying On Hands. The wounds were a little deeper than they had looked at first, but under their magic, the flow of blood quickly slowed to a trickle.

As they worked, members of the group began debating what should happen next.

“Are we sure we want to continue?” Frank Davidson, by appearance the oldest member of the group, asked.

“What, we just wait this challenge out here?” Paulo, Jose’s brother, asked. “Hope the other groups share?!”

“Why not?” Frank replied. “Her sister already set the precedent.” He gestured at Yulia as he spoke. “Lots of people have already been sharing rations! Someone will surely be receptive to sharing something with the group that started the trend.”

“Frank has a point,” Adelaide agreed without looking up from her work next to Yulia. “We almost lost a teammate just now, if not for Jose’s quick action.”

“We should just wait here,” Karen Davidson said, agreeing with her husband.

“As much as I’d like to avoid further axes aimed at my neck, I’m not sure that’s a viable option,” DaSilva spoke. “I think people will be less willing to share, based on what you just said, Adelaide.”

“Some of the teams are going to lose people,” Jose affirmed quietly. “How willing to share would we be, if we sacrificed one of our teammates to get this food?”

“That—I don’t know,” Frank admitted.

“I think we should keep going,” Yulia said tentatively, looking up from DaSilva’s injury. The leg wound she’d been working on had fully closed up now. “We knew there would be traps when we decided to take this challenge. We haven’t even seen any monsters in here yet.”

The group looked at each other for a few seconds. Then the Davidsons and Adelaide finally agreed to go on after all. Yulia thought she might have influenced the result. Who would want to give up when the scrawny little girl was still willing to move forward? She didn’t like that people still saw her as a child, but there were occasional advantages.

DaSilva silently led the way down the hall until they reached another doorway. He moved more slowly this time, head moving as if he was looking out for uneven ground.

This doorway was simply an opening, and more torchlight was visible emanating from the other side.

After visually scanning the floor of the room, DaSilva moved forward.

As Yulia stepped through, she noticed that they now appeared to be in an underground building that resembled a temple. The floor was stone tile, and the walls were stone made of individual blocks too.

The System certainly is powerful. I don’t know if humans could do something like this down at the bottom of a cave even with all our technology.

There was a mural on the right hand wall next to the doorway that Yulia’s eyes immediately focused on once she was over the threshold. The art depicted a man hanging upside down from the ceiling, as someone cut his throat and drained his blood.

She swallowed. I have a really bad feeling about this.

But she moved further into the room, following her group forward.

At the front of the room, there was a mid-sized vase, which Yulia estimated was about the right size to hold a gallon and a half of milk. Above that, there was an inscription and another mural. Yulia found it interesting that there was a second mural, and she inspected the other walls curiously.

There were multiple murals, as it turned out. Ten in total, including the one at the entrance. Each depicted some person spilling blood from a different wound.

Creepy, she thought. What do they mean?

Then Detective DaSilva read the inscription above the vase aloud.

“Make an offering of blood here to escape this place. If you fill the vessel, the way forward will open.”

“Jesus!” Frank Davidson exclaimed. “Is this place demanding a human sacrifice?”

DaSilva scowled fiercely back at him. “If it is, we’ll be bowing out of the challenge here. The promise of a little food isn’t worth sacrificing people! This probably isn’t even the final task for this challenge.”

The old man blanched. “Right you are, of course. I didn’t mean to imply anything different by bringing it up! You’ll remember I was ready for us to take a step back earlier.”

The Detective calmed visibly. “Sorry. I got a little heated there. We’re under a lot of pressure now. I know you’re just as disturbed as the rest of us that this place apparently wants blood.”

“A little blood from all of us,” Yulia said quietly.

“What’s that?” DaSilva asked, putting a hand behind his ear.

“The murals.” Yulia gestured around them. “They all show different ways to get blood from the human body. Most of the injuries they’re showing aren’t fatal. If we each give a little blood, I think we’d have enough to get out of here. Whoever’s best with a knife can make careful cuts. And Miss Adelaide and I can heal the injuries after.”

This was the most Yulia had said in front of more than one person since arriving in Orientation, and she felt an immediate urge to melt into a wall or hide behind someone. But she didn’t have any kind of camouflage Skill, and Mina wasn’t here.

DaSilva approached her and put a heavy hand on her shoulder. “That’s a great idea, Yulia! Frank and I jumped to an incredibly dark place, just because this System seems like it’s trying to pit people against each other. But there’s no reason this challenge should require anyone to die.” He turned to Adelaide. “The human body can lose the amount of blood we need here and survive, right? Assuming that container—” He pointed at the vase—“is divided up between us?”

Adelaide nodded without hesitation. “No one here is a hemophiliac, right?”

No one said anything.

“Then we’ll be alright,” Adelaide said. “I’ll go last, so I can be in top condition to extract blood, monitor everyone else’s condition, and heal, unless anyone has any objections.”

“That sounds like the safest way,” Mr. Davidson agreed.

They proceeded to donate blood.

Yulia volunteered to go first, so she could get it out of the way.

The cut was a bit painful as Adelaide cut into her arm, but she tried to smile.

It would all be over soon.