Chapter 54: Fracture - Twilight Maze (1) (Patreon)

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Ahead of us was an outcropping made entirely of rock, jutting out from the landscape like a horn.  It looked just like every other piece of landscape in Miltus, rocky and dry.  But this particular rock formation was different, it looked like the mast of a ship,leading  up into a narrow space where we were standing, from here we could look down the vista of the road we walked on plus Miltus in the distance.  I could even see the deep blue of the ocean beyond.

In front of us was a stone pillar and it was surrounded by unstable purple mana that jumped to and fro like a wild current.  There was an impulse to get away from the area and nervous tension piled in the air; I saw the three priests –Trevor, Eltis and Krag– each pray.

“It’s opening.”  Dibo muttered, a hint of awe in his voice.

There was the crack of stone splitting followed by the rumbling of rock.  Then the space in front of the rock began to rip open like a piece of paper being torn in half, splitting apart and forming a portal.  Everyone stood back, speechless and the ensuing silence added gravity to the moment; swirling lavender energy formed the body of the portal while white mana crackled like electricity around its outline.

Like the eye of a giant waking from his slumber, the portal opened.

Fractures were named as such because they were exactly that; a Fracture between worlds that you could enter.

I fought against my natural instinct to rush in as fast as possible.  Normally, a Fracture opened multiple portals all over the world; those portals staying open until a specific number was met.  But Marc Pointell had told us that this particular Fracture opened every six months and the portal in front of us was its only entrance.

It would be just us fifteen in there.

I slowly studied my companions.

Skaris licked his lips, both excitement and nervousness going through his eyes in equal amounts.  Kyrian held his staff with nothing but determination.

I had no idea what would happen once we stepped in the Fracture.  Each Fracture Dungeon was an instance Dungeon, randomly generated from a pool of dozen different combinations.  It wasn’t always a cookie cutter method to get out alive from these, it required quick-thinking and a deep intricate understanding of monsters as well as your party’s strength.

I had known it subconsciously but it hit me again, we were risking our lives.

Skaris looked at me.  “We are ready, Ssslaveborn.”  

While I had been mentally preparing myself, Pyret and his party entered first.  Dibo, Krag and Ramhof were entering now.

Following the others, I stepped through the portal.

***

｢You have entered a Special Field: Spirit Maze ｣

｢ Field Effect - Spirit Maze is now active ｣

｢ Field Effect - Spirit Maze: -20% Ice Resistance ｣

｢ Field Effect - Spirit Maze: -50% Healing ｣

｢ Field Effect - Spirit Maze: -80% Mana Regeneration ｣

｢ Field Effect - Spirit Maze: Starting points randomly generated ｣

***

Stepping through the portal, I was submerged in darkness; the vast emptiness pressing all around me and expanding my senses till it felt like I was being stuffed by cotton.  The sensation didn’t last, everything started to turn bright until the only thing I could see was light all around me.  Then the light abruptly disappeared; leaving me in an entire scenery.

The first thing I noticed was that I was cold; frosty wind blew around me hard enough to sting the tip of my nose and ears.  I sniffed and it felt like I had just inhaled ice; the familiar dull headache of a brain freeze coming on from just breathing.

It was snowing.  Fat snowflakes as big as my open hand fell in droves, sometimes swaying in one direction, carried by the wind.  I took a step forward and felt the snow compact under my greaves, hearing the crunch as I created a small path with my footsteps.

Then there were the walls around me.

They were huge and continued on as far as my eye could see; they were tall enough so that I had a sense of vertigo when trying to gauge their exact height.  It reminded me of the sheer cliff walls that Samak City had been surrounded by, substantially larger and smoother in comparison: they were made entirely of ice.  Thick black ice that reflected no light; staring at it too long felt like I was looking into an endless chasm or into the void of the deep sea.

The sky was a vast expanse of twilight; made of the same black ice as the walls.  

An enclosed maze made entirely of ice.

We were in the Spirit Maze.

The frigid temperature numbed my nose and my sense of smell in turn.  My hearing was disabled by the howling of wind, caused by the walls throwing it back and forth.  Bits of frost were already starting to form on my armor.

“W-where are we?”

I turned around and cursed softly.

Skaris and Kyrian weren’t with me.

One of the things I hated about Fractures was that there was no guarantee that your entire party could enter together.  Two people could step through the portal then it could close, already having met the number of participants met by portals open in other places.  But the Spirit Maze elevated that sense of randomness; it shuffled everyone’s spawn points.

I was with four others.

Aurora shook her head, her gray hair throwing snowflakes everywhere.  Her green eyes were startlingly bright; her ethereal beauty emphasized by the snowy landscape.

“Hello, Mr. Lock.  Mr. Krag, Ms. Sarai.”  She greeted me formally.

As Aurora had pointed out, there were two others with us.  

“Bless my hammer and anvil, my arse is freezing.”  Krag murmured.  He wrapped his midnight-blue robes tighter around himself.

“W-Where are the others?”  Sarai’s long orange hair stuck out like a sore thumb in the landscape of black and white.

“Inside the Fracture.  It split everyone up.”  I tried not to let my voice grow too dark.

Skaris and Kyrian were with some other people, in a place where I couldn’t see.  My heart was beating frantically out of nervousness; somehow it felt like my fault that they ended up in this mess.  If there was any consolation, it was that I had insisted on spending most of our money on their equipments.  Hopefully, it’d make the difference between life or death.

Because if the Eretians wanted to make a move, now was the time.

“What about Pyret? My brother?”  Sarai looked around, her eyes widening in panic and voice rising in pitch.

I stepped towards her and the girl flinched.

I bent down and grabbed the hems of her cloak, which had parted.  Already snow was beginning to pile inside of her clothes.  Closing the cloak, I looked at her orange eyes, trying to get her attention.  I had seen it more than once as a slave; people who allowed panic to set in and cloud their judgements.  Most of them died, their mind causing them to make mistakes which caused them to spiral down a path of mistakes and poor decisions.

Skaris and Kyrian aside, I could end up dead as well.  I needed her to focus.

“Focus, Magus Sarai.”  I used the formal title of respect, something the elven mage was probably familiar with.

“What?”  She asked, dumbfounded.

I frowned and grabbed her hands, putting them on her cloak.

“We’re in the Fracture and it split everyone up.  If you want to stay alive long enough to reunite with your party; I suggest keeping the snow out of your clothes.”

She blushed and tightened the cloak around her.  “I know that.”  She snapped and slapped my hand away in embarrassment.  Promptly getting to her feet, she began to walk around, studying the ice walls.

“Nicely done, lad.”  I hadn’t noticed Krag until he spoke from right behind me.

I stood up and turned around slowly, careful not to show him that he succeeded in startling me.  Now that I looked closely, his face was etched with light blue tattoos.  Lines that reminded me of sedimentary rocks, perfectly straight and sharp.  I wouldn’t have noticed them if I wasn’t this close to him.

“Lass was panicking.  You did a good job bringing her back to her senses.  Seen it before, have you?”

It was more of a statement than a question, but I nodded.

He nodded solemnly.  “By the forge, I hope that you find better fortune than you did in the past.”  His eyes lingered on my manacle.

Aurora stepped closer to us.  “Mr. Krag.  Mr. Lock.  I have scouted our immediate surroundings and there are no footsteps leading to us or out of us.  I am not a scout by any means, but no signs of monsters either.  It is safe to assume that us four are the only ones here.”

I didn’t bother correcting her about the monsters.

Monsters in the Spirit Maze didn’t leave tracks.

Seeing the three of us talking, Sarai joined the circle.

“The first thing to do is stay warm.  Brother Krag.  Magus Sarai.  If you have any equipment or Blessings to stave off the cold, I suggest you use it.”  Then I promptly sat down and began to take out clothing out of my Dimension Ring.

“What are you doing?”  Sarai said haughtily.

Sarai had all the arrogance of a mage plus the haughtiness of her race –the elves.  It made the girl annoying and insufferable.  So instead of answering, I continued my task.

I stripped off my armor and heard Krag and Sarai take a audible breath.  Even Aurora’s eyes widened.

I knew why; my scars.

I had amassed an impressive array of scars during my time in the Samak Desert.  Fighting for life and death without a healer nearby did that to you.  A network of crisscrosses from claws, teeth and being half crushed decorated my body, telling the story of my time as a slave.

“By the forge…”  

I ignored them all and changed myself into warmer clothing, then put the armor back on.    It had been agony to expose my naked skin to the elements but if I was right, there wouldn’t be time to do this later.  I raised an eyebrow at them.

The others took out thicker clothing as well; Sarai taking out a fur cloak and Krag opting to double layer his own.  Aurora took out a red velvety cloak and put it around her armor.  They all cut a striking figure, the cloaks making them look like proper adventurers, the kind I had seen in the opening cinematic and cutscenes.  I wished I had bought a cloak as well.

“Now, let me cast a-”

I stopped Krag from finishing his sentence.  “No.  Conserve your mana.”

The dwarf priest frowned at me.  “Lad, it’s freezing.  I can cast a blessing that will keep us all warm.”

I didn’t want to explain to Krag that mana would regenerate at the pace of a snail.  That was one of the first traps that this dungeon threw at you: using mana to stave off Frostbite only to find out you didn’t have enough mana to cast a spell when you needed it.

“We don’t know what’s waiting for us and what might happen.  We can save our mana for later.”

“Who put you in charge?”  Sarai asked, while frowning.

I sighed.  “No one.  But it would be the smart thing to do.”  

Krag studied me.  “...We’ll do it your way for now, lad.  But if you catch frostbite, I’ll charge an arm and a leg for healing that.”

“Fine with me.”

“We should choose a leader.”  Sarai said, after Krag and I had both ignored her.

She turned up her nose at us.  “It should be me.  Krag has been retired for too long and you two will be too busy fighting on the front.  I’m the only one who’ll have the whole vision of the battle and have clarity of thought to give terse but clear commands.”

Krag stroked his beard, reminding me that Dibo and he were friends.  He studied Sarai then me.  “I don’t know lass… perhaps it would be better to discuss this further.”

“I’m a Grade 7.”  Sarai argued.  “Surely you don’t think these two are-”

“Can’t hurt to talk about it.”  Krag turned to Aurora.  “Young miss, what’s your grade?”

“My grade won’t matter in this conversation as I have no plans to lead; nor do I believe myself apt for it.”  She turned to me.  “I believe it should be Mr. Lock.”

“...Aye, truth be told I was thinking the same thing.”  Krag admitted then spoke softly to Sarai.  “You’re much too green still, lass.”

Sarai fumed and I took a step back.  “Grade?”

“6.”  I said easily.

“Fine.”

I sighed in relief.  If Sarai had kept insisting I was going to suggest Krag.  I did not want to leave my life in the hands of someone whose first reaction was to panic.  Luckily she wasn’t going to press the issue.

I considered the three for a moment, thinking what the appropriate formation would be.  A typical formation wouldn’t do here.  I had to take into account the characteristics of the monsters from the Twilight Maze.

“Ok.  Aurora in the front, Krag right behind her.  Sarai will be right behind him then me.”

“You’re going to put yourself in the back?!”  The mage shrilled.

I had expected the pushback.  “Yes.”  

Even Krag looked disappointed but true to his word, he obeyed.  “Lead on then, young miss.”

With Aurora leading the way, we began to walk.

Soon, the wind died down and only the occasional breeze remained.  Still, the ceiling above us howled relentlessly and I saw flurries of snowflakes forming miniature storms before floating down peacefully.  Each step we took was accompanied by the sound of crunching snow.  Other than those two noises; we were completely silent.  There was no knowing what monster lay in wait here; the smallest noise might attract them to us.

But the silence wore on our psyche.  All our senses stood on end, waiting for an attack every second.  For me, it was nerve-wracking.  I knew that my [Hearing] and [Smell] stat, even dampened by the cold, was the best among them.  That was why I had put myself in the back.

Monsters in the Twilight Maze tended to attack from the back.

When Aurora had said that she didn’t see any tracks earlier, I didn’t bother correcting her.  Monsters here didn’t leave tracks.

I felt Sarai's anxiety permeate from the girl like an aura.  Her head swiveled every second, startled at the slightest nose or new turn.  Meanwhile, Aurora was the opposite.  True to her role as the tank, she walked on without hesitation and surety in her steps.  Krag, being a veteran, absorbed the tension with ease.  Soon we fell into a familiar rhythm.

After an hour of walking, we stopped to break.  We were wading through knee-deep snow now; Aurora was visibly starting to struggle.  The weight of her armor, weapon plus having to clear the snow away had been wearing down on her.  I reckoned she had maybe two more marches like this before I had to take her spot.

“I don’t mean to pry lad,” Krag was the first to break the silence, “But those scars… were you a slave?”

I saw Sarai’s pointed ears perk up.  Even Aurora’s head stood a bit straighter, listening in.

There was no point in hiding it and I felt no shame in sharing it.

“Yes.”  I answered simply.

“You won’t happen to be one of those survivors from the Samak War?”  Krag asked.

“I am.”  I took out a piece of jerky and bit into it.  It was cold and dry, but feeling hunger later on meant I was already running low on energy.

Krag ate these weird jelly cubes, popping it into his mouth.  Some of them had begun to freeze the moment he took them out; and they crunched like ice in his mouth.  “Truly? You escaped from that hellhole?”

I saw Sarai give a knowing look to Aurora then back to me.  “I heard that it was one of the Great Houses, Akka Xaluds, who orchestrated the attack.  Was it true?”

“Yes.”  Her words brought me back to the burning city, back to the screams that haunted my dreams at night.

“No wonder you had a look about you.”  Krag finished the last of his cubes.  “I could tell that you weren’t just a regular slave; slightly different from the usual slaves.”

“How so?”  I was genuinely curious.

“They’re usually more… relaxed.  Calm.  Satisfied because they bought their freedom.”  I saw Krag struggle to find the right words.  “They usually hunt weak monsters, just enough to make a living.”

“Ah.  You’re saying they wouldn’t risk their life in a Fracture just for a chance at wealth.”  I smirked as Krag winced.

“Aye.  That too.  No offense to you, lad.”

“None taken.”

Aurora had been listening carefully, her hands folded in her lap.  “Did you fight them, Mr. Lock? The Akka Xalud soldiers?”

“...Yes.”  I took a moment to answer.

“I see.”  Her green eyes stared into mine and I saw guilt.  “It must have been difficult.  I’d like to apologize on behalf of my-”

“No need.”  I waved her apologies away.  “There’s no need for you to apologize to me.  I personally didn’t like what happened to you back then either.”

Sarai looked away and Krag coughed.

“You’re not responsible for the actions of your country.  You’re just like us, an adventurer on their own path.  Don’t apologize for something you had nothing to do with.”  I continued, “I’m done judging people because they’re human or orc, elf or dwarf.  To me… it’s your will that matters.  Nothing more and nothing less”

As I spoke, I was reminded of L’teya and a cloud of nostalgia swept over me.

I wondered how she was doing and a part of me wished I could see her again.

Aurora looked down into her hands.  “You’re a good man, Mr. Lock.”

“Young miss, I’d like to apologize for what happened back there too.”  Krag seized the moment to clear the air.  “Aye, I’ll admit.  The name of the Great House brings out something fierce and I wasn’t thinking clearly.  I’m sure Ramhof and Dibo would say the same.”

Then, very pointedly, the dwarf looked at Sarai.

Sarai turned bright red, gripping her cloak so hard that her fingernails turned red.

The scent of something familiar touched my numbed nose.

“I’m not going to apologize to a human,” She spat the word like a curse. “Whose country murdered countless innocents.”

“Sarai, quiet.”  I muttered.

“No!”  She stood up and snow fell off of her.  “The Turina Empire has killed in the name of racial supremacy for generations and the Great Houses were their tools!  If you think I’m going to just forget-”

“Quiet!”  I hissed.

“You’re human too! You-”

I closed the distance between us and clamped my hand over the elven mage’s mouth.  Her eyes stared at me in defiance then fear as she heard my words.

“We’re being watched.”

“And it’s not human.”

I smelled blood.

***