Luke Everhart
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Chapter 30 - Mistake
🕑 Added 2024-11-11 14:11:08 +0000 UTCSweat pooled under him, on the sweltering hot floor.
On all sides, walls of Pressure rose to the endless darkness above them, confining the party to a tight space.
There wasn’t enough room for all of them to lay down in, and they had to take turns so that half of them could try to sleep while the other half sat.
At his side, Viy stuck to him, her body a furnace that he had no way of escaping, and on his other side, Tuk had his back glued to him.
Nar took a deep breath, the heat burning his mouth, throat and lungs. By the way the two of them squirmed, he knew they weren't asleep either.
He resisted the urge to get up and swap places with one of the others. But however bad he felt, laying down was still somewhat more decent than sitting. And his body was so terribly heavy.
Besides, he needed to at least try and sleep.
Out of boredom, he ordered his UI to turn visible. Like all the previous attempts, nothing happened. Their UI was still gone.
Cen had noticed it first. The UI was blinking and faltering, fizzing in and out within ten minutes of them stepping into the Pressure field. A few minutes later, it had disappeared entirely, robbing them of their HP and stamina displays.
Nar gave up trying to get it to work, and tried to shift into a more comfortable position. However, Viy’s elbow was wedged into his armpit, and Tuk was so close he would have had to roll him over before he could move.
He sighed.
He should just get up, and give up his spot to someone else instead.
Just then, his senses alerted him to one of the Pressure walls disappearing.
“The way is open again,” Jul said, even as Nar pushed through the others to sit up.
“Let’s go, then,” Kur said.
He got up, and helped Tuk to his feet. Behind him, Gad did the same for Viy.
In silence, they crossed into the adjacent square and waited.
The arrow behind them blinked out, and at their feet, another single yellow arrow shone, doing little to dispel the darkness that surrounded them.
Around him, everyone looked like they were wearing bad masks of their own faces, with hollow eyes and sunken, sweat soaked expressions.
For Nar, more than the heat and the darkness, and the tightness of the space they shared, it was the wait that did it for him.
Nobody talked.
Nobody did anything.
They stared blankly into the darkness around them, trapped by the invisible, burning walls.
Every time they stepped into a new square, they had to wait for the other wall to be lowered.
Sometimes the wait was short, sometimes it was longer.
The one they had just been in, had been the longest so far, and all four sides had closed in around them. They had stood for a full half an hour, in incomprehensible heat, before Kur had decided that they should try and sleep.
I wonder how many it’s been by now, he thought, shifting his weight to his left foot.
He regretted having stopped counting the squares. He had gone up to the thirtieth, and found that he couldn’t be bothered to keep counting. He wished he hadn’t stopped. It would have at least provided him with some distraction.
Maybe one of the others kept count? he wondered. It sounded like something that Cen or Jul would do.
However, he never asked the question.
The Pressure pressed in from all sides, stifling any desire for conversation, interaction or pretty much anything else.
Sweat rolled down his face and neck, in fat, tickling beads. Nar wiped his face in annoyance, irritating his already over rubbed and peeling brow even further. The fact that it constantly kept healing only made it itch worse.
Where was all this sweat even coming from? And how could he be so drenched, yet so dry on the inside? He tasted metal and salt, and the sweat he swallowed cracked and scratched down his parched throat.
For lack of a better thing to do, he cast his eyes about him, looking at the others.
Everyone stood, or sat, whichever way was least uncomfortable for them, all semblance of a formation having long been abandoned.
Viy was still right next to him, and every time her sweltering skin touched his, he had to resist the urge to shout at her. Jul was on his other side, and just as close. But Jul… Well, Jul, he tolerated.
Behind them, Kur stared unblinkingly at the yellow arrow at their feet, and Mul and Cen were sitting beside his feet.
Mul watched over his sister with a deep frown. Cen wasn’t looking good. She was gulping air like she was suffocating, and she held the neck of her shirt away from her throat.
In between shallow, desperate gasps, she mumbled something he couldn’t understand, but that made Mul lean in to whisper something in her ear. Cen seemed to ignore him and continued to stare blankly at her own feet.
On the other side of their messed-up circle, Tuk and Gad stood together, seemingly taking solace in each other’s company. Nar felt a pang of jealousy looking at them. Even here, they looked as though nothing could truly shake them. He was pretty sure that Tuk was even whispering jokes at Gad, who was trying and failing to hold back a smirk.
Was he just being weak?
At his side, Jul’s skin came into contact with his again, and came away with an irritating, sticky feeling. Nar was beginning to regret rolling up his sleeves.
He glanced at her. The scout swayed on her feet, still recovering from the sensory assault from earlier.
Even after all this time, Nar’s own ears were still ringing, and everything was muted around him. It had to be even worse for her, with her higher [Hearing] attributes. Plus, quam’s antennae were supposedly very sensitive. Much better than a human’s ears.
Maybe I should say something… he considered.
Kur had asked them to drop their senses, to conserve stamina and recover. But while Nar had accepted it, considering the possibility of having to fight, Jul had insisted on continuing to watch over the party. Even now, hours later, she was still at it.
Just then, she looked up to the ceiling and frowned.
Nar looked up too, quickly calling upon his own senses.
“What’s wrong?” Gad asked.
“Something…” Jul said. “I don’t know.”
“Get ready,” Kur said. “In formation. Now!”
“What formation?” Mul asked. “Which way?”
Nar pulled his sword from his inventory, and continued to scan the darkness around them. The others, despite Kur’s order, stood where they were, blinking into the dark, and shifting from side to side, waiting for an attack.
“Kur?” Tuk asked. “What do we do?”
A spasm went through Kur’s face.
“Backs to each other,” he said. “Make a circle. Gad and Nar, stay on opposite sides until we know what's happening.”
They rushed to obey him, bumping and pushing into each other and each other's weapons in the tight space allowed by the Pressure walls.
“Stay in this square!” Kur warned. “If the walls shift, we’ll get separated. And we don’t know if we’ll be able to get back together!”
Nar jerked back, pushing against Viy and Tuk.
“Sorry!” he said, when Viy shot him a dark glare.
“All good man, you’re all good,” Tuk said. “Do you see anything?”
Nar shook his head.
He licked his cracked lips, alternating between looking above and in front of him.
He was caught completely by surprise when heat exploded in his face, and he fell backwards with a cry.
“Nar! Are you okay?”
He groaned, holding on to his face. Voices sounded muffled around him, and he could only hear snippets through the high-pitched tinnitus that took his ears.
“...happened?”
“...wall…”
“...to be…”
The Pressure!
He had been too close to the damn wall!
How had he missed it?
“I’m fine!” he said, pushing hands away from him. “I said I’m fine!”
He stood, blinking away tears, as furious pain flared in tandem with his heart beat.
He lifted a hand to his face, but the previously clear outlines of his fingers were now just a half-formed blur.
“Are your eyes ok?” Kur asked.
Nar snapped towards him.
“Do they…”
Tuk gripped his shoulder. “It’s alright, we got you. Looks like you burned your face…”
Nar blinked at him, his anger knocked away by Tuk’s kind tone.
“I…” he swallowed, feeling suddenly awkward. “It’s all blurry.”.
“Maybe we put him in the middle?” Tuk asked. “While he recovers?”
“Yeah, that sounds good,” Kur said.
Hands helped him up, and gently guided him to the center of the party. The others quickly closed ranks around him again, protecting him on all sides.
“I can fight,” Nar said, taking his sword from someone’s hands.
“If you can still see, it will probably heal soon,” Kur said. “So just stay there until then. You hear me?”
Nar nodded slowly.
He scanned the blurry outlines of the party, but no one said anything. There was no backtalk. No accusation. No anger. No mockery at his blunder.
He had messed up, not paying attention to where he stood, and now he was out of commission for whatever was coming. And yet, the others had just done their best to cover him.
Nar swallowed the lump that formed on his throat.
Was he just being stupid after all? Blinded by his fear of letting down his dad? By his distrust of them, for being Clean and his past experiences?
“It’s here!” Jul said.
Nar looked up, but all he could see was a mass of something descending on them. He lifted his sword to cover himself, but Kur pushed it down.
“I’m here, don’t worry!” he said.
All Nar could make was Kur’s back darting about, scepter rising and falling to attack small specs of quick moving things.
Something landed on him, and he jerked in fear. It crawled down to his neck, stabbing into his skin with its many sharp legs. He swatted himself in panic, but before he could get rid of it, the thing was wrenched from his neck, scoring long lines of stinging pain.
“I got it!” Jul said.
“Where is it?” Nar asked, looking around frantically.
“I threw it away. Oh! Mul just killed it.”
Nar looked up again, covering his head with his arms and searching for more enemies.
“What’s happening?”
“It’s more of the tiny guardians,” Jul said. “They’re coming down on wires!”
“How many are they?”
“Too many!”
Cen screamed from somewhere nearby.
“Cen!” Mul shouted.
In the chaos, all that Nar could see was his form bent over something, working furiously.
“What’s happening?” Nar asked Jul.
But she was too busy kneeling next to Mul, working just as desperately.
“Get them off!” Cen screeched. “Get them off!”
“Ah! Shit!” Gad said. “It bit me! I can’t move my arm! Don’t let them bite her! Their poison paralyzes you!”
Things rained down on them, and the party bumped and knocked into each other in panic. All semblance of order was lost. All that Nar could do was stand there, hiding under his arms, with the sword held tight between his legs and torso, watching blurs move by.
Another guardian landed on him, this time on his arm. Nar flicked his arm up and down, but the thing had dug deep into his skin.
“Stop moving and reach out your arm!” Viy shouted.
Nar pushed his arm out, far from him, and he heard the swish of her spear. Nar yelped as she smacked him, but the guardian fell in pieces.
“Thank you!” he said, pulling his arm back.
But she had already moved on, back into the chaos.
Nar covered his head again and looked around him. He was only being protected and being a burden.
Stupid… Stupid!
Why hadn't he noticed how close he had been standing to that wall?
However, it didn’t matter now. There had to be something he could do. The fight didn’t sound like it was going too well and he needed to lend a hand.
He tried his UI first, but to no avail.
Ok, nothing there, and I’m blind. What now? What else do I have? [Instinct]?
He tried to focus on his enigmatic new sense, but everything was a mass of danger and warnings. From his feet, to the air above him. There were even splashes of it on the others.
Jul screamed somewhere. Somehow, she had gotten away from him, and he couldn’t find her in the chaos.
“It’s alright, I got you!” Tuk told him. “Just stay there!”
The sound of Tuk’s voice was a momentary relief in the chaos of the fight. As far as he could hear, at least it didn’t seem like anyone had been seriously injured yet.
Oh! [Hearing]! Nar suddenly realized.
He closed his useless eyes and focused, not yet sure what he was trying to achieve.
With a rush, the noise gained depth and clarity, and morphed into sound.
“Move! I can’t fight like this!” Viy shouted.
“Where do you want me to go?” Mul retorted.
Nar frowned and focused harder. What he wanted was something else, something much lower, hidden within the chaos.
Come on. Come on…
Blood rushed to his head, his heartbeat sounding like a giant, thumping machine, drowning out everything.
Maybe what he wanted wasn't possible.
He wasn’t ready to give up yet, though. He took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, willing his [Hearing] to give him more.
The sounds got louder and louder, but somehow, also clearer and clearer. He clenched his jaw against the piercing pain that drilled into his ears, towards his brain.
Come on, you can do this!
The sounds roared to a crescendo and then, with a high-pitched explosion, he was plunged into silence.
He could feel his heart running wild in his chest. He could feel the hot air passing by his tongue. But there was no sound.
It was a silence more absolute than any he had ever heard.
Crystal. What have I done?
However, before the panic could settle in, he heard what he had been looking for.
Tic-tic-tic-tic.
Little legs, pitter-pattering around him.
One of the sets of sound approached his foot, and borrowing from his [Speed], Nar prepared to strike. The guardian didn’t even have time to react before it was crushed under the foot it had been about to latch on to.
A smile crept onto Nar’s face.
There were many more such sets of sounds around him, and now that he knew what to look for, he willed his [Hearing] to let some sound filter back in, so he could hear the rest of the fight as well.
The screams and shouts came rushing back, but he never lost the sound of the tiny guardians.
He grabbed his sword.
Right. Let’s try not to kill anyone.
Using the weapon like it was a club, he brought it down on a guardian scuttling towards him. The thing crunched with a satisfying sound, and Nar’s grin grew wider.
Soon, he had cleared the immediate vicinity around him, and crawled up to his knees, to reach for the guardians in between the party’s legs.
He had the [Speed] and the [Reflex] to dart in and around the others, and soon, his efforts were noticed.
“How’s he doing that?” Mul asked. “His eyes are closed!”
Jul shushed at him.
“Let him do the floor,” Kur said. “Mul, you help him. Viy, you focus above us instead. Hit them in the air with Tuk and Cen. Gad, you and I will help wherever!”
The chorus of yeses momentarily drowned the little guardian’s steps.
“Come on, people! We got this!” Tuk shouted, making it worse.
Nar focused again, and soon, he was back at it, continuing his blind contribution to the fight. The little guardians rarely managed to dodge his sword or feet, and Nar’s smile never left his face, as he heard the crunching sound of each one of his destroyed enemies.
Still, it was Mul, with his fist weapons and functioning eyes, that made short work of most of the things scuttling around them. And with the danger at their feet being managed, the others turned their attention above, from where the guardians were still gliding down towards them on near invisible wires.
At some point, a guardian landed on Nar again, but Kur grabbed it before he could even react. His trust bolstered by the knowledge that he was covered, Nar continued the job, sweat trickling down the tip of his nose.
Eventually, he heard nothing but the sound of the party’s labored breaths.
“Are they gone?”, he asked.
“I don’t sense anymore,” Jul breathed.
One of the Pressure walls collapsed.
“There’s our chance!” Kur said. “Let’s go!”
Someone hooked a hand under Nar’s arm and guided him to the next square. Once there, he scanned his surroundings again, with both [Hearing] and [Instinct], but found nothing.
“I think we’re ok,” Jul said.
“You don’t sound too certain, though?” Kur asked.
Jul didn't reply for a few seconds. “I don’t know. It just feels like there is something else, but…”
“Is it dangerous?” Kur pressed.
Again, she hesitated.
“Jul?”
“No… My [Instinct] is clear,” she said. “I just…”
“That’s okay, then,” Kur said. “It’s okay if it's not a threat to us. Stay alert everyone. But take a breather.”
Nar finally opened his eyes, letting go of his [Hearing]. He felt almost deaf in comparison, though he was relieved to find that, during the fight, his eyes had healed almost back to normal.
The faces of the others were still distorted and blurred, but at least he could see enough to tell where he stood.
“Hey, you alright?” Mul asked.
“Yeah,” Nar said, rubbing his eyes. “Almost back to normal.”
“Ah… Nice.”
Nar blinked and looked down at the lengos.
“That was good work back there,” the brawler said.
Nar smiled bashfully and Mul.
“Thanks. You too.”
After a moment of awkwardness, Mul nodded at him, and Nar nodded at Mul, and the brawler went to check on his sister.
Nar’s smile died when his eyes landed on Cen. Even blurry, the caster’s shape didn’t look right. She was sitting, hugging her knees, and probably doing that unblinking stare into nothing again, muttering to herself.
Mul hugged her with one arm and pushed her face into his chest. That seemed to wake her up, and she untangled herself from him. The two of them launched into a whispered conversation, but it was too low for him to hear. That, or he had just strained his ears too much.
His heartbeat hammered against his ears, and he felt a piercing sore deep within them.
Whatever. It was worth it, and it will heal.
Just like he had thought, when he had first unlocked [Hearing] and [Sight], the attribute had proven itself crucial in his moment of need.
Nar cast a glance back at the square they had just come from, but the arrow there had already turned off, and his eyes were still not good enough to make out the tiny guardians’ broken bodies.
Maybe for the best, he thought, abandoning the effort. Best he didn’t know how many had assaulted them.
He glanced up with a shiver. There could be more up there. In fact, he was sure there were. He shook his head at the thought.
It had been a long day. First the exploding, tiny and poisonous guardians, then, the mob that had almost caught them, followed by this Pressure death room and then, now, the tiny poisonous guardians’ ambush.
The Crystal’s trying to kill us, he thought. It has too.
He winced and mumbled a halfhearted prayer.
His head throbbed and he leaned on his sword.
Maybe I’ll fall asleep now, he thought. The floor was looking mighty inviting, even with the thought of the others crushing and sweating against him. Yes, that didn’t sound so bad anymore.
“Are you okay, Gad?” Kur asked.
Nar lifted his eyes.
Gad was rotating her left arm, and grimacing.
“What happened?” Tuk asked.
“Poison,” she said. “I lost all feeling in my arm.”
Tuk made a face. “Is it better now?”
“It feels like there’s fire running under my skin. But at least, I can move it now.”
“Must have been a status effect,” Cen said.
“A what?” Tuk asked. Cen’s words had been a barely audible mumble.
“A status effect,” she said again, louder.
“What’s that?” Kur asked.
“I’m not sure how to explain it,” Cen said, and sighed. “I got the notification for it, after the bridge. I think there was so much poison inside me that it triggered it.”
Nar grimaced, remembering how her skin had darkened with all the poison running in her veins.
“A status effect is basically something that affects you. It's probably easier to explain using the examples the System gave me. [Dazed] is a pretty obvious one. While it lasts, you will feel lost and confused, not knowing what’s happening. Not being able to think or move properly.”
“I think that might have been what happened to us, when that guardian hit us in the safe room,” Kur said, rubbing her chin and glancing at Gad.
Cen nodded. “Could be… And [Poison] is another kind of status effect. The notification didn’t explain much, just that there are different types of poisons, and that each can have a different effect on you.”
“Like me, not feeling my arm,” Gad said, clenching and unclenching her fingers. “I thought that poison just burned, like the aetherium in the pile. But by the looks of it, it’s much more complicated than that.”
Kur nodded, still rubbing the underside of his jaw. “We’ll need to be on the lookout for poison from now on. If you’d gotten bitten somewhere else, or enough times, you would have passed out. Or worse.”
Crystal… Nar thought. Maybe the Crystal really was out for their blood. Everything was tallying up to be a bit much, just to make a bunch of workers suffer.
“Poison, Pressure, darkness,” Gad listed. “And tiredness. We need to be very careful here. Very patient too, with each other.”
“Any wrong step…” Kur muttered, and his eyes fell upon Nar.
“I’m sorry,” Nar said, looking downcast. “I didn’t realize I was so close to it.”
“What? No! No!” Kur said, shaking his hands. “I was just wondering about your eyes!”
Nar made a face. “Still, I should have paid more attention.”
“To what, to the invisible walls that your sixth sense warns you about?” Mul asked.
Well, if you put it like that…
“Mul’s right, man,” Tuk said, slapping his back. “It’s fine. We’re just happy you’re okay.”
“Plus, somehow, you still got back into that fight,” Kur said, shaking his head. “[Instinct] is something else.”
It was Nar’s turn to shake his head. “It wasn’t [Instinct]. There was too much going on for that. Danger was basically everywhere. It was [Hearing] this time.”
“You were listening for them?” Mul gasped. “What in the pile…”
“Insanity. Everything’s insane and nothing makes sense anymore” Kur said, shaking his head again.
“I want senses attributes too,” Tuk said, looking down at Jul pleadingly. “How did you do it?”
“I-I don’t know! It-It just happened!”
“That’s not fair…”
“I-I’m sorry! I don’t…”
“Stop messing with her,” Gad grunted at Tuk.
The ring tosser chuckled darkly at Jul, as she tried to hide behind her hair
Nar sensed the walls shifting around them, and the path to the next square opened.
“It’s open,” he told the others.
“Alright, let’s keep going,” Kur said.
