Land of Ashes: Chapter 8
Imported from SF2 with no description.
The room Lyera and Takasato enter to fill them with wonder. In the center of the circular room is a smooth statue with four hands carrying metal cauldrons attached to it in a circle; they are suspended evenly above the floor. Instead of legs, its lower body fused to the base, and there is a line forming a circle around it. There is a spike on top of its head. A button behind a caged cell is at the bottom of the statue. An elevated platform on the right side of the room contains gears and a crank. Four columns on the back wall have bricks attached to a hook with a rope, and there is a different marking above each vertical row. In order from highest to lowest dangling brick is second, fourth, third, and first.
"Alkin lacna," the voice said. "Aldamo herlokan oûket likon ántrek úkil thûdramo án tûren. Ke ikanós." The button, a circle near Lyera and Takasato, and by the crank glow blue.
"I suspect it wants us to stand in the circle and the platform," Takasato said while she loaded her rifle that is identical to Rakiri's.
Lyera nods her head. "My conjecture is the arms connect to the bricks, and both link to the door and button. I speculate the script on each column corresponds to the arms." To confirm her theory, she and Takasato walk over to the statue circumspectly to investigate the hands. Underneath each hand has a script, and they match it to the corresponding column.
After a brief discussion, Takasato strolls over to the platform and turns the crank for zero effect. Testing her hypothesis, Lyera stands at the glowing circle, and Takasato attempts the crank again. Gears and the platform beneath the statue produce a sound as the circular floor revolves this time, and it continues as long as she turns it. Lyera then flips her grimoire to a particular page, and it glows.
"Water Nature: Create Water!" The hand nearest to Lyera descends while the arm directly opposite ascends as the pot fills to the brim with water. Over by the bricks, she and Takasato notice the changes to the two middle columns. The right central brick is at its maximum height while the middle left is in its hole. Repeating the process on the arm to the left yields the outer left to reach its full size, and the extreme right is on the bottom. However, the cauldron on the right side yields nothing when it fills. "That doesn't make sense."
"What doesn't make sense?" asked Takasato.
"The left and right arms should've balanced out, but they refuse to budge," Lyera answered.
"That's strange."
"Try rotating the crank," Lyera offered.
Revolving the platform till the right arm is closest to Lyera yields a result. The outer left and right columns balance out in the middle. To confirm her suspicions, she fills the last empty cauldron, and there are no changes to the middle vertical row. The in-between bricks balance when Takasato turns the gears again, but the exterior bricks are in the first position's mirror image. Then the middle blocks are in opposite positions after the third quarter rotation, and every brick returns to its initial location after the final quarter for a complete revolution.
"Water Nature: Vaporization!" Steam erupts from the cauldrons from Lyera's spell to empty them and erase their influence on the bricks. They assume their original position before her filling the first pot.
"If we knew the Cyclosian language, this would be less of a bitch to complete," Takasato complained.
"I have one more idea," Lyera spoke. "After I fill the cauldrons on the left and right side, you'll turn the crank for a quarter rotation of the platform." The middle columns balance out while the outer vertical rows are not, and she expects it to be the case. This time she flips to a different page and casts another spell on the right hand. "Ice Nature: Deep Freeze!" To her expectation, it lowers, and all the bricks are now balanced in the center. She grins at the sound of the reaction. "I didn't graduate as one of the top students from Grimwick's Institute of Magic for nothing." She rapidly changes her simper to an expression of dread.
The statue animates instead of the gate opening and becomes bellicose towards Lyera and Takasato as steam appears above the cauldrons with liquid water in them. Its lack of legs doesn't stymie its threat range. It catapults a cauldron with the ice at Takasato. She scarcely evades it and performs a frontal roll as she lands on the floor; the cauldron destroys the platform and the crank, forms a concavity on the wall, and creates rifts on the stone before impacting on the ground. In response, she quickly fires two shots and each only chip tiny chunks of rock.
"Water Nature: Hyper Pressure Water Stream!" Ten tiny streams of water jet out from Lyera's fingertips and collide against the statue. The concentrated pressure allows the liquid to perforate the stone through to the other side and even extending beyond the room and possibly the dungeon itself or further, leaving orifices behind. "Water Nature: Water Javelin!" By javelin, she means a giant, water weapon that results if a spear and a greataxe were lustful towards each other one night. She slams the combination into the construct, tearing a significant portion of its body off.
The statue's injuries begin to mend themselves, minus the tiny holes from the water at hyper pressure, and it retaliates by hurling a cauldron of scalding water at Lyera and Takasato. A portion of one of their arms comes into contact with the boiling liquid, and they wince and scream as the skin burns, blister, and bleed. It almost strikes Lyera with one of its free arms, but she conjures a shield. "Art of Abjuration: Shield!" Under the force from the impact, the shield shatters, and she bears the full brunt of the assault, falling insensible.
"Lyera!" shouted Takasato. In her furor, she fires an additional two rounds. The first strikes the statue in the eye, demolishing it, and the construct flinches. The second shot completely removes the spike on its head. She attempts to navigate the room towards Lyera and freezes when she notices her standing on her own two feet.
"Wind Nature: Levitating Tornado!" To give the statue a taste of its own medicine, Lyera conjures a twister beneath a cauldron in one of its hands and hurls it at the construct. Gratified by the results of metal and fervid liquid impact against it, she summons another vortex underneath the last cauldron it possesses and repeats it. The injuries are severe enough that some of it linger after its regeneration.
The statue, enraged by the loss of its two projectiles, furiously slams its hands against the females five times. Another shield from Lyera prevents two of its three attacks against her, and the third has less force when it hits her. Takasato, however, suffers a severe injury from only one of its other two attacks. Lyera then notices the hole on its head still exists.
"Still intact enough to test a theory, Takasato?"
"I can move all my body parts," Takasato answered.
"If I freeze one of its hands to the floor when it swings down and cast a spell to increase our speed, would you be able to run up its arm and look at what's inside its head? There's a chance it contains a weak spot we can exploit to hasten our progress."
Takasato smirks. "I bet I can shoot it immediately if I notice it."
"Hold your fire until you're on its head." Flipping towards the beginning of her grimoire, Lyera locates her spell and casts it. "Art of Transmutation: Haste!" Her speed and agility increase along with Takasato's. The benefits provide vital assistance to them as they avoid an arm, presenting an opportunity to Lyera. "Ice Nature: Frozen Bond!" The air around its hand and the floor chill enough that thick ice covers them, and the statue struggles to free it.
Takasato clambers up the icy hand, and she hastily ascends the statue's arm, avoiding additional hands trying to swat her off. At the edge of its head, she performs a somersault over the hole and notices an object she presumes to be the brain while upside down. I don't have the opportunity to alert Lyera. I'm about to get hit hard and only have one shot at this. Time decelerates to a complete standstill as she aims her rifle while a hand advances towards her about to seize her, and she ejects another bullet. The hand snatches her, but she descends swiftly that Lyera can't cast a spell to save her presto as the projectile obliterates the construct's brain, rendering it inoperable after gears hiss and grind. A bone protrudes from her left arm as her awkward impact mangles it.
"My arm," she shrieked in agony. Her eyes are tearing up.
"Hold on," Lyera replied. "Allow me to render aid. Art of Restoration: Cure Wounds!" She performs the spell twice to mend Takasato's arm and burns; she also manufactures an extempore bandage and support for the limb. "It'll suffice right now, but we need to locate a dedicated healer in Rahymna posthaste. It's safe to speculate you won't be utilizing that arm anon."
With her free arm, Takasato points at the accessible button grinning. "At least my sacrifice wasn't in vain.
(Krivkris's POV)
Unable to advance to the next room for an unknown reason, Krivkris waits patiently by detecting sounds and mostly vibrations of his companions' combat. _It sounds like they're facing action in their trials. Chances are mine is identical to them. _
Sounds to me, you could use my power , his nefarious voice said through telepathy.
I don't, and you can shut your fucking mouth.
I don't see any reason for hostilities towards me. If it weren't for me, your female companions would've likely suffered horrible fates such as death after their violations. With my assistance, you wouldn't have to worry about your losing your status ever again. Perhaps Aezusko would still be alive if I was around.
How do you know her, demanded Krivkris with force.
It's simple. I am you. I share your memories, your desires, your… everything. We have a symbiotic relationship. It will be a significant detriment if one of us ceases living.
Leave, Krivkris ordered, and his evil self fades.
Still unable to proceed, Krivkris inspects his sword and shield. The steel blade slightly curves and is broad along the entire length. At the hilt, there is a symbol of a dragon's head and divides into two spikes at the very end of it. The same pate exists in a larger form on his shield. On the back of the hilt, there is the same insignia of a pack of flaming canines as Ashereth's blade. The word Fuulnok exists beneath his sword's symbol instead of Twilight.
The next-door automatically opens, and Krivkris enters into a battle arena. Rubble for protection, three new stanchions, and craters cover half of the stadium, and both sides contain seating for an audience. Directly across from him is a statue with four legs and claw feet attached to a sphere, and it is prepared for battle, and there is a glowing blue button beside it.
“Alkin lacna," the voice spoke to Krivkris. “Aldamo koûs án pepôhtaté ût éret án tûren. Oltup!"
Instantly after the voice ceases, a red dot appears on his chest, and he has a proclivity to seek cover behind the nearest rubble. A magic beam from its giant eye in the center explodes on the other side with violent force, and tiny debris rains down on him; a fresh crater appears when he looks over to the other side. The statue resumes its fire each time it notices him migrating from cover to cover.
When he arrives at a barren portion of the arena halfway to the objective, he encounters trouble. The gap is too broad to traverse to the closest cover without suffering a direct hit by its shots. The force from one round impacting his shield sends him soaring backward into stone. Another scores a direct hit, knocking the wind out of him. "Art of Illusion: Doppelgänger!" A replica of himself acts as bait to test the time interval between shots and concludes it's brief to not send other decoys to run across. Maybe I can deceive it into believing that I'm behind cover even though I'll be standing in the open.
"Art of Illusion: False Barrier!" As an experiment, Krivkris creates an illusion of rubble close to the actual, and he hides behind it. To his delight, the statue doesn't fire a single magic beam at him, so he creates additional nonentities at more significant gaps for mana conservation. He successfully navigates across the arena, and only a quarter of it remains. Then the statue begins to move swiftly towards him.
He charges forward and catches one of the statues claws on his shield. It bends slightly under pressure. He knocks it off balance and pivots his sword left, right, and up against it. They amount to scratches that fade away. Perhaps fire has a better effect on it. "Fire Nature: Scorching Web!" Blazing spider webs shoot from his hands and adhere to it, resulting in more damage than the sword, but it regains some of its health.
The construct reverses Krivkris's momentum and erases his progress. First, it forces him back to the halfway point. Then the quarter mark and it refuses to return to its position by the button. A portion of its assaults results in lacerations on his skin.
"Fire Nature: Pillar of Agonizing Fire!" A circle thirty feet in radius materializes underneath the statue, and it erupts in a column of flames to the ceiling. After the initial blast, the outer layer of metal turns black from the lingering fire. Krivkris discharges another spell. "Fire Nature: Mini Fireball Barrage!" Six small orbs appear in front of his chest in a circle, and they revolve rapidly to the point they dissolve into a solid line. Then a multitudinous amount of fireballs eject from it towards the construct, causing it to skid marginally backward. Under a burst of reserved stamina, he proceeds to swing his sword.
On the second swing, disaster befalls on Krivkris. The statue captures it mid-swing and wrestles it free from his hand. Then it sends it somersaulting in the air, and it vibrates when it bounces off the ground multiple times on the opposite side of the arena. His body cracks when it seizes him and slams him on the rubble.
Need my assistance , asked the ominous voice, and the statue shook Krivkris like a rag doll.
Now's not the time, Krivkris replied.
I'm positive this is an excellent time. It's beating your ass without trying.
Why are you insisting?
You already know the answer, though you're intolerably obstinate to realize it, so I'll explain. You have a fear of inferiority. You honestly believe your superiors made a mistake in allowing you to keep your rank after Esaal. Now you're suffering another repeat. Deep down, you know Ashereth is scheming against you. Why else would he ask you for the scroll? And do you honestly believe it was unfortunate circumstances that led to the party's discovery? He knows you're powerless.
You're right.
Of course, I am.
Lend me the power.
I'll do it, and when you return to your companions, you'll regain that scroll.
Dark power surge throughout Krivkris's body and alters his personality. "Aritž!" he uttered. An explosion of purple flames destroys the claw and liberates him. It never regenerates, and sparks randomly appear from the damage. "Iezuld Pamotž!" A giant, purple sphere materializes above the statue rains droplets of fire on it, and the damage it causes doesn't fade from its self mending.
In response, the statue rapidly fires magic beams at him. An explosion sends him soaring into rubble, and additional rubble buries him. It extends another claw and chucks him into a pillar, and it implodes on him.
"Amaš Netosä Dummötai!" The detritus levitates off of Krivkris with purple fire enveloping the rocks, and he hurls them at the statue. Tiny particles instead bounce off of its armor after it obliterates the projectiles with its beam. "Tuvolo!" Five javelins out of black steel appear, and they pierce through the armor and the ground, pinning it. He finds himself in its claw, and it squeezes sluggishly about to splinter his bones. All he does is snap his fingers. Near the objective, Fuulnok floats, and it now flies towards its master, the trajectory on the direct path to the statue's center eye, and he notices it. "Ruõlž!" Purple flames enshroud the blade, and the steel alters into a different metal, and the statue deactivates with it protruding through the eye. Even the sparks cease. Dusting himself off and cracking a certain amount of bones, he completes his objective and returns to the primary chamber.
It's time for Ashereth and I to talk.