Pocket Dungeon 2, page 20
I swam toward her in quick, desperate strokes until I was at her side. My heart pounded like a metronome in my chest, and I hooked my arm around her waist. She hadn’t been under the water much longer than I had, but it was clear she hadn’t had time to take a breath before she was dropped beneath the water.
Her eyes were wide with terror as she flailed in my grip and tried to kick her legs in a feeble attempt at movement.
I started to pull the both of us upward with as powerful strokes as I could muster, all while the last burning bit of air in my lungs faded, and I felt like my chest was going to explode.
We had dropped down lower in the water than I had realized, and it felt like no matter how hard I paddled, we were still far from the surface.
It finally was within reach, though, and I had just thrust one of my hands upward and broken from the cold depths of the water.
I paddled faster and shoved Iris’ head up and out of the water first. I heard her take a quick, gasping breath as I joined her for only a second to see that we were about fifteen feet away from Yasha.
“Over here!” Iris screamed, and her throat sounded raw.
The fox-woman began to paddle toward us, just as a large piece of stone fell down from the top of the cavern right in front of me and drove Iris and I back down into the water once again.
The force of the collision reminded me of a car wreck, and it pushed all the remaining air from my lungs.
My lungs were burning even worse than before, and Iris wasn’t faring much better. She clung to me for all she was worth, but her eyes were nearly bulging from her head as the lack of oxygen crept up on her.
But we didn’t have to worry for long.
I could see the ice forming in the water just above our heads growing closer and closer. I squeezed Iris’ side and propelled us back up to the surface again with as much force as I could muster.
We burst from the water like crawling out of a grave right next to the ice platform. Yasha dropped down onto her knees and reached down to grab Iris’ arms as I shoved the other woman up and out of the water and pushed her toward Yasha.
I waited until she had pulled Iris up to safety, and the woman was firmly on the ice, coughing up mouthfuls of water, before I gripped the edge of the ice pathway myself and started to pull myself up and out.
But before I could clamber up to the relative safety of the ice block and Yasha’s arms, a stalactite dropped down straight onto me from above.
It wasn’t the biggest one I’d seen falling in all this chaos, but it was enough.
I didn’t even have time to scream.
Even with my Smelter’s Maile on, the rock slammed into me like a thousand bullets and forced me back down into the water even deeper than I had been before. I thought the stone was going to drag me straight to hell before it finally landed on the rocky bottom of the lake.
For a few long moments, I thought I was dead.
The water at the bottom of the lake was darker than anything I had ever imagined, and the pain searing through my entire body was impossible to ignore. It took me a few seconds to even parse through what I was feeling.
The rock had pinned my foot down against another large boulder on the ground of the lake. It felt like I was in a fucking giant rock burial ground. I leaned forward and tried to tug at my foot, but it was firmly trapped between the two massive hunks of stone.
Panic bloomed in my chest as I tugged on my leg even harder and tried desperately to free it from the prison where it was trapped, but nothing was working.
Each time I pulled, all I felt was an overwhelming sense of pain and panic. I wasn’t going to die down here. I couldn’t fucking die down here.
I bent my body as much as I could and started to slam the Bone Hatchet into anything I could connect it with. I wasn’t sure what part of the stones I was hitting, but I hoped I was breaking some pieces off.
Despite my enraged attacks and my painful desire not to fucking die in this godforsaken cavern, nothing seemed to be working. My foot hurt like it had never hurt before, and I knew without having to see the damage that I was going to be walking with a bit of a limp for the next few days, if I lived at all.
My vision started to go black around the edges, and slowly, all of my attacks started to lose their force, but I couldn’t die. I felt consciousness starting to slip away from me, and my hand released from the Bone Hatchet without my volition.
But before I could fade into darkness, I had one final bright, clear thought.
I fumbled into my pocket for the second orb. It was a shot in the dark, but I clasped it tightly in my hand, and then the whole world went upside down.
Chapter 14
Almost all of the water rushed up around me like it was being sucked up through a giant vacuum.
I had a few seconds of air before a bubble of water formed around me where gravity remained.
The force of all the water flying upward was enough to loosen the rocks that pinned my leg, and I managed to pull it free. The ice platform that held Yasha and Iris was flying up toward the rocky outcroppings on the ceiling at a breakneck speed, but I was going to put an end to that.
I only left the orb activated for a split second before I tapped it again and turned the gravity back on. The water dropped down like it was being spilled from a bucket, and I saw the ice platform, as well as the stones that had tried to kill me drop back down to their proper places in the lake.
Thankfully, I was cushioned by my own bubble of water as everything struck down again, and so I wasn’t subject to the bone-crushing, concussive force of the water slamming down into the ground once more. My lungs were burning, and if it hadn’t been for the split second when the water around me cleared, I would have been fucked.
I paddled up toward the surface faster than I think I had ever swam before. My vision was still fuzzy, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.
I wasn’t about to fucking die here, no way, no how.
I burst up from the surface of the water and gasped for air. It was the sweetest thing I had ever tasted, and a joyful, disbelieving laugh bubbled up from my mouth.
“Wes!” Yasha screamed my name, and the relief on her face was clearly evident. She and Iris had made it to the other side of the lake, and the Frost Orb was nowhere in sight.
The rumbling in the cavern hadn’t ceased yet, however, and I wasn’t about to wait around for another rock to drag me under the surface.
I started to paddle as well as I could toward the two of them and dodged and weaved to avoid the hunks of rock still falling from the ceiling. It seemed like the pace of the collapse had started to slow, or maybe I was just imagining it in my delight at being alive. The cold of the water seeped all the way down into my bones as my Smelter’s Maile seemed twice as heavy suddenly, but I didn’t even care. I was just too damn glad to not be in a watery grave.
I dragged myself out of the water and onto the rocky platform with both of their help and flopped onto my back as soon as I was fully free of the water. The ledge where the doorway sat was thankfully blocked off from the section of the cavern still prone to collapse by its own smooth, stone ceiling, and that felt like a blessing in and of itself.
“Holy shit,” I coughed and water came up from my throat. I rolled over onto my side to cough a little more of the water up onto the relatively dry land before I sat up. My head spun, and my vision was still a little fuzzy, but fuck. I felt pretty damn good considering I had nearly just been slaughtered by a giant alligator and drowned.
“Wes,” Yasha gasped out my name again and threw herself on top of me. The fox-woman buried her face in my neck and wrapped her arms around me. She squeezed me tightly and probably would have fully mounted me then and there had I not gently pushed her back so I could breathe.
“I’m okay,” I told her as I savored her embrace. “I promise. Just very wet and cold.”
“I thought you had died,” she told me in a small, surprisingly gentle tone. “I thought that I had lost you after I had just found you.”
Her words tugged at my heart strings, but as much as I wanted to sit there and enjoy the feeling of her in my lap as she clung to me, the timer in the corner of my vision hadn’t gone anywhere, and we still had a dungeon to finish before our time ran out.
“Come on,” I told her. “We’re close to finishing this thing. Let’s get out of here.”
Slowly, Yasha moved from my lap, and I managed to get up onto my feet. I felt myself starting to sway ever so slightly, but before I could stumble, Iris was there and tucking herself under my arm.
“You saved my life,” she said. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it,” I joked and let out another watery cough. “Now come on.”
The three of us made our way toward the darkened doorway that was illuminated in yellow, and as we came nearer, I realized it wasn’t just a random darkened doorway, but the door to the equipment room. It had been impossible to tell while we were still so far away.
I couldn’t help it. I started to laugh against my better judgment as I stared at the door. After all that trouble, we’d only had to fight one monster.
Sure, it had been an objectively horrible monster, paired with the cavern collapsing around, and two of us had nearly died in the process, but still.
“Oh, thank god,” I said. “I was worried we were going to cut it much closer than this.”
Yasha had been right. We had completed the dungeon in just under half the time.
The fox-woman darted forward and pulled the door open for me with a flourish, and with Iris’ help, I stepped inside to the safety of the equipment room.
The heat from the torches mounted on the wall was the first thing I noticed, and instantly, I started to feel some of the chill that had crept into my veins start to vanish.
“You’re going to freeze to death,” Iris told me. “You need to get your coat off at least.”
“I could say the same to you,” I said, and I was sure my response would have been really effective had my teeth not been chattering the entire time.
But I heeded Iris’ advice and slowly peeled off my maile and pauldrons before I dealt with my poor leather jacket. I dragged it off my water-laden body, and I did feel better almost immediately. I was still cold as hell, but now I wasn’t weighted down with water and armor, either.
Iris moved over to the table in the center of the room and started to shed the armor I had given her, as well as the weapons. Yasha and I both followed suit, and after a few minutes, all of our weapons and gear were tossed onto the table in the middle of the room alongside the gigantic treasure chest Yasha had grabbed.
She was the only one still dressed in her armor, and that was because her street clothing was tucked into her locker still.
I heard a loud yawn that drew my attention away from the fox-woman and saw that Mimic had apparently woken up. The chest mimic opened and closed his weird little mouth again before he toddled on over to us.
“You are wet,” he said.
“Thank you for pointing out the obvious,” I rebutted as I started to move our discarded gear out of the way to open up the chest.
“And there is another person here,” he said. “Again.”
“You’ve met Iris,” I said. “She was with us before.”
Mimic eyed Iris warily, and once again I was baffled by his seeming derision for anyone else who entered a dungeon with me. If I was a little less wet and a little further out from a near-death experience, I might have put a little more thought into the whole thing, but considering the other two factors at play, I had a hard time really caring all that much.
Yasha changed quickly, and I didn’t even bother telling Mimic not to look this time because I was too busy trying to pry open the chest Yasha had dropped onto the table.
It was unlike any of the chests we had gotten from the dungeons before, and not only because of its size.
It was made of stone instead of being made of the usual wood, and the clasps that held it closed were also made of stone. It took both me and Iris struggling at the edges to finally pry the lid open.
When I did, a gasp left my lips.
There wasn’t just gold in this chest, but there were gemstones as well.
It was the first time I had seen gems come from a chest, and these were some of the most beautiful stones I had ever seen in my entire life.
I wasn’t an expert jeweler, but I could tell from just looking at the stones from a distance that they were cut to perfection.
“Holy shit,” Iris gasped as she reached down into the chest to pull out a handful of the gems. She could hold three of them in her hand at once, and they sparkled radiantly under the torchlight that illuminated the equipment room.
Yasha came over to join us and seemed just as enthralled with the layer of large, fist-sized gems that lined the massive treasure chest. I saw what looked like rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds, and other gorgeous stones I couldn’t even begin to recognize.
I snagged my magical bag from where it had been dropped on the table and pulled it open. Without even having to say anything, the three of us began shoveling the gems inside, followed closely after by all of the golden coins we could find in the chest.
After dumping more loot than the bag should have ever been able to carry, we were left with only four items remaining in the chest.
“Is that armor?” Iris asked as she looked over the edge of the stone chest and handed me the first item.
It was a piece of plate armor with a matching set of pauldrons that appeared to be made out of the hide of the megafauna gator.
The blue text over top of the item confirmed as much.
Megafauna Gator Armor
Hit Points: +5
Stamina: +4
Constitution: +2
Dexterity: -3
“This is some damn good armor,” I said as I passed it over to Yasha for her to investigate the new item. “Iris, if you want it, it’s yours. I wouldn’t be able to wear the Pauldrons of Wisdom with it, and they’re too useful for me to be willing to give them up.”
“Really?” Iris seemed surprised that I was so willing to give her the piece of armor without a second thought, and I was once again angered that she had been in a position in her life where people doing nice things for her was so out of the ordinary.
“Of course,” I said. “You need to be protected, too. And besides, I think it would look far better on you than it would look on me anyway.”
Iris pressed her lips together and seemed to suppress a smile as I reached for the next item in the chest.
This one was a small vial that was no larger than a can of Coke. It appeared to be made out of stained glass and was soldered together in pristine lines. It was an intricately beautiful little trinket, and the liquid inside of the vial was a pale, translucent shade of red.
The item itself was a green text piece of equipment, and the name that floated over the top of it marked it as the Tears of Unbridled Winds.
Tears of Unbridled Winds
Uncap the vial to release the four winds to take you in whatever direction you wish to go. Once they are released, the winds may not be captured again. Use wisely, brave travelers.
“Is that a potion?” Yasha asked after she put down the armor that was made from the hide of the gator that had tried unsuccessfully to murder us.
“Technically, I don’t think it is,” I said. “It seems like the liquid in here is actually some sort of magical form of the wind? I’m not sure, but it sounds like it could be useful. Here, you take a look.”
I gave her the vial to investigate, and even Iris seemed curious, but all the while I reached into the chest for the second to last item inside.
This one was perhaps even more beautiful to me than all of the gemstones had been.
It was a set of two dual blades. They weren’t as long as Phantom Doomslayer, but they were both wickedly sharp and made out of a gleaming metal that looked like nothing I had ever seen before on Earth. It reflected the light in a way that seemed impossible, but clearly wasn’t.
The hilts of the twin blades were made of the same opalescent green material as the stones in the cavern and the megafauna gator’s teeth.
They were another blue text item, and they were named the Opal Twins.
Opal Twins
Damage- High
Speed- Quick
Skill Required- High
Two halves of the same weapon, the Opal Twins will serve you well if you understand their call. There is balance in all things. Find it. Kill what breaks it.
Well, wasn’t that a baller bit of information. What a killer line to just throw in there attached to a pair of already impressive swords. I picked up one of the blades and gave it a slow swipe through the air.
It moved like it didn’t weigh anything at all, and the air whistled past the honed edge of the blade, even with the slow speed of my initial attack, if I could even call it that.
All the while, the blade itself seemed to hum and draw itself closer and closer to the matching sword that still rested on the tabletop below.
“Oh, those are beautiful,” Yasha gasped. “They look deadly.”
She moved over to investigate the swords, and I was more than happy to let her have her fun as I pulled out the final item from the chest and pulled it free.
It was another ring, though unlike the Poison Soother ring, this one was made of only a piece of string.
It was a green text item, and the name floating over it was the Promise Ring.
Promise Ring
While wearing the promise ring, all vows will ring true.
Vague, but I was interested. I couldn’t wait to see what it would actually do in the next dungeon.
I set the ring down and looked around. I was expecting to see Mimic chomping at my heels and asking for me to feed him, but to my surprise, the chest mimic had returned to his corner and seemed to be half-asleep.
Apparently, even weird little creatures like him could get worn out.
