Aetuornos Beta 2-8

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2-8: Clandestine Ignition

Everyone's doors led them into hallways seemingly identical to the ones they had used to enter their trials, but the door on the opposite side came out into a particularly large, circular room with a circular vaulted ceiling. They came out of three doors adjacent to each other: The demon-girls on the left, Jack and Noire in the center, and the healers on the right. Once they were through the doorways, the doors themselves seemed to instantly vanish, leaving the three doorframes occupied with only walls. There were four more walls-in-doorframes, two on either side of the three they had entered, and the rest of the room had a number of doors with placards similar to the ones which had been used to label their trials.

"Looks like we all made it!" Noire said, turning toward the others.

"No instant teleport," Thora mumbled, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Is anyone hurt?" Grigori asked, looking to the other four.
"Nope!" Fiori answered, half-over Jack's "Nu-uh."

"Our trial was pretty weird though," the necromancer continued. "We had to like, press this button combination quick enough—which is a fine puzzle I guess—but like it also couldn't be too quick?"
"My guess is, that they were all secretly connected," Noire said. "Did you hear a chime whenever you pressed a correct button? Some shattering from below, perhaps?"
"Chime, yes," Thora said. "Shattering, no."
"Well, I could hear a chime and shattering up above me," Grigori said. "Two chimes made a suit of armor come to life and attack us. Then Zef had to platform up to a big magic circle on the ceiling to turn it off again."

"Surely you all spoke during your trials," Noire said, "yet I never heard a word. Perhaps some manner of selective silencing charms so we couldn't cheese the trials by actually communicating."
"Hmph. Any normal MMO would have text chat or, like, you could IM with another program," Jack said. "I guess that's kinda the point, huh?"
"Perhaps," the rogue said, stepping toward the center of the room. "We can discuss more details about our experiences with those trials later, I believe. For the moment, we must select our reward." She swept a hand around at the doors, each labeled Artifact of and then a word or brief phrase.

"How's this supposed to work, anyway?" Jack said. "Just one reward, for six people?"
"I mean like..maybe there's some normal treasure chests to go with the artifact or something?" the necromancer suggested.

"Well, I already received a significant reward from this excursion," Noire said, taking out a knife to toss in the air and catch. "Fiori can't use any other weapons but her scythe, Zef can hardly use equipment at all."

"Ehh—hang on," Grigori said. "If that thing with the map is anything to go by, exact words are important with these 'wizard types', yeah? Mondelain said 'you will all be taken to the top floor, select an artifact, and face its guardian'. That doesn't mean we have to select one artifact for all of us, it just means that whoever goes after a particular artifact has to face its guardian."

"So, we can have six artifacts—one per person—if we each fight our own boss," Thora said. "But that sounds like a great way to get us all killed."

"You ought to be satisfied with two or three," Zef said. "Splitting into two groups of three would be best, as each group would still have a healer."

"Weell, I don't use much equipment either," the druid said. "I'm all about the were-bear stuff, and plant and regen magic. So, either Jack and Thora each get artifacts, or maybe Fiori too?"

"I'm happy with the adventure~," the necromancer said. "And maaaybe the guardian's soul, if I can take it."
"Well, that settles that, then," he nodded. "What's the best three-three split? And you two decide what you actually want."

Jack shrugged; Thora nodded; and the two of them went to start reading the placards for artifact descriptions. "As you said," Noire said, "they should each get a healer. Thora's..more prone to taking a lot of damage at once, so Zef may be best to go with her, and you with Jack. Then: Zef is an agile, low-range fighter with bladed weapons, which also fits my description somewhat, so I can also join you two."
"I'd, kinda like to stick with Thora anyway," Fiori admitted.
"Then that arrangement seems agreeable to everyone," the catgirl said.

"Hey, uh—what if we're wrong about this, and we really only get one, for all of us?" Thora said.

"Then I suppose that'll be made obvious once we open our first door," Noire replied. "Something will likely prevent us from opening or entering another in that case."
"Yeah..makes sense. Well, then Jack should open his first, I think. I mean, you're the one with a kidnapped sister and all.."
"Pffsh. She's probably off doing somethin' else by now," he said.

---

"Now, tell me—have you ever heard of the Secret Fire?" The witch pronounced this name as if it should be capitalized.

"Uh.." What, like in Lord of the Rings? "..No," Ronin said. Not in this setting, at least.

"Some would say that's good," she said. "It is meant to be Secret, after all. Passed down to only the most skilled and pure of mages, who have proven their worth through heroism, meaningful discoveries, or other such feats. But—no more, I say! The world needs that fire in more hands, and sooner rather than later. Sooo....

"Y'know this?" she said, sweeping a hand up and causing some purple flame to appear spinning around it. "This is the Secret Fire. Or rather, it is my Secret Fire. It's not so much a spell, as something which becomes a part of the mage it spreads to, and every spell she casts, every enchantment she makes...so on, so forth. And it's much more than just some visual flair. Every person's fire comes in a particular color, and each color means something different—different effects, advantages, weaknesses...et-cetera. Purple Fire is useful for 'empowering' and 'enslaving', as you saw me do with those big birds earlier."

"So..you want to give me that?" he said. "That's your offer?"
"You are a sharp one!" she said, and cackled again. "Indeed. Any who possess the Secret Fire, also possess the means to spread it to a willing participant. There are limitations, however; it cannot inhabit anyone dedicated to one or more of the gods, for they abhor it; and it requires a sufficiently pure mage. Nobody who, say, swings around a bladed melee weapon all the time—for instance."

He gave her a skeptical look. "Didn't you say that gigantic scythe you were riding around on was your 'real weapon'?"

"Hmn? Ohh, this thing?" she said, summoning it into her left hand in a burst of purple flame. "This is no scythe. I mean—have you seen me reap anything with it? Noo no no, this is just a very long staff with a sharp, bladed decoration at the end....both ends. Staffs, rods, and the like are just fine." Then she dismissed it again.

"Well..what's the catch, then?" Ronin asked. "Is it gonna burn me up later in life, or something?"
"Ohoh, nothing like that!" she said. "It's just that—you remember the army of demons and monsters, yes?"
"Yes."
"Well, anyone who possesses the Fire will have something of a target on their back from their leaders. The Demon Queen—who's in charge of the whole mess of them—will seek to snuff out the Secret Fire as quickly as she possibly can. That is why it must be spread," she said.

"..If they want to get rid of it, then..is it useful against them?"

"Oh, absolutely!" she nodded excitedly. "Indeed, it may very well be the only thing capable of realistically slaying the Demon Queen herself!"

"Well..in that case, I guess I need to take it. We won't be very good heroes if we can't beat the final boss," he said.
"Heeheehee! That's the spirit!" She said. "Now..for me to spread it to you, is terribly simple." She produced one of Noire's daggers in her left hand, seemingly out of nowhere (or, possibly, out of her inventory). "I just need to draw a little bit of blood, say a certain thing, and you answer yes. Got it?"
"So.." He crossed his arms. "You don't need that giant magic circle for it, then?"
"Oh, this?" she looked down. "Nope! That's for other stuff. I just thought it'd be dramatic to have it around and go stand next to it. Well—I may actually use it to get you to your friends a bit faster once we're done. But first.." she came up close to him. "Just put out your dominant arm for me; this won't hurt...much."

Ronin put his right arm out, and she gently put her free hand under his wrist, pricking a finger with the tip of the weapon in her other. Then she let go of the knife and put her hand over the slightly-bleeding one, engulfing them both in a heatless purple flame. Looking up, he could see that her body was also wreathed in a glow of the same color, particularly her eyes. And she incanted: "The Fire was kindled as the world began. The Fire shall consume the world at its end. In the time between, it must through mages spread. Will you take it in?"
"...Yes." If this was the real world, he might have actually thought about it a bit more.

"Then.." She put her other hand on top of his too, grinning viciously. "Let it burn!" This part didn't seem to actually be part of the incantation, but it was well-timed for the resulting effect anyway.

The bright purple flame raced up his arm and across the rest of his body, covering him for a second or two before slowly changing color, paling and darkening to a deep shade of gray. This color settled into place everywhere except for where her hands were around his; here, her own purple flame surrounded what gray fire was around that hand until she let go and all of the flames faded from view. Yet, even after they did, Ronin had the curious sense that he could 'feel' the Fire inside him, still, and now knew exactly what to do to spread it to someone else.

"..Phew! It does take a bit outta ya to do it," she said, taking out another vial of potion and chugging it, wiping her mouth on a glove before continuing. "Now, don't worry about that 'world destruction' stuff, it's just some silly superstition."
He raised an eyebrow. "..Why is it part of the incantation, then? Doesn't that mean it's literally baked into its nature?"
"Well, sure, but—the world'll get destroyed at some point anyway," she said, shrugging. "That doesn't mean the Fire's responsible for it, just that it cleans up the mess afterward. At least, like, if it's still around—which it should be!

"Anyway, I must say I'm slightly disappointed. Your color isn't quite what I hoped I'd get," she said.
"What did you expect?"

"White, rather than gray," she replied. "But I still think giving it to you was the right choice. You're definitely young and 'foolish' enough to spread it to some more mages, aren't you?" she said with a wink. "But no, seriously—someone with a white Fire will be way better equipped to fight the Demon Queen effectively. That means an extra big target on whoever gets it, which is a warning you should probably pass on to whoever you spread it to."

"Well—what's a gray Fire do, then?"
"Hmmn.." she put a finger to her lips, thinking. "If I recall correctly, it's somethin' like..'resiliency' and 'resistance'. In your case, I bet it'll make your summons tougher to take down or dispel. Enchanting armor also wouldn't be a bad idea if you ever wanna get into crafting stuff.

"..Anyway~, now we use the big spell circle!" she said, clapping her hands together. "I expect you wanna get back to your friends as soon as possible, y'know, in case they're in a ton of danger or something."

---

Jack read several doors before just glancing at one in particular. "Artifact...of...explosions. Yeah, okay, I want this one," he said, pointing at the placard.

"Cool, cool," Noire said, drawing close and gesturing for Grigori to join her. "You pick something yet, Thora?"
"Uhh, I guess this one's probably good? Blocking?" she said, gesturing.

"Seems like a pretty good synergy," the catgirl agreed. "Okay, open our door and let's see what happens."

Jack nodded, taking the doorknob and opening it. Inside was another of those hallways that seemed to be between each pair of doors to meaningful rooms in this place, and nothing happened while the party waited a moment to see. Then, shrugging, Thora opened her door to a similar hallway. "Okay," the rogue concluded, "Barring anything interrupting us, let's head on in and face the guardians. See you three on the outside!" She waved, heading in first but quickly allowing the tall, strong guys to get in front of her.

Thora took the lead in her own hallway of course, boldly opening the door at the end of the hallway only to immediately hear the door behind them slam itself shut. Briefly glancing back, the door had been replaced by a wall, just like in the "artifact choosing room". Looking forward again, she saw what Zef and Fiori had already noticed: What appeared to be a metal statue of a turtle the height of a human, with a sign hanging down from the ceiling to just a bit above its head that said Guardian of Blocking.

"Oookaaay...?" The berserker walked inside first, a bit cautious of the possibility of the big animal suddenly turning into flesh and/or animating to attack her. Instead it remained perfectly immobile, seemingly every bit the statue it seemed to be, except that its eyes suddenly blazed with a familiar, golden-yellow flame. Looking around a bit more, the room was about twice as tall as her and particularly narrow—enough for the statue to take up its entire width.

"Ehehee~," Fiori giggled. "The guardian is blocking our way. But you could get around it, right Zef?"

"Easily," she nodded. "Speaking of 'exact words', Mondelain only stated we would face a guardian, not fight one."

"It'd be kinda anticlimactic to not have anything resembling a boss, though," Thora said.

"I will go past it, then." Zef backed into the hallway again to get a running start, and then vaulted up and leftward, running along the wall above the turtle's left side. Just before she would've been above the turtle, however, her body slammed directly into a very solid, physical barrier, sending out ripples of yellow light from her outline along what appeared to be a plane of otherwise invisible force field. Both other girls winced at the distinct thwack sound this made, and she slid down the plane briefly before falling backwards onto her butt on the floor.

"...Ow."
"Aack! Are you okay!?" Fiori said, hurrying next to her. Zef was already busy placing a hand on her own face, four fingers on her forehead and another on her cheek.
"Healing. That sounded worse than it was. We should have checked for something like that beforehand," she stated bluntly.

---

Jack opened the door at the end of the hallway, striding straight inside with Grigori and then Noire behind him. They found themselves in a fairly large, square room, around four meters high, with a metallic statue of a hydra occupying its center and no other obvious entrances or exits. A sign hanging from the center-most head of that hydra facing the door (as many of its heads were facing off toward other sides of the room) read, Guardian of Explosions.

"...Is it gonna come to life or something?" he wondered aloud, taking a couple of steps toward it. As if on cue, every one of the hydra's numerous eyes began to glow with Mondelain's signature color, and all of its mouths began to open wider. This appeared to be a mechanical action, not the statue coming to life; much more worryingly, however, the head with the sign hung over its neck had something spherical and black, like a bowling ball, roll out of it toward the party. There was a faint sizzling sound coming from inside of it.

"Uhh—"
"BOMB!" Noire yelled, "Back up!" She followed her own advice, quickly backpedaling almost to the door; the others took the hint to turn and run quickly enough, until they all heard and saw it explode. Its blast didn't reach them, but they could feel its heat, and as their eyes cleared from the flash, they could now see a moderately-sized chunk of the floor missing around where it had been.

There was a brief, silent moment of staring at this sight, until the catgirl picked up the distinct sound of something rolling around inside the statue. "Pretty sure there's more incoming," she said. Two of the heads adjacent to the first one rolled similar spherical bombs out of them, of differing size; the three players covered their ears against the explosions, and found themselves faced with two more holes in the floor.

Glancing briefly backwards, Noire saw that their door was gone, replaced by a wall just as blank as the other four. "I don't like the outlook if we just dance around those things," she said.

"Hey, let's try dumping them in the holes," Grigori suggested as more rolling came from inside the statue.

"Or at least knocking them all toward the same spot," Jack agreed.
"Great idea! Let's spread out, quick!"

---

Thora gently tapped the 'force field' with her index finger a few times, then took a small step back, drawing her club. "Okay, so there's a wall in the way. I think I at least understand this problem." She readied her weapon, holding it two-handed behind her back, ready to swing.

"Hold." Zef held out a hand toward the berserker, then carefully picked herself up onto her feet. "What if this is similar to the previous trial?"
"Weeelll...if it is, then we're prolly still meant to do the most obvious thing," Fiori said. "And it was pretty obvious when something was right or wrong, too—buzzer or chime? I say hit it with all ya got!"

"Wait—"

The club was already halfway there before the monk got the word out, and any more she might have said was cut off by the sound of the weapon connecting, producing a sound like a low-pitched gong and sending huge yellow ripples out from the point of contact, followed by the formation of some dimly-glowing thin, hairline cracks spreading out from the spot before immediately beginning to fade back in toward the center, healing themselves.

"That did something!" Fiori cheered, holding her arms up with fists clenched eagerly.
"Yes, but—"
"Hit it again!" she cut Zef off—not that she needed to say anything, with Thora already readying another strike.

"Hup!"

The monk just placed her hand on her palm and gently shook her head.

---

Jack swung his axe like a hockey stick or golf club, sweeping big bombs off in the direction of the most recent holes. Noire ran after the smallest ones, grabbing and easily tossing them straight in the holes; Grigori just went with punting the ones closest to him in that general direction. As more bombs rolled out, approaching too many for them to deal with before they started exploding, the three of them were further interrupted by a brilliant flash from an unexploded corner of the room.

"..Sis!" Jack responded first. "Yo, I thought you'd have logged out by now!"
"I would've, but it—"
"Bad time for talking!" Grigori interrupted, running up and kicking a bomb away before it got to the summoner. "Put the bombs in the holes please!" Noire had also gotten straight back to work.

"Uh—okay, sure." Ronin brought out a couple of humanoid light elementals, having them run to grab some bombs and then head toward the holes. They looked different from before, their appearance possessing a fiery glow which was a somewhat duller, grayer shade than their actual bodies. "But uh—I could use some explanation, you know—where are we, what is this?"

"Mage dude's tower, to rescue you, duh!" Jack said.

"Not that you need it now!" Noire added.
"And that's the guardian of explosions, it drops bombs," said Grigori. "Is that up-to-speed enough?"

"No!" One of the elementals didn't make it to a hole before the bomb exploded, knocking it backwards and onto the floor, but it didn't dissipate from the damage. "Why are we fighting a 'guardian of explosions'?!" This particular explosion didn't destroy any of the floor, either.

"I don't know that I'd call this a 'fight'," the catgirl said.

---

"RrrrRRRRAAAAHH!!!" Thora psyched herself up, then went for about a five-hit combo on the shield. The cracks formed and spread like every hit before, then quickly closed themselves up again while she stood there panting from the several recent bursts of exertion. "Hff...gaah, that's still not enough?"
"Awwh, I thought you'd get it that time," Fiori said.

Zef stood by watching, her arms crossed. "Hmm."

Both of them turned toward the monk. "Hey, you have any bright ideas?" Thora asked.

"Maybe you are correct—it isn't 'enough'." She moved to a fighting stance, summoning some light-blades about her arms. "Do you possess any spells that inflict rapid, blunt-force trauma?" she asked the necromancer.
"Uhh, no, not really. I just gots this scythe," she said, waving it around.
"...Use that, then." She moved up next to Thora, close to the wall. "I will count to three. When I say 'three', strike it as hard and as many times as you possibly can. Try not to hit each other."
"Or you?" Thora said, readying her club once more.

"You will not hit me."
"..'Kay."

"One. Two."

<hr/>

"Okay, why'd you walk into this trap then?"
"I wanted an 'artifact of explosions', okay!? Sheesh!"

Ronin paused very briefly, then remarked: "..I guess that sounds about right."
"Less talk, more bomb throw!" Grigori reminded them; he and Noire had to pull most of the weight during this siblingly exchange. Almost half of the floor was now unusable, the area around the corner first exploded having only a couple of patches of floor attached to the walls. The size and quantity of holes now made it quite visible that below this room's floor was only a dark pit with no visible bottom.

"Actually—if you can just summon something to take the brunt of the explosions and keep them from breaking the floor, that's just as good," the catgirl suggested.
"Uh, okay..."

Jack held a position in front of the summoner, knocking bombs away as best he could. Grigori and Noire took up spots to either side of Ronin, tossing the bombs away or at his summons—whichever was easier. The statue wasn't spawning bombs in any of the directions that were mostly pits, but now the ones it did spawn came out at a fever pitch, one after another, in a variety of sizes. A few of those that appeared, one could swear couldn't possibly have fit in the stone-hydra-heads' mouths at all.

More or less by accident, the explosions carved holes closer to the small party, but also around the statue itself. It began to tilt slightly over, toward the opposite corner, and Noire got a last-second idea. She grabbed the biggest bomb she thought she could easily hold, and quickly bowled it right at the nearest foot of the statue. The explosion crumbled the floor out from in front of it, leaving the floor directly underneath it hardly attached to anything at all.

It tilted steeper, bombs still rolling out of its heads despite it visibly having no source underneath it for them to be coming from, and then with some cracking sounds the last of the flooring around it broke, allowing the entire guardian statue to topple down into the seemingly-bottomless pit. For a moment the four of them could still hear bombs rolling out of its mouths; then there was a brief cacophony of explosions followed by the distinct sound of something very heavy hitting hard ground and cracking to pieces.

The four of them stood there panting for a moment, then Jack stood up straight. "Woo! We did it!" he pumped his fist. A yellow glow appeared over the floor beneath them, spreading across the pit and seemingly re-filling it with floor until the room was hole again—sans statue. A burst of yellow flame flickered up through the center of the room, forming a small stone pedestal with an amulet on it.

"And there is our prize," Noire declared, combing a hand through her hair.

---

"Three!" Zef began striking the barrier at once, punching and kicking light-blades into it in one long, continuous combo. Thora went for a repeat performance of bashing it with her club over and over again, and Fiori energetically imitated this motion with her scythe (which is to say she bashed it bluntly rather than actually trying to cut it). The cracks from where their hits connected—Fiori's on the left being the faintest and the berserker producing the largest and most visible—spread and joined, a sound reminiscent of actual glass cracking apart joining the noise of repeated gongs from impacts on the barrier.

"Keep it up!" The monk had to dodge some of Thora's wilder swings, ducking or leaning to one side, but she had anticipated this from the start, and could see each strike coming more than far enough in advance to flow with the movements and keep on hitting, particularly targeting where the cracks were the widest. Finally, the three of them were treated to the noise of something shattering as the barrier fell apart into a bunch of tiny, glittering yellow fragments.

What they saw now that it was gone was no longer the turtle statue at all, but instead a small pedestal standing in the center with a ring sitting atop it, and beyond that a doorway.

"Hff...fff...phew! See, Zef, sometimes it's not so bad to think like a meathead~!" Fiori said.
The monk dusted herself off, easily hiding her slightly elevated breathing from notice. "Counterpoint: It is necessary to think in the first place."

"Hey, either way—teamwork, woo!" Thora interjected. "Hfff...yeah. Soo, that ring is the artifact, I guess?" She came up to it, looking around cautiously for any traps.