To call this place strange would be underselling it. The moment Cobal stepped over the boundary into the tower he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and his skin started to tingle. This place was different. He couldn’t explain how it was different, he just knew that it was. Looking at the others, he wasn’t the only one who felt this way. He hadn’t seen Eliana this on edge in a while. Mana was very regularly on edge and he didn’t know Kenar well enough but if something could make a ghost tense then it must be impressive. Despite feeling on edge, nothing seemed to be happening and after a tense few moments, Mana was the first to start looking around and taking careful steps. It was in moments like these where Cobal could see her curiosity win over her anxiety and he couldn’t help but chuckle at it. “It looks like the sliding doors are operated with magic after all,” she remarked, pointing out several runes that were placed around the door. “Looks similar to the runic magic the cult uses, so that’s worrisome.”
“Cult?” Kenar asked.
“Don’t worry about it, that has nothing to do with you,” Cobal cut him off. “Did you see any of those magic runes the last time you came here?”
Kenar shook his head. “We didn’t notice them at the very least.”
“Well, they might be the reason you were killed so easily, so we should be wary of those.”
“I actually have an idea.” Mana said.
“Is it a good idea?”
“Only one way to find out.” She took out the quill of Jerech Sez that she’d been using a lot lately. She was quickly getting more and more proficient with it. She carefully drew several words onto the ground in front of her. Light. Trap. Find. The words started to merge together after she finished until it turned into a glowing ball that floated around the room, bouncing to different places and lighting up runes whenever it came across them.
Mana looked slack jawed. “I can’t believe that actually works, this quill is incredible. The possibilities might truly be endless. I almost feel silly for trying to learn other forms of magic.”
“Well, I’m sure having a diverse set of skills could be useful, you won’t always have time to carefully draw out your magic.”
“I suppose that’s true.” Mana carefully made her way through the room, keeping a close eye on all of the runes that were lighting up. Cobal looked around as well. The walls were made of a slick looking marble with lines carved into it and the actual floorspace was mostly empty except for two chairs that stood towards the back. It didn’t seem like there was any good reason for a pair of chairs to be here, but it was hard to say what the logic behind any of this was. Their goal was towards the back of the room, a spiral staircase that slowly disappeared into the ceiling. “Now just to be safe,” Eliana turned to Kenar, “you know nothing about the upcoming floors either, right?”
He shook his head. “I don’t remember anything past entering the building and losing consciousness rather quickly afterwards. I don’t know if more happened and my memory of it became hazy through magic or time, or that we simply were killed right after we entered. Either way, I’m afraid that I’m of no more use to you than being a target for any magic by going first.”
“It could be dangerous,” Mana said.
“I already died a long time ago, I can’t imagine things getting much worse. You folks still have lives ahead of you.”
“Well, if that’s what you want to do, I won’t stop you.”
Kenar walked ahead of the rest of the party and carefully stepped up the spiral staircase before disappearing beyond their sight. A moment of tense silence followed before he called out. “It’s a weird room, but I think it’s safe to come up here.”
Cobal stepped up the stairs to the next room, and found himself in one of the strangest places he had ever seen. The walls were painted in strange patterns that made his head hurt as he looked at them.
“Avert your gaze,” Mana said.
“Is that dangerous magic?” Cobal asked.
“No, it’s optical illusions. The paint on these walls won’t hurt you in any way, but it will disorient you if you look at it too much. Don’t look at it for the same reason you don’t look at a fire, it will make it harder to look at other things and might make you a bit dizzy.”
“Hmm, I see.” Cobal looked around carefully, making sure not to stare at the walls or ceilings too much. The rest of the room seemed to be fine, but there wasn’t much of interest here. If you just looked at the floor itself and not any other place, you would think this was any old shed.
“Stay where you are, let me work the magic again.” Mana pulled out the quill and started drawing different words together again. Cobal noticed that her chest was going up and down much faster and there was sweat on her forehead. She was definitely pushing herself with this magic. Still, he didn’t comment on it, it was necessary right now and asking her to slow down would be an insult to her effort. After a tense few moments her magic revealed the numerous amounts of glyphs, traps and other magical corners in the room. “I suspect this room is where you all perished and this is also the one that’s aimed to deal with any intruders. The previous room seems much more aimed at chasing away some simple thieves, but this room means business.”
“What happens if we trip the alarm?” Kenar asked.
Mana pointed at several holes and marks on the ceiling and floor. “I’m guessing deadly darts or something of the sort will shoot out of the wall, which is impossible to investigate properly, and kill whoever steps on a trap. In this chaos anyone would panic and be disoriented and quickly step on the wrong spots. Lucky for us, there is a path to move through it. Let’s be careful where we stand.”
“How do we get out of this room?” Cobal asked. He couldn’t see a road out of here.
“There’s a staircase at the back of the room, but due to the way the walls are painted it’s really hard to see from here. Just follow my lead and you’ll be good.
After a very tedious walk through the second floor of the tower, the four of them made their way up the staircase. Just as Mana had said, there was indeed a staircase that was hidden by the illusory paint. Cobal felt nauseous from the moving environment as if it were actually moving and as far as he was concerned, this was actual magic. But after making it through this room, they got into another chamber that looked much less dangerous. But looks can be deceiving, so after a short breather Mana took out the quill of Jerech Sez and started on her magic again.
“Are you sure you can handle another use of this?” Cobal asked.
Mana nodded. “I’ll probably need to sleep for about thirty hours straight after we leave this place, but this won’t have any lasting effect, compared to dying from a trap.”
“Fair point.”
Despite Mana’s caution, it seemed like there were no traps in this room, so at least they could relax a little. The next problem they faced was that there seemed to be no way of getting up to the floor above this one, no matter where they looked. The room was fairly straightforward, with stone walls which Mana explained were concrete and a wooden floor and ceiling. Eliana offered to break the ceiling, but Mana told her not to do so, as it could be dangerous. Instead they should focus their attention on the four different pedestals that were in the room. Each of the pedals had a different design. One of them looked like it was twisted around itself, curving in strange places and holding a ruby gemstone at the top of the tower. Another one was made out of glass and looked to almost be liquid the way it reflected the light that passed through it from some unseen lightsource at the center. A sapphire sat at the top. A third pedestal looked rigid and almost like it was a tiny sculpture of a tall mountain peak, with a slab of granite at the top. The final of the four pedestals was also made out of glass, but strange symbols were carved into it that looked like a line that made a loop before continuing in a straight line. It all looked very unfamiliar to Cobal.
“Any idea?” Mana asked the group.
“Well clearly they represent the elements.” Eliana said.
Mana looked surprised.
“What, didn’t think I could contribute? I’ve raided my fair share of strange places throughout the years and people who like puzzles love using the different elements for this stuff. Or references to the gods, or times of day, it’s the very basics of puzzle solving.”
“That’s actually a really smart thought.”
“Again, you don’t have to sound so surprised.”
“So how do we solve it then,” Cobal asked.
“No clue.”
“And the fleeting moment of being impressed vanished into thin air, not to be seen again for a long time,” Cobal replied.
“Let’s look around then,” Eliana suggested, “you said this room should be safe enough, right?”
Mana nodded. “No magical traps or any obvious traps, but of course you have to stay on guard.”
The four of them spread out and inspected the circular room. Cobal looked at the four pedestals first, and found them to be mesmerizing in how beautifully they were crafted. It reminded him of some of the artwork he saw back in the Sapphire Respite that he didn’t quite understand. It was very clear that they represented the elements though, now that it was pointed out to him. After finding nothing on the pedestals he started looking for anything on the floor when Kenar tapped him on the shoulder. “What does that say?” He asked, pointing and some scribbled on the ceiling. Cobal squinted. Do you remember?
“Mana, Eliana, we found something.”
Cobal pointed it out.
Eliana shrugged, “I have no idea what that means, I’ve never been here before after all.”
To the shock of all three of them, Mana just burst out in laughter when she read the words.
“She’s snapped,” Eliana said. Cobal agreed.
Opal Kaharis 