Ascension: Quest For Revenge

The Death Room (Part 2)

The warriors on the ground desperately ran in every direction to get on a platform as quickly as possible. The fighter who hung on the side of a platform by her sword slowly started to go down, as her platform began descending into the floor. She quickly took out a dagger and using that and the sword, climbed on top of the platform. She then jumped to the edge of another one, stabbing its side with both her sword and her dagger and hanging on. As another platform began rising, she kicked the edge to jump on top of it in the opposite direction. Her sword remained stuck on the previous platform, which sank into the growing pool of acid. The fighter screamed in rage.

“We need to start looking for the exit before this entire room is filled with acid,” The elf said. “There are four of us mages. You three look up above and around the walls. I’ll look on the ground.”

He flew towards the floor.

“The ground is covered in acid,” A mage said. “How does he think-”

The elven mage pointed his hand towards the pool of acid, and used telekinesis. The pool made way for the mage, splitting along the path where he needed to go and collecting on the edges, revealing the decayed floor below.

“We don’t have much time,” Axel said. “Let’s start looking for an exit.”

They flew around the room searching rigorously for a way out.

The platform Belle and some of the others were standing on started to fall, and there was no other platform nearby. Belle jumped and shot flames from her hands towards the ground, thus managing to keep herself in the air. Another warrior used wind magic to hover in the air, looking for another platform.

The other two warriors on that platform – the warrior with a dagger and a dwarf - started panicking, trying to find a platform to jump, but none appeared.

“Help!” They shouted. Their voices echoed through the room.

Axel abandoned his search and shot towards the two, quickly grabbing them before they went into the pool of acid; then put them on another platform.

“Thank ye,” the dwarf said. “Ye saved our lives.”

Axel nodded, then went back to the search; internally, he was in a great deal of turmoil. He didn’t wanna save anyone during these trials; that would make taking their lives in the final trial much, much more difficult. At the same time, he couldn’t help himself.

“Found anything yet?” Axel yelled towards the other mages.

“No!” One replied.

“Nothing!” The other said. “We’re trapped!”

The elf didn’t reply. He continued searching the ground.

A dwarf leapt onto a platform, but had miscalculated the jump. He hung to the edge of the platform. A warrior who was on top of the platform held his hand and tried to pull him up, but that became harder as it continued to rise.

“Just keep holding on comrade! I’ll save you!” he said, and managed to pull the dwarf up.

The pool had almost filled half of the room now. One of the warriors screamed as he fell towards the ground; his screaming was quickly cut off when he went into the pool. He died immediately.

“I found the exit!” The elf yelled at the top of his lungs. Everyone looked towards him. He was standing in front of some sort of trapdoor, with a stone next to it that seemed like it was meant to be pushed inwards. He grabbed the stone and pushed it in.

The trapdoor opened, and bright sunlight entered the room; but a loud screech came from the walls above.

“Oh no,” Axel said. “Everyone get to the exit before-”

Something very large flew incredibly fast towards Axel. He immediately created a shield around him, and the object deflected against it, spinning in the air. It then balanced itself in mid-air by spreading its wings. The creature was called Koriken; a beast with a long mouth and sharp teeth, and wings that looked similar to that of a bat; only much larger. It had two claws, and its body was streamlined; it was designed to shoot through the air at incredibly fast speeds.

Another Koriken appeared from the walls and sped towards one of the mages, instantly grabbing him with its mouth, then flew towards the opposite corner of the room. The mage died by getting impaled by its sharp teeth.

“No!” The other mage said. He charged electricity in his fists and then shot a bolt of electricity towards the beast, which quickly dodged it, dropping the dead mage’s body into the pool.

“Everyone hurry towards the exit!” Belle said while pointing towards it; however the elf had no intention of helping anyone other than himself. He exited through the trapdoor and then shut it down. The pool of acid that had made way around him returned immediately to its position. There was no way of getting to the exit now.

A Koriken dived towards one of the warriors and picked him up with its claws. The other warriors on the platform tried to hit it, but it flew up before they could even make a scratch. It dropped the warrior into the pool of acid.

“That mage has doomed us!” a dwarf yelled hysterically. His platform began going down, and he tried to jump to another one; but while in air, A Koriken picked him up and dropped him into the acid as well.

The acid was now more than halfway filled into the room, and reached up to three quarters of the platforms’ height.

Axel flew towards the other mage, who was still in rage, shooting bolts of electricity and shards of ice from his hands towards the flying creatures.

“Listen to me,” Axel said, holding the mage’s shoulders, who ignored him and continued trying to shoot down the beasts. Axel shook him a bit harder to get his attention.

“Listen to me. There’s no point shooting at them, they’re too fast. We need to draw their attention while the rest of them escape.”

“And how will they escape, Axel?!” he shouted. “The door is sitting in a pool of acid! We’re dead!”

“No! I can open the door for them the same way the elf did. You just need to draw the Koriken’s attention so they don’t kill the others. I can’t do this without your help. Are you with me?”

The mage looked blankly in confusion for a second, then collected his thoughts together with resolve and nodded.

A Koriken charged at the two. Axel turned, and immediately summoned his staff into its mouth, prying open his jaws and holding them open. He then made the staff shoot a blast of energy, which it did, causing the beast’s upper jaw to blow up, creating a mist of red. The beast yelled in pain and flew down below, circling around.

The other Koriken got ready for its attack. It curled its body and wings in a shape resembling a giant dart, and was about to attack the two flying mages. Axel quickly called his staff into his hand, then created a magical bond that tried to wrap itself around the creature’s tail; but the beast was too fast. The creature shot itself towards the two mages, but the other mage used ice magic to freeze the Koriken’s mouth. It turned its direction few inches before killing the two mages.

“That should buy us some time,” Axel said. “I’ll try and open the gate for the others.”

He flew down, right above the location of the gate.

I hate using this, he thought to himself; but he knew he had no choice. He pointed his staff towards the acid and used telekinesis to split it apart, clearing a way towards the gate. He then flew towards the gate and pressed the stone next to the trapdoor, thus opening it.

“Everyone, hurry!” Axel said. “I can’t hold this for long!”

The Auremian and another warrior nearby jumped down on the ground and ran through the exit. The fighter with wind powers helped the dwarf get safely down on the ground; then they rushed to the door. Belle used fire magic to fly towards the exit.

“Alright, mage you’re up-” He stopped talking when he noticed that the mage and the Koriken were nowhere to be found. Axel’s eyes darted around, trying to find him but there was no sign of him. The only explanation was that he died, taking the beasts down with him.

“I don’t know if you’re alive,” Axel yelled, “But if you are, here’s the spell:” he read the spell in ancient tongue. “Say it and you can get out too!”

Axel could no longer hold the enormous pool of water that had now filled three quarters of the entire room. He ran towards the exit, and as his strength faded, the acid followed him from behind. He managed to jump out in the nick of time, and close the door behind him with telekinesis.

He landed on the ground, and stayed, taking a moment to breathe fresh air. He could feel the warmth of the Sun on his face. Before he could get up and look at his surroundings, someone started choking his throat. He looked up and realised it was the elf, choking him with telekinesis. The several rings on the fingers of his right hand glowed vibrantly.

“Now, Mr. Brooks,” The elf said with a grin, “Now the fun begins.”