Tainted roots

Patchy and yellowing grass covered the sprawling valleys and hills. The dirt was so dry, it sent up clouds of dust when we walked over it. Above us was the most pigmented blue sky in this realm—which wasn’t saying much, because it was still a dull and faded color—without a single cloud. As far as looks went, I wasn’t impressed. Then again, I didn’t come for the scenery, I came for the tunnels. The entrance to one of them, was a cave dug into the base of a hill, not even ten feet to our left.

I scanned our surroundings, looking for creatures, having no idea what lived here, but I found nothing. If they lived in this region, chances were they were the type to live underground. The very place we were heading.

Fucking great.

The tunnels were surprisingly wider than the others we'd been through. Over ten feet tall and seven wide. The walls, ground, and ceiling were all made from the same dry-packed dirt. Gemini led the way carrying a lit crystal to light our way, with Ari at the back of our group, carrying a similar one. As promised, I walked ahead of Koa, staying in his line of sight.

The first half hour was uneventful. At one point our tunnel led to an empty circular room. Where five different tunnels branched off from the room. We debated back and forth on which to take, and in the end, we took the one in the middle. We came across two more of these rooms before we encounter our first trap.

The tunnel we were walking down had started to narrow, when fireballs began shooting out of the walls, one grazing my thigh. Blinding white hot pain burned in my leg, almost distracting me enough I would’ve been hit again—this time in the shoulder—if it weren’t for Koa moving me out of the way. He threw me over his shoulder as he dodged a few more fireballs.

“Screw this,” Gemini said, and from my view hanging over Koa’s shoulder, I noticed a pure black rock in her hand. She crumbled the material, turning it to powder, which she blew along the tunnel ahead of us, where more fireballs were shooting from the walls. The dust glittered as it passed over the fireballs, freezing them in midair. “Hurry. They won’t stay frozen for long.”

I tried to wiggle down from my place on Koa’s shoulder, hating being manhandled like this, but he wouldn’t relent. If anything, his hold on me tightened to the point I could barely move. All I could do was watch as we maneuvered past the frozen fireball, watching the black dust hover in the air, still glittering.

We were almost all the way through when the dust vanished and the fireballs resumed their trajectory. One caught Koa in the side, the stinging pain filtering from him to me.

Once we were sure we were far enough away from the trap, we stopped to catch our breaths. Or rather they did, since I hadn’t done anything. As soon as my feet touched the ground, my hand cracked across Koa’s face making my hand sting. He wasn’t surprised I hit him, he was pleased. Maybe even a little turned on. “Don’t ever do that shit again.”

His only response was a smirk. Bastard.

It turned out all of us were hit by one of those damn fireballs. We each took turns rubbing a minty and cool balm on our burbs, while we questioned Gemini on what that powder was, and whether or not that counted as using magic.

“Technically, yes it was magic, but not active. It doesn’t require a sorceress to use it, you could’ve activated it if you knew what you were doing. Because the magic and spell have already been cast when I created it this morning. It just had to be activated.” She winced as she pulled her shirt over her head, the front ruined from where the fireball hit her stomach. “Whether or not the creatures will be alerted, I’m not sure.”

It was an ingenuous idea especially if it worked and didn’t bring any creatures to us. Why couldn’t she have been our guide through this realm the first time? She was a hell of a lot more pleasant to be around than Wyatt.

It seemed that once we came across one trap, we set off a chain reaction or something. Or maybe we just chose the wrong fucking tunnel. A few minutes later, water appeared at our feet. Coming from where? I had no fucking clue. What was strange, was how it didn’t didn’t flood the whole tunnel. It stopped twenty feet in front of us and a couple behind us. The water rose pretty fast. Soon it was up to my knees. We ran through the water as fast we could and it didn’t take us long before we were swimming instead of running.

Thankfully the ceiling was higher in here, maybe fifteen feet, but with the rapid rate the water was rising that wasn’t too helpful. We abruptly slammed into an invisible wall, preventing the water from flooding the rest of the tunnel.

The water was now only a few feet from the ceiling and panic was now fully setting in. I think I had unlocked a new fear of the water from our past two trips here. This would be the third time I nearly drowned, and twice was already too much for me.

Ari pressed her hands to the wall, muttering under her breath. In my panicked state, I couldn’t pick up on her quiet words. “We need to find the weak spot! There’s always a weak spot in these types of shields!” She called out.

I had no fucking clue how she figured it out, but I didn’t care. We all spread out checking the wall. I dove under the surface, figuring with our luck, it would be near the bottom. I gave test taps, feeling a solid and unrelenting surface. Eventually, I had to come back up for air.

Panic tried to take hold when I came up and there were only a few inches left. Knowing this was my last chance for fresh air, I took a deep breath and dove back under. I continued my search for the weak point. Despair kept growing as I kept meeting a solid wall. We weren’t going to find the weak spot in time. I was going to drown, for real this time. My lungs were already begging for air as I kept uselessly searching the wall.

I was pressing my hands against the wall when cracks formered in the wall. It gave way, and the water rushed down the tunnel taking us with it. I was harshly thrown to the ground, rolling to a stop on the surprisingly dry floor. My lungs couldn't get enough oxygen as I greedily gulped down air. Coughs filled the air as Gemini spat out water sh.

Koa lay beside me, his breaths were heavy, but he was unharmed. Ari was cradling her bleeding hand, swearing under her breath about the stupid fucking glass shield spell. I guess I knew who found the weak spot.

After patching up Ari’s hand, we continued on the path. Having a short reprieve for a few minutes until we came across another trap. This one was where the damn wall moved in on us. Gemini used another black rock, but it wasn’t as successful at holding back the walls. It worked for maybe twenty seconds before it wore off and the walls began moving again.

Those twenty seconds made a big difference though. They gave us enough time to narrowly sprint through the tunnel and make it out of this section, right before the walls met in the middle with an earsplitting clank.

What sick fuck designed this place and thought it was a good idea?

We took a few minutes to rest, with the assumption there wouldn’t be two traps in a row. All the while we debated about what triggered them. Obviously, these weren’t like the ones in the human movies, with the pressure plates or wires. These could be set off by a whole number of things. By sensing our magic, or the heat from our bodies. A whole number of things we couldn’t predict.

After we had rested long enough, we continued, and surprise, surprise. We soon found another trap.

It hadn’t even five minutes later when the tunnel widened to almost twenty feet. Patches of the ground began randomly crumbling, leaving behind a gaping hole. A patch beneath my left foot gave way, and I threw myself to my right, avoiding the large hole that was now where I once stood. This was far different than the last time I dealt with the ground giving away. At least in the wastelands, there was a pattern. The ground was splitting into a line and growing in size. There was no rhyme or reason as to where the ground crumbled next

Or so, that’s what I thought.

I spared a glance at the others after narrowly avoiding another crumbling hole and noticed we had all been separated. Not only that, but it seemed as if the crumbling earth was herding us toward the walls.

Why would it be doing that?

Following a hunch, I unsheathed one of my throwing knives and threw it at the wall. Horror filled me as the knife hit the wall, but it didn’t stick or bounce off of it. The knife hit the surface much like it would a pool, the surface rippled as the wall swallowed it.

“Stay away from the walls!” I screamed, dodging another hole, this time jumping to my left instead of my right. Almost instantly, another hole formed, forcing me back to the right. No matter what I tried, I kept getting closer and closer to the rippling surface, until I finally brushed against the cold and wet surface. I tried to pull away, but the sticky material clung to me. Worse, it began spreading all over my body.

No… It wasn’t spreading, I was being absorbed into the wall.

Panic built in my chest, while I struggled against the liquid. It spread over my arms and immobilized them. My panic gave way to terror when my head submerged and I could no longer breathe.

Confident in my assumption that I didn’t want this shit in my lungs, I held my breath. I couldn’t move a muscle in this tar-like liquid, nor could I see with my eyes squeezed shut. Anything could be out there, watching, waiting. I was nowhere near ready to die, but even if I was, I didn’t want to die this way. Not suffocating in a fucking wall. My lungs began burning with the need to inhale. A need I was keen on avoiding.

I was about ready to give in to the urge to breathe, consequences be damned when I fell out of the wall and slammed to the ground. I gratefully gulped in the fresh air, my body shaking. Pushing myself onto unsteady legs, I was surprised when I realized I wasn’t covered in that sticky substance. My clothes, skin, and hair all looked normal. Like I hadn’t just been submerged in the wall.

Koa emerged from the wall, falling to the ground, wheezing. I knelt beside him, brushing his hair out of his face to get a good look. Once I didn’t see any outward signs of injury, I released the breath I’d been holding. His hands came up to cup my face, eyes scanning me from head to toe. When he wasn’t satisfied I was okay, he sighed in relief and turned his attention to our new surroundings.

We were in another tunnel. Big shocker. This one was half as wide. Taking out another knife, I threw it at the wall, only for it to stick into the packed dirt. When I touched the wall, it felt solid under my hand.

“Ari and Gemini?” I asked when I realized I had no idea what happened to them.

“I saw them getting sucked into the other wall.” When he caught my expression, he held my hands between his, grounding me in the here and now. “If it was anything like the one we went through, then they’ll be in another tunnel.”

“But what if it’s not? What if only one wall leads to another tunnel and the other kills?” I asked, my voice rising and pitching with my growing panic. I couldn’t lose my sister. I’d also feel like absolute shit, for getting Gemini killed on this harebrained mission.

“Both of them are capable and able to take care of themselves. They are fine.” Koa gave my hands a tight squeeze. “Now is not the time to panic, you can’t let that in.”

I nodded and took a deep breath, knowing he was right. With each breath, most of my tension and panic eased. “Let’s get through this bullshit, find what we came here for, and get the hell out of here.”

Another smile lit up his face. “That’s my girl.”

Over the next hour, Koa and I encountered so many traps I lost count. This tunnel was more congested with them than the other one. At least they weren't as life-threatening. That didn’t mean they were easy by any means. I felt like a damn pincushion from the many times I was stabbed. They were shallow cuts, but that shit still hurt.

After a particularly annoying trap, Koa and I were both sitting on the floor with our backs against the wall. The gashes in my leg, side, and shoulder were now clotting. My jeans were stained with blood, mud, and tar. Because of the numerous traps that involved water, my hair and clothes were plastered to me. Why did it always have to be water?

Koa hadn’t been spared either. A shallow cut on his cheek was nearly healed. The slash across his back no longer bled, and his knee was almost fully healed from when the flying hammer hit his knee—yes there was a trap with flying blunt weapons.

Whoever designed these tunnels was a jackass.

My worry for the others hadn’t dimmed, but I kept it shoved to the side, not allowing it to cloud my thoughts or create panic. Ari was capable, and better trained than me. Gemini had proven how resourceful and clever she was, they’d be okay.

If I ever met this mysterious Gabsrielle bitch, I was going to kick her ass for sending us here. I’d also kick the mystery woman’s ass for relaying the message in the first place.

It was good to have goals, and slapping her across the face was mine.

Near silent footsteps walking down the tunnel, coming from the unexplored part, had us leaping to our feet. Koa stood in front of me, blocking me from view. Undeterred, I leaned around him and caught sight of a woman coming around the bend in the tunnel.

The first thing I noticed was the crossbow in her hands, aimed at us. Her hands were steady, telling me she wasn’t afraid to use it on us if necessary. The second thing I noticed was that she wasn’t a creature. Not even close. The woman was a Mythic.

Not just any Mythic, but a necromancer.