He started following the walkway, taking care with his steps. The sand coating had worn away in a lot of places, leaving patches of the wood slick and frictionless from years in the bleak, damp cavern. The cave turned out to be something of a natural tunnel, roughly speaking, through which the walkway followed.
He made his way slowly and carefully until it came to an end at a brick wall, set into the side of the cave. In the middle of the wall was a hefty metal door with a big wheel set into it, like a bulkhead door on a submarine. Both door and wheel were rusty and didn’t look to have been opened in some time.
“Now we’re getting somewhere.”
Setting down the lamp, Jason grabbed the wheel with both hands and pulled. It didn’t budge.
“Oh, come on.”
He yanked on it harder and harder, until his feet were braced against the door and he hauled sideways with his full body weight. He felt a little give, then a little more, each accompanied by an unwilling metal groan. Finally, the wheel jerked loose and Jason could turn the reluctant mechanism with heavy jerks.
Panting from the exertion, Jason shouldered open the door. Like the wheel, it resisted and he had to shove it open in fits and starts. His shoulder grew sore as he repeatedly rammed it into the door. Finally, the door gave way with a shriek and he stumbled through the opening.
Quest: [Secrets of the Well]
Objective complete: Explore the well 1/1.
[Awakening Stone of the Stars] has been added to your inventory.
Bonus quest objective (don’t die) still available.
“Awakening stone of the stars? Is that like magic version of those celebrity house maps?”
He retrieved the lamp from where he had set it down, pulling the new object from his inventory. It looked like a fist-sized marble, black, but containing what looked like tiny stars.
Item: [Awakening Stone of the Stars] (unranked, epic)
An awakening stone that unlocks the power of the stars. (consumable, awakening stone).
Requirements: Unawakened essence ability.
Effect: Awakens an essence ability.
You have 0 unawakened essence abilities.
You do not meet the requirements to use this item.
That seemed more complicated than Jason wanted to get into when there was a door right in front of him with the promise of (hopefully non-cannibal) civilisation. The interior on the other side of the door was dark, so he stepped inside and started panning the light beam of the lamp. It was a room, thankfully, not just more cave. It was like a large parlour from a stately home, but after a tornado passed through. Furniture was upended, tapestries and paintings ripped down from the walls. Bookshelves had been toppled, their contents tossed around the room. There was an ornate chandelier that had crashed down from the ceiling, scattering shattered crystal across the polished floor.
Searching through the mess by the light of the lamp, he found an overturned couch in the middle of the room. Under it was a man unconscious. Heaving the couch off of him revealed that he was sprawled in the middle of an elaborate pentagram, set into the floor in brass or copper. The man was youngish, maybe thirty, clean shaven with an olive complexion and a handsome face. To Jason’s eyes he looked rather Mediterranean, the good-looking kind with the dark wavy hair. Oddly, he was wearing what looked like honest-to-goodness wizard robes.
Jason set down the lamp to examine the man. He had a strong pulse and regular breathing, but was showing early signs of extensive bruising and his body temperature felt way too high. As Jason was examining the stranger, his eyes flickered open.
5
Wizard
“G’day mate,” Jason said. “Looks like you’ve had a spill. Need a hand up?”
Jason offered his hand and helped the wizard-looking man to his feet. Despite a frame as slender as Jason’s own, the wizard was surprisingly heavy. Standing unsteadily of his feet, the wizard looked around at the room in disarray, then at Jason, his expression confused.
“Who are you?” the wizard asked. “How did you get here?”
“I’m Jason, and I have no idea. I went to bed what I think was last night and woke up in some kind of alternate universe.”
The wizard narrowed his eyes as he peered at Jason.
“There’s something off about your aura,” the wizard said. “You’re not human.”
“That’s hurtful. Wait, auras are really a thing?”
“You said something about an alternate universe?” the wizard asked.
“That’s just a guess,” Jason said. “I mean, the continents are different. Could be a crazy-far, time travel thing. Do you know anything about continental drift?”
The wizard’s gaze moved to the magic circle on the floor, then back at Jason.
“It was you,” he said angrily. “You’re what went wrong with the summoning.”
“Yeah, well, at least you did summon something. Do you have any idea how wrong your summon made my night’s sleep go? One of us has a lot more to be grouchy about than the other.”
The wizard looked a combination of confused and angry, but as he was about to retort he went pale and stumbled in place.
“Crap, sorry,” Jason said, moving to support him.
“GET OFF ME!”
The wizard staggered in the direction of a heavy writing desk. It seemed to have escaped major displacement by being the heaviest piece of furniture in the room. He almost tripped, still weak from whatever happened prior to Jason’s arrival. The wizard opened a drawer, took out a small bottle and drained the contents.
“I could use a stiff drink myself, if you’re offering,” Jason said.
“It was a recovery potion, fool,” the wizard said, then winced with pain. “It seems the backlash will take more than a potion to fix.”
He gave Jason a smile that Jason did not like.
“Since I can’t recover mana right now, I’ll have to do things the old-fashioned way. I’ve never tasted an outworlder before.”
“Oh no,” Jason said, shoulders slumping. “You’re one of the cannibals.”
As the wizard pulled a knife out of the drawer, Jason looked around the room. There was a set of wooden double doors that were presumably an exit, but the wizard was a lot closer to them than Jason. Remembering how weakly the wizard staggered over to the table, Jason took a risk and tried barrelling past him. It worked, but when he pulled on the door handles they were locked. He spun around to make back for the cave, only to find the wizard lunging at him.
Jason grabbed at the arm holding the knife. Wrestling back and forth, they tripped on a piece of the overturned furniture and fell to the floor, still struggling. The lamp was lost somewhere along the way and they battled in shadows, each trying to seize control of the weapon. Jason had a grip on the wizard’s arm, trying to keep the knife from digging into him. In spite of his small frame and apparent weakness after being knocked out, the wizard was much stronger than Jason. Taking a lesson from the small, aggressive monsters he had been fighting, Jason bit into the wizard’s hand.
The wizard yelped in surprise more than pain, but it gave Jason a chance to seize the advantage, yanking the knife from the wizard’s grip. Still scrambling on the floor, he shoved the knife out blindly and suddenly the wizard went limp. The knife was sticking out of the wizard’s throat, but he was still alive, looking at Jason with disbelieving eyes. Jason snatched the knife back and blood sprayed over him, getting into his eyes and mouth. Recoiling, he spat out blood and rubbed at his eyes. By the time his panicked flailing came to a halt, the wizard’s body was still.
You have defeated [Builder Cultist]
Jason pushed himself up with bloody hands, tripped on debris and fell back over. His breath came in ragged starts as he lay where he fell. Eventually he sat up, looking over at where the body had fallen directly into the light beam from the lamp. He pulled his legs up and hugged his knees, rocking slightly as he stared at the body.