For a while, when she'd been trapped in the darkness, Lillia was convinced that time had just been slipping away. She'd told herself that maybe she hadn't been down there as long as she'd thought. She'd told herself that hours were minutes and minutes were seconds.
Lillia didn't have a way to tell time underground, but she'd been living through minutes and seconds for her entire life. She'd eaten. Tried to practice with the sword until she got hungry. Finished the second ration. Tried and failed to take a nap. Walked around in circles. 'Trained' with the sword again. Got hungry.
The door in the Hunting Lodge still said that it would change tomorrow. She didn't want to open Havoc's door to confirm what that meant. He would be back tomorrow. It had been more than a day since that had all happened.
More than two probably since she'd had a proper bath. Many more before she'd get one again.
Hunger wasn't gnawing yet, but Lillia was aware of it.
The princess had stolen another stick from the fire to act as a makeshift torch. She had it in one hand and Vianaffir in the other as she stared from the landing down to the darkness of the second floor.
Lillia was going to need more rations. She could either wait longer and try to see if the chitterpede came back before she was desperate, or she could explore further into the dungeon. She wasn't confident in her choice, but she knew what the dungeon wanted her to do.
Or at least she thought she knew.
Downstairs or head downstairs when she was hungrier and weaker. There wasn't a winning play, but when had there been so far?
Lillia jumped twice in place to hype herself up. Her dress clattered and echoed around the stairway before she took the first step down.
Light erupted from a set of torches on either side of the stairway, illuminating the steps down to the next empty black landing. Lillia dropped her stick. At least there was light.
There were at least a hundred steps between Lillia and the next landing. The first several were the same cold flagstone as the cathedral and the first platform, but over time they changed to smooth, glassy black obsidian. At first it was only a handful of stones on each step, then it was sparsely flagstone, then full black.
If nothing else, Lillia needed to admit that the handicraft was impressive. The transition was tasteful. If—When she made it back to the castle, she'd have to remember that patterning for when they redid the ballroom.
Of course, in the ballroom, it would transition from slate to white marble, but the method would be the same.
Lillia looked back at the knight. Took his silence as permission and headed further down into the depths of the Five Point Fall. Her steps echoed louder as she continued down the stairs. The sound carried through, past the darkness beyond the second level but never echoing back toward her. Even further down, Lillia felt like she was staring into an infinite abyss.
The princess wanted to close her eyes as she descended. She wanted to do anything to fight the feeling that she was doing something stupid, something dangerous, but she kept her head high and her eyes forward. She had to do this. Letting the fear win before the worst had started was just going to set her further back.
She'd conquered the floor above. Killed one monster. Made one friend. How much worse could the second floor be?
The temperature dropped on the second landing. Either that, or Lillia hadn't realized it'd been getting colder as she descended. The princess could see the fog of her breath as she looked at each door of the landing. They were identical, much like the floor above.
Identically black. Identically wide. Identically foreboding.
Lillia tightened her grip on Vianaffir and tossed her matted hair out of her face. She shook her head. Once. Twice. All in an attempt to be able to choose a door. Instead, she just kept looking back and forth between them.
Her fingers were growing cold. She could feel the stiff ache that lingered in winter when you stood still too long.
If she chose wrong, Lillia was almost assuredly going to die. She didn't understand that as much as she could keep saying that. People said things like that all the time. People talked about death in the kingdom. People talked about dying for the king. For the queen. For her. Talking about death wasn't really thinking about it. It was compartmentalizing it. It was taking it and lying about being fine with it.
"Well. Maybe I was dead soon as I came down here."
Lillia chose door number two, the one on the same side as the chitterpede's Hunting Lodge. She was going to open it, but she paused with her palm against the smooth metal.
Compartmentalize. She was fine with it. Move on.
Sweat dripped down the back of Lillia's neck. It was cold.
Lillia was fine with it. Whatever happened, happened. She was stuck here either way.
Her breathing shallowed like a dying river. She balled her hand against the door into a tight fist. The torches crackled above her.
It was her duty. To the kingdom. To the throne. To her parents…To herself?
Lillia's knees buckled. She was a princess. What did she know of duty? What did she know of death? Why did she know of anything? She was a princess. She wasn't supposed to be here.
Yet here she was.
The lost princess shoved the door open. The metal swung inward easily as if it had been freshly oiled. The door continued and slammed into the wall at the end of it; the resounding clang echoed out into the darkness of the room beyond and into the stairway Lillia stood within.
Nothing leapt out at her. There were no eyes in the darkness. There was no horror beyond her sight.
Lillia grabbed the makeshift torch she'd discarded earlier and held it out into the darkness. The light shone off the glassy black stonework and pushed back the shadows.
In the centre of the room, Lillia could only describe it as an altar, but it was wrong. She knew what altars to the triplicate looked like—the castle was lousy with them—but this one had none of the right etchings and was made of the same cold black stone as the floor.
Lillia jumped forward to avoid getting smacked by the door; but it didn't slam behind her as the ones on the floor above did. The door stayed wide open, letting the light of the stairway spill into the room beyond. The princess took another step and checked back to ensure that it was going to stay open.
The air warmed as Lillia approached the altar. First she simply couldn't see her breath, but by the time she was within reach she could feel the heat pressing on the back of her throat, like breathing in flame without the smoke.
In the middle of the altar, there was an inlay for a hand. Lillia's hand never would have filled the whole thing. Each of the fingers was nearly as large as both of hers.
Either way, one didn't just go sticking their hands into strange altars without checking other options first. Even Lillia understood that much.
Lillia's makeshift torch was sputtering as she made her way around the room, first by returning to the door and then by circling the place. The room was rounded, like the base of a tower, but Lillia couldn't see the ceiling through the shadows, nor was there any evidence of stairs.
The room was just a circle, which seemed more difficult to build than necessary. Then again, the dungeon had begun with an underground cathedral. Lillia was far from an expert architect, but she could have done a better job with the place. Some of the extra stone could have gone to a table or a fireplace!
Eventually, Lillia was back at the altar. She sighed. Welp.
Lillia was right about the hole being bigger than her hand, but as she placed her palm into the inlay, her fingers took up more of each slot than she expected. That couldn't be right. Lillia had dainty little hands. She was small. Thin and—
The ground shook, and the room blazed to life. Crystal blue light erupted from the walls as strange symbols etched themselves into the black stone. Lillia tried to read, or at least understand, whatever was happening around her but jumped as the altar in front of her cracked down the middle with a resounding snap.
Across the room, the door slammed. Text formed in front of Lillia.
[Challenge Started]
"Challenge?" Lillia asked. She spun, trying to make sense of the runes appearing on the walls. They had stretched from floor to ceiling at this point and were starting to bleed along the latter. The altar cracked again before fading into the same fine dust the chitin had. "How was I supposed to know about a challenge?!"
[Lillia used 'Indignance - Level 1' - There was no target!]
Lillia huffed and threw the torch away for the second time in the past few minutes. It clattered along the clean black, scattering ash across it as the girl held her sword with both hands. She tried to copy the footing she'd seen knights use in the tournaments. Pulling one foot back felt sturdier than standing up.
The light stopped climbing the walls while it was only a few feet onto the ceiling. The dozen light sources danced off Lillia's armor. Reflective glints surrounded her and smothered the myriad of shadows she cast.
The room was quiet. Which was good, right? There was no such thing as being too quiet. As Lillia waited, she realized the smell of the burning stone was gone. It was hard to place what replaced it, but it was almost like rain that hadn't arrived.
Lillia turned to check behind her. Still nothing. Just the runes. The dress broke the silence with its clattering. The sound echoed. Faded. Silence settled back in. Lillia could feel sweat on her palms as she gripped the sword too tight.
Over the next few seconds, she lowered Vianaffir. Maybe she was supposed to figure something out with the runes. Had she ever read something about puzzles in a dungeon? She didn't remember, and that sounded like a stupid concept, but at the same time.
Something moved behind Lillia. The princess spun again.
Between her and the door was a small…creature. It had the same two arms and legs as a person. It was as tall as a child but also wrongly proportioned to be one. The massive hat it wore, an electric yellow colour, was so wide-brimmed that it drooped down and almost covered the creature's matching coloured eyes. Its skin was also pitch black, like it had been carved out of shadow.
Lillia let Vianaffir fall further in the first seconds. Unlike the chitterpede, it hadn't tried to pounce on her right away.
"Hey little guy," she held out a hand to it, as if she were trying to calm down a horse. "I'm Lillia and you—"
The creature reared back its head, and a piercing cackle filled the room from every direction. Without looking back at Lillia, it pointed towards her; something glowed on the end of its black finger.
Lillia's hair stood on end. She dove to the side before she processed she needed to move.
A small bolt of lightning shot across the room, zapping inches past Lillia's face as she sat up. The cackle returned. Lillia leapt to her feet. The thing pointed again.
"Oh, shit."
Lillia dove again, slamming her knee into the ground as she did. Pain shot through her bones as static ripped through the air. Lillia rounded on the creature. The laugh returned. It was laughing at her.
"You can't keep doing that. It's not fair!"
The creature raised its free hand, and a small rune appeared in its palm. There was a flash. Sparks flew through the air. Its hat almost flew off its head as wind gusted around the thing.
[Lillia used 'Indignance - Level 1' - Thunder Spellmite Countered]
"A spell—"
Lillia's hair warned her of the upcoming blast, and she dropped from half-crawling to flat on her stomach. Air shot out of her lungs as she slammed down onto the chilled tile. Lightning crashed over her head.
More laughter.
The princess scrambled back to her feet. She was barely finding her balance with the blade when her hair warned her of another attack. Lillia jumped to the side, barely getting out of the way before the white flash of lightning shot through where she'd been.
"Stop it!"
More sparks. More wind. Useless.
[Lillia used 'Indignance - Level 1' - Thunder Spellmite Countered]
A bolt. Lillia dropped back down and rolled to the side. The lightning crashed into the black tile, which erupted into a brilliant array of sparks.
It just kept going. It wasn't going to stop. Lillia could already feel her legs struggling with the pace of diving and getting back up. How was she supposed to—
Back to her feet. Back to the side to avoid another shot.
How was she supposed to get close to it to hit it with her sword? This didn't feel fair at all.
Wait. The armor.
Lillia rolled to the side again. Lightning on tile.
The chitterpede armor let her block two hits. She only needed it to stop one. After all, she had a sword. If she got close enough, she got to win.
Lillia sprang back to her feet and pulled Vianaffir to her side, pre-winding the strike she would use to win. One deep breath. She kicked off and took the first steps forward. The creature raised its finger to her and cackled. Lillia squeezed her eyes shut as the light coalesced in front of her.
Static climbed up Lillia's neck. She felt her hair standing on end again. She felt the crackle of a storm hovering above her skin. She felt the kiss of thunder on her lips. She just needed to—
The lightning crashed into Lillia's chest like a horse kicking a frail princess. That same frail princess went flying backward, flailing through the air before crashing down onto the black tile of the room with a resounding crack. All of Lillia's muscles seized at once. She couldn't breathe. She'd been hit so hard.
She had to. She had to move. Please, just move. Just enough to…
Lillia managed to roll to the side as the lightning smashed into the tile beside her. Sparks landed across her back. She felt them singe her hair.
Why hadn't that worked? Why couldn't she—
Another blast. Lillia found strength she didn't know she had and surged to her feet, jumping over the lightning that had been aimed at her prone body.
"I'm having a moment!" Lillia wheezed. She had the passion, but not the air in her lungs.
[Lillia tried 'Indignance - Level 1' - Failed to cast]
Great. Lillia tried to find her proper footing, but stumbled. Her vision flickered for a moment. Her fingers felt numb, like they were too far away for Lillia to use them properly.
Another blast. Lillia dropped to her knees. There was a black mark in the center of her chest; she could smell singed chitin.
She couldn't charge at the thing. She couldn't just keep running forever. She had to find a way to skewer that little yellow gremlin that kept laughing at her. Lillia used Vianaffir as a cane and pushed herself off the ground.
Another shot. Lillia slipped to the side. She maintained her footing this time, which let her move a little closer. The spellmite stayed in place. It wasn't even trying.
If it was going to kill her, Lillia was at least going to make it work for it.
The princess charged again. The clattering of her battle gown resounded around the room. Light shimmered off her in every direction as she ran recklessly toward the spellmite.
The creature lowered its hand. Static filled the air. Lillia felt the lightning in her teeth as she gritted them.
A blinding flash. Lillia swung. Vianaffir found something solid within the bolt and bit into it. The beam split down the blade, spraying around Lillia in a cascade of sparks. There was silence as Lillia finished her swing, followed by a resounding boom.
No laughter.
Lillia was panting as she righted the blade. She turned it back to where the spellmite had been before the lightning had blinded her. It was already running away. "I've got you now, you little—"
It pointed over its shoulder and lightning shot to Lillia. She yelped, barely getting the blade in the beam's way. A second shower of sparks. It was less triumphant than the last as Lillia stumbled backward.
"Just stay still!" Lillia yelled as she took off after the spellmite. It ran jauntily, as if it were making fun of her the entire time, as it fired shots off backward. Lillia found the rhythm between her steps and the swings, almost steadier slashing while moving than she had been standing still.
The pair lapped the room for the first time. Lillia felt a burn starting in the bottom of her lungs and in her shoulder each time she swung her sword. She couldn't keep this up forever.
"Come on! What am I supposed to do?"
The spellmite stopped in place and raised its non-blasting hand. A rune appeared as it faced Lillia.
[Lillia used 'Indignance - Level 1' - Thunder Spellmite Countered]
Lillia slashed Vianaffir through the shower of sparks left behind by the counter. Her sword never needed to bite into the spellmite. It cut through it the same as the air. The strike only stopped when the steel crashed against the smooth black tile.
The princess blinked. Had she just—She was just following the rhythm of the lightning and…
[Lightning Spellmite defeated! Yay!]
The yellow hat fluttered to the ground. It was over-slow, almost like it was disappointed.
Lillia bent down and picked up the hat. The fabric was flimsy in her hands, but as she turned it over, Lillia realized it was closer to her size than it had been on the spellmite in the first place. Was this her reward? What was it supposed to…
[Equipment: Spellmite Cap: Lightning - Your Class has limited use of this item!]
[A common hat once worn by powerful wizards. Stolen by the spellmites at the dawn of the First Age. None are the original. None are copies.]
[The Princess class gains limited benefit from this item as it is not Head-wear Type - Tiara, Crown or Noble.]
Lillia sighed. "Am I supposed to find a tiara down here?" She put the hat on and quickly shoved all her gross, matted hair within the conical core. If nothing else, it could hide how gross she was. "You didn't even tell me what it did. And hey!" The princess grabbed the hem of her battle gown and yanked it up. "Why didn't you work? What the hell?"
As she held the gown, the text changed in her vision.
[Provides a minor (+2) defensive bonus against slashing and piercing damage. The first [0/2] instances of damage the Princess would receive are instead absorbed by the armor.]
"Hey! Don't those come back? Are those gone forever?"
The text didn't change.
"HELLO?"
[Lillia used 'Indignance…]
Lillia stared past the text instead of letting it chide her. In the time she'd been arguing with her dress, stairs upward had appeared on the wall furthest from her. A second instance of text was above them.
[Climb to Continue the Challenge]