Chapter 5.
Hecter stepped on one of the tiles, the wall hissed and small needles shot into his leg, Lysaria reached out grabbing his flailing arms. She dragged him away by gripping his arm and shoulder doing her best to pull him from the square tiles and onto solid ground. Hectar said," why do I keep getting injured? Dakar said," well you do keep walking into danger without thinking about it."
Hectar sat on the ground grasping his leg that was leaking essence. The cave rumbled and shook for a moment, bracing herself by spreading her feet Lysaria said," what now? Dakar walked back the way they had come, he said," you aren't going to like this the tunnel leads to a dead end, we are trapped inside."
Feeling trapped Lysaria looked from the puzzle to her injured teammate, she wanted out, visions of being alone at night in the woods and a bear running at her rushed through her mind. Taking a deep breath she steadied herself resolving not to let that happen again.
Lysaria said," well now all we can do is go forward, Hectar said," I can't walk, these spikes are in my leg." she grimaced each of the spikes must be buried deep judging by the amount of essence leaking out. Dakar said," move aside I studied about how to heal injuries."
Lysaria thought a lot could go wrong with someone who didnt know what they were doing. She said," you can heal wounds with essence?" Dakar said,"Well not yet I wanted to give it a try though." Hectar said," I don't know it, can't be worse than these spikes please hurry, these really hurt."
Hectars hands were holding tightly to the wound on his thigh, Lysaria watched cringing, the long spikes brought claws and teeth to her mind causing her to shiver. Dakar tore some fabric from the wound and pulled each end of the fabric before tying a knot right above the two metal spikes.
She watched with fascination as he pushed his essence into the wound and pulled out one spike with a slow straight pull. Lysaria was much more respectful of Dakar before she thought he was all bark no bite but he was proving her otherwise.
Hectar screamed with glittering tears running down his face, and once again crying out when Dakar pulled out the second spike. Lysaria watched as the wound on Hectares leg slowly closed leaving only a small wound that no longer leaked.
She said," you learned all of that from a book?" Dakar said," No my guardians taught me even taught my essence was really low." I couldn't heal more than small scrapes or close bigger wounds but it was certainly good practice.
Dakars body glowed green and his eyes went wide, he put his essence stained hands to the roof and shouted "oh ya that is awesome." Lysaria couldn't help but admire Dakar his long white hair and glowing skin shown in the dark room. Lysaria cleared her throat," what? why are you so excited?" Dakar said," I just got 30 essences for healing that wound." He turned to Hectar and pulled the wincing man to his feet.
Thana stood in front of the giant puzzle and was looking over all of the different squares. Lysaria walked up beside her, Thana glanced over and said," I think some of the tiles are pressure plates while some of them are solid." Lysaria said, "how many tiles are there?"
There are 30 tiles long and 30 wide." besides the smooth stone walls. "I can't see anything of use," Hectar said, "something is on the ground, some drawn squares." In the light of essence pouring from the roof Lysaria could see dozens of squares all neatly lined up.
Lysaria mind raced turning on the group she said," look it matches the room, only on this why are some of the squares dark?" Thana said," I think if we step on the areas that are dark the traps won't activate." Hectar said "I am going last," Thana and Dakar said in unison," Not going first."
Lysaria felt betrayed, They were using her as the meat shield, Well it made sense she thought she had been using them as a meat shield. Lysaria said," ok I will go first, after all the first step to a true friendship was trust."
She bent down looking over all of the squares, the hard floor expanded to each wall on her side of the room. She stepped to the first of man tiles 3Rd tile from the left. After taking the first step she realized the number of combinations required to solve the puzzle could be truly massive without reading over the drawing.
Her first foot settled on the tile followed by her second when nothing happened she let out a long-drawn-out sigh. Heart racing she glanced over at the group standing in the tunnel, Hectar said," Alright point to the right wall and take one step forward,"
She thought that was weird to not move any closer to the far wall but did it anyway. " Hectar said," This bord keeps changing, when you took your first step the dark tile in front of you changed to the one on your right,"
Lysaria sighed internally that would have been bad, if she was in here by herself she would have gotten stuck. That meant if she had written down all of the tiles on a paper she would be laying on the ground screaming right now. Hectar said," take one step forward, now one to the right, take one step forward."
Lysaria continued forward approaching the end of the room, she was 5 tiles away and was waiting for Hectar to call out the next square. Hectar said," something went wrong," Lysaria nervously said," what do you mean?" He said," All of the tiles around went light none of them are dark." Lysaria said," You are saying I'm stuck out here in the middle?"
lysaria felt panic rising in her chest, what would happen if she was stuck in the middle of the room, Dakar said," wait I think there is a dark tile, only it's back here on our side." Lysaria sighed with relief watching as Dakar walked over to a tile and carefully put weight on it. when nothing happened He said," maybe this challenge requires all four of us to pass the puzzle?"
Hectar guided Dakar from tile to tile each one making him change directions. Lysaria noticed that the roof was clearing going from a vibrant green to a clear glass reflecting the two people on the tiles. Thana entered the room next taking ten steps before her path ended.
The roof was changing showing all of the tiles each one glowed now showing a brilliant green in the reflective glass. One tile at the front was dim, Lysaria said," look at the roof, Hectar get on the dark tile."
Hectar stood in front of the tiles looking up at the roof, he said," I hope I don't get injured again that last time really hurt. When Hectar took his first step on the tile the entire floor shook, air flowed up from gapes between the tiles causing Lysarias long black hair to wildly blow around in the current. She couldn't help but grin Thanas hair was pointing straight into the air.
The wind stopped and the platform they stood on slowly sunk into the ground, after what could have been only 10 feet the floor stopped moving and stuck in place. Hectar was frowning he said," wow I like this so much better, now we are stuck on the traps and in a hole."
Lysaria was getting tired of Hectars sour mood She said," Keep focused, move to the dark squares, keep an eye on the roof, we don't know if they are still changing." taking a chance Lysaria took the first step moving not one but two tiles. Her essence was racing when she felt the new tile slightly shift before settling.
Hectar stepped forward moving two tiles while both Thana and Dakar stood still, the room shook before sinking into the ground another ten feet. Hectar said," well there is no way we are climbing out of here now." Lysaria didn't want to but agreed with Hectar, the smooth walls would make climbing impossible.
A ring of glowing essence formed on the walls, The essence circled the entire room at neck height. Lysaria said," that doesn't look good, if you look at the ceiling then Thana you need to move one step and Dakar you need to take two steps"
Thana said," I don't like the look of that ring of essence, to be safe everyone crouch down, Lysaria crouched down in a squatting position, her tall frame made this position much more uncomfortable. She watched as Thana crouch walked to her second tile, the moment her foot touched the tile a blade of essence lanced across the room making Lysaria have spots in her eyes.
Lysaria startled back to focus, the top half of her stick was cut off clattering to the floor that was much to close for comfort. She cleared her throat and tried not to think about what would have happened to her if that hit. Dakar's face was pale he said," good call Thana."
Lysaria said," well everyone keep an eye out for more traps like that, good call Thana you saved us there." The platform sunk another ten feet and stopped. A door on the side closest to Lysaria was open, she looked up at the ceiling, and smiled the entire roof was dark meaning that all the tiles were safe now.
Lysaria waited, she didn't trust this puzzle, she watched as essence flowed from the floor surrounding her and her team before entering their bodies in a rush. Lysaria was extatic she could see her vessel now with a sizable portion at the bottom full, to her delight she had gained a staggering 50 essence putting her to 210 essences.