The chamber on the other side stretched endlessly, its floor uneven and littered with more puddles of goo. More dripped from the ceiling, each plop echoing through the silence. It was brighter but it did look too promising.
They had no other way to go but thought. Once again they failed to finish the level the easy way. Sticking to the light of the goo they pressed on until the hallway got narrower and at the very end, a shabby wooden door appeared.
Something was alive behind it.
Bax peeked through the keyhole, ordering the others to stay out of sight by waving his hand behind his back. He watched as hundreds of similar creatures crept around the room with no particular order.
Behind them, leaning on the back wall, there was something resembling a chair, and a massive golden crown glimmering in the light of the goo.
"There could be hundreds of them inside," whispered Bax. "The creature must be among them."
"Let me see," Kama said and peered inside. "Yeah, I see what you mean. There's no way we can find it unless we look inside all their bellies."
"Or we just squash them into soup and take what we need," Crow said. "Why complicate a simple thing?"
"And what if they run away, and how are we to know then, which wall to smash?" added Flarion scratching his neck like a rabid monkey.
"It's not like we have any other choice," Dot insisted. "This was clearly meant as a trick."
"Tsk. I agree with the little one," said Crow pulling him away from the entrance. "You watch the door. Kill anything that comes through."
This should be fun.
They all agreed violence was the only solution, but the moment Bax pulled the door ajar, everything changed inside the room. The slime monsters of all sizes squealed as green bubbles came out of their mouths, like some kind of an alarm.
"So much for the element of surprise," Kama leapt into the room first, dancing between the blobs, careful not to step on any. "Shout if you find it."
"They all look the same to me," said Flarion, trying to aim at all the moving pieces of goo. "They are all ugly."
"Urgh, get off me," growled Bax after one of the slimes crawled over his foot, leaving a juicy trail. He tried shaking it off, but the longer he stood in place, the more of them tried to ooze all over him. "These things are getting aggressive. They don't even look afraid."
"Found it. It's that one," Kama pointed his paw at a slime that blended in perfectly with the others, but the glimmer of silver inside it was a dead giveaway. "Don't you dare run away..."
The creature's many eyes were filled with the image of a giant cat person inching closer.
"This is stupid. It's like trying to punch a puddle!" Crow decided she had no patience to play nice and she cut straight through the room. She felt the acid heat up her boots, but as long it was not on her bare skin, she did not protest.
"We surround it, and we don't let it get away," instructed Flarion, as he spread his arms and bent lower.
"How about we just trample the stupid thing," said Crow as her foot landed on the goo, smashing it into pieces. The insides of the poor thing flew in all directions until the only solid thing was left unharmed. "There, the job is done. You are the most boring people I've ever met."
"I got this," said Flarion reaching for the key with the tip of his dagger, hoping to get it to safety, but before he had the chance to touch the shiny thing, the goo around them began to shift.
Every drop of it started vibrating and moving from underneath their feet.
"What's happening right now?" asked Bax as the little ones began converging together, four made two and two made one until every bit of goo had been gathered into a single entity in a matter of seconds.
"The king of slime," whispered Crow unable to hide her amazement. "I always thought that was a myth."
In the meantime, Dot who'd remained at a safe distance had already developed a guilty conscience.
I need a weapon.
Something, anything," he whispered to himself. In some paranoid frenzy, he looked around the hallway and ran back to the smaller chamber. He needed something to defend himself with, and the piles of rubble were bound to have something useful at hand.
I need to be of some use.
He did not expect to find much, having already gone through it all. He lifted one of the wooden buckets above his head, imagining a strategy in which he would use it to scoop the goo. It was not a practical idea but it had potential to be.
He never stopped to question the irony of what he was doing, only that there was something important that needed doing, an important task he subconsciously so wished to find in life.
Only once he'd fully accepted the bucket as a weapon, did he notice a promising piece of wood sticking out from under a broken barrel. After struggling to get it out, he discovered it to be a broom, long past its golden days.
"A weapon is a weapon if you are creative enough," he murmured, careful not to wake Nean, even after he'd already made a ruckus.
With the broom in hand, he checked on the sleeping wizard and headed back to face the trouble.
He was not expecting to find the four slime fighters slowly backing off from the newly born enemy.
He watched as the green mass of ooze climbed back on its throne and absorbed the crown. It bounced around its body along with dozens of other trinkets it picked up along the way and then rose to the top where it safely rested on its presumed head. The eyes popped out as well, hard to count and uneven in size.
At first, the eyes shifted around the mass, looking for their proper place, but once they found it, every single one of them found the same target.
"This just got worse," Bax muttered. "It's even uglier."
"Albalalzebalazeglobkalabob," the creature responded through a mouth that formed down the middle.
Huh? What did I miss?
"The key is inside it now," said Flarion. "Somewhere in that stinky mass."
"Die you jello creep!" Crow had already scaled the room in several strides, slicing through the blob with a single cut down the middle.
"That won't do anything," said Bax tightening the leather strap around his left arm, like it was bothering him. It was decorated by delicate engravings of leaves and thorns, with golden lining along the ridges. "Blades don't work on these things."
"I'll kill it with my teeth if I have to, and-"
It came like a whip out of its gigantic mouth, and it slapped her against the wall like she was made of feathers. Her armor rattled and the chamber echoed with the sound of metal scraping against the stone.
"That's not fair," she cried as she used her axe to get back on her feet.
When the others tried to get closer, dozens more tentacles followed, each looking for something to torment. They wiggled and fought, slicing the tendrils every chance they got, but to no avail. The only way to kill it was to get close to it, and it did not let them do that.
The creature bubbled menacingly, its acidic ooze sizzling as it spilt across the floor. There was hardly anything to do but run.
"This thing won't die so easily," cried Flarion. "How about we leave now?"
"Fall back!" Crow commanded "Let's get out of sight.".
"I think…" Flarion darted into the hallway, trying to evade the sticky tendrils. "I think we need a plan!"
They shook off another layer of things that got stuck on their clothing as they pushed the door closed and moved back away into the hallway, looking over their shoulders from time to time.
"There's always a pattern to these creatures. Everything has a weakness," said Bax, studying the goo on the wall, like it was his first time seeing it. "We just need to find out what can kill them."
"If it's not steel, it must be fire," said Flarion. "We've all smelled the sulphur. This place reeks of it. There's probably enough of it inside that thing to roast it from the inside."
"Are you sure that's safe?" Dot asked, his voice barely above a whisper as he shifted nervously from foot to foot holding his broom.
"Safe? Never!" Flarion smirked, brandishing his daggers in a way that made even Crow raise an eyebrow. "But it'll be fun to try."
"Wizard?" shouted Crow. She looked displeased with how useless she felt, and kept her arms crossed, defending her warrior's honor.
The sleeping wizard did not respond to her pleading.
"Urgh, never mind."
"We'll need to figure it out ourselves," Bax concluded, with a sad smile on his face.
"Tsk. So much for the easy way out, then." Crow's hands squealed as she tightened the grip on her weapon. She was prepared to do all or nothing.
The blob could not make it through the door or the narrow passage, but its tentacles were long enough to slap their faces and make them regret every decision in their lives.
"Now is the time to say something," Flarion poked. "What do we do?"
The dripping goo and the snores of a wizard were the only sounds that filled the room in those tense moments. They looked at one another in the sickly green light, waiting for a savior.
"Maybe..." Dot finally said, frantically tapping the pockets on his jacket. "I can help with that."
If it can be called that. What the hell am I doing?
He pulled out a cheap plastic lighter, the one he got at the pizza place as some kind of free merch he never asked for. It too had the ugly logo of a pizza-eating crow on it. "I have the fire."
"Are you some kind of secret wizard?" said Bax. "No offence but you should have said something sooner."
"It's just a lighter," added Flarion cutting off Dot's presentation of lighting it up time and time again, as their eyes gleamed with joy. "And it is the most welcome lighter in the world. Now, what do you intend to do with that?"
Dot held up his slime riddled broomstick and pointed at the blob like it made all the sense.
"So you want us to stick it into it, right?" said Crow, now visibly tickled by the idea. "A burning broomstick up the arse of a king blob. You are growing on me fake wizard."
Is that even possible?
They whispered in the corridor, waiting for the right moment to strike.
"Let's get this over with," said Bax, waving his hand forward.
They moved close to the walls, trying not to imagine what would happen if they failed.
Albalalzebalazeglobkalabob." the creature groaned as they appeared at the threshold of its domain.
With coordinated precision, Crow, Kama, and Flarion leaped at the amorphous monster, each aiming for a different side. Crow cleaved down the middle while Kama struck from below, and Flarion slashed from the opposite side.
The blob retaliated but it was not as efficient as before. This time they managed to cut off its attack before it happened, slicing the tentacles into pieces.
Instead of remaining as useless body parts, the pieces converged again, slowly dragging themselves back to the blob, hoping to reunite.
"Now," yelled Bax, "do it now." He was standing still holding on to the leather strap on his arm.
The lighter sparked up the room and the edges of the broomstick began to give out large embers as he made a weapon out of garbage.
The adrenaline came flooding him over, and he ran at it, carrying the broom like a spear in battle.
Please, plesase, don't eat me.
As the blob opened its foul mouth to let out another swarm of tentacles, Dot shoved the fire into the very middle, before they could reach him. The chunk of wood and straw fell so deep into the goo, his arm got sucked in as well, burning like the fire itself.
He screamed, trying to pull back, but failed to do anything other than slip on the goo and burn some more.
Shit.
He saw bubbles appear inside the body and they began to inflate from the inside. They grew from its core and they got bigger toward the surface, ready to burst like the universe itself.
"No time for sightseeing," said Kama as he and Crow pried him away, each pulling by a leg, until he slammed to the floor and saw how close he was to going out in flames.
They had no time to think, and no time to watch it happen. They ran back with all the strength in their legs, nearly smashing into one another at the entrance.
The explosion caught up with them nonetheless. It shook the walls, making their ears hurt as the change in pressure hit them from behind. But neither the acid, nor the rising firestorm were able to get to them, because something came in between.
What is that?
A wall of leaves, branches and vines stood tall where the door once was, blocking the exit. It crackled as it caught on fire, but had it not been there, things would have been different.
"Wizard, was that you?" said Crow, plucking herself from the ground, and seeing Nean back on her feet. "Thought you were all dried up."
"No," said Nean quietly, shaking her head. "This is Emistillian magic." She turned to Bax, who looked around with wide eyes, unsure what was happening.
"Magic native to woodland elves," she added.
"You're mistaken," Bax returned. "I am a Windweaver."
"And have you ever felt the wind under you fingers?" Nean insisted, ignoring the nearly burned companions.
"Enough of this. I know what I am."
"Hey, hey, no one's accusing anyone of anything," said Kama with raised paws. "We are just glad we didn't loose the fur on out backs, and I suggest we get the key now and move on."
"I see everyone still has their fighting spirit intact," Flarion joked. "But I'd really like to get out of here if you don't mind."
After the fire subsided, they hacked the remainder of the barrier down to embers and went back for the prize.
Dot looked around at the scattered remains of their gelatinous foes, still processing the rush of adrenaline and excitement. "Did we really just do that?"
Did I kill a monster with a burning broomstick?
There was the only thing that remained, sitting comfortably under the fallen crown.
"Hahaha, I wouldn't mind borrowing this thing," said Crow rushing to hug the chunk of metal. But as she lifted it into the air, the crown melted away, along with all its jewels, leaving no trace it ever existed.
"Illusion," Nean smirked like she hadn't missed any of it.
"I hate this place. So, so much." Crow grabbed the key and as her hand turned red, she wiped it clean, rubbing it all over her already dirty trousers.
It was an ordinary trinket, no better than a key to the prison cell she was being held until she decided to take her chances. "Finally. Move it, people."
She placed the key in the designated hole and turned it several times until it clicked.
Here we go.
The stones began to shift around the wall like nothing was holding them in place. Around and around they went until they settled on a pattern that had no clear purpose or meaning, other than a hole opening in its middle. It was nothing other than a missing stone.
Something glowed inside.
"That's not the way out," said Bax nervously. "What is that?"
With great caution, Dot plucked a strange glass coin out of it and held it up to the light of his phone. It looked like a regular coin, with a spiral on one side and picture of a bird on the other. The light made the tiny minerals inside it gleam and reflect the light like a projector, making the stuffy room look like the heart of a hologram.
Thousands of things appeared and disappeared before their eyes as the light changed. It was more beautiful than it had the right to be.
What is this now?
"Just when you think things can be a little more logical," said Flarion following the images of running horses as they disappeared from view. "They just get more mysterious."
"Why a duck?" said Crow squinting at the image of a familiar adversary. It happened to catch her attention more than the dancing lights.
"It's a goose," said Dot, flipping it over.
"How can you even tell the difference?"
"I… I just can." Something told him that things were still too fresh for him to tell that story.
"The real question is, what does a spiral mean?"
They all took turns examining the coin, but none had a solid explanation.
"It's not magic, I can tell you that," Nean concluded. "Otherwise I am unfamiliar with these symbols."
"So what about the door?" said Kama. "Where's the door?"
Where is the door?
They spun around the room looking for some sort of a hidden hole or a sign, but they'd already done all of that before and found nothing to solve the mystery.
"This is pointless," said Bax kicking the rubble on the floor. "There's nothing here. We all know this."
"Let's take a moment to breathe," insisted Kama. "We should use out heads for a change."
"Alright, furry man, what do you suppose one does with a glass coin, buy beer at the local inn?" said Crow, groaning in the back. She leaned against the wall, not too keen on admitting the goo had managed to shake her up pretty good.
"I am only saying we should think about the purpose of this."
"Inn?" whispered Dot blinking in short intervals as his eyes wandered around the room. He remembered something. The thing that caught his eye before but he was too distressed to react to.
He grabbed the coin from Kama's paw and hurried back into the elevator.
The strange poster was still there, and the goose was still on it. Careful not to rip it up, he pried it away from the wall and showed it to the others.
"Look here, inn and a goose. It has to be connected."
"You don't say?" said Flarion bending over to look at the sketch. "You may actually have something there."
"Perhaps there's some clue hidden in the paper," said Kama. "Secret messages can be hidden in the space along the edges. We just need some type of acid to see it."
"Just stick it to the wall," said Nean. "The light of the slime will do the trick."
He did as she asked, but after the paper got soaked, it began to glow as well. Unfortunately, it had nothing to show them, and it resolved into much soon after.
"Worth the try."
"This can't be it," Dot said, scratching his ear before something else caught his eye. The plain metal behind the poster had a pale circular line marked on it, the kind that was hard to notice at first.
"I think I found something!" he yelled joyfully.
"In there? Is there a way to move it?" said Nean.
"I think so."
He pressed the coin against the circle and waited for a miracle.
By some force, it got pulled into it, becoming one with the wall, like it was a creative replacement for the numbers that were once there.
"What now?" asked Kama, tapping the coin like it was going to do something. "What should happen now?"
"Get inside. We should be moving on," said Dot.
The door closed after the last of them was inside and the elevator was on its way again.