Chapter 17: Sisyphus' Rock

I reached the far side of the chamber on the floating stepping stones. I wished I still had the healing potions in my dimensional space. I would have gladly taken some punishment for using one. But I had not been asked to store them after the fight. My knee was swelling, and I hobbled into the tunnel and looked back at the stones. Maybe this was not a great idea. I winced at the thought of hopping back across the stones. Perhaps I would hobble down to the next room and come back.

I had a strong limp as my right knee got so stiff it was difficult to bend. As the light faded behind me, a new light at the end of the tunnel appeared in front of me. I was close, maybe 60 feet from the next room. I continued to the opening into the next chamber. Standing in the passage, I looked into the room. It was a smooth conical stone dome. Lines of greenish light, like veins, lit up the dome. The lines seemed to pulse in a rhythm. I stuck my head inside to look at the wall around the door. Huh, the lines were made by fist-sized snails trailing a glowing goo behind them. These were the first non-insects I had seen in the dungeon. I didn't know what it implied.

The floor of the domed room was flat and consisted of brown dirt with some mounds near the center. I guessed they hid whatever creature guarded the room. The curious thing was I did not see an exit around the room anywhere. Was this the final room in this dungeon? Maybe the snails were the monster? Would they all fly together to giant snail...ok that was a stupid thought. The first chamber had burrowers, so this chamber probably had burrowers, and the mounds in the center hid the creature.

I stared for forty minutes and then took out my second apex essence and ate it. Castille had said to wait at least an hour between. Shit. Castille was not joking about indigestion. I started making short belching sounds accompanied by an attack of mini hiccups. My stomach roiled, and I broke out into a cold sweat, and I sat down against the wall and then lay down till the feeling passed. I kept an eye on the room, waiting for my stomach and pulse rate to return to normal. I was definitely going to save that last apex essence for much later. I pulled out some water and drank heavily before putting it back in my storage.

I stayed seated until, and in my estimation, it was getting close to the end of the two hours Castille gave me. I decided it was time to go. Besides the snails making slow progress along the dome, I observed no movement in the chamber. Taking one last look at the room, I wondered if maybe there was a doorway to the right or left that I couldn't quite see. I decided to take a quick check. That way, I could say I scouted the next room if the baron's son questioned me. I leaned in further, on alert, ready to run, remembering the ankheg had spit acid. I didn't see anything and cautiously got a little further in. I looked up, searching the wall of the dome. Nothing. I moved to go the half step back and felt for the passageway. What...it was a solid wall.

My heart started racing as I felt the wall. I had barely entered the room—if even at all. Maybe it was invisible...some type of illusion. I slid left a few feet and then right on the wall feeling the wall for the passage. I felt a tremor under my feet and swore. Why didn't anyone fucking tell me a dungeon could lock you in a room? Now, I was going to die to whatever horrendous insect swarm came after me. I drew my short sword, pulled a shield from my dimensional space, and turned to face whatever spawn crawled from under the earth.

The ground in the center of the chamber was rippling, and a body of a massive black scorpion erupted. The stinger swayed fifteen feet in the air, and each of its two claws was as big as a person. I waited with a racing heart. I could win by sending part of its body to my dimensional cube as I had done with the bulette if it was just one Schwarzenegger-sized scorpion. Nothing else came, and I started moving along the wall. The scorpion located me and turned to follow my movements. It seemed cautious.

Maybe it was stunned that only one person had come to challenge it. It tested its claws with reverberating snaps in the air. The hovering stinger did a hypnotic dance in the air as its eight legs brought it slowly forward. I prepared my dimensional space...fuck! I still had the stone pillar stored in there! New plan. Drop a big rock on a big bug. I increased my pace along the wall, and it finally charged me.

I did my best to time the stone. The edge of the stone materialized at the end of my sword arm from the storage, extending ten feet forward, looming over the confused bug. The stone hung in the air for a moment before falling. One of the claws extended and reached for me. I rolled away, but it was not necessary. The cylinder crushed the body of the scorpion, and internal fluids splattered in every direction. I was covered in metallic-smelling bug juice.

I focused on my aether and swore. The mass of pulling the object had drained all my aether in one go. I scanned the room, thinking my bad luck would have a second scorpion show up. The stinger started to fall like a felled tree toward me. I tumbled out of the way as it pierced the ground...It would have missed me by a few feet but better safe than sorry. The slimy fluids covering me were now coated with dirt from my roll. I spit something fowl from my mouth.

I slowly walked around the chamber and found a shoebox-sized stone chest in the center of the room. I breathed, relieved. Konstantin had said if the reward chest appeared then all threats had been handled. I put down my shield to inspect the box.

The box was similar to the others we found when defeating the previous monsters. I moved cautiously past the scorpion, wishing I had an essence collector to use on it. I was about to open the chest when I remembered someone mentioned traps. I used my sword tip instead to flip the lip open.

Huh, twenty shiny gold coins and what looked like a pendant. A silvery chain was connected to a hexagonal brass coin. The coin has an array of fine lines and small blue gems embedded at intersections on both sides. It was similar to the patterns that made up the discs on the translation amulet I had during training but much finer and more intricate work.

I picked up the obvious magic item. It felt light in my hand, more like the density of plastic than metal. I thought about wearing it and channeling aether into it, but since I did not know what it did, I decided to store it away with the gold coins.

I walked to the dead scorpion and wondered what kind of essence the beast would have yielded. I touched the carapace, thinking I could possibly pull the essence to myself with my ability. I focused and tried for a few minutes before giving up. I couldn't feel anything happening and felt silly for trying. I thought better at leaving the empty chest and stone cylinder. If they came down here to check this room, I figured to erase as much evidence as possible. Although the giant crushed scorpion still oozing fluids was a dead giveaway.

Unfortunately, my aether didn't recover enough to put anything in my space. I buried the chest as that was the best I could do. I hobbled back to the water chamber. Hoping across the stones this time was not fun, and I fell on each landing as my knee would not bend properly. When I got to the far side, I quickly stripped and began to wash my clothes and armor in the water.

All the tales of glory in combat never mentioned the after-battle cleanup. Cleaning up the mess after a fight was never pretty, and this was the second time for me, the messy bulette being the first. The glowing fish seemed attracted to the gore being washed into the crystal-clear water. They were not carnivorous and just seemed like fat trout with glowing scales. I wondered how they might taste and wished I had a fishing rod.

I was in my undergarments with everything laid out to dry when Konstantin came down the tunnel to check on me. "It has been four hours, Eryk. Are you down here bathing?" Humor laced his voice. "Castille was getting worried. And I have some bad news." He was staring at my swollen and red knee and knelt to inspect it.

"Well, don't keep me in suspense. Is the cave the home of a dragon?" I asked while I started putting on my wet clothes.

"No, much worse. Castille is sending you to escort Justin Cicero back to his father," Konstantin admitted. "She is giving him the griffin egg, and you are to store it in your space so it gets there safely. She is doing it so she can get the leech away from her company. Report to the Legion headquarters when you reach Varvao. They will tell you where to find our company."

"How far is Varvao?" I asked, concerned.

"Three hundred and fifty miles. Give or take. But there is good news. Your little mage friend is going with you," Konstantin chuckled.

"Renna is coming with me? Is that a good thing with the First Citizen being with me?" I asked, thinking of her safety.

"Most likely, he will not touch her. Rumor is she is promised to one of the Emperor's sons," but he didn't sound confident. He pointed at my knee, "Let Linus know, and he will give you a potion to heal up."

I had finished dressing and was working on my armor. "Why are you being so nice to me, Konstantin? You do not have the best reputation among the others."

Konstantin spat into the water. "I am tired of seeing young men like you die. I can not tell why I thought you were different and deserved my mentoring. Maybe one of the gods is pushing me to keep you alive. I do not know. Just accept it." He turned and walked up the passage.

I packed my things up and hobbled up the passage. When I reached the safe room, there was no one there. I hobbled all the way back to the entrance to the dungeon and passed through at a walk this time.

Delmar yelled, "About time, Eryk. Get some food and pack up your gear. We will be heading out shortly." I looked around the chamber, and the tents were all rolled up. Justin was arguing with mage Castille, and I decided I did not need to become involved. I got some food and went to eat it next to Renna. Renna saw me coming and had a sad face.

"Sorry, Eryk. Your fancy new tent is over there, but you are going to be carrying it for him." Renna shook her head. Well, at least I had my old tarp tent. Now I got to be a pack mule. At least I had wormed out of carrying the spinnerets. Maybe I would have to return the gold coin.

"It is what it is," I said to Renna. Linus came to me and handed me a healing potion. Konstantin must have already talked with him. I sat on the ground next to Renna and drank the potion. It was like a warm feeling spreading through my body and numbing me. The heat increased around my knee. I could feel the aether of the potion working and the swelling going down. It was a few minutes, and I could bend my knee easily again. I had had magical healing before by mages. This was different as the mage's healing was focused, while this potion was more like a swarm covering my body and then focusing on the injury.

I chatted with Renna for a while, telling her about the dungeon. Mage Castille finally approached with Justin Cicero, Firth, and Wylie. Castille said, "When we get back to the horses, you three will escort First Citizen Cicero and Mage Renna to the city." I had a lot of questions, but Castille spun and left clearly not in a good mood.

Justin held out the griffin egg, "Put this in your space, legionnaire." After I put the egg in my space, he just walked away. I could see the other members of the company eyeing us. Justin had seized the prize, and the malice was palpable. I would have to ask more about how the First Citizens fit into the Empire I now served. What was the First Legion?

Wylie and Firth, approached me. The older soldier, Firth, spoke, "Looks like we will be babysitting you again. At least you get to ride. Benito will have to ride pillion with someone when we leave until we get to a farm to get him a new mount." Soon we were all headed out of the mountains and back to the horses.