Reverse Chronicles

The Lyndium Labyrinths

Franz reached out his hand as he helped me up on Mikah. I held his hand and rode on the creature that will carry me to Lyane. Keith fluttered around looking at the Ring of Sages on his right ring finger. We headed towards the northeastern gate of the city. It was a bustling passage. A lot of merchants were coming in and out of the gate, using the trade route that connected Arbre with the rest of the mainland Caldian cities.

“Keith, wait!” a voice called us from a distance. It was Mateo and his party. They ran toward us fully equipped as adventurers. “We’ll escort you through Lorbe.”

“Mateo,” Keith dispelled Levitate and walked towards his friend. “Don’t drag us down!” He smiled and led the way outside the gate.

“Thank you for this gesture,” Franz bowed his head. “We will surely repay this in kind.”

“Don’t mind us,” Mateo answered. “I’m here to wish my dear friend great luck on his journey.” He ran towards Keith outside the gate.

Unlike the western part of the forest of Lorbe, the eastern forests only had a few monsters. Merchants, adventurers, and city guards flocked the entire way carrying goods, serving people and protecting them against monsters.

The road was a peaceful walk. The steadfast footsteps, the sensible clamor, and the subtle blow of the wind filled my ears. I rested my head on Franz’s shoulder, feeling the wind as they caressed my cheeks. A few meters later, we have finally reached the end of the forest.

“It is finally time to say goodbye, my dear friend.” Mateo embraced Keith. “Don’t drag your party mates down.”

“Drag them down? Heh, they’re lucky to have me.” Keith returned the embrace. “Study well and train hard, so that the next time I’ll be back, you may be able to land a spell on me.”

“I will. You were just lucky that I ran out of MP. Otherwise, I would’ve defeated you.”

“What’s that? Is that a mage whining? Poor mage!” Keith annoyed Mateo.

“Well, good luck, sage, Keith of Jyria. ‘Till we meet again.”

As soon as we exited the forest, the Lyndium hills and their lush green vegetation are visible. At the top of each hill was a barren spot that looked like chocolate from afar. We traveled with the trade routes between Lyane and Arbre. If we keep going on with the exact same pace, we would arrive at Lyane tomorrow night.

Keith was quiet the entire morning. His eyes constantly looked as if he was deep in thought. His form as he glided through the air was precise, and his magic was stronger than before.

We took a quick brake at a tavern beside the trade route. Merchants and adventurers were at every table. Their faces were covered in gloom.

“The golems are rampaging on the Forking Road, again.” One of the adventurers cried as he slammed his rum-filled glass on the table. “I’m the only one left in our entire party. We were vanquished in an instant.”

“A sore loser, eh?” a merchant clamored. “Adventurers these days, they can’t even put up a fight against those golems?”

Tensions began to rise in the atmosphere. A fight was going to break out until the tavernkeeper threw the troublemakers out.

“What’s this talk about golems?” Franz asked the tavernkeeper.

“It is as what you have heard it. Golems are attacking merchants and adventurers in the Forking Road. They don’t usually attack people, but something is causing them to rampage and attack.”

“Golems are territorial, but peaceful creatures.” Keith added. “In the monstrology codex, they are seen as protector of the mountains. They establish territories and protect the creatures within them. They would not normally attack people.”

“We have to do something about this,” Franz turned to me. His eyes were brimming with rage, but I felt that it was out of concern. His great sense of justice calls him to protect and serve the people.

“We will,” I assured him, giving a smile that may ease his worries and comfort his troubles. His eyes were inspired and enraged, but he was calm and composed.

We restocked our supplies and got ready for the road ahead.

The Forking Road is an intersection of three different trade routes and a hidden road that leads to the Lyndium labyrinth, an ancient structure that acts as a dungeon which houses a secret that is best kept hidden. The current road that we are taking leads to the Forking Road.

We continued on our way. The entire trip was quiet. There were no longer any merchants that travelled along the road. It was dead quiet, not even the cry of a single monster could be heard. The roads were mostly at the foot of the hills, but in some areas, they go over a short hill and even around a steep one.

“Help!” a voice suddenly called out, followed by a woman’s piercing shriek. Franz whipped the reins and we rode faster to where the voice came from. Keith went ahead and inspected the source. We eventually arrived at the Forking Road, where a man’s corpse laid on the cold hard ground. The body was badly beaten and crushed that the man’s face could no longer be recognized.

From the intersection of the roads, a trace of blood leads could be found along the hidden road. The blood was still fresh and was splattered indiscriminately.

“They have taken people to the Lyndium labyrinths,” Keith reported. “I saw the golems. They took three people. Still, it’s strange, their actions were too coordinated. There are no records of golems working together. Something in the labyrinths must be making them act strange.”

“We must save those people.” Franz whipped the reins and we rushed to the Lyndium labyrinths. “I hope we are not too late.”

“We will find them,” I tapped his shoulder.

The hidden road led us down to a valley of rocks. Nothing grew on the ground. The air was desolate. And the area was dead silent. The entrance to the labyrinth was a giant crevice on the ground. Clouds covered the sun making the area completely dim.

“One of the victims must have owned this,” Keith held out a necklace in his hand. It had a white crystal on its lace, and its chains were mithril. “This is a fortitude necklace. We should return it to its owner, but for now…” Keith gave the necklace to Franz. “You should equip it. It increases your defense.”

“For the sake of its owner,” Franz wore the necklace, “I will use this necklace to save them.”

We got down from Mikah.

“Mikah, you must flee for now.” Franz talked to the creature. “It is dangerous for you to stay here. Go!” Mikah fled. It was a necessary farewell.

We descended down the giant crevice. The tunnel was illuminated by glowing crystals. They were numerous, protruding from the ceiling and the walls of the underground cavern. The air was cold and occasional rumbling of the ground could be heard.

Suddenly, monsters attacked. It was a revenant, a creature of darkness borne from the despairs of the living. It looked weak so I tried to instantly the battle by slashing off its head. However, it still moved even after being decapitated. Keith cast Fireball and set the monster ablaze. Franz finished it with a strike that made its corpse evaporate.

“Holy magic?” Keith was surprised. “You didn’t tell me, you knew that.”

“Well, you didn’t ask.”

“Is that light element magic?” I asked.

“Nope,” Keith smiled, “holy magic is derived from light magic, but it is not innately light element.”

A monster’s cry suddenly filled the entire tunnel. From a distance, a horde of revenants approached. We were at a numerical disadvantage, but we defeated them all. I was able to level up after defeating that horde. I’m finally at level 10.

“Feint Attack learned,” a screen showed up in front of my face.

A new skill. I should test it out.

We continued deeper in the cave. It was a straight unending illuminated path. When we finally saw light at the end of the tunnel, the ground rumbled violently, and a woman’s scream could be heard.

“Let’s hurry,” Franz ran leading the way out of the cave, where a fissure between the rocks was laid for us.

The rumbles continued so we squeezed in the fissure. We found ourselves in the Lyndium labyrinth. There was a path forward, to the left, and to the right, separated by walls of rock. We did not know where to go so Keith tried to reconnaissance from the air, but something is preventing him from casting Levitate.

“I can’t activate the spell,” Keith was annoyed. “We don’t know where to go!”

“That’s fine, we can always turn back and mark the paths we took. We should stay together. For now, let’s take the path to the left,” Franz took the lead and we all went.

The path led us right, then another right, then left, then right, then a dead end. We retraced our steps back to the fissure and marked the path. Suddenly, a golem appeared in front of us. It was humanoid, with rocks, boulders, and pebbles as body parts.

“Don’t falter!” Franz unsheathed his sword ready to strike. I readied Whisperer, while Keith cast Wind Blade and attacked.

“I’ll distract it,” I charged and used my new skill Feint Attack. The skill allows me to make a copy of myself and make myself invisible. The copy attacked from the right, while I attacked from the left. At the last second, my copy vanished, while I landed the blow.

“You just made it angry,” Keith trembled while he was in the middle of casting. “Make some time for my spell.”

Franz charged and attacked. We made effective use of my Feint Attack. I would make my copy attack from the opposite side of where we land our strike. My copy attacked the golem’s right leg, we swooped in and struck its left leg. It knew of our ploy, however, as he defended where Franz would attack.

“Josh,” Franz turned to me. “Don’t use that skill anymore.”

“What? But.”

“When you attack, it will think that you are also a copy and will not defend. When that happens, it will flinch from your attack giving me time to land a blow.”

“I see,” I charged with sword forward and did a jump twist s***h, which Franz taught me. The golem did not guard, as Franz predicted, and it seemed to be surprised with me being the real thing. Franz was able to land a blow and the golem was even more pissed.

“Get back,” Keith shouted. We ran back to where he was. The golem chased us, but in an instant, the entire path froze along with the golem. “That burns a lot of MP. I can no longer use it, otherwise I will faint.”

“You should preserve your strength.” I said.

“We must hurry!” Franz went to the right path. It revealed a path to the left, then another left, then right, where the path split forward and to the right. We first took the path to the right, which led in a dead end. We went back and took the path forward, which led us to more splits. The splits themselves even divided to more splits. We went every path and tried every combination.

Suddenly, the woman’s shriek could be heard so closely.

“It’s coming from here!” Keith ran towards the source of the voice, where a large area enclosed by rock walls appeared. Numerous golems were at the area, and they all detected us the moment we arrived.

“Intruders?” a man’s voice echoed in the area. “It seems I’ve been found.” The man stepped forward from the group of golems. He wore a dark purple robe which extended down to his ankles. He wore a hat with a lot of strings looped around. He wore white gloves and his face was covered with a fox mask.

“A Puppet Master!” Keith exclaimed. “That explains everything. Golems are like dolls and they can be controlled with strings. This Puppet Master is behind all the rampage.”

“Now, now,” the man took of his mask. “I’m not the reason for all of the destruction. It is the adventurers.” He laughed maniacally. “You see, even after all that I’ve done to make her fall in love with me, she still went with that adventurer! Now they must pay for what they have done.”

“You psychopath!” Franz angrily shouted. “You cannot force a person’s feelings to change just because you have done something for them. What will the girl you love say when he sees you right now?”

“What will she say?” the Puppet Master laughed maniacally. “She will finally love me.”  He untangled the strings from his hat and waved his hands around. A woman suddenly walked towards him. She was wearing a white wedding dress and her skin was as white as snow. Her lips were pale and dark and her eyes were closed, as if she was asleep for all eternity. “You see, we just had our vows. Now we can live happily forever, after I crush you!”

The golems simultaneously went on a rampage. They came after us, but they stumbled as they all came. The area is not large enough to accommodate countless of rampaging golems.

“We must defeat the Puppet Master,” Keith said avoiding every golem that came our way. “If we defeat him, we might be able to return these golems to normal.”

“But how?”

“I have a plan, but I need some time.”

“Leave it to us, we will give you all the time you need.” Franz had an air of determination.

We braced ourselves. Franz and I could not defeat a single golem, so we had to fight smart. If we were able to make them all stumble, then they would all crash under their own weight.

My Feint Attack was really useful. It fooled the golems and made them hesitate to attack. One hit from their stomp and their slap would end our lives. However, our speed and agility were able to keep up, enabling us to dodge their attacks on time.

Three golems stumbled. They cannot get back up as the other golems would constantly push them down, creating a wall that separated us from the incessant rampage.

“It’s ready! Climb up somewhere.” Keith made it rain. The dark clouds released a downpour that became a torrent. “Josh,” he shouted to me, “make us all dry by creating a barrier of water.”

A barrier of water? How will I do that?

“The rain. It’s water. Control it. Do it!” I did as Keith instructed. I slowly felt the water from my hair flow upwards to the barrier of water. “This ends now, Lightning Strike!”

Lightning struck the center of the group of golems. The golems stopped rampaging and they all suddenly exited the area. All what’s left was the Puppet Master and the corpse of a woman.

“In the end, he never got what he wanted.” I tried to lighten the mood.

“It was never his for the taking,” Franz slammed the idea. “There are things that you cannot have, and you have to accept those facts.” He carried the corpse of the woman and the unconscious Puppet Master.

We retraced our steps and got out of the labyrinth back to the Forking Road, where adventurers and knights gathered. Franz handed over the Puppet Master to the knights and told them what happened. The corpse of the woman was to be returned to Arbre, to be buried by the man she loved.

I thought that this was a happy place, but it seems that it is as twisted and broken as Earth.