Goblin summoner 02, p.10
Goblin Summoner - 02, page 10
part #2 of Goblin Summoner Series
“It does.”
The spider scuttled from side to side happily. Hers was an achievement unheard of for her people. The first crystal spider duellist to ever exist, as far as Tax was aware of anyway. She had spent her entire life in the cavern, the space descending past the complex collection of gears in the chasm and into a network of natural caves that spread out beneath the kingdom. The crystal spiders had made their home in the cavern centuries ago, the abundant mana providing them with the perfect spot to birth new generations.
“So, I should open the box?” Tax said, touching it gently with her left leg.
“Yeah, go right ahead.”
Tax did as instructed, pushing open the lid of the deck box. It took a few attempts, her limbs not designed to grasp objects. Once she managed to get it open, light flowed out from within, a cluster of cards floating juts before her left forelimb, three mana orbs forming on where the first section of her right front leg ended. Crystal orbs shifted as her eyes took in the cards before her.
“I…I think I understand. These are my options for sorcery, correct?” Tax shifted her legs about experimenting with how the cards moved. On the man things they had floated above their strange collection of tiny legs she believed were called fingers. Tax could feel the power flowing through her, a surge of mana she had never thought possible before. It was intoxicating. She could see why the man-things were so keen on using them.
“That’s right,” Gareth said with a nod. “Each card you have there represents a monster, a spell, a relic or a trap. Monsters are things like my goblins, spells are like the lightning I threw at you. A relic is a magical item and a trap is kind of a delayed spell. How did you stop my lightning by the way?”
Tax let out a rhythmic ringing, a sound that Gareth instinctively understood to be a chuckle. “I did not realise that you were trying to hurt us with that, man-thing. Do your people not feast on mana as we do? Your attempts only fuelled us.”
That made sense to Gareth. Spells were the most direct method of unleashing his mana. It was the equivalent of someone throwing a cheeseburger straight into his mouth.
“Go ahead,” Gareth said, nodding towards the shimmering cards, “try summoning something.”
Tax tentatively lifted her left leg, reaching out towards her hand of cards. She touched one of them, and it shifted into a bolt of light. It arced upwards before shooting down to the ground and shifting to take on its new form. The light coalesced into a pig-like creature, one made of twisting vines knotted together.
Gareth recognised it. The monster was one of the first things he had encountered on awaking in Acamida. It was a vineswine, a kind of elemental creature that was common in the forest he had found himself in. Its presence in the cavern had to mean that Tax had been given a deck with the elemental affinity, which made sense considering the design of her deck box.
Gareth wondered if Tax herself was an elemental creature. Decks seemed to have an odd habit of finding their way to people they fitted. The former goddess Magda had angels, and whilst nightmares weren’t demons, they were unknowable destructive creatures from another plane, so suited Sarkuran well. That didn’t explain why had ended up with Goblins, so it could also just have been a massive coincidence.
“I did it!” Tax said, resuming her happy scuttling. Behind her, the swarm of spiders were doing the same, pleased with her progress. “How do I command it?”
“Just tell it to attack. Uh, not right now! I’d rather not get attacked.”
“Oh, of course, man thing. What are these?” Tax gestured to a set of three cards floating just above her head.
“Those are your shields. They project a magical barrier around you. Each of those can absorb one strike. It’s important to say it doesn’t matter how hard you are hit. It’s just three blows, heavy or small. It also only works against an attack. It won’t work if you trip and fall into the chasm, for example.”
“I see, I see. That would be why the previous man things to enter our cavern were so difficult to defeat,” Tax said.
Gareth grimaced, realising he had just told a host of monsters how duellists defended themselves. In his limited experience summoned monsters tended to draw the attention of the real ones. That was understandable, a giant nightmare or a great winged angel were more obvious threats than a week soft human. He wasn’t sure he should be telling the spiders they could simply walk around the summoned beasts with their sheer numbers,
“Yes,” Gareth said. He didn’t see the point in lying now. “Though I’m hoping it won’t be necessary. We’ve kept up our end of the bargain, that’s basically all you need to know to use your deck. The rest will come with experience and levelling up. You do level up, don’t you?”
“Of course? Why do man things not?”
“We do. But that’s not important now. We’re going to explore the rest of this place, and then when we return to the surface, we’ll tell our people not to come down here. Say it’s too dangerous, lots of monsters and traps. That will keep out anymore. We’ll also tell the mine above us not to dig any deeper. I don’t think they want to fall into a cavern, and I’m sure you don’t want them to accidentally smash your eggs.”
“We do not. I am not sure what a mine is, but if it’s a danger to us I would appreciate you putting a stop to it.”
“Good. Glad we’re on the same page.” Gareth pointed over his shoulder with a thumb. “Do you know how to open this door?”
Tax shook her body from side to side. “No. We have never needed to pass through. There is plenty of caves below us if we need to leave for any reason, though the mana of this place makes that unnecessary. We have no reason to go near that. We rarely even touch the strange man thing web. When the metal giants ascend the steam stops, and the moisture helps our crystals grow.”
“Ah. Well then looks like we’re going to have to work out another way through. Thank you though.”
Tax crouched her body low to the ground, a gesture that Gareth understood meant he was welcome.
Gareth turned, confident that the spiders wouldn’t suddenly pounce at him. Now that the danger seemed over they were fascinating things to look at, all fractal patterns and sharp edges. They were rather beautiful things, creatures that didn’t actually mean any harm. Sarkuran had said once to Gareth that the strength of his empire had been its decision to include monsters amongst his forces. It was the reason why the lands before the forest were not considered monster-ridden wasteland, the hardier creatures surviving the fall of his empire. It was a shame that introducing the spiders to the people on the surface was probably a step too far, at least for now. The piles of stone in the mine above wouldn’t be necessary if homes could be spun out of glimmering crystal.
“I don’t think their assistance will be necessary,” Sarkuran said, grunting slightly as he pulled on something. “I think perhaps I might have…”
There was a loud click followed by an almighty groan. Something within the chasm below began to move, more ancient clockwork starting a long-awaited sequence. The great set of doors began to move, slowly opening outwards to reveal the secrets behind them. Sarkuran was stood before them, looking unbearably smug at his achievement. The spiders scuttled past Gareth, their curiosity at what was behind the door getting the better of them.
The tunnel directly behind the doors was a grand one, a great arched corridor designed to match the grandeur of the entranceway. Unlike the tunnels above the surface of the walls weren’t smooth, instead, they were inlaid with elaborate stonework, complex interlocking lattices etched into the stone. It was a work of incredible skill and beauty, putting even the dwarven structures Gareth had seen to shame. The amount of time and effort it would have taken was scarcely believable. Spread along the arched ceiling of the tunnel at regular intervals were large blue crystals suspended on thick black chains. From within each light was emanating, not the purple glow of the spider eggs outside but the warm pleasing light of the midday sun. At the end of the tunnel was a platform, a round metal dais that was surrounded by arching blue crystal and curving metal. They looked like a set of talons rising from beneath to grasp the platform.
The spiders had become nervous, edging away from the doorway. Some of them were crouching low like they were trying to make themselves as small as possible.
“What’s the matter with them?” Imelda said, gesturing at the creatures. Despite not speaking their language it was evident to her that something was wrong.
“I’m not sure,” Gareth said. “Tax, what’s the problem?”
“The mana in here is foul. It took a moment to hit us after you opened the door, but there’s something in there. Something dark and sinister. I would not go inside man-thing. It is not right.”
“Eh, we’ve got a knack for finding dark and dangerous things,” Magda said. She had been happy to let Gareth take the lead on teaching Tax despite understanding the spider. “Wouldn’t be the first time. Sounds just like the undercity all over again.”
“I hope not,” Gareth said. “I’d rather not fight more nightmares. We’ve cleared out the undercity and there was that thing at the farmhouse. I’d like to think that’s the last we’ll see of them for a while. I’d rather not think of the alternative.” The nightmares gave Gareth a headache to look at. Thankfully the same wasn’t true of the ones Sarkuran summoned, whilst they were still monstrous to look at, they were ultimately of Acamida, its natural mana given shape. They didn’t have the same sense of wrongness to them that caused a buzzing behind the eyes.
“I wonder what they could be sensing. There doesn’t seem to be anything in this tunnel,” Sarkuran said. “Looks like a dead end.”
“Aside from that platform, it could head down maybe?” Imelda had already taken a step inside. The purple light of the cavern had hurt her eyes and she was finding the magical daylight much more tolerable. “Like one of those lift systems they used to move stones into place when rebuilding the wall back in Wildermount.” Imelda reached down and touched her leg. It had been broken during the siege; her body crushed under rubble. A few weeks rest and some expensive ointments that had drained their funds had healed it, but occasionally it still ached.
“Unlikely. There would be chains above it if that were the case. Of course, they could perhaps have a different method of achieving the same thing. They being whoever it was that built this place, of course. Digging a tunnel of this size this deep beneath the surface would have taken significant effort. Far beyond what I understand of the various civilisations that once called this world home.”
“Various? How many are there?” Gareth was genuinely intrigued. The more he learned about Acamida, the better his chances of surviving to prove himself worthy of being chosen as a hero. His desire to prove the gods wrong was giving him a drive he had never known.
“Who knows? In terms of the history of this world, from the start of my empire to today we’re nothing but a few blips along that timeline. This world has had a long life. Hundreds of civilisations, thousands maybe? I know of at least four different styles of historical ruins in my former lands. Nothing like this though. It’s truly fascinating.” Sarkuran’s eyes were wide as he took in the majesty of the construct.
“There’s darkness down there,” Tax said. “You could leave, close this entrance and let us seal it. If we knew there was this mana in there, man-thing, we would have webbed it shut a long time ago.”
“Can you remove your webs easily?” Gareth said. The strand crossing the chasm behind him looked strong enough to walk along.
“If we wish, yes.”
“Once we enter the tunnel, seal it up behind us. That way if something happens to us then you’ll be safe. You can let us out if we come back, right?”
“You would trust us not to simply leave you there forever?”
“I would. I think us man things and you spiders have come to an understanding.”
“No,” Tax said, moving slowly towards the doorway. “We have come to an understanding with you, not the man-things on the surface. We will seal this doorway and watch for your return. We will be able to hear you through the webbing. Be careful. The mana coming from this place is like that of the cavern but…corrupted. Something is twisting its energy, something dark and dangerous.”
***
Watching the spiders cover the entrance to the tunnel with their webbing was fascinating. The strands sprayed from the rear of the creatures as they did with flesh and blood spiders, the pink liquid quickly solidifying into glittering crystal. The spiders worked quickly, covering the looming entrance in a few minutes. It was impressive, and not for the first time Gareth wondered what it would be like to work with the spiders on the surface.
“Well. Now we’ve got no choice but to check the rest of this tunnel out, right?” Magda said. She began to reach out with a finger to touch the webbing but changed her mind at the last moment, interfering with it seemed like a bad idea.
“We were always going to go down here anyway,” Gareth said with a shrug. “You know that.”
“These crystals are incredible. They’re like super sunstones, kind of,” Imelda said, looking directly up at the one above them. The light coming from them was soft, and it didn’t hurt to look at. “This whole place is something else, it really is.”
“It is impressive,” Sarkuran began to walk forwards. The tunnel wasn’t particularly long, an interesting juxtaposition to how tall and wide it was. “The platform is what most intrigues me, however. I do wonder what exactly its purpose is.”
“We better go have a look then,” Gareth said. He walked with purpose, trying to get ahead of Sarkuran. If the others were going to look to him as a leader then he was intent on playing the part. “It is a bit odd, isn’t it? This huge massive set of doors and then…nothing. There has to be a point to it all.”
“Well yes, that is exactly what I just said. With rather more words I must add.”
“No arguing boys, there’s plenty of false bravado to go around.” Imelda had little patience for posturing. Despite her being the youngest member of the party, she had adopted the role of the group’s mother. The others were a little like children blundering their way through a world they didn’t fully understand.
As they grew closer, the sheer size of the platform and its construction was the first thing that immediately stood out. At the other end of the short tunnel, it had been difficult to tell just how huge it was, the looming walls around it obscuring its presence.
There was a set of three steps leading up to a round base plate of dark black metal. The curving talons arching around it were cast from a single piece, the metal shaped and smooth, whilst the crystals looked like those hanging from the ceiling above, though without the glow. To the right of the steps was a sheet of solid bronze standing up directly from the ground, runes etched across its surface.
The runes themselves were oddly shaped, not having a single straight line amongst them. They were collections of curving crescents of different sizes intersecting one another. Gareth thought it was strange he couldn’t read them, after all his gift had allowed him to speak with giant sentient spiders only a few minutes earlier.
The runes had immediately caught Sarkuran’s attention. “These sigils, they are unfamiliar to me. That lines up with the style of architecture being strange. It would seem to confirm that these ruins are from a civilisation I am not familiar with.”
“Ruins isn’t quite right, is it?” Imelda said, running her hand across one of the metal talons. “I mean, it’s not like this place is falling apart. It’s in better condition than the Troll and Bridge.”
“A fair assertion. We can tell that the builders of this place were at least humanoids of typical size despite the sheer scale of this tunnel.”
“How do you know that?” Gareth said. In his mind, a place this big had to have been built for giants.
Sarkuran kicked one of the steps leading up to the platform. “Because these steps are sized for people like us.”
Gareth suddenly felt very stupid. “Right, of course. I was just testing.” He stepped closer to the bronze tablet. “I don’t think this is a language. I can’t read it, and I should be able to.”
“Ah, interesting.”
“It is a language,” Magda said. She had gone quiet on seeing the familiar shapes etched into the metal. “It’s Eternal. The language of the gods. The true speech that underpins the fabric of reality.”
“Oh, nothing major then,” Gareth said trying to diffuse the seriousness with which Magda had spoken.
“You don’t understand. Here on Acamida, runes are what manipulates magic. Sigils and glyphs that tap into the mana of the world for effects. Inscribed on an item or written on a card, it’s all the same thing. On other worlds it's different, tattoos on the skin, specific hand gestures, chanting. It’s all the same thing ultimately, words, speech, art, taking your intent and making it real in the word somehow. Magic is the act of taking power and giving it form.” Magda stepped forward and began to trace her fingers over the metal. “I had…forgotten, about this. I think when they made me mortal the others stripped it from my mind but seeing it, I can remember fragments. Eternal is to reality what runes are to magic. With it, you can bend reality to your will.”
“Oh well, when you put it like that.” Gareth suddenly felt silly for making fun of Magda. “What does it say?”
“I…I don’t know. I recognise it, know what it is, but reading it,” Magda shook her head, her blonde locks swishing about her, “no, they’ve taken that from me.”
“A shame. Though I suspect had you been able to rewrite reality you might have mentioned it a tad earlier,” Sarkuran said, making a pinching motion with his fingers. “Still, that’s useful to know. Interesting that this place has statues of your godly form and the gods’ own script in it. I have no idea what that points to, but it's an added layer to the mystery to be sure.” Sarkuran walked up the steps and onto the metal platform. There was no noise as his boots touched the metal, the sound absorbed through a method he could not explain. “Curious. This whole thing is rather strange.” He began to walk towards the centre of the metal disk.
