Oops.
All six torches were still lit, so relighting them to raise the cage wasn’t an option. The key was still in a block of icy acid, and I didn’t know how long it would take to melt.
There didn’t seem to be any keyholes on the cage, though, anyway.
“Any ideas on how we can get you out of there?”
“Can you see the mechanism that raises and lowers it?” He peered out through the bars.
I looked up, but there was nothing visible. I turned my attunement on, but there was still nothing in the air. It was apparently raised and lowered through spells that were only active when they were in use. I shook my head at him, turning the attunement back off.
My head swam for a moment as my sight returned to normal. I felt off somehow. I was probably overusing my mana; my right hand ached when I thought about it. Something else felt amiss too, though.
I dismissed that line of thought as unimportant.
“Do you still have the return bell?” I asked instead.
“Ye—” He cut himself off. “Ah, I see. With Patrick incapacitated, how were you able to re-enter?”
“I just ran back to the door.”
He took out the bell and rang it, then vanished.
The bell itself dropped as he teleported, clattering noisily on the floor. I picked it up.
It took about a minute before he re-appeared in the room. “Patrick remains unconscious. There is no sign of the others,” he reported.
“Good. Hope they’re doing better than we are.”
“Yes.”
I handed the return bell back to Jin and he accepted it wordlessly.
The ice around the key hadn’t melted. It occurred to me after a moment that I’d never seen the sword’s ice melt naturally. In fact, it seemed to get worse over time.
It couldn’t last forever, could it?
The only way I’d seen the ice disappear before was from flame magic. “You wouldn’t happen to have any fire spells, would you?”
Jin shook his head. “I would not be able to tell you if I did.”
Cryptic as usual, but not unexpected.
“But I do have fire-starting supplies.”
Jin reached into his pouch, poured some of his... healing potion... on a rag and then set the rag on the floor. He withdrew a knife and a dark-colored stone of some kind, striking the stone with the metal to make sparks. The rag ignited a moment later, and he picked it up on the knife’s edge, and then dropped it on top of the ice block.
It took several seconds, but the ice melted enough to expose the key. Jin knelt down, carefully probing, and flicked the key with the edge of his knife. It flew out of the ice, skidding across the floor.
I walked over, kneeling down, but paused before picking it up. “Think the surface is still acidic?”
Jin nodded as he approached, pouring liquid from his flask over the key. “Yes, but washing it will probably be sufficient. I would advise you to use the gauntlet to pick it up.”
The inside of the gauntlet was only leather, but it was still a glove. Once the key had been washed, I picked it up. No obvious burning on the leather from contact. Good.
“Okay, now what do we do with this?”
Jin pointed at the two doors. “There are two visible exits, both with locks matching the color of the key. Each door has an inscription. The box is also inscribed, but it has no visible opening.”
I walked to the first door. In the greater lighting of all six torches, I could see words carved into the surface, much like on the tablet.
Only light can open the eyes of the faithless.
I frowned, moving to the next door.
Let fire purify the wicked.
I liked that message even less, but I turned to Jin.
“So, fire room or light room next?”
He folded his hands in front of him, head slightly tilted. “You carry ice, which may prevail against fire,” he mused.
“But it’s possible fire is the requirement for that room, rather than what we’ll face,” I countered.
“Possible. But I doubt it.”
I nodded. His preference was obvious, and I didn’t have a good argument to try the other room first; we didn’t have any great sources of light or darkness, either.
I turned the key in the lock. The stone door slid into the floor, reminiscent of some of the ones I’d seen in the tower.
Nice touch. Lends authenticity.
The jet of fire that emerged from the doorway enveloped us both in an instant, crushing our shields to nothing. In a panicked instant, I reached out for the aura of the weapon at my side, spreading it across my skin.
When the flames faded, I was shivering, my skin glistening with ice.
When I turned, Jin was already gone.
Annihilated, I realized, my heart pounding.
Stay calm. It’s just a simulation. He’s fine.
But this does mean I’m on my own now.
I stepped out of the doorway, not wanting to be caught by another errant blast of fire.
From an angle, I could still see where the fire had come from. A statue of the creature we’d just fought, stood directly across from the door. I could still feel the heat in the air and smell the acrid scent of the smoke it had left behind.
And I could see the glow forming in its open mouth, flames swirling and forming.
I stepped completely aside, watching as the blast flashed out the open door a moment later. It flooded the entrance for several seconds before receding again.
I glanced back into the room. The creature’s mouth was still open, a hint of flame already forming as it prepared another blast.
Looking from side-to-side, I saw... more statues. A dozen, at least, breathing their own blasts of flame at varying angles across the room.
And, even with only a moment to inspect, I could see gaps between those incinerating bursts of flame, and a door on the opposite side of the room.
I dodged back out of the way just as the next burst of flame leapt out the doorway.
A timing puzzle.