Mage Tank

Chapter 140: The Winding Path

The first part of the Delve was a maze, naturally. To be honest, the maze part was easy. Etja’s Total Recall allowed us to make sure we never backtracked unless necessary. Coordinated Thinker allowed me to keep us oriented spatially so that we always understood where we were relative to where we’d been. Finally, there were nodes hidden in the walls attuned to divine magic, which Nuralie could spot with her Inquisitor evolution. The nodes didn’t exactly tell us where to go, but their patterns changed when we got close to a new section of the maze.

Getting lost wasn’t a problem. The hazards were.

Each sector had an environmental challenge, and the first one took us the longest. The hallway where we’d entered the Delve ended in a thick, metal door. Upon opening the door, we exposed a small chamber, barely large enough for the entire party to fit inside. On the opposite wall of that chamber was another door that was identical to the first, except that it had a small, round window set into it. There were three buttons inside, with labels written in celestial. They read “Depressurize”, “Inner Door”, and “Outer Door”. I recognized what we were looking at immediately.

It was an airlock.

The outer door was exposed to hard vacuum. Whatever force generated the artificial gravity in the Delve was also absent on the other side. So, we had to figure out how to navigate a stretch of maze without air or gravity. Additionally, the section was fully enclosed, the view of the planet above replaced with a ceiling of marble hiding dark, impenetrable metal. So, it was completely dark as well.

I had the highest Fortitude, which meant I was the best at holding my breath. My darkvision also let me navigate the tunnels, although we had a decent supply of glow stones with which to leave a trail for the others. My wings, as it turned out, did not require an atmosphere for lift and direction, although that wasn’t surprising. Wings operating on magic shenanigans were more common for Delvers than not.

I took a few test drives with the wings while we worked out a strategy for the spacewalk. Each wing was 10 feet long, giving me a little more than a 20-foot wingspan. The wings still functioned if they were tucked close to my body, however, so tighter spaces didn’t have much impact on mobility. They were covered in bird-like feathers but, to my delight, the feathers were violet and fuchsia, matching the colors of Grotto and–more importantly–my feather boa.

C’thon feathers were downy like the undercoat of a bird or what you’d see on juvenile avians. Meanwhile, my wings had the robust, fully formed feathers of an adult bird so the wings didn’t match a c’thon exactly. Still, the theming was on point. The green of my armor was no longer the dominant shade of my outfit and the wings provided an important sense of balance to the getup. After all, any Delver with sense held color coordination in high esteem. I just needed that plume for my helmet to complete the ensemble. A cape might also be nice, but I wouldn’t want to step on Varrin’s toes. Or rather, the hem of his bedazzled cloak. Maybe a more subdued mantle would suffice.

The pair of tentacles that also came with Therianthropy were slightly shorter than the wings, but a good bit longer than my arms so they improved my reach. They grew from my back, below the wings, and about where my kidneys were, assuming I still had kidneys. Their colors also matched, although these were covered in the typical, fluffy feathers of a c’thon.

The new appendages took some time to adapt to, as Varrin had suspected, but it didn’t take me long to get the hang of them. The issue with flying was more about getting used to their speed and maneuverability, and also figuring out how to stop my forward momentum. My mind had little trouble adjusting to having 4 additional limbs, which was apparently the main hangup most people had. My high Intelligence probably helped, but I suspected my bond with Grotto and my recent experience as Arlottog had a greater impact.

The wings let me move freely through a zero-g environment and Gracorvus took up some slack when the transformation ran out. I could use the shield for short bursts of speed that carried me down straightaways on momentum alone without much mana expenditure. Both the wings and Gracorvus allowed me to decelerate fairly quickly, but a short hit of Gravity Anchor would bring me to a complete stop instantly.

My transformation would last a maximum of 40 minutes per day until I improved my Physical Magic, which was coincidentally the maximum length of time I could hold my breath. My lungs would begin to protest after ‘only’ 8 minutes, though, and it took a lot of mental effort to get used to ignoring my body’s natural desire for oxygen. Going the full 40 minutes would also completely drain my stamina, so I needed to make it back to the airlock before that time if I didn’t want to pass out.

We all had some way to deal with the environment presented, but I was still the best choice for mazerunner. Grotto didn’t need to breathe at all since–as a Delve Core–his true self was a construct, but the c’thonic body he hid behind was organic and needed air to maintain itself. He was on backup to come grab me if my time ran out while I was still outside, but he was reluctant to let his fleshy bits die since he’d gotten used to having limbs and there was no available biological matter around for him to form a new body with.

Xim could see in the dark as well as I could and could restore her health and stamina when she self-healed, but she had no mobility options to overcome the lack of gravity.

Varrin could fly with his cloak, but his Fortitude wasn’t that high, he just had good stamina regen from evolutions. He’d still run out of breath faster than I would.

As a Geulon, Nuralie had exceptional lung capacity. Shadow Walk would let her teleport around, but her mana was limited so she couldn’t keep it up for long.

Shog could also fly and see in the dark, but aside from that he assured us that prolonged exposure to a vacuum would not be good for him.

Etja’s body was also technically a construct, but her transformation from a golem into a thinking being brought along some of the biological limitations of a normal body. She breathed automatically, but she didn’t have blood. Holding her breath was uncomfortable and became an overwhelming need after a few minutes, but her stamina didn’t drain if she was able to ignore the discomfort for a longer period. However, her Siphon spell required mana to let her fly and she didn’t have anything that granted her darkvision. That made navigation a lot more difficult, even with Total Recall.

So, it was up to me.

Because of the time limitation on my transformation, it took us more than a week to pass through the first section. There was no ticking clock on the Delve, so we decided that taking the slow but safe route was preferable to risking Etja getting lost and becoming trapped somewhere within the maze. We might not have been able to find her and, like I said, she still felt like she needed to breathe. Imagine spending hours or days with the constant sensation that you were on the precipice of suffocation; like being trapped underwater, desperate to take a breath. None of us were strangers to pain, but aside from Grotto, we all shuddered at the thought. That sort of torture could break people.

While I hunted for the way forward for 40 minutes a day, we used the downtime to train. Without the resources of the Training Expo, our progress was comparatively miserable. Still, if we had time to burn we had time to learn. Five of my skills were Physical so I managed to get my Physical Magic to 21 by flexing my new aura and blasting a wall with Homing Weapon. That gave me forty-two minutes of uptime for my transformation every day. I could still only hold my breath for 40 minutes but hey, small victories.

When I found the path, I lit it with glow stones and the rest of the crew followed, moving as fast as we could. Varrin carried Nuralie and Xim rode on my back. Thankfully, her demands to “giddyup!” were impossible to shout in the vacuum. Even if she could have continued commanding me to trot, cantor, or stay, the sound wouldn’t have traveled.

None of the remaining areas were completely dark, but the view of the planet was still blocked and the lighting was mostly dim. Otherwise, the rest of the sections were much simpler. The second sector was freezing cold, the third was blazing hot, and the fourth was filled with poison gas. We laughed our way through that one. The fifth was filled with magical traps and warded so heavily that none of our spells functioned unless Etja or I counter-dispelled an area.

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Nullify was better for large areas than Dispel, which focused on a single target, so our jubilant mage handled the bulk of the countermagic. She even picked up the Reconnaissance intrinsic to assist Nuralie with finding and disarming traps. The intrinsic keyed off of Wisdom, so she was a natural. Nuralie’s Flawless Precision evolution proved invaluable since it allowed her to manipulate the inner workings of the traps with… flawless precision. Her Machinist intrinsic also showed its worth by helping her understand and disarm the hazards. She dutifully tucked their components away into her inventory for later use.

The sixth zone held a series of murals that depicted different parts of the Eschen creation myth. Finding the path was just a matter of following the correct sequence of murals.

The art involved all three deities of the Eschen triune: Geul, goddess of the ocean, Hyrach, god of the mountains, and Deijin, goddess of the sky. Murals first depicted the three races of Eschendur rising from the sea as Geul created life from the oceans. The second showed the towering hands of Hyrach reaching from the ocean and shaping the lands, lifting them up to create the mountains that surrounded Eschendur. Geul's newly created life marched out onto Hyrach’s palm–the lands between the mountains–and created order upon the solid ground outside the chaos of the waves.

The final series showed a vast expanse of stars from which Deijin crafted souls for the life Geul created. The people of Eschendur could then love, play, think, feel, and witness. The life that Geul created was thus able to form the civilization of Eschendur upon the solid foundation provided by Hyrach. The name Eschendur meant the "set apart land of the gods". Xim and Nuralie began to piece together the relationship between the Delve and the depictions in the murals.

The name of the Delve was Deijin’s Descent, and the challenges we’d faced resonated with the journey of Deijin as she formed the souls of the Eschenbi. First, the Delve was in space, which likely related to being among the stars or even in the land of the gods. Deijin moved through the vacuum to reach the stars, passing through crushing cold and grasping onto blazing heat.

They weren’t certain what the poison represented, but it could have been the primordial environment of the world before life arose or even the more abstract corruption of beings that lacked a spirit. They guessed that the traps and wards of the maze’s fifth section represented the difficulties of manipulating the ether to create souls, although neither believed the god was meant to be depicted as using mana. Magic was merely a stand-in for the unknowable energies Deijin worked with. Either way, it hinted that there was some strong oppositional force, perhaps intelligent, that worked against Deijin.

Finally, the mueals brought us to three doorways, each of which displayed a possible conclusion to Deijin’s story. The descriptions were in celestial, which Etja dutifully translated.

“She spoke, and through Eschonnora–the voice of the gods–souls became one with the Eschenbi. Deijin’s word is truth.

“They listened, and through Losonbinora–the voice of the spirits that come from the stars–the souls found homes within the Eschenbi. The spirit guides Deijin’s wings.

“We wished, and with Bigir–mind given form and substance–we became Loson–of the stars. Mortal wills shape the realm.”

“All three are correct,” said Nuralie after listening to Etja dictate.

“Maybe it isn’t a quiz, then,” I said. “It could be a choice. Which path do we identify with?”

Nuralie paused to consider, then said, “All of them.”

“The first passage speaks of a god,” said Xim. “The second speaks of the spirits, and the third of the Eschen people.”

“We are mortals,” said Varrin. “The third choice reflects that.”

“We are also our spirits,” said Nuralie.

“I can attest to that,” I said, looking over the everpresent soul halo that surrounded each member of the party.

“True,” said Xim, “but the final line doesn’t limit itself to the physical body. It’s the union of spirit and flesh.”

“I would not presume to give that greater weight than the others,” said Nuralie. “It would be hubris to believe that because we are mortals, the choice must be the mortal path. It is insular thinking.”

I had Etja recite the passages again, which she did from memory.

“What if it’s about attunement?” I asked. “Pick the path that matches.”

“There are 5 attunements,” said Varrin. “There are 3 paths.”

“I still think it can line up,” I said. “The first path is obviously Divine since it focuses on Deijin. The second is Spiritual and the third is Physical. However, the final line of the third passage says ‘Mortal wills shape the realm.’ We shape the world with more than just our bodies.”

“I don’t get it,” said Xim.

“Oh!” said Etja. “Is it mana? Like we will things to change with spells?”

“I think so,” I said. “That would be Mystical.”

“If the first passage is Divine,” said Xim, “and the third is Physical and Mystical, then the second needs to be Spiritual and Dimensional. ‘The spirit guides Deijin’s wings’.”

“Deijin’s wings are certainly Divine,” said Varrin. “But wings are also a physical thing. How would that relate to Dimensional?”

“The wings are a metaphor,” said Nuralie. “‘She flew on Deijin’s wings’ is an expression that means the person has died. The wings guide you from the mortal world to the afterlife.”

“Those aren’t dimensions, they’re realms,” said Varrin.

“Dimensional is broader than what you’re thinking of as dimensions,” I said. “I mean, what even is a dimension? It can refer to the number of coordinates needed to specify a point. We’re in 3 dimensions because you need altitude, latitude, and longitude to say for certain where we are in relation to another point in space. Dimensional Magic allows you to travel through space, thus changing your coordinates. It also allows you to travel through different realities, like the way I went from Universe Earth to Universe Arzia. I wouldn’t be surprised if Samlia’s Eye is flexing some kind of Dimensional power to transition people between the first and third layers.”

“No, that’s definitely Divine,” said Xim. “But Divine can replicate aspects of most other schools. It just needs to be supported by a deity, so it’s limited by the nature of the god you’re calling upon.”

“Then it’s Divine emulating Dimensional,” I said. “Same thing.”

“It’s not,” said Xim.

“So if the wings are about traveling between realms,” said Etja, “then it could be Dimensional.”

Xim sighed and went with it.

“First passage Divine,” said Xim, “second passage Spiritual and Dimensional, third passage Physical and Mystical.”

“I still do not like it,” said Varrin. “It’s messy. There is no symmetry. Why is Divine on its own?”

“It stands above all others,” said Xim with a grin.

“Deijin is the power that unifies,” said Nuralie. “The other two need her to join.”

“Hey, I like that,” I said, looking at Nuralie. “The other two passages involve attunements that exclude the other. Spiritual can’t use skills that are Dimensional and vice versa. The same for Physical and Mystical.”

We spent another day pondering the issue and coming up with alternative theories. None of us wanted to risk choosing the wrong path, so we slept on it and took our time to work through the possibilities. A month had passed since we’d begun making it through the maze, so we weren’t eager to sit on the decision for too long.

We were living on rations alongside my Bag of Infinite Charcuterie. We had plenty to eat, but the lack of variety was getting old fast. We’d also started rationing our water, foregoing baths and relying on a gem that slowly cleaned its user over time. It was Xim’s, and it quickly earned her the nickname of Bathwarden. The plants that had dominated the entryway were no longer present in the maze, else we might have been able to pilfer the irrigation system to get potable water. Nuralie could also transmute other liquids into water but, like so many other skills, it was mana intensive and only went so far. Additionally, Xim and Varrin were reluctant to give up their reserves of wine and beer for Nuralie’s reverse-Jesus trick. Eventually, we agreed that the attunement theory was our best guess and decided to move forward.

Xim and Grotto went through the first door as they were both attuned to Divine.

Nuralie was Spiritual and went through the second door with me since I was Dimensional.

Shog and Varrin were both Physical, leading them through the third door along with Etja who was Mystical.

They were all secretly portals, of course.

When I emerged, I was on a long, narrow pathway that stretched off into the distance. It had the same extravagant decor of marble, gold, and jewels as the rest of the Delve, but there were no reliefs set into the walls. The lush plant life had returned, though, and the breathtaking view of the planet above was again visible. We were no longer looking up at Arzia but at the opposite side of the planet, which was besieged by a continent-spanning storm. I kept myself from getting distracted by my thoughts on the spectacle and turned back to evaluating my immediate surroundings.

There was a subtle curve to the path and it disappeared around a bend far off in the distance. There were still no obvious enemies or fauna of any kind, but I saw Nuralie when she stepped out of a shadow. She’d instinctively ducked into it after passing through the door.

Everyone else was nowhere to be found.

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