Arthur was third out of the elevator as they spilled into the room that held the corrupted grove.
Trees grew in familiar lines, but that was where the similarities ended. Their bark was gray, with purple and green vines that hung from decaying branches. Coins littered the ground, some buried in piles of dirt or crumbling vines. A smell of rot filled the air, and each step felt vaguely squishy.
Through the rows, he could see a lake similar to the one his water elementals swam in. A simple look made his nose wrinkle. Green pond scum covered the surfaces, with insects buzzing over it to create an ominous droning sound. Once or twice, he saw an imp dive to the surface. They scooped up a toad and bit it in half.
Beside him, he heard George retch.
Imps moved around the treetops, most lazing about while others collected coins. Each held a sack that bulged with coins. Greed filled him at the sight, but he tempered it down with the knowledge they were fakes.
“Let’s head further in, the middle row, towards the lake,” he whispered. “We’re looking for a patch of weird-looking grass. Mine was gold, but I don’t know if it’ll be the same here.”
George nodded and stuck close, the box holding the elementals gripped tightly in his hand. Arthur resisted the urge to lay a hand on the top. His desire to reach out to the gold they’d packed in with the small constructs was almost overwhelming.
He hated the idea that he needed to give it up. All he wanted to do was snatch the box and hold it close. Instead, he gripped his cane. That would have to do. None of the imps so much as looked at them as they passed between the trees. Their attention was on their work.
That made him nervous.
Someone, or something, should try to stop them, he was sure. He glanced around at his small group. Jemima, Augustus, and Leo walked together. Benny trailed behind them with The Hero at his side.
Arthur hoped the man was okay. The last bits he’d seen up there were nothing pleasant. More than a few people wouldn’t be getting up when this was done. That hurt him briefly until the heat burned it away.
They made their choice when they sided with his enemies. As harsh as it was, he couldn’t focus on that right now. He let his tongue trace over his teeth as they stepped around trees.
“When this is over, we can relax. More homes, more opportunities. We can make this city into something proper. I might even get to open my bookstore.” The Hero interrupted his thoughts by jogging up beside him.
“Arthur.” They sounded worried.
“Yes?” he asked.
“We should have reached that putrid lake by now.”
Arthur paused, as did the rest of the group, as they looked around. He knew The Hero was right quickly. They should have reached the lake by now, but they hadn’t. It still sat at almost the same distance as before. He frowned and turned around. The Elevator doors sat open just behind them.
“Crap!” He swore as he watched the lake.
Before his eyes, an Imp flew down and bit a toad in half. Others flew about, lazing while they collected coins. The stench in his nose hadn’t so much as changed. He turned and headed along the outside; the group following him.
He walked for what felt like five minutes before he turned around. Once again, the elevator was right behind him. Another direction, and the same thing. He stopped, anger rising as he looked around. With a grunt, he smacked his cane into the dirt at his feet. A cloud of dust billowed up, and he saw the mark.
So it wasn’t that the room they were in was false.
“Why can’t we progress, then?” Arthur thought as he looked back at his group.
No one looked more aware of what was happening than he did. When he locked eyes with The Hero, the man shrugged.
“I don’t know; usually I get The Explorer to help with this sort of thing.”
“Of course you do,” Arthur said with a sigh.
“Ok, calm down and think about what you have to work with.”
That didn’t amount to much, mostly the clothes he had on his back. Jemima and George both had ranged weapons, but that wouldn’t solve his issue here. No, he needed some way to get through whatever this was. They had to find where the demons buried their treasure, so they could dig there.
Arthur paused and then moved over to George. He pulled off the sheet and opened the box. The elementals huddled together, each shaking in terror amongst his gold. One of the earth elementals was hiding in a chalice.
With care, he reached in and picked up a water elemental. Droplets of water hit his face as the creatures struggled to get free. Before he tried to calm it down, he made sure George closed the box back up.
“Hey,” Arthur said, trying his best to sound soothing. “Hey, it’s ok. I need your help."
The elemental calmed down as it looked at him. He nodded to it and pointed out the corrupted orchard.
“We need to fix this. Bring the magic back. Your magic. However, there is something stopping us from finding where we need to dig the hole. Can you help us?” His voice was low and as gentle as he could make it.
Around him, he heard the shuffling of feet before the little water elemental took to the skies. He watched it sniff at the air before it started forward a few paces and then stopped. It hovered, looking back at him.
Arthur nodded to it and gestured for the rest as he followed its winding path around the trees.
***
The path that the water elemental took them on was confusing and bizarre.
Multiple times Arthur was sure they’d doubled back, and once they circled the same tree three times. As they did, the imps in the air no longer ignored them. No, now they were under constant attack.
A blue-skinned imp dive-bombed them, whipping a vine over its head. While it didn’t look like much, a welt on Arthur’s arm told a different story. Electricity flashed through the air as Benny used George’s gun to shoot the creature from the air.
Everyone paused for Arthur to collect the creatures’ corpses. He didn’t want to waste any chances at getting more cores if he could help it. Ahead of them, the water elemental squeaked in what sounded like outrage. It wasn’t difficult to see why.
They’d reach the lake. Toads croaked from the water as pond scum moved about from something unseen.
Jemima shook her head. “I vote we go around it.”
“I’m not sure if we can,” Arthur said as he watched the water elemental approach the edge of the lake.
Before it could touch the water, a sizable monstrous fish jumped from the water. The water elemental squeaked and flew upward, barely getting away. Arthur winced at the splash as the creature returned to the water.
“Nope,” George said. “That’s not okay.”
“Agreed, um, yeah,” Benny said, his sentence ending in a whimper.
Arthur glanced over to The Hero, who was holding his sword. Purple blood dripped from its body, a sure sign of the imps that had fallen to it. His eyes scanned the surface of the lake before he pointed.
“There is a way over; look.”
It took a minute to see what he meant, but when he did, Arthur groaned. “You have to be kidding me.”
Lilly pads, just big enough to support a single foot, sat on the surface of the lake. With a closer look, he could see they were artificial. What light there was in the room was reflecting off them oddly.
Augustus squeaked before he pointed at himself and then Jemima; after a moment, he included Leo in that number as well.
“I have no idea if it’ll hold you,” Arthur said as the water elemental floated about near the lakeside.
Another squeak and Augustus gestured around.
“We can’t, not unless you want to try all this again?”
That earned him a sigh from Jemima, who looked like she was about to regret ever speaking up. “I’ll go. At least my mutation is aquatic. Worse comes to worst, I can swim.”
“Alright.” Arthur nodded. “I’ll come after you. Hero, can you take up the rear?”
“Sure.”
With that decision, they started. To his relief, Jemima seemed to have no issue getting across the lily pads. The water elemental sat on her shoulder as she jumped across. She even called out that they weren’t slippery. Which felt odd to Arthur.
Still, he went next, as he’d promised. He found it easier to go quickly, not wanting to balance on one foot for too long. Around him, he noticed the pond scum shift and occasionally glimpsed a silver fin. They weren’t sharks, but he doubted the fish would do anything good.
Jemima reached the halfway point when a splash following a cry made them pause. It took an effort to pause and get himself in a position where he could turn around. Benny was struggling to grab back onto a platform.
Leo was leaning precariously forward as he tried to pull the man out. Augustus hissed, slapping at the water with his bat as though warning the fish again. Not that it was helping. Even from where he stood, Arthur could see red.
Benny screamed again and jerked backward. Two imps fluttered overhead, carrying a thick branch between them. They were laughing. Arthur heard a gunshot from Jemima, but it was too late. He could do nothing but watch as the branch fell, aiming for Benny’s head.
Then it changed direction.
The Hero let out an oof as he fell off his platform. As soon as he hit the water, whatever was tugging on Benny stopped. Ripples shifted, and then it was The Hero who screamed. Augustus tried to grab him, but the man pushed him away.
“Go!” he screamed. “Get to the gold.”
Those were his last words before the fish pulled him under.
Arthur didn’t wait to watch as Leo got Benny to safety. Instead, he motioned for Jemima to keep going. She did, and he followed her, now being extra careful with each step. The water elemental squeaked as they finally reached the other side.
He reached up to pet it as he watched the others reach them. Benny stood next to Leo, shivering and dripping. George’s gun wasn’t with him. Which, Arthur reflected, was probably a good thing. If the man had panicked and fired it into the lake, who knew what the consequences could have been?
As they waited for Augustus to come ashore, Jemima took aim at an imp coming towards them. The demon stuck out its tongue but backed off. Others followed suit; they still spoke in that strange tongue, but none dared approach.
“Are you ready to keep going?” He asked the elemental, who squeaked in reply.
His locket burned as he followed the small elemental for a short while longer. More imps started to cluster until a swarm of twelve hung overhead. He could hear their random noises blurring into words.
“Failure.”
“Loser.”
“Murderer.”
“Pawn.”
He ignored them, happy enough to keep moving. That was when he saw their destination ahead. It was a circle, but not a solid gold one like his own. This one was purple and had a single ring with lines connecting it to the center. A pentagram painted on the grass.
Inside was the smoke cloud he’d seen in the boardroom. It fluctuated as a round of applause emanated from it.
“Well, Arthur. Congratulations. Now then, I think it’s time we stop this farce.”
“Or what?” Arthur growled as he stepped closer, brandishing his cane. “Going to send another pawn for me to dispatch?”
The smoke cloud chuckled, its red eyes glowing on the outside. As he watched, it changed shape. He could hear the gasps of surprise from behind him, punctuated by Jemima letting out a short exclamation.
“Well, fuck.”
Arthur found he couldn’t disagree with the sentiment. What was once a pillar of smoke now stood a masculine dark purple-scaled dragon. He reminded Arthur of the goddess as he grinned at him. Sharp teeth flashing as it ran a hand down its fine suit that did little to hide his physique.
Two large wings, more bat-shaped than what he’d typically associate with a dragon, snapped shut.
In one hand, he flicked a coin each time, showing it came up heads.
“D-D-Dragon!” Benny cried out behind him.
The dragon in question chuckled. “Yes, unlike your half-formed pawn of a boss. Now, be silent. The ones in charge need to speak. There is trade to be done.”
“You can’t—” Jemima started when the dragon roared.
“I SAID SILENCE!”
Arthur held up a hand and nodded. “Please, if you would let me handle this?”
His locket was almost glowing from the heat as he approached the pentagram, refusing to move within an arm’s reach.
“Alright then,” he said as he looked at the dragon. “Let’s deal.”187Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡujNKBVYx2I
