There was still one more path to check in the... Sanctuary, I decided to call it. I looked over and spied a somewhat thin hallway that spanned around fifty feet before terminating in a patch of fallen debris. It was so destroyed that I had no idea at this distance whether it was originally a dead end or the hallway went further. I headed into the hallway, noting that there was another doorway on my right with an actual door, and near the collapse on the left was a second one. A quick peek showed stairs leading down, quickly becoming too dark to see well this far from the light. I'd have to fashion some sort of light to try it, or just take time and let my eyes adjust. Before going into either passage, however, it was time to look at the rockfall.
"Completely filled in," I mused. No light filtered through what was definitely rubble. No way to tell if there was any space behind it, and it looked sturdily stuck. I reached out for a moment but stopped myself as I looked up. Though it seemed like it wasn't moving, the ceiling above was collapsed in and a long, thin crack was crawling along the ceiling from it. "Better to not try to mess with it and bring the ceiling down further." Not only would it be dangerous, but it would also have the possibility of locking me out of the stairwell. Stepping back, I turned towards the doorway with the actual door. With a moment of trepidation, I tried the circular handle, hoping it still worked.
To my surprise, it did in fact work. With very little resistance, the door swept inwards, blasting me with a shock of cold air. "Holy shit," I breathed, looking into the room and rubbing my arms in the suddenly chilly air. Beyond the entry was a decent-sized squarish room that glowed a dull blue, letting me see what was inside but somewhat hurt the eyes. However, in the middle of the room, a large crystal was embedded into the floor asymmetrically. Instead of the calm grace of the one in the Stats room, this one seemed much more... utilitarian. A purple hexagonal prism was simply sticking out of the stone floor, slightly glowing, with a fancy-looking metal plate on top that was embedded into it. Without a doubt, though, given the fact that I could see her breath just standing in the way in, I had found a freezer.
Crates lined the walls on all sides, with shelving units in the back. Without hesitation, I padded over to one, noting the deep cold emitted by the crystal the closer she got. This place had to be well insulated. Lifting up the lid of a crate, I looked inside. Within were burlap sacks of something bumpy. Vegetables? With a bit of searching, I found the top of one.
"Potatoes. Fucking potatoes." At least it was familiar, and simple to deal with. Feeling the cold seeping in, I switched to the crate next to it. After opening it, more bags met her eyes. "Oh, no." a quick investigation revealed... more potatoes. Increasingly frustrated, I began to slam open each crate and bag and found potatoes, potatoes, potatoes, potatoes, and one crate full of carrots. "I suppose I should be grateful that there was SOMETHING other than the spuds. I guess they're versatile. I can boil them, mash them..." I trailed off. "I suppose I can't stew them without more ingredients." I hoped there were other places to get vittles, or at least different types. Potatoes would get old quick. Not to mention, of course, the lack of other nutrients. It would do for calories but long-term it'd be bad for my health.
"Long term?" How long was I thinking I'd be here? I didn't even know what it meant to 'conquer' this place. Would it take hours? Days? Months? I needed to finish my investigations before making any assumptions. Grabbing one of the sacks, I exited the freezer and headed back to the Sanctuary. "No monsters can get in? Wonder if that extends to animals," I mused, placing the sack on top of one of the pews. Hopefully that would be safe there and not attract scavengers as they thawed. "Alright, last place, so far at least." Last place here, I mentally amended. The temple was much larger, but this was a secure position I felt comfortable settling into.
The stairs once again were in front of me, and I bit the top of my lip. I padded downward, looking at the other side as it switched back not unlike a modern building's main stairwell. I traversed what felt like a floor and a half, getting darker the whole way. I slowed down to let my eyes adjust as well as they could, and felt along with stone bannister. There, at a landing, was another doorway, this with its own wooden door that looked much lighter, more like an internal door. I waited a couple minutes, blinking, allowing my eyes to continue building up dark vision. Once I felt I could confidently make out shapes and such decently, I reached out and pushed open the door.
"Ah!" I cringed back as the door opened to a bright room beyond. Flashes pierced my vision as I held my eyes shut, overwhelmed by the sudden influx of light. Taking a moment to adjust my vision yet again, I stepped into the room beyond. It was a simple chamber - along one side of the wall there was something that looked like a coat hanger, and on the other, there was some sort of indentation that I couldn't determine the use for. However, these were not the things that dominated my attention. No, on the far end of the room was a portal. Not just in the sense of the word of it being a doorway, there was clearly some sort of portal. Swirling with blues and greens and reds and yellows, all muted and dark, there was what was very obviously something magical, a portal, I assumed.
"No skeletons in my closet, but portals in my basement." Amused with myself, I picked up a small pebble near me and tossed it at the thing. It hit against the thing and bounced backwards, clattering across the ground. Maybe it wasn't a portal, but a wall? I narrowed my eyes and squatted in thought, noting with delight that I did so without any of my normal aches and pains. There were benefits I was yet to discover, I supposed, of this situation. I wondered if I looked very different. Holding my hair, I saw it was the same brown color, and about the length I normally kept it, just past my shoulders. "Hm." Not the time.
If it was some sort of barrier, I'd have to test what it would do. The pebble hadn't bounced off violently, so maybe it was a passive wall? Approaching it, there was definitely some sort of feeling washing off of it. "It's worked so far," I said, reaching out to touch the phenomenon.
The room was darker, and danker. It was a different room. "Shit," I breathed, immediately getting my bearings. "Definitely portal. Fuck. Stupid. Dumb." Rather than the almost sterile white of the temple, this place was grimy and broken down. The stone of the walls here was covered in some sort of gunk haphazardly, and the floor was crumbling in places. There was only one exit from the chamber, and adrenaline began to course through me. I could put two and two together. This had to be the aforementioned 'Labyrinth.' How could I get out? What had to be done? Stop. "Stop. Don't spiral."
I took a deep breath, and took stock. I have a parry skill for defense and a mana bolt spell for offense. There's also my fists, feet, and teeth, but those were likely pathetic in comparison. I'd had no time to practice with these things, but it was what it was. No use crying over spilled milk. "Fuck." Still didn't help my mood. I'd fucked up immediately. Breathing deeply, I focused myself, and began to creep forward. If this was some sort of 'labyrinth,' it had to follow rules. There had to be a way out. There had to be a way to conquer it. It would be dangerous. Maybe there would be goodies to find? Traps? I hated being out of the loop and unprepared.
"Nothing to do but do it." Platitudes might be getting old already, but they helped focus me. I moved forward, slowly opening the door, revealing a hallway beyond. It was almost disappointing how stereotypical it was, but also, in a way, affirming that maybe I'd have a chance here. Moving forward, there was a dense quiet that permeated the space. Every step, while echoing, was somehow also muted. Before long, I came to a crossroads. Thankfully, there were lots of rocks loosely scattered about on the ground. Picking one up, I used it to scrape a symbol into the nearby wall pointing backwards, making sure if I came back here, I'd know which was was which.
Probably.
Right side first. I turned the corner and immediately saw a caved in hallway going that way.
"Okay." Middle first. Heading straight, I continued to think on my choices. Should I try my mana bolt right now? See what it was like? Clearly with my Mana stat, the resource was limited. The question of how fast it came back, how much the spell cost, how much that was in comparison to my maximum, how effective it was, how -
The questions would have to be answered, fast. While I was deep in thought, I almost missed the object whizzing by my head. "Fuck!" I yelled, flinching away. Ahead, a small, shambling, somewhat humanoid creature was creaking towards me. It had to have been motionless before, because every step it took had a loud 'clunk' on the rocky floor. It stood higher and higher as one of its limbs reached over to its back, where it looked like a huge tumor of bones was placed, and pried one off. In a smooth motion, it threw another bony missile at me.
Springing into action, I moved to the opposite side of the hallway, letting the bone clatter off harmlessly behind me. It wasn't very accurate, a fact for which I was very thankful. Crouching a bit, I held my hand out, and realized I had no idea how to use this skill.
"Mana Bolt?" I said, almost a question, to the open air. After a moment, without a reaction, I was about to give up, but within a moment I felt some sort of power welling up inside of me. A warmth spread from my gut, up my arm, and spread to my fingertips, and I reflexively pointed at the creature with two fingers like a child pretending their hand was a gun. A vast amount of pressure gathered around them, almost like they were being grabbed by an invisible hand, before a visual reaction appeared. Within half a second, a dull pink light appeared at the fingertips and propelled itself towards the bony creature.
Unfortunately, it missed, going over the thing's head. I would need to aim, but now that I had the feeling, I was more confident in my ability to do so. "Alright, after the next bone..."
Unfortunately, I was caught off guard again. In a quick motion that was uncharacteristic for its appearance, the creature reached back with two limbs and flung the bones at her, in slightly different directions. I dove to the side, but only managed to dodge one of them. "Fuck!" I cried out as my lower left leg was struck by a hefty bone. That would bruise, and the force of the blow caused me to lose my footing. I crumpled to the floor, but raised my hand up once more, using the prone position to steady my hand.
"Mana Bolt," I said with finality this time. The sensation whirred up again, the pink glow flared, and once again it shot off. This time, though, it was more accurate. The little ball of energy slammed into the bony creature's center and it staggered back, almost losing its footing.
Was it not going to tell me what the fuck it was? What the hell? It just appeared at the edge of my vision and stuck around momentarily, as I staggered to my feet. I winced as I put weight on my injured leg. I couldn't afford to slow down though, not with the creature regaining its own balance. I let out a grumble. Did distance reduce my effectiveness? Feeling it a second time, the pressure from the Bolt seemed like it should have been more effective. It was another gamble. Stay far away and waste my mana? Still no idea how many of them I had left. Closer was more dangerous, but it might make things more effective. "Shit in a biscuit," I cursed. Dodging a bone flung at me again, I made my decision. I had my defensive skill. It was worth finding out more about both of my options.
I sprinted forward while keeping low, and making sure my arm was ready to aim another mana bolt if required. Closer meant danger -the creature did the double bone thing again. Rather than try to dodge poorly, I put myself in the path of one of them and put my hand in a fist. "Parry!" I yelled, hoping the skill would activate. Surprisingly, it did, and I felt my arm move in a way I didn't expect as it reached out to strike the bone out of the air. I'd timed it well, thankfully. My fist made contact with the bone and it clattered against the wall, but unfortunately not harmlessly. I flinched as my fingers felt pain from the impact. It clearly had helped me defend, and it probably would have been much worse without it, but the Parry skill definitely didn't prevent damage entirely.
Now, with my left hand and left leg throbbing with pain, I had to focus more than ever. "Mana Bolt!" I was heartened as this bolt seemed to have a greater effect with the proximity, knocking the creature off of its feet. The thought crossed my mind of how to kill this thing. It was made of bone, not flesh, so there was no heart or anything. Behead it? First thing to try.
It seemed to have trouble getting back on its feet with the big bundle of bones on its back, its balance very lopsided. Taking advantage, I closed the last of the distance and put my hand right next to the thing's head. I had to be fast. It began to turn towards me, strange mouth widening, but I was already in action. "Mana Bolt." With a crack, the energy slammed into the skull, knocking it completely off of the spine of the creature. With absolutely no aplomb, it collapsed to the ground in a heap, whatever force keeping the bones together suddenly becoming undone. I waited a moment, checking to see if it would move again, but it didn't. Breathing a sigh of relief, I slumped slightly.
"Fuck you," I whined, as the notification gave no extra information and disappeared in a few seconds. I stood up fully. With the immediate danger gone, however, there was nothing stopping her brain from registering the pain. "Fuck me!" I cried as the pain in my leg suddenly hit me fully. I went to one knee, massaging the area with my good hand. "If this little fucker took that much out of me, I dunno how much I can take here." Deciding to investigate the creature closer, I moved myself into a sitting position. I grabbed the skull that I had knocked off with my spell. It was vaguely humanoid, enough to clearly evoke the idea of a human, but the proportions were wrong. the teeth were too large, the eye sockets too small, and the rear end of the skull swept backwards in an uncomfortable manner. I had no idea what manner of creature had this as a skull, and I wasn't sure whether I should be glad or disappointed that I only met its animated skeleton.
Still, it was good information to have. This strange bone creature had been animated by magic, but its skull was still its main weak point. Of course, that might be a trap, and it might lull me into a false sense of security. "I suppose I shouldn't consider them dead until they stop and stay stopped," I muttered, once again getting to my feet, albeit far more gingerly. Examining more of the pile of bones wouldn't help any, I was just delaying having to stand the pain of moving around again. I gritted my teeth as I leaned against the wall to reduce the strain on my bruised leg. It should be fine - "walk it off" as I would often have heard dad say - but no reason to aggravate it when there could easily be more danger along the way.
The path continued forward, and I moved at a much more determined pace, keeping my senses wide and at the ready. There was no telling where more monsters were, and I could muse on possibilities later. What mattered now was finding an exit and returning to safety. There was a moment where I was hit with the disorienting facts that she'd died, met a magical being, come to another world, gained access to magic, and fought a skeleton, all within a few hours, but I dismissed them to the back of my mind. "Trauma later. Survival now." Maybe it was unhealthy, but unhealthy was better than dead.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I wouldn't be allowed to simply move forward without a thought. I came to a doorway that seemed a little more ornate than the others, and upon carefully opening it, it showed a simple closet with a treasure chest sitting on the ground.
"Seriously?"
I narrowed my eyes at it. Ridiculously video-gamey, stereotypical, absurd. Just a treasure chest? In a labyrinth? "When in Rome... or Greece, I guess." But how to tell if it was a mimic? I had no weapons, limited mana... I blinked, and realized I had something after all. I'd arrived in this place pretty suddenly, and my clothes had been so unremarkable that I didn't even really pay any attention to them yet, but now was the time. A simple, fairly tight white short-sleeve tunic was on my torso, preserving my modesty in tandem with what looked to be some sort of primitive bra-binding thing. Without modern sizing or a measuring tape, it was hard to be sure, but my bust seemed unchanged. I wasn't sure whether I was happy or sad that my changes seemed mostly in line with just being a bit younger so far, but beggars can't be choosers. My pants were similarly plain, a brown affair that was tighter up high but looser down towards my feet. I could feel underwear of some sort, and upon investigation, they seemed like some sort of loose medieval boxers more than anything I'd find in a ladies section in a modern store. I supposed that was nothing to complain about - there were no people here to appreciate a good eyeful, so utility was the only concern. None of this, however, was the main course.
Instead, I focused on the boots I wore. Sturdy things, the leather they were made of was tough but flexible. They were clearly built to be entirely utilitarian, and that suited me fine at the moment. What I was looking for were the hard soles on the bottom. I pulled one off, revealing a plain looking brown sock underneath. Stepping back, I flung the boot at the chest, half expecting it to grab at the shoe and come kill me. It hit hard against the offending object, bouncing off with a solid 'thunk.' But no such threat presented itself, and in a moment, I pulled the boot back onto my foot, feeling slightly silly.
Silly was better than dead.
Still, it meant this treasure chest, perhaps the size of a medium foot locker, likely had something I might be able to use. Unable to hide a giddy grin even in the dark and dangerous labyrinth and injuries throbbing, I grasped the lid and opened it like a child on Christmas morning.