The Ruby Magician

Wyn waited just a second to see how the mushroom enemies would move. They charged the Climbers, running across the hall towards them. It would only be a few seconds before they met them at their speed.

Not only where they bigger, but they moved faster than before, too. He found himself both surprised and not surprised at the outcome, as this was the final floor after all. He was warned it would be harder, but it was still jarring to see them appear so much more formidable.

Wyn decided to act quickly in order to catch them off guard. He focused on the one in the middle, the one leading the charge who wielded a large axe. The weapon was easily as big as Wyn.

He decided to take two quick steps forward at the same time as it approached. He stabbed forward and up with his spear, aiming at the top of its chest, hoping to succeed in his plan to take it down fast. In a brief moment of panic he was afraid his mundane weapon wouldn't do any damage, afraid their outer layer was tougher, too.

Thankfully the monster had its axe held high wanting to strike down, and after being caught off guard stopped its attack in surprise. Wyn used his spear as a lever and aimed up and to his side, trying to use the monster’s momentum to his advantage and cast him off like throwing hay with a pitchfork.

By the gods, it worked.

With great difficulty he flung the mushroom off to his left, away from Marcy and Cedric. It was definitely heavier and tougher than before, but it was easier to stab and haul than a soldier in full combat gear. Even though his spear wasn’t magically coated, he noticed how the entire metal head of the weapon pierced the mushroom’s body, and he easily pulled the weapon out before stabbing its downed head in two quick successions.

He smiled, silently thanking his time on the farm for the maneuver. He certainly didn’t learn that in the military, nor would he want to use it there - he would've been stripped of his rank and laughed out of service. He could only imagine the verbal lashing he would get for trying something like that in battle.

The mushroom began to dissolve on the ground just as before, and Wyn was thankful it wasn’t too much harder than last time.

He turned, ready to face the others, before realizing there weren’t any others. He looked around the room and saw Marcy standing, her bow now relaxed with no arrow drawn.

Two piles of mushroom spores covered the floor not too far from where she stood, arrows poking out from both of them.

She downed them both before Wyn finished off his one. He didn’t know if he was completely focused on his own fight or if she was just that skilled. The twang of her bowstring and firing of her arrows never even crossed his ears.

Wyn nodded with his head, small but firm, reassuringly. She returned a similar nod before walking over to the piles of yellow spores and picking up her arrows. Wyn noticed she inspected them, twirling them in her fingers and bending them slightly, like the archers he had in his company.

One of the arrows she tossed to the ground, the rest she placed back in her quiver. Two were kept in her bow hand, a technique Wyn wasn’t familiar with.

“Now what?” Wyn asked.

Almost like the tower was answering him, a large pedestal grew out of the far corner of the room. It looked like the one beside the portal though it was slightly smaller. A stone bowl sat at the top, and it wasn't grey but completely yellow.

Cedric ran over to Wyn and picked up some of the mushroom spores without saying a word.

“Cedric? What are you doing?” Wyn looked around the room. He didn’t realize it before, but there were more pedestals, all different colors. Were they there before and he missed them? But wouldn’t Marcy or Cedric have mention them earlier?

Cedric, with a handful of yellow mushroom spores, then ran over to the newly risen pedestal and dumped the spores into it. The pedestal began to glow from the bottom up, like it was filling up with a magical, glowing substance.

Which is exactly what it was doing.

Soon, though, it stopped. It was only glowing about three quarters of the way up the pedestal. It stayed that way and didn't rise anymore as the spores had filled the pedestal only a portion of what it could completely hold.

“Bring more spores!” Cedric yelled. “And hurry!”

Wyn looked over at Marcy, who looked at him at the same time. There was only a brief pause before they each scooped up as much of the spores as they could. Marcy put away her arrows and slung her bow on her back in order to use two hands, and they both awkwardly trotted over to Cedric.

They lost some of the spores on the way over, but there was still plenty to add. They dumped it all, hoping it was enough.

The entire pedestal was now glowing, and one of the bars that blocked off the portal turned yellow and began to retract.

“It worked!” They all said in unison.

“I remembered!” Cedric said, his face beaming with pride despite their situation. “A new wave will come soon, but I’ll make sure to get the leftover spores unless I need to intervene!”

A mushroom shook right beside their head and red spores now began to fall.

They stepped back, drawing their weapons to attack and to give themselves some room.

“Get ready,” Cedric yelled.

Wyn looked across the room. More mushrooms had shaken all across the room, and now four more mushrooms began to rise.

Two were green, one was red, and another white.

Wyn quickly thought back earlier in the floor. The green mushrooms shouldn’t be too bad, but those two red mushrooms would be downright deadly. He had no idea what a white mushroom could do.

His spear began to quiver, but a few deep breaths steadied his hands.

Cedric stepped forward and raised his staff straight towards the ceiling. “Electric Bolt!”

A large rune appeared above Cedric’s staff, intricate patterns and swirls of magic confusing Wyn and disorienting him. It looked powerful just from the runic makeup alone.

The same magical missiles Wyn saw before streaked out of Cedric’s staff and arced their way towards the mushrooms. This time, however, the streaks of lightning were larger and faster, confirming Wyn’s guess this was a strong spell. The first one hit the red mushroom right beside them, and the impact burned a large hole in its chest. It stopped the red mushroom’s advance, which was an impressive feat as the monster was their height and size. Smoke plumed both from the creature’s head and the now-empty torso.

Before it could react too quickly Wyn took advantage of the moment and stepped over to it, slicing across its chest with his spear. It opened more of its body up, the lightning crackling through its armor and into its fire-like body. These were upgraded, too, having cap armor over their bodies at strategic locations for additional protection. Wyn attacked once more at the closest distance he could stand, hoping to fell it before it fought back or burned him again.

He was thankful he had his magical armor this time. He could barely feel the heat emanating from the monster, even now that it stood eye to eye. After his second slash, the mushroom fell back in a smoke puff, dissipating into ashes on the ground.

Wyn looked around the room and saw the other mushrooms similarly falling down, all except for the white mushroom. It was stocky and short but bulbous, looking like a clean blob of dough with a ridiculously large mushroom-cap head. It absorbed Cedric’s lightning attack and looked to be unscathed.

It was standing still, at least. It didn’t seem to want to attack them. It had strangely small, beady black eyes that didn’t seem to fit its larger body. It wasn’t looking at any of them in particular, just… staring at the cave wall.

Seeing the mushroom was unsettling. Wyn felt a shiver run across his spine. It was odd, and he didn't have any idea what else it could do, adding to its mystery.

“Don’t just stand there, Wyn,” Cedric said, “go take the spores!” He went over to the closest red mushroom and gathered it, then looked around the room for the colored pedestal. He began trotting towards the one colored red.

Wyn snapped out of his complacency. Cedric was right, they needed to be efficient and move fast.

He started towards the other mushrooms then paused. He saw Marcy hesitate, too. They stood about 30 feet from the piles of spores but that wasn’t what they were concerned about. The other mushrooms were fairly close to the white mushroom, and they were still unsure of its abilities.

“Let’s go, but be on guard,” Marcy said.

Wyn snickered. “Like you even have to say it.”

He held his spear at the ready and side stepped in an arc, hoping to keep some distance from the white monster while closing in towards the piles of spores they desperately needed. Marcy was doing the same on the other side. They both gave it a wide berth, hoping to keep their distance and avoid unnecessary fighting. Time didn’t seem to be as much of a concern anymore, but efficient mana usage and energy expenditure was critical.

The mushroom wasn’t focused on them, keeping its gaze in the same direction. It seemed more like a statue than an enemy and had yet to move an inch.

Marcy and Wyn met in seconds, quickly grabbing as much spores as they could carry while being cautious. They both grabbed a handful of green spores and looked around.

“Do you see the pedestal?” Wyn asked. He saw Cedric run to a far off corner and stop. The pedestal lit up red, a similar amount as the first one, and one of the bars began to glow red, too.

“There,” Marcy said, and began to run towards a different corner of the cave.

Wyn followed her, trusting her vision more than his. He couldn’t completely make out the colors and his focus was being pulled in several directions. His hope was that when the pedestals held at least some spores they’d light up, becoming easier to see within the sea of colors.

He ran over to it, though lost most of the spores along the way. Multiple curses left his mouth.

Marcy dumped her share into the bowl, able to carry more with two hands than Wyn. He quickly realized he had a decision to make. He could leave his spear and carry more spores, but he’d be without a weapon if something happened while he was transporting the material. If he took it, though, he limited his ability to carry more of the spores to add. Any second more mushrooms would form, and Wyn couldn’t think of a good alternative.

He decided to keep his spear for now in case he needed to defend himself. It was the cautious decision, believing he could always get more spores for another trip rather than being without a weapon.

Marcy followed him, quickly realizing they needed much more to fill the green pedestal as their current haul wasn’t even half of the amount required.

“I might have to be the one to do this,” she said, speaking between huffs. “You can’t carry very much!”

“I know, but I don’t want to leave my weapon behind!”

They made it back to the piles and grabbed more, still eyeing the white mushroom. It continued to stay still, facing the same direction it was before.

Where were the next set of mushrooms? Surely, Wyn thought, they would’ve come by now.

Both Climbers took their new share of spores back to the green pedestal and poured it. It filled nearly full but stopped. The bar in front of the portal was still closed off.

“Damnit, we still need more,” Wyn said. He set his spear against the pedestal this time, opting to be more efficient with gathering the spores. He could easily grab more with two hands to scoop and decided to take the risk this time, mushrooms be damned.

Without another thought he started back towards the pile again, nearly in a sprint now. When he got there, he realized the green pile was duller than before. Where it previously was a bright green it was now nearly grey, the color draining from the pile.

The magical aura dissipated from the spores, and it looked like a pile of grey sand.

Wyn looked at Marcy, confused as to what was happening.

"It's a different color,” Wyn said. “Think it'll still work?"

She sighed. "No, I don't think so. Looks like we have a limited window of time."

Wyn cursed again. He had made two wrong decisions back to back, and they missed out on completing part of the puzzle due to his mistakes. This process wasn’t nearly as easy as he thought it would be.

Cedric had moved to the portal, inspecting the door. "We’re doing well so far!" He yelled. "We just need to keep getting the spores!"

"We need to be fast, too!" Marcy yelled back. She held up a handful of the spores and let it pour out onto the floor. "It won't be good after a minute or so!"

Cedric moved towards the other pedestals without a response. "Here is the blue one. And here's an orange one!" He was moving along the room quickly, pointing out the various locations for Marcy and Wyn to note.

Wyn saw more mushrooms shake and release their spores. Marcy drew another arrow, readying herself. Wyn stood in the middle of the cave without his weapon, the exact situation he wanted to avoid. He immediately ran to the green pedestal to grab it.

He looked around the room to see where the mushrooms would be growing but there weren’t any obvious signs yet. Cedric was standing beside him now, staff at the ready, while Marcy stood in the middle of the floor.

"I don't like that mushroom," Cedric said. He used his staff to point to the white mushroom not far from Marcy. "I have a bad feeling about it and I can’t remember what they do."

It was facing Wyn and Cedric, now. It was still expressionless and not moving its body, but it wasn't facing the same direction as before.

"Strange," Wyn said out loud. "It turned."

"That’s part of why I don't like it. But new plan - let me and Marcy kill the enemies and you get the spores."

"What? Why?"

The mushrooms were forming, scattered all across the room. There were multiple colors again, and Wyn thought it looked like a deadly and perverse rainbow. There were more of them, too, nearly ten by Wyn’s estimation.

"Because we can kill them quicker and from further away. I have enough mana for one more wave, so this needs to be it. Just be fast! We'll help when we can!" He raised his staff again and pointed it at the closest mushroom. It was a mere 15 feet away, glowing orange and growing fast. Like the last wave of enemies this one was slightly bigger than the orange one they fought earlier in the caves. Wyn knew it would be seconds before it reached its full height and closed the distance between them.

A large rune formed in front of Cedric's staff followed by a ball of crackling lightning the size of his head. It flew towards the mushroom like the speed of an arrow, quick and precise.

It smacked into the chest armor of the mushroom, dispersing into webs of crackling energy that seared the mushroom all over its body. It immediately roasted into plant ash.

Wyn felt the hairs on his arm raise and his skin tingle from the lightning attack. Thankfully his magical shield armor still shrouded him, and he shuddered thinking about the effects of being so close to a spell like that without it.

Cedric took his staff and pointed it at another mushroom, casting the same spell again. It hit its mark a second time, and again the enemy was reduced to mushroom spores. Wyn couldn’t help but marvel at Cedric’s magic. War was one thing, smashing into each other with swords and shields and arrows flying like a flock of birds. But this? This was an entirely separate beast, and it was difficult to not be awestruck at the power of magic.

He snapped out of his wonder when he saw Marcy shoot a magical arrow like earlier, nearly exploding a mushroom on the far end of the room. The sound crackled and popped loudly, shaking him from his lost focus.

He realized Marcy and Cedric were more than holding their own. They were basically playing with the plant monsters, conserving their resources but still easily dealing with the situation. If this kept going, though, they’d be out of mana and in a dire spot.

Wyn left his spear beside the green pedestal and ran over to the orange spores that Cedric first annihilated. He began to pull the spores on the ground together into a pile and tried scooping it up, disappointed at how little his cupped hands could hold.

He took a deep breath to think. Rushing himself was only causing mistakes, and he needed to jump ahead of the situation rather than react after the fact.

An idea entered his mind.

He dropped the spores back to the pile. He nearly forgot about the Magician hat Daniel gave him, as it was surprisingly a good fit on his head - but now he needed it for a specific reason. He put it on the ground and began shoving spores inside it to use as a makeshift bowl.

He remembered where the orange pedestal was, and locked in on it. It was on the other side of the room between two corners at the left of the portal and right of the entrance. Unfortunately there was chaos separating him from the pedestal, but he was determined to be useful and this was his designated role at the moment.

His magical aura flickered and dulled slightly. A soft curse left his lips. Did he cast his armor spell too soon? Doubt tried to cloud his mind but he forced those thoughts away. He needed confidence and focus now.

Carrying his spore-filled hat as though his life depended on it, he rushed across the room without another moment of hesitation.

More than just his own life rested in the balance. This wasn’t the first time that was true, and Wyn wanted to be sure this time he'd succeed.