Mantle of the Gods

The room was dark.

“Is it supposed to be like this?” Aelin bumped into me.

“Let’s not move so we don’t accidentally stab someone.” The ground felt strange to me. I knelt down and felt loose dirt. It was dry and dusty, and less than a knuckle length down, it felt like solid rock.

“What’s going on?” Aelin’s voice shook. "Atlas?”

“I don’t know.” I shook my head, then realized that they couldn’t see me. "I've never been in a boss room before.”

“Never?” Aelin repeated. "But you’re a Porter.”

“It’s not very cost-effective to farm a boss.” I began feeling around on the ground. "There is almost always a drop, but the time it takes to beat usually doesn't make up for what the items are worth.”

“The room is pretty big.” I heard Ether further away from me than what she should have been. "You can tell by the echo.”

“Aren’t we supposed to be staying together?” Justia’s voice also sounded further away.

I grabbed Aelin’s leg. She squealed and slashed at me with the dagger. It grazed me just barely worse than a paper cut.

“Aelin it’s just me.” I pulled back my arm and brought it up to my mouth as I stood up.

“What’s going on?” Justia’s voice had a slight echo to it.

“I surprised Aelin and she cut me.” I scowled then realized no one could see me.

“Minor Heal Wounds!”

My body began to glow for a second while I was healed. In that brief time, I could see that we were in a pretty large stone cave. I’d been worried about falling into a hole, but I hadn’t seen any.

“I’m going to try looking around!” I felt Aelin grab on to me.

“Don’t leave!” The blonde begged.

“What if you run into the boss?” Ether yelled.

“I’m probably the one best equipped to survive until we can figure out where the lights are.” I yelled back.

“Do you want me to heal you again?” Justia sounded unsure of herself.

“We can run out of magic.” I reminded them. "Remember what Trent told us on the first day.”

“So what are we supposed to do?” Aelin whispered.

“I think if talking was going to attract the boss, then all the yelling we’ve been doing would have done it by now.” I tried not to think about how having her on my arm was going to make it harder for me to get away. I was glad it was dark, so she didn’t see me smirking at how she was making something harder for me.

“I think I have an idea.” Ether called out.

“What is it?” I tried looking in the direction it sounded like her voice was coming from.

“Have you ever heard of a boss fight in the dark?”

“What, do you think the Yellow team has already beat the boss and it’s like this because it hasn’t respawned?” I stopped when I realized that probably wasn’t what Ether had been talking about.

“That’s a possibility, but not what I was thinking.” Ether’s voice sounded even further away.

“Ether, don’t do it.” I wanted to run, but I really had no idea what direction she was in.

“LOOK AT ME!”

Nothing happened.

I let out a tense breath that I’d been holding, then the lights came on.

It looked like we were in a sandstone cave. Plugs that were made from sand started falling from the ceiling, letting in light, but also covering the whole room in a layer of dust. I looked across the room that was the size of a stadium where Ether was standing all by herself.

Out of the dust behind her began to rise a huge shadow.

Ether had aggroed the boss.