Chapter 190: Scorched by the waves
Daubutim followed a few minutes later, and Irwin was surprised at the light his eye provided in the previously dark room. He'd been seeing everything in the usual red and yellow dark vision he had, but as soon as Daubutim came, a pale red light flooded the room, causing shadows and darker patches.
Daubum's face warped to one of disgust as he sniffed.
"The air is bad," he whispered before Irwin could react. "We need to get out of here."
It's not that bad, is it? Irwin thought.
Daubutim coughed, then looked around, the light of his eye causing the area he looked at to light up. Hearing the roughness of Daubutim's breathing, Irwin walked towards the tunnel.
"Kid, you aren't going to be able to do any stealthy things until you can find a way to fix that," Ambraz whispered as they passed Daubutim.
The tunnel was tall enough that Irwin could barely touch the ceiling and filled with old, drapey cobwebs. There was a manmade wall at the end with a door comprising of a massive stone slab with rings at the waist height.
As he reached it, Irwin felt another shiver run through his feet. Either there’s another big thing chained to a wall, or there’s a battle going on out there, he thought as he felt his worry grow. What if they were too late and Degonda had been overrun?
"Open the door," Daubutim whispered from behind him, coughing again. "There's-" he coughed, unable to continue, and Irwin heard him stumble.
Looking back, he saw Daubutim leaning against the wall, blinking and breathing raggedly.
"Hold on," he said, turning and grabbing both rings, the rusty metal grinding against his palms.
He pulled, and it felt as if he was pulling on something immobile. A sudden fear that they were locked up and would have to run back to the portal made his adrenaline spike, and Irwin yanked on the rings with all his strength. There was a slight give this time, and he put his foot against the side wall, yanking again.