Aetherios System: Whirlwind

Chapter 42: Fetch

“Everyone over here,” Alex called.

The squad clustered around the table, heads craning in to see. The plaque’s surface gleamed faintly in the filtered garden light, every line and etching distinct even under years of grime.

Peter let out a low whistle. “That’s… yeah, that’s the whole place. Courtyards and hedges, and they even show the pathways, so it’s a maze.”

“Maze,” Garret repeated flatly. “Great. Just what I wanted. To get lost in a leafy hell forever.”

“Shut up,” Allie muttered as she leaned in closer. She tapped one of the etched symbols on the plaque. It was a tiny, diamond-like gem cut into the metal. “What about these? There’s more than one.”

Alex followed her finger as she traced the many symbols. There looked to be seven of them scattered across the map at different points in the maze. Gem-shaped marks, but they were all somewhat unique, each one slightly varied.

“Treasure, loot?” Lance asked hopefully.

Eric shook his head. “The System doesn’t hand out freebies like that. But, if it marked them, it wants us to go to them.”

“Objectives then,” Holly said softly. “Seven of them.”

Peter clicked his tongue disapprovingly and frowned down at the etching. “Could be trial markers. Maybe the dungeon wants us to activate these, same as the statues back in the tundra.”

“That would track,” Alex admitted as his eyes scanned the picture of the maze. From what he could see, the paths twisted and spiraled in maddening ways, almost as if it was intentionally disorienting. A shocker, that.

The gems were spaced widely apart, leaving no direct line between them. They’d have to make choices to take turns, or possibly backtrack a lot while collecting them in a group. “Seven points of interest. Seven tasks.”

Peter’s brow furrowed as he looked at the plaque. “But why gems? Doesn’t really fit the garden theme.”

“Could just be how the System marks them. Or maybe we’re supposed to collect something.” Allie said.

“Or destroy something, I wouldn’t mind smashing a few overgrown weeds with magic crystals stuck in ‘em.” Garret offered with a grin.

Alex straightened and rubbed his chin. The plaque didn’t give any more details, there was no text or hint beyond the layout and the symbols. Just a maze, and the promise of seven unknowns. Which in System terms meant seven ways to bleed and die in painful ways.

“Doesn’t matter what they are yet. What matters is getting to them. So I say we pick a path, we follow it, and we see what the dungeon throws at us.” He finally came to a conclusion, though it was less of a plan, and more a general vibe.

The team shifted uneasily at his words, many eyes lingering on the twisting map. They lingered around the plaque longer than Alex liked. “We split up,” he added. “That way, we cover more ground. And we could finish faster.”

“Absolutely not,” Allie shot back. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Peter nodded quickly. “She’s right. This is a dungeon maze. Splitting up means losing communication, getting isolated, and then picked off one by one.”

“Divide and conquer,” Eric agreed. “For the dungeon, not for us.”

Alex frowned. They weren’t actually wrong. Still, seven objectives spread across such a large mess was a lot. The map wasn’t portable either, the plaque was fused to the table, immovable. If they wanted to plan routes, this was the only place they’d see the whole picture. He set his jaw and started memorizing the layout. Line by line, curve by curve, committing each twist to memory.

Obby spoke in the back of his mind. “Left fork, right turn, loop east. Mark the second gem by the arch of hedges. All good.”

Alex traced another path with his eyes, but his focus broke when the courtyard suddenly… groaned. A deep, heavy creak reverberated through the air, like the wood of an old seaship strained past its limit. The squad froze at the sound. A shape slid into view from one of the hedge arches, its body gliding low across the stone path.

It was a fucking snake. But, not just snake. Its body was thick and corded with muscle, with scales that glinted faintly in green and gold. Around its head erupted a bearded frill, not like a cobra but like flower petals. It was red edged with gold, opening and closing as though breathing. Its eyes were pits of green light, unblinking as it slithered into the open courtyard.

“Chimera,” Alex shouted.

The squad broke into action without any more prompting. Garret locked his shield in place, Lance and Henry moving to flank with spells of earth and water flaring across the pair’s hands. The three of them rushed forward and the snake opened its mouth.

A burst of yellow-green spores erupted outward from the snake's maw. It created a cloud of pollen that spread across the courtyard in an instant. It was thick to the point of choking, and sweet on the tongue in a way that made Alex gag.

The team coughed and cursed, hands flying to their faces and stumbling backward as the cloud settled over them.

All but one.

Eric didn’t slow his charge. He barreled through the cloud with lightning crawling wildly up and down his arms. His fist reeled back then crashed forward into the chimera’s skull. The crack of impact echoed across the courtyard as the two connected. The snake’s frilled head whipped back, its body jerking, and with a final convulsion the thing collapsed in a smoking heap.

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Eric stood over it. “That’s one garden pest handled.” He yanked his fist free from the snake’s skull.

Everyone was coughing and hacking violently as the lingering spores sank into their lungs. Even with the snake dead the air was saturated with its pollen. It created a cloying sweetness that stuck to the back of the throat. Alex felt his knees somehow weaken and his breath began to come to him in shorter gasps than he was used to.

“Fuck—” He doubled over, his chest tightening quickly. His [Aether Sight] flickered as if his senses were blurred by a mirage. “A poison? Toxin?”

He could feel it worming through him already, like alien threads of aether forced into his body. It spread fast, tainting his blood and crawling under his skin. But where it tried to latch on and do damage, his wyrm-heart trembled and beat loudly as caustic, corrosive blood leaked from his bonemarrow. His constitution's blood-toxin ate at the poison and began to erode it bit by bit in a rabid fight within his body.

Only problem was, the venom wasn’t staying in his blood. It was already deep into his lungs. Every subsequent breath burned, and each inhale was starting to feel like serrated knives dragging through him. Looking around, he could see everyone else looked just as bad as he felt.

Lance staggered to one knee, coughing so hard he spat flecks of red. Holly pressed a hand to her chest and it looked as though she was struggling to shape a spell of some kind. Perhaps some air spell she was trying to use to clean her lungs of the spores but it didn't seem to be helping at all. Garret leaned on his shield, face pale and sweaty. Even Eric was doubled over at that point, the previous electrical sparks around his arms now sputtering uselessly.

Then the System hit. A glowing screen flickered into everyone’s vision despite the poison spore cloud.