28: Surviving Trap
It was the first time Haley mentioned anything about her talent since arriving here in the dungeon. Considering how much time had passed, this had to be the real deal she was talking about here. Aidan eagerly followed Haley’s lead as she focused on the tingling sensation her talent was giving her.
It sounded like it followed the same natural pattern as Aidan’s own when it came to using harmony, something that Aidan understood on an intuitive level. Eventually they came across what looked like strange markings plastered on the wall far into the deep end of one pathway, leading to a dead end.
Haley walked up to the wall, feeling it out with her hands as she waved them across, as though trying to find a hidden switch but nothing came of it.
“Damn it, it leads to nowhere,” Haley muttered. “That feeling I’m getting is screaming at me that this is where it is. So weird. I usually follow the feeling until I find that ‘ah-hah’ moment, and that’s when I usually find rare flowers or some super-aged moss worth a few silvers.”
“So that’s how you use your talent most of the time,” Aidan nodded, figuring that was the case for someone who gathered in the forest for a living.
“Yeah, but this is a dead end no matter how you look at it,” Van said, even trying to tilt his head as though he could find a pathway through some tiny imaginary hole. “I don’t see anything that looks like a treasure, unless we’re talking about the wall right there.”
“It’s not giving off that feeling,” Haley shook her head. “Ugh, maybe it’s pointless.”
“Hold on, let me try something.”
Aidan used his Sense Vibrations to peer beyond this wall, and it turned out that there was actually a room inside. It was deep into the dead end, way beyond this wall, but it was there.
Making sure that there were no enemies around them first, Aidan stepped up to the wall and placed his hand on it. With Craft, he diverted the stones and split them apart, causing a hole to form and deepen within the dead end, making a new pathway.
It kept costing him mana, but the stone wasn’t giving enough resistance to give him trouble as he kept pushing deeper into the wall, entering into a small spacious hole that the siblings eventually followed him into.
“I keep forgetting you can do crazy stuff like this,” Van said, shaking his head.
“It’s working! I can feel its tingliness right around here! Keep going!”
Haley had gone back to her giddy self as she hurried Aidan to keep moving. Aidan could only agree as his excitement started to build as he eventually reached into another spacious room when he blasted apart the last piece of stone that stood in his way.
Sure enough, it was a small square-shaped room that could barely fit a small crowd of people as they stepped into it. There were small light squares that lit up the corners of the room, and right at the center of it all was a tall pedestal with an ornate square box sitting right there.
“Is that a treasure chest?” Aidan said in awe, his eyes opening wide at the opulent ornate treasure chest that glimmered in bright white coloring and golden edges with a small square lock at the center of it all.
“Yes! This is it! Wow, this is the first time I’ve seen a treasure chest…” Haley marveled at the sight as she rushed forward, turning left and right and spinning around the box as she stared with want in her eyes.
“It really is a treasure chest…” Van said, stepping up slowly and keeping his composure better than his sister did. But there was that same glimmer that he shared with Haley showing in his eyes. “W-Wait, Haley, don’t touch that.”
“Nuh-uh,” Haley denied. “I found this thing, and I wanna open it up first! I deserve that much!”
“It’s not that, you moron,” Van rolled his eyes hard enough to tilt his head over. “I mean it could be a trap. That’s what dungeons are famous for, remember?”
Aidan completely forgot about that. Just like there was the famous monster fighting in dungeons, there were also rare treasure chests that they could loot from. Just as famously, there were always traps that would normally kill someone in any fantasy game, so he listened to Van’s wisdom as he continued closing in towards the chest.
“It doesn’t matter what’s in the chest. What matters is if it would spring a trap. It’s better to figure out if we can disarm it first before even considering opening it.”
“Okay…” Haley said, stepping back and considering his words. “But how do we check for traps?”
“Let me get a feel for it first,” Van said. “At least out of everyone here, I got more Vitality. So if anything happens, I can survive it.”
“Ugh… fine,” Haley said, crossing her arms in a huff. “You can open it then. Killjoy…”
Van just ignored his sister’s comment as he placed his hand on top of the jeweled container on the pedestal. He kept moving his hands, looking over every detail he could find as the two party members waited for his response.
Then, after knocking the chest a few times, he raised his head. “I think it should be safe… just in case, I’ll open it. Take a step back.”
The two members did so, following Van’s orders. Then a moment passed before Van eventually opened the lock and lifted the top up of the hinges.
A sharp twang of sound echoed in the air, powerful enough to send out a small burst of air in Aidan’s ears. Then Van keeled over to the ground, his short gasp of pain following after.
“Van!”
Haley screeched before kneeling down to her brother’s ailing form, her eyes wide in shock as blood dripped down to the ground. Aidan knelt down and saw the damage done.
Van’s upper left chest was punctured in entirely, enough that his plated armor was completely broken through and blood seeped out like flowing water. He looked back at the treasure chest to see that there was a small component hidden around the ridges of the upper lid, a small trap that activated the moment the treasure chest was opened.
“Van! Oh my god, that’s such a deep wound. Hold on!”
Haley tried to get to the wound, trying to hold it tight before any more blood was lost, but it was already starting to pool underneath Van, his eyes growing blurry as he coughed up blood.
“Haley, let me try,” Aidan said, raising his hand to stop Haley’s flailing. “The thing that attacked Van is still inside. Let me take it out with Craft first!”
He could sense the invading projectile deep within Van’s chest, making it worse for Van to quickly recover. Haley stepped back as Aidan’s hand floated over Van’s trembling chest, his eyes closed as he focused inward.
He focused on the vibrations of the invading projectile, and forced it to increase in size vertically upwards. He had to be careful to make sure that the projectile doesn’t pierce anything around the wound, and when the metal object finally revealed itself from the wound, Aidan delicately placed his fingers around the tapered point and slowly yanked out the metal within.
Van screamed in agony as the wound sloshed and gurgled before the metal bit that was shot into his chest was finally yanked out. A trail of blood was left behind in its wake as Aidan cast it aside, sharp ringing noises echoing afterwards as it clattered to the floor.
Despite taking out the inflicting metal, the wound still poured more blood. The skin on Van’s face turned paler by the second as he kept losing blood, his health points probably decreasing as time passed.
“Van!” Haley shouted. “Aidan, do you have any more potions?”
“Yeah, I do, give me a sec!”
Aidan quickly rummaged through his pack, finding two more vials of that red liquid he gave Van before. He hated that he had to use up his last remaining potions, but the wound was dire enough that it required it. It’s possible that the metal bullet could have crushed his lung, or worse, pierced into his heart.
He wasn’t sure about the anatomy, but he knew well enough that getting pierced in the chest wasn’t a good time. He lifted Van’s head while Haley poured the potions down his throat, making him swallow while uttering calming words to keep him in a steady pace.
Van’s soul was in high alarm, the damage done to his body affecting his mind as the potion tried to recover his lost health, but despite drinking two potions, he was still bleeding out.
“What’s going on? He should’ve been healed by now,” Haley’s voice rose in panic. “Why isn’t it working!?”
Aidan feared the worst as he turned his attention to the bloody metal bit that got lodged into Van’s chest and scanned it.
Infected Steel Bullet (Uncommon)
A used projectile bullet containing a special toxin that disrupts the regeneration of its target. The target will not be able to heal in a short time, and will continuously lose 10 points of Health every 5 seconds.
“Oh son of a bitch,” Aidan cursed. “He’s poisoned!”
“What?!” Haley shouted. “No… Van!”
Haley held tight to Van’s chest, keeping his wound tight and closing it with her hands. Even as she was riddled with blood, she focused hard on keeping what little health Van had in store. Meanwhile, Van looked ready to keel over, his eyes slowly drooping closed as he struggled to breathe.
Aidan’s heart raced and his mind whirled for an answer. Surely there was something he could do. With all of his power, there must be a way for him to help Van recover his health somehow, or at least get rid of the poison itself.
He used Sense Vibrations to peer deep into his soul, studying every detail as he focused on the inflicted parts that refused to heal. Before, Van’s soul was a solid pace that marched at its own rhythm, a drumbeat that refused to yield. Now that drumbeat was decreasing in tempo, becoming slower and slower as time passed.
Aidan scratched his head as he growled, recalling how he first made his first spell. He was in a panic just like this, but instead of wanting to destroy the target aiming to kill him, he wanted to save a target from dying. Despite their opposite spectrums, they carried the same potential makings for a spell.
He put his hands on top of Van’s chest, ignoring Haley’s frantic attempts to cease the bleeding, as he just poured in his mana without using any of his spells. He had enough practice with his magic that he could actually alter how his mana was flowing from his hands into Van’s body.
But as he suspected, the mana flowing to the body just dispersed the moment it hit physical contact, finding no way to enter Van’s soul. He pulled onto his connection with the vibrations harder than before, squeezing his talent for all of its worth as he tried to pierce the veil between reality and the inner self, but with the intent to restore what was lost rather than taking it apart.
Finally, he spotted something that was different. His mind squeezed through, like pushing a thread into a small pinhole, until eventually his mana finally reached into the center of Van’s physical form. He quickly commanded the mana to seep into his body, to reach deep into his soul where it was failing to keep up with the blood loss.
His mana kept pouring out of him, but he didn’t care. He was reaching a breaking point as he forced the harmony from within Van’s soul to restore what was lost, giving it mana that would help heal the damaged parts back to whole. Slowly, his soul rose in timbre, the beating rhythm that was decreasing in tempo finally increasing its speed.
He kept pushing more and more mana into it, making the rhythm go back to how it usually was. Aidan opened his eyes wide, breathing in deep as he realized that he wasn’t breathing for the past minute or so.
His head ached like mad, but he kept his eyes open as he watched Van’s skin beginning to restore itself to its usual tanned self. All the while, Haley just stood there in awe.
“W-What did you do…?” Haley said. “The wound. It stopped bleeding!”
Aidan looked back down at the blood-coated chest, and found that she was right. The wound was still freshly open, but it wasn’t bleeding like a geyser had opened up straight from his guts. A blaring notification took heed in his mind as he checked it out.
Despite all odds of it happening, Aidan was glad that his gamble worked.
You have gained a new spell!
Heal (Copper)
Allows you to heal damaged areas using the harmony of the target’s soul. It restores the body in a natural form, using mana to heighten the recovery process and ridding any infliction that would impose on the soul.
Mana Cost: 30
…..
You have gained a title!
“Healing Hands”
Learn your first healing spell. Being able to help others is surely a path well known and looked favorably.
+1 Intellect
+1 Wisdom
+1 Lifeforce
+1 Charisma
Aidan checked on Van once again, seeing that his soul was at least stable, but still weak. He put his hand down again, officially casting Heal.
Unlike before, his mana easily pierced through Van’s physical body and reached deep into his soul. And unlike how much he struggled to restore the soul, it naturally filled in the gaps that were taken away by the inflicted bullet.
In the physical world, the wound slowly closed up, the skin closing up and revealing its pinkish flesh. When the healing was done, Aidan slumped onto his ass and let out a deep breath.
“Fuck me, that scared the crap out of me…”
“Van, Van!” Haley insisted, lifting her brother’s head up and tapping his face. “Van, can you hear me?”
“Ugh…” Van muttered, his voice groggy as though he was waking up. “Mmh, that hurt…”
“Van…! Oh thank god! Van, you’re alive!”
Haley screamed in joy as she hugged her brother tightly, ignoring the groaning from her brother as tears budded from her eyes. Aidan watched in joy at the sight, glad that there wasn’t an unnecessary casualty right in front of him.
After a few minutes of Haley constantly checking if Van was breathing properly, she faced Aidan with the sort of look that made him want to lower his head a little.
“Aidan… I don’t know what to say. Thank you. Thank you so much…” Haley tried to say, her lips quivering as her gratitude from her soul overwhelmed Aidan’s senses a little.
He raised his hand, shaking his head. “It’s the least I can do. Van, can you stand?”
“Y-Yeah,” Van said as he tried lifting himself up. It was slow going and he struggled to do so. Haley had to help him out a little before standing upright. “Sorry, it still hurts like hell even though it’s healed up.”
“I’m not gonna pretend my spell completely healed you. Take your time and let yourself regenerate. The poison might still be affecting you, but it should pass in a few more minutes.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that.”
They took a few moments, eventually having Van say that he was finally fine enough to tell Haley to stop checking up on him. When he stood, he wobbled for a moment before showing the two that he was indeed fine enough to move. Aidan was glad to see that, then turned to the chest that almost took out one of them in an instant.