Andrew Rowe - On the Shoulders of Titans

More jarring than the appearance of the chamber, however, was the distinct lack of Keras and Researcher.

I glanced around twice, wondering if they’d somehow ended up elsewhere in the same room, but there was no sign of either of them.

“Well,” Sheridan searched the room with their eyes, much as I had, “This is an auspicious start.”

“Where are we?” Patrick asked.

“From the look of it, I’d say somewhere around the twentieth floor,” I offered.

Marissa blinked. “How can you tell?”

“The spire is always changing, but every set of ten floors has a general theme,” Sheridan offered. “Corin is right. The twenty first through thirtieth floors are wood and nature themed. If we’re in the first half, it will be similar to the other spires — lots of small rooms with individual challenges. If we’re in the upper half, each floor will have a single harder challenge.”

I frowned, reaching up to my necklace. “Message. Keras. Can you hear me?”

I heard Keras reply almost immediately. “Yes. Are you safe?”

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least the necklaces worked. “Yes. I’m with Marissa, Patrick, and Sheridan. We seem to be around the twentieth floor. Is Researcher with you?”

“Yes, unfortunately.”

“Unfortunately?”

“We’re in prison cells. Almost identical to where you first found me.”

I raised a hand to cover my eyes. Ugh. “Okay. Can you get out?”

There was a pause. “Same problem as when I was first in one. If I break out, it could trigger traps to incinerate the other cells. The runes are different, so I don’t know how bad it would be. Researcher might not survive.”

I clenched my hands into fists. “We’ll see if we can figure out how to come to you.”

“Hold on.”

Keras went silent for a few moments, while I relayed everything we’d discussed to the others.

“Researcher says she can identify the runes and figure out an order that we can safely disable them, but it’s going to take a while. Probably hours, at least. Once we’re out, she should be able to locate you, and we can fight our way there. Don’t bother trying to come to us — we’re probably below the first floor like before. It would take you ages to get here.”

I nodded, then I realized he couldn’t actually see me. “Okay. You may just want to use your return bell once you get out of the cells.”

“If we can get out, I can handle twenty floors. We’ll have to be careful, but Researcher should be able to guide me to you. Best guess is that it will take at least four or five days, though. Maybe a week.”

That wasn’t great news, but at least they’d be able to catch up to us eventually. “Any idea why you’re in there?”

“Researcher says that the teleportation effect on the entrance was probably set up to route non-human entities to a different location than humans. Non-humans probably weren’t supposed to take that door. Either that, or someone changed it specifically as a trap for people like me.”

Or creatures like Children of the Tyrant , I realized.

It was a sensible precaution, but inconvenient.

I turned to the others and explained the situation.

“Should we just camp here until they catch up?” Patrick asked.

Mara frowned. “That sounds really boring.”

“Boring or not, Patrick has a point,” Sheridan replied. “People are expected to be at least Sunstone level to clear this floor. And that’s with six people, not four.”

“The longer we’re idle, the more likely that Mizuchi frees herself from wherever she’s banished. Moreover, people from Tristan’s organization are probably aware that we’re here. If we just sit here, they could make a move — either against us, or outside the spire.”

“How would we even find Tristan without Researcher?” Patrick asked.

That was a good question.

I did have a way, but I’d been hesitant to show it around everyone.

Bah. It was far too late for this kind of secret.

“Retrieve: Trials of Judgment.”

I showed everyone the book. “I can communicate with Tristan with this. Provided he’s actually paying attention.”

Sheridan’s eyes narrowed. “How very interesting.”

I grabbed a pen and flipped the book open, planning to write Tristan that I was inside the tower.

I didn’t need to. There was already a new message.

Corin,

While I am pleased to see that you are alive, I am disappointed you did not follow my instructions.

You should not be in the spire right now.

You should leave.

I’m not the only one who knows you’re here.

You are in tremendous danger as long as you remain, and I am not in any position to help you.

-Mysterious Brother Entity

I wrote back.

Tristan,

I’m coming for you.

Please tell me where you are.

I’d hoped he would give me directions, but based on our previous interactions, I didn’t think he would.

So, carefully, I pried apart the pages of the book. I could see the runes inside the binding. I might have done some damage to the book in the process, but I told myself it was necessary.

I pressed my finger against the rune that I believed was responsible for communication with a matching book and focused.

Arrow of Direction.

A glowing arrow appeared, pointing straight up.

After an instant, it vanished.

I tried the spell a few more times, but every subsequent attempt failed. I’d probably triggered some kind of location spell countermeasures.

But I’d learned two important things.

One, Tristan was somewhere above us.

And two, I apparently had the ability to use basic information gathering spells inside the spire. I presumed that was because my Arbiter attunement marked me as an assistant to the visages, so the spire’s basic countermeasures against divination didn’t affect me.

That could be very significant in the longer term, if I could learn better information gathering spells. For the moment, however, I had to work with the minimal information I had.

Then I tucked the book away in my bag. I didn’t store it in the box — I wanted to be able to check it quickly.

“Tristan is above us somewhere. I don’t know where.”

Sheridan folded their arms. “I don’t suppose your brother could give us some clues on how to make it through the rooms on this floor?”

I glanced back toward the book, then back to Sheridan. “Believe me, he’s awful at that. We’re better off on our own.”

I didn’t mention the fact that Tristan wanted us to leave. Maybe I should have, but with two of our climbers separated from the group, morale was already low. I didn’t want everyone to decide to abandon the expedition.

Sheridan rolled their eyes. “Okay. Let’s go.”

The room had three doors. Each was a simple wooden door with a handle, similar to what I’d seen on the first floor.

Each door did, however, have a single colorful gemstone in the center.

To the west, a red gemstone.

To the north, blue.

To the east, yellow.

The presence of the gems seemed odd. I remembered the color coded doors in my Judgment, but they hadn’t been like that in the first floor of the spire.

And when I’d read about the spire, I didn’t remember there being gems like these in the upper floors. Was that just an omission in the books I’d read?

“Sheridan, have you been up here before?”

They nodded. “Sure. But not many times. I’ve done some climbing, but I’m not a professional like Derek or Elora. And this is already different from anything I recognize.”

“Any idea which way to go?”