Chapter 16: Spiders, Spiders, Everywhere!
The bleachers at the Arena were filling up as many people arrived to watch the Youth Battle Challenge. There were multiple holographic screens floating around, enchanted with scrying spells to see inside the pocket dungeon so everyone could watch. Dozens of contestants were stepping up onto the rectangular combat ring, which had a fancy wooden wardrobe in the center.
"Good luck!" Calista said as she kissed Sam on the cheek.
"Do your best!" Lazula added, kissing his other cheek. He then looked at Koga.
"Well I’m not gonna kiss your cheek," he said with a grin. "But give ’em hell!"
The three of them took seats on the bleachers, and then Sam stepped up onto the ring. Like everyone else competing, he was wearing an all-black martial arts outfit consisting of a sleeveless gi vest, loose-fitting pants, split-toe tabi ninja combat boots, shinguards, armguards, and a leather belt with empty pouches and loops. On the back of each vest was the contestant’s name in bright yellow thread. On everyone’s left armguard, there was a clear-as-glass crystal cylinder embedded.
"Hello everyone!" yelled out an announcer standing next to the wardrobe. His voice was magically amplified to reach everyone in the bleachers. "And welcome to this year’s Youth Battle Challenge! Our contestants will enter the dungeon shortly to begin the Elimination Phase!
"And then they will have ninety minutes to locate an Escape Trigger! There are eight of these Triggers in the form of black oval gems. If you find one, hold it firmly in your hand. It will begin to glow green, and then a loud voice will count down from ten. Once the countdown reaches zero, you will be transported back out of the dungeon and will have secured a spot in the Tournament Phase! But use caution, as other contestants can rush up and steal the gem from you, thus cancelling the countdown! Once all eight Escape Triggers have been successfully activated, this Phase will end! If there are Triggers left unactivated at the end of the ninety minutes, then the contestants closest to them will advance!
"The dungeon is crawling with traps and monsters! But not to worry, there are protective wards inside! The transparent crystal cylinder on your armguard will begin to turn red as you take damage, and if it becomes completely opaque, that’s it! You’re out of there! The wards will teleport you back out and it will be considered a loss! Best of luck to all of you!"
The announcer opened the double doors to the empty wardrobe and began calling out the names of the contestants in alphabetical order. Each one stepped into the wardrobe, the doors were closed, there was a flash of light from inside, and then it was empty again.
Sam’s name was called out, and he stepped inside. When the doors were closed, it was dark for a moment, but then the flash came and he dropped through a vertical tunnel of spinning light. A moment later, his feet touched down on a hard surface and the tunnel evaporated around him.
"Whoa..." he said under his breath and he tried to make sense of where he was, his eyes adjusting from the bright light to a much darker environment. After a few moments, he was able to deduce that he was in a long corridor made of ancient-looking dark stone. There were wall-mounted torches along the hall’s length, but it was still quite dimly lit compared to the outdoor Arena he’d just come from.
He walked along the corridor, which was completely silent. There were a multitude of side hallways, and so he began taking random turns, having no idea where he was going. He eventually came to a small room with a chest.
"Hopefully this isn’t a trap..." he said quietly as he walked in and cautiously lifted the lid. It creaked open. "Oh, a longsword. Okay, nice."
He slid the blade into one of the loops on his belt and continued on. He very quickly found another room, this time with a wooden cabinet. He slowly opened it, and noticed three glass vials of a red liquid.
These must be healing potions, he thought to himself as he slipped the vials into a belt pouch.
He found a third room, started to walk in, and then noticed a bunch of little spiders inside. I’m gonna board the nope-carriage to fuckthatville! He thought to himself as he quickly backed out of the room.
A few minutes later, he found himself in another room that had multiple larger healing potion bottles. Oh, nice! He thought to himself as he grabbed one in each hand. Then suddenly, each bottle exploded into hundreds of tiny spiders crawling all over him.
"AAAAAHHHHHH!!!" He screamed and flailed around wildly. He began frantically slapping at himself to get all the little critters off him, and then ran from the room. He rushed through a series of halls, and then finally stopped to catch his breath. He was now in a crossroads of two halls, meaning he could head in four different directions from the spot he was standing at.
He was trying to decide which way to go, when he suddenly heard a clicking sound directly above him. He lifted his head slowly, and then gasped sharply as he stared in horror at a giant black and green spider hanging from the vaulted ceiling. The beast was way bigger than the other spiders, even bigger than a four person carriage.
"AAAHHHHHHH!!!" Sam shrieked like a little girl and took off running down one of the corridors. The spider dropped down and scurried after him. He ran as fast as he could, ended up in a large chamber, and then skidded to a halt as he noticed the room was covered in webbing. At least a dozen more giant spiders were in there. He turned and ran down another side hallway, looking over his shoulder and shrieking again as he realized they were all chasing him.
"Spiders! Spiders! SPIDERS! Why does it have to be FUCKING SPIDERS!!!" he screamed as he ran.