Olivia finished the last swirl of her new spell pattern with a flourish and smiled up at Morgan and Bronwyn. “Done!” she exclaimed, hopping to her feet. “Let’s see if it works!” She walked over to the chest, then looked at Morgan and asked, “What does your Void Vision tell you about this chest?”

“Hmm,” Morgan’s eyes became dark pools, and he studied the chest for a moment. “I see bright Energy signatures within it, and maybe something shimmering around its surface.”

“Alright, good to know for reference,” Olivia said, then she held up her spell design and studied it for a moment. She’d made it, so she was quite familiar with most of its shapes. Closing her eyes, she pulled a thread of air-attuned Energy out of her Core and quickly began to build the pattern in her pathway. She had to check her page a couple of times, but in just a matter of a minute or two, she’d created the spell and noted the pleasing pulse of Energy as it took shape. Olivia pushed more of her air-attuned Energy into it and let the spell run through her pathways.

A tingle in the back of her eyes let her know something was happening, and she studied the chest. She saw, highlighted in pulsing magenta light, tendrils of air tickling over the surface of the chest, slipping under the lid, and wrapping around the hinges. In their wake, Olivia saw tiny sigils brought to life, traceries of Energy flows, and a faint whisper on the wind that hinted at danger. As the spell faded, the System hit her with some notifications:

***Congratulations! You’ve learned the spell: Surveying Breeze - Basic***

***Surveying Breeze - Basic: You animate the air to carefully inspect an object or area, reading the clues it leaves in its wake with enhanced vision. Energy cost: 200 Cooldown: Medium.***

“It’s trapped,” Olivia announced. She moved to the chest and produced a small engraving blade she’d purchased for practicing her artificing. Using the blade, she scratched through some of the sigils that were still highlighted in her vision, and when the Energy lines faded away, she knew she’d broken the trap. “It should be good now,” she said, looking back at Morgan and Bronwyn, who watched her with appreciation.

“Very cool,” Morgan said. “I only felt a breeze. I take it you saw more as the spell’s caster?”

“Yep, the wind showed me where the spell sigils were.”

“That’s awesome, Olivia!” Bronwyn said. “Can we open it?”

“Yeah, but I’ll open it. I’m the one saying it’s safe now. You both back up, please.” Morgan frowned but did as Olivia asked, and Bronwyn nodded as well. She smiled at Olivia as if to demonstrate her confidence in her. Olivia nodded when they were a few paces away and leaned down, putting both hands under the heavy marble chest lid, and heaved it open. It swung easily on its hinges, and nothing terrible happened—no blast of electricity, fiery explosion, or lancing blade. She looked into the chest and caught her breath; it was filled with glittering items.

“Wow,” Morgan said. “Quite a haul. You think we’ll be limited to one choice again?”

“I don’t know. This time we killed a boss,” Bronwyn offered.

“Just in case, let’s study the items and prioritize,” Olivia replied, pulling out a notebook. “Let’s see. Do you all see that pile of silvery armor under that black cloth?”

“Yeah,” Morgan said, “you think that counts as one item?”

“Let’s hope so. Hmm, there’s a black stone crown or tiara. What would you call it?” Olivia pointed to the delicate crown that seemed to be carved from obsidian.

“Just crown. Tiara sounds too girly,” Bronwyn said. Morgan snorted.

“There’s like a thousand or more Energy beads piled in there. If we only get one item, we should avoid touching those,” Morgan pointed to the glittering, gleaming pile.

“Yeah, something tells me we aren’t going to be limited to one item this time,” Bronwyn nodded. “What about those axes?” She pointed to a pair of hatchet-sized axes with broad, jade-colored stone blades.

“Nice,” Morgan whistled. “Hang on,” he said, and then Olivia saw his eyes turn black again. “I read strong Energy signatures from everything in there, but the crown is blazing like a sun.”

“Oh, that’s handy,” Olivia said. “Should we start with that, then?” She glanced from Morgan to Bronwyn. Morgan shrugged, and Bronwyn nodded, so Olivia reached into the chest and picked up the crown. It was cold and heavy, but she felt a deep resonance within her Core when she lifted it free of the chest. “It’s powerful. I can feel it in my Core; what about you guys?”

“Let me see,” Bronwyn held out a hand, and Olivia reluctantly handed her the crown. Bronwyn frowned for a second or two but then shrugged. “Nothing.” She gave it to Morgan, and he held it for a couple of seconds. His eyes grew dark, and he frowned.

“I feel something, but nothing much. Let’s set it aside for now—the stuff in the chest didn’t disappear.” He nodded to the chest, then set the crown on the marble ground, and Olivia felt her eyes drawn to it. “The next brightest aura is coming from those axes. Go ahead and pick them up, Bron.” He glanced at Olivia for any objection, but she just nodded. Bronwyn, grinning from ear to ear, reached into the chest and, clicking the two handles together, lifted the hatchets out with one hand.

“Nothing disappeared.” Her voice was bright and excited as she gripped the two hatchet handles in her fists. “These feel great.” She turned away from the chest and chopped the two hatchets through the air a few times.

“Alright, dear,” Olivia said with a chuckle, “set ‘em down, and let's finish.” Bronwyn laughed but set the hatchets down near the crown. “Morgan, you pick up the armor,” Olivia said.

“Yeah,” Bronwyn echoed. Morgan shrugged and picked up the silk-wrapped bundle of clinking, silvery plates. Olivia saw it wasn’t a complete armor set as he pulled back the silky wrapping. It was just an ornate, shining breastplate and two thick vambraces that looked like they were meant to protect a person’s arms.

“Pretty light,” Morgan said. He set the bundle down next to the axes; then, he looked back in the chest. “Just shit loads of Energy beads—all sorts of them.”

“Looks like we get to take everything. Let’s divvy up the Energy beads, and then we can talk about the real loot,” Bronwyn said, and they all got to it, lifting out piles of beads and separating them into three roughly similar stacks. None of them cared enough about getting things exact to count them out. After they’d stowed their beads, Olivia leaned down and picked up the crown.

“I’d like to bond with this to see if I can tell what it does. Do either of you object?”

“Nah, it was pretty clear you wanted it from the start,” Morgan said, smiling. “You might as well check out the hatchets, Bronwyn.”

“Well, that leaves the armor for you, Morgan,” Bronwyn said.

“Um, I’ll be honest: I stopped wearing my armor all the time back when I hurt my arm. I kind of got out of the habit of it. It’s so cumbersome, and I don’t know if it would even save me from the kinds of things we’ve been fighting. I guess I could try this other armor; it seems like a lot less of a hassle, though it won’t cover me as well. Are you sure neither of you wants it?”

“Not me,” Olivia said.

“Not this time; maybe the next armor we find,” Bronwyn said, sitting down to study her new hatchets.

“Alright then,” Morgan said, picking up the bundle of armor. He, too, sat down to study his new items.

Olivia held the heavy, obsidian crown in her hands and turned it around and around, looking for some insight into it. She cast her Surveying Breeze spell on it, and though the tendrils of air wrapped around the crown, exploring its every nook and cranny, the only whisper that came to her ears was, “Power.” She sat down and put the crown on her lap, resting a hand on the cool stone; then, she trickled some pure Energy into the item.

***Crown of Nightmarch: Artificed item. Enchantments: 1. Durability - This item has been crafted from Heart Obisidian and enchanted to be incredibly resistant to damage. 2. Amplification: When fully charged, this item can magnify any spell’s effects by a factor of ten. 3. Recharging: This item can achieve a full charge over the course of a day, less if kept in a high-Energy environment.***

Olivia lifted the crown to her head and smiled as the cool stone shifted to snugly but comfortably fit the shape of her skull. As it settled, it became almost weightless to her. “My crown is called the Crown of Nightmarch and is able to amplify a spell once per day.”

“How much?” Morgan asked, looking up.

“The description says a factor of ten.”

Morgan performed his low whistle of appreciation again. “Sounds nice.”

“What about you guys?”

“Hatchets of the Jade Queen!” Bronwyn said, holding up the two weapons. “They’re very sharp and made from something called living jade. They can self-sharpen, and they amplify Energy that’s channeled into them. Do you think that would work with my Solar Arms spell?”

“They sound made for it,” Morgan said with a slight frown. “Anyway, nice weapons. This armor is called the Moonsteel armor of the Keeper. I have no idea who the Keeper is or was, but it’s supposed to be very strong, it’s light, and more than that, it can mitigate Energy attacks. Watch this,” he said, holding the armor to his chest.

As he held it in place, the armor seemed to ripple and flow over his shoulders, down his back, and then around his sides to reconnect to the breastplate. “Easy to put on, and light. How can I complain?” He slipped his arm through one of the bracers, which spread to cover his shoulder, leaving just a hair’s breadth between it and the breastplate. He repeated the process with the other arm, then flexed his arms, moving them around rapidly. “It’s almost like I’m not wearing anything.”

“That’s awesome! Too bad there wasn't leg armor or a helmet.” Bronwyn gestured to Morgan’s head with one of her hatchets.

“Well, we’re not done with the dungeon yet,” Olivia said.

“True,” Morgan said. He stood up smoothly, his new armor gleaming in the strange perpetual twilight of the dungeon. “I know we’ve talked about this a million times, but do you guys think this dungeon is weird? Like we have no idea why it’s here, what the point of it is, why it had a portal in that dead city, all that stuff.”

“Nope, no new insights, sorry, Morgan.” Olivia also stood.

“That’s not totally true,” Bronwyn said. “What about these items’ names—Nightmarch, Jade Queen, Moonsteel, the Keeper?”

“Hmm, that’s a great point, Bron. Maybe the items are telling a story. Maybe we’ll learn more if we go deeper.” Olivia pointed to the next marble door.

“Alright, let’s keep going, but we need to take it slow. That tick almost did us in, and as far as we know, he was the easy first boss.” Bronwyn pointed to the huge, seeping mound of a corpse on the far side of the courtyard.

“Right, but let’s wait a few minutes. I’m close to being able to fill another gem.”

“Alright, sounds good. I need to allocate my points from the kill anyway,” Olivia added.

“Me too!” Bronwyn slapped a hand to her forehead.

Morgan laughed, then closed the empty chest, sitting down on top. He took out the charging plate Olivia had made and got to work, but not before he muttered, “Me too.”

“Hah. Well, I’m putting my points into dexterity. I really struggled to make those spell diagrams by hand. I think I could have done it much faster with a higher dexterity,” Olivia sat down and pulled up her status sheet, doing precisely what she said she would, bumping her dexterity up to twenty-two. “I knew it played a factor in spell design, but until I felt my limitation, I didn’t really put the credence I should have into my professor’s words.”

“Hmm, that’s interesting. My dexterity is doing pretty well because of my last class, but my strength is lagging a bit. I’m putting my twelve points into that,” Morgan said as he concentrated on pushing Energy into the gem on his copper plate.

“Well, since you guys are sharing,” Bronwyn said, looking up, “I put five points into intelligence and then split the rest into agility and vitality. My strength is way higher.”

“Okay, so we’re all ready and primed for the next section! Let me finish this gem, rest a bit to get my Energy back, and we can see what horror is waiting for us.” They all chuckled, but when Olivia glanced over at the giant pile of the tick remains, it drove the truth of his words home.