Duelling Dungeons

“There, they’ll be fine now,” Calliope announced as she slowly removed her hand from Alia’s forehead. The dryad, who had been thrashing in pain a moment before, let out a sigh of relief and finally fell still.

“Thank you,” Voss muttered. “I realize that if I’d let them ‘die,’ it would have relieved them of their pain faster, but they got infected, they were scared, and wanted to survive, so I wanted to do my best to save them.”

“That’s very noble of you,” Calliope replied, prompting Toto to back away from the makeshift beds that had been set up on the side of the Ballroom stage. “A little unwise, possibly misguided, but noble.”

“You don’t have to hold back,” Voss chuckled. “I know it was a mistake, but when I see the little ones in pain, I just can’t deny them.”

“Well, I’m glad I could help,” Calliope replied. “Still, I have to ask, why didn’t you use the resurrection to bring back Talia, or Kassandra instead of me?”

Voss turned and looked down at the little Siren. “Talia is dead? I thought she was defending the Baths. There haven’t been any announcements; if the Sanctum managed to defeat her, why haven’t they claimed the Baths for themselves?” he asked.

“It’s because Rogu and his team were in no shape to conquer the Baths after she was done with them,” Calliope sighed, as she pushed herself to her feet and glanced around. “You know what? I’ll show you what happened. This is Talia’s area, right? She must be keeping a tablet around here somewhere; she’s always watching how the match is progressing.”

“Of course,” Voss chuckled, pointing to the curtain at the side of the stage. “She keeps her stash off to the side there.”

“Her stash?” Calliope asked, before shaking her head and hopping up on the stage. She padded over to the curtain, pulled it back, then sighed again. “Why is there a dozen tablets here? I understand that she wants the ability to keep an eye on multiple fights at the same time, but these are top-of-the-line devices; you can swap between different functions, you don’t need this many. Hasn’t anyone told her that?”

“Of course, but you know how she is; once she gets an idea into her head, no one can convince her to change. She likes having a different tablet for each task,” Voss replied.

“Well, I hope she’ll forgive me borrowing one of her devices,” Calliope said, grabbing one of the tablets. She flicked through the different functions until she found the playback. After browsing the different files, she found the clip she was looking for and held the tablet up for Voss to see.

The clip showed Talia sitting cross-legged on the edge of Kass’s arena, looking down at Rogu standing on the Terrace below.

“I have to admit, you’re not who I expected to find waiting for me,” Rogu declared as he marched across the narrow bridge across the middle of the lower pool. “I expected to see Voss, or Luther, while you schemed back on your little stage.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but Luther needs time to prepare for his assault upon the Sanctum’s Apex, and Voss is occupied, so you get to deal with me. Disappointed?” Talia replied.

“On the contrary, I think I’ll enjoy this,” the abomination laughed. “Shall we fight down here, or do you want me to come to you?”

“Oh, I’ll come to you,” Talia announced as she slipped off the side. She dropped a good twenty feet to the lower level before landing lightly and sauntering to the edge of the bridge. “Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to entertain you for too long, though.”

“Why? No confidence in your skills,” Rogu asked with a grin.

“I have confidence in my skills, but I also know that you’re a much stronger fighter than I am. I’d have to get exceptionally lucky to defeat you,” Talia said, “but that’s not the reason we wouldn’t be able to fight for too long.”

Rogu cocked his head to the side. “Oh? Why’s that?”

“Because my friends only needed about a minute to finish their preparations, and I’ve been distracting you,” Taila explained, before pointing to a pair of Gremlins and a large spider crouched at the base of the stairs.

“This is for all Gremlin Kind!” Jenkins yelled.

George bounced around a couple times before landing with his abdomen towards Rogu, at which time he started bouncing his but around rhythmically.

“Is your spider doing what I think he’s doing?” Rogu asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I certainly hope not,” Talia muttered. “He already has a lot of bad habits; I really don’t need him taunting everyone like that.”

While the two of them stared at the spider, Jacobs slowly lowered to the small barrel at his feet. “For glory!”

There was a very brief sizzling noise, followed by an absolutely deafening explosion. The wall Talia had been standing on cracked, then shattered, allowing all the water in Kassandra’s boss area to flood the lower level. The massive wall of water swept what remained of George and the Gremlins before rushing towards the two bosses standing in the middle of the terrace.

“I can’t believe this is how I get eliminated,” Rogu groaned. “I hate you so much right now.”

Talia grinned. “I get that a lot.”

The next moment, the two bosses were swept away, their bodies smashed against the terrace before being carried down to the next pool. The torrent of water continued for a good two minutes, long enough for Kassandra’s pool to empty, and flooded every part of the floor.

The camera zoomed out and followed the torrent as it swept plants, props and any other loose objects away, carrying them all the way back to the start of the level. By the time the water settled, there was no sign of Talia, Rogu, or anyone else. They’d all been swept away.

“Well, I’m sure the audience enjoyed that,” Voss laughed.

“Even if they did, the judges didn’t. Right before I got brought back in, I heard rumours they might stop the match. The only reason they didn’t was that using the stage as an impromptu weapon isn’t against the rules,” Calliope huffed.

“And I’m sure Talia knew that, and took that into account,” Voss replied.

“The annoying part is she apparently didn’t let any of you know what she was planning; how could you not know that she’d destroyed part of the Baths?” Calliope asked.

“Honestly? I was worried about the dryads, so she probably intentionally didn’t tell me what she was planning. She knew I’d try and stop her,” Voss explained. “She might have said something to Sylvia and Luther though, because Sylvia took off the instant your resurrection was approved. I thought it was just so she could make room for you so that you could treat the girls, but now that I think about it… I’m not sure.”

“You think she had contingencies in place in case she died before the end of the match?” Calliope asked.

Voss just looked at her, one eyebrow raised.

“You’re right, that was a stupid question. I forgot who I was talking about for a minute,” Calliope said as she walked to the edge of the stage. Toto was exactly where she left him, so she climbed down onto the giant crab and dropped into a sitting position. “Any idea what she asked Luther and Sylvia to do?”

“I can only imagine she sent them to try and finish Nor’Goth before our time ran out,” Voss replied. “We can’t have much time left before the Sanctum’s special mechanic activates.”

Calliope looked up at the ancient treent. “Do you think they can do it?”

Voss paused for a moment, then shrugged. “I have faith in my friends, but they can’t have much time. We’ll know soon, one way or another.”