Nyxfall 7: The Veilbreakers

For a second, they both stared at each other, their eyes blinking in rhythm. But nothing happened. She was indeed not burning.

Kai had to admit he was a little disappointed, though he didn't have any time to waste.

"What are you feeling?" he asked.

"Nothing. It does nothing.." she said, uncertain.

"Okay, now go for another flame," Kai suggested.

"Why?" she asked, looking at him as if he was stupid.

"What do you mean, why? We don't have time. We need to select the right flame," Kai said, a bit irritated.

"You do that.. I'm going to sleep for a whi—" She nodded off right in the middle of the sentence.

Kai could not believe the situation unfolding before him. What in the hell was this girl..?

But then he realized something. This was a trial. Of course, it wouldn't be as simple as just enduring a little pain to figure out the answer. The flames didn't burn physically, but there had to be something else.. She was sleepy! Of course!

Kai hurriedly pulled the lever for the flame Deimos was in, first in the left side. She fell to the ground, but he didn't care about that. Instead, he looked back at the old woman.

"One down, ten to go," she said, squinting at him as if dissatisfied that he had figured out the correct answer.

The lack of mana made a person in the game sleepy—at least for the classes that used mana. The fire must have consumed all of hers. Since she was asleep, Kai ignored her and walked up to the next flame, thrusting his hand into it.

The second he did, the ground seemed to stretch endlessly before him. His vision narrowed, and he was about to fall face-first, but at the last second, he clenched his fist and landed on his knees.

Balance. This one took his balance.

Kai somehow crawled along the floor, reaching for the lever with one hand stretched above him, looking like a sick cat as he shut it off.

"Two down, nine to go," the old woman's voice reached him, and the effect of the flame wore off.

Kai ran to the third flame. This one took his vision. He had to carefully step back to the central obsidian pedestal, count the levers with his hands, and shut off the right lever. This was too risky to do alone. If the effect left him unable to reach the lever, he would fail.

He hurriedly ran to Deimos and kicked her butt to wake her up. It worked.

The second he reached for the fourth flame, she stood on her own, still looking drowsy and tired.

Kai shouted, "Hey! Watch me. If I can't speak in the next minute, turn the fourth lever off! Did you hear me?"

She squinted at him as if he had disturbed her rest but, at last, nodded and moved toward the obsidian pedestal.

Kai touched the flame.

Suddenly, a row of sharp spears shot up from the dark floor beside the pedestal.

Deimos jolted awake, all her sleepiness vanishing in an instant as she realized she had been inches away from being impaled. Dying in the game wasn't a big deal, but their brains still reacted with fear, making near-death situations terrifying in such a realistic environment.

Glaring at Kai and cursing under her breath, she immediately pulled the fourth lever.

Kai hurriedly ran to the fourth flame and looked at Deimos. She took out her dagger, her sharp gaze scanning their surroundings. Then she nodded.

Kai put his hand into the bright blue flame, and immediately, a huge stone slab slid out from under his feet. He was just about to plummet into the dark abyss when he grabbed onto the stone pillar where the flames were seated.

Like a monkey, Kai hugged the pillar with all his might. Exhaling sharply, he climbed to the top and used it as a stepping stone to leap out of the dark hole in the stone floor.

He looked back and saw Deimos running toward the nearest flame. Good. He had been just about to tell her to do that.

Running close to the obsidian pedestal, Kai glanced back at Deimos.

"Ready?" she asked.

Kai hurriedly nodded.

The old woman was smiling ominously as she reached for the lever.

Kai held his breath as Deimos put her hand into the flame—and suddenly froze. Not a single hair on her head moved.

Without thinking, Kai immediately pulled the lever down, shutting the flame off.

Deimos was instantly released and collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath. She knew time was ticking, so she forced herself up and ran to another flame.

The granny just did a "Tsk" and removed her hand. 

The moment Deimos touched another flame, a massive stone boulder began rolling toward Kai from behind. He barely jumped out of its path in time. That was the seventh.

Another flame sent Deimos flying through the stone hall like a weightless leaf. Before she got too high, Kai shut the lever off. That was eight.

The ninth flame actually burned her hand. Two painful red numbers, -38 and -27, appeared above her head.

Despite the tense situation, Kai chuckled.

Deimos just cursed loudly and ran for the tenth one.

But before she could reach it, the old woman spoke up.

"It's taking too much time. Sometimes, you gotta take a chance, kid!"

Her words were somewhat encouraging, but her expression was definitely not. That evil, toothy grin sent a chill down Kai's spine.

She reached for the levers.

Before she could pull one at random and make their lives miserable, Kai shouted, "Hey! Time's up! I'm turning all of them off!"

"What the—?! Already?!" Deimos screamed.

Without hesitation, she lunged for the nearest flame pillar and shoved her hand into it.

A hidden compartment slid open, and two seven-foot-tall trolls emerged, dragging a massive canaboe with them.

Kai immediately shut off the flames one by one, but the trolls kept advancing.

Then, the eleventh lever triggered something even worse—the entire stone floor slanted, then completely flipped upside down.

Deimos clung to a stone pillar for her dear life, just as Kai barely managed to grab onto the obsidian pedestal.

But his job wasn't done.

The last lever—the correct one—was still out of reach. He was too far away. Gritting his teeth, he used his bony arms to climb across the stone, inching closer.

The fucked-up part? Even though the whole floor had flipped, the old woman and the trolls were completely unaffected. They wewe almost near him, barely ten meters away, watching him struggle.

"Heheheheh…"

The sick laughter of the old woman made Kai curse her seven generations over in every timeline.

With one final, reckless leap, he reached for the last lever and yanked it up.

The moment he did, he lost his grip.

He fell.

Plummeting through the massive stone hall, he saw the center of the obsidian pedestal light up with a brilliant blue magical flame—

And then, in the very next second, his back crashed into something.

Darkness swallowed him whole.