a bit late. Will work on today's Seraphim chapter for an hour and hope to finish tomorrow between editing.

Chapter 582:

The branches of the apple trees were laden with the large red fruit. “I want all the apples!” I said enthusiastically to the others as I dropped burlap sacks on the ground. “Don’t bruise them when you put them in the sack,” I added. Konstantin rolled his eyes, but Lexi looked like I had just given her the most important task in the world.

I thought not only would Ginger be happy, but I was thinking about apple-berry jam, apple pies, apple tarts, and applesauce. Alhur was still staring at the headless fire bear. “I will skin it. The meat isn’t that great.” I tossed him a sack to pick apples. The elven assassin stared at me and then at the sack before moving reluctantly to help. The collector yielded an apex fire essence that I took for Raelia.

I could hear crisp bites as people sampled the merchandise, but I had a more grizzly task ahead of me. I wished Maveith were here, as I hated this part. I used my runic dagger to skin the bear, going slowly and leaning into the lessons Maveith and his father taught me. The shattering of stone had me look up at the top of the mound. Konstantin had opened the reward chest. “Two potions,” he announced to everyone. “A healing and this,” he held up a lime green vial. I held up my bloody hand, expecting Konstantin to bring it closer so I could read the runes. Instead, he tossed it twenty feet to me.

His aim was perfect, and I caught the vial. Dungeon vials were very sturdy, and the only danger was accidental breaking of the seal. I turned the vial and read the runes. “It is a potion of speed. I think they last about a minute, but afterward, your muscles are extremely sore, and your body is depleted and exhausted. It is very risky to use in combat if you still have enemies when it expires.”

“I will take it,” Konstantin said casually, looking for objections. Alhur looked about to say something, but instead went back to picking apples. I tossed the potion back to him, and the old man caught it deftly.

Lepidus hadn’t picked a single apple yet and instead was exploring the orchard. Rather than trying to get the man masquerading as a woman to help, I offered something else he could do. “If you are not going to help, identify this for me,” I said, producing the black bracelet. I had been planning to keep the artifact to identify in private. I just had the feeling it was something very powerful because it was from the reward chest guarding access to the third level of the labyrinth.

Lepidus approached and took the bracelet from me, and I returned to skinning the fire bear. It was not easy as it weighed over a thousand pounds and I wanted the pelt in one piece. It meant I had to roll the bear, which proved impossible until I removed sections with my dimensional space. It took nearly half an hour to free the pelt, and while I did a good job of not damaging it, it was covered in the bear’s blood. I rolled it up and stored it, wincing as my dimensional space would be very full after I added a few bushels of apples.

Lepidus was still handling the black stone bracelet. “Can’t figure it out?” I goaded the ancient legionnaire.

“No, I figured it out some time ago, and I was just trying to determine a path where you would give it to me,” the illusion of Venere smiled at me.

“Unlikely,” I said, extending my hand. He reluctantly returned it to me. “Well?” I asked with a little impatience in my tone.

“It is modeled after a stasis spell form. It should put the wearer into stasis, but I think they keep their senses and can end the stasis at will. But I may be wrong and someone would need to remove the bracelet for it stop functioning,” Lepidus said astutely.

“What use could you possibly have this?” I inquired.

“The girl only healed me for the interim and restored balance within me. My time is drawing to a close, and I have only been accelerating my inevitable. It will not be long before the nether essence can live in strained harmony with life essence. This could halt the process for me, now that I don’t think Hephaestus would forge me a dungeon engine to inhabit,” the woman explained patiently.

That was a lot of information. “You only came with us to talk Hephaestus into putting you into a dungeon core?” I said tersely.

“No. Just like the undead, the demons are a scourge against the living. I truly wanted to help,” Lepidus answered.

Thinking back, that explained a lot of his actions since I had met him. I considered the bracelet before making it vanish. “Ask me again when this is all over. I will be watching you—and judging you.” No one else had been close enough to hear the conversation, so only Lepidus and I knew what the artifact did.

The face of Venere was impassive as Lepidus said, “Of course.”

The trees were bare of apples, and I looked over the nine sacks. They would take up a lot of room, but I could always drop them if I needed the space. Konstantin ribbed Alhur, “Looks like my two sacks are larger than yours, elf.” I think the jab landed because the elf narrowed his eyes as he compared the two sacks he had filled to Konstantin’s. Alhur had only half-heartedly picked the apples, and I chuckled at his consternation, not realizing it was a contest as I stored the sacks.

“No one is to enter the next room, no matter what you see, understood?” I said the group. “The creatures inside are devious doppelgangers.”

“We heard you the first five times,” Alhur muttered.

I led the group down the hallway where we reached the intersection and I kept walking. “What is down there?” Castile asked.

I paused and looked back. “There is a mind-trap room with black ooze and another room with a giant spider. Both rooms are dead ends,” I said. Although I could be wrong about the room with the golden statue. Maveith and I had avoided the room, and I wondered if my mind fortress would protect me from the effects of the statue. Also, the spider room was where I had obtained magebane, and it might not be a bad idea to revisit that room too.

“Which way are we going?” Konstantin asked impatiently. I had been staring down the corridor in thought.

“Sorry, just reliving some memories with Maveith,” I said and continued walking to the doppelganger room. Even before I reached it, I could see the green mossy carpet and the berry bushes throughout. I didn’t see any movement, and I guessed the dungeon might have changed its occupants.

I was in front and surveyed the room. An emaciated elf boy sat up from behind a bush, his soulless eyes looking at me. “He’s back,” he chortled in elvish. The girl sat up as well from the other side of him. Her face was smeared with berry stains.

“Oh, and he brought new friends!” the girl added.

“You already knew I was coming. The dungeon told you,” I said. I don’t know how I knew, but there were hints in the way they reacted that told me they weren't surprised to see me again.

“You are no fun,” the boy snapped angrily.

“Jupiter’s ghost, I just met them, and I already want to kill them,” Konstantin whispered.

“Don’t be too anxious. Each one is stronger than Maveith, and even though they appear small, they weigh over four hundred pounds.

“I didn’t know dungeon creatures could talk to you,” Castile said from behind me.

“The dungeon can stop them if it wants,” I told her.

“They are very rude, talking like we are not even here,” the elf girl said, walking forward. She was wearing rags and looked miserable. Maybe it was my increased empathy from the last time I encountered these two, but their faces just appeared hollow to me. I also knew what they truly were underneath. The two stopped in front of us. “Little girl, come and play with us,” the elf girl said to Lexi. Her tone was playful, but her eyes lacked sincerity.

“I am not a girl!” Lexi hissed at the elf, who looked more amused than offended.

“Will you answer a question for these?” I held up two apples.

The two elves looked up at the ceiling, and I thought they might be communicating with the dungeon. “Not good enough for a question,” the boy snapped.

“What if I added this?” The two golden figs appeared in my other hand. The girl licked her lips, but the boy was not easily swayed.

“We want flesh. Give us flesh,” he eyed Lexi and smiled when she retreated a step, “and then we will answer a question.”

“Two questions and you will each answer one,” I said. I produced the last of the llama meat from my space. The boy sniffed and moved as close as he could afford to.

“What is it. I don’t recognize the scent,” the boy said, drooling.

“Llama,” I said. The boy licked his lips, his eyes focused on the raw meat.

“Two questions, one asked of each of us, if one does not know the other and the other does, too bad,” the elven girl interrupted.

“Agreed.” I tossed the apples, figs, and llama steaks in the room, and the pair set on them with abandon. Fighting with the other for a larger portion. Lexi looked away at the savagery, and Alhur whispered something to Konstantin I couldn’t make out over the grotesque noises. When they finished, their clothes were covered in juices, and both had scratches everywhere. However, both looked extremely satiated and happy with the meal.

I waited till they settled before asking my first question of the girl. “Is there still mithril in the dark room, and has it changed?”

“That is two questions, and you only get one answer from me!” She smiled as she picked flesh from her teeth and sucked on it. “Yes, if the corridor is still there, then there is still mithril there! And I am done!” She said self-satisfactorily.

I frowned and looked at the others for help. “What should the other question be?” I asked the group.

Alhur shrugged, “I am surprised it answered you at all.”

“If we are almost to the room, it should be of the dangers we might encounter,” Kostantin voiced his opinion.

“What has the dungeon added to make us mine the mithril more difficult?” I addressed the boy.

“Ah, a terrible question, because I am not allowed to leave this room, so how would I know? Therefore, I cannot answer your question, and you do not get another,” he said smugly. “Now will you come play? I am still hungry and haven’t had human flesh in ages.”

I drew magebane and looked at the others. I might need help against these two. “I will go first, and you all can come in behind me. I will kill the boy first, and we can all focus on the girl. She will likely shift into her larger natural form to fight, so be ready.”

In fact, we didn’t have to wait as both children morphed into their greater doppelganger forms twenty feet from the corridor, taunting us to enter. The towered over us, and even though their bodies appeared lean, I knew how strong these creatures were. “Plan hasn’t changed,” I said, stepping into the room.

I tried to remove the head of the creature on the right, only to find I couldn’t access my dimensional space. The predatory grin of the doppelganger told me he knew this would happen. I didn’t panic and knew earth speak and thickened air both were available to me. The strength of the creature made the later less effective, but I was much faster and more skilled since the last time I fought these creatures.

The clawed hand came down, and I twisted to dodge. As the hand passed me, I drew the dagger from my belt in one motion and drove it into the large forearm between the bones. I pivoted and spun behind the creature, and magebane sliced deep into its hamstring. The creature's pained cry hurt my ears. I tried again to access my dimensional space, but it was like my space no longer existed.

One leg crippled, the doppelganger went to a knee, crushing a berry bush. I heard a thud and a grunt behind me as I saw Alhur’s body thrown across the room. I released my hold on the thicken air spell form as it was more detrimental to my allies than the doppelgangers. I had expected to have killed my opponent quickly and join the others against the others. Castile had it smothered in shadow chains, but she was replacing them as fast as they were broken. Konstantin was flanking it and targeting the legs, trying to cripple it while Castile drained it of strength. It looked like they would prevail, and I focused on my foe.

I stepped back as a clawed hand came at me again, this time much faster. It stood, its weight mostly on one leg as it assessed the situation. It smiled evilly and hopped toward Castile, exposing its back to me. Lexi, the foolish girl, stepped out of the corridor to protect Castile.

I moved to cripple the other leg before it could reach the others, but the creature anticipated my attack, twisting violently and clawing in an arc behind it with its good arm. When the creature swiped only air, it was confused. I had started tying off a teleport anchor as soon as I entered the room and used it at this moment to appear between the doppelgangers. “Go to Alhur!” I yelled at Lexi.

I didn’t look to see if she obeyed as I recalled the dagger to the sheath, drew it, and drove it into the back of the doppelganger's good knee. Without a good leg to stand on, the creature fell into the moss in a rage of pain.

Konstantin had targeted large veins on the one Castile was working to restrain and streams of blood were flowing down its legs. Every swing was weaker and weaker, and it would bleed out very shortly.

“I will answer another question if you give me something else to eat before you kill me!” My doppelganger foe pleaded.

“Not today,” I said as magebane removed three fingers as he attempted to shield his head. On the second strike, the blade came down to embed in its skull, killing it. The adrenaline of combat faded, and I took in the room.

Lexi was healing Alhur as the reward chest appeared in the room. Castile and Konstantin had taken out their doppelganger. Lepidus stepped into the room, having not helped at all, and picked a single berry and popped it between his fingers. He licked the juice before exploring the room further.

I reflected on the fight. I knew what the dungeon had done. Like it had frozen my aether channels in the other room, it had done the same thing for aether tainted with spatial magic. That was a common tactic dungeons used. I stepped into the corridor to confirm and was relieved when I could access my space again. Entering the moss room, access was again cut off. I would have to explore the room with earth speak to see if I could map out the runes that had done this.

“Which passage do we take?” Alhur asked.

I gestured, “That one should lead to the safe room, and that one leads to the dark room.”

“Which way are we going?” Lexi asked.

I produced the collector and knelt over the greater doppelganger. As the apex illusion essence formed, the swirling prismatic colors were mesmerizing. Castile, Lexi, and I could all utilize the illusion essences. “I think we can use a rest, and maybe we can try asking questions again.”

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