Note: I was about to name this chapter "Skillless: but I'm risking a ticket from the grammar police for three L's in a row.
Arthur did not remember walking to the dungeon. Though his flexible heart deck made it a lot easier for him to remove the cards, he was still in a bit of shock. Not only from losing his cards but from leaving Brix behind.
Though he wasn't quite with it as he walked through the crystalline entrance, that changed the moment the tip of his boot passed through the barrier. He was yanked in as if somebody had grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled. Then suddenly he was falling over and over, flipping through utter darkness with no sense of up or down. No way to stop himself—he couldn't even feel himself.
And then, suddenly, it ended. He hit a gritty surface on hands and knees, limbs buckling on the impact so that he landed flat on his face. The air whooshed out of his lungs, and he wheezed, curling up to the side.
Arthur's first reaction was a spurt of irritation that his Master of Body Enhancement card had not kicked in. Then he remembered, like a hand touching the top of a hot stove, that he didn't have any of his body enhancements.
That was one of his more subtle cards, and the benefits it had given him affected everything from balance to reaction speed to his toughened skin attribute... which he was acutely missing at this moment.
Marion arrived a few seconds later, stumbling forward. But he didn't land on his face.
"Arthur? What are you doing—oh no, move!"
Arthur was starting to get to his feet, but Marion grabbed him under one arm and yanked him along quickly to the side.
Not a moment too soon because Asha arrived a moment later. She was just as discombobulated as the others, and as she emerged, somehow, from a door that had magically grown to fit her size, she tripped over her own feet and landed belly-first right where Arthur had been.
"What was that?" she hissed, looking around. "Where are we?"
That was a good question. Arthur took a proper look around. They appeared to be at the shores of a mountain lake. The ground underfoot was sandy with thick, rocky grains. Behind them stood a stand of tall pine trees, and ahead stretched achingly blue water. Far beyond stood sharp mountains in all directions. Arthur got the impression of a bowl, and they were standing on the bottom.
"Crystal did say that this was a mostly destroyed dark heart." He turned to look at the door from where they came, only to find it gone. "I guess we should have expected a rocky entrance."
"And you've already started with a wound," Marion said, looking at him as if he were a disappointed parent.
Arthur gingerly touched his stinging chin, and his fingers came back wet with blood. He really had landed on his face.
"Here, I'll fix it. Can't have our fearless leader looking like he can't keep his balance."
Marion started to step forward, but Arthur shook his head. "No, it's just a little scrape. Don't waste mana on it."
Marion pursed his lips but nodded. "This lake does look too peaceful not to be a death trap in some way."
As if the dungeon were listening to him, words suddenly scrawled themselves across the sky.
"Uh," Arthur said, feeling brittle. "Can you read that?"
Had he completely forgotten to read? No… there was something strange about the lettering. Like it was a different alphabet, one he could not begin to recognize. He’d seen it before, but again, it was locked away in his skills.
"It's in New Texan, which is a little odd because I didn't think that we were in that continent anymore," Marion replied. "Do you think there's a common language between Crystal's land and—"
"Marion," Asha said with infinite patience for her bonded rider, "what does it say?"
"Oh. Yes, sorry. It says: Survive The Waves."
All of them edged away from the water, which continued to lap peacefully at the shoreline with two-inch swells.
They all waited for a moment, tense. In the distance, a songbird sang out from the pine trees.
"This might be a bit too late to ask," Marion started in a forced conversational tone, "but as I said before, Asha and I don't have combat cards. And you've just given away the bulk of your powers..." He trailed off meaningfully.
Arthur nodded, feeling grim, then caught himself and shook his head. Yes, he had given up his Master set and had left Brixaby behind, but that did not mean he was powerless. Letting out a breath, he concentrated on his stinging chin and his palms, which were equally scraped up. Focusing on those minor pains made it easier to ignore his heart.
"I still have my rare cards: my Phase In, Phase Out, my Nice Shot card, and..." He blinked. "I have everything in my storage space." With that, he pulled out one of his kitchen knives and gave it an experimental twirl in his fingers—something that he would not have thought twice about doing before.
His fingers fumbled on the handle as if they'd become sausages, and he very nearly dropped the knife on his foot.
"I am filled with confidence," Marion said.
"No, no wait a moment, I have this." Arthur picked up the knife and, holding it, focused not on a skill that he did not have access to, but on his makeshift weaponry card.
Makeshift Weaponry
Uncommon
Combat
This card grants its wielder the intuitive ability to perceive ordinary objects as potential weapons and to wield them effectively to attack and defend. This card does not grant the improvised weapons additional strength or durability.
Like bodily enhancement, it was a subtle card that helped augment his skills and his habit of using unusual tools in combat. Accessing the uncommon card, he focused on the fact that this was a kitchen knife. Not a dagger.
Then, though he did not have his throwing or knife work skills, he turned and threw the knife at the nearest tree. It sailed end over end, and the blade landed with a thunk several inches deep. It was quite sharp.
Marion whistled under his breath. "That's more like it. Wait, don't you have javelins in that storage space?"
"I have a Makeshift Weaponry card," Arthur said, then reached into his Personal Space and grabbed a pickaxe. “This will be better.”
"Why do you even have a pickaxe? When is the last time you did mining? You know what, never mind." Marion let out a breath, clearly recentering himself. "I don't suppose you have two of them--of course, you do," he finished with a grin as Arthur handed him one as well.
"More importantly," Asha said, "you have a dragon with you. I think you will be safe, Marion."
"I know I'm safe with you, but please let me keep some of my dignity and pretend that I can also defend myself."
Arthur had to look away from their banter. He missed Brixaby at that moment so badly it was like a physical ache.
The ground itself began to rumble under them. Turning back, he exchanged an alarmed look with Marion. "Eruption?"
"Or a standard earthquake." Marion pointed to the lake, which was starting to slosh back and forth. The waves, which had been so tiny that they had been inconsequential, were now knee-high and growing.
An errant splash landed on Arthur's bare forearm. The water was shockingly cold. So much so that it was nearly pain.
"Let's get above this," Arthur said, and started toward Asha. They were dragon riders and did not have to worry too much about earthquakes.
But Asha's eyes were wide. "Something is wrong with the air."
"What?" Marion asked.
"I don't know, it's..." she stopped and flapped her wings. Standing this close to her, there should have been a buffeting wind, but Arthur didn't feel as much as a breeze, nor did Asha start to rise into the air. That should have been impossible, but as they'd recently been told, dungeons made their own rules.
The waves were getting higher.
Arthur looked to the forest. He could well imagine danger in there, but it seemed that they didn't have a choice. "Okay, then we run."
The words were barely out of his mouth before something exploded out of the waves right behind them. For a moment, there was so much spray and confusion that Arthur didn't understand what was going on. He heard Asha scream in terror and Marion's scream in pain.
Something large with purple tentacles had grabbed him—no, hooked him by the leg. Arthur saw a flash of clasping white claws at the end of each tentacle and a flash of blood. Then Marion was dragged forward and under the water.
"Asha, stay there!" Arthur yelled and ducked into his Personal Space.
It was timeless in there, but his fingers still shook as he grabbed a large coil of rope and wrapped it around his waist. He fumbled the knot twice before he forced himself to stop and take a deep breath.
"I don't need a skill to tie a knot, damn it!" he growled, and focused on his fingers as he tied a simple not. Over, under, and through. This time it worked.
One more breath, and he reentered normal time.
Then, dropping the coil on the beach and trusting Asha to grab the other end, he dove into the churning lake after his friend.