24 – A Lava Bath

Hearing the chime, Ashley yawned. “Five more minutes…”

[System Notification: Pendant of the Blooming Ward | Side Effect: Forced Slumber (2h) terminated | Cooldown: 00:00]

She stretched her arms wide, the last dregs of sleep still pulling at her limbs.

“What a weird dream,” she muttered into the absolute dark.

She pulled the blanket up to her chin, but the physical sensation was entirely wrong. The expected weave of cotton sheets was missing. Thousands of tiny, velvet-headed stalks brushed against her bare skin, tickling her arms and legs with a damp, living warmth.

The scent, at least, was intimately familiar. It was the unmistakable smell of the luxury candles she used to keep in every room of her apartment. White rose. Heavy, thick, and cloying.

“Sticky,” Ashley complained, reaching out blindly, searching for the plastic light switch on the wall beside her mattress. Her fingers met only a yielding, soft curve.

“Where is that damned switch?” she grumbled, her voice muffled by the petals around her. “I need [Light].”

As she said the word, a small sphere of soft orange luminescence flickered into existence, bobbing gently in the air just inches from her nose.

She blinked against the sudden glow. Her eyes widened at the sight of the towering, tightly curved petals hemmed in on all sides. As she sat up, the orange orb drifted higher toward the ceiling of the floral cocoon to grant her more visibility.

“No,” she whispered, a sudden panic tightening her throat. “I’m still here?”

Her hands flew to her temples, probing them frantically.

Just as before, her fingertips met unfamiliar, flawless skin and the high, sharp bridge of a nose that belonged to someone else. She clawed at her cheekbones and her forehead, searching for a seam. There was no plastic casing to find. No straps. No display lenses. Absolutely nothing was attached to her head.

“I’m starting to wonder if there’s even a way out of this,” she murmured, gazing up at the floating orb of light she’d evoked with a mere word. “Whatever this is.”

What if there isn’t a way out?

She shook her head violently, banishing the terrifying thought before it could take root in her mind.

“Pancakes,” she muttered, the random word coming out as half a grunt. Her mouth watered at the mental image of thick maple syrup. “When this is over, I want pancakes for breakfast. Anyway. Can’t be helped.”

Ashley stood up, her bare feet sinking slightly into the spongy, pollen-dusted pistils of the gigantic flower. She reached out, her fingers digging into the overlapping seam between two giant petals. She pushed hard against the soft barrier, anticipating the open space of the cavern floor.

Her palms struck cold, unyielding rock.

“Ah, yes. Now I remember,” she said, leaning her forehead against the stone barricade. “The boulders, I used the pendant, but it cost me a few hours. At least my mana’s back to full.”

She inhaled deeply, savoring the comforting weight of her restored power.

“Very well. First things first,” she muttered, straightening her posture. “Find the others and fix the volcano thing. After that, find the other… me. And then…”

One problem at a time.

“Okay, let’s seee… [Map].”

A quick thought summoned the system map interface.

The holographic grid manifested directly across her field of view, peppered with glowing dots of light.

While the display detailed the structural layout of her current floor, the tracking dots changed size to show how deep each person was within the mountain. A steady, vibrant blue dot pulsed closest to her position.

Further away on the grid, the purple and gold indicators blinked with a faint, diminished light.

“Paco and Aury’s dots are smaller. They’ve got to be on another floor,” she murmured, frowning.

Since the map rendered only her current level, she could tell their position but not their elevation. She had to guess the floor from the size of the dots. “Up or down?”

She paused, mentally reconstructing the sequence right before the cave-in.

“My guess is down. Underground gnomes, obviously. But first, the priest.”

She pinched the air to zoom in on the [Map]. The blue dot pulsed against the grid, a steady rhythm that gave her a heading.

“Stay put, Simon. I’m coming for ya.”

Ashley spread her arms, and the petals peeled back at the sweep of her fingers, curling back to reveal the smooth wall of rock.

The surface bore the ghost-like impression of the flower’s shape, crushed into the stone by the boulder’s weight. One of the boulders from the collapse had landed directly on the cocoon, embedding itself in the flower-shaped barrier of her charm: a single-use item capable of shielding her from almost anything.

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It wasn’t the first time she had used this kind of item.

She still remembered when her old party stormed Valkist’s Castle to challenge one of the strongest bosses in the game. During the battle, she had used an identical charm to save one of her companions.

The charm’s sleep debuff had knocked him out cold inside the protective flower. Too bad he slept through the entire fight and missed all the experience.

Ashley shrugged.

“More XP for me.”

That victory had been the final push to reach max level and to obtain her staff, one of the most potent tools for a mage build: the [Forgotten Moon Staff].

“Okay, I’ve wasted enough time already. First things first.” She pursed her lips, the memory of the elemental cycle still lingering in the back of her mind.