Within the dimly lit chamber of the Yellow Pavilion, the air was heavy on his shoulder, it felt like an ancient pressure. Dust flowed through the air, flickering lantern-light and magic sigils pulsed faintly on the stone walls.
Lucian stepped into the room, his footsteps were soundless. The cold weight of the place brushed against his skin. His eyes swept across ground.
He approached cautiously. Mare and her servant were already there, deep within the Pavilion's heart.
If I play this right… I can avoid an unnecessary fight and my death.
The hawk-faced servant, head snapped toward him. "Another rat sniffing for treasure, huh?"
Mare, slowly turned, her gaze narrowed as she felt his presence. "You're not just any rat," she said. "You made it to Yellow Mountain. Passed all those powerful mortals and fiends. Out my globe alone." She tilted her head. "What are you after?"
"I go where the path calls," Lucian said calmly, though his eyes flicked to the center of the room… It had a faded pedestal, wrapped in a swirling green energy globe.
His fist clenched behind his back. Of course like previously, he had a plan. If he needed to escape or go forward. He didn't before, he'd pretend to play along.
"You feel it too," Mare murmured. "Something's sealed below. A relic missed by the last wave of scavengers. But the Pavilion doesn't give freely."
Lucian lips formed a faint smirk. "Relics like these never sleep without jaws, guarding them."
He paused, then stepped forward, he made direct eyes contact, with fire lightning behind his eyes.
"Let's skip the false threats," he said. "We're all here for the same reason. Let's be efficient about it."
The hawk-faced man scoffed. "You're suggesting a team up? What's stopping you from stabbing us in the back once you get what you want?"
"I won't," Lucian replied flatly. "You want the primary relic… I can feel its chill from here. I'll settle for the secondary spoils. What I really care about… is the mechanism guarding it."
Mare stared at him for a long moment, weighing the risk.
"Fine. But one sign of betrayal… "
"… Will never come from me," Lucian countered quickly, spreading his hands. "Let's move."
They continued deeper into the Pavilion until coming to a hall that opened into a vast chamber. Hundreds of square tiles stretched across the floor, forming a deceptively plain stone mosaic.
Lucian halted, he felt the air had shifted. But he couldn't pin point why?
When Mare's servant stepped forward.
"click."
There was a tile beneath him that morphed, sliding away. He barely leapt back in time, avoiding a sudden drop into an abyss filled with obsidian spikes.
"Trap tiles." Mare muttered.
"Hmm," Lucian crouched down, brushing his two fingers across the floor. He began to feel it… the magic energ threads beneath. He smiled inward. "This isn't just random. It's spatial-shift magic."
Hmm… a floor that isn't fixed, it rewrites the rules from intent. I might be able to use this to my advantage. However, there a possibility they have a spell to escape. How to play this scene out?
Lucian nodded to himself, of course he didn't really agree to the relic. He just needed to move forces without dying. It was the same for her as long as he let's them forward at the end she's going to kill him, he knew, even seen that personally.
Drawing a quick sigil into the dust, he explained, "Every step reshapes the formation. The trick is… it adjusts based on your assumptions. The more confident you are in the path… the more it shifts to punish you."
"So how do we cross?" the servant growled.
Lucian stood straight up his head held high, eyes gleaming… He had already solved it.
Without a word, he began walking… stepping sideways when forward seemed obvious, pausing when the air pulsed, even walking backward when logic screamed to move ahead.
Think like the trap. Lucian realized by doing the opposite of what it expects. Stepping backward when it expects forward. Move where it believes no one would dare step… Defying its expectations.
Mare watched him closely, her eyes silently analyzing.
Ten minutes later, they reached the far side.
A second chamber awaited them… smaller, colder. In the center, a platform rose, holding three distinct glowing red, blue and black.
One was a long black-and-white fang, encased in frost, pulsing with raw energy. The other, dull in comparison, was an ancient herb… weathered, yet still potent.
Also the last had no energy to it, as it simply was a black ancient stone table covered by symbols.
Lucian's eyes narrowed. He knew deep inside, this was the real test.
One promises power. The other... perhaps survival.
Why does the magic of the Yellow Pavilion reward misdirection and punish certainty?
"This is where we split," Mare instructed coolly, already striding toward the frost-encased relic. Her servant followed, though his eyes remained wary on Lucian.
He didn't move… His gaze swept over the tiles beneath the relics, his chin tiled upward, he smirked mischievously.
The ground hadn't shifted once since they crossed… but the tension in the air remained… too dense, too still.
"You know," he said, his voice casual, "This last part's easy. You just walk normally. The formation's already been disrupted by our earlier pathing."
Mare looked back frowning. "You're sure?"
"Let me show you."
Lucian stepped forward casually... Nothing happened.
Mare hesitated, then nodded to her servant. He stepped forward… Then Mare.
Lucian waited. One… two… three steps.
"Click!"
Suddenly, a sound echoed in the air, the floor rippled like water. At the same time, it vanished beneath them.
Mare's eyes widened in horror as realization struck, too late. She and her servant plummeted into the abyss, he heard there scream cut short from being impaled.
However, before death above them, an afterimage of Lucian dissolved into mist.
Lucian stood at the edge, alone. The floor beneath him remained solid.
"Innocence doesn't matter. Hunger doesn't care. My survival matters."
He'd done the opposite. And this time, it wasn't just to survive. It was to win.
He turned and approached the final platform… His hand hovered over the duller relic first… a withered herb radiating ancient presence… He took it gently.
"Trust is a wonderful thing," he whispered, "Especially when it's used against the arrogant."
Then he took the old ancient stone tablet. Finally, he turned toward the fang.
"Always control the battlefield. Even when it's a conversation."
He grasped the frost-covered fang. It pulsed violently in his palm, freezing cold… but laced with unmistakable power.
He frowned, remembering Cassie and Richie's warnings.
"Using, another vampire power... just for a boost. An ancient one, at that."
He sighed, casting one last glance down at the abyss. He then noticed a exit, behind the relic cases. The passage back to the outside seemed intentionally active. Like someone, or something, expected this.
If this is penance, let it be painful.
A few minutes later, Lucian stood atop a broken ring marked by sigils, thought powerless now.
He looked ahead, his hands clasped together tightly.
"No more distractions. I need to get back. Halcyon. Asher, with this I can surely help her."
Would Lucian have taken the same path if Halcyon and Asher hadn't been waiting for him?
Lucian stepped forward.
Suddenly, he felt the world shifted. Trees rose around him. Dense forest. But the moment he arrived, energy crackled through his veins like a jolt.
His eyes widened, his teeth started grising.
How did they find me already? Don't matter just escape, whoever their are is formidable, powerful enough to keep a lock on me.
He dashed between some trees, slipping through shadows, moving faster than ever before. But he could feel it… someone was locked onto him.
Soul-deep.
"Where are they!?"
A sudden voice thundered from above.
"You! Stop!"
Lucian glanced far up. Through the leaves, he saw him… Silas, floating above on a radiant, five feet divine cross.
"You again." Lucian muttered.
He didn't stop. Instead, he pushed his body harder, faster, in his eyes trees blurred past him…
"You won't escape me this time." Silas's voiced to himself, he had a wide grin.
A couple minutes later when Silas thought that Lucian was going to slow down he didn't was able to see that he was a human but he started to doubt that.
Lucian grit his teeth, he even clicked his tongue.
Ancestor from the Church of the Past … of course he'd be the one after me.
He had no plans of escape. He had nothing left on him. No tools, no allies. As he told Halcyon… he'd hidden everything, from his past.
Then an idea flickered into his racing mind.
"If I lure a beast… something strong enough to stall him…"
"Boom!"
In that moment, a blinding crash shook the forest. As massive golden-white cross slammed into the ground before him, skidding on the ground, the cross blocked his path.
Glancing behind it, he could still see the faint shimmer of the energy veil.
"Give me the relics," Silas called out, landing nearby "And I might spare your life."
Lucian didn't answer. He turned, trying to run around… only to find Silas already dashing through the forest. Instead of flying his cross, he was sprinting at him.
The cross had slowed them both. Stopping Lucian and Silas having to run, as he thought he would have given up.
Without hesitation, he shot forward, burst around the edge of the cross and leaped straight through the veil.