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  [colpse]Chapter Eighty-Four - Psychohazard

  “Hey, hey,” I said as I rubbed Awen’s back.

  Her fighting and g had stopped after a bit, especially when Amaryllis and I had pulled her away from the edges of the bridge and brought her closer to the doors.

  Those mirrors back there were awful. Worse than the golems by far. All the golems wao do was murder us, not make my friends cry.

  “This floor’s a tricky one, Moon Moon was right,” Amaryllis said as she stared into the room. “You don’t seem to be affected as much. We could use you as a guide?”

  “Yeah,” I said. I kept rubbing Awen’s back. “Let’s give Awen a bit to pose herself first?”

  “I’m--I’m sorry,” Awen sniffled.

  “None of that,” I said. “It’s okay. Sometimes things scare some people more than others; we all want some things really badly. Everyone has a price, I guess.”

  Awen shuddered. “It was, it was just a refle,” she said. “But it was real, and it was me, and my family, and I was, I was myself, and they were happy.”

  I hugged her closer. “It’s okay. Those mirrors are big fat meanies if all they do is hang things you really want before you.”

  Awen sank into the hug. “Thank you, Broccoli. Really. You’re... good. You’re very good, and I’m really happy you’re here.”

  I grinned. “I’m gd you’re here too,” I said before tightening my hug. “Do you think you’re ready tain?”

  “Awa, I don’t know?”

  Amaryllis snorted. “Don’t be a fool. The risk isn’t worth it. You have some cloth in your backpack?”

  “I do,” I said. I hoped my fusion showed because I didn’t know what to think of her nour.

  “Then we’ll fashion her a blindfold. It’s a simple enough solution. You lead her to the end.” Amaryllis gestured to the door opposite us.

  “And what about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “You almost walked off the edge there,” I said.

  She huffed and crossed her wings. “I suppose I could tether myself to you. As demeaning as it is.”

  We took a few mio get ready, but by the end all three of us were tied together with ropes around our waists. Awen held onto my hand too, just to help guide her, and she had a few pieces of cloth ed over her eyes.

  “Everyone ready?” I asked.

  “Let’s get it over with,” Amaryllis said.

  I started walking. The smart thing to do, of course, would have been to stare straight ahead, or maybe at the bridge, ign all the mirrors as we walked past them. But I never cimed to be a very smart bun.

  e padded out ahead of us, then paused to look at her refle. I was worried for a moment, but the started strutting even harder as if trying to show up her own refle.

  The first mirror showed the same image of me with my friends, but it didn’t appeal as much as it had even minutes before. As it was, my friends were right o me, literally tied to me. If that didn’t trump mere refles of smiles then nothing would.

  The mirror had me sn as Sky Captain Bunch stood tall and proud on the deck of a big airship.

  I shook my head and moved on. Some of the mirrors had me pausing. Me in a pretty dress in a rge ballroom, or making snow-angels in a mountain of gold. They were really trying to pily what I wanted, but were missing the mark.

  Some, I had to admit, were just really . I looked kind of awesome wearing full-pte armour and carrying a sword as wide as I was; fag off against some dark monster while an orphanage’s worth of kids hid behind me.

  Then I found my feet slowing down as I saw a refle of myself. Not me as I currently was, but me as an older woman. Still spry, still smilie wrinkled skin and eyes that had gone a little cloudy with age. I was sitting on a rog chair, a b over my p. Pictures sat oables around my chair, of me and my friends as adults, of me o young people that had to be my children.

  I swalloushed past. That was something I wanted one day, and it was something that would happen. I didn’t o look into a mirror to know it.

  “Oh,” Amaryllis said.

  I looked to her, then to the mirror she was looking at.

  My face fmed.

  The Broccoli in the refle was wearing... not much at all. And she was in the arms of a few young men and even some young women. Handsome people who were wearing oil aight britches and who all had very nice s. They were dang and flexing and--

  I tugged the cord around Amaryllis’ waist and pulled her past that particur mirror. We both stared at our blushing faces and agreed not to talk about it.

  I crossed mirrors of myself glowing in pride as I rubbed a swollen belly, and myself as a benevolent queen, and even myself hugging a handsome boy and, strangely enough, myself and Awen both in white dresses in front of an altar.

  It kind of became a blur, but the long path to the end of the floor came closer and closer.

  I still paused a bit at the mirror that showed me riding a dragon, not because I wao step off to my death, but because it retty darned cool to see. And then we were he end.

  I thought we were home free when I felt Amaryllis’ cord tightening. “Huh?” I asked.

  She was staring at one of the mirrors, not with wanting but with fusion.

  I looked into it to see myself in dark pte armour, riding atop a skeletal dragon at the head of an army of sves about to assault a city. “I... think that one’s defective,” I said.

  “Likewise,” Amaryllis said.

  Reag the end was a little anticlimactipared to the room with the golems and the light puzzle devices, it had been a walk in the park. Though, perhaps that was unfair. The dungeon--if it could be spoken of as somethiient--had been clever, trying to use our own psyches against us. Clever, and mean.

  I let go of Awen’s hand, wiggled mine a bit to get rid of some of the handholding ess, then opehe door leading bato the ravine.

  “We’re free!” I said.

  “Awa, we made it?” Awen asked.

  I carefully pulled her blindfold off a her see that we were out once more. “See,” I said.

  She beamed at me, then flushed and looked away. “I’m sorry that you had to do that,” She said. “If I was strohen you woul--oww!”

  I brought my hand up, still holding it ft above her head iimal pre-bonking position. “Don’t be so silly. We all have our weaknesses,” I said.

  “Awa, but, but you don’t have any,” she said.

  Amaryllis ughed. Not a dylike giggle, or her pretty birdsong giggle, but a full on tummy ugh. “Oh world, that’s hiriously wrong on so many levels.”

  “Mean,” I said, but I couldn’t hold back a bit of a chuckle. It was hard not to ugh when a friend was ughing, and the weight of stress being lifted after crossing that st floor was such a relief that it only made it easier to ugh.

  Amaryllis wiped the back of a talon across her eyes. “We should keep moving. We still have a few more floors to get through.”

  “Right!” I said. “As soon as we’re all ready.”

  Awen nodded. “I, I’m ready,” she said.

  “Cool!” I said.

  We began our third trek across the ravih a bit more fidehough we still took our time and periodically tapped the gss bridge before us as we walked, just in case.

  As with the st two floors, the third was blocked off by a rge round door with the same meisms as the st. “I ’t remember what this floor is supposed to be,” I admitted.

  “The boss floor, acc to the pendium, but I believe that might have ged,” Amaryllis said. She poio the sides of the ravihere are two more bridges. That makes five.”

  “So five floors then?” I wondered.

  “Some dungeons have delve rooms that only work for the first few floors, there could be more.”

  I hummed. “I hope not. I wouldn’t want to sleep o these bridges, or in the dungeon at all if I avoid it.”

  “That’s more than fair,” Amaryllis said. “It’s only evening, we have a few hours to go before that bees a worry, and even then, we take a break after this floor to recuperate a little.”

  “Awesome. Let’s get this one over and doh then!” I said as I raised my shovel in preparation to tackle the floor in a jiffy.

  We opehe door, then stared into infinity.

  I saw myself reflected ba every surfad from nearly every a took a moment to notice the way the floor curved around and split off in a few dires.

  “A mirror maze?” I wondered.

  “I’m unfamiliar with the term, what is it?” Amaryllis asked.

  I tried not to be too smug that I got to expin something for once. “It’s a maze, but the walls are all made of mirrors. It makes it harder to judge how far things are because you see a lot of refles.”

  “Brilliant,” Amaryllis said. “I suppose turning right at every juncture won’t work.”

  “We could try turni?” I said.

  She ed me behind the head with her wing. “Moron.”

  “Awa, we could y out some rope?” Awen said. “Or leave a mark on the gss?”

  “That’s an idea,” I said. “Anyone have a sharpie?”

  “A what?” Amaryllis asked. “No, nevermind. I have ink but I doubt it would stick to the mirrors. I think... one moment.”

  The harpy stepped up to the mirrored wall ahead of us and brought a talon up. Little electrical sparks snapped around her hand as she swiped it across the mirror. It left bck marks on the gss.

  “That works,” I said. “So how do we actually navigate the maze?”

  “That’s the easy part,” Amaryllis said. “We ask the most valuable member of the team for help.” She gestured off to the side.

  We all turo stare at e who paused i of ing herself to stare right back. Her little kitty expression seemed to say ‘why are you looking at me like that.’

  “Yoing to have to expin that one for me,” I said. “I love e, but she’s usually more keen on sleeping than doing work.”

  e nodded. It robably just a straick though.

  Amaryllis rolled her eyes. “She’s a spirit cat. Or a spirit kitten, as the case may be. You shouldn’t uimate her abilities. She phase through the walls, find the exit, then guide us to it. No one else in this party has such skill or talent, or even scratched the surface of what she do. Truly she is the best of us.”

  Amaryllis was... ying it on sort of thick. But one look at he had puffed up at the praise suggested that maybe it was on purpose. “I suppose,” I said. “She is a ty. Do you think we could vince her to help with scritches?”

  Amaryllis scoffed. “Please, as if you know the first thing about g for such a majestic creature. Look at your blunt little human fingers! You ’t scratything properly with those. I, oher hand, have superior harpy breeding on my side. I’m certain a creature as glorious as e would sympathize with my cause.”

  e looked betweewo of us then, quite obviously, rolled her little kitty eyes and trotted off into one of the mirror-lined corridors.

  “That worked?” I whispered over to Amaryllis.

  “Don’t ruin it,” she said. “e o’s finish up this floor.”

  ***

  AnnouMy poor backlog.I haven't been writing new amon Bun every day (I'm only writing 3-4 chapters a week) so my backlog has dropped to 105K.

  In other news... the search for a doggo tinues! I actually found ohat was super cute (as all dogs are), but when I called the dy putting it up for adoption I was too te. I shan't be deterred!

  Started w on Voulme Two of amon Bun as well. It should be everything up to chapter 120 or so. Sammax is helping me 'cause he's the best.