The Crossroads

6 | A Secret, Or Two

It hit him like a truck. One moment, he was fine, and the next, his boots had grazed against something sharp and a wave of slow, throbbing pain started working its way up his body.

It came in stages--a few milliseconds of draining hurt, making you slow and sluggish, then a few moments of relief. Then, it started all over again.

Tango had had to deal with a problem like this a few years ago. A patch of roses had mutilated somehow, and their color turned from red to black. In the process, they'd also become deadly--they were one of the worst threats the Keep had encountered, right up there with the Ravagers.

One scratch from their thorns, and you got this--this feeling of draining energy that lasted for at least a minute, even more if you didn't get away from the roses immediately.

To make it worse, the original bunch of flowers had spread like wildfire, infecting the Keep and even making their way over to other parts of the Dungeon before they were finally got under control.

In the process, though, the Keep's population was cut down substantially, even before Tango had let the Ravagers loose.

Ever since, those flowers had been dubbed as wither roses, to reference the feeling you got when you were infected--like you were slowly withering away.

Etho never thought he'd find one again. The first time had already been bad enough, for goodness's sake. But--somehow--a small patch had survived in this little dark hallway in the Labyrinth, using the loose brown sand here to grow.

He stumbled forward, hoping to get away from the rose in his path, but he just ran into another one. Their thorns could even cut through his boots--that's how sharp they were. He moved forward again, trying not to trip and fall into the sand on his way while battling the ongoing wither effect.

And he stepped into another flower.

And another.

And another.

How many of these roses were here? They just kept on coming, and with each rose, the effect got worse and worse.

In his haste, Etho crashed into the Blackstone wall in front of him. It took him a second to realize that the hallway took a right turn.

At the very end, he could see the smallest bit of light peeking out from under the crack of another door, so he stumble-ran as fast as he could towards the exit.

He crashed through the door, flinging it open and coming to a screeching halt. Frantically, he started patting his pockets and belt, seeing if there was anything he had on him that could stop the wither effect, which hadn't worn off yet.

His hand brushed against a glass vial in his pocket, and he pulled it out quickly, almost dropping it as he fumbled with it.

The healing potion Impulse had given him before the Labyrinth Ravager chase, of course. With all the excitement earlier, he'd completely forgotten about it.

He downed the whole potion in two big gulps, feeling the sudden warmth spread through his body and cancelling out the wither effect. It wasn't Scar's magic crystals, but it was close.

"That looked dangerous."

Etho startled, not realizing he wasn't alone in the room he'd stumbled into.

The room itself was pretty small, but it was similar to the rest of the Labyrinth. Blackstone made up the edges of the wall and floor. Red bricks similar to the ones Etho had seen in the Ruins formed the walls, but they didn't have the skull carved into them.