I apologize to those who cannot catch the reference. I wanted to add more, but writer's block is a jerk and I had trouble getting back into writing mode as it is, so, there ya go. But Iris and Tobi are back, and I will make more references (more clear ones) in the future. In the meantime, enjoy the chaos, let me know what you think of the story, and have fun! Chapter 17!
Chapter 17: Beginning Our First Proper Dungeon
or
Whoever Catches the Hidden Reference is Amazing
Iris stared at the large, intricate copper door that Tobi had led her to with surprisingly few obstacles (if you can call demon scrolls obstacles), taking in the engraving of the enormous hawk that seemed to be diving towards a small figure that cowered in fear. As she looked at the engraving, following the gaze of the victim to the ferocious gaze of the monstrous bird of prey, while Tobi watched her observe, her eyes flickered to the right for a split second, before what she'd just seen registered. She stared for a moment, before taking a breath and looking at Tobi.
"So let me get this straight," Iris finally said after several quiet seconds, "This door leads to the demon hawk."
"That is correct, good woman." Tobi responded.
"It's locked." She pointed at the three locks on the door – a LockJaw with a very menacing eye, a bronze lock with lightning symbols on it, and one that was simply a circle with an indent.
"Your powers of observation continue to serve you well," Tobi said, and she was sure he suppressed a laugh.
"No sassing me. And I am guessing, by my luck and general logic," as much as I can apply to a world with demonic prayer slips, "that those three keys are inside this cave, and probably guarded by dangerous demons."
"Are you sure this is your first time in Nippon?" Iris gave an exasperated sigh, shoulders sagging. She started walking back across the winding stone bridge that connected the rest of the cave to the door, hanging ominously over what looked like a dark and very dank lower floor.
"Let's just get this over wi- did you hear that?" She looked down at the stone that kept her above the abyss below.
"Hear what, good woman?"
Ker-RACK.
"That. Crap." Iris glanced behind her as the stone began to crack. She started running, glancing back again as the crack grew, and chuck of stone started falling off behind her. "CRAP." She dashed ahead, silently cursing whoever designed this place and didn't invest in a stronger bridge. She felt the ground shaking. "CRAP CRAP CRAP-" the ground gave out beneath her. "CRAAAAAAAAAAA-OW!"
Tobi floated down to where Iris had landed on her back and was grimacing in pain. "Are you quite alright, Iris?"
"Peachy keen," Iris grunted before sitting up and rubbing her back. "Ow. Where are we?" She looked around.
"Actually, we're on the right track for the first key already," Tobi said as Iris sat up and rubbed her back.
"How did I survive that?"
"Right this way." Tobi floated away as Iris got up and followed.
Iris followed Tobi for what was about twenty minutes through the darkness, using only what little light emanated from him for guidance.
"Where are those cold-fire torches I saw in the entrance tunnel?" Iris asked as they turned another corner. "Were they too cold for the actual cave?"
"They're bait," Tobi responded, "to lure the unwary in here as prey for the hawk. We don't use them in here because we can see in the dark, unlike you humans."
"So what, you don't have normal-ow!" Iris felt a chunk of stone jutting out from the corner she'd turned jab into her shoulder.
"We're here. Just make sure not to wake up the guard, and we should be able to get the key safely." Iris looked around.
"I still don't see anythi-OHMYGOD!" Iris jumped back as something engulfed in flames came rolling towards her. It stopped a few feet from where it had missed her, and rotated until she saw a menacing face in a mirror glaring at her.
"Oh, bother, you woke up the guard," Tobi muttered. "Now we'll have to get it back to sleep-" Iris pulled her sword out and ran toward it, slashing at the glass as the mirror tried to run her over again. "Or you could kill him, I suppose."
Really? A mirror that's on fire? Iris jumped out of the way as it tried to steamroll into her again. Who comes up with this? She sidestepped another attack, and drove the sword into its center, causing the mirror to split into six pieces inside its frame. As she pulled the sword out, the pieces suddenly flew out of the wheel, which returned to spinning, and torpedoed toward Iris from different directions.
Iris ducked as the glass came at her, and cringed when she heard it shatter from colliding with its other pieces before falling to the ground. She looked at Tobi as the wheel started rolling again. "What, you're not going to help?"
"Sorry, I can't. Against the rules, I'm afraid. But you're doing great, for what it's worth," the slip responded as Iris jumped out of the way again.
"You guys have rules?" Iris cut off part of the wheel. "You've gotta be kidding me!" She drove her sword into the center of the wheel, and a large split formed in both directions. She pulled it out, and as the demon made one last futile attempt to attack her, she swung at the crack.
KER-ACK. The split tore the wheel into splintered halves, which, upon hitting the ground, suddenly burst into spheres of flame that flew up to the ceiling, lighting torches around the entire room, followed by more torches leading down both the hall Iris had just walked down and another one across the room.
Iris blinked several times in the new light as she sheathed Poet's Wrath, before glancing to where the wheel had landed. There, sitting on the burned ground that marked where it had fallen, was the first key. Iris picked it up, and put it in her bag.
"Well done, good woman!" Tobi said as he floated over. "But let's not celebrate just yet."
"I know," Iris said, "we have two more keys left to find."
"It's not just that," Tobi said, glancing up at the torches. "These torches light up whenever a guard dies to alert the rest of the cave, and the tunnels all point to which guard is dead. Unless we want to face five of those wheels… I'd suggest we run."
Iris stared at him for a moment, before grabbing Tobi and jamming him in the bag as she dashed through the new tunnel, reaching out with her free hand to snatch one of the torches as she heard yells and footsteps behind her. "I hate this place."