Ruins of Scell: Prequel to The Secret Depths Trilogy by Cain Raymond

Author:Cain, Raymond [Cain, Raymond]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2017-03-07T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

Flynn retrieved what was left of his sword. After letting it cool for a few minutes, he tentatively picked it up and slid it into his scabbard. Half a sword was better than none.

A trail of lava, magically suspended along the ceiling, lit the hallway. Unlit torches rested in sconces spaced along the walls at regular intervals. In the distance, there was a set of stairs ascending to an upper level, and Flynn couldn’t be more excited to see where they led.

The magic adhering the lava to the ceiling also made it flow. Crystals, bubbles, and volcanic glass swirled beneath the molten surface, and it reminded Flynn of the way his own people manipulated water. Enchanted water often flowed along ceilings in Seahaven, and he wondered if his people got the idea from the scell, or if it was the other way around.

The air was warm and stale, and it felt rough on Flynn’s throat. The hallway was a beautifully-fitted assembly of five-sided black flagstones that were polished to a smooth finish. There was a slight incline, and Flynn wondered why the hallway was sloped. Perhaps the ground shifted over time.

Flynn proceeded toward the stairs and discovered a stone door set into the wall near their base. He turned a round stone latch on the right-hand side, and it broke off in his hand. He nudged the door but it was firmly locked in its doorjamb. It seemed unlikely that he would be able to kick open the stone door, so he chose to ascend the stairs instead.

The lines of lava along the ceiling stopped at the end of the hall, and the stairs were shrouded in darkness. Flynn nervously walked up the first few steps and felt something crunch under his boots. He whispered a command word into the crystal ring he wore, and it flared with pale blue light. The stairs were filled with cobwebs, and countless spiders crawled along the walls, floor, and ceiling. The arachnids were the size of fingertips and had mandibles longer than their bodies. The critters seemed to take advantage of the absence of lava on the ceiling; the stairs were so dense with webs that he could not see through them.

Flynn returned to the hallway and removed a torch from one of the sconces. He pressed one end into the lava along the ceiling and it flared to life, permeating the air with the stench of burning, moldy wood. Proud of himself for arriving at a solution so quickly, he returned to the stairs and poked the torch into the webs. Sparks crackled along the strands, and wisps of smoke crawled along the ceiling. In time, the sparks grew into flames, and thousands of spiders scattered from the inferno. Never had Flynn seen spiders move so quickly. They scurried up his boots and dropped down on him from above. He backed down the stairs, brushing them off his trousers and pulling them out of his hair. Spiders crawled down his spine, and he reached frantically under his clothing to remove them.

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