“Dodge!” Amy yelled out as Ben jumped to the side, a boulder falling from above landing where he was standing only seconds ago with more on their way down as they rushed back the way they’d come.

As they kept trying different paths, five having been dead ends, with the only three exceptions being the lava, the raining boulders coming down around them on the one they’d just tried, and one in the middle having the ground fall away beneath them, Amy jumping back in time and Jake only being saved by the fact that he could use his magic to fly, even if he seemed uncomfortably shaky for having to pull it off in a split second.

“So we have one direction we haven’t gone yet. What do you think the odds are that we just haven't gone down the right one yet?”

“Hey, you can roll a die and keep getting ones, it happens,” Jake said optimistically, confident that they were on the right path after exhausting all the others.

His companions seemed less sure but went along anyway, not seeing much other choice as Ben did his best to make a mental map of all they’d gone through so far, not wanting to end up lost if anything happened.

It was when they arrived at the halls edge that they felt a change before they saw it, the ground shaking as they stepped through Jake’s portal when the walls on each side of them changed, not letting lava pour out of them like they had the last time, but instead stepping out, taking the form of two stone giants, reaching out to attack as they did.

By this point, Jake was ready with the portal spell on his fingertips, opening it up for them to escape, but before they did it was Yuzu who acted, holding her staff forward and firing a spell Ben didn’t have the context to recognize, even if its effects were apparent. As it expanded forward, the raw power of a soul mage behind it, both statues were hit, with the effect being instantaneous.

The moment they touched her mana they collapsed to the ground, enough force behind their fall to almost knock Ben off his feet as Amy pat the blue girl’s back while Jake cheered.

“Woo! Looks like we can keep going forward then, let’s get going.”

It was Ben who stopped them, casting a look to the soul mage as he spoke up. “How did you do that?”

“I could feel the life mana within them so I blasted it away, I’m just good like that,” She said smugly as Ben focused on a different part of it.

“Okay, so I guess what me and Thera get to take away from this is that the trial will throw spells that mix attributes at us too. Should I take the fact that neither of you was surprised when Yuzu did that as a sign that you already knew?” He asked, watching as their faces went blank and they struggled to speak.

Covenants, gotcha.

“You don’t need to try and answer,” He sighed. “I get it, you all faced something along these lines in the life trial, right? Since we’ve seen lava too it looks like as long as the spell uses earth magic it’s fair game and it seems safe to assume that all of the trials operate this way then. Do they have anything else in common we should be worrying about?”

Again they fell silent, the effects of the covenant keeping them from answering one way or another as Ben held in a groan. He didn’t consider that the three of them might have information that he and Thera might need, and the fact that they couldn’t tell them was nothing but aggravating.

“Fine, just don’t go letting us die from anything you know and let's keep going. I guess there’s no safe path we can take from the looks of it so we just need to keep getting past these traps when we get to them. Wait, actually, before we do, do either of you need any stone?”

He packed a couple rocks to be on the safe side, but the fact that Thera had been able to control the lava earlier was sign enough that they could use what the trial provided as different traps activated.

Jake seemed fine, going to at least try to stick to his non-affinitied options outside of his space spell, but Thera held her staff out towards the fallen golem, ripping out a boulder and shrugging as the others looked at her questioningly.

“Better to have it and not need it, right?” She said, and it seemed good enough for them as a new portal opened and they stepped through to the next split.

“So which way this time gang?” Jake asked as they reached it. “Also, if we could walk for this next bit, all of this exploring has been brutal on my mana and I’d rather not need it for the whole not dying thing.”

Nobody was going to argue. Any party that came through without a space mage was bound to have a terrible time exploring and backtracking, only to discover that no matter what they did they’d have to keep going through the various traps eventually. Jake had saved them a lot of time and energy on that front, and they’d all be significantly happier if he had as much mana as he could to spare as their main escape route.

Though if he needs a break already he needs more practice with his space magic. Ben noted. Steph could go longer than that with more distance too. Maybe a heads up to mention to Uliel. Sorry Jake, it’s for your long-term survival.

“Since this was a path on our left I vote we keep going left,” Amy said. “That’s the easiest way to deal with a maze, right? You keep picking one direction and if you find a dead end you backtrack. Better than wandering around mindlessly.”

A maze.

Something about the word resonated with Ben, picking at his subconscious as a few of his minds worked on figuring out what. It was annoying, like he was right on the edge of something, but since he couldn’t see it, it was useless.

Without other options they agreed with Amy’s plan as they continued on their way, staying vigilant the best they could for anything that could befall them as they did their best to move forward.

While walking was better for Jake’s mana, it did leave their minds tense as they followed the plan, finding two more dead ends and doubling back as they moved to go down a new hall, a scraping sound telling them something was wrong before any of them could pick up on what, the noise filling the area as they all froze, trying to be on guard against whatever was coming for them, with that instinct being a huge mistake.

“Fuck, move!” Ben yelled out, being the first to realize what was happening. They were all in the middle of the hallway and the walls were closing in. Going back or forward would take just as long so they pressed on, running with all of their might as Ben was carried again, giving him the horrifying view that they weren’t going to make it in time.

He wasn’t alone in seeing that, but it was Thera who reacted first. She was still carrying the boulder with her magic, having it just in case it could be put to use and finding one as she had altered its shape before Jake even began his space spell. changing the rock into a long, thin bench that scooped up each of the runners before rocketing forward, getting them out of harm's way at breakneck speeds.

The problem with any sort of rapid speed though was always the stopping. She slowed down the best she could once she’d gotten them out but still had to stop fast lest they hit the oncoming wall, with the speed being enough to throw them out at it.

As the momentum carried them all forward, it was only Ben and Jake who’d paid the cost for it, both hitting the wall and falling to the ground as Amy and Yuzu were more successful in using their high attributes to manage things more gracefully while Thera had her coordination skill to aid in her landing, rushing over to Ben after she did.

“Okay, maybe I understand why you were so set on the cart having seatbelts now, are you okay?” She asked in worry as she ran her life magic through him, trying to heal everything she saw.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just renewing my devotion to the idea of introducing road safety to this world,” He told her as he laughed, doing his best to ignore the ache in his bones that was already beginning to fade as the spells coursed through him.

Amy was less sympathetic to Jake as the other man was being healed by Yuzu. “Jake, I don’t want to put too much responsibility on you since we’re all in this together, but how many times have your teachers told you that you need to work on your response time, not to mention your ability to cast under pressure? What do you think I’m going to be telling them if we get out of this?”

“Ah, but you see on that I’m safe,” He said happily. “God bless covenants, keeping all of these little embarrassing details a secret.”

“Well, there’s two things you need to remember,” Amy said with a sigh, feeling like she had to act as his brain more often than not. “One, all they have to ask is where I think you need to improve and the covenant shouldn’t keep me from saying, and two, a covenant doesn’t stop two people under the same one from talking about it together.”

Hearing that, Jake’s face went blank as he remembered the reason they had invited Thera and Ben instead of bringing their teachers with them and he rushed to change the subject.

“Well hey, we’re all safe and alive, thanks Thera!” He called out as they looked down another long hall. “Still, how long do you guys think this will take? This place seems like it’s going to be huge and who knows when we’ll run into the next trap? You guys think we’ll need to sleep in here?”

“Tower trials can take days to finish,” Amy sighed. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Well, your favourite craftsman packed food and sleeping gear so we’ll be fine,” Ben said happily, as something about what Jake said stuck with him.

Who knows when we’ll run into the next trap?

A maze.

What am I missing? Ben wondered. What’s picking at me?

“Ah, I got plenty of gear in my own magic inventory too,” Jake told them, not bound to using a tool like Ben was. “Fully stocked up, so I’d be happy to share our supplies if someone’s cooking?”

“Yeah yeah, I’ll do it when we need to. For now, let’s just figure out which way is next.”

He could already see the path was going to split ahead and he noted it in the mental map he was making, when all at once he felt things click.

Which way is next?

Who knows when we’ll run into the next trap?

A maze.

“Jake, I know you're trying to save mana after that first stretch but do me a favour and open a portal to that next area, if we do I think we’ll see that the right path angles left and the left path splits in three, with one continuing on forward.”

They looked at him funny, not sure what would make him guess that. They hadn’t seen a single path that split in three yet, there was no reason to think things would change, but Jake saw the confidence in Ben’s eyes and did as he asked, opening the gate for them to step through with each of them first checking the left path, seeing he was correct.

“Ben, how did you figure that out?” Thera asked him, not having the slightest clue what had pointed to that as he did his best to suppress a grin.

“Wait, one more time to be sure. Jake, if you open a way to the left again, this time right and left paths will both split, and the right path should have some trap down it but I don’t know what so maybe leave the portal open so we can run.”

This time none of them were distrusting. Instead, everyone mentally readied themselves for something to happen, gripping their staves and weapons tight to prepare for anything as Jake opened a portal for them to go through.

Again they could see he had been right about the way the paths split, all they still needed to know was if he was right about the presence of a trap too.

Each of them tense with caution, they moved forward, Jake keeping the portal open despite the mana cost as Ben pointed ahead towards the wall.

“That should be where the trap activates, I’m just not sure how close we need to be to set it off.”

Some of the ones had activated from afar while others had needed them right in the middle of it. There didn’t seem to be any way to determine that ahead of time, but as they kept going they watched the area Ben pointed collapse into sand and start hovering in the air, but before any of them could see just what was going to happen they all jumped through Jake’s portal to the last safe area and closed it tight behind them.

All of them were looking at Ben, waiting for an answer as he was busy grinning like an idiot, muttering under his breath for the gods who were sure to be watching.

“Nare, if that hint was your idea then I love you.”