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The two men stood before the metal door that croaked heavily as it was pulled open by a group of slaves. The inside revealed a room of fire, high rock platforms and falling streams of lava.
Conan turned to Elric, whose face was a mask of stoic determination, as always. “This is ridiculous. There is no way you can survive this.” Conan said, but Elric’s face remained calm.
“I will, because I must. Now, do you wish to lead, or shall I?” Elric stepped into the boiling hot room. The door behind them closed with a shudder, leaving any option of backing out behind them as well. Conan followed after Elric, who stood behind a waterfall of boiling hot plasma.
“Looks like there is no way forward. Shall we look elsewhere?” Conan turned his head around, but saw no other platforms to advance to.
“There is always a way, barbarian.” Elric simply said. He noticed an unstable rock in the ceiling, and pointed up at it. “Do you think you could hit it from here? It should fall directly at the top of the stream.”
“So, it’s up to me to do all the hard work then?” Conan grabbed a jagged rock, and hurled it with surprising precision at the target. The rock dislodged and fell onto the hot liquid, blocking the waterfall.
“Now! Go!” Elric looked at the barbarian, who wasted no time in jumping across, landing sloppily on his back. The rock, however, began to dislodge yet again, droplets of hot lava already falling down.
“Well, it’s now or never…” Elric hissed through his teeth, and jumped across the platform. The stream broke free of it’s restraints, and lava began pouring down yet again. Conan could do little in this situation, only able to observe the wizard race against his doom. Elric’s jump, fortunately, was enough to allow him to escape the grasp of lava, but not to get to the platform safely. He was left hanging from the ledge, his grip already weakening. He didn’t want to look down, with his fear of heights and cementing his knowledge of what awaited below. As he felt his palm slip from the hot rock, he felt a hand grab him.
Conan pulled the wizard away from the edge, allowing Elric to catch his breath. After he managed to get back onto his feet, Elric simply said “Let us… move on.”
Conan raised an eyebrow, but knew better than to let trivial things distract him from the current situation. They advanced further into the room, the temperature only increasing with every corridor they traversed. Walls were being replaced with falling lava, and magma hid beneath concealed trap doors, inviting the men to make a false step any time. The heat burned the inside of Conan’s nose. He turned around to look at Elric, who hunched over and did his best to conceal his discomfort with the atmosphere. He held his chest in pain, not being able to breathe the hot air with ease.
“You really shouldn’t have agreed to this trial.” Conan remarked.
“If they were meant to be easy, anyone could do them. Now, I suggest you keep your tongue behind your teeth, and focus instead of advancing forward.” Elric moved past him into more of the blazing inferno. “Let us proceed with more haste.” he jumped across another body of lava.
Conan smiled a sardonic smile “Very well then, wizard.”
*
The exit was still far away, and the atmosphere was not letting up on them. They finally decided to sit down and try to rest for a while. Elric folded his hands. “Given the current situation, my only comfort is knowing that she is safe…”
Conan lifted his head up, wiping the sweat away from his eyes “Who?”
Elric turned his head away “It’s nothing…” he stood up “I wish to be out of this place sooner. I’m sure you feel the same.” he briefly turned back to the barbarian, who wordlessly went behind him, keen to still keep his distance.
*
They were now traversing across a river of magma, using protruding rocks as stepping stones. Conan suddenly heard a roar, nothing quite like the animals he’d encountered before. He turned around to see smoldering creatures which had no eyes, but the bloodlust was apparent even without them. Elric tensed up.
“What are those?” Conan’s hand was at his hip searching for a weapon on instinct, but he forgot that he and Elric were forbidden from carrying them into the trial room.
“I believe they’re called… Lava Hounds.” Elric said with pain, the smoke burning his lungs.
“Wouldn’t happen to have… any biscuits on you, would you?” Conan panted from heat, turning around in search of anything to defend himself with. More hounds appeared, forcing the two to run for it. Elric then lost his footing, and was at the mercy of the closest hound. Conan ran back to him.
“Forget about me… run. I’ll be fine.” Elric weakly said, to which Conan scoffed at him and grabbed an elongated sharp rock that was lying nearby. “I never run away from a fight. You should know it by now.” Conan swatted the makeshift bat at the beasts, drawing them back into the depth from which they rose. Elric, too, stood now ready for defense.
“This won’t hold them off for too long!” Conan yelled out, his bat breaking down, and the number of hounds only increasing. Elric sighed, then raised his hands and began preparing a rune.
“What are you doing? If you cast any more spells, you’ll-” Conan swatted another beast away, his bat now crumpled into a useless pile of dust on the floor.
“It appears we’re out of options. I’m repaying my debt back.” Elric said, reciting a chant that summoned a handful of ice warriors, freezing the hounds in place. Conan could only observe the horrific display. Elric then collapsed, the last remnants of his strength having left him. But their worries were far from over. Even bigger hounds appeared, standing behind their frozen kin.
Conan saw no use of fighting here, and simply grabbed the wizard and ran across the platforms. The hounds roared.
*
Exit was at last within sight. Conan swiftly hopped around with a barely conscious Elric hanging from his back. Around 20 lava hounds, big and small, were right on their toes. Conan stepped onto the final platform, but it cracked, making him drop Elric to the hard ground.
“Leave me…” Elric muttered “And save… yourself.”
“Now it’s your turn to hold your tongue behind your teeth.” Conan replied, pulling him up and pushing Elric towards the exit door, who could at this point do little except lean onto them for support. Conan pried them open, just enough for them to both squeeze through. The hounds stuck their paws through the door, trying one last attempt to snatch them, but the door closed in on them. Elric and Conan both sighed, and moved outside of the trial chamber.
Elric gave Conan a brief look of gratitude. One easily missable. Conan simply moved down the stairs towards the main hall. “Now, that old geezer better pay up. I’ve had my fill of dogs and fire for the day. I’m sure you feel the same.” he added with a smirk. Elric wordlessly walked up beside him. Conan sighed and put his arm around the wizard’s broad shoulders “Come now, wizard. We survived the trial. Rejoice in our victory.”
“Remove that hand, or lose it, barbarian.” Elric said coldly, but there was a smirk on his face which he could not hide. Conan noticed it and gave a hearty laugh.
“You know, I might even start not to hate you if we keep having adventures like this.”