Though he tried to be quiet as he dropped into the room beneath him, William found that intentions didn’t always match reality. He was skilled and agile, but there was nothing that he could do to cushion the noise that snapped out when the bone carapace on his legs smacked the steel plated floor of the room below. William instantly went still, listening to the echo of the crack spreading from one room to another. He continued to wait even once the noise had died down, listening for any sign that his noise had been heard.
Nothing.
Sighing, William relaxed and looked around. The dim glow of his molten core was barely enough to illuminate the room but there wasn’t much to see. This room looked exactly the same as every other room in the maze that William had crossed. He wasn’t sure if it was a lack of imagination on the monks’ part or simply something that they didn’t think mattered in the pitch black environment. Or perhaps it was just another trap to confuse him so that he’d be more likely to stumble into one of the cube’s many death traps. Probably a bit of all three, but William guessed the third option was the most likely.
William took a step into the room, trying to peer through the dark portal which led to the next room on this floor. It was a futile task but still he didn’t let up. If there was any chance that he was going to get out of this alive he knew that he’d need to keep his wits about him and plan his moves well in advance.
Three steps into the room William realized that he’d made a mistake. A sharp metallic whine filled the room. Instinct kicked in and William turned without thinking and dove headlong into the dark hole in the center of the room. It was another ten foot drop to the next floor down and it would hurt to slam into the rusty steel plates at this speed but it was far better than the alternative.
Only the revenant’s supernaturally enhanced speed allowed him to clear the room before the trap went off. Even so, he felt a slight tug on the end of his warscythe as he fell into the abyss. He caught a flash of silver as the glistening wire tightened overhead, a mesh which spun across the chamber with dizzying speed.
William grunted in pain as his shoulder connected with the steel of the room below. Something inside the joint gave way with a burst of pain and he bit down hard to keep from crying out. He lay stunned for a moment and then rolled over, letting his regeneration wash away the pain in his shoulder and savoring the taste of blood on the back of his tongue. The pain faded quickly and William grudgingly pushed himself to his feet, glaring up at the trapped room above.
“Too damned close,” William grumbled, lifting the haft of his scythe and looking at where the trap wire had caught it. To his surprise the magically hardened stone had been cut clean through, leaving nothing but a polished smooth angle a hand span above where the bottom of the weapon had been only moments before. If he had been any slower, or if he hadn’t possessed his supernatural speed, William knew that he would have been caught up in that wire and been cut to ribbons.
Another sound reached William as he glared into the darkness overhead. There was someone nearby, he realized, and there was no way that his plunge hadn’t been heard. William eyed the room around him, wondering if this room was trapped as well.
