Here, exclusively for you, my faithful followers and fans, is another chunk of recent work from the upcoming final installment in the Thomerion trilogy.  Enjoy!

 

COPYRIGHT (c) 2019 – Daniel J. Heck

This room is roughly diamond-shaped, although the corners are rounded by age and wear; shards of stone and brick lay out of place in quite a number of dusty piles.  Banners inscribed with images of weaponry are displayed on two of the walls; their edges hang frayed and disheveled.  Feeling cautious as you step forward, your torchlight illuminates a cylindrical column in the chamber’s exact center.

Taking care not to touch anything yet, you look closer.  The column extends about halfway to the low ceiling, and on top sits a wheel.  Someone has engraved the outline of an arrow such that it wraps around the base of the wheel, pointing in a counter-clockwise direction.

Your light reflects off several items on top of the wheel.  Upon even closer examination, you see that black lines divide the rough wooden circle into fourths.  Upon one section sits a small glass vial, filled to the cork with a sparkling blue potion; upon another, a scroll, tied with red twine.  A third section holds a large, rusted key.  You scratch your chin in thought,

Could that open the door I encountered earlier?

Finally, the fourth section holds a skull.  Grayed-over and ancient, it looks human in build, although it’s missing a few molars, and the eye sockets appear unusually small.

Curious, you slowly reach toward the key, and grip it.  When you pick it up from the wheel, though, the key only moves an inch or so before you feel an unseen force tug it back downward.

Magical.  Of course.

You glance again at the arrow at the base.

Am I supposed to spin it in order to get these items?