Kryos finished shoving the coins in his bag and felt a weight lift off of his shoulders. The prior chamber had been horrific. The constant heat in his chest was almost torturous: he had to shove his hands under his arms, and then hold onto Leona’s belt for dear life, to just stay grounded and not go ambling to jump onto one of the piles of gold and gems. Now, he felt light-headed, as if he was recovering from sleeping under those dreamgill mushrooms back in the Drakemount.
But, now that he had the door between him and that vault full of vast fortunes, he was calmer. His split, safely secure in his—rapidly filling up—Trader’s Pouch, was now counted as part of his hoard. And, as expected, he received several notifications from the SAVE system in his HUD.
[Your Hoard has reached the EHV (effective hoard value) to qualify for a level up!]
[You have gained 6 levels! Level 7, Level 8, Level 9, Level 10, Level 11, Level 12!]
[Choose 6 Stat Points to Allocate!]
Oh, wow, Kryos thought. Okay, well, I saw how having low Agility almost killed me. So, let’s put two points into that. Then I think one point into Essence. Two into Vitality, one into Strength.
[Confirmed!]
[You have reached a level increment of 5!]
[You have gained a Skill point!]
[Unlock a new Skill, or Enhance an existing Skill?]
I doubt that there is anything that I could acquire that would allow for me to heal myself, considering that mom didn’t have anything like that. She always said she was really hard to hurt, and could crush her foes: including summoning a black hole to . . . what did she call it? Sphaghettify people? I could consider something offensive like that, maybe though it sounds MP intensive. Right now I think being harder to hurt is important. I’ll just max out Singularity Stance.
[Confirmed!]
[Singularity Stance III.]
[Increase the baseline Damage Resistance and Movement Resistance you receive from this Skill, while lessening the Agility penalty.]
[You have reached a level increment of 10 (Level 11)!]
[You have gained a Trait point!]
[Unlock a new Trait, or Enhance an existing Trait?]
Well, Kryos thought, this is a first, and mom never had any real guidance for me on this. Dad did, though, but all of his insight was to focus on my Class . . . which doesn’t really help. I doubt Enchantment Resistance will be useful to improve. What would Draconic Frame do? Just make me more . . . dragon-y? Oooh, maybe give me wings? That might be cool! I could always just go with Mass Instinct which will probably make me hit harder.
“Almost done?” Leona asked as she tapped her foot, standing next to Tavan, at the door leading to the next Chamber.
“Almost,” Kryos said. “I am figuring out the Trait thing. It’s a big choice.”
She grimaced, and then nodded in understanding. “Okay, don’t let me rush you.”
Kryos looked back to the letters and numbers in the corner of his vision. Okay, he thought. I just have to know . . . and since I can only Enhance a Trait once, let’s go with Draconic Frame.
[Confirmed!]
[Draconic Frame II.]
[Your draconic physiology becomes more like your mother’s. At Tier 4, you will gain a tail, which can be used to deliver punishing strikes and increase your balance. Additionally, at Tier 7 you gain wings which can be used to fall from great heights safely, but due to your size and weight, do not grant flight. Lastly, immediately gain an additional five to your Strength and Vitality.]
Kryos stood up. He felt full of energy, and the armor he wore, along with the padded underlayer, felt very restrictive at the moment. He glanced down at his legs, and saw that his calves had expanded a bit, showing the new musculature quite nicely. “Well, that’s helpful.”
“What did you choose?” Tavan asked.
“My Species Trait,” Kryos replied as he joined his allies. “My mother’s side gave me a Draconic Frame. I’m naturally strong and healthy. But upgrading it amplified the effects.”
Tavan raised an appraising eyebrow. “Intriguing. I never thought to upgrade a Species Trait. Then again, I only just reached Tier two in the Chamber before last.”
Kryos looked down at Leona. “How about you?”
“I just reached it also,” she said with a smile. “Seems like we’re all on the same pace.”
“As expected,” Tavan replied as he began moving his fingers to the handle and pulled on it to no effect. “Wow, that’s heavy.” He looked at Kryos, then let go with a chuckle. “I mean, the Quest Conclave set up the whole ‘Rift call’ system so that it would call appropriate Tier adventurers in balanced teams to tackle the challenges within. And before you ask, no, I have no clue how they figure out a Rift’s difficulty beforehand when it manifests—that’s beyond me.”
Kryos walked over and with his shield-hand grabbed the handle. It was metal, and felt slightly slippery from dampness. He didn’t need to use much effort as he slid it open with a grinding sound of stone on stone. Then, he quickly strapped his shield back onto his arm, and grabbed his mace with his other hand. “Who first?”
Leona gestured for him as she grabbed her rapier with her right hand and her rondel dagger with her left. Tavan raised his rod next to his chest level and stayed put at the back.
Kryos activated Singularity Stance, and when he did, he felt more steady, and felt even more secure than before in his footing. He felt a little bit slower—which was to be expected, as despite the Agility penalty going down, it was multiplied by his Tier. But, he knew from the thrumming in the air around him that he was sturdy and going to be a lot harder to hurt than before. With that confidence filling him, he walked into the chamber.
It was vast, with no end in sight—even for his dark vision. They were on the edge of an artificial, black-stone shoreline, with steps that led down into the same type of black water as before. But, Kryos could see just below the first few steps, and observed what seemed to be some of that glowing moss from the underside of the shattered bridge, faintly glowing. Not enough for illumination, but still present as a bioluminescence like some of the mushrooms he was familiar with.
Far above them, in the cavern-rock roof easily hundreds of feet skyward, was a crack in the ceiling, that let sunlight pour in, illuminating the pitch-black lake, and a throne. A spur of the same black granite ran from the stairs that they were now standing, all the way across the black expanse a good fifty feet, and to a circular pedestal that was twenty-feet across, with an ornate throne. And sitting on that throne was a pulsating, red sphere.
“The Rift Core,” Tavan muttered. “We shatter that, the Rift closes, and we get our artifacts.”
“Ten-foot wide path,” Leona whispered, “and a big platform with a throne. Giant water pool, and a prior Chamber with a water monster. We know that monsters can go from chamber to chamber—we got lucky that the bugs were artificially restricted by that magical barrier for stars-knows what reason.” She glanced at Kryos. “Your lead.”
Kryos’ treasure sense was flaring, pushing him towards the Rift Core, but so was his Predation Awareness. His eyes were able to spot something behind the throne. It looked like a statue of some sort. “Do you see that?” he asked, pointing with his mace.
“See what?” Tavan asked.
“A statue,” Kryos said. “It’s . . . bulbous? Like two ridges next to one another, perhaps like a stand behind the throne, or next to it, to hold something?”
“Makes sense for a ruler,” Tavan replied matter-of-factly. “Holding onto something for a long period of time is tiresome. It could be sub-throne for a queen, perhaps.” He tapped Kryos on the back with his rod. “Go ahead.”
Kryos felt the green goop all over him, and watched as the Biofilm pulsated over his body. “How much damage does this thing absorb?”
“Depends on how much MP I put into it. Right now? Fifty HP.”
Kryos nodded and began moving across the bridge that was thankfully not raised on platforms above the water, and instead was seemingly fully connected with the ground beneath the liquid. But, it was only a few inches above the surface, and that surface subtly rippled. It reminded Kryos of the Chamber with the pillars, and he stopped for a moment, glancing at it.
“What?” Leona asked.
“I’m not sure,” Kryos muttered. He looked back at the throne and froze.
The statue was gone.
“The statue is gone!” he shouted as he activated Pressure Field. The water that had been rippling went perfectly still in a twenty-foot-radius circle around him, and even pressed downward, revealing some of the ground beneath them as the waters were pushed aside. He saw the edge of something flicking through the water at the edge of his spherical aura. “Get behind me!”
His allies rushed behind him, and then the monstrous form entered the sphere’s space and was fully visible. It was like a dragon, in a way. Thick, leathery hide extended over a long snout with nostrils on the front end that arched up to allow for it to protrude above the water’s surface for air. Eyes were set in arches at the back of the snout that were those slitted, yellow, reptilian Kryos was so familiar with. A lengthy, sinuous form with four legs extended farther back into the inky darkness.
The whole thing was covered in a mix of gilded armored plates, and it reared back on its back legs as it drove its body forward, jaws snapping down at Kryos.
Kryos reactively got his shield in the way and felt the teeth crunch down on it. The monster was easily twice his size, but thanks to his Singularity Stance he only slid back a few inches as his feet-claws dug a fraction of an inch into the stone surface beneath him. The jaws crunched down, bending his shield inward, and the head slammed down, trying to drive Kryos prone.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
He was able to hold firm, and brought his mace swinging around with his other hand to dislodge the thing. But, to his surprise, his mace met nothing but open air as the creature moved its sinuous body out of the way and whipped its tail around from his left, smacking into Kryos, wrenching his arm in its socket and sending him tumbling to the right. The monster let go of his shield-arm as he went skidding on the platform.
Kryos got to his feet and shook his arm, making sure he could still use it—thankfully, he could, but it seemed that the Biofilm had been fully consumed. Because he had been moved, his Pressure Field was no longer suppressing the water near the bridge, and the bulk of the creature’s body was submerged.
Leona got a stab in with her rapier, right into the thing’s nostril, and it sank deep, eliciting a hiss. The creature backed off into the water.
“Where did it go?!” Tavan shouted, panic lacing his voice.
Kryos spotted ripples on the other side of the bridge and sprinted over to get in front of Tavan and the approaching threat. His aura pushed back the water, revealing the monster, and as it came in for another bite, Kryos swung his mace as hard as he could. The moment it was about to make impact, his Mass Instinct kicked in.
Crack!
The flanged mace slammed into the side of the neck of the monster, sending it off-balance. And that opening was perfect for Leona, as the creature’s head and neck went flopping for a brief moment onto the bridge, she was able to leap forward with her rondel and stab down at a gap between gilded plate and leathery patch. When she ripped back, she did so at an angle, revealing a sickly, green, disgusting, oozing-fleshy patch.
“It’s undead!” Tavan said from behind Kryos as a green film covered the half-dragon once more. “You just have to deal a bunch of damage to it!”
Kryos jumped to his right and braced himself, letting his forearm and armored bracers take the impacting slam of a tail that would have devastated Tavan and probably crushed his body. “Watch out,” Kryos growled out as the film covering him began to slip away from negating injury. “Guard yourself also.”
Leona ducked back from the head, which snapped at her but whose teeth found nothing. The whole body then slithered off into the water once more.
Kryos kept ready, mace prepared and crumpled shield on standby, his eyes flicking across the waters, watching for the ripples that would tell of the creature’s arrival. “Can we smash the Rift Core without beating this thing?”
“No,” Tavan said. “They’re bound to one another. If we smash it, we still have to kill this thing or the core will re-form.”
Kryos nodded. “Then we move as a group and get back to the entrance. More room to maneuver.”
“Right,” Leona said.
Kryos moved, making sure to stay alert for movement. He kept an eye on his steadily draining MP, and grimaced as it drained completely—all except for the allotted amount for his Singularity Stance which remained active thanks to being a Toggled Skill. “Shit.”
Leona seemed to pick up on the change in atmosphere, as she repeated the word. “Shit.”
Kryos heard the drip behind him, and turned around just in time to get his shield in the way of another tail slam. This one had a huge wind-up to it, and sent him skidding across the stone, tumbling end over end. The Biofilm all faded away, and he felt something snap in his chest. He let out a scream of pain and struggled to push himself to his feet.
“Hang on!” Tavan shouted as he sprinted toward Kryos.
Kryos pushed himself up, and saw Tavan a few feet away, hands glowing green and rod raised.
Then jaws exploded from Kryos’ left.
The whole Chamber went still.
No.
The teeth snapped around Tavan.
“No!” Leona shouted, her voice shrill.
Tavan was crunched in half, killed instantly—Kryos saw him go limp, rod fall out of hand, and the light leave his eyes as his spirit departed. The monster withdrew instantly, surging into the water, and Kryos heard another loud crunch that was followed by bubbles and spreading crimson on the black which mixed to a shade of brown that filled him with a sense of revulsion and rage.
Kryos staggered to his feet, and could hear his pulse roaring in his ears. He saw the ripples approaching Leona, and she saw them, too, as she took up a ready stance to dodge. “Fight or die!” she shouted—at him, or to motivate herself, he didn’t care. Her voice was harsh, filled with panic and a grim resolve, as if she’d faced death before.
Kryos had his mace in his hand and ran forward, a battle-cry escaping from his lungs as he got onto the bridge and put himself between Leona and the beast that threatened his one remaining ally.
The monster’s head breached the water, and Kryos brought his mace sweeping in an uppercut, redirecting the chomping jaws skyward, providing an opening for Leona to dart past his raised arm and stab into the weak-spot she had revealed with her rapier, plunging it deep into the opening.
As its head began to come down, Kyros realized that it would adapt to their strategy again—he had to improvise. He dropped his mace, protracted his finger claws, and stabbed them into the weak spot that Leona had revealed. “You’re not going anywhere!” he shouted as he heaved with all of his strength, pulling so that he could plant a foot on the lip of the other side of the bridge.
The crocodilian monster hissed and tried to pull back, and if not for his Singularity Stance and massive Strength stat for his level, Kryos would have been yanked into the water. But he was able to hold the thing in a stalemate.
It gave Leona enough time to work. She was able to get her rapier deep into the eye socket of the creature, and it tried to rear back, hissing in pain.
“No you fucking don’t!” Kryos roared as he yanked again, and felt the flesh ripping under his claws as the slimy sinew within touched teeth—his hands were breaking through the lining of the jaw and had gone through muscle into the mouth itself. He gripped onto the teeth for a firmer hold.
It thrashed and tried to move side to side, and Kryos felt both of his shoulders wrenched in their sockets, yet he tried to hold as long as he could as Leona got her blade into the other eye socket, blinding the creature fully. Then, she slid on her rump and legs, getting under the thing’s belly, peeled off a scale with her rondel dagger, and stabbed deep with her rapier.
The thing began to flail, and Kryos flung it to his right to make sure it didn’t fall on Leona. He ripped along the cut she had made on the underside of the jaw, and tore flesh, coating himself in black gore and rancid meat until he reached the base of the spine where it met the skull. The thing was still wriggling and moving, and he wrapped both of his claw-hands around the spine as he wrenched it back and forth.
Snap!
The spine gave way, and the thing went limp. Kryos threw the head off of him and sucked in several deep breaths, coughing as the stench finally hit him, he gagged, and vomited. Then, the pain in his chest hit, and his arms.
Leona was panting, and picked up his mace and shield—she seemed to have already sheathed her rapier and dagger. “Come on,” she softly said, voice heavy. “Let’s smash the thing and get out of here.”
Kryos made to move for the body of the creature, but she grabbed his arm. He looked at her, and she shook her head. He gulped and knew what she meant. There wasn’t a chance. Water rippled in the chamber a few more times as they stood there another couple of seconds, then it all went still.
He’s dead and gone, Kyros thought.
He plodded over to the Rift Core, seeing the pulsating, orange sphere with an inner swirl of green glowing with a shimmering hue. Leona slid the haft of his mace into his hand, and he slammed the mace down onto it. The Rift Core exploded into a dazzling display of ochre sparks, intermingled with green.
Then, the world warbled and shifted. Kryos deactivated his Skill, and as everything went white around him, words appeared in the corner of his vision.
[You have cleared a Rift.]
[Rift classification: Breach.]
[Role designation: Anchor.]
[Name of Rift: The Drowned Tomb of Nofre-it.]
[Reward: Artifact.]
[Artifact Name: Sobek’s Khopesh.]
[Grants the Skill: Sobek’s Wrath.]
Kryos was standing in a white void with Leona, and he saw a few tears running down her cheeks. He imagined he had a few on his face, too. He slid the mace he was holding into his belt loop, grabbed the shield from her to sling over his shoulder, and then offered her an arm for a side-hug. She shook her head.
“You’re covered in rotting meat,” she mumbled.
Kryos nodded curtly.
Five seconds passed in silence. The only sound Kryos could hear was his own breathing, the creaking of his armor, and Leona’s slight inhale and exhale.
The world flashed black once, and then they were standing in the same grassy dell. It was late afternoon. The wind was blowing softly, the sun was setting in the distance, and Kryos’ left hand was almost forced to extend against his will. An odd-shaped, curved blade appeared in his grip. It had a single cutting edge that curved outward in a C-shape, and the inside of that C was also bladed, with a wicked looking point that formed the tip. The pommel was colored bright red and blue.
“Tavan died . . . for a sword?” Kryos whispered.
Leona had a pair of gloves in her right hand. They looked like a pair of handwraps, but the linens were stitched onto gloves. “Gloves,” she mumbled. She put them into a belt pouch, and then turned and began walking out of the dell.
Kryos followed silently, sword in hand. She didn’t lead them back to the road, instead she cut for the lake which wasn’t too far off. Once they were at the shore, she began taking off her gear. Kryos got the message—they shouldn’t go back completely coated in the viscera. He stripped down and rinsed off in the water. It was rote, and mechanical. He washed the armor as well, knowing it would air-dry as they walked back.
Leona got out and dressed herself once more, then sat on a rock and waited until Kryos was done getting the meaty chunks off of his armor. Then, she grabbed his travel pack without asking, leaving him to carry his armor, and the two headed back toward Suncrest. He didn’t even really feel the probably broken rib: everything felt numb.
Night had descended but the moon hadn’t fully risen by the time they reached the entrance of the Irontrail Guild hall. The front gate was closed, leaving the place a fortress. Leona looked at Kryos and said the first words since they had left the Rift. “Mind knocking?”
Kryos raised his fist and slammed several times.
After a few minutes, Pavish answered, wearing a simple jerkin, pants, boots, and a chain shirt thrown over the whole thing. “Oh, you’re back—” he stopped, glanced around, and his face hardened. “Got it.” No more words were said. He opened the door, and allowed the two in, then shut the gate behind them.
Kryos opened the door to the main level. It was all quiet. He followed Leona’s lead to go to his locker and put his gear away—except the khopesh, he managed to shove that into his Trader’s Pouch.
Leona went to the stand that Kryos had signed up on, and then pulled out the sack of gold with the ten-percent cut. She opened a book, and Kryos watched over her shoulder, trying to commit what she was doing to memory: but it was all a blur. She shut the book, and then turned and saw him. Her face was a mix of sorrow, numb acceptance, and oddly enough, Kryos thought maybe longing.
“You were slow,” she muttered.
Kryos swallowed. After a second of hesitation, he said, “I know.”
Pavish came over, and voice low, interrupted. “You both still look beat up. Head into town, go see Marcella. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Leona turned and headed to the door without question, and Kryos finally noticed that she was limping a bit—he hadn’t up to that point. As he went to follow, Pavish grabbed Kryos by the shoulder. “Just a second,” he said.
“Yes?” Kryos said.
Pavish’s face was taut, and he looked into Kryos’ eyes, then nodded. “I can see it in your eyes, and in hers—you did everything you could.”
“I . . .” Kryos drifted off. “I was slow, I should’ve saved my MP. I should’ve kept Tavan closer. I should’ve—”
He patted Kryos’ shoulder. “It’s always hard, foundling. We’ll talk later. Go get checked over.”
Kryos shut his mouth, nodded, and followed Leona. He caught up with her, keeping a few steps behind her as he followed her into town. He felt the warmth in his chest from all different directions as his treasure sense went off, but they felt meaningless to him. He heard the whispers and mutterings again—even a few jeers and a handful of shouts of thanks for his work in the mines . . . but he was numb to it all. The pain in his side blossomed and pulsated, and he winced as it thumped with his heart.
They reached the hospital, and Leona opened the door. Kryos followed her into the empty building. Leona cleared her throat, and her voice, quiet, yet loud enough to echo, emanated through the space as she said, “Marcella?”
There was rustling in the direction of her private quarters, then the woman came out. She paused for a moment when she saw Kryos, then grinned. “Well, I wondered when—” she stopped, then frowned. “Oh . . . two of you . . . but then . . .” her face paled. “Oh, star-seal above . . . who?”
Leona looked down, and took in a shaky breath. She tried to speak, but no words came out.
Kryos softly said, “Tavan.”
Marcella gasped, then swallowed, and made some gesture over her chest that looked like a triangle with a swirl in the center. “May the stars find him safely, and guide him across the infinite dark into the realm of the celestials.” She pointed to the beds. “Okay, get over there. Time to check you two over.” Her voice wasn’t chipper, but not apathetic and sad—it seemed to Kryos that she was used to suppressing emotions in times of need.
He moved over to the bed and Marcella pulled the curtain closed to give him some privacy.
Kryos opened his Trader’s Pouch and took in all of the wealth he had acquired from the Rift—hundreds of gold worth of coins and gems, and on top of it all, the khopesh: all of that wealth accumulated, and directly contributed to his increased power. And all it cost was a life.
He closed the pouch and put his head in his hands and let himself cry at the loss of someone who had been treating him very kindly, and who he had started to view as a friend.