by Prax Venter
Cel grinned.
“I could stand here and talk to you for several seasons about what I know, but we’ll need to walk for some distance before we reach our goal. Perhaps I can answer all your questions as we move?”
Mark nodded as Jezebel brought out the recall charm given to them for the quest. He reached out one hand to grab Cel’s rounded cabbage shoulder, and another out to his sweet satyr’s arm.
Once the circuit was complete, Jezebel snapped the cheery-carved charm, and they all found themselves standing in front of a small farmhouse near a field of ten-story berry bushes with red, juicy globes like hot-air balloons tucked into the densely packed foliage.
Cel put her hands on her hips and thrust out her leaf-armored chest.
“Welcome to the west-most edge of the Bloodberry Maze.”
- 10 -
Cel led them across a manicured lawn of grass toward the monolithic hedge of berries blocking out the morning sun, and Mark could feel gleeful anticipation radiating out of the half-plant-woman with each step. He also noticed how quick she was for having such short legs.
“It would probably take you a hundred days or more to navigate this dense labyrinth of leaf and wood,” she said back to them over her rounded shoulder.
Mark imagined the next few hours of walking around some secret path only she knew, but to both his astonishment and relief, an opening in the wall pulled apart as if reacting to Cel’s presence.
“You control plants?” Abby asked, impressed.
“All Kalorplast can shape natural vegetation. Everyone knows…” The cabbage leaf woman’s thicker brows came down over her eyes as she trailed off. But her animated face quickly bounced back to a bright smile.
“That’s the feeling I want,” she said with a sigh. “To find places never seen… mysterious distant lands and unique peoples. How strange you must think our ways, yes?”
Jezebel moved up close to the plant-elf as they cheated straight through the towering berry bush maze.
“I understand that feeling well, and yes. Your ways are endlessly fascinating to me. I have so many questions!”
“Wait,” Mark said as he felt Jezebel’s impending inquiry avalanche. “Before we get too deep into cultural exchange time, start with where we are, where we’re going, and what we’re fighting.”
“Also, we still are missing all nut-related data,” Abby added.
“Good, okay,” Cel said as she marched them through the mammoth shrubbery rows. “As I said, we are in the Bloodberry Maze, and we should reach our first fight in about an hour- probably less because I can feel the sucrose saturating my capillaries- anyway, let me continue with the Light King explosion that ended a nation. It’ll make more sense from that angle.”
“Trying to make sense should be low on your list of priorities,” Mark interjected. “That whole ‘stranger in a strange land’ thing you crave can be overwhelming sometimes.”
“Let her talk, Mark,” Jezebel said through a half-smile.
“Okay, so the King stabs himself in the brain with a holy relic and the resulting conflict of deities and powers forced a section of the world to exhibit unusual properties. How it works and why it exists at all has never been fully understood- yet debated about at length. I could go on, but those details are irrelevant. The relevant details are what new life formed during the demonic and holy blast that destroyed so much.
“Ghothal took his own life sitting on a bench in his royal garden. Near the king were three separate objects that all underwent fantastic transformations. Ghothal’s crown, a bowl full of shieldshell nuts, and a single bumblebee.
“The crowns will be the first threat we face, and they are why this maze exists.”
“I’m beginning to see why no one took this quest,” Sasha said with a lighthearted laugh. “How can someone talk for so long and only ever generate more questions?”
“Tell us more about the crowns,” Mark said, trying to keep it all straight.
“There are hundreds of magical copies floating around within the cursed lands ahead. Physically, they are tempered silver hoops with points that will launch themselves in your direction as if controlled by an unseen hand. You must be quick to dodge them.”
“You’ve faced these crowns,” Abby stated.
“I tried to do this by myself,” Cel said, embarrassment in her voice. “A single Ghothal’s Crown chased me back into the maze. Yet, I lived to fight another day.”
“That day is today,” Mark said, enjoying her bright optimism. Deep down, she would face any hardship with gritty determination and carried herself like someone he wanted to have by his side. The simple leather belt holding her wooden axes caught his eye, and he was looking forward to seeing this small warrior use them.
“What purpose does this maze serve?” Jezebel asked. “As it relates to these floating crowns.”
“So, adventures, looters, scholars, and treasure hunters began exploring the remains of the city and were soon beset by swarms of cursed crowns. It was learned early on that any Ghothal’s Crowns leaving the area or that have been destroyed will reform within the anomaly on the next sunrise. This maze passively prevents the crowns from wandering into our lands.”
“Why waste so much space with this vast maze?” Abby asked. “Wouldn’t it be more logical to employ an equally passive solid wall?”
Cel looked up into the towering hedges around them as she considered the question.
“There are those that think we Kalorplast are arrogant and wasteful. But I don’t see why. We exist to encourage the growth of vegetation. What excess we create simply rots and continues the cycle of life.”
She stopped and pointed at a basketball-sized berry nearby. With the flick of her wrist, its stem began to throb, and the fruit swelled before their eyes. Cel dropped her hand after it reached the size of a beachball.
“Some are more adept than others,” she continued, breathing heavy. “But I suppose this beautiful and legendary maze exists because we could make it.”
“Okay,” Mark said as they started moving forward again. “So, we’ll fight the respawning silver crowns, got it. Then what?”
Cel nodded. “We fight through the ruined city and then cross the bridge to the Light King’s Citadel. We’ll need to locate his royal gardens and fight off the Behemoth Bumblebee so I can enthrall a beautiful Sacred Nut creature hiding within.”
“Is there just the one guardian bee?” Abby asked.
“Yes. The adventure records state the bee serves as warden over the place where Ghothal took his life. The creature is huge and difficult. But that shouldn’t be a problem for experienced heroes like the four of you!” Cel made an excited little hop as they pressed forward through the hedges. “I want to thank you all again for taking my quest. Everyone at home never listens when I talk about my destiny- about my passion. I know my sister hates it the most.”
Mark shared a glance with Sasha as they followed behind the other three.
“So, does the bee also respawn?” Jezebel asked.
“At dawn, yes.”
“And this nut creature you’re after? What makes you certain that he can walk off without respawning too? Has anyone ever tried to enthrall one before?”
Cel slowed a little. “I asked an experienced Collector who said they believed the act of binding the creature to me would work. Besides, I just know. I’ve spent most of my life searching for the perfect partner. Unlike a Lover, I can only have one bond at a time. A Sacred Nut is reported to heal, have a high defense, and move fast. Not only do the field sketches I’ve seen depict one of the most alluring creatures ever created, but they would also be a perfect fit for my fighting style.”
“Well,” Mark began, “our job is to get you there and protect you while you charm your nut buddy. The rest is up to you. And, speaking of fighting styles, we should probably go over our roles in combat.”
“First,” Sasha jumped in, “Jez, Abby, you two need to see something.”
She stopped, an
d everyone turned to face the blonde bombshell. The sun had risen high enough to start peeking over the fifty-foot-tall hedges, and when she flexed out the new chrome scales on her arms, they sparkled like diamonds.
“How?” Jezebel said, stepping up to touch them. Abby was right behind her and constricted her long tentacle around Sasha’s other wrist. The abyssal horror’s sharp eyebrows came down.
“I do not like being so far behind.”
“Last night,” Mark said. “On the airship after the… essence transfer. We haven’t stopped moving since then.”
“I’m speechless,” Cel said, her eyes twinkling with awe.
Jezebel finished her inspection of Sasha’s new deployable armor and looked over at Abby.
“Don’t worry, Mark and Sasha were bonded for many years before either of us met him. It makes sense for her to have a bit of an advantage.”
The words were sincere and convincing, but he could tell that she was on the verge of not being convinced herself, so Mark changed the subject by summoning his glowing two-handed mace.
“I am a Lover, and I can heal, but I can also kick some ass with this. Sasha is a Destructor who can use powerful lightning attacks and devastating kicks. Jezebel is a Druid who can shapeshift into a formidable armored bear and summon vines to snare our foes. And sweet Abby can cast spells that shred minds and rend flesh.”
“You’re all so amazing,” the small, half-plant Fighter said. “I can rush in and Swift Strike with my axes. That’s it for now.”
“You’ll grow,” Mark said, dismissing his weapon. “Today, we’ll handle the fighting. Understood?”
Cel nodded. “You’ll get no argument from me. A healer that can summon a magical melee weapon?” She blinked at him a few times and then resumed her direct line through the dense green rows. After a few steps, the small plant-elf shot a look back over her cabbage pauldrons but then decided to keep her mouth shut. Mark didn’t need his eye to tell him that was unusual behavior for her.
Without trying, he felt the guidance she wanted from them. She saw his team as the cool kids who were finally taking her seriously and held her leafy tongue to prevent herself from blowing it by asking something dumb.
“Also,” Mark said with a grin, “I’m really good at sensing emotions, so just ask.”
She looked at him again and then let her shoulders slump.
“I still don’t know how a Collector- you know… enthralls. I can see my Swift Strike button, and it initiates after I indicate a target, but don’t see a section on the interface that should-”
“Hey,” Mark interrupted, and she took a breath. “I might not be the best teacher, Cel. However, I will tell you something that I know for sure. Forming a bond with another living thing is more about paying attention to them rather than any interface- or anything else for that matter.”
Cel nodded, but she’d hoped a friendly Collector would just give her a surefire trick.
“He’s right,” Jezebel said.
“Absolutely,” Sasha agreed quickly.
Abby lifted her tentacle up to rip off a leaf from one of the bushes as they walked.
“Who better to know than we Enthralled?” she said. “Mark has given you valuable advice.”
“Don’t worry about it too much,” Mark added. “I think you’ll know what to do when you meet your dream nut-boy.”
They chatted about Cel’s industrious people and her society for the rest of their straight path through the maze, and Mark found himself tuning out as Jezebel pressed the Kalorplast Collector for socio-political details of the ruling houses.
He became focused inward, thinking about the human Lover he’d encountered in the great wooden hallway outside Master Noma’s nature gallery. The bond that linked Mark to his three AI monster-women became illuminated within the shadows of his mind, and he saw the similar bits of data shooting between them as small packets of emotion. He wasn’t quite able to see the same, well-worn patterns within theirs as he had with the other group, and the channels weren’t as wide, but with only 5 of the 108 shards, they had only just begun.
All the bizarre visions from his blind eye led Mark to believe he was “seeing” parts of this virtual world he was never meant to perceive. Perhaps if he dove deeper still, they could-
There was a heavy buzz of insect wings near his ear as Mark’s emotional antenna became saturated by an indiscernibly wrong signal from everywhere. His club came to his hand as he held it up, searching for-
“Mark?” Sasha asked, her new forearm armor deployed. “What is it?”
Jezebel had shifted into a bear and was on his other side, scanning along the path while Abby pressed her back into him from behind.
Cel was standing still apart from them, her eyes wide.
“Are there any other type of bugs around here besides that bee?” Mark asked as he searched the area again.
“Not that I’ve ever heard of,” Cel said, pulling out her axes just in case. “And the Behemoth Bee never leaves the Ghothal royal gardens.”
They all stood still and quiet as a light breeze blew over the tops of the rows around them. Nothing happened, and not a single bug appeared.
Mark dismissed his weapon.
“Sorry,” he said. “I was pretty deep into my head and poking at the limits of my abilities and thought I heard something. Maybe I shouldn’t be messing around in there…”
Everyone relaxed their guard, but Sasha and Jezebel both remained worried about him.
“I suppose being cautious is how you’ve stayed alive this long,” Cel said, marching forward through the bushes again. “I have so much to learn.”
The two Collectors and three Enthralled continued in silence for about another ten minutes before their plant-elf guide came to a stop and did not open the maze wall in front of them.
“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath. “We are close now. I’m going to move through one more wall, then we should take a left and walk the rest of the way out. We don’t want to stumble into a nest of crowns that might be bunched up on the path.”
Mark could sense that she didn’t have a heart. Her capillary system moved water and nutrients around on its own as if the whole thing was one distributed muscle instead. And now, he could feel her body racing with fear.
“We got this,” Mark said with confidence. “Jez and Sasha will take the lead while Abby casts from behind. If we face more than one, Vine, Lacerate, Arc. I will stay back and cover Cel and Abby, but I’ll rush in if necessary.”
“Starglade Recall Charm prepped,” the armored satyr added, tapping a small slit near her shoulder. “Come to me if we need a quick escape.”
“Oh, that’s clever,” Cel said. “I’m ashamed I didn’t think of it.”
Mark gave her a sideways smile. “What strategies we know, we learned through experience. Are you ready to start learning?”
She nodded slowly then turned to the thick clump of leaves in front of them. With a wave of her hand, the foliage rustled apart, and Jezebel hopped through before it was fully open.
Sasha was right on her hooves, and then Abby. Mark followed her through and came face to face with another empty row before Cel joined them and then closed the hole behind her.
Their party’s tank waited until they were all behind her then began stalking forward in the indicated direction. The towering bushes were far enough apart that Jezebel and Sasha could walk side-by-side, and his eyes went from the satyr’s doe-like nub of a tail over to Sasha’s swaying hips. Abby and Cel were behind them. They were both short and green, but the petite abyssal horror was a head taller than the Kalorplast Fighter. He also noticed Abby’s yellow bikini and tight behind, and then Cel’s crisp vegetable ass next door.
With a smile, Mark refocused on making sure nothing surprised them from behind. He had one red shard’s worth of essence sloshing around, and it had already brought him to about a quarter. They weren’t doing a simple “kill ten slimes” quest like he’d wanted, but there was a chance that his
reservoir would be topped off again by tonight. He didn’t have super-high hopes though- respawning monsters hadn’t been kind to them in that department.
Then he saw it. A spinning silver hoop emerging from around the corner ahead of them- and Jezebel was instantly blitzing forward. In a display of skillful coordination that Mark would never get sick of seeing, his book-smart satyr shifted into an armored bear in mid-dash. She galloped forward faster than any of them could run, her huge back paws kicking up grass and dirt as she launched toward her prey.
Bear-Jez reared up with both of her iron-clad claws rising to strike and completely eclipsed the crown with her furry, armored body. Then, after momentum caught up with her, she slammed her paws down, smashing the anomalous entity to the ground.
A fraction of a second later, Mark felt a small flutter of essence tickle his balls. He was awestruck by her badass majesty when he heard a strange, metallic warbling from behind, and it took his brain a moment to remember that he was supposed to be watching their backs.
Mark turned to see two more of the silver crowns hovering down the path from deeper in the maze. With a snarl, he summoned his club and then said, “Going left,” to Abby before sprinting to meet them.
He wasn’t as fast as Momma Bear, but he got a good feel for how these Ghothal’s Crowns moved. Both rings of pointed metal spun through the air like a frisbee, only these didn’t eventually drop.
A few steps before he reached his target, the animated silver hoop on the right split in half and fell to pieces, but he ignored Abby’s handiwork and concentrated on swinging his ghostly club with the perfect timing to hit this thing out of the park.
Mark focused on the True Strike spot on the silver crown, but then the easy pitch became a fastball, and Mark had to react quickly.
The tines angled forward, and just like Cel said, the hovering foe rushed forward to impale his chest. Instead of swinging, Mark turned his bat and attempted to deflect the attack sideways.
A sharp burning pain came from his bicep where the crown had sliced deep into his body, but at least he was alive. Grabbing hold of the pain as inspiration, Mark pushed off the ground to follow close behind while it tried to change momentum. Before it could build any speed, he nailed it with a swift backhand swipe.