The Fifth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  “This isn’t high enough.” Erik opened his eyes and stood. “Where is the Earth mana concentrated the most?”

  “Under the mountain. It has built up for centuries, though,” Egbert warned.

  “If it is too much, then pull me out,” Erik said. He pulled out Gilly from a beast storage item.

  She looked out and snorted. She looked at Erik, an excited look appeared on her face as she took a deep breath. Threads of brown power were drawn in toward her. The flecks of brown in her eyes started to shine and her brown skin took on a deeper color as she gulped down the Earth mana in the area.

  “I wish it was that easy for me,” Erik muttered as he got on her back. They set off toward the mountain as Gilly drew in the Earth-attribute mana.

  I wonder what changes it will have on her body. She was born in a Water and Earth attribute floor, but she lived in a Water room, so she hasn’t been able to stay in an Earth type environment for long.

  They reached the mountain and found a doorway into it. The doorway was untouched.

  Erik got off Gilly and stepped toward the door. He felt a pressure falling on him as he stepped forward.

  Erik frowned and moved farther forward.

  “The Earth attribute increases with each step and so does the pressure on my body. I’m not even in the door yet.” Erik reached the door and opened it. Air rushed out toward him, thick with Earth-attribute mana. The area past the door had a brown miasma that moved around, obscuring the interior.

  Erik took a step forward; the pressure doubled in just one step. He took a moment to raise his head, stabilizing himself as he circulated the mana within his mana channels. Pain started to radiate from his bones as the pressure bore down on him.

  Gilly walked in as well, pushing out ahead of Erik. She smirked at him as she took on the extra pressure. She went a full ten steps before she slowed down. Then she sat down, signs of strain on her face as she started to draw in the Earth mana.

  Erik cleared his mind. Before moving anymore, he pulled out his supplies. He stuck an IV into his arm and taped it up. He hooked on an IV bag filled with Stamina and healing potion to a carabiner on his shoulder.

  He put his rifle away, took off his drop pouch and Velcroed a set of prepared needles to his leg.

  “Okay, bit by bit.” Erik stepped forward. The itching deep in his bones turned into cracking pain. Erik gritted his teeth, drawing in more Earth mana, pausing and pushing ahead.

  He reached seven steps and sat down. He could feel the cracking in his body. He adjusted the IV drip and opened it slightly. His bones cracked, absorbing Earth mana and regrew, stronger than before.

  After twenty minutes, Erik got up slowly, forcing himself to breathe through his gritted teeth. He pushed one foot across the ground, without the strength to lift it. He was panting by the time he moved his first foot. He forced his other foot forward.

  His bones twisted and cracked, then came back together.

  Erik waited until his body got used to the destruction happening internally. He pushed onward, crawling now, his eyes closed as he groaned at the pain. It was no longer just the bone sheathing cracking; they cracked internally, the marrow becoming exposed under the pressure.

  When he couldn’t crawl anymore, he dragged himself forward.

  Erik cried out as his body let out a series of sickening cracks and pops. Gilly hissed in pain but breathed in more Earth mana.

  Erik ran out of the healing solution.

  He used Healing Dagger, stabbing it into himself, and relief filled him. He pulled out a new IV bag and hooked it up.

  He kept going, running out of healing concoctions. His fingers were breaking so he had to use his wrists to point a needle at his leg and used his body weight to press down on it, injecting it into his leg.

  The pain was too much to keep crawling. Erik gathered himself. The Earth mana had drilled deep into his bones, but he could take more.

  The greater the pain, the greater the gain! Pain tells you you’re alive!

  He threw his body over in a Herculean effort.

  He breathed into the dirt. His eyes flashed with viciousness as he let out a yell and threw himself forward again, rolling onto his back again.

  ***

  Egbert watched beast and master advance into the brown fog. He couldn’t see them anymore with his own eyes, but nothing was beyond a floor that he controlled.

  Erik laid on the ground, using healing spells to repair his body. Noises like dry branches cracking could be heard from the depths of the room.

  Brown threads of mana passed through his mana channels and gates. His veins stuck out like worms against his skin and showed up as brown instead of blue.

  Instead of advancing, Erik pushed back into the weaker regions of the Earth mana. He stopped moving after about five minutes. His body was still being tempered but it was easier to deal with. He stuck a needle into himself and used his weight to inject himself.

  Egbert read his books, keeping an eye on Erik as he controlled the dungeon core as it remodeled the Fire floor and made sure that Davin wasn’t slacking off when he should be repairing the Wood floor’s control formation.

  Days passed in quick succession. As people asked where Erik was, Egbert would answer them.

  He had new supplies delivered and would then create an Earth golem to drop them off with Erik.

  Erik would advance as far as he could safely, taking as much pain as possible, then move away, recovering and then advance again: three steps forward, then one step back, repeated.

  Gilly moved at a slow pace, no longer looking to compete with Erik. She had grown in size and her brown markings were more pronounced. The blue and the brown mixed together instead of one dominating the other.

  Her features were a deeper brown, while dark and light blue highlighted her features and ran down her face, along her neck and down her body.

  Deep within the Beast Mountain Range, a man and his mount were undergoing massive changes, as changes happened above it.

  ***

  Emmanuel looked at the groups of traders arriving from across the Beast Mountain Range. All of them wore simple clothes, looking like mercenaries. Most of them had only just left the mercenary path behind.

  It wasn’t abnormal for mercenaries to move from one outpost to another in search of better hunting grounds and for larger profits.

  “How are our preparations?” Emmanuel asked Nasreen at his elbow.

  “We can’t be sure that information won’t get out, but it should take time to reach the other outpost leaders. All of our support from the other outposts should be here by tonight. I have dispersed them throughout the outpost, so it is hard to find where they are. Pan Kun is waiting to meet with you,” Nasreen said.

  “Aditya sent his guard captain?” Emmanuel was a little surprised.

  “Yes. I didn’t know until they were inside the outpost either.”

  “He is a powerful force. Sending him over here shows how much importance Aditya places on this plan.” Emmanuel stroked his chin. “Meet with all of the guard leaders tonight. You will remain in command but we need to organize them and the crafters who came with them. Have Pan Kun as your second-in-command. His strength is high and we can possibly learn more about his lord.”

  “Yes, Father.”

  ***

  Pan Kun and most of the other guards all left the outpost at different times the next day, meeting up in a secluded spot.

  They were organized into different groups.

  Pan Kun had received a new weapon from his benefactors, a war axe of mid Journeyman quality.

  “We have a lot of work ahead of us. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish,” Nasreen said.

  The guards weren’t all united but they had their orders. They pushed forward.

  “I hate scouting,” Pan Kun muttered as he looked through the forest, a small bow in hand.

  “It’s kind of peaceful, no?” Nasreen asked, scanning the forest.

  A tree crashed behind t
hem. Behind them, the road was being formed.

  “Don’t know about that,” Pan Kun muttered as he kept looking around. He waved to the two guards on either side of him.

  They nodded and pushed up.

  “You and your people have good coordination,” Nasreen said.

  “Time together,” Pan Kun said.

  “You know that this might take months?” Nasreen said.

  “Hopefully not.”

  “Why, better things to do?” Nasreen asked.

  “More questions to ask?”

  “What else am I going to do? Sulk in the silence like you?” Nasreen raised her eyebrow.

  Pan Kun shrugged as if it wasn’t his issue.

  “What do you think will happen if the other outposts find out what we’re doing?”

  “Attack or wait,” Pan Kun said bluntly.

  “Well, that was riveting,” Nasreen said.

  “Don’t worry about that. We have a job to take care of already,” Pan Kun said.

  “Escorting mages and crafters—you do pick out the most boring items,” Nasreen said.

  “You might think it boring. I think it’s interesting. All of us working together for one goal. We clear the path; they make the road. We will be going deeper than anyone else has. Then we’re building an outpost in the middle of it all.” Pan Kun smiled a little as he looked over to Nasreen.

  “Are you a guard or a builder?”

  Pan Kun saw movement. He stopped moving and readied his bow. A whistle came from the front. Pan Kun headed up to where the noise came from and Nasreen tagged along with him like an unwanted shadow. He saw the scout and slowed down as they gestured to him. Pan Kun took his time reaching them.

  What the—?

  He looked through the trees at a shipwreck. It lay on its side, covered in moss, with trees that had grown around it.

  The scout pointed at the bottom of the ship.

  Pan Kun looked at the collection of loot. There were parts of wagons, weapons, bags, treasures and random items piled together. He looked from it to the scout, who gestured to the loot again.

  Pan Kun studied it for a few more minutes. It is moving, as if it’s breathing.

  A tentacle appeared from underneath the loot.

  The pile of loot moved and a multi-limbed beast moved, revealing its three teeth that opened and closed as it slept it didn’t have lips to cover the massive fangs.

  Each of those teeth are as big as my breastplate.

  Pan Kun signaled to the scout, giving them orders as he and Nasreen backed up.

  They moved back out of earshot.

  “Loot squid,” Nasreen said.

  “What?”

  “They’re scavengers. Anything that they don’t own, they will steal from others. They love to kill. Good for us that they never stay in groups. They claim a territory and will fight any others that come into it.”

  “And it is right in our path. Weaknesses, strengths?”

  “When in its own territory, it can create illusions. It has the ability to create a dark area around it in a ten-meter-wide area. We can’t see it but it can see us. They are weak to lightning and fire, high resistance to poison. Limited regeneration. Also, if we’re in their range, they not only hit hard, they have a lot of limbs so need more fighters to pin them down.”

  “So pin it down and hit them from range?”

  “Yes, but they have a spell attack that will cause one to go into a rage and attack their fellow, saying that they stole their items,” Nasreen said.

  “Uh huh.” Pan Kun pulled out a spell scroll. “I’ll need the ranged fighters.”

  Nasreen looked at him as if he had gone stupid. “We should bring up the rest of the guards to deal with it.”

  “We should be good,” Pan Kun assured her.

  ***

  Nasreen watched as Pan Kun organized the guards. They didn’t look pleased, getting orders as they moved up around the loot squid.

  He took all of the ranged guards with him and positioned the melee types back a bit so that they could fall back on them.

  They were getting into position and the loot squid seemed to sense something. It stood up on its tentacles and looked around with its two large eyes above its mouth that looked like an owl’s eyes.

  Someone fired at it and it let out a clicking hiss as it spat acid at the attacker.

  Pan Kun was lit up as he activated the spell scroll in his hands.

  Two people were hit with the black acid. They screamed out and others fired at the loot squid. It turned, using the loot on its back to create a shield as it ran toward them backward.

  The spell scroll activated. The ground underneath the loot squid was changed; the loot squid lost its footing as the ground beneath it started to draw it down.

  It let out an angry hiss as the ground had been turned into quicksand.

  “Move around to get a good hit on it!” Pan Kun yelled.

  The guards moved around to get a better position. They fired arrows and spells at the loot squid, dyeing the ground pink with its blood.

  The quicksand spell wore off and the ground solidified once again. The loot squid moved around, trying to push itself up. It had dropped most of its loot and was bleeding from multiple wounds.

  It got up, giving the ranged attackers more to shoot at that wasn’t protected by loot.

  The loot squid couldn’t take all of the hits and dropped to the ground, releasing the loot around it in a pile. A tombstone appeared above it and golden tendrils of Experience spread out from the creature, entering the guards’ bodies.

  “Well, that was effective, and costly,” Nasreen said. Spell scrolls were rarities in the First Realm.

  “Should have plenty of loot off the squid. I’ll leave that up to you. Shall I continue scouting and tell the crafters to keep moving forward?” Pan Kun asked.

  “Uh, yeah, sure,” Nasreen said. It was clear that Pan Kun’s spell scroll and his scout finding the creature had made the battle easier. Most groups would want to fight over getting more loot. Instead, Pan Kun was wholly focused on completing the road as soon as possible. Personal gains seemed to come secondary.

  The builders were put into action once again and people returned to their duties. Nasreen headed down to the loot squid and the shipwreck.

  The loot squid’s body had powerful poison and its skin could be used to make light armor and bindings, while its teeth were stronger than iron and could be used for weapons or armor.

  There was an odd assortment of loot that the creature had been carrying. The ship in the trees was old and decrepit, but it had a large amount of loot within it as well. She ordered the trees cut down.

  The ship crashed to the ground, sending up dust as the wood at the bottom of the ship broke.

  “A ship in the middle of the Beast Mountain Range,” Pan Kun said. The other guards had elected him as their representative to make sure that Nasreen didn’t screw them out of loot.

  “There was once a large lake that ran through the Beast Mountain Range. It reached out to the Eastern Sea and down to the South Western Rolling Sea. Legends say that the water is still here in the Beast Mountain Range, but it runs underground.”

  “Hmm,” Pan Kun grunted.

  “So how should we divide up the loot?” Nasreen asked.

  “Five percent to the guards, those with us and those back in camp. The rest we leave to the lords, break it up according to contribution,” Pan Kun said.

  Nasreen took a few moments before agreeing. “We are all part of the King’s Hill Outpost Alliance—we should start acting like it from the beginning.”

  Pan Kun gave another grunt. “We are getting supplies tonight. We should send this back with a group of the guards with us. They’ll make sure nothing happens to it. Use the guards sent out here to replace them. Should put a group of mixed guards to protect it all. Have a few of the guard leaders who are wary of one another sort the loot and prepare it to be moved and to watch one another.”

  “Think
we’ll find any more loot along the way?”

  “Maybe not loot, but beasts and useful materials? Probably,” Pan Kun said.

  With this load of loot, the outpost lords will have already started to make back some of their investment. Should make them all the more supportive.

  ***

  Lady Sumi looked at the information that had been gathered in the last couple of weeks. Since she had received the message from Ryan Mills, she had been planning.

  A man walked into the room and bowed. “There are reports of a caravan heading out into the forest around Shadowridge Outpost. The guards were different coming back and they were carrying a lot of loot, apparently.”

  “Very good. So it looks like the Fayad family is where they will make the first road to King’s Hill.” Lady Sumi tapped her chin.

  “With twenty-five percent to forty percent of different outposts’ guards missing, they’re practically begging to have a new outpost lord.” She smiled to herself.

  She pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to a guard who looked like a statue; he took the paper with a bow.

  “Reach out to the people on this letter. Tell them about what this new alliance is doing. At the same time, contact the different large mercenary groups we know. I will hire their mercenary bands in two weeks for double the price. They will need to write Ten Realms contracts, though.”

  ***

  “It looks like she has taken the bait,” Evernight said as she walked into Aditya’s office.

  He looked up from his communication device.

  “Something important?” she asked.

  “Not really. The road is progressing well. Pan Kun was giving me an update. He has sent forces ahead to scout the path and is working into the night to make things faster. The builders are faster than we had feared. Seems that the other outpost lords are putting their best efforts in. They found a loot squid and a ship that was stuck in the trees.”

  “A ship in the trees?”

  “Apparently there is some history to the Beast Mountain Range I don’t know, something about a lake that ran through the range and now runs under it.”