by Prax Venter
Every surface still swirled with mingling colors, even down in the pit where the red paint had been, but there was no red anywhere now. The hallway leading out of this first room was short, and the group quickly came upon an intersection. To the right was another hallway that led to a room with yellow paint dribbling from the ceiling, and on the left was the same thing but with blue paint. Ahead, was a short stairway up. It was only a handful of stairs, but high enough to block their vision of what lay up there.
“We probably know what we are going to face if we choose left or right,” Jack said, explaining his thought process for Haylee. “Let’s check to see what’s up these stairs and try to eliminate as many unknowns as we can.”
The girls nodded, and Lex led them slowly up the paint-swirled stairs. The continually moving surfaces were starting to give him a headache, and he tried not to look at the madness of color under his boots.
It only took a few steps to get their heads over the threshold for a peek into this second floor of Floor 1. In the center of the room was a giant wooden easel with a mostly white canvas. They quickly learned where all the red paint had gone, because in the center of the canvas was the shape of a man, detailed all in red paint.
“Going to go ahead and call this as the Boss chamber,” Jack said. “Let’s leave it for now and go take a look at the other two areas we saw.”
The Bastion decided to take them toward the blue paint side first, and when they entered the room, they found the arrangement exactly the same. All the colors (but red) oozed from a grate in the ceiling directly above a pool where all the blue collected.
“Lex,” Jack began, “you circle around again and trigger our blue friend. I want to shoot this one, because- well… I like blue, and I want to tag it for later before I miss my chance.”
Haylee looked up at him, and he saw her confusion.
“I’ll explain later,” Jack said, looking down at her. “You can shoot the rest, I promise.”
The girl said nothing and turned to watch Lex as the Bastion walked along the edge of the pool. Same as before, when she reached about halfway into the room, a blue blob began to rise up from the center basin of paint.
Jack didn’t wait for it to fully congeal. He drew his sword, held it out straight, and activated his Mining Laser. The burst of violent energy made Haylee jump, but it was over in an instant.
Blue Pigment -96 | Defeated
The creature vanished in a buzz of static, then the liquid slid out of the pool and under their feet on its way to the Boss chamber. Jack was sure he would see a purple figure of a man on the canvas now.
“So much damage…” Haylee whispered under her breath, but Jack was close enough to hear it. He realized that from her perspective, all Heroes could always see monster names and damage indicators. That was a conversation for another time.
“It dropped a bow,” Lex said, leaning over and peering into the empty pool.
Haylee was instantly interested and moved to go look. But she quickly stopped mid-step and turned to wait for Jack’s approval.
Jack was so proud he almost shed a tear of joy. Maybe having a kid of his own wouldn’t be so bad…
Definitely a conversation for another time.
“Should be clear,” he said. “Go check it out.”
The girl in the short gray robe unequipped her bow to free her hands before jumping down into the empty pool. Jack shot Lex his patented waggley eyebrow, and the Bastion smiled, shaking her head. Things were going as good as they could.
“It only does 2 damage,” the Dark Prism said from the bottom of the three-foot pool. “Mine’s better.”
“Keep it and feed it to the Town on exit,” Jack said.
Haylee nodded and then clambered out of the pit.
“Same thing, but with green paint over here,” Lex reported from her vantage down another hallway located on a right angle from the one they entered through.
“Let’s hit green and see where we can go from there,” Jack offered, and everyone followed Lex into the next room. Now that Jack knew what to look for, only the colors green, orange, and yellow remained swirling around on the walls. The dwindling colors led him to deduce there were only three rooms of matching paint left.
“Please destroy everything else, Haylee,” Jack said as they entered the next room.
Repeating the same process, Lex moved out to draw the Green Pigment out, and this time, Haylee copied Jack- shooting the thing in its forming head as soon as it broke the surface.
Green Pigment -7 | Defeated
“Nice shot,” Jack said, and Haylee turned to face him.
“It’s easier to hit a stationary target.”
She played it down, but there was a twinkle in her lidded gray eyes that Jack recognized. It was the thrill of power she felt from unleashing a devastating ability, and he hoped to grow that power daily.
All the green paint slid out of every surface and up the stairs located to their right, leading back up to what Jack was calling the Boss chamber. They ignored it for now and backtracked to the yellow room.
As they entered, Jack saw two chests in this room, one against each wall without a hallway. He saw the new Hero noticed them too, but she stayed close to Jack and kept her attention fixed on Lex, waiting for the Bastion to begin her part of this repeating plan.
She did, Haylee fired a Light Ray at the half-formed monster from a safe distance, and the yellow pigment skedaddled away. Everything was now a solid, energetic orange color, and Jack was glad the nausea-inducing swirls were over.
“Okay,” he began. “Time to let you in on one of my cheating secrets.”
Haylee turned to face him, her attention rapt.
“I usually do all the looting because I can hold nearly infinite items.”
Sol’s daughter brought her eyebrows down sharply, and for an instant, she had that bird-like quality he did- only it was much cuter on her.
“It’s true,” Lex added, walking up. “I can still only hold 16. I gave up on worrying about items long ago.”
Haylee’s gray eyes bounced to the chests. Was that disappointment he saw? The young Hero was hard for him to read sometimes. Then her face lit up by a small fraction.
“Ah, that’s how the Town is growing so quickly.”
“Yep,” Jack said. “I’m telling you because you’ll need to know at some point. That being said, I want you to loot everything you can. Any spillover you just can trade to me. I want you to get a feel for what gear looks like. Item types, their possible stats, their value. These are all things I believe a Hero needs to have a firm grasp on, and I don’t want you missing out on learning how things are supposed to work because I’m breaking the rules.”
Haylee nodded slowly, working out all the ramifications of what he said.
“Good,” he said. “Now, go get looting- oh and keep all the coins you find for now. We usually split them up later.”
The Dark Prism moved briskly to the closest chest, and Jack saw her hold her small hand out to retrieve its contents. He caught Lex beaming pride at him.
Once Haylee grabbed the loot, they moved to the final paint chamber- the orange chamber. They all knew their roles, and Jack watched the two girls do their thing. Lex drew the blob out, and Haylee erased it with a Light Ray. He’d seen it a few times before, but this was the first time he realized that the bright beam of perfectly straight light remained in place for about half a second. When she narrowly missed her lead on a moving target, would the stationary beam still deal the same damage if her target collided with the fading ray?
The orange paint evacuated from every surface, leaving everything a pure white. The time had come to revisit the Boss chamber. As they moved, Jack filled them in on his simple plan.
“Once we clear the Boss for Floor 1, I’ll show you my big secret. This secret involves me needing to hit this Boss with my death ray again. You cool with that?”
She turned her gray eyes up to his. “The temperature feels neutral.”
> Lex let out a short tinkling laugh. “Jack has some peculiar ways of phrasing things, but you’ll find they make a certain type of sense the more you hear them. By asking if ‘you are cool’ with something, he wants to know if you agree to abide by his plan.”
Haylee’s eyes narrowed as she thought about it. They came to the stairs to the Boss chamber, and they both paused for her to respond.
She looked back into Jack’s eyes. “I have learned that I benefit from your experience. I also have a great curiosity about this secret, so my only real option is to be cool.”
“Haylee truly is a smart girl,” Alt said in his mind. “Her intelligence stat is nearly off the chart, by the way.”
Jack tried to ignore the voice in his head, so he didn’t look crazy, but his thoughts obsessed over what Alt had just said, whirring through several implications and landing on the numerical representation for his own intelligence- among other obviously knowable attributes.
“Uh, yeah. Sorry,” Alt said. “I can’t really see yours the same way I can see an NPC born of this world. If I had to guess, she’s smarter than you.”
Jack cleared his throat, trying to focus on the people staring at him.
“Thank you, Haylee. Now let’s fry that Boss.”
Lex led them up the pure-white stairs, and they quickly saw the canvas resting on the easel now held the depiction of a seven-foot man holding a pure black sword. The art was beautiful and highly detailed. The moment Lex stepped into the Boss chamber, the painted man stepped out of the canvas. He looked left and right, checking his surroundings, and Jack noticed this Boss existed in only two dimensions, his profile completely disappearing when perceived at a certain angle.
The creature saw the three Heroes and lifted his black sword in a similar manner that Jack would have if he were preparing to fire off his Mining Laser- which he was. Whatever attack the living paint monster was about to initiate ended when Jack activated his over-powered ability.
Floor 1 Boss -96 | Defeated
The creature exploded in a shower of sparks, and Haylee sucked in a breath as she shot to Hero Level 2.
A pair of boots fell to the ground just as the Boss chest and the door to Floor 2 phased into existence.
“Congratulations!” Lex said, smiling at their Level 2 Dark Prism.
Haylee gave her a rare smile back.
Jack shook his head. “I kind of wish we made her solo the first Floor with no real Rest Bonus like I did. I feel like I stole her sense of accomplishment by beating this Boss for her.”
“This isn’t a game, Jack,” the young girl with serious gray eyes said. “I will feel plenty of accomplishment as I help you erase all memory of the Corruption.”
He sighed. “Hard to argue with a smarty-pants like you.”
The young girl only stared at him, as if waiting for something.
“Oh,” Jack said, his eyebrows bouncing up, “that’s right. I promised to show you my deepest, darkest, most-cheaty surprise.” He focused on the empty air off to one side within the pure-white Boss chamber and then said, “Alt, come on out, my friend.”
- 17 -
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, Haylee.” The tiny spaceship tilted forward, doing his best impression of a respectful bow.
The Dark Prism’s gray eyes focused intently on the miniature science vessel as she stepped toward it. She reached out a hand tentatively to touch his intricately detailed metallic surface, and Alt swiveled his thrusters to float backward. Haylee paused, her small hand still hovering where it stopped.
“What are you?”
“I am a being of pure energy that exists outside your world. I am the one who saved Jack from death and brought him here. He is the conduit that finally allows me to affect change and assist with banishing the Corruption.”
“You don’t look like pure energy,” she said, dropping her hand. “You look like a beautiful weapon cast from polished silver.”
Jack felt Alt’s mind go blank at the compliment. It was odd for him to be rendered speechless.
“Ah… thank you,” he said finally, his thrusters glowing a whiter blue for a moment. “I indeed function as a type of weapon here in the Tower.”
Haylee began to calmly circle the ship, never taking her eyes off him.
“Why are you helping us? What’s in it for you?”
Jack caught Lex casting a glance his direction, her darker eyebrows raised. She did not like this aggressive questioning but kept her mouth shut and locked her eyes on Alt. By the way she held her tongue, pursed her lips, and narrowed her eyes by a fraction… he could tell that these were questions she had as well.
Alt was remaining still as the intense young girl inspected him from the side, and he swiftly spun to face her again before answering.
“I have been observing this universe since its creation and have watched its people struggle with the all-consuming evil attempting to swallow them whole. Not only is my interference with that horrible fate the right thing to do, but if Jack can’t stop it, the Corruption will move to consume my world next and every infinite world beyond that.”
Jack had to admit that Alt was handling these questions better than he ever could. It was now out in the open that System Sana was all that stood between the Corruption and other worlds.
The spaceship continued. “Creativity is not my strong suit. Although I was the one who affected reality to physically promote you to Hero, it was Jack’s ingenuity that guided me to do so.” Alt spun toward Lex. “I know you see it, and I know you can feel his influence even within yourself. Jack is special and possesses a unique ability to see beyond what has always been taken for granted.”
Lex put a hand to her mouth, nodding slowly. Alt angled his thrusters to face the Dark Prism again. “What am I, you ask? Consider me an ally and a friend- a powerful friend who wants to help you take your world back.”
Haylee stood motionless for a few heartbeats, considering his words.
“I am ready,” she said, bending her elbow and holding her bow upward as a symbol of the damage she intended to cause.
“Good,” Jack said, uncrossing his arms. “Remember when I told you to shoot all the pigment blobs on this Floor?”
Haylee nodded.
“Well, don’t shoot this one,” he said as he transformed Alt into the Blue Pigment creature he’d previously captured with his Mining Laser.
The Dark Prism held her ground as she watched the tiny spaceship morph into an exact copy of a paint monster. The vaguely humanoid blob that was Alt lifted his arms and appeared to be inspecting his dripping body.
“Hmm, low HPs and Defense. The range attack is good, but without the mobility of our old standby, Angry Sun.”
“Perhaps you should tell me the things you can’t do,” Haylee suggested, her normally lidded eyes wide. “I’m sure that list is the shorter of the two.”
Jack pointed to the Boss chest. “He can’t loot chests… yet. Why don’t you see what treasures lie inside?”
Haylee cast her gray eyes to the chest, then Jack, then back to the summoned Blue Pigment before she moved to follow his orders. While she did, Jack mentally sent Alt his desire to hold back the items they had saved for her for now. Taking away the excitement that came with popping every monster as if they were piñatas full of potential upgrades suddenly seemed as if it was the wrong move.
The dripping Blue Pigment turned its vague suggestion of a head to face him and nodded while Haylee emptied the Boss chest.
“Iron Boots, a spear, and 20 coins,” she reported, her eyes reading their stats. The Dark Prism did not find an upgrade.
With a nod, Jack sent everyone to Floor 2.
After the transition, the first thing they all became aware of was a constant mechanical clanging. Jack spun in place, his feet testing the solid metal ground as he tried to place the layout. Huge brass gears clunked, paused, then clunked again in steady, rhythmic movements as if he were inside a clock. When he cast his eyes upward, he saw that Floo
r 2 appeared to be vertical.
Jack searched the small room for a way up and noticed a ladder made of brass pipes welded to the dark metallic wall. Before moving up to the next level, Jack opened his Alter Alt menu and picked the last monster on the list. The 2D Boss from the previous Floor.
The blue blob morphed into a flat man wielding a black sword.
Everyone gazed in Alt’s direction as he took a few practice swings with his impossibly thin weapon. He looked up and had to yell to be heard over the mechanical noise around them.
“This one is similar to the previous summon, but its dodge is very high- given that I exist in only two physical dimensions. Might be useful if we face melee. Still lacking in overall mobility, however.”
Jack nodded, then turned to Lex at his side and nodded toward the ladder. With a single look, she understood it was time for the Bastion to lead them through sweeping the Floor.
He cast his gaze to Haylee, who nodded and moved to follow Lex up to the next level. When Jack peeked up out onto the gear-filled room, he saw Lex and Haylee waiting near a wall and watching something behind him.
Before fully emerging, Jack hooked his elbow around the last rung and turned to see what they were facing.
Crouched against the far wall and banging a hammer against a coiled spring was what appeared to be a silver disk with thin, pure-black arms and legs. Its limbs were like cartoonish noodles.
Jack hoisted himself fully onto the slotted metal platform and drew his sword. Between its focus on its task and the ambient grinding racket, the creature was oblivious to the three Heroes assembling behind it.
There was only one thing to do. Jack lifted his blade and blasted it in the back with his Mining Laser, the monster fading into a buzzing static.
Clockwork Worker -96 | Defeated
A dagger dropped to the ground where it had been, but the clattering noise it made was lost in the sea of tick-tocking machinations around them. The next thing Jack needed to discuss with their new team member was making sure he ended up with all the blades, but he figured that could wait until Floor 3 where hopefully they wouldn’t have to scream to be heard.