by Prax Venter
Jack looked down to Haylee’s gray eyes and pointed to the dropped item. She dutifully picked it up, and they climbed another ladder up to the next area.
This time, two foes waited for them and must have ambushed the Bastion as she emerged onto the floor.
Lex -2 | HP 522/524
The damage indication was quickly followed by two Defeated messages, and everything was clear by the time Jack made it up to her and Haylee.
They followed this pattern for six more levels up the noisy machine, and Jack imagined they were inside an enormous clock tower. A tower within the Tower.
They swept the Floor quickly and finally emerged up into a bigger chamber than all the others below it. On one side of this final area was a humongous clock face and the Boss’s Exit Orb. The black hands of the clock began to move, and Jack was mildly curious about what it would do, but he blasted it anyway before anything happened.
Without needing to be told and correctly assuming that the area was safe, their Level 3 Dark Prism moved to loot the chest. When Haylee was done, she straightened and waved her hands, getting their attention. Jack instantly noticed the off-yellow gloves she was now wearing. Her sideways, smug smile was exactly what he wanted for her.
With a nod, Jack moved to the freestanding door with the number ‘3’ burned into its basic wooden slats. A moment later, the clanking racket ended, and the sudden silence hurt his ears.
At first, he was happy to feel the warmth of the sun on his skin, but when he took in the new layout, he had to shake his head in disbelief.
The sky was only about three stories up and appeared to be made of light-blue cardboard. A yellow cardboard sun hung from a string and was clearly not the source of ambient light. The ground felt solid but was also made from green cardboard with brown cardboard trees and dark-green bushes dotting the flat landscape. Grazing a few yards away, a cardboard deer raised its head and blinked at them.
The creature was intricately molded in three-dimensions instead of a flat cutout like the rest of the bizarre, homemade layout. Its ears twitched before the woodland creature dashed off into the sparse corrugated forest. He wondered if they were intended to chase it down.
“You were right,” Haylee said. “The Tower is nothing but madness.”
Jack looked down at her and held up a finger. “Madness and loot. Speaking of which, can you please trade me all the blade-type items you’ve picked up?”
“May I ask why?” she said as she did what he requested.
“Sure. Alt gains Levels like Blackmoor Cove, but he does it by eating blades.” Jack tapped his decorative sword belt. “He actually lives in here.”
“It’s true,” the painted man said. “The sword belt and sheath are what ties me to Jack, and I gain more influence over this world with every blade I consume.”
Sol’s daughter selected the ‘Accept’ button. “You really have been keeping a lot of secrets.”
“Now they’re your secrets, little one.”
He waited for her to cringe, or stare daggers at him for the nickname he heard Kron use, but she just regarded him with her standard lidded gaze and then turned to scan the cardboard landscape. Jack continued laying out their plan. “You should be getting the idea of how we do things Floor by Floor. First, I morph Alt into one of the freshly collected monsters tagged with my Mining Laser.”
To illustrate, Jack pointed at the 2D Alt and turned him into the clock Boss from the previous Floor. Standing before them was an exact replica of the giant, black-and-white clock but shrunk down and only reaching his shoulders.
“I’m once again immobile,” Alt’s voice came from the featureless object, “and only have weak melee attacks with my hour and minute hands, but… and this is interesting, I can create a bubble around me that either grants a speed boost to group members, or a speed reduction for all enemies that enter.”
Jack rubbed his chin, thinking of all the ways they might be able to abuse these powers in clutch situations.
“Mmm, the speed thing is interesting,” he said, “but I think mobility is important. We’re constantly reacting to the crazy stuff we face in here. On the other hand, Alt and Haylee working together might be able to inflict some super slowness. We’ll have to mess with it- later. Right now, Alt’s stuck here, and we’ve got some cardboard to shred. We’ll catch up with you on number 4, buddy.”
The over-sized clock waved his hour hand as the Heroes moved away from him and deeper into the Floor. After a minute of passing a few fake bushes, Lex spoke up.
“Is this thick paper substance around us- cardboard you called it- is it from your world, Jack?”
“Uh, yeah. I suppose. It’s something that could exist in your world too. Cardboard is just paper pressed together to increase its strength, and we used it for holding items. No one has an Inventory where I came from, so we shaped the stuff into boxes- usually for transporting goods over long distances. When I was younger, I used to make imaginary castles out of the bigger ones once they were garbage. It was just a cube made of drab brown corrugated paper, nothing like this colorful craft project spread out before us.”
Haylee ran her fingers over the flat side of a cardboard tree as her gray eyes turned up to examine its cut-out branches. He followed her gaze and saw flat red apples hidden among the flat green leaves.
“There is a quiet beauty about this place,” she said.
Lex nodded, then sighed. “The Tower can show you a beautiful dream and your absolute worst nightmare- and everything in between, all in one day.”
They continued through the sparse facade of a forest until they came upon a cardboard river. Blue, wavy strips of the corrugated material lay motionless in rows as orange fish moved between the gaps.
Jack knelt down by the bank and tore off a section of the river. He came back up to show the others the ripped landscape. Haylee and Lex took a moment to inspect it before he tossed it over his shoulder.
“Any suggestions?” he asked. “I’m not seeing any monsters to fight.”
“Perhaps we’re meant to follow the river,” Haylee said.
“Works for me,” Jack said, “But which way?”
The Dark Prism locked her eyes on his. “We follow the current.”
Jack turned to look at the stationary slats of cut cardboard and furrowed his eyebrows. The fake water didn’t appear to have a current.
“Oh! The fish…” Lex said, a smile spreading across her face.
Jack inspected the river again, only this time, he focused on the cardboard goldfish. One began to slide backward when its tail fin came to rest, and he put it together. He turned to the bright girl standing next to him and was impressed all over again.
“Left it is,” he said, pointing the direction of the invisible current.
The group moved up the river and passed many more cardboard trees and painted shrubberies before they saw any sign of a change. Lex was the first to spot the bridge and watermill just beyond it. As they drew closer, they could all clearly see the shapes of people and horses moving around the area. It wasn’t until they approached the bridge that Jack noticed something was off.
A black, stationary plume of flat smoke became visible while they faced the building from directly across the river, and there were dead cardboard bodies strewn across the featureless ground.
The men saw the Heroes moving closer and began to shout, waving their flimsy swords in the air. They wore mismatched armor and scowling faces, and like everything that moved on this Floor, they were three-dimensional, carefully crafted cardboard constructs. By their instantly aggressive attitudes, it was clear these men were pillaging the mill, and the Heroes had walked up in the middle of their marauding. Jack was just happy they finally found some monsters that needed slaying.
A group of five men rushed at them, their cardboard boots making light shuffling noises as they stomped across the bridge.
As everyone readied their weapons, Jack turned to the Dark Prism.
“Shoot as many as you
can before they cross!”
Haylee lifted her wooden bow, took aim, and fired, striking one of the men in the chest with a beam of white light.
Handcrafted Highwayman -11 | Defeated
It was hard to miss a clump of five bodies forced into a bridge, and she was able to send her Light Rays into the chests of four before any made it across. The last highwayman stepped onto the ground and showed the Dark Prism a twisted smile, sure his cardboard blade was going to taste blood. She fired from about ten yards away, but the vicious man had been watching her carefully and ducked her attack. The beam of light lanced over his shoulder and straight into the low-hanging sky far in the distance.
Jack blasted the rushing foe with his Mining Laser a moment before Lex had to use her Shout. The enemy was instantly erased. This was the first time Jack wondered what their new Dark Prism’s attack range really was.
Movement across the bridge caught his eye as the remaining two mounted men drew their swords and spurred their horses forward.
“Shoot one, I’ll take the other,” Jack said, holding his blade up.
She fired twice at the charging attacker, but both rays went wide of their target. When the third finally hit, it became clear that this was the Boss fight.
Floor 3 Boss A -11| HP 29/40
Jack was still out of range, but they were closing in quickly. He expected Lex would need to intercept Boss A while he blasted Boss B, but a short burst of strange-colored light came from the Dark Prism’s eyes, and her target shifted into slow motion.
Taking her time, she popped the armored man in his head with a well-aimed beam.
Floor 3 Boss A Critical! -19 | HP 10/40
Jack slaughtered the other Boss with his death ray, while Haylee waited until the slowed horseman was almost on top of her before sending another Light Ray into the unarmored portion of his face.
Floor 3 Boss A Critical! -17 | Defeated
Her foe exploded into a shower of sparks, and Haylee moved to Hero Level 4.
The Dark Prism shuddered from the level-up and then turned her gray eyes to Jack.
“I can see how that feeling can become addicting, but I also see your wisdom in stopping after a few Floors. I would have been cut down by these double Floor Bosses without better gear.”
Lex nodded, sheathing her blade behind her back. “Usually there is only one Boss. Sometimes there can be many more, but their Hit Points are usually split as well.”
“Let’s check all that dropped gear for upgrades,” Jack said, eyeing the cardboard watermill. “But stay close.”
Haylee scanned across the strewn bodies and dropped items, then turned to Jack as they walked across the bridge.
“You think there may be more even after we defeated the final Boss?”
Jack tried to instill as much seriousness in his voice as he could.
“Always assume there are more until you’ve checked for yourself.”
Haylee collected the dropped items along the way but found no upgrades or blades, and on the other side, they found a macabre tableau consisting of thin, cardboard corpses. There were people scattered near the mill with their throats slit, red strips of blood seemingly glued to their chests and a man with detailed cardboard guts leaning against his cut-out body at a forty-five-degree angle.
“Where’s the chest?” Haylee asked, ignoring the handcrafted horrors around them.
Lex drew her sword again. “Let’s check inside the mill.”
When the Bastion tried to kick open the door, her strike was so hard the whole thing crumpled and fell to the ground. Jack expected there to be at least a few more men inside waiting for them, but the place was dark and empty.
By the soft, pulsing glow of the Exit Orb, he saw the cardboard millstone scraping along as the waterwheel spun in the imaginary current outside. Beside it were the golden Boss chest and the Door to Floor 4.
“All clear,” Jack said, and Haylee moved to loot the chest.
Lex shot him a warm smile. They were both acting as if the situation were more dangerous for the new Hero’s benefit. If the two of them had been alone on Floor 3, they would be casually strolling through and not worrying in the slightest if there were still enemies inside. But they both knew the goal was to bake in those good habits.
She walked up to them, her usually neutral expression a little crestfallen. She held out her hands and showed them what she got.
“Gloves again.”
He took a moment to Inspect her Character panel and the newest upgrade.
Haylee - Hero: Dark Prism | Level 4
[Health: 77/77 | Mana: 44/60]
Relationship -
[Disposition: Respected]
~
Frayed Felt Grips - [Hands | Value: 14]
| Max HP +4 |
| Max MP +6 |
| Magic Power +5 |
Jack looked into her steady gray eyes. “Hey, an upgrade is an upgrade. They can’t all be epic bows.”
The Dark Prism’s eyes darted around as she examined his armor, then turned to face Lex.
“You both wear leather and use swords. Don’t you ever fight over upgrades?”
“No,” Jack said, casting his eyes over to the love of his life. “Lex gets everything first. She takes the most damage and needs the most HPs and Defense. I focused on dodge. It felt right for me and for our team. After she’s done with a blade, I just feed it to Alt, so I eventually get all those anyway.”
The girl’s eyes moved down to contemplate his decorative sword sheath.
“My inventory is full,” she said finally. “Can I give it all to you before we move on?”
Jack smiled and easily agreed. After the transfer, he grabbed the door, and they found their skin instantly chilled by the frigid cold of Floor 4.
Jack quickly noticed they were on another boat, but this one was a bit more modern and made from metal. Based on the size of the deck, the ship was gargantuan and reminded him of an oil tanker.
A mournful moan echoed off the icebergs and water around them, and Jack spun to see a whale almost bigger than the ship they stood on. His sense of perspective somersaulted in his mind as it often did within the Tower, but he was getting used to it. Jack noticed movement on the black metal deck behind them and turned to see a handful of men gathered around a massive harpoon launcher, all working to reel in their catch. At least they appeared to be normal human size.
Jack reshaped Alt from his immobile clock form and into the half-man half-bear Boss he’d collected a few days back. The Mining Laser usually absorbed two or more new options per Floor, and with the once-per-Floor restriction on his Alter Alt ability, there were many monsters they never got to see in action. Also, he didn’t want to waste a one-time summon with extermination on higher Floors, and usually went with previous forms they knew were useful.
Alt blinked his bear eyes at Jack, then looked down at his ripped human legs.
“Did you pick this insulated form because you didn’t want me to be cold?”
Jack chuckled and waved them toward the gentlemen reeling in the leviathan of a whale. He spoke over his shoulder at Alt.
“It must be weird becoming different forms every day.”
The AI answered right away, “I wouldn’t say it was weird.”
“Haylee,” Jack began. “You need to know that Alt can reach zero hit points, and we will lose the ability to re-summon him for the day. But he will be perfectly fine. I wanted to make sure I told you that before you watch it happen.”
“I’m actually impressed with how few times we’ve needed to sacrifice me,” Alt said cheerfully from behind.
The men were a lot farther away than Jack expected, and they were almost finished reeling the creature in already. The party’s boots had eaten up about half of the deck when Haylee turned her eyes up to the six-foot bear man walking next to her and asked a question.
“Do you feel pain?”
- 18 -
Jack stopped in his tracks. Alt possibly feeling pain was somet
hing he wanted to know- something he should have wanted to know before now.
The blank bear-face blinked.
“Yes and no, Haylee. I have the ability to adjust that sensation from 0% to nearly infinite strength. I’ve long since turned it off, if that answers your question.”
Jack nodded, coming to the realization that he somehow knew this already- it was why he never asked. All those times Alt had taken hits… there was never a reaction or a mental flinch from him. The bear turned his black eyes toward him, and Jack became aware that their two-way connection was deeper than he realized.
Lex crossed her arms over her armored chest.
“You both come from very strange worlds,” she said. “Sometimes, I find it difficult fathoming the concepts either of you mention so casually.”
Jack sighed. “I feel the same way about Interface panels. Lex, I have no doubt you’d do fine in our worlds if you lived them like we’re living yours. We’re just a ragtag group of interdimensional buddies on a quest to save the universe- no big deal.”
Haylee’s small fist tightened on her bow.
“I am honored to be a part of your ragtag team.”
Jack could tell she didn’t really know what that term meant, but she was a fast learner and never needed to be told twice. He could work with that.
“On that subject, I can dish out some serious punishment with my Mining Laser, but the range is only about 20 yards. Our team’s current weakness is long-range damage.” Jack pointed at the group of men as they finished pushing a bridge of some sort across to the whale’s mouth. The giant monster looked quite dead and now floated upside-down, its head tethered to the ship. One of the men drew his attention by shouting at the others, and Jack noticed for the first time that they all had horrible twisted faces with black horns where their eyes should be.
“Those guys are up to no good,” he said. “Think you can pick one of them off from this far?”
He moved back so Haylee was now the farthest forward of their group. If Jack had to guess, there were still about fifty yards between them and the Demon men now arguing among themselves and vigorously pointing to the whale.