by Prax Venter
Thymus turned to the stone in the middle of the mystical contraption held fast by two vice-like components.
“Won’t you, you little scamp? Yes, you will.”
Jack cleared his throat, hoping the line between sanity and madness hadn’t been fully crossed.
Thymus snapped his attention back up to Jack and thankfully showed enough self-awareness to be embarrassed.
“Second,” the mage continued, “damage. Our desired augmentation changes the Wall to deal damage. As such, we will need to attack the wall during the ritual and reach a threshold of 25,000 points of damage within the 30-second process, and I cannot help you.”
“Twenty-five thousand?” Jack repeated, his eyebrows inching higher.
Thymus nodded, his long gray beard sliding up and down his chest.
“All within 30 seconds.”
“It’s possible,” Alt said telepathically, “but Kron needs to join your party, and Haylee needs to successfully point out a weakness in the Wall. If I am understanding correctly, the Wall itself will become an entity during this ritual, making it a valid target for abilities. You four Heroes combined with all the Guards continually whacking away should be able to reach that threshold.”
“Okay,” Jack said taking, a deep breath. “Anything else?”
“Besides attaining a firm grasp on the exact runes required, there seems to be another component. I haven’t a clue what it is, but I’m certain it will come to light soon. Possibly after I fully unlock the stone’s secrets.” The old wizard lifted his hand and placed it on a spherical protrusion connected to the rock torturing device, and the red beam appeared once again. Their talk apparently over, Jack left Thymus to continue his ritual research.
He found Blevins when he got to the Inn and took the opportunity to address the whole Town with regard to gathering stones for Thymus’ ritual. Jack expected some resistance or even funny looks as he instructed the Townsfolk to go out and collect rocks for some mysterious magic nonsense, but everyone simply nodded and began talking amongst themselves about the best way to find the smallest rocks. Wharfmaster Garl suggested the best place would be where the ocean battered the black outcroppings along the coast.
Jack was proud of their enthusiasm and excited to make this new powerful defense a reality. The people of Blackmoor were starting to trust him implicitly, and it felt good. He just hoped that they could get their overpowered defensive towers up before the next wave of Demon Spawn.
The next morning, he made his rounds and was pleasantly surprised to see a pile of black gravel already sitting outside of the windmill. Sol, Ryea, and Garl had all woken early to provide the miller with plenty of material to grind.
Back at the Wall, Harrak was overseeing Pan and Meri hack at each other with axes. The muscular woman had pushed the equally strong Pan against the ropes with a flurry of savage overhand strikes, and Jack could tell Meri was harnessing a portion of her emotional past to fuel her wild swings. He was glad they were both within the Sparring Yard.
“She’s got potential,” Harrak said, not taking his eyes off the sparring match. “But lacks discipline.”
“At the risk of repeating myself, you’re just the man to teach her.”
Harrak grunted and pointed at Pan. “No, he is. My challenge is to teach him to teach her. She’s got some issues, Jack… but don’t we all.”
Jack nodded. “True enough. Hopefully, neither of them will need to get involved when we get those juicy towers up.”
The Combat Master by his side snorted so hard that snot blew out of his bulbous nose.
“If that old scatter-brained fool can do his job.”
Jack wanted to correct him, or at least to say that kind of negativity wasn’t helping anyone. But it was. They had to be ready for anything, and one of the things under the category of everything was the possibility that Thymus wouldn’t succeed.
Jack held his tongue and headed back to Demi’s heavenly cooking. After the three Heroes ate their breakfast and received their Rest Bonus, they proceeded to do what Heroes in System Sana did: climb and loot. The goal was to push as far as they could, but after their battle with the psychokinetic octopus Boss in the knee-high water of Floor 34 had siphoned a substantial portion of Lex’s Mana with a special ability, everyone agreed it was not worth risking the next Floor. They were so close to finding their first Head slot items, it hurt Jack to bail before pushing to 35. He could tell Haylee was disappointed too, and he saw some of his own impatience in her, but she was smart enough not to argue.
After dumping the day’s pile of items into the Input Chest, Jack went to check on Thymus again and found the old wizard asleep on one of the wooden tables littered with open tomes. A status report would be nice, but Jack decided to let the man sleep. He could always check back in the morning.
Jack’s leather boot made the smallest squeak on the polished stone floor of the Wizard’s Athenaeum as he turned to leave, and the resident wizard jolted bolt-upright with a groggy grunt. An instant later, the smooth, metallic surface of a summoned Lightning Turret phased into existence a few feet in front of Jack.
“Oh my,” Thymus said, blinking his way to wakefulness. “That was a waste of mana…”
“Yeah,” Jack said, puffing out a breath. “Little jumpy, huh? Perhaps you should head to bed for the evening. Get some real rest and then come back stronger.”
“But I’m so close,” the wizard said. “I have the runes, I know the damage… but there’s one last piece needed to initiate the ritual and- and…”
“And what?” Jack asked, rubbing his hand on the flawless spherical surface of the summoned turret.
“…and I feel it’s staring me in the face, but I just can’t see it.”
Jack knocked his knuckles on the magical lightning dispenser in front of him.
“Maybe you just need to summon one of these bad boys in the center of your ritual circle.”
Thymus shot him a venomous look, something Jack didn’t see too often from the kindly old mage.
“Don’t be so foolish! That’s the first thing I tried! You honestly should leave the arcane arts to those with the skill to navigate their swirling depths.”
Jack cocked his head. “Okay, time for bed, old man. The puzzle will still be here for you tomorrow. You won’t solve anything all mentally fried as you are.”
Thymus’ bloodshot eyes turned down to the book he’d been gently snoring into and sighed. He looked about to agree, then began flipping pages and mumbling to himself as he read.
“No, no, no… it has to be outside the traditional Aether awaking… nature particles…”
“Thymus,” Jack said in a quiet yet stern voice. “Don’t make me reassign you to Wharfmaster. Bed. Now.”
The old mage finally agreed but stopped at the Inn to get a hot meal before heading home. It didn’t work out that way. When Thymus fell asleep face-first in his mashed potatoes, Garl volunteered to escort the over-worked wizard to bed.
“That does not inspire confidence,” Harrak whispered under his breath.
Lex turned her golden eyes on her father, and Jack could see disappointment there.
“It inspires me,” she said. “All I’ve seen is the man push himself to help Blackmoor and its people.”
The old Combat Master looked into his soup for a few moments and then excused himself, mumbling something about early morning training.
Despite Harrak’s misgivings, the rest of the Town held a buzz of excitement regarding the next impending miracle, and yet Jack went to bed with his mind stuck spinning on his words. The old veteran’s prediction was correct. Jack was building the influence and strength of this Town and the Corruption was now beginning to peek their direction. The Demons were growing their numbers… A big attack was coming.
A shiver ran through Jack when he remembered that it wasn’t just Blackmoor Cove that depended on his ability to make the right decisions. There were multiple entire universes potentially hanging in the balance.
&n
bsp; He pulled the sleeping Bastion tight against him, and her precious warmth reminded him to focus on what mattered. He could forget all that multiple universe nonsense- at least for now. All he had to do was keep the woman in his arms happy, and everything else would fall into place. Eventually, his focus on Lex’s slow rhythmic breathing helped bring the blissful oblivion of unconsciousness.
The next morning, Jack, Lex, Alt, and Haylee entered the Tower for another day of looting. Floor 1’s layout was a massive castle during a thunderstorm, and as they casually swept through the sprawling hallways, Jack noticed that Haylee and Alt had fallen back from the rest of the group.
Alt was probably trying to answer some of her impossible questions, and he expected the AI to answer his train of thought like he usually did, but the two must have been in a deep discussion. If he concentrated, Jack could feel that Alt’s mind was focused entirely on the Dark Prism.
He shrugged and blasted the wailing apparition that had just floated up from the dusty stone floor. Haylee was frighteningly smart, and Alt had clearly taken a liking to her. Jack smiled as the creature vanished in a hiss of static. He deserved a friend of his own, and it was good to have him out of his skull.
The rest of the day’s climb went relatively smooth, and when Haylee obliterated the violent poisonous banana that was Floor 34’s Boss, they all agreed that it was time to try push forward and get some headgear.
Jack checked the Boss chest and noticed a rare shield among disappointing yet highly valued items.
Sword Eater - [Shield | Value 169]
| Def: 85 |
| Max HP +305 |
| Max MP +120 |
| Earned Threat is doubled |
~ If you can’t take it, no one can.
Their Bastion had been holding on to her Mountain’s Tear for ages because it was rare to find a shield that boosted healing abilities. This one still didn’t, but it had other benefits.
“Hey Lex,” he called out. “Come check out this shield.”
The shorter blonde woman moved next to him and held out her hand, and Jack watched her golden eyes zip back and forth as she compared the two items.
Lex sighed. “Yes. I can’t deny it’s an improvement. It alters my role a bit, but I think it’s worth it.”
He saw the shield item disappear from the chest a moment before a shiny black disk appeared on Lex’s arm that covered half her body. The Bastion turned her golden eyes on his over her new shield and she tried the eyebrow wiggle move on him.
It worked, and a short chuckle burst out of him.
“We ready to finally get some hats?” Jack called out as he approached the freestanding door with ‘Floor 35’ burned into its wooden surface.
Everyone was, so Jack grabbed the ring and sent them higher up the Tower than any of them had ever been.
When the white nothing faded away, Jack spun in place as he took in the new layout. The first thing he noticed was the soft grass under his feet and the advancing starfield outside of a huge viewing window. He turned around to see what he identified as the bridge of a spaceship, except everything was made from dirt, lush grass, or the shaped branches of a tree. What he’d first assumed were the flashing lights of station readouts were actually multihued, glowing bugs.
Everything was cloaked in darkness, as if the power were shut off, and they were alone in this space-faring vessel apparently built by forest elves.
“We’re among the stars,” Haylee said, focused on the view of the cosmos.
“It’s called a spaceship,” Jack said, his eyes going to the metallic dog standing nearby.
Alt pawed up to stand next to the Dark Prism as the starlight threw faint shadows behind them.
“This view is what I usually see from my perspective,” he said. “My true form was made to travel among the stars like this.”
Haylee turned to look at him. “Is your true form among the stars above Blackmoor, watching over us?”
“No,” Alt said. “Though I wish I were. If I could physically join you in your universe, I’d be able to do considerable damage to the Corruption from orbit.”
The young Hero turned back toward space and rested her small hand on Alt’s metallic head as they both took in the view.
After a short rest, they all moved on to sweep the rest of the Floor and see what monsters awaited them in this living spaceship. Jack led them to a door at the back of the bridge, and it opened for them automatically, its smooth wooden surface slipping into the moss-covered wall with only the slightest whisper.
Beyond the door was a long hallway covered with soft, lush grass. The only light came from fist-sized insects that resembled fat fireflies, and their faint glow barely illuminated the darkened corridor. If he hadn’t seen the viewscreen, he would think they were just in an underground tunnel. A small wave of vertigo hit him when Jack realized he was in the Tower, inside a simulation and all of this wasn’t real anyway, but he shook it off quickly. He was getting much better at snapping back to whatever madness currently spread out in front of him.
Jack turned back to his companions. “Left or right?”
“Where would you go, Alt?” Haylee said. “We are inside you, are we not?”
The chrome dog tilted his head. “While we seem to be inside a space vessel, they are not all the same. My internal layout is already different than this, and much more metallic.”
Jack shrugged. “Make a guess.”
“Let’s follow the left wall.”
“Works for me,” Jack said as he sank his boots into the grass of the corridor. They followed the curving tunnel and found more wooden doors with glowing red runes etched above them. He stepped close to the first one, but this door did not open automatically and didn’t budge when Jack tried to force it. With a glance to his teammates, he led them further into Floor 35.
After passing a handful of locked wooden doors and plump lightning bugs, they passed by a door that did open. The quiet whisper caused the group to pause and brace for combat. Nothing jumped out at them from the darkness, so Jack and Lex peeked their heads in to inspect this new open area.
Again, the room was bathed in darkness, but Jack could see shadows of bubbling tanks and strange devices similar to Blackmoor Cove’s new research facility. Something in one of the tanks jerked and the movement caused both Lex and Jack to draw their swords. The room remained quiet after a few quick heartbeats, so the group moved further into the mysterious new area. Once Haylee and sonic dog Alt were past the door, it slid shut behind them.
“These are specimens of some kind,” Jack said as he studied an unsettling bird-like fetus suspended in an orange liquid. “Maybe experiments?”
Lex tapped the glass of another apparently dead tentacle monster suspended in its own cylinder of purple liquid.
“Want to put down a wager we’ll need to fight these?” she said.
Jack smiled as he inspected the strange glowing bugs that seemed to serve as buttons in this bizarre, nature-rich spaceship. A huge green-colored beetle caught his attention, and Jack fought an internal battle over whether he should press on it or not, just to see what would happen.
Apparently, the Dark Prism had lost her own such battle as a faint beeping noise came from the specimen container she was near. Jack spun to see the wide-eyed girl backing away, her Star Chaser bow already drawn.
“I believe I caused this noise,” she said.
They all braced for something to happen, and Jack was betting Lex was right. Any second now, all the glass tanks around the room would shatter, and they would be faced with a half-dozen cosmic horrors. He was certain of it.
After another stretch of waiting, absolutely nothing happened.
Jack walked over to the bug-light panel and wondered if pressing the same bug would stop the noise.
“Which one did-” was all he got out before the door to the room opened. Jack spun to observe what had entered the room with them and saw a tall, pale man with pointed ears and fangs.
“Impossibl
e!” he hissed in a low guttural voice before extending his arms wide and throwing his flowing cape wide open. Then he was gone.
Jack only had a moment of confusion before Lex’s muffled gasp and the resulting damage notification demanded his attention.
Lex -109 | HP 539/648
He spun to see the Bastion wrestling with the creature who had entered the room and somehow teleported behind her. Its fangs were buried into her neck, and Jack almost lost his mind.
He drew the blade named ARV Alternis from his sheath and activated a Double Omni Strike on the thing that dared to hurt Lex.
Elvish Space Vampire -89 | 386/475
Elvish Space Vampire -89 | 297/475
The damage gave Lex the opening she needed. She thrust her blade under her arm and into the monster’s chest behind her.
Elvish Space Vampire Critical! -88 | 209/475
The monster hissed from the surprise attack, and Lex was able to break free of its grasp. The moment there was an inch of space between them, a bright line of pure-white light from Haylee’s bow erased the loathsome creature from existence.
Elvish Space Vampire -224 | Defeated
“Ugh,” Lex said, wiping the blood from her neck. “What a disgusting thing.”
“You okay?” Jack said, stepping in close.
She turned her golden eyes to his. “Yeah, it just… startled me.”
The Bastion healed herself, and everyone stood guard around her, ready for anything.
“Elvish space vampires?” Jack said to no one in particular. “Seriously?”
The metal dog looked up to face him. “Your world didn’t have Blackstar Dawn?”
“No, not that I’ve ever heard of. What’s Blackstar Dawn?”
“Originally written by Magamon Dalanar, the Blackstar universe told the tale of Jorak, a cursed Sun Elf, and his clan’s quest to escape the deadly rays of light that were once treasured beyond all things. The high-fantasy fiction was lauded for its light verse’s dark imagery and its exploration of the dichotomy between inherent purpose and free will. The eight-book series spawned a rich literary universe that spread to further media such as movies, TV shows, videogames, and Holo Surrounds.”