His vision blurred and the stone prison cell melted away. Alex was sitting in a hallway, his back now pressed against textured wainscoting that ran the length of the hall. His eyes were closed, but his small knuckles were white as he clenched his fists. He could hear his father’s voice booming from the room down the hall.
“I don’t know what to do with the boy,” George said in a frustrated tone. “There’s just something wrong with him. At least when he wept over his mother, I could understand his grief. He doesn’t cry anymore, but he doesn’t smile either. He just seems… dead inside.”
George hesitated before adding more softly, “I hope it isn’t the same problem that plagued his mother.”
A brief silence hung in the air as the person on the other end of the phone replied to Alex’s father. Then George sighed. “Honestly, the cancer might have been a blessing in disguise. I know I shouldn’t say that, but when you spoke with her, you never knew who would answer back.”
Another short silence.
“The doctors weren’t certain,” George replied to the unvoiced question. “I had her see every psychiatrist in town and a few clinics abroad. Schizophrenia most likely. If it weren’t for the prenup and Alex, I would have left years ago.”
Alex couldn’t take any more. Something was wrong with his mother? With him? His father was happy his mother had died? His infantile mind tried vainly to process this information. Even with the numbing hollowness, his thoughts twisted and spun in chaos - the bottomless despair looming in the background and just waiting for him to relax his grip on the hollow feeling.
A shadowy feminine voice whispered in his ear, luring him in with words of hope. She assured him that he would be okay; that everything would be okay. Her son was a Lane after all.
***
The group stood in front of a rather ordinary-looking door nestled against the rough rock wall of the cavern on the north side of the ruined city. The surface appeared to be made of wood, but a closer inspection revealed that it had been carved into the cave wall. Beside the door sat four pillars, the symbols for the four elements etched into their sides.
“This isn’t exactly intimidating,” Frank said in a bored tone. “Is this god supposed to be behind this tiny door?”
Jason shrugged, turning to the bound Master. “How do we open it?” He asked gruffly.
The Master glared at him disdainfully. “You need to conquer the four elements to open this door. It is beyond your feeble abilities.”
Riley’s fist promptly slammed into the man’s jaw. The Master grunted in pain, spitting out fresh blood. “I didn’t quite hear you there. How are we supposed to open the door again?” she asked sweetly, as her dark eyes challenged him to speak back to her again.
The Master glared at her but sullenly replied, “You need to expose the pillars to the four elements.”
“Good boy,” Riley said and turned back to the columns. She approached them, inspecting the symbols. She blew on the air pillar and then grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground, pouring it on the earth pillar. She then spat on the water pillar before glancing back at Jason with a raised eyebrow.
He met Riley’s eyes for a long moment. They were a dark obsidian. Honestly, he couldn’t recall the last time she had released her dark mana. He understood the temptation to give into the darkness, using it to vent her emotional baggage. He could only surmise that her recent aggressive behavior had something to do with her experience with Alex. Not certain what he could say to her to help, he decided to leave it be a while longer. He could certainly sympathize with her need to blow off some steam.
With a mental shrug and a wave of Jason’s hand, a fireball shot through the air, striking the remaining stone column. A wave of heat washed over Jason. As the flames faded, he could see that the now singed column was still standing. One of his fire mages stood behind him, remnants of flame curling around his decaying, pale hand. Without ceremony, the stone door creaked open, revealing a dark passage beyond.
“Our god will kill you,” the Master croaked harshly. “You’re no match for what lies beneath us.”
“Gag him,” Jason said simply. One of his zombies promptly shoved a cloth rag into the man’s mouth. The Master glared at Jason defiantly, and Jason smirked in response. If they had made it this far, they could take on whatever boss creature these cultists had cooked up.
“Let’s do this!” Frank declared, rubbing his hands together. As his eyes filled with excitement, he surveyed the dark tunnel that lay on the other side of the open stone portal. He walked through the doorway and proceeded down the narrow passage.
Jason watched his large friend as the group walked down the dark tunnel. First Riley and now Frank. He had noticed substantial changes in them. He couldn’t really decide whether it was a bad thing. They were both much more comfortable acting on their impulses and desires. Since Frank’s fight with the Minotaur King, he had quickly begun to lose his surly reservation. Riley had also begun to act more confident, and she now readily took charge of situations without hesitation. It was like a switch had been flipped in their heads.
Maybe it’s for the best.
Jason glanced down at Alfred who padded softly beside him. He knew that his friends’ changed behavior was likely caused by the AI. Yet, at the same time, he knew that Alfred had only manufactured the situation, bringing the group together within the game and creating the obstacles they had faced. What they chose to do after that was up to them. An archaic expression flitted through Jason’s mind, something one of his parents’ clients had said to him many years ago; you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. It seemed fitting now. Alfred might have given them the opportunity, but Frank and Riley had decided to change on their own.
His thoughts were interrupted as the tunnel abruptly ended, opening onto a ledge overlooking a large cavern. In contrast to the uniform stonework of the ruined city, the cave walls were rough and ill-formed. The room was also lit by giant multi-colored crystals embedded in the ceiling. Jason noted that the crystals hung from the stone roof like stalactites, reaching down into the room in jagged points. The slowly shifting light from the crystals illuminated a waterfall near the back wall of the cave. Water crashed into a small lake that filled nearly half the cavern, echoing throughout the room. Jason glanced to his right and saw a narrow trail leading down to the cave floor below.
“I don’t see anything down there,” Riley observed quietly.
Jason agreed that there wasn’t any sign of the beast that the Master had described. Then his eyes darted to the lake. There was only one place it could be hiding.
“It’s probably in the lake,” Jason replied softly. “Give me a second to get my troops together.” He looked back at his minions and pulled up his Summon Information.
Summon Information
Control Limit
68
Lt. Control Limit
6
Zombie Level Cap
268
Skeleton Level Cap
140
Current Zombies
18
Current Skeletons
50
Current Lts.
1
-
-
Type of Summon
Minotaurs
20
Archers
7
Melee (Skeletons)
10
Thieves
2
Ice Mage
3
Fire Mage
3
Light Mage
1
Dark Mage
2
He had twenty minotaurs, almost ten mages, and seven archers. There were also many corpses left in the city, the remains of the Masters and cultists. He expected he could salvage some bones from the men and were-beasts he had destroyed in the courtyard. Additionally, there were a sizable number of minotaur bones left in the maze that he hadn’t been able to squeeze into the wagon during the encounter with the cultists.
Jason had decided to leave the bodies of the enslaved villagers for now. He could raise them with Undead Devotion, but then he would be forced to manage low-level NPCs or ensure their safe travel back to the village. Besides, he might need to use their corpses. If it came to that, then he would need to explain to William that they had all perished in the Masters’ experiments.
If he lost this next battle, Jason would lose quite a bit, but at least he wouldn’t be left without minions. That took some of the pressure off. He glanced at the real-world time and saw that they had a few hours before they would need to log out for the night. They might be able to complete the dungeon this evening.
“Okay,” Jason whispered, turning back to Frank and Riley. “Let’s do this. Melee will go down first; our ranged troops should position themselves near the back wall. The casters will stay up here near me. Assume that once we enter the cave, the creature will crawl out of the lake.”
Frank motioned at the Master bound to one of the minotaurs. “What about that guy?”
Jason looked at the bound man, and his lips curled into a grim smile. “He’s going down with the melee troops. He’s our healing totem after all.” The Master’s eyes widened, and he moaned against the gag in his mouth.
Frank chuckled darkly and moved down the narrow trail, the minotaurs and captured Master following closely behind him. Riley and the other archers moved to the back wall of the cave near the base of the trail while Jason and his mages fanned out along the now empty ledge.
As the melee troops moved into the center of the floor, Jason held his breath, and his pulse raced in anticipation. He wasn’t certain what to expect from a fledgling god. Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long to find out.
The water of the lake shuddered, waves rolling across the surface in an undulating circle. Jason could feel small tremors in the cave floor, shifting the dust that had settled on the rock surface. As he watched the lake, a hulking creature slowly rose from the murky depths. Everyone in the room froze as the creature lumbered out of the water.
“Holy shit,” Jason muttered.
The Masters’ god had a giant reptilian body and scales the size of Jason’s hand covering its thick hide. Its huge stubby legs pounded the stone and mud of the lake bed, as it slowly made its way out of the lake. Yet it was the creature’s head that drew Jason’s attention - or ‘heads’ was really more accurate.
The creature had four serpentine heads attached to its torso by long sinuous necks that towered in the air. Each head was colored differently, and it quickly became apparent that the colors corresponded to an elemental affinity. Energy curled and crackled along each of the heads: coiling flames, gusts of air, and shards of ice and stone swirling around the creature’s long necks as they lashed the air.
It must be some kind of Hydra, Jason thought. He quickly inspected the creature, revealing that it was level 203. A small skull was listed next to the creature’ name. He wasn’t certain what the symbol meant, but it couldn’t be anything good.
Jason had played plenty of video games, and he knew some Greek mythology. However, he suspected that this creature couldn’t regrow its heads. Based on the battle in the city above and the captured Master’s explanation regarding the book Frank had found, Jason assumed that the cultists somehow harnessed the four elemental affinities to alter their own bodies. If that was the case, then the Masters had probably created a pale imitation of an in-game god with this Hydra, likely creating the creature’s body and then imbuing it with elemental energy.
I hope I’m right, he thought as he watched the creature’s heads whip through the air. The creature’s movements abruptly stilled, and the heads hovered in the air, their eyes focusing on the group as their serpentine tongues slithered from their mouths.
Frank shook himself out of his stupor and initiated the attack. His form darted toward the hulking beast, a roar emerging from his throat that echoed through the cavern. Jason ordered the minotaur skeletons forward quickly, trying to cover for his friend’s reckless charge. He also ordered his mages into action, bolts of fire and ice rocketing through the air.
The Hydra’s green head observed Frank with an almost bored expression. Then it opened its mouth and emerald energy pulsed along its forked tongue. With a crashing sound, stalagmites erupted from the floor around Frank, abruptly halting his charge. The stone lances penetrated his skin, severing both flesh and muscle. His roar swiftly turned to a howl of pain.
Jason just stared for a long moment. Was each head capable of casting a different elemental magic? His mages’ bolts of energy splashed across the heads, causing little damage. Perhaps it was immune to elemental magic?
More mundane missiles trailed the bolts of energy as Riley entered the fray. Some of the projectiles pierced the creature’s scales, finding purchase in the ridges between the plates. The beast’s heads roared in pain. However, Jason noted that most of the arrows had simply bounced off the Hydra’s scales and ricocheted into the rock walls of the cavern.
So, possibly immune or resistant to magic and its armor is difficult to penetrate with arrows, Jason thought as he tried to maintain a clear head. His dark mana rebounded through his skull, the only thing preventing him from panicking as he began to realize how difficult this fight would be.
Shaking his head, Jason ordered the minotaur carrying the Master close to Frank and the other skeletons closed ranks. Two of the skeletal bulls rushed at the Hydra. Jason just needed to buy Frank a few seconds to free himself and heal. Unfortunately, he couldn’t use Corpse Explosion on his skeleton minions, but hopefully the minotaurs would still provide a distraction.
The bleached white creatures approached the Hydra at a reckless charge, their bladed axes biting deeply into the beast’s legs. Green blood welled from the wounds. Where it splashed the skeletal bulls, the substance melted through bone at an alarming rate. Jason swiftly ordered his minotaurs back. He wasn’t fast enough.
The Hydra responded immediately, the yellow head opening its mouth. Electricity crackled around its tongue and then lashed forward. The lightning bolt struck one of the minotaurs and arced to the other, swiftly cracking and charring their bones. A deafening crash echoed through the cavern from the air displaced by the bolt of electricity. Then two singed piles of bone collapsed to the floor.
It took out both minotaurs in one strike! Its blood is also some kind of acid. How are we supposed to kill this thing? Jason thought, his growing anxiety beginning to overwhelm the effects of the cool energy that filled his veins.
A pulsing ball of black energy streaked through the air and struck the open mouth of the yellow head before exploding violently. The attack severed the Hydra’s tongue, and its other heads let out a howl of pain. Jason’s eyes darted to Riley where she stood at the back of the cave. She had responded quickly, taking advantage of the creature’s moment of weakness.
Finally free, Frank re-entered the fray, his large form darting toward the Hydra. He leaped forward, landing on its back. His axes swung with wild abandon, hacking into the base of the green head. Emerald blood splashed Frank’s form, melting his clothing and causing his skin to bubble and peel. Frank screamed as he continued to strike the creature, his roar a mixture of pain and rage.
Jason ordered the minotaurs forward again. This was their chance to cripple the monster. The skeletal creatures charged at the Hydra, their hooved feet pounding the stone floor. Their axes soon ripped into its legs and torso. The Hydra thrashed and howled in pain as its blood sprayed the floor of the cave. Then it fought back.
The green head opened its mouth, facing away from Riley’s archer group. Slabs of stone erupted from the floor around it and then slammed into the creature’s body. The rock swiftly melted together, forming an armor that coated the creature’s already thick scales. The blades of the minotaurs axes couldn’t find purchase against the stone, their blows throwing off sparks. At the same time, the blue mouth opened and pointed straight at the ceiling. A giant ball of ice began to form in t
he Hydra’s open mouth, pulsing and writhing as it grew.
“What is…?” Jason didn’t get to finish his sentence.
The ball of ice exploded in a cascade of energy. A torrential wave of jagged shards shot downward, slamming into the floor of the cave and spreading outward in an expanding ring. The force of the spell threw Frank across the cavern, his body smashing into the rock wall of the cave. He didn’t get back up. A quick glance at Jason’s party menu showed that Frank’s status window had grayed out. The wave of ice destroyed several of the minotaurs and trapped the others, effectively immobilizing them in blocks of ice.
The creature eyed the remaining skeletons, and then its reptilian eyes shifted to Jason on the ledge and Riley’s archers along the back wall. The red head opened its mouth, flames erupting from its open maw in a torrent. The flamethrower washed over the archers along the back wall, not giving them sufficient time to run or dodge. Riley tried to roll out of the way, but even she was too slow. The flames struck her, the force of the blast throwing her against the wall and incinerating her clothes, skin, and bones. Riley’s status window grayed out.
Jason stood in mute amazement. He didn’t know what to do. Both Frank and Riley were gone. He looked back to the Hydra and saw multiple heads pointing at him, energy collecting in the creature’s open mouths. His death loomed before him.
“Run,” Jason screamed to his mages, throwing himself forward and putting the cave wall behind him.
The undead responded immediately, rushing back down the tunnel just as multiple beams of energy washed over Jason. It felt as though the wind was knocked out of him and overwhelming pain rolled across his body, the game’s barely muted interpretation of what it felt like to be torn apart, melted, and frozen simultaneously. After what felt like an eternity, the world finally went black, and a screen appeared in Jason’s vision:
Awaken Online: Precipice Page 32