Ascend Online

by Luke Chmilenko

  I felt the Puma begin to stir under me as my stunning punch wore off, at the same instant the Predator I had thrown off me recovered and redoubled its attack. With half my leg still pinned under my Nemesis, I awkwardly twisted my body to catch a single gleaming blade on Razor before it could bury itself into my chest, but couldn’t reach the second one in time.

  The Predator’s blade-arm pierced through my armor and dug deep into my shoulder. Immediately I felt my left arm fall limp as the blade sliced through something important. I screamed as the Predator twisted the blade, nearly losing my grip on Razor as the pain shot through my body.

  It was then that Constantine burst from the bush, having seen my awkward landing on top of my Nemesis. It took half a heartbeat for him to assess the scene, then he quickly sprang into action. A Daggerfang shot forth like a bolt of lightning, stabbing deep into the unprotected side of the Predator that had stabbed me. Using the blade as leverage, he slid behind the creature and pulled, yanking the Predator’s blade-arm out of my shoulder.

  Using the momentum of his maneuver, Constantine brutally shanked his second Daggerfang into the creature’s back, spraying glowing ichor across him as he repeatedly began stabbing his blade into the creature.

  Breathing a sigh of relief as the blade-arm left my shoulder with a faint sucking sound, I barely had enough time for the pain to fade before I felt hot claws pierce through my armor and scrape along my buttocks and lower back. Arching forward away from the pain I saw that the Puma had bitten into the Predator standing on its chest with both front claws rending massive wounds across the creature’s carapace.

  Fuck! Time to get off this thing! I kicked off with my good leg, sending myself sprawling on the ground in a burst of pain as I landed on my wounded left shoulder. I felt my trapped leg straighten in relief as I fell, planting a solid kick in the Puma’s hindquarters as I yanked it free.

  With my weight off of it, the Puma brought its hind legs into play as it ravaged the Predator that it had caught. It tossed the spider into the air like a deadly ball of yarn, before catching the creature again in its claws and killing it in a spray of dust.

  I quickly scrambled to my feet the same instant that Constantine finished off the Predator that he had pulled off of me, taking a step back to fall in beside him I winced as pain flared from the new wounds on my back. While I moved, I heard an echoing thunderclap and the faintest glimpse of magefire as Halcyon’s Pyroclap detonated on top of the pair of Predators near Drace.

  “Lyr!” Constantine shouted seeing the Puma roll off of the Predator that it had landed on when I tackled it. I saw its head whirl around as it quickly absorbed its surroundings then immediately fixated on Constantine and me, eyes going wide with surprise.

  Its gaze darted to the Predator that was still struggling to stand, wheels quickly turning in its head. The Puma took a quick glance back at us, and swiped out with a paw, scooping the Predator up and batting it right at us.

  Too surprised to react, Constantine and I didn’t have any time to avoid the Predator before it crashed to the ground in front of us.

  “Gah! What-?!” My cry was cut off as the rightfully angry Predator scrambled to its feet, whirling its massive blade-arms in a circle as it screeched in rage, forcing Constantine and I to take a step backwards.

  “Did it just, urk-” Constantine’s words were cut off as the Puma slammed into Constantine’s hip, sending him spinning into me and knocking the both of us off balance.

  Not bothering to stop, the Puma ran past us, fleeing the battle once more as it scrambled towards the ridge.

  Damn it! Not again! The thought echoed through my mind as I turned to look where it was running to. Where the hell is it going?! There’s nothing there but the Ridge.

  As I turned my head to follow the Puma, the entire side of the Ridge began to bloom with a dull blue aura. In the distance, about half way up the incline a single point was noticeably brighter than the rest of the Ridge.

  Directly where my Nemesis was charging towards.

  Oh, fuck! The Ley Line! My eyes filled with fear as Constantine’s earlier words crossed my mind, which then quickly magnified as I realized that my Nemesis could see magic. How the hell did it learn that?!

  “The Ley Line is in the Ridge!” I shouted. “The cat is after it!”

  “Lyr, fuck! Pay attention!” Constantine barked as I heard a screeching sound, followed by a sharp burst of pain across my arm.

  “Ah!” I had completely forgotten about the Predator that my Nemesis had dumped in our lap, its blade-arm slicing through a gap in my increasingly damaged armor.

  Taking my eyes off the fleeing Puma, I saw Constantine trap a blade-arm with both his Daggerfangs and unleash a violent kick at the base of limb. A sickening crack greeted my ears as the limb fell uselessly to the ground, followed by a loud scream of pain. I took a step wide, moving to flank the spider as Constantine held its attention.

  Before I could take a second step a hail of arrows and magic slammed into the creature from behind, the rest of the party having finished off the other Webwood Predators.

  “Lyr! Const! Go!” Drace shouted as his Bladeclaw rent a massive wound across the Predator’s carapace. “We’re right behind you!”

  “Okay!” I quickly spun on the ball of my foot and charged after the Puma.

  “Right behind you, Lyr!” Constantine shouted as he turned to follow me.

  Glancing up at the glowing Ridge, I just hoped I wasn’t too late.

  Chapter 29

  I had barely given the Ridge a second thought while we were hunting for my Nemesis, aside from accepting it as a direction the creature couldn’t escape to. At first glance, it didn’t look any different than the Ridge separating the higher elevation of Aldford, and the lower elevation of Crater Lake. But now, as I burst through the foliage and up the incline, praying that I wouldn’t lose my footing on the loose scree, I started catching stray details my mind had missed.

  The greatest of these details being that the Ridge near Aldford and Crater Lake had been sheer, almost smooth, in comparison. As if a laser from the sky had perfectly carved a slice through the rocks, leaving no loose rubble or jagged marking across the ridge. Here in the Webwood however, the ridge face looked like it had been beaten into submission by a drunk giant, leaving countless pockmarks and fractures across it, filling the ground with rubble.

  There was definitely an avalanche at one point in time here.

  “Lyr!” Constantine exclaimed with a gasp. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?!”

  “Eh? Nothing but magic and rocks…” I started to say, suppressing Arcane Sight for a moment, the magic auras permeating the area vanishing from my vision. I looked to the spot where I remembered seeing the brightest glow, my eyes widening in surprise. “Oh!”

  Carved into the side of the rock I saw what had to be at least a thirty-foot statue, rising up from the rubble that came up to its chest, whatever details that it once carried having been long lost to the ravages of time, leaving it smooth and featureless. To its left was an archway that rose just shy of the statue’s chin, partially filled with rubble, tattered webs billowing in the air. Flanking the opposite side of the archway was a depression, where I assumed another statue once stood.

  “It’s like one of those Egyptian tombs or temples that were carved into the side of hills or mountains,” I said with awe as my eyes drank in the sight. “Did you see where the Puma went?”

  “Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?” Constantine breathed as we slowed down, before pointing at the web covered archway. “I saw it go inside.”

  “Shit.” We quickly ran over to the mouth of the archway, finding, even more, webs now covering the rubble at our feet.

  Whoever built this place, carved it right out of the rock, the ceiling inside here has to be at least twenty-five feet high!

  Peering inside, I saw that the rubble led to a sharp decline that vanished into the darkness. I could make out ragged tears and marks in the webs covering the ru
bble from something heavy sliding down. “Ugh… that’s a long way down… we’re going to have to slide down on our asses…”

  “We should wait for the others…” Constantine said, looking behind him and seeing the rest of the party quickly running towards us.”

  “Definitely, no telling what we’ll find in there.” I agreed, willing to give my Nemesis a head start into the ruin rather than go charging in unprepared.

  “Looks like a rock slide or something partially buried this place,” Constantine said as he looked around. “If this ceiling wasn’t so high, we’d have never known anything was buried under here.”

  “Yeah…” I idly wondered why this place needed such a high ceiling as I looked into the gloom. “You know, this is the second ruin I’ve found in this area.”

  “Hm?” Constantine looked confused for a moment before he nodded emphatically. “Oh, right! You found that other one closer to Crater Lake. You think they’re connected?”

  “Don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “I think there used to be something where Crater Lake is now, the ruin I found had a ton of damage. Maybe whatever was once in the middle of Crater Lake exploded?”

  “That would explain the avalanche along the ridge here…” Constantine added with a nod. “Shockwaves would travel far.”

  “Hmmm… that’s true too.” I mused, making a mental note to take a second look at the other ruin I had found.

  Maybe I’ll have time to get to it in five or six days. I thought with a sigh, remembering just how much I still had on my “To Do” list. Assuming that other Adventurers don’t fuck up my plans too drastically.

  “Oh wow!” Drace exclaimed as he and the rest of the party came up to us.

  “Shit my eyes!” Halcyon muttered, clasping a hand over his face, overwhelmed by the magical aura permeating the area. “This place bleeds magic.”

  “Did the puma go inside Lyr?” Sierra asked, immune to the surprise of the ruin.

  “Yeah, Constantine saw it run in. Just wanted to wait for you guys before we rushed in.” I quickly took the time to explain the magic aura that I had seen when looking in the area, pointing deeper into the ruins. “I think the Ley Line is somewhere in here, and judging from the webs… so are a ton of spiders.”

  “Perfect! We’ll skin that cat, squash the critters and stick a band-aid on that Ley Line all in one swoop.” Sierra said confidently, before quickly looking everyone over. “With any luck, we’ll be back in Aldford for a late Dinner! Everyone good to move?”

  “Ye-yep!” Caius exclaimed as he tried to still catch his breath.

  “Ready!” Drace called, having already moved forward, preparing to slide down the rubble.

  “Ugh,” Halcyon grunted, grudgingly moving to follow Drace.

  “Good to go!” I said after seeing Constantine give Sierra a thumbs up.

  “Okay! Get those asses in gear then!” Sierra laughed, seeing Drace slide away into the darkness. “Literally.”

  ***

  One rather uncomfortable slide down the rubble later, we were brushing ourselves off as our eyes slowly adjusted to the sourceless illumination Halcyon’s and my Light spell produced.

  “Bah! I have rubble everywhere…” Halcyon whispered to himself as he adjusted his pants, unaware his voice was echoing through the massive hall we found ourselves in. “Bad enough I can fucking taste the rocks we just slid down…”

  “Ahem… Caius, can you hear anything with your Bloodsense?” I asked while clearing my throat to get everyone’s attention.

  “Uh… no, just you guys,” Caius said hesitantly at first, then with more confidence after he had a moment to think about it. “It’s quiet right now.”

  “Alright, you mind taking the lead for now?” I asked Caius, indicating the darkness ahead of us. “Between your Bloodsense and Night vision you’re probably the best to catch any dangers before we trip over it.”

  “Yeah, no worries Lyr!” Caius said with a smile. “Happy to help.”

  With weapons in hand and Caius in the lead, we pushed further into the ruins. The hall was easily twenty feet wide, allowing us to walk without any concern of bumping into one another. Each of us straining to catch a whisper of a spider’s feet or the soft patter of the Puma’s paws. As we moved deeper into the ruin, the rubble, and webs that covered the entrance gradually disappeared, leaving a smooth and even floor with matching chiseled walls.

  “This place was well cared for at one point,” I said, running my hand along the smooth wall. “Busy place too, look at the floor.”

  Having moved away from the rubble, I now saw that the smoothness of the floor went beyond simple chiseling. It was gradually worn and smoothed from the repeated passage of hundreds, maybe thousands of feet over a long period of time.

  “Wonder what this place was,” Sierra whispered, looking around in the gloom. “No carvings on the wall or anything like that, so probably not a temple or tomb…”

  We continued walking down the massive hall for another fifty feet or so until Caius held up a hand.

  “More rubble ahead and… a pair of stairs?” He said, slightly confused as we cautiously approached. “Oh, darn! They’re blocked.”

  Bisecting the hallway was a pair of stairs facing one another, which at one point in time must have led to an upper level in the ruin. Today, they both overflowed with rubble, spilling out into the hall.

  There’s no way anything could have gone up those stairs. I noted as we walked by, a part of me greatly relieved that nothing could be sneaking down the stairs behind us once we passed by.

  Continuing onwards, we picked our way through the broken rocks, moving further down the hall. We had barely traveled ten feet past the stairs before Caius spoke again.

  “Huh, the walls are gone.” He whispered quietly. “A massive chamber is coming up ahead, I can’t even see the far wall…”

  Without any noticeable warning, the hallway we had been walking in had widened into a monstrously huge chamber, the stone walls that had flanked us widening and vanishing into the darkness beyond the meager radius that my Light spell covered. The ground in front of us began to slope downwards, forming a small ramp that joined the chamber floor.

  “Caius, what do you see?” I asked the warlock somewhat nervously. “More importantly, what do you hear?”

  “Just you guys, nothing else…” Caius replied, scanning the darkness carefully as he took few steps down the ramp. “But, I see… statues? Of spiders, I think. All in the center of the room, hell of a lot of them. Big ones too.”

  “Statues?” I frowned, confused. Why would there be a room full of spider statues here? “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know, they haven’t moved, and I can’t hear them… so, statues.” Caius had walked to the edge of my Light spell, holding a hand up for us to wait at the base of the ramp. “Oh! That’s so weird…”

  “A little bit more explanation would be great Caius,” I called out to him impatiently, deciding to reactivate Arcane Sight for a quick glimpse around the room.

  “There’s a statue of a man here, along with… a goblin?” Caius sounded confused as he vanished into the darkness. “Oh shit! Is that a-”

  Brilliant magical auras snapped into existence as my Arcane Sight overlaid itself on my vision, causing me to flinch for a split second as the rest of the party shouted out Caius’s name and began to move forward to his rescue.

  “Wait!” I shouted as the magical auras came into focus, the party halting in their tracks, just a few feet shy of a bright crescent of magic that was embedded into the floor, stretching across the entire room, or at least as far as my vision could see. “There’s a magic circle right by your feet! Don’t cross it!”

  I quickly moved towards the foot thick, glowing aura on the ground, finding an intricate design carved onto the floor. “There’s a design here!”

  “I see it too,” Halcyon said, having re-activated his Arcane Sight too. “What the hell happened to him? I can still feel him via Party Sens
e.”

  “I don’t know.” I looked towards Constantine and Sierra. “You guys have low light vision, can you see him at all?”

  “Uh.” Constantine came right up to the line, peering into the darkness. “Yeah, I see him just over there.”

  “He’s frozen… mid-stride,” Sierra spoke slowly, slightly confused at what she was seeing. “It’s like he’s paralyzed?”

  “He should have fallen down then,” Constantine said shaking his head. “One foot is halfway in the air as he’s walking forward.”

  The magic aura in the floor began to fade.

  “The magic is fading!” Halcyon exclaimed as he quickly scanned the area.

  “Shit.” All traces of magic had quickly faded, leaving the room pitch dark to my magical vision once more.