Desert Dungeon

Third Floor

Two Shards Active

Chorsay sat near the entrance with his back resting on the boundary wall. He lifted his waterskin in greeting, then took a drink and stashed it and some food into his backpack.

"Sorry for making you wait," Owin said as he climbed the stairs.

"Did I complain?" Chorsay stood, pressing a hand into the boundary wall. The bricks clattered as the bags swayed.

"I know I took too long."

"But I got boned!" Shade hopped up from the stairs and posed. "Do I look different?"

Chorsay scratched his jaw. His facial hair grew fast and was already coming in as brown and gray speckled stubble. "You are aware of what that means, Shade."

Shade shrugged and walked to the edge of the bridge.

The area just outside the stairs was a dirt platform with the boundary wall on two sides and a river on the others. A stone bridge led from the dirt platform out to the sandy banks. Above was a cloudless blue sky with sunlight that warmed Owin's skin.

It seemed like a peaceful place, if one ignored the scaltari on the other side of the bridge holding spears, staves, and swords.

"Are they going to attack?" Owin asked.

"No. They've been standing there the entire time." Chorsay stretched to touch his toes, then swung his arms.

The scaltari looked broader than the ones he had fought in the Great Forest. These had more ridges and texture to their skin, and they were all similar shades of green. Both scaltari in the front wore segmented armor splashed with red paint. Bits of matte, unpolished metal still shone in the sunlight.

Behind them, an archer stared into the sky, following something with her eyes. She had an arrow between her reptilian fingers, but she held it loosely without pulling on the bowstring.

A few other scaltari moved about off the bridge. From what Owin could see, they were likely wizards or magi with their staves.

"Are the scaltari the main enemy on this floor?" Owin asked.

Shade stopped near the end of the bridge, waved at the lizards, and leaned on the railing. River water flowed quickly under the bridge, continuing unimpeded through the boundary wall.

"Mostly, yes. There are a few floor bosses. You can see the proteunia from the hill." Chorsay finished loosening up and drew the Winged Sword.

"What's the difference?"

"Between scaltari and proteunia? Potilia would scold you for not already knowing." Chorsay used his sword to point at the mobs on the bridge. "Scaltari are intelligent bipedal creatures. Proteunia are more similar to animals and tend to become larger. Not all proteunia are massive, of course." Chorsay stifled a yawn.

"Do you need to sleep?"

"No, thank you. I took a nap before you arrived. I walked right through the second floor. I only had to fight a few of the pigs and the one lizard. I thought you two might be a while." He walked over to Shade and gently tapped the skeleton with his fist. "What do you see, captain?"

"Lots of scales, some water, some sand, a lot of plants, I think a fish." Shade leaned over the stone railing. "Definitely some fish."

"Anything to bargain for our passage?" Chorsay leaned on the railing. "Bigger fish than I expected."

"Want me to catch one?" Shade crouched and tried to reach through the railing, but was still feet away from the water.

"No, I think we're good. Scaltari can catch fish if they want." Chrosay ran his palm over the blade of his sword. "We can try to negotiate or we can fight. I don't mind either way."

"I kind of want to do it peacefully," Owin said. "Artivan didn't tell me you can talk to scaltari until after I already jumped at a few of them."

"That sounds like him." Chorsay touched the edge of the blade, then smiled and sheathed it. "Either of you want to negotiate?"

Shade looked at Owin. "Are we the best choice for this?"

"I can do it. I have high charisma now." Owin walked onto the bridge and within a few steps, all the scaltari eyes were on him.

"That doesn't mean you're suddenly good at talking to people," Shade said quickly. "It might just mean that you're going to intimidate people."

"Is that a bad thing?"

Shade shrugged.

"I will follow your lead, Owin." Chorsay gestured to the other side of the bridge.

Owin walked across and stopped a few feet in front of the front scaltari. They had hunkered down and prepared to attack, if needed, but nobody initiated an attack.

"Who are you?" one asked. Its voice was breathy.

Behind, the hunter partially pulled the arrow back without raising the bow.

"Owin the goblin. This is Shade and Chorsay. We are trying to pass."

The scaltari looked at each other, whispered something, then one nudged the other with its shield. They argued more in the open, then one took a half step forward.

"Pay the toll."

Owin looked back. "What's that?"

"A fee, usually, like the portals," Chorsay said. "What's your toll?"

The scaltari looked at each other again.

Owin put his hand near the mouth of his bag. It croaked like a frog as it spit out a few coins of dungeon gold. "Here." Owin held it out and waited for a scaltari to extend its hand. As soon as one did, he dropped the coins into its palm.

The scaltari quickly snatched them away and stepped aside. Its comrades copied and stepped aside.

Owin nodded his thanks and walked on without another word. Chorsay and Shade followed without questioning the surprisingly easy interaction. Owin couldn't help but grin to himself. Despite what Shade said, Owin knew his higher charisma was helping him. If he had tried that same thing in the past, they would have tried to stab him or tear his head off before he even finished his first sentence.

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Owin climbed the hill, digging his chitin boots into loose dirt. Closer to the river where the ground wasn't so worn, plants grew dense over the soil all the way down to the edge of the water.

Owin let his left hand hang, brushing over the edges of shrubs that grew to the sides of the path. As soon as he crested the hill, he could see the rest of the floor. Its two sections were bisected by the river running from one boundary wall to the other, with hilly land on both sides. A cave led underground on the same side Owin was currently on, and a massive lizard prowled the hills near a long building on the other.

Nothing about the floor looked overly complicated. It was bigger than the previous floor, but less dense. There weren't rooms of traps and mobs. It was just a wide open expanse with some scaltari, a giant lizard, and whatever was inside the cave and other building.

The other scaltari, the wizards or magi, wandered on the side of the hill to Owin's left. They walked somewhat mindlessly through shrubs and up and down the slope near the boundary wall.

"This doesn't seem complicated." Owin turned to look at Shade and Chorsay just as a fireball flew from the scaltari wizard's staff. The bag at Owin's hip spit out Isotelus, which was already rigid and freezing. Owin yanked the sword from the bag and slashed overhead, cutting directly through the fireball with the frozen sword. The explosion shot to both sides without touching Owin with any of the heat. It fanned out far enough to completely block Shade and Chorsay from any damage.

The scaltari wizard looked at his staff, then at the burning plants around the three of them.

"Why?" Owin asked.

The other scaltari, a magi, formed a spike of ice and launched it. Owin turned his head, letting the spike move directly past his face.

"Stop attacking!"

The wizard lifted his staff, then tilted it forward.

"Bolt," Owin said, extending his flesh hand. A ball of electricity hit the wizard, stunning him as he stumbled and fell down the hill into a shrug.

The magi turned his head and watched his comrade flail in the thorny bush.

"Owin," Chorsay said. "I'm impressed." The old man walked to his side. "Your reaction time is significantly improved from when I've seen you move in the past."

"Thank Althowin, I guess."

Chorsay placed his hand on Owin's head. "Just because she gave you the buffs doesn't mean you can't own the improvement. A high score doesn't matter if one lacks talent."

The magi stuck his clawed hand to the side and summoned an ice elemental. It was the first time Owin had seen an elemental familiar from a magus. It was a mostly clear, angular creature about the same size as Suta. Instead of a head, the top of the elemental ended in a cone with a bunch of small facets that made the sun reflect in odd ways.

Owin squinted as the ice elemental let out a cry and tried to use its ice arms to block the sunlight.

"It's too hot for an ice elemental," Chorsay said.

"This is weirdly sad," Shade said. "I, uh, I don't love that."

The familiar and the magus both started casting all kinds of ice spells, which killed the nearby plants and created a small layer of frost over the soil. That quickly melted and turned the ground to mud, which the elemental and scaltari magus both slipped in and joined the wizard as all three fought the wiry shrubs.

"If these are the scaltari at two shards, what are they like with none?" Owin asked.

Chorsay gestured helplessly.

"Do we help them?" Shade asked. He took a step down hill. "It can't be that hard to get out of a bush, right?"

The elemental familiar finally broke its way free as the plants froze and snapped easily. The magus, when it joined its summon, had icicles hanging from its snout where snot had frozen.

"Are you okay?" Owin asked.

The elemental made some high pitched noise and turned to its summoner. The magus shook its head.

"I think we're just going to go." Owin pointed toward the cave. "Is that fine?"

The magus nodded just as the wizard broke free of the bushes. It tried marching back up, but stepped into the mud the elemental made and slipped, falling back down the hill.

"Come on," Chorsay said. He started down the hill, following a worn path that led to the cave. As far as walks went, the rest of the journey was pleasant. No scaltari pursued, and the proteunia on the other side of the river just stomped about near the stairs without noticing or caring about them.

***

Myrsvai stood with Athtar Faven, the elf prince. It took minutes of reassurance that the giant walking specter statue was nothing to be concerned about. The prince was, understandably, not easily swayed.

Specters had poured out of the portal and the giant cathkabel statue had angrily started its march across the castle rooftop. All of it had been intimidating the first time around. Now, with Suta and Thalgodin working together in full force, Myrsvai didn't mind standing back and just throwing out buffs as needed. Against the statue, all that was needed was brute force, and the two summons had more than enough of that. The shapeless specters were the most difficult, but they weren't too much to handle if Myrsvai used some of his elemental spells. The cockatrice and warpers were kept at bay by the prince's archers, since they were also enhanced by the two shards active on the floor. Myrsvai buffed them as well when the swarm got too dense.

Overall, it was going much better than it had the first time around. All of it was good. Thalgodin was having a brilliant time running through the dungeon and cutting everything he saw, and Suta was enjoying protecting the neural demon and getting to show off.

The fourth floor of the Fortress was their last. Thalgodin had leveled significantly and was summoned in his true form with his full power. After defeating the statue and other various specters, he would level at least once more and be ready to fuse.

"What is that creature?" Athtar asked.

Suta caught a cocktrice by the neck and whipped it at a warper. The collision in the air killed both mobs. As soon as he was done, he took a quick succession of steps and leapt toward the statue, who was currently trying to swat Thalgodin from the air.

"He's my familiar," Myrsvai said proudly.

"I've never seen a magus familiar so . . . ruthless." He straightened and glanced at Mrysvai. "Apologies," the prince said.

"He's been called worse."

Myrsvai took a deep breath and lifted his staff high. "If you think this has been interesting, watch this." He closed his eyes and prepared Catalyst of the Abyssal Lord. Despite his studies and the numerous times he had connected to the Abyss, Myrsvai still found it difficult to pinpoint exactly where he was and where he needed to go while opening portals. Summoning was easy. This was complicated.

Myrsvai consciousness flew over the lands of the Abyss as the faintest hint of a portal opened behind him. He had appeared over the border between two realms, which in this case, was a thirty foot wall of fire with wailing skeletons standing like fence posts.

As far as landmarks went, that was one of the most recognizable. He was between the Burning Workshop and the Plains of Awakening. The Burning Workshop was the smallest realm in the Abyss, so he could see the line of burning skeletons extending into the distance before it faded in the black smoke.

Catalyst of the Abyssal Lord was a spell Myrsvai needed a lot more practice with, but if he could keep opening portals close to his ideal destination, then he needed far less practice than he would've initially assumed.

"Myrsvai Ryllsion," a voice said like an echo in his mind.

"Greetings, Vile Fiend," Myrsvai said out loud.

Athtar's eyes widened. "The Fiend? Here?"

"No," Myrsvai said even as his vision was entirely within the Plains of Awakening. "His power."

"For Suta?" the Vile Fiend asked in Mrysvai's mind.

"Yes, Lord." Mrysvai smashed his staff onto the roof. The small portal hovering behind him immediately roared as it opened wide, reaching nearly ten feet across. Strands of abyssal energy flew by and latched onto Suta, who didn't even flinch.

The familiar let himself be empowered and used the new rush of abyssal energy to ravage the specter monarch. Suta pummeled it and sent wave after wave of Abyssal Barrage. He coated his fists with Abyssal Armor to use as gauntlets as he beat the specter monarch to death.

The fight didn't last long after Suta's buff. Between Thalgodin and the familiar, they killed the last remaining mobs on the floor, checked for loot, and waited near the exit to the outside world.

"Nice to see you again," Myrsvai said to Athtar.

"Again?"

Myrsvai lifted his staff as a sign of goodbye, and walked across the roof, avoiding any piles of dead specters. "Did you two have fun?"

Thalgodin grinned. "Thank you, Mrysvai."

"For what?"

"Letting me truly live before we fuse."

Myrsvai walked up to the void nexus and stopped. "We don't have to fuse. We can find someone else, Thalgodin."

"No, brother." Thalgodin put all three of his left arms on Mrysavai. "We are one."

Myrsvai was glad the neural demon was able to grow his arms and fingers back after their battle against the cathkabel priest back in the Ocean. The only way for demons to do that was to eat other demons, which was less odd to Myrsvai now after watching Owin do far worse.

"If you're sure."

"I am," Thalgodin said. "Let us go and begin our fusion."

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