Selena felt her mana crystal shrink further in her stomach as she leveled the spear back down. That was it. The best she could do was a weak pulse of free magic, hardly focused, and mostly dissolved into the air by the time it hit the Nathir golem. She'd get enough for a few more flights, but offensive wise, she was tapped. She didn't even trust there would be enough to power her armor enchantments.

Cursed cheap crystal, it should have been able to hold for at least a few more hits.

"Missing moon, why now…" She muttered, peering over the rooftop edge at the rampaging golem in the distance.

Shopworker-Wade had sworn up and down that dropping a pile of mithril junk on top of the golem would somehow destroy it, she'd done as ordered and only because she'd seen it work against the last golem. But perhaps that was mostly due to the golem's rusted out dysfunctional state, since she could see the plan had clearly failed against the far larger one. And now she'd need to fight that thing without mana.

"No time for weakness." She hissed to herself, making her way to the ladder. She'd landed on this distant rooftop by chance after dodging the golem's swing for her. She hadn't even seen if the human had survived the impact. He'd made it last time she dropped him, so Selena could only hope Shopworker-Wade could do it again.

Without hesitation, she grabbed the sides and slid down, her gauntlets letting her smoothly slide down the entire thing without issue.

Still felt mortifying having to take a ladder of all things anywhere. Fortunately nobody saw her. Everyone was too busy trying to survive picking a fight with a goddess damned Nathir golem of all things.

Her boots hit the ground with a dull thud. No mana running through her mana circuits within her legs meant nothing to absorb the impact with. She gritted her teeth, sucked in the pain and started hobbling down the alleyway, slowly picking up speed again. The armor clanked awkwardly with each step, the chest plate designed for someone with more substance than her current frame. There was only so far her padding could work.

"Shopworker-Wade!" She called out, hoping he'd managed to escape in the chaos. "Lady Illy!?" That infuriating human had better not have gotten herself killed after all her efforts. Shopworker-Wade too, she supposed. Unscrupulous as a shady merchant, he was still a part of this team.

She darted between buildings, weaving through the residential complex. Sound had come to a stop further ahead, either the golem had decided to stop moving or had killed everyone and was satisfied.

Unlikely the second one, it would typically start growling out that strange guttural Nathir language.

Past rubble, broken walls, and climbing over the unmoving shell of a golem with its head sliced in half, Selena finally made it to where she'd last heard the giant golem stomping around.

It was there, standing perfectly still. No lights anywhere, no glow, and even the orb head seemed to have retracted back into the chassis. Laying on top instead of floating above.

Was it dead? She stayed hidden behind her cover, ears hearing metallic sounds by the orb. Repairing itself perhaps?

She couldn't allow it to repair itself. Not after the entire group had tried their best to put that thing down. "I am… a paladin-in-training of Flight Nightreaver." She shut her eyes closed, and tried to muster up her courage. "I will not fear the enemy. Where I tread, the sky shakes. I will bring honor to my Flight."

Going into battle knowing she had no mana to use at all, no abilities, and no wings to help her escape a bad engagement truly made it all feel far different. Especially against a Nathir golem. At least it wasn't as big as the typical war golems they were known for.

She took one more breath, tried to drag out more of her courage, got back up from her crouch and charged out, shield ready, spear aimed over it.

The golem didn't move or react to her charge. Didn't even seem to notice. It remained frozen where it was. She slowly circled around it, trying to see what was going on.

That's when she saw it. The skeleton Wade had brought back. The one who seemed eerily lucid and clearly in command of its body.

It was digging inside the giant orb, using one of Lady Illy's daggers to cut and dice. The skeleton was using its mana empowered strength coupled with those free magic spells to enchant the blade. It still had difficulty cutting through the orb's metallic exterior, but the interior seemed far weaker.

And the golem wasn't moving an inch while undergoing it's lobotomy.

...

Was it defeated? Had Shopworker-Wade's plan really worked out against all odds?

She wanted to stay here and examine the golem. Or at least verify for herself it was destroyed. But her main mission compelled her: Lady Illy's protection.

Where were they? Selena looked around the ruined battlefield, searching for the group. Nothing. Where had they gone?

The skeleton seemed to notice her then, eyeless skull staring her direction. It seemed to understand her confusion, because it rose one boney finger and pointed off in one direction.

She assumed it meant that's where the group had gone. So, she returned an awkward gesture of thanks, not certain the skeleton would even understand, before turning in the pointed direction and making her way there.

Three minutes into the careful jog, she heard sound: The humans all speaking that strange language to one another. And the clear sound of her human. Lady Illy.

Selena let go on a held breath, feeling herself relax slightly, before she pulled herself back together, straightened her back, and marched forward to meet her ward.

"Well that makes it a right breeze." Illy said, spotting Selena walking her way. "Now we don't have to go looking for knife-ears anymore."

Elvish insults and grumbling came out from Selena. Mostly unworded from the ears, while the elf kept a stiff posture. "Lady Illy, I am relieved to see you have not gotten yourself hurt, despite your best attempts otherwise." That last part was muttered under her breath.

"And a bonnie hello right back at ya Selena." Illy interrupted. In full moonwing elvish. Flowing from the hellion's mouth with perfect pronunciation despite her thick Scottish accent, which somehow felt strangely the same even in elvish. "Bloody hell. This blessin' really does work flawlessly."

Selena froze mid-gesture, her eyes widening. "You... you speak elvish now?"

Illy gave a thumbs up, looking immensely pleased with herself. "Pleased to properly meet ye." She gave a ladylike bow, moving an imaginary skirt with the gesture. "Lady Millicent Nicole Victoria Blackwood-Sinclair, at your service."

"More like she's at your service, if I remember right." Wade said.

The elf's ears waggled like they were about to try and fly off. It looked like she wanted to ask a million and one questions, while constantly running into the issue of it being unprofessional to ask her employer questions.

"Now I get what you're on about with the ears," Illy said, looking back at Wade. "It's pure dead strange how you just... understand. Like a full secret code, just in those twitches and feather puffing."

Wade nodded. "Real problem is sometimes I find myself trying to move my own ears when talking to her, and then realize I can't. Also we don't have face feathers. Really limits a lot of passive aggressive cursing I could have done."

It wasn't a huge hit on his ability to talk to the elf, but it did sometimes feel like trying to speak without hands to wave with. Or having to word things without being able to move eyebrows or smile and frown. A little robotic. He could tell from context at this point that elvish was the common root, at least word and ear movements, but what made moonwing elvish more unique was the face feathers.

Selena simply gulped at the end, tried to press her face feathers back flush to her cheeks a few times with her own hands.

Wade could tell the one thing this poor elf wanted to ask was "How the fuck does your bullshit spread?" - but that would be a crass question, and as a mercenary from the moonwing elves, she had a reputation to hold to as the stoic no-nonsense merc. Eventually, the elf decided the humans would tell her at some point, so she coughed in her gauntlet, made sure her everything was back to flush with her blond hair, then knelt down before Illy.

What followed next was a formal introduction and Selena going through some kind of paladin ritual officially accepting the job as a bodyguard.

And then a very timid and shy thank you for steak and the hospitality earlier, this time properly done to her people's standards.

Wade had a feeling the entire introduction was Selena trying to build up some self-courage for that part.

"You know what I can do, come to think of it?" He pointed a finger gun at Selena. "Bam. Now she can speak english back with us. Next time you're on earth should be easier."

The elf blinked once, twice, then realized she'd understood what Wade had just said. At least that second part.

"What in the missing moon is this devilry!?" She said, before putting both hands over her mouth, face blush red. She'd tried so hard, but there was only so much of Wade's bullshit she could handle before she needed answers.

"Well now, that's a right long story and we can finally get to telling it." Illy said, walking up to the kneeling elf and giving her a fond pat on the head.

The Scot still had to get on her tiptoes to comfortably pat the elf's head, even with the elf still knelt down.

"But let's not be gossiping in the heart of golem city, since they're on our tail right now. Once we're away to somewhere safer, or back on earth, I'll give ya the full story. Swear on me mum's grave."

Selena offered a silent nod, still experiencing shame from her earlier outburst, before falling in line with the others. "Other... complications besides our current situation, I need to deliver a status update." She stated, her tone now completely professional. "I have used up the last of my mana crystal, and will require a resupply at some point. As I am nowhere near my estate, this becomes rather difficult to accomplish as of now."

"And me headin' back to Earth didn't send you home either. I reckon you might be stuck with me for a fair while until I sort out how to let ya stay put somewhere. Still fancy dragging ya along to see Nox though, she might have an answer up her sleeve." Illy paused for a moment. "Oh, just got a quest for it too. Get the elf back to her estate grounds before... oh feck. We got a problem for you Selena."

She twitched her ears.

"Yeah, with your estate. It's about to be sold off soon."

Not even ears could properly convey the confusion on Selena's features. "I beg your pardon? My estate is not for sale."

"Not according to my sources." Illy said focusing her attention on something hovering before her eyes. "Implies quite a few of yer folks have been waiting for the estate to get purged of everyone, and they mostly succeeded in doing so with exception to you? And now that you're gone, if you stay gone for ten more days, they'll take that as abandonment and start a takeover process."

"WHAT." Selena burst out, then frantically tried to press her feathered back to her face, as she paced back and forth. "Who- oh, those scheming assholes." Now the insults were flowing fast and free. "I knew there was foul play behind all this! I knew it! That mission had far too much political... political shitfuckery to be normal! I knew it was a setup! Which of these craven cowards was it? The Alderi? Wraithstorms? Or was it the high council themselves since we didn't side with them during the takeover?"

She was now fully pacing back and forth.

"Whatever actually is going on, we need to start making our way out of here." Wade said, "We can figure it out outside the city."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Selena hissed back, then blushed hard, and once more tried to get herself under control. She coughed into her gauntlet, straightened up, and then looked at Illy as if nothing had happened. "I would be honored to travel with you as your guardian Lady Illy." Selena mutely said. "Please lead the way, and forget any prior words or wording I have used, if you would be so kind."

"Hearing an elf swear like a sailor is something I wouldn't trade anything in the world fer." Illy said, giving a few fond taps on her backplate. "Water under the bridge, let's get goin' and figure out how to save your estate. We left the skeleton in charge of getting Lapushka's wardkey, let's see what he's got."

On returning to the golem to check on their favorite skeleton's progress, they got a good welcome. Eri was on top of Lapushka, sitting down with a stone tablet in hand.

What had once been a glowing blue and floating orb was now just dull cobalt looking metal with a vague shape of an eye at the center and some clear holes cut inside.

Said party responsible for cutting into that orb waved at them.

"I thinking your friend found the key." Leon said, giving Wade a good pat on the back. "He very reliable."

The skeleton jumped down, landing far on the ground into a steep crouch.

Wade glanced him over, and then pointed a finger directly at the skeleton. "Bam." He said.

Blessing of Languages Bestowed on: Level 44 Skeletal Greatsword Champion.

Eri clearly didn't notice a thing change and continued his walk over to Wade. Then lifted the little stone tablet filled with runes and mithril looking wiring. For a moment, Wade almost had the feeling like the skeleton was trying to take a picture of him with the world's bulkiest and strangest phone.

Blue light flashed through the little tablet, powered again in the skeleton's hands. The same scanning light the golem had used in the past flashed over Wade.

The keys to the city complete! You are granted free passage within Nathir Shelter Cities.

It worked. They were getting out of here alive. "Ayyy, good work Eri." Wade said in english, then gave him a set of finger guns back.

The skeleton returned the gesture with a casual two-finger salute that was missing aviator sunglasses to be perfect, before he froze and looked over his skeletal hand in confusion.

"Yep." Wade said feeling real proud. "That's good old American sign language, welcome to the club. One hundred percent human only."

Eri took to it like fish to water.

The group reached the old checkpoint they'd left behind in good time. All the golems remained frozen in place, filled with rust, and beyond them was a circular massive gateway clearly made for a giant to step through.

"These checkpoints..." Selena's voice dropped to a whisper. "As I have been warned many times prior, they would incinerate anyone and any tool. Flesh burned from bone in an instant. Not even ash is left behind."

Wade raised an eyebrow. "That's... graphic. But we have the wardkey now, right?"

Or at least the tablet has scanned them all and either notified all the wardgates to allow them entry or did something to mark them. Whatever the case was, Eri had stuffed the tablet into Wade's backpack with a pat and then a thumbs up.

The skeleton was deeply enjoying human body language and took just about every possible chance to use all of it.

But they did need to start rushing near the end of all this.

There were sounds of a march echoing further up the sewer, which meant the golem containment net was rapidly approaching them.

Selena's feathers ruffled anxiously as she stared down the tunnel beyond the wardgate. "Perhaps we should test this in some way? Before we take the leap of faith."

"He's already going through." Leon interrupted, pointing at Eri.

The skeleton had apparently decided there wasn't time for this kind of hemming and hawing, and simply walked toward the checkpoint. Clearly deciding to skip the entire process of figuring out who tests it first and just volunteering.

"Eri, wait!" Wade called out, but the skeleton simply turned his skull back in a sort of 'nobody lives forever baby,' way, and then walked through the gateway backwards.

The gateway's runes flickered briefly, scanning the skeleton before returning to their dormant state. He'd walked past the gate without a mark or scratch. Something the skeleton himself seemed surprised about, looking down at his bony hands and testing everything still worked.

"Well," Wade said, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, "I guess that settles it."

"Perhaps it only burns the living?" Selena suggested, still hesitant.

"Oh enough of yer worrying." Illy said, then marched right through the gateway herself. Once more the runes on the side of the gateway flashed blue for a moment but otherwise didn't do anything.

The Scot reached the skeleton, raised a hand out, and the two shared a quick high five.

Wade shrugged, and walked through with Leon, leaving only Selena as the last member to grudgingly pass through.

Should be safe from the golems from here on out

Wade hummed, looking down at the phone screen as the group walked down the sewer tunnel. "Right, because they probably don't expect anyone to get past the checkpoint…"

There wasn't anything but the long tunnel up ahead. No city above them, no light besides the dim crystals within the tunnel and Wade's secondhand flashlight.

They came to a second checkpoint and heard it more than saw it. Like the sound of rough coarse sand blasting against glass windows.

Wardstone wise, this area looked identical to the first, with a circular gateway at the centerpoint. Although this one had clear signs of digging attempts from the outside, as parts of the tunnel beyond were excavated out. But past a certain line, there were no signs of any modifications. And there wasn't much more Wade could see because of what was on the other side.

It was darkness. Pure darkness. With a storm of reflective metal shards zipping through a clear heavy wind. Only reason he could see any of that was from the flashlight illuminating it.

Everything would ping off the wardshield constantly, which was where the sound had been coming from. On their end, they felt nothing. No wind, no shards of metal.

"What the heck is outside the city?" Wade asked.

Selena puffed out her feathers as she watched, "I am… unfamiliar with this weather phenomenon." She sounded very worried. "We ought to proceed with caution. Unknown weather is an ill omen."

"How so?" Wade asked.

She turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow as if the answer were obvious. So she could do human body language signs too now. Neat. "If it is unknown, it is because no one has either ran afoul of it, or they have - but did not live to report on it. Every single time."

"Ah. That sounds a wee bit grim, doesn't it?" Illy hummed. "Right then lads, what's our next move? Straws this time?"

They all stared at the exit.

Eri clicked his jaws, then took a step through the gateway without hesitation, again. Almost immediately, bits of his fingers and bones started flashing blue, mists of mana leeched out of his bones following the specks of shimmering metal slamming into the skeleton. The darkness almost immediately swallowed him up, but the health bar was very clear in Wade's sight.

It was dropping down, rapidly.

Wade jumped right through the wardgate as fast as he could, hand reaching out for the skeleton to pull him back in. Bits of the metal started slashing into his skin, almost like sand blowing all over him. Peppering his face, nose, mouth, even eyes. It wasn't sharp, and didn't seem to cut his skin at least.

He saw text flash into his side vision, a message on his location.

That got a double take from him, but he didn't have time to ponder on it. He had to get Eri out of there. The health bar continued to drop, down fifty percent, and the skeleton himself looked almost sluggish, dropping down on one knee.

Wade's hands wrapped around the back of the skeleton's shoulder blade, then shoved him backwards. Back into the safety of the wards.

The last Wade saw before a particularly strong gust of wind knocked him off his feet, was the group crouching around the skeleton, brushing the metal sand off of him at once.

Wade got back on his feet and held his arm out, trying to shield his face and eyes, squinting in the darkness. His flashlight was still working, still illuminating the millions of reflective sparks in the darkness. He didn't know which direction was which, the darkness disorienting him. Everything was blowing in so many different directions, left, right, up, down. All of it filled with metal shards.

Where was the cave entrance they'd come from?

"ILLY?!" He called out. "LEON?!"

Sand and metal immediately got into his mouth and it felt like some kind of clinical alcohol solution and iron. Whatever it was, it stung. He spat it out, coughing, then brought up his now metal crusted up shirt, using it like a mask, covering his mouth. That helped him get a few lungfuls of air back, and hack up some more of the metal sand out of his throat. "LEON?! ILLY? SELENA!"

No answer. Frankly, he couldn't even hear his own voice from how loud the wind here was.

This was how it must be inside the middle of some massive sandstorm.

When he got his bearings again, he started shining his flashlight, trying to find his way.

All he saw was nothing but the dark storm, and a rocky ground under his hands and feet that constantly sparkled as metal flew over it. Another heavy gust flung him off balance and into the ground. Wet rock under him, but stable.

"Stats!" He called out, voice drowned in the maelstrom.

Health: 123/125

He wasn't losing any health. Just what he'd lost from banging his head against a metal table when fighting Lapushka. Whatever this storm was, it wasn't causing him pain. He didn't know why it almost murdered Eri in under thirty seconds.

He slipped on the ground once, and metal particles blasted into him, rolling him on the ground three times over before he realized he wasn't going to get back on his two feet. Standing up would cause the wind to throw him off, so he was forced to crawl on the ground. If he'd brought goggles, this might be easier to work through. Squinting would have to do.

He needed some kind of landmark that wouldn't be constantly moving around.

An idea came to mind. "Identify!" He called out, focusing on the health bars.

Level 44 Skeletal Greatsword Champion - 31%

Level 6 Player - 100%

Level 5 Player - 72%

Level 25 Moonwing Paladin - 84%

There, his team was there. He started crawling towards them. Keeping his eyes closed, but still able to see the health bars in the darkness. Hand by hand, he crawled his way over, fighting off the storm.

A hand grabbed his grime encrusted shirt and pulled him up and forward. One moment he was in the middle of a maelstrom of sound drowning out everything, and the next it felt like he'd crossed into sanctuary with the door closed behind on the storm.

Silence. Other than breathing, coughing and hacking coming from him, and the constant sound of sand peppering glass behind him.

The metal was everywhere on him. In his mouth, in his pockets, under his shirt, even in his underwear.

He finally opened up his eyes, feeling flecks of the metal fall off his eyelids. "What the fuck was that?!"

A few more coughs.

"Ya alright there, yank? Health bar's holding steady but ye look like ye got dragged through hell backwards."

Wade coughed a few more times. "Funny you… should mention… that, because I got to see the… location when I stepped out."

He mentally opened his log again and re-read. Hah. Of course the Nathir would figure out places nobody would ever think to look in.

Limbo - First Circle of Hell Extreme Difficulty

These psychopaths built their apocalypse doomsday bunker in Hell itself.

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