by Aaron Oster
What was even more shocking was that the gods who were supposed to be watching were still just lounging about, acting as though nothing were happening. Chaos let out a sigh, looking away from the glowing planet, and nodded.
“Yeah, I can see your point,” he grudgingly agreed.
“Excellent,” Order said. “Then let us begin!”
***
Gold stood with his back placed against a tree, staring up into the sky. Red and blue split the heavens for as far as he could see, the entire world seeming to shake under the force of Morgan’s advancement. The others were, of course, completely ignorant of the change, but that was because they believed Morgan to be dead and their jobs completed.
They wouldn’t even bother checking in again until the meeting tomorrow, and by then, it would be far too late to stop him. Sure, Morgan wasn’t going to outclass them right away, but Gold was confident he could beat them.
Especially with the level of power I’m sensing now, he thought wryly.
He’d spent years calculating Morgan’s level of power once he reached the Pinnacle, even accounting for drastic upswings in rank beforehand. Even at his highest projections, Gold could not have predicted something like this. Morgan’s power blanketed the entire world. He couldn’t think of a single advancement that could be seen this far and wide, not even that of the World Beasts!
Storm clouds gathered overhead, marking the birth of a new power the likes of which this world had never seen.
As he watched the darkening sky, Gold couldn’t help but wonder if he might have gone too far. Morgan had been easy enough to control when he could be overpowered, but with strength like this, Gold was no longer so confident. Yes, the odds were still stacked in his favor, but Gold never took on a challenge where he wasn’t one-hundred-percent certain of victory.
Well, it’s too late to do anything about it now, he thought wryly as the pressure continued to intensify.
The mortals continued to go about their days as though nothing were amiss. Couldn’t they see the power and sense the very trembling in the air and ground? Didn’t they feel the chills running down their spines as it washed over them?
Gold, of course, knew that they could not. It was why he’d felt so confident leaving Morgan to his own devices. In fact, there were only four beings in all of Faeland who could sense his advancement, and they were all already getting up from their naps.
The next twenty-four hours were going to be interesting for sure, but what happened after was what Gold was really interested in. And, while he would have liked to simply sit back, relax, and enjoy the show, he knew that he would need to get involved sooner rather than later.
After all, if he wanted all of the pieces to move as he wished, he would have to make sure to nudge them in the right directions.
***
Breaker paused in his digging as he felt the world tremble. His nostrils flared once again, and he felt a shiver run through his spirit. Something was rising and doing so quickly. Power was gathering at an astounding rate and converging into a single point.
He began to panic, wondering if he’d misinterpreted the signs. Was the Convergence happening earlier than he’d predicted? Was he going to be too late?
The power grew denser, heavier, beginning to slowly turn in place, funneling downward and disappearing before it could return to the earth.
No, Breaker realized. This was not the Convergence but rather, an advancement. He breathed out, sending a stream of red-tinged black fire blasting out in all directions. Stone melted around him, falling in streams to the ground below, yet not fast enough for Breaker’s liking. There was no way he was going to be able to get out of there in time to stop it, and he wanted to stop it.
Because, for the first time in centuries, Breaker felt something he’d thought he would never feel again. Breaker, the Elder Dragon of Greed, was afraid.
***
Quaker paused in her tunneling as the world lit up with brilliant power. The reiki was so pure she could almost taste it, and yet, she was too far to make it there on time. This was not the Convergence. Something was advancing, and if she could feel it, this beast had to be powerful indeed.
But that was of no concern to her. Once she reached the Convergence point, all of that delicious power would be hers, and no one would be able to stand in her way.
***
The top of the volcano blew off as Ripper expanded his power. Just like the others of his kind, the World Beast of Wrath could feel the new Pinnacle creature being born. The world itself trembled under the force of the advancement, and the skies reflected its power as its own. Never in all his life had Ripper seen such an advancement, and unlike the others, he knew what it meant.
He had felt the power above the Well where he’d slumbered, had sensed the gradual climb to the peak. He knew what this creature was and the threat it represented. But, just as with the others, he could not get out in time.
Ripper growled to himself, realizing that they’d become too complacent with their positions atop the power scale in this world. Once, they’d been offered the chance to leave, to become more. They had all refused, content with their small corner of the universe.
But now, there was a new contestant for that throne and one that would only grow more powerful as time progressed. Ripper could sense trouble on the horizon, and if a World Beast like him could feel it coming, it could mean the end of this world as they knew it.
***
Lying on the ocean bed, deep beneath the churning waves, Strangler raised her head. The world above glowed red, blue, and violet, marking the birth of a new Pinnacle Beast, and while an advancement like this might normally have just passed her by, the fact that the entire world was reflecting the advancement meant that it was not something to be trifled with.
Strangler had not planned on leaving her underwater dwelling for at least a few more days. While the others believed the Convergence was right on the horizon, she knew better. It was still several weeks away. The signs had all been there, and while the others had been sleeping on the job, she had been busy.
Keeping her Cultists running about and trying to start a war had been hard enough, but now that it was all on track, opening the path to her ascension as the most powerful being on this planet, she could not allow something like this to stand.
Strangler began to uncoil her monstrous body, preparing to rise to the surface once more to take care of this problem before it could get in her way.
62
“Are you sure this will work?” Grace asked again as she felt her reiki being pulled out of her at an alarming rate.
“Yes,” Katherine replied. “I’m sure.”
The glassy sphere left behind by Gold was currently about a quarter of the way full, and both Grace and Elyssa had emptied all their reiki into it about a dozen times each. Of course, Elyssa could contribute a lot more, but the process was going much slower than Katherine would have liked.
The plan Gold had laid out was actually quite simple. In order to reach Faeland in time, they would need to fill the glass sphere with reiki, then Katherine – using Grace and Elyssa as a conduit – would channel the reiki into her own portal skill and rip open a gateway into Faeland.
It was a risky plan, to be sure, but it was one that would – hopefully – see them barge in right in the middle of the meeting to call a start to the war. They would be bringing with them their most powerful fighters, and Elyssa would call the gnomes out in front of everyone for trying to have her killed.
The plan from there was to seize the gnome and troll leaders and take them prisoner, forcing them to call off their troops. The war would be averted, there would be peace between Faeland and the Five Kingdoms, and everyone – except the gnomes – would be happy.
Or so Katherine hoped.
They were on a serious time crunch, and right now, their success depended largely on Elyssa and Grace filling the sphere in time and her ability to open the portal.
“How are you feeli
ng?” a healer asked Grace as she released the sphere and slumped back, allowing Elyssa to move in and take over.
The elven queen had not complained a single time about the torture she was now putting herself through. She’d been gravely injured and had spent days growing weaker and weaker. Now that she was recovering, she needed her reiki more than ever. Yet here she was, emptying her core over and over and all for the sake of her people.
“Fine,” Grace panted. “But I could really use something to eat.”
She had eaten around three pounds of meat just thirty minutes ago, but Katherine had already known that an exercise like this would be an exhausting ordeal. Being used as a human power source could not be a pleasant experience, which was why Katherine had been forced to do these exact exercises when she was younger.
Well, maybe not exactly this, but she had been forced to do exercises that could constantly drain her, to build up her stamina and resistance to mental fatigue.
“I could really go for a nap, too,” Grace mumbled, slumping down into a chair as a servant brought her some meat.
“Just keep at it for a bit longer,” Lumia said, landing on her shoulder and nuzzling her ear.
The small drake looked up then, her eyes narrowing to slits as she went back to comforting Grace.
Katherine had noticed this odd behavior nearly an hour ago. The drake continued looking up to the sky before going back to whatever it was she’d been doing beforehand. However, each time Katherine looked up, she could see nothing out of the ordinary. Just a red and purple cloudless sky, growing darker as night set in.
Katherine wanted to ask the drake what was bothering her, but if Lumia didn’t think it important enough to share, she wouldn’t try prying. The drake had played a big part in getting them all to safety, and without her help, none of them would have made it back alive.
She’d tried to offer the drake a reward, but what could she possibly give a beast? She’d still asked, and Lumia had said she would think about it, but Katherine didn’t expect an answer from the beast. At least, not until this was all over.
As the night wore on, Katherine found herself covering more and more yawns. She knew that she should be getting some sleep herself, but it wouldn’t be right to leave Grace and Elyssa to do all the work while she went to take a nap.
“We’re nearly halfway there,” she said as the clock struck one.
It had been Elyssa’s turn, and the elf staggered back, falling into a cushioned chair as she had the last several times.
Grace couldn’t even get out of hers, and the small table containing the sphere was rolled over to her, and her hand was placed on the sphere. She groaned, clutching at her head as her reiki was drained, but other than that, she didn’t make a sound.
“How are you holding up?” she asked, looking worriedly at the slumping elf.
“I’m managing,” Elyssa answered.
“Do you think you’re going to be able to make it through to tomorrow and do what needs to be done?”
Elyssa nodded, and though her back was slumped, a fire burned in her eyes.
“I will do whatever it takes to see my enemies fall and prevent any further bloodshed. Have your spies figured out how all of those Cultists got into your lands yet?” she asked, changing the subject.
“Right now, the working theory is that Herald, the King of the Central Kingdom, let them in somehow. We’ve known for a while that he’s working with the forces of Faeland, but we have no idea how he could have smuggled so many into his landlocked Kingdom.
“As far as we know, the only way in is by sea, and the only one accessible to Faeland is the one bordering the East Kingdom.”
“Are any of the prisoners talking?” Elyssa asked.
“None so far,” Katherine replied sourly. “And I’m afraid that the ones who are on the loose still have not been caught.”
“You mean the five who were chasing us as we made our escape,” Elyssa said, and Katherine nodded.
She hadn’t seen any of them herself, but judging by Grace’s description, they were extremely dangerous. They’d managed to avoid capture when the reinforcements from the South and East had shown up to help rout the enemy forces. Most of the Cultists had been captured or killed, but there were still some who were on the run. The worst among them was the group of five who’d nearly succeeded in stopping them.
She was confident they’d catch up to them eventually. After all, there were only so many places one could hide, especially when they had literal armies on the lookout. The only question was how many they’d take down before they were killed.
“What about the mana cannon?” Elyssa asked, watching as Grace’s hand was removed from the sphere and brought over to her.
“We managed to retrieve it from the wreckage of the bunker along with Hilda’s body.”
Katherine hadn’t wanted to accept that the woman was really gone, even after seeing the tunnel collapse on top of her. But, after they’d pulled her body, bloodied and broken, from the wreckage, there was no more denying what had happened.
Of course, she hadn’t actually seen the body, as she’d been here the entire time, but she’d heard the news all the same.
Le’vine was going to be holding a funeral in a few days but wanted to come with them when they went to confront the gnomes. Though she didn’t say so out loud, Katherine could see the seething hatred the woman was hiding just below the surface. Hilda had been her family, and Katherine could understand wanting to get revenge.
It was only thanks to Hilda’s bravery and strength that they’d managed to make it out of that collapsed tunnel, and Katherine would make sure that all who were involved would pay.
Elyssa couldn’t respond to that, as she was once again funneling all she had into the glass sphere, but Katherine could see how tense she was. They were all on edge. The past couple of weeks had been stressful, to say the least, and coupled with the death of a friend, the impending confrontation and the lack of sleep, it was a miracle that they hadn’t all devolved into a slavering rabble of demented monsters!
“How are you doing, Grace?” Katherine asked, crouching down next to the girl.
“Energy. Need, energy,” she whispered.
Katherine bit her bottom lip for a moment, eyeing the tray of now-cold meat. She didn’t think giving her any more food would help at the point, so she called for a servant to make a run up to her office. There was plenty of energy there, in the form of beast cores. If anything could help at this point, it would be raising Grace’s rank. Katherine just hoped that Grace had had enough training in between and wouldn’t be annoyed at her if she missed out on any gains.
They’d run through another rotation by the time the servant returned with the cores she’d requested. Walking over to the slumped girl, Katherine placed the glassy marble in her hand.
“I’ve gotten you a core,” she said in a low voice. “If you feel up to it, I’d like you to try moving up a rank or two.”
Grace finally cracked an eyelid at that, staring down at the glowing red and blue sphere through bleary eyes. It took her far too long to focus on the core, and Katherine knew that if she didn’t advance, she wouldn’t be able to allow Grace to keep doing this. Even injured as she was, Elyssa was still far stronger and more capable.
Elyssa’s body and mind were built to handle the strain. Grace, on the other hand, was not.
The younger girl stared at the core for several moments more, then slowly nodded. Light streamed from the core, vanishing into her body. A moment later, she jerked, her muscles going rigid as the core crumbled to dust in her fingers.
“Oh, shit! She was not supposed to absorb it all!” Katherine exclaimed as Grace’s body began to glow.
“What kind of core did you give her?” Elyssa asked blearily, staring at the small glowing form.
“I gave her the core of a rank 48 Advanced beast!” Katherine said, feeling like an idiot for not handing her something a lot less potent.
She should have k
nown that in her current state, Grace might not have the wherewithal to distinguish between a weak and powerful core.
Morgan is absolutely going to kill me when he finds out, Katherine thought as the younger girl’s body finally relaxed and her eyes flashed open.
Violet light danced briefly across the girl’s pupils as she sat up, looking for all the world like she’d had a full night’s rest.
“Wow, I feel great!” Grace said, stretching her – now noticeably more muscular – arms over her head. “What kind of core was that?”
“Well…” Katherine said, trying to find a good way to explain what had happened. She then chickened out and decided to just let Grace see for herself.
“You might want to have a look at your status,” she said. “I suddenly have to go to the bathroom really badly. Just carry on, you two. I’ll be back soon.”
With that said, Katherine dashed from the room, leaving a very perplexed Grace and a now much more alert Elyssa to stare after her.
63
The advancement wasn’t a quick process as Morgan had thought it would be, but rather, one that seemed to be slowly building, running through his body and changing him in ways he could not have imagined. He’d thankfully made it a good distance from the tree and was now suspended several feet off the ground, surrounded by a dome of brilliant violet, streaked with red, blue, and gold. To his senses, it felt like the entire world outside the sphere was shaking, but inside, it was as calm as could be. It was almost as though the entire world was currently embroiled within a single, massive storm, and the sphere was the eye.
He breathed evenly, even as he felt the reiki raging through him, changing him. His very muscles, bones, nerves, and skin were all burned away – though he felt no pain. Then, slowly, all of his body parts began to reconstruct themselves.
