by Ivan Kal
“We are going,” Doranna said and walked through the shining door.
The rest followed her through. Voralla and Rainor glanced at each other and clasped their hands, then walked through. Voralla hated the feeling of passing through portal. She always had—the doorways felt similar to the transport platforms of the great guilds, and while the effect wasn’t as unpleasant as that of the platform, it was still not enjoyable.
As soon as she took a step through, she felt her body twist. There was no pain, but it felt as if she was being stretched and pulled in all directions. Then it was over, and she felt solid ground beneath her feet. She shook her head and opened her eyes, only to be met with a strange sight. This floor was unlike any of the others. All around them were stars, in such number unlike anything she had ever seen. They seemed more vibrant than any night sky she had ever seen. And there was color—red and blue, and yellow and white. As if the sky was a painting, the colors mixed and moved, with the stars shining through what appeared to be clouds that stretched beyond their sight. She looked around, seeing her companions as awestruck as her. They were standing on a platform, large and rectangular, but it seemed like it was just there, floating in the sky.
“Is this it? Have we reached the top?” someone whispered, and Voralla had the same thought. She cast her eyes around and saw two shining doorways in the distance: two portals, and her heart skipped at the sight. She was about to point the portals out when she noticed something else.
A bit in front of the two portals was a man; he looked human, dressed in strange black-and-blue clothing. He sat on the floor with his legs crossed and his eyes closed.
“Is that the Great Lord?” Owen said awestruck as the others noticed the person.
“He doesn’t look anything like his visages in the World,” Fern answered.
Before they could discuss more, the man opened his eyes and looked at them. He stood up and walked a bit closer. Her group stood frozen, too shocked to do anything other than watch. When he was about a dozen steps away from them he put his fists together and bowed deeply over them.
“I greet you, ascended, and I congratulate you on reaching this floor of the Tower of Power.”
They were all dumbstruck by the man, but Doranna took a step and spoke.
“Is this the end? Have we beaten the Tower?” She asked hopefully.
The man shook his head in what appeared to be sadness. “Almost. This is the last floor before the end. Behind me are two portals. The one on the right will take you back to your world, where you may live out your lives as you see fit. The portal on the left, however, will lead you to the Great Lord, and a chance to achieve true greatness.”
“So we must choose?” Doranna asked.
Voralla could already see herself going back home, seeing her children.
“Yes,” the man said. “But before you are allowed to make a choice, you need to pass one last test.”
Doranna and the rest stiffened at the words. Doranna then spoke again. “What test?”
“You must get by me,” the man said, and a side of his mouth quirked upward. He looked at them as two dark tendrils rose from his back, looking as if they were made out of shadow or smoke, and then at their tips two massive blades manifested. The blades pointed at the seven, but the man didn’t make any other threatening moves. “Ready yourselves, ascended. Your last test begins now.”
CHAPTER ONE
“Goddamned stupid-ass spiders!” Morgan yelled out as he nearly tripped on a rock.
“Shut up and run! This was your plan!” Lucius yelled back from his left.
“Next time I have a stupid idea like this, just hit me in the head, please!” Morgan threw back.
The two of them were running down the twisting cave tunnels, the only source of light the small light-stone that Lucius had fastened to a strap on his shoulder. Morgan glanced behind them, seeing nothing but a mass of shapes in the dark, but he could hear the chattering of many feet hitting the ground.
“I hate spiders,” Morgan mumbled, too low for Lucius to catch. He wasn’t sure how many of them there were but, he knew that they were pissed. Lucius and Morgan had entered the cave with the intent of driving them out, and the easiest way to do so was to provoke them so that they gave chase—and threatening their eggs had really pissed them off. Swarm spiders were very territorial, very protective of their lairs.
At least Morgan’s plan was working so far.
In the distance in front of them, Morgan could see the light spilling in through the cave entrance. The two of them ran out of the cave at full sprint, the swarm spiders following behind. Then, as the spiders stepped into the light, a large net fell on top of them. Morgan turned to look as the black spiders, the size of large dogs, squirmed in the heavy net. It wouldn’t hold them forever, but it was enough. They didn’t really look much like spiders, really, but more like some kind of ant-spider-scorpion hybrid. They had thick black carapaces, short torsos, and long abdomens which were ringed. They had eight legs, plus two limbs at the front with large pincers. They did have spider-like eyes, at least six that Morgan could see, situated above their mouths, which held two fangs. At least they don’t have stingers, Morgan thought as he and Lucius crossed the small clearing in front of the cave and reached Clara, who raised her battle staff and cast a spell.
Immediately Morgan felt a sheen of power cover him whole, and he could see a slight glowing outline around himself and the others. Vallsorim jumped from the rock on top of the entrance and knelt near the trapped spiders. He put his metal arm on the oil-soaked net—a spark of fire appeared, and then the net caught fire. The flames spread and the spiders burned. A few of the stragglers left the cave, squirming and moving around the burning mess of the other spiders. Vestella stepped up from the side and her massive bear started stomping on them and crunching their hard carapace beneath his paws. It was an intimidating sight, especially since the bear was now at least two meters long and one and a half tall—oh, and it had horns that curved backward. Coupled with its now blood-red fur and glowing red eyes, it looked more like a demon bear.
On the other side, Lucius jumped in and started using his two gladiuses to take down the spiders coming on his side. Vallsorim was stabbing his large sword into the net, killing the spiders that were attempting to escape the net. Morgan stood behind the flaming net across from the entrance with Clara. Seeing even more spiders coming out, he put his hand into the satchel hanging on his left hip and pulled out a small woven pouch filled with soil and a seedling plant. Having some soil made it easier for him, as he didn’t need to expend his own energy to keep the plants alive. He threw it away as he activated his ability Power Infusion, putting in his own energy to make the plant grow quickly. As the pouch landed among the spiders at the entrance, he used his Phytokinesis skill to control the growth and the plant itself. It being tied to his nature alignment, which was a discipline alignment, meant that he had to keep his mind relaxed and focused. Quickly, vines with sharp thorns grew out of the plant and started grabbing and curling around the spiders nearby, the thorns punching into their bodies even as the vines tightened and cracked their carapaces. In a few moments several of the spiders were dead, and the last few remaining stragglers were taken care of by Ves and Lucius, with Vall finishing the rest of those in the net.
Morgan turned around and grinned at Clara. “See? What did I tell you—no need for worry, never been easier!” Morgan finished in a sing-song voice.
Clara closed her eyes and sighed in defeat. “You did not just say that.”
Morgan frowned as he heard a loud chattering clicking sound, followed by a crash. He turned around just in time to see Vall and Lucius covered in a large web, and Ves and her bear being thrown to the side by a massive monster—one so large that it cracked the cave entrance in order to fit through.
The massive queen spider was stomping across the clearing over her still smoldering children. She was terrifying, her torso standing more upright, with two sets of limbs with pince
rs along the other eight legs she used for movement. Her carapace was thicker, and her legs looked more armored; the head was attached to the torso with no neck and looked like a cross between a spider and an ant. Her long abdomen had thick red rings all around it and was fat and trailing over the ground even as it was still shooting webs behind her. The monster barreled straight for Morgan.
Well, fuck me sideways. He had no time to react. The monster was so fast that by the time he noticed it the queen was already stabbing her pincers at his head. But just before they connected a glowing dome of yellow light appeared around Morgan stopping the pincers. Morgan glanced at Clara who had just saved his life and gestured with his head. “Thanks. Get back and release the dome,” Morgan ordered. He knew that she couldn’t hold it for long and that each attack against it drained her. She nodded and jumped back as Morgan turned his eyes to the monster, one of his arms coming to rest on his belt and one of the small balls there, the other raised and pointed at the monster. The queen reared back for another attack on the dome, and that was exactly when Clara canceled the ability. Morgan pushed energy into his gauntlet and a bolt of violet energy flew into the queen’s face.
She staggered, but her pincers still came down toward Morgan. He jumped to the side and rolled, coming up to his feet and throwing one of his balls. The round shell hit the monster straight in the torso. The thin layer of wood cracked, and a cloud of dark smoke surrounded the monster. Morgan heard a screech and he saw the queen shaking, her limbs waving widely. Morgan shot the bolts from his gauntlet at her side, but it was doing little damage to the queen’s carapace. He put his hand into his satchel and pulled another pouch from one of the several partitions inside. This one didn’t contain soil; instead, it was filled with vine seeds, which he threw and scattered beneath the queen. Before she managed to recover from the bag of smoke in her face, he used Power Infusion along with his Phytokinesis and Energy Manipulation to force the vines to grow. He didn’t fuel all of the necessary energy with his own, but instead siphoned some from the ground itself. The vines spread into the ground and then raised up and curled around the queen. She tried to escape, tearing several of the vines off, but by then Morgan had formed enough of his new weapons beneath the ground. He used his Vampiric Root Spear ability and four spears made out of several vine roots twined together and exploded out of the ground, striking the underside of the queen.
Three of the spears shattered against the tough carapace, but one managed to punch through, although not deep. Still, Morgan activated his siphoning ability and started draining the queen’s life force. He didn’t get to do much as she jumped to the side, breaking the spear and dropping near him. Recovered from the smoke and the spears, the queen released a screech and started stabbing her four pincers at Morgan.
He jumped back, evading with his high agility. The pincers stabbed into the ground in front of him, following him around as he grabbed two more balls from his belt. But the monster noticed this time, and when he threw them she swiped her pincers and broke his shells, sending the cloud of green gas spreading to her left side. Morgan immediately raised his arm and pointed at the cloud, activating the ring he wore on his index finger to generate a lance of fire that flew out into the gas. The ring was a survival tool, used to help start fires in the wilderness, but Morgan had optimized his gear so that every trinket he wore had an in-combat use.
The lance ignited the gas and a cloud of fire exploded against the queen’s side. Her pincers caught fire and she shrieked—there was a clear note of pain in that sound that it almost made Morgan freeze. The sound that the queen made it chilled him to the bone; the pain hadn’t been just physical, it had been more, a pain of loss and frustration. He didn’t have much time to dwell on the thought before the queen recovered.
Morgan glanced at his companions, seeing that Vall and Lucius were still struggling to get out of the web, while Ves had gotten to her feet and was headed in his direction. The queen had to have somehow noticed, too, because her abdomen swelled and she shot a green liquid toward Ves. Before Morgan could call out a warning, the liquid crossed the distance, but Ves’s spirit bear moved into its path. The liquid splattered on its head and sizzled. The bear screamed as the acid ate through its head and then it shuddered and dissipated, dropping Ves to her knees from the feedback. The queen turned around, attempting to head toward Ves, and Morgan jumped forward, his hand grabbing two bundles from his satchel just as a yellowish light engulfed the ground below the queen: Clara’s slowing field. Morgan threw his two bundles of vines and channeled energy into them, manipulating them with his Phytokinesis to twine around the monster’s legs.
The queen tripped and dropped to the ground as a few of her legs gave out. Then Morgan was there, he fired his gauntlet as he ran, and the queen screeched at him, turning and snapping at him far faster than he anticipated. He tried to evade, but he was too slow—one of the pincers caught him and she raised him up, her other limbs following and getting ready to smash him to pieces. Morgan’s eyes widened, and as she brought them down he activated his Phase Shift ability.
And then he knew nothing. He couldn’t see, nor could he hear or feel anything. He waited like that suspended in the air for a bit, waiting for the queen’s pincers to close through his midsection and her other limb to smash through him while he was unaffected. His old ability, Arcane Shift, had evolved—now he could use it for longer, and he was no longer affected by nearly anything while using it. It was why he was still floating there in the air and why he couldn’t see, hear, or feel anything. Nothing could affect him, not even light or sound, but he was still visible to others. He waited while in his mind he imagined the queen bringing her body and face closer. He was still there, he just couldn’t interact with anything. And then as Morgan felt it was time, he activated his strongest ability. He allowed his emotion to carry him as he reached out to his second, domination alignment.
The Gravitic Stomp activated around him and he felt nearly half of his energy slip away. The space surrounding him in a circle of two meters across would be changed in an instant as the gravity increased. He knew that it would be enough that the queen’s legs would be snapped. She would be flattened to the ground, the earth cracking in a circle around her, and the grass flattened as the queen’s carapace groaned under the strain. But the effect would not last for long; Morgan only had enough energy to use it once, twice if he was fully rested, and even then only for a split second. The second drawback of the Gravitic Stomp was that the ability affected him as well, and since he was nowhere near strong enough to survive for even a split second he could only use it while he had his Phase Shift ability activated, which kept the gravity from affecting him. As soon as his ability ran its course, he disabled his Phase Shift and dropped to the ground. The queen was disoriented and probably hurt, but she had no time to recover as Morgan activated his Energy Blade and stabbed the spider queen through the head, then stabbed her a few more times for good measure.
Then, finally a notification awarding them experience pinged in the corner of his HUD. It wasn’t nearly enough to get him to the next level, but it was a sizable sum. Morgan looked around, seeing the broken and burned corpses of the swarm spiders all over the clearing. The swarm spiders were beast-type monsters, meaning that their bodies remained after death. They would earn a lot of coin from this nest, both from the bounties on the spiders and the materials they would harvest. He turned around and grinned at Clara, who was behind him.
“See? Piece of cake,” Morgan said.
“What? There is no cake, Morgan,” Clara said, confused.
Morgan raised his eyes to the sky and took a deep calming breath. “Goddamn it, Clara, can’t you just like go with it? Like, just once?”
He lowered his eyes to look at the orc healer and immediately saw her grinning. She cleared her expression but he saw it before she managed to hide. Seeing that she was caught, she allowed her smile to show.
“Nope, it’s much more amusing this way,” Clara told him.
Before Morgan could get into his usual banter with his bestie, the others arrived, with Lucius and Vall still pulling cobwebs from their clothes and hair. Ves walked over next to him and leaned into him. Morgan could see that she was still recovering from the shock of having her summon forcibly dismissed, so he put his hand around her.
“Didn’t you say that the swarm queen was supposed to be hibernating at this time of the year?” Lucius asked him.
Morgan looked at the corpse of the queen, frowning. “That is the information in the bestiary I got from the Adventurers Guild. So, either the book is wrong, or there was something out of ordinary about this nest.”
Vallsorim knelt next to the queen studying it. “You said that the queens hibernate as they grow eggs inside of them, right?”
“That’s right,” Morgan answered.
“This queen doesn’t look like she has any eggs,” Vall said as he cut into the queen’s abdomen.
Morgan tilted his head but didn’t answer as he tried to remember all the information about the swarm spiders that he learned for this mission. He was certain that he hadn’t overlooked anything. The five of them were a pretty good team, because they trusted one another and knew their jobs. Morgan was their tactician and strategist, both for their adventuring team and their guild, and the others knew that he wouldn’t make a mistake like this. Morgan might like to joke around and whine, but he was good at what he did. Lucius had taken over the more management role, with him deciding which bounties and contracts they took on as well as dealing with the Adventurers Guild in general, although the five of them generally discussed every decision. Morgan was still the Guild Master, but he just decided on the broader goals—it was up to the rest to realize them.
“There were a few mentions about abnormal behavior. The queens might lay eggs out of season if there was a threat to the nest in the surrounding area,” Morgan said.
