by Jez Cajiao
As he spoke, I received a prompt, and the room seemed to flare with a faint light in response.
Congratulations! You have made progress on your Quest: A place to lay your head.
Wisps sworn fealty: 2/3
Locations cleared and secured: 0/5
SporeMother killed: 0/1
Guardians: 0/10
Servitors: 0/10
Reward: The Great Tower is yours to command. Surrounding area will become aware of your rightful ownership. Access to supplies and facilities. 450,000 Exp.
“Thank you, Master. I have managed to extend my senses toward the lower floors of the Tower now. The furthest depths are closed to me, but I have found dozens of undead and other creatures of the night moving about. They have just entered my furthest range and are working their way up as fast as they can. They are coming here, and something comes with them. Something dark; it is absorbing the mana I am attempting to use to sense the Tower effortlessly…”
“Fuck,” I groaned, pushing myself to my feet and grabbing my naginata. I checked my armor and set off running for the stairs, Bob opening the door wide and beginning to race downward in response to my mental command.
“Thanks for the warning; now get that passageway sealed! And call me Jax!” I yelled over my shoulder as I ran out of the door. I sprinted as fast as I could, hoping to reach the halfway point of the Tower before they did. I might be able to hold them there until it finished sealing. I hoped.
“We can do it, Jax! Try to keep up!” Oracle yelled as she whipped past me, her tiny wings blurring and her naked ass disappearing around the bend, leaving only her laughter in the air as I yelled back at her. “Put some goddamn clothes on, for fuck’s sake!” Despite my best efforts, I found myself idly wondering about the air resistance that chest must cause.
Chapter Eighteen
We spiraled round and round as we hurtled down the Tower, doors flashing by on either side as we sprinted past. I slowed after half a dozen floors, the combination of exhaustion and dizziness slowing me down, as I realized I’d be useless fighting like this.
“Oracle!” I called out as I slowed to a walk, catching my breath. After several seconds, she reappeared from the gloom below.
“Jax! This is no time for a rest! Come on!” She spun around and started to dart off when I called out again.
“Dammit, woman, stop!” She halted, looking at me in confusion.
“But the enemy…”
“They’ll be there when we get there, or here, or wherever. It’s us they want, after all! It’s no use sprinting at them and then dropping dead from exhaustion. Just rest for a minute, and then we can go again, okay?” I wheezed out, drawing deep breaths like a blacksmith’s bellows.
“Oh, okay. I’ll get Bob to carry me, then. Good point!” She said, starting off again.
“Oracle! Wait, dammit...” I groaned, jogging after her. After a few minutes, I found her, not because she’d waited, but because I’d ordered Bob to return to me and she was riding on his head.
“You should make one of these for yourself, Jax! Bob is such a good minion!” She gushed, patting his skull as he ignored her.
“Oracle!” I gasped out, nearly on my knees as I rested against the wall.
“What is it?” she asked in concern. “You really need to learn to pace yourself, you know; you’re going to be no good in this fight if you don’t rest!” She sat perched atop Bob’s head, waggling a finger at me in reproach. I wheezed out a breath and focused on my feet as I tried to recover. She’d put some clothes on, but she’d picked from my memories again, and the outfit she wore was…less than suitable for battle. A corset, knee length boots, and…I shook my head, forcing myself to look away. The knowledge that she had to have found this somewhere in my mind was not making it any easier to ignore. I just shook my head in resignation. I’d have to discuss it with her later. She continued to insist that I needed to look after myself more and took off, flipping upside down to look me in the eye… until she started to strip out of the corset to try to make herself more comfortable.
“So, was there something you wanted?” she asked innocently, and I realized both that I’d been staring, and that it had been deliberate on her part.
“Dammit, Oracle!” I grunted, forcing myself to my feet and directing Bob to set off back down the Tower. She laughed at me, a throaty sound that made my blood boil as I tried to banish thoughts from my mind. “Yes, I needed something! Seneschal can sense the undead and the rest of our enemies. Can you contact him and find out where they are?” I asked hopefully as she caught up to Bob and settled down to fix a suspender that had mysteriously come loose.
“Of course, but we’re in the Tower. It’s an extension of him, so you can just ask him directly, you know?” She said, grinning as she caught me looking again. Dammit…get ahold of yourself, Jax…and not like that!
“Seneschal?” I said aloud, receiving something that registered as a tickle on my brain almost in response. A notification began to flash, and I brought it up.
Your oathsworn companion Seneschal wishes to speak to you. Do you wish to allow contact?
Yes/No
I selected ‘Yes’ and felt a presence join me, as though he were following directly behind me as I ran, and I heard Seneschal’s voice fill my mind.
“Yes, Lord Jax?”
“The enemy; where are they?”
“They are spread out across multiple floors. The most advanced are five floors below you, and the greater presence is currently twenty-seven floors below the Hall of Memories.”
“Is it the SporeMother?”
“Unknown. It is a creature of power, however. If it is not the SporeMother, then it is likely a very powerful servant. It is surrounded by other undead and is considerably more powerful than the guardians that fill the rest of the Tower. It covers the area in a pervading darkness as it passes through.”
“Well, that’s just fucking peachy, isn’t it!”
“Master Jax?”
“Sorry, Seneschal, just an idle thought. How far is it to the Hall of Memories? And you don’t have to call me ‘Lord.’ Just ‘Jax’ is fine.”
“Thank you, Jax. It is nine floors from your current position to the Hall of Memories.”
“How the hell did they get to five floors below me already?!? They’ve passed it and they’re still coming! Is the barrier nearly done?”
“No, Jax, these closer minions were only a few floors below the Hall when we reactivated the mana collectors. The SporeMother must have felt it and sent all her minions immediately. The barrier is currently twenty percent complete, and growing.”
“Shit! Is there anything you can do to slow them?”
“Like what?”
“Ah….the windows! Can you either clean some of them between the main group and the barrier, or break them, or something?”
……..
……..
“Seneschal?”
“I can break the glass by flexing the window frames that hold the panels in place, but this is against all I exist to do. It will take time, and mana. I can do only one window at a time.”
“Do it for the main group, then. Stop them wherever you can, hold them while we get to the barrier, and I’ll reinforce it as best I can”
“Good luck, Jax.”
“Thanks, mate.”
I dismissed the mental communication with a thought, too winded and worried as I ran to think more on it as I passed floors and sprinted down stairwells. From up ahead, I heard the clash of weapons and felt my mana dip as Oracle cast some magic. I took a deep breath and forced myself on, staggering around the corner and barging onto the next floor to find Oracle buzzing around as high as she could go. A spear flashed out and barely missed her just as a pair of skeletons tried to trap her in the corner. Bob was battling with three others and was slowly being beaten back.
Since the first pair had their backs to me, I sprinted to strike them from behind. I wasn’t having anyone attack Oracle. Not just bec
ause she was crazy, or because I liked looking at her half naked ass as she flew around (and I also knew damn well I shouldn’t be looking at all, regardless of her teasing). She was my friend, and anyone fucking with her was going to regret it. I plowed into the pair from behind, stabbing out with the blade of my naginata at the one on the right as I leapt at the one on the left, throwing a flying kick that would have made my instructors wince at how awkward it looked. What mattered was the speed and momentum, however, and as I planted my foot in the small of its back, I shoved off as hard as I could, transferring that inertia to the skeleton and sending its much lighter body flying into a wall. The one on the right had taken my naginata in the back, and the weapon was lodged in its spine. I wrenched it from its feet as I jumped back, clinging to my weapon.
I landed awkwardly and staggered, but the skeleton was facedown, trying to push itself back upright. I lunged forward, slapping my left hand down on its skull as I finished summoning the firebolt. It burst into life in the middle of my enemy’s skull, and the DarkSpore shuddered as it died. The skeleton collapsed into a pile of bones as the force animating it died. I straightened up, yanking the naginata free, and spun to find the skeleton I’d kicked crawling across the floor toward me, one of its legs missing.
“The window!” I shouted to Oracle, and she spun, flashing across the floor to the window I’d indicated, as I ran and punted the skull from the crawling skeleton, field goal style. As it hurtled past the three skeletons fighting Bob, one turned to see what was happening. It got a mace to the back of the head from Bob as a reward for its lack of attention. As it went down, the one on the far side leapt onto Bob’s back, driving its own sword into his ribcage, and the remaining one smashed downwards onto his front right leg with a hammer. I heard the crunch of breaking bone as I continued my run forward, tackling the skeleton with a hammer and driving it to the floor, both our weapons flying away. We rolled about, my opponent’s lack of weight offset by the fact it had claws and teeth, while my punches glanced off bones and ancient armor. It lunged forward, its teeth snapping shut a scant millimeter from the tip of my nose as I tried to get its arms locked down.
I reared back automatically. The rotten teeth snapped and bit at the air as I tried to get control of the possessed creature while it scratched and tore at my armor. I could hear Oracle fighting with the window, beating on it with her tiny fists, until my mana bar dipped again as she screamed. A flash of fire burst out from her hands, impacting the window and smashing the glass and crap out into open air. The sunlight streamed in, hitting Bob squarely, but he ignored it. The creature clinging on his back, on the other hand, screamed and shook, trying to escape. Bob twisted around under Oracle’s direction, grabbing the one on the floor and the one on his back and shoving them both through the window. The glass smashed out further as both corpses tumbled away, spinning and screeching toward the ground as the light of the sun burned the corruption of the DarkSpore away. Bob clattered over to me, grabbing the thing I was fighting, yanking it upright from behind, and chucking it out of the window. I collapsed back panting, trying to catch my breath as Bob rounded up the rest of the remains, throwing the DarkSpore-infested skulls out of the window, followed by the rest of the bodies, under Oracle’s gleefully shouted orders.
I rolled to my feet after a second, and swept up my naginata, ordering Bob to take the lead again. Oracle landed on my shoulder, patting me on the top of the head as I followed Bob down the staircase once more.
“You *cough* know that would have been easier, if you’d *cough* waited for me, right?” I wheezed out, as I jogged down the stairs. I really needed to invest in Stamina next. Damn, I needed it. I didn’t care if it would level on its own,; I really needed more stamina….Even as I considered it, I knew I’d want to put the points into something else instead, but Perception?!? What had I been thinking?
I staggered out onto the next level, running forward more on sheer stubbornness than anything else. As I began to descend the next set of stairs, a message flashed up that indicated Seneschal wanted to talk to me. I accepted it and continued on, slowing as I tried to control my breathing.
“It is done. I destroyed a window that had stood there since the Tower was formed. It was stained glass, showing the battle between Orgus and the Draken; it took six craftsmen a y…”
“Oh boo-fuckin-hoo, Seneschal! Seriously, dude, I’m battling for my life and sprinting down the goddamn miles high tower here. If I needed air to talk to you, I couldn’t; I’m that fucking exhausted. I don’t give a shit about a window! We can have it repaired, if we live!”
…….
……
“The main group of undead has stopped, with several of the weaker ones being destroyed. They are attempting to get around it now.
“Good, that’s great…. Damn, I’m unfit… look… I’m sorry, Seneschal. It’s great that you’ve done that, and I’m sorry you had to break the window, but seriously, if we don’t win this, we’re fucked anyway, okay?”
“As you say, Jax. There are six more undead spread out across the next two floors, and I sense something nearby, but it is so faint, I can’t be sure…”
“Okay, thanks, man.”
I broke the connection again and concentrated on staggering on. Oracle had flitted away to rejoin Bob, and I stopped in the middle of the floor and bent over, gasping for air. I didn’t know what it was at first‒an itch between my shoulder blades, maybe‒but I started looking around as I panted. This floor was seemingly empty. A low domed ceiling was supported by circular fluted columns, with several windows. The floor was covered in a pattern, but it was too dull to make anything out, even with my enhanced vision. There were alcoves set into the walls on either side, filled with seats and great bookshelves, that were thickly coated in the dust of millennia. I thought I’d seen movement off to one side, and spun to follow it, my naginata held wardingly in my right hand, my left summoning flames at a thought. Something felt very wrong, and the shadows were deeper than I’d thought at first. Shadows? My ability should…
Before I had time to finish the thought, there was a flash of movement to my left, then nothing. As I tried to decide if I was getting paranoid with the sudden darkness, or there really was something in here, I suddenly felt a terrible pain in my back as something ripped into me, cutting a shallow gash from the back of my right hip up to my shoulder. My armor parted like butter.
I screamed in pain and dove away from whatever had hit me. Rolling across the floor, I turned to face my attacker, only to see nothing but empty air. Whatever it was had sliced me open like it was gutting a fish and then disappeared without making a sound. I wasn’t sure if the movement I’d seen earlier was the thing moving into position or if it was a distraction, but I did know that staying here would be a death sentence.
I ran straight to the nearest wall and slammed my back to it, ignoring the flare of pain from the impact of the stone against my torn flesh. I started scanning the room frantically, my eyes darting from one patch of shadow to another. My breathing was ragged in my throat.
I forced myself to calm down after a few seconds and think. Whatever had attacked me had to have come from somewhere, and something hard had cut into me, so it had to have a physical form. It wasn’t invisible, or I wouldn’t have seen the movement that distracted me earlier. Whatever it was had some power over darkness, maybe?
“Ignis Lacta Scopum!” I bellowed, left hand shooting out as fast as thought as I made the connection. A Firebolt blasted out of my hand and into the recessed ceiling directly above me. With a scream, something was blown free, landing heavily with a bone-crushing impact a few meters from me as I scrambled along the wall away from it.
I kept my naginata in my right hand and sent another Firebolt into the ceiling, illuminating another two creatures clambering towards me across the ribbed supports.
They were small creatures, with six limbs. Four of the ‘legs’ ended in some kind of suckers, a pair of claw tipped hands clacked at the ends of the u
pper ‘arms,’ and the upper body seemed all teeth and hatred. Their bodies were narrow, more like fat worms, but the upper half was guaranteed to give me nightmares if I didn’t kill them all. They had huge mouths that were filled with jagged, rotting and blackened teeth, and I could find no eyes. The fact they clearly knew where I was without eyes was freaking me out even more…plus, the one on the right had blood smeared across its claws, which I’d seen in the split second of light.
Oh, I was having that bastard.
Blasting upwards with another Firebolt in the general direction of the blood smeared creature, I stepped forward and swung the blunt end of my naginata down into the head of the stunned one that was trying to rise. As it smashed into the floor again, letting out a squeal of pain, I blasted it with a Firebolt at point blank range and saw a small skull icon appear.
Grinning as I turned from the corpse, I cast another Firebolt, this time at the nearest window. The shutters were blown apart and the light streamed in. Screams and frantic scuttling sounded overhead as the creatures fled the light. I glanced at the one I’d killed and realized that light was shining directly on it, but it wasn’t exploding or anything. Confused, I moved close to the window and put my back to the wall. I kept watching the room and picked out the darkest corner of the ceiling.
There were three more of the creatures there, huddled away from the light. Now that I had a few seconds to examine them, I decided I liked them even less. I had no idea how these things survived, but they looked to be ambush predators: creatures that fed on blood, but died easily enough. Judging from the corpse laid in the light, they also weren’t possessed. Either they were something that supported the SporeMother, or something it permitted to live either way. I’d soon fix that.
I quickly brought up the Identify spell and cast it at one of them.
Scenttal
This creature is well known for its vicious stealth attacks, creating a magical cloud of darkness around itself as it hunts. They are highly prized as a source of alchemical ingredients but have given many a brave adventurer a final surprise.
