“Urrgh.” My HP was sitting at barely 30 points out of 1678, and I felt like stone-cold ass. I checked my History, bleary-eyed, and immediately realized that I was so fucked up that my ability to read was even worse than usual. “Navigail, read about me out my most recent logs. I mean... read me aloud. I mean... ugh. Logs! From Baldr!”
[You take 9975 Aetheric damage!]
[You have died.]
[Security Incident logged with Helpdesk: Ticket #399]
[We have restored and repaired your Character Profile following a security incident which targeted your account. We apologize for any reality distortion issues you may have experienced during this time. No further action is required, but we recommend you log out and rest for at least 2 hours before resuming play.]
My eyes widened. Holy shit. If I was reading this right, Baldr one-shotted me with enough raw Aetheric damage to knock a full-grown dragon out of the sky, and then... he’d tried to hack me? Swallowing, I glanced at my Message folder. Sure enough, there was a new message pip: a new email from [Admin].
“We should go back to the castle,” I mumbled, struggling to sit. “If Suri saw me die in our party notifications and can’t get in touch, then she is absolutely freaking the fuck out right now.”
“We can’t.” Karalti lay her chin down on the floor. Her violet and silver eyes glowed softly in the gloom.
I peered at her. “What do you mean, we can’t?”
“I can’t teleport us out of here,” she said. “She won’t let me.”
“She? Who’s she?” I paused for a moment. “Wait. You mean Lahati?”
Karalti rumbled in agreement, drawing her knee in towards her belly. “Now that we’re here, the ‘Trials of the Queen have commenced’. That’s what the Quest we got said.”
Great. I raided my Inventory to see how many healing potions I had left. The short answer was ‘not enough’. There were five Concentrated Moss Tinctures, each one healing 150 HP, and two Improved Healing Drafts, which healed 300. I drank one of each and watched as my HP ring crawled back into the yellow range.
I rubbed my face. “How long was I out for?”
“Uhhh... I sort of lost track of time, but I think three days or so?”
I froze, still pinching my nose between thumb and forefinger.
“Three?!” I hissed. “I was out for three fucking days?!”
“Uh huh.” The dragon huffed a cloud of sweet, faintly acrid breath over me. “I’m sorry. I tried to reach Suri to tell her, but I can’t do that either.”
Three motherfucking days. Suri and everyone else at Kalla Sahasi were going to be beside themselves. Worriedly, I surfed back to my messages and opened my PM thread with Suri, but as soon as I tried to compose a message, an alert jumped up.
[You are locked into a Quest with special requirements. PMs are currently disabled.]
“Wait... what?” I opened up my menu and scanned the active quests. “Did you accept this quest?”
“Nope. It triggered when I came here. I guess that must have roped you into it, too... maybe that’s why you respawned here?”
“Maybe.” The menu showed Karalti’s old quest, The Queen’s Mantle, as being completed. We’d gotten 400 EXP out of it, too. In its place was a new follow-on quest:
New Quest: The Path of Royalty
Lahati the Chrysanthemum Queen, the last free-born Solonkratsu matriarch of Artana, holds the keys to a precious gift: access to the Path of Royalty, the draconic Path of command which gives queen dragons the ability to access their Queensong and its related powers. To gain the Path of Royalty, you must battle through the Trial of the Queens, a labyrinth designed to trap and test anyone who dares to claim Lahati’s power and treasures.
By entering the Tomb of Lahati, you automatically activate this quest.
Reward: ??? EXP, new Path options, Bonus Lexica.
Special: Once this quest has begun, you must either complete the quest or perish during the attempt to exit. You cannot bring companions other than your Bonded mount, use your PMs, teleport in or out of the dungeon, or teleport reinforcements into the arena. If you or your mount die during this quest, you will despawn from the dungeon and may return to attempt the quest again.
“Yeah...” Karalti dejectedly flattened her horns against her skull. “I was so worried about you I didn’t realize we were stuck here, until I tried to warp us home.”
“It’s okay, Tidbit. If nothing else, it means we’re safe from Ororgael. For now. The quest says no one else can enter the arena now we’re here.” I checked Karalti’s sheet. Nothing had changed yet.
“Do you remember anything?” Karalti asked, gently nuzzling at my hand with the very tip of her snout. “What happened when you fought Baldr?”
“I...” I closed the HUD down with a thought, absently reaching out to rub her jaw. “Uh... no. I remember everything before I sent you off to hide, and that’s it. If people aren’t supposed to be able to teleport into the dungeon to help you, I wonder why I spawned here instead of the castle?”
“You respawned in a little chapel to Matir,” she said. “And I mean... you ARE my Bonded rider. It’s not that weird.”
I frowned. “You know, back in Taltos one time, I died and woke up in a tomb with an altar to Matir instead of spawning back to my bedroom. Only once, though.”
“Huh. I wonder why? What happened before that?”
“It was while you were imprisoned by Andrik in Vulkan Keep. An escort took me to your cell, and these Void-things killed us both. I should have respawned in my room at the castle, but I woke up in this ancient tomb under the city instead. There was an altar to Matir and some bodies there. That’s where I got the Boots of the Winding Path and a few other things. I know it sounds weird, but this dead Baru gave them to me.”
“That makes sense.” Karalti half-closed her eyes as I continued to pet her nose. “I mean, if you’d respawned in the castle, you’d have just been captured again. Maybe Matir was protecting you? He had some more power to spare back then.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t have that power now.” I had a feeling that wasn’t all there was to this. It was like I could see the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle laid out on a table, but had no way to bring them together into a picture. “Anyway, as much as I want to solve the mystery, we have to get out of here. Suri, Rin, Istvan, and Vash are probably freaking the fuck out right now.”
“The only way to do that is to finish the quest,” Karalti replied. “That’s gonna be hard. The Spear is okay, but your armor got wrecked.”
I checked my Inventory and cursed in three different languages: English, Korean, and Tuun. She was right. My beloved Raven Suit was at 0% durability, trashed beyond repair. The only pieces that had survived the battle with Baldr were the helmet and the boots, and they each were sitting at 12% and 5% durability. Everything else was toast. “The Spear? Where is it?”
“Here.” Karalti moved her foreleg, revealing the Spear of Nine Spheres tucked against her chest. “I kept it safe.”
“Phew. Okay. Thanks, Tidbit.” I paused for a moment, rubbing the back of my neck. “And... thanks for watching over me.”
“Of course.” She briefly squeezed her eyes shut, like a contented cat. “You wiped drool off me when I was a hatchling, and now I get to wipe it off you while you’re convulsing on the floor! We look out for each other. We always have, and we always will.”
Without thinking, I cupped the dragon’s snout and stroked my hands over the edges of her mouth. She didn’t have lips the way a mammal did: it was more like a row of scales that covered her teeth. It apparently felt good, because she sighed and relaxed just enough to place some of the weight of her head in my grip. As she did, I pressed my forehead in against the bridge of her muzzle, breathing in deeply as a powerful, bittersweet feeling flooded through my chest.
“Hector... I...” Karalti trailed off.
Her purple eyes were wide and bright, and as I looked deep into them, my heart swelled. The same sweet silence I felt in me wa
s mirrored in her. Her longing washed over me in waves, complex and awkward and beautiful. I could feel her apprehension, too: not just about what had happened when I’d died, but about the challenge of the dungeon—and the prospect of entering the tomb of her great-great grandmother.
“It’s alright,” I said, softly. “I’m okay. We’re okay, and we’re going to smash this trial, just like we have all the others. You’re the best flyer in all of Archemi. I believe that one-hundred percent.”
“I know you do.” Karalti nuzzled against my hands with extraordinary gentleness for such an enormous creature. The dragon was large enough and strong enough to break every bone in my body with her head. She could eat a full-grown man in two bites. But she couldn’t hurt me. Instead, she wuffled air softly against my fingers, rubbing her sensitive nostrils against them. “You should get ready. I want to get this over with, then go home and snuggle. Besides, it’s potion day tomorrow. We should probably get back to Kalla Sahasi before then.”
“Tomorrow?” I checked my HUD and winced. Shit. She was right. The once-a-week potion was the tradeoff for the Bond and the beneficial mutations gained through the Trial of Marantha. If I didn’t take the potion on time, I lost my dragonrider adaptations and faced the prospect of some pretty serious withdrawals until I brewed the stupid thing. Unfortunately, the ingredients for the [Dragon’s Blood Potion] were at home.
I stripped off the remains of the Raven Suit and my flight harness, and equipped my old Jack of Plates, some plain trousers, and the leather bracers I’d made in Rin’s workshop. With the Raven Helmet and Boots of the Winding Path, the mis-matched ensemble brought my Armor score up to the princely sum of 210. It was a big drop. The Raven Suit alone had a base Armor score of 260.
Once I’d dressed, I slowly rose to my feet and went to collect the Spear from Karalti’s claws. But before I even touched it, I knew something had changed. The Spear had nine gem slots punched into the base of the curved blade, the setting for each one of the Dragon Gate Keys. The last time I remembered holding it, there’d only been two Keys: The Ruby of Boundless Strength, which opened the Dragon Gate of Khors, and the Star of Endless Night, a black star sapphire with a brilliant white flash. But now, there was a third stone: a huge white pearl the size of a large marble, gleaming with a soft silvery-pink sheen.
“Well, fuck me sideways and call me George,” I whispered.
“Huh?” Karalti cocked her head. “Why would I call you George?”
“Because that is the Pearl of Glorious Dawn. It’s the key to Solnetsi’s Dragon Gate. The last time I saw it, it was stuck in Baldr’s stupid fat face.”
Karalti’s eyes widened. “OH.”
I swallowed nervously. There was a decent risk some trojan virus would leap out and assimilate me into the Borg... but when I steeled myself and grasped the haft, nothing happened. The weapon felt like an old friend, resting comfortably in my hands. If anything, the Spear was somehow stronger, keener, more aware. More powerful than it had been before.
The Spear of Destiny
Soul-bound Light/Dark/Fire Elemental Weapon
Slot: Two-handed
Item Class: Relic
Item Quality: Mastercrafted
Damage: 415—528 Slashing or Piercing
Durability: 28%
Weight: 1lb
Special: Soulbound, Elemental Triad (see description). +350 Damage to Undead, +700 HP, +12 Strength, +25 Will, +10 Wisdom. +25% Evasion, 3% chance to instantly kill an enemy, Mark of Justice (see description).
Special Abilities
Elemental Triad: At will, you can change the elemental polarity of the Spear of Destiny between Light, Dark, and Fire damage, potentially dealing bonus damage to susceptible enemies.
Maker’s Blessing: Learn crafting skills 8% faster.
Nightfather’s Blessing: 9% of inflicted weapon damage heals the wielder.
Mark of Justice: During combat, you may designate one opponent as a marked target. Your attacks against that target increase in priority and deal 10% more base damage for 5 minutes. This damage stacks with ability damage and combos.
The weapon vibrated with power against my palms. I felt stronger just holding it, and not only because of the stat bumps. I moved away from Karalti and spun it over the back of my arm, around my hand, and then back into a solid combat grip. I tested out the elemental polarity shift: by tuning into the weapon, I could mentally change the color of the mana that crawled through the metal. Molten orange for Fire, deep indigo for Darkness, a pure blue-white for Light. All up, that was pretty fucking great.
“We’re gonna be okay.” I turned and gave Karalti a curt nod. “Are you ready to take this place on?”
“Yeah.” Karalti yawned and stretched. “I wish there was something to eat, though. I’m hungry.”
“I’m pretty sure you’ll find some food in there somewhere.” I turned to peer into the darkness of the cavern ahead. “Let’s find our way through this and get back to Kalla Sahasi before everyone completely flips their shit.”
“I’m pretty sure all the shit is being flipped right now,” Karalti said, wincing as she clambered to her feet and stretched her back. “Like... all of it.”
“Yeah. Suri is probably in the hookwing stables with Cutthroat, flipping them like pancakes.” I nodded, somberly. “Let’s roll. The sooner we’re out of this place, the better.”
Chapter 4
My first stop was the sacrificial well in the middle of the big cathedral hall. Karalti hung back while I hopped up onto the altar, then sprung onto the edge of the pit and held a torch out. Like the well I’d used to get into Lahati’s Tomb a month or so ago, it looked to be bottomless.
“Jumping into one of these worked last time,” I said aloud. “Maybe you can polymorph, and we can try it again?”
“Uhh...” But before Karalti could meaningfully reply, we felt the room exhale around us.
“Herald, no. Do not jump. You cannot reach me this way.” A sweet, sad voice slithered on the breeze, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere. “This sacred well was corrupted a long time ago, contaminated by creatures of the Void, and Matir holds no sway over it. You must come to me through the gauntlet my handmaidens built... and for that, I am sorry.”
Karalti shivered. “Matriarch?”
“Yes, child.” Lahati replied. “I wish I could convey your birthright here, but I cannot. You must overcome the traps that protect my tomb. And you must hurry. The Caul of Souls grows louder with every passing day. Reach my resting place, and I will give you the last of my power before I move on.”
“I understand, Matriarch.” Karalti bowed her head.
“Beware, both of you. The protections and magic laid into my resting place have begun to decay with time. As the Caul’s magic has waned, so has my own. They are tied together,” Lahati said. “I will see you soon... I hope.”
The breeze withdrew back into the fathomless darkness ahead, taking Lahati’s unseen presence with it. I dropped from the edge of the well to the floor, frowning. Karalti was breathing hard, her pupils so wide her eyes looked black. I went to her, and lay a hand on her wrist.
“You okay?” I asked.
Her crests lifted at my touch, and then she shuddered, shaking out her wings. “Yeah. It’s just...”
“Just what?”
Karalti arched her neck and looked down. “That’s... the first time I’ve spoken to any of my blood kin. Lahati is the closest thing to a mother I have.”
I nodded, letting the silence hang for a moment.
“We have to go to her burial chamber, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Is she...” she trailed off again. “Does she... look really super dead?”
“No,” I replied. “She looks... well, to borrow a cliché, it’s kind of like she’s sleeping. Why?”
Karalti let out a tense breath, snorting through her nostrils.
“It’s hard enough knowing she’s gone. I don’t really want to see her covered in flies or anythi
ng, you know?” My dragon crouched down, extending a wing for me to climb. “That hole at the end of the room looks big enough to fly through.”
“Let’s walk first,” I said. “Tomb traps are no joke. If this place has traps meant to take down dragons, or Drachan, they’re going to be brutal.”
Karalti rumbled as she paced forward into the cave, her wings flicking impatiently along her flanks. I held the torch up, but the rippling flame barely even pierced the darkness. I stubbed it out on a passing stalagmite, then folded it back into my inventory and equipped one of my newer arcane items, the Bangle of the Master Thief. It gave +5 to Dex, +15 to lockpicking and safecracking skills, and—most importantly—darkvision. To gain darkvision, I had to charge it with high-grade liquid mana. I searched my Inventory for it and frowned when I only turned up one small vial.
“Weird,” I said. “I’m sure I had more mana than this.”
“Did you leave it at the castle, maybe?” Karalti stepped carefully, following her nose in the absence of sight.
“Must have.” I scanned my inventory a second time and noticed something I’d missed in the first pass. Not the mana: it was another artifact. The Heart of Memory, a device Rin had made for me that could preserve some of my memories when or if I died. The ruby mana core glowed with a pulsing red light.
“Huh.” I frowned. “That gadget Rin gave me has a recording.”
“Ooh.” Karalti craned her head back. “What’s on it?”
“Dunno. It might have recorded what happened with Oral-Gel the Wonder King. But we’ll have to wait until we get back to Kalla Sahasi to watch the playback.” I uncapped my only vial of mana and attached the vacuum-sealed end to the spigot on the bracelet. The artifact sucked the liquid out of the vial with a small hiss, lighting up with a pale blue light. Suddenly, I could see. The cavern depths expanded out like a sonar pulse, revealing the interior of the cavern for the next fifty feet or so.
“We’ve got darkvision for an hour. Let’s make the best of it.” I stood up on the saddle to look past her neck. “It looks like maybe the floor stops up ahead, and... oh jeez.”
Spear of Destiny Page 3
