The Fifth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  They left the lake behind. The beasts snapped at them, but they were too far away to do anything else.

  “All right, the command formation is just up ahead. I want all-around defense as we discussed. Build up the forward operating base. Once we’ve secured our position, we will then check on the command formation!” Niemm said.

  They climbed up the hill around the bay. Their panther mounts dug in their claws to find purchase as they climbed to the top of a knoll that was jutting out into the lava lake some, but still attached to the land. There was a tower located there. It showed signs of damage. Its once tall, clean lines were now scarred and pitted by fighting that had occurred in or around it. There were lines running up the tower and formations that had been long destroyed and now lay dormant.

  “Special Team One, you’re on point,” Niemm said.

  “On me.” Storbon sped up, the special team breaking away from the rest of the group. Niemm would remain with them to maintain command and control.

  The tower was about ten by ten and would have reached nearly one hundred and fifty meters in its prime.

  “Anyone in there?” Storbon yelled to Lucinda.

  “Nothing that my beasts can detect!”

  “All right, as we discussed—Yawen, Deni, Setsuko, and Tian Cui in first. Setsuko will command. Yuli and Lucinda with me for support. We’ll move through and clear the position. Once clear, Yawen, Tian Cui, and Setsuko, you’re with me. We’ll support actions on the ground. The remainder will take up overwatch position,” Storbon said as they got closer.

  “Understood!” they rang back as they closed with the tower.

  Storbon pulled out his rifle. His mounted weapon systems couldn’t elevate enough to give him full coverage of the tower.

  Yawen, Deni, Setsuko Ket, and Tian Cui moved ahead. They dismounted and stored their beasts in a fluid motion, pulling together as they got to the wall.

  Yawen moved up and pulled out a battering ram, activating the sockets on it. He slammed it into the door.

  The main lock was punched out and a rippling wave of force threw the heavy stone doors open. The other three moved into the tower as Yawen stored his battering ram and pulled out his rifle, following them.

  Storbon checked the sides, seeing the scouts and Niemm splitting in half and spreading out to watch the land around them.

  The first people in position started to pull out the building blocks of the forward operating camp.

  Storbon and the remainder of the special team headed into the tower.

  The medallions that Egbert had given them flashed with a red light and then calmed down.

  “Activate formation traps!” Storbon said. “Looks like the access passes Egbert gave us are working.”

  The interior of the tower was left largely untouched. The main floor was the command formation. The swirling shapes and scripts made it look like a piece of art.

  Doesn’t seem damaged. This main area looks fine.

  A set of stairs started behind the formation, reaching the rear wall and then curving up the wall to either side.

  The other team moved up the stairs toward the higher floors.

  Storbon led his team up the first flight and headed to the left as the other team climbed the right stairs.

  They moved upward. The medallion flashed amber as a click noise came from the door at the top of the stairs.

  Storbon pushed the door open and the others moved through.

  He followed them in. There was a transparent section in the floor, looking at the formation below. Then there were workshops, what looked like an eating area, a small library, and other rooms that seemed to be built for research or study.

  They checked the rooms, finding nothing inside them. Another set of stairs against the wall led upward, this time much less grand than the set before.

  “Keep your guard up,” Storbon reminded them as they pushed on.

  Yawen opened the next door as well. Setsuko went first. They moved through, finding the floor in a state of disrepair. The roof had been broken in places and the floor was filled with different trash and dust that had accrued over time.

  They headed to the next floor. It was the first one that was open to the elements. There were parts of the wall that were open to the Fire floor.

  There were signs of different creatures living on the floor and formations that had been activated, killing them.

  They reached the next floor. The floor was destroyed, signs of fighting all over the place.

  “Looks like there is nothing here. The top floors must have been broken apart and that’s what’s below,” Deni said.

  Her words were in line with what Storbon thought had happened.

  “All right, get set up in overwatch.” Storbon looked around, checking to see whether he could see any creatures or animals approaching the tower.

  Those who were taking over moved over the roof and checked their arcs, making sure that they could cover every direction.

  Lucinda released different beasts, most of them reptilian to deal with the heat.

  Even the air was hot here.

  Storbon let out a cough and he headed back down.

  They went down to the command formation.

  “It looks like it’s fine,” Setsuko said as they were passing.

  “It does,” Storbon said, stopping for half a step. He pulled out a Mortal mana stone and tossed it out.

  It landed on the formation, glowing brilliantly. The mana from the mana stone was absorbed by the formation in a matter of seconds. The different lines of the formation lit up with power.

  There was a slight humming as the formation went active.

  “Damn,” Storbon said.

  “Hmm, Storbon, what happened?” Egbert asked.

  “You can hear me?” Storbon asked.

  “No, I can’t,” Egbert huffed.

  “Well, there was this command formation and I tossed out a mana stone. It absorbed it and then, well, this is happening,” Storbon said.

  “Looks like the formation is actually okay. Problem was it wasn’t getting power from the dungeon core, so it used up its reserve power and then nothing. This is good, though. All of the creatures within a one-hundred-meter radius of this command circle can be controlled by it and I have a complete picture of the floor. Yeah, that damage is extensive—nasty. The treasury is not going to enjoy that at all! Once the creatures come into the range of influence, then they’ll fall under my control again. If you can bring the beasts to you, I can regain control over more of them!”

  “How can you control them if they go outside of the formation’s range?” Storbon said.

  “Their ancestor’s blood is stored in the control formations—they can’t go against it. As soon as they get near the control formation, then it’s like a contract is made with them and the dungeon core,” Egbert said. “If you were able to get all of the beasts on the floor to come over to that control formation, you could take control over them. Though only as long as it is powered. To hook it up to the power, still need to take the main command formation in the middle of the floor and connect it into the formation network through the dungeons.”

  “So we need to keep on powering it with mana stones?”

  “Looks like it. I’ll have some stones sent down and I’ll send a message to the formation people, see if they can do something to boost the range. In the meantime, if you get more creatures to come over to the area of influence, that would be good. I’ll actually go and make the beasts now under our command go and piss off some of the beasts in the area and pull them in toward the command formation.”

  “I’ll report this to Glosil.” Storbon sighed.

  “Have fun beast wrangling!”

  “There’s always more than one way to complete a dungeon.”

  ***

  “What is going on?” Davin opened his eyes, looking around the room. He got up off his bed. He stretched and yawned before scratching his butt as he stepped off the white-hot metal bed.

>   He stepped out of his cave and looked out over the red world. Lava pools could be seen everywhere among the black rock and the blood-red forests.

  The Fire imp picked his long nose as he relieved his bladder into a stream of lava flowing down the mountain. His stream made the lava create steam.

  He finished up and started to move his face, trying to stop the impending sneeze.

  Beasts around his residence dove for cover before Davin sneezed.

  He shot out a blast of flame that melted the rock that had been unaffected over the last few hundred years by lava and the immense heat of the floor.

  Beasts were shaking in their homes as they cowered away from the true lord of the fire floor.

  After several sneezes and smoking black craters Davin seemed to be done.

  “Damn, had something hin my nose.

  Davin stood there, looking over his domain, his hands on his hips and pushing out his bulbous stomach, leaving all bare.

  “Same old, day after—wait, is there fighting over in the Baroush Forest?” Davin stomped his foot. It lifted a paltry amount of dust but the beasts in the caves underneath Davin all started to back into their homes.

  The domain shook and then the volcano belched lava.

  “It is Sunday! My day off and you’re picking a fight in the forests! I like that forest! I had to replant it three times! By hand! If you want to fight, you can fight on the mountain!” Davin’s tail moved around in irritation as his wings opened to either side.

  His wings flapped angrily, straining before he lifted up, still in the same pose, glaring at the forest, his hands on his hips as he glided down the mountain.

  ***

  Egbert was studying the control formation making noises when the volcano shook and rained down lava.

  “Oh?” Egbert headed outside the tower. A full camp had formed around the tower. There were creatures of all kinds running around, all of them now friendly.

  Egbert looked in the direction of the volcano and he saw a familiar pudgy figure. “No, it can’t be!”

  Egbert headed up into the air and he shot up behind the Fire imp.

  “Davin?” Egbert tilted his head to the side as the angry Fire imp seemed to freeze, dropping a few feet before his wings flapped angrily, bringing him back up.

  “Davin! That is you! I thought that you had died off!” Egbert said, flying on over.

  “Egbert, you pile of bones! Where have you been!” Davin chastised, waving his finger at the skeleton as he rose up and faced him head on.

  “Well, you know...running the dungeon and stuff?” Egbert said.

  “Running the dungeon? I’ve been stuck down here for centuries!” Davin complained.

  “You know, it’s all in the past?” Egbert laughed dryly.

  “All in the past! You know how much I hate having to organize anything! I remodeled the floor five times I was so bored. Well, one of the times, there was a war between the creatures, got a bit smart and thought that they owned the floor. Forgot about me ’cause I took a nap for seventy years. That is beside the point, though! I woke up and put them straight, only took ten or twenty year long naps after that!” Davin said proudly.

  Egbert felt his mana flickering and the strength of his spirit wavering.

  You’re proud of napping for only one or two decades? You lazy Imp! I was running a whole dungeon competition for our masters and you were napping!

  Egbert contained himself.

  “Try this.” Egbert quickly pulled out a spoon with food and put it into Davin’s face.

  Davin’s eyes went as big as his stomach and tears appeared.

  Egbert tried to pull the spoon back, but the emotional imp came with the spoon.

  “Ish shouw gerd!”

  Egbert let go of the spoon and pulled out a pie, wafting it toward Davin.

  Davin released the spoon, his eyes totally on the pie. The part of the spoon that was in his mouth was half melted, forgotten as it dropped to the floor.

  Egbert, seeing the look in Davin’s eyes, quickly threw it.

  Davin appeared next to the pie, he was so fast. He shuddered as he ate the pie. “You remembered!!” Tears fell down from Davin’s eyes that actually caused the floor below to melt.

  “Just how high of a level did you reach?” Egbert asked.

  “Egbert!” Davin ran to Egbert, eating the pie and hitting him side on, wanting to hug him but the food was too good to let it go.

  “There, there, Davin, don’t worry. I have more pies for you, though you’ll have to abide by the rules again.”

  “As long as I don’t have to rule anything!”

  “That’s fine. You can sleep in the smithy furnaces if you want! Just have to supply the flames like before.”

  “Oh, the furnaces were the best. Too quiet here. Everyone’s scared of me.” Davin sighed in melancholy.

  Egbert coughed but didn’t say anything.

  Chapter: Fire Floor Secured?

  Erik and Rugrat were silent as Glosil finished talking. Their eyes tracked over to the Fire imp that sat on top of the headquarters table, eating pie as Egbert stood beside him, like a proud parent.

  “So you’ve ruled over the Fire floor since it got locked away?” Erik asked.

  “Yup. Well, I didn’t know what was going on. I was having a nap and then when I woke up, the floor was all sealed up. I told those beasts,” the imp waved his spoon with an angry frown on his face, “no fighting anywhere but my volcano on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Sundays. Then the winner gives me a massage!”

  “A massage?” Rugrat asked.

  Egbert’s hand smacked the back of the imp and he turned his hands to the side, karate-chopping his back.

  Davin had a look of pure bliss on his face. “O-ooh-oohh, th-aa-ttss th-eee ri-iii-ggh-t sppp-oo-t!”

  Erik put his fingers in his ears, swallowing as he saw Egbert karate-chopping Davin with enough force to shatter most trees.

  Davin moved around to really allow Egbert to get in there as he ate his pie in bliss.

  Erik and Rugrat looked to Glosil.

  “This dungeon’s weird.”

  Erik and Rugrat shot a glance at each other, agreeing.

  “So, moving forward?” Erik asked.

  “Well, Davin here has a great understanding of the power structure within the different floors. We just need to get an entrance to the Wood floor and we can take it; just let Davin bring everything under control.,” Egbert said.

  “He does formations too!”

  “Fun games! Though magic creates more lights,” Davin replied, his eyes shining.

  “Lights, explosions?” Erik asked.

  “My redneck senses are tingling.”

  “I’ll take that as a yes.” Erik ignored Rugrat and looked back to Glosil, who blinked, as if it were completely normal to have a pie-eating imp getting a massage from an undead while his bosses were talking about explosions.

  “The Earth floor is still being cleared out. Should take no more than a week or two. Depends on the plants, really. The formations there are being rebuilt. It is our plan to move the formation core to the Fire floor and repeat the process on the floor above, the difference being that we remake the formations and the formation lines, instead of remodeling the floor,” Glosil said.

  “What is our next move?” Rugrat asked, looking to Glosil.

  “We might as well try out Davin and Egbert’s plan on the Wood floor and see if it works, and then look into the Water floor. If it works, then it will save us a lot of time. If not, then we can use the same tactics we used on the Fire floor,” Glosil said. “Though we’ve still got training going on in Alva, Vuzgal, and with the soldiers from Vermire. It won’t be long until they’re trained up.”

  “If we need to, we can hold off on clearing the floors until we’re sure we can take them,” Erik said.

  Chapter: A Cultivation Plan

  Erik studied the Earth floor plan. Egbert was still the only one who could go down there.

  While he was t
here, he repaired formations and put down plants that drew in the impurities of the area and started to transform the environment.

  “I’m not late, am I?” Rugrat burst into the room.

  “Just in time,” Erik said. “Egbert?”

  “Come on, just one more chapter!”

  “You can read once we’re done. With the floor hooked up to the main formations, then we will be able to draw out the impurities faster and allow people down on the floor sooner.”

  “Just what I need, more people trying to ruin my peace and quiet!” Egbert complained. “It looks good on my side. Ready?”

  “Good to go here,” Erik said.

  “Opening the passageway. Davin?”

  “Why can’t I leave the Fire floor! It’s so boring down here!”

  “Have you cleared everything off the command formation plate?” Egbert asked.

  “Yes, yes, for the third time!” Davin sighed in deep suffering.

  “You can go up to the higher floors once you have a greater control over your ambient Fire mana. We don’t need you burning down people’s homes or melting them,” Erik said.

  “Well, we could use him in the smithy,” Rugrat said.

  “Which is right next to the Alchemy building. What do you think the alchemists would do if he burned their ingredients?” Erik looked at Rugrat.

  “Huh. Well, it’d be good for anyone making concoctions with Fire-attribute plants?”

  “Are you two ready?” Erik sighed, looking away from the shrugging redneck. On the main interface, he could see the main channel from the Metal floor opening as the dungeon core dropped lower.

  “Good to go,” Egbert said.

  “Same here,” Davin replied.

  Erik and Rugrat watched as the last door opened, connecting the Metal and the Earth floors together.

  “Got an influx of mana being moved around. Closing the separation hatches. We’ll have some bleed-through,” Egbert said.

  Sections along the main channel closed up and a wave rippled across the Earth floor, updating and changing it.

  “Dungeon core added to the main formation. Damn, that is a lot of power! Starting to reconstruct some of the minor command formations. Repairing the command formation completely. This might take some time.”