Crystalfire Keep

by J. A. Cipriano

Raid quest ‘The Flames of Wrath’ updated!

  Updated objective: Extinguish the Flames of Wrath and purify the Heart of the Flames!

  Updated reward: 50% Experience, Title: ‘Purifier of the Flames’

  The dark skull behind the flames let out a piercing, warbling roar as the entire inferno before us blazed with a red outline. The Heart’s nameplate disappeared as the shape receded into the curtain of fire, replaced by The Flames of Wrath.

  Now that we were in ‘real time’ again, the color was filling in faster on the stones, but still slowly. “Cover me for a second! Use anything Water you’ve got on the Flames, Light too! If it says extinguish, let’s take it at face value.”

  Already, pinwheels of sickly flames were spiraling across the floor, a full-court press of destruction that would engulf the entire group. No one hesitated, though. Moving as they did against the Knight-Commander, my friends moved as one unit.

  Even as I took a step back to focus on the stones, Vanni fluidly stepped in front of me, throwing up her shield as a Walking Wall. Not to be outdone, Kayla twirled her staff, both orbs filled with Elemental Water now as an Ice Wall sprung up ahead of us as the first line of defense. Crysta drew three arrows as she had before, going into a crouch to minimize her profile behind Vanni as she took aim. The moving rhythm of Merina’s Dancer’s Cadence sped our feet and our reflexes as Dunya, Burndall, and Vindril all stuck behind the multiple walls, chugging down Runic Power Potions that Wazif supplied, powerful consumables that I hadn’t seen used since the last time Burndall used one over a month ago.

  The plan was obvious. Weather the alpha strike and drop the biggest hammers we had all at once. I hoped it worked as the explosions started to pound through the Ice Wall, blasting through it and into Vanni’s Walking Wall. Trying not to worry, to not let my eyes focus on the combat log, I focused on the linked stones, the glowing bar, and the tooltip that suddenly popped up in front of me.

  The Flames of Wrath’s Rage Spirals hits Kayla’s Ice Wall! The Ice Wall takes 100% damage and shatters!

  The Flames of Wrath’s Rage Spiral hits (blocked) Vanni! She takes 21% (-28% resisted, -21% blocked) Fire Damage and 12% (-6% resisted, -12% blocked) Darkness Damage. HP 8583 /12810

  You are behind the Wall! You take no damage!

  Vanni let out a shriek of pain through grit teeth as the tremendous blast rocked her back, but she stayed up, protecting the rest of us. Still, that kind of damage through all our stacked defenses meant we couldn’t fight this thing for long, not toe-to-toe. My eyes flicked over the tooltip as Crysta fired her Three-Fanged Spirit Arrow, the three spiraling spirit wolves mending the worst of Vanni’s wounds before launching into the Flames, our entire front line charging in its wake.

  Your Zoajin Darkstone and Kayla’s Elohjin Lightstone are now merging into a Primal Race Harmonic Stone!

  The effects of the Harmonic Stone are currently unknown. However, using this Ability will channel additional Elemental Power into the merger, accelerating the speed of the fusion. This process costs 10% of your maximum Elemental Power per second. Both stone holders can use this Ability, double the rate of fusion.

  “Mina,” I shouted, relief at a possible path to victory warring with the immense power that was bearing down to destroy us mixing in my voice, “use your Stone! Channel into it! I’ll do the same.”

  She didn’t question, her eyes doubtlessly scanning the same tooltip. Instead, she concentrated a moment, summoning up the chiming Harmonic Aegis she had earned from the Vale of the Wolves and held out her ring hand to me. I grabbed it with my own, our Rings of Promise touching, and she pulled me into the Shield. To my surprise, it expanded slightly to contain us both and, protected, we concentrated on the Stone Merger Ability.

  You gain the Boon ‘Harmonic Aegis’! For 15 seconds or until you use any Spell or Ability that causes damage or inflicts a Bane, your resistances to all Elemental and Damage types is set to 95%, and you are purged of all Banes while the shield is active.

  As elemental power coursed through my body and into the Rings, my eyes darted past Vanni’s shield as the blazing arrows of pure Light blasted a hole through the curtain of flames, even if only for a split-second. Right behind that, Burndall’s Spellblade slashed through the seemingly infinite inferno, doing little damage but leaving behind a cascade of runes. They weren’t his usual fiery Explosive Runes. No, these were writ in watery blue, modified with a Water Element Gem, and blossomed into a shell of ice. Even as that ice evaporated into hissing steam, it cut into the Flames’ Health, slashing off 8% in one go, but triggering an immediate backlash.

  The Water Elemental attack unleashes a gout of Corrupting Steam! Burndall takes 36% (-36% resisted) Fire Damage and is Knocked Back! HP 1030/1610

  Dunya was on the Sorcerer’s heels, using her small stature to duck into Burndall’s flying form before flipping forward. Like Burnie, she had changed things up herself, her blade erupting with jagged icicles as she brought it around, slamming its weight through the immaterial flames and into the ground. While the physical strike did little, the geyser of water from Dunya’s Water-modded Volcano Slash that burst from the melted quartz floor tore up through the center of the mass of flames. Unfortunately, while effective, the attack triggered the same response as Burndall’s did, badly hurting Dunya as she was blown back by another explosion of steam.

  Power poured into the stones as my EP gauge depleted rapidly. Vindril had a little better luck, blasting through with a Light-charged Twin Heavenly Blow, but the Light damage had less effect than the Water Element did. When Nahma burst from the shadows, he had already processed the lesson of Burnie and Dunya’s frontal assault, diving through the mid-range between where Vanni guarded us to throw a volley of Icicle Shuriken. Each slashing wheel of sharpened ice did little damage, but the whole barrage in total put out another patch of the roaring inferno.

  We only needed a few more seconds by estimation. “Vanni, we’re protected! You guys try to help clear that fire,” I called through the roar of the fire.

  Though diminished, the Flames of Wrath surged again, fire crawling up the walls and starting to rain down from above in balls of sticky, napalm-like tar. Crysta and Vanni must have heard me because the Ranger clenched her fist, even as Wazif began lobbing Liquid Ice jar after Liquid Ice jar with a rapidity he didn’t have before, and the familiar spectral armor and flared wings of the Soul of the Paladin engulfed the Promised pair.

  While the alchemical coolant blasted more holes in the ice, Vanni surged forward with a Shield Charge, wings flaring as she rushed forward, her Winged Aegis riming in ice as she plowed right into the mass, seemingly ignoring the goopy napalm that splattered across her from above. Her Water-aspected Shield Charge alongside Wazif’s barrage cut the flames down to a shadow of their former self, what remaining was more darkness and smoke than flames. In the heart of that smoke, I could start to see the wings of the Heart of Wrath emerge.

  Some of the quicker of us, Merina and Nahma namely, managed to dance and twist their way past the Purging Rain, but the rest weren’t so lucky. Others, like Vanni, Crysta, Kayla, and I, were bolstered by mighty defensive boons and could take the worst of the clinging flames and darkness. There were some not so fortunate, even as Merina threw out a Pirouette of Tranquil Waters to try to fend off the heat and flames, as the deluge of napalm kept coming.

  Merina performs the Pirouette of Tranquil Waters! Her Royal Dancer’s Slippers glow in response! All allies in range are healed for 18% of the Maximum Health Points.

  The Flames of Wrath’s Purging Rain continues to fall!

  Burndall is hit (critical)! He takes 26% (+26% critical, -26% resisted) Fire Damage and 36% (+20% critical, -4% resisted) Darkness Damage! He dies!

  Dunya is hit (critical)! She takes 24% (+24% critical, -24% resisted) Fire Damage and 22% (+12% critical, -2% resisted) Darkness Damage! HP 720/3770

  Wazif is hit (critical)! He takes 28% (+28% critical, -28% resisted) Fire Damage and 28% (+16% critical, -4% resiste
d) Darkness Damage! He dies!

  Vindril is hit (critical)! He takes 30% (+25% critical, -20% resisted) and 30% (+14% critical, +2% vulnerability) Darkness Damage! HP 320/2330

  Shakkalakka! Burndall Filter-cursed into raid chat. Sorry, guys!

  Wazif: Don’t give up! We almost have him!

  I grit my teeth, trying to will the channeling bar before my eyes to fill faster. I should have been afraid, should have been panicking as people started to fall and the inevitable full raid wipe loomed. I wasn’t going to do that, though, now with everyone up still fighting, not with Burnie and Wazif still cheering us on from the spirit world.

  No, I wasn’t going to give up now and no one else was going to either.

  The pulsing healing from Crysta’s Soul of the Paladin surged through Kaya and me, keeping us topped off as she drew back an arrow. “I totally hope those stones are ready because we’re about to get wiped!”

  The Ranger fired off a Greenlife Arrow that mended the worst of Vindril’s wounds as Dunya picked herself back up, her agony from her sticky, burning wounds enough she was barely able to raise her sword. “No way! We’re finishing it now! All together!”

  “Follow my lead,” Vanni barked. “Do or die!” The banners on her shoulder plates flared as she gestured with her sword, the power of a Warlord’s Call echoing through the room.

  Vanni issues a Call to Arms! All allies within range gain +20% Ability and Spell Damage for 6 seconds.

  Those still standing roared back and just as my Elemental Power winked out to zero, after nine solid seconds of charging, the rest of the Knights fired off one last assault. Neither Kayla or I saw it, though, as our Rings erupted with blazing light and void-like darkness, filling the Harmonic Aegis with raw, pure Primal power.

  What I did see was statuses across my raid readout flatlining, along with the Flames of Wrath’s Health Points in my targeting reticle dropping to zero. It was gone, but so was everyone else but Kayla, Vanni, Crysta, and me.

  “I hope this is the right thing,” I cried through the blinding storm of light and dark, encompassing us like a Yin-Yang hurricane.

  “It has to be,” Kayla shouted back, unseen but present, our hands still gripped tight.

  The Aegis burst apart under the weight of so much primal power, and the corona around us rushed outward and upward, coalescing into a distinct shape as Light and Dark began to mix, began to merge into a harmonious balance. Still shielding my eyes from the solidifying forces, I saw where the Flames of Wrath had once been, the shadowy entity, the Heart of Wrath, was now laid bare, the shattered bodies of our defeated companions sprawled out around it while Crysta and Vanni had been blown back past us.

  The Heart of Wrath, one of the four true essences of Conflict, was a massive floating ball of darkness, shaped like a demonic skull. Its face had the seeming of actual, pearly white bone, with jagged horns sweeping back over the slimy blackness of the rest of its body, its fanged maw part bone and part ichor. The eyes blazed with sickly blue-green light as feather wings, the deceptively inviting wings of an angel, flared from where the ears of a head would be. The same terrible glow that issued from its eyes poured from its mouth and roiled like fire off its form.

  It was a thing of terrible majesty, of endless corrupting power … and it was afraid. The shine in its eyes wasn’t one of wrath, but one of cowardice. I guess it was true. Under every bully’s façade, even one of god-like power, there was a scared child. The Heart wasn’t scared of we few champions remaining though. It was afraid of what we had wrought, the combined power of the Elohjin and the Zoajin.

  Above us, the two Primal forces finished harmonizing, solidifying into a sleek, majestic form. Mighty wings flexed, and the sinewy, scale-covered form of a dragon flexed with new-found life. One side of the creature was covered with golden scales that reflected the light, while the hide of the opposite side seemed to drink in the light around it. However, the color of the back and belly, as well as a stripe of plates across the top of its long neck and back, was pure and stable, a mixture of light and dark. Its eyes blazed with elemental power and dripped from its mouth as its jaws opened. The green outline in my eyes marked it as a friend, and its nameplate read The Duality, much as the three-part wolf spirit had simply been The One.

  “At last, the will of the Primal Elements is made real,” the dragon announced, its voice both loud and soft, deep and high, male and female at the same time. “Light and Dark are one, birth and death hold hands, and creation and destruction walk the Cycle together. By the One and the Duality, you will be cleansed.”

  The Heart flapped its wings and hissed, less vicious snake than scared cat. “We ate away the heart of the Darkness, bent it and the other Elements to our will. You cannot cleanse what will always dwell in the hearts of mortals!”

  “We shall see.” The Duality neatly curled and instead of charging directly, swept down towards Kayla and I. “Champions, bearers of the Stones, we must finish what you have so bravely begun.”

  I looked at Kayla and she at me. “We wouldn’t have it any other way,” I murmured as the dragon bent its neck to let us mount it.

  The winged devil opposite of us had finally screwed up its courage to try to fight back as Kayla and I climbed atop the Duality, nestling by the wings. It roared forward, streaming profane energy with every wingbeat, but it forgot to account for two things: Vanni and Crysta.

  Three howling wolf spirits wrapped around blazing arrows blasted through the right wing of the Heart. “Don’t you dare to underestimate us mere mortals, basketweaver!” Crysta cried as the shot of pure Light threw the eldritch horror’s trajectory off.

  Not to be outdone, before the Heart could right itself, Vanni rocketed up from below, launching herself shield first with a Howling Wolf Strike. “The One says hello, by the way!” The wolf’s aura banished part of the darkness of the thing’s lower jaw as her shield cracked into the teeth of the massive bone jaw. Bouncing off, the darkness reformed in Vanni’s wake but the damage had been done.

  Or more precisely the delay. Though the power of the couple’s Gems was strong, it was ultimately still only a few percentage points off the Heart’s Health. The time they bought, however, was enough to let us mount and for the Duality to take off once again.

  As the dragon opened its jaws, Light and Darkness building to spew forth, I glanced back at Kayla, wind whipping through us. “I love you.”

  The few seconds had brought back a few ticks of Elemental Power, all of it I used to lower my Banner and activate Meet the Charge. Maybe it wouldn’t do anything, but it made me feel good to use.

  She smiled back at me as she raised her staff, one last spell building at the tip of it. “I love you, too.”

  That was when the Duality unleashed its primal fury as we crashed together into the Heart in one devastating, final clash.

  25

  “It’s not a glitch,” Nahma politely explained as he dangled his feet over the edge of the roof of the Chrysoberyl Inn, the largest tavern and social spot in Granholm, right off the main plaza.

  He wasn’t alone up there. We all were with him, the entire, massive roster of ten that made up the Knights of the Four, due to Nahma’s ingenuity or if you went with Vindril’s take, his ability to glitch the system. Whatever you chalked it up to, we were up here in eager anticipation (or gut-wrenching anxiety) for the announcement of the results of the Crystalfire Keep contest.

  “There’s no way the developers intended us to be up here,” Vindril laughed.

  It was more playful banter than actual arguing, and it made me smile to hear. After all, it was me who ranked high up on the anxiety scale, so the jokes helped. So, did Kayla as she squeezed my hand. Admittedly, while I might have been at the top of the worry charts, I wasn’t alone. Crysta was with me there, too, as she cuddled with Vanni at the apex of the roof.

  What amazed me was how quickly we had gotten used to having a woman in a coma gaming with us every day. Such was the power of the human mind to ignore prob
lems and live for the moment. Still, from the one visit I had joined Wynona on to the hospital over these past three days, I learned the prognosis for Maria’s health had improved greatly. I wasn't sure why that had surprised me. After all, that was one of the things the NSAF gear had been meant for. The more I thought about, the more I started to feel prouder of my time working Dr. Fontaine. Maybe if this turned out well, I could do that again.

  “Dude, snap out of it,” Burndall laughed as he clapped me on the shoulder. “Kayla, help me get Shale’s head out of the clouds. We’re about to get the big news that we kicked everyone’s kielbasas.”

  Kayla covered her mouth as she giggled, a wicked smirk on her lips. “I could, but I’d need to do things best save for private. The whole server can see us up here.”

  “Okay, okay,” I chuckled, smiling softly even as I was really curious as to what exactly she wanted to do. “I’m paying attention now.”

  We were near the edge ourselves, a little back from where Nahma and Vindril continued their back-and-forth. Behind us, Merina’s tall form was stretched out, a faint smile on her lips as she watched the sky and tapped her foot to that internal beat she always had. She was very much at peace, our fight through Crystalfire Keep being a validation for her, regardless of how we placed.

  To one side, sitting on the roof below Crysta and Vanni, Dunya diligently explained game mechanics to Wazif, helping him plan out a more balanced build for adventuring in the long run. Pain in the ass that she was, our trials together had only grown the little Bladesaint’s loyalty. Whereas before she had been so hesitant to share the knowledge that led to her prowess, Dunya was now open, at least to us, and it would be the final step to turn Wazif the miner into Wazif the champion.

  Yeah, even with everything still on the line, I couldn’t help but smile. “I hope the devs don’t wind up late with the announcements or worse, something bugs out.” I glanced between Kayla and Burndall, the two people I had started this road with. “Remember when the first clear announcement system was screwed up and the Sisters got the recorded first clear of the Polluted Heights instead of El Rec?”