Rune Seeker

“The barrier should come down sometime within the next few minutes,” Left said, as Seena’s party stood beside the cannons facing the divide. After the comforting lunch, the three raid groups had gotten straight to work in preparation for an A-Rank group of Infested to come barreling into their faction’s territory.

Seeyela and her TRAPs would make all the approaches just a little more dangerous – even if their enemies were flying, since she’d hidden some of them within floating gravity holes – along with some of her elemental vents. A bit of trial and error – okay, a lot of it – had taught her how to make them dormant until triggered. At this point, the trigger wasn’t anything complicated, just somebody getting within a certain radius, but they were an A-Rank ability. A nasty one. Dozens of them now littered the space between the tower and the barrier like a three-dimensional field of bombs.

Her sister, on the other hand, had brought out more Brass Cannons. While the constructs were only C-Rank, they packed enough of a punch their damage would add up. Combined with the powerful cannons already on the tower’s roof, it was a lot of firepower.

As for Hiral, he’d given his Rune of Eclipse one more attempt at creating a hole in the barrier, but it hadn’t gone any better than the first time. Just touching on the concept of trying to impose his version of reality over Tomorrow’s with a hint of the rune had told him it wouldn’t be possible. Even if he’d called on it to the full extent of his current abilities, it wouldn’t be enough. And they didn’t have time for him to be on his back, recovering from his solar energy going crazy.

Instead, he’d taken a hint from Seeyela and her trapped, elemental vents. Could he do that with his runes? A little help from the Edicts – along with even more trial and error than Seeyela – proved he could.

Traps of Separation, Breaking, Piercing, and Impact, would make for a very unpleasant time if somebody got close. Each of the runic traps wasn’t enough to outright kill an A- or B-Ranker, but it would hurt them. Increasing their duration so they didn’t immediately fade had cost him some damage potential. In his eyes, it was worth it.

And, they weren’t even the traps he was most proud of. Sure, hurting his enemies was a solid goal, but like they’d been discussing before, the Infested healed their hosts so quickly, the damage wouldn’t be an advantage for long. So, he’d gotten to thinking, how else could he slow his opponents down?

Runes of Attraction and Absorption mixed with Energy would create fields of energy-draining suction. All well and good, except the Infested had almost infinite amounts of solar energy. A slight modification combined some of those traps with one of his damaging components to create a nasty suck-splosion hybrid. First, it would drain the power of anything that came near, then it would use that energy to power a rune aimed to maim the thing it’d just drained.

He was pretty proud of the combination, despite the complexity and how long it took to set up. It wasn’t something he’d be using in a normal fight, and it still wasn’t enough to stop one of the Infested. Runes of Time Contraction or Dilation? Unfortunately, his limited attempts showed trying to lock somebody else in temporal stasis just wouldn’t work. Maybe somebody much lower rank would find themselves bound, but definitely not B or A-Rank enemies.

No, it was actually his own Rune of Eclipse that finally gave him an idea. Not the imposing-his-will-over-reality part – that was too active and couldn’t be left as a trap – but instead the side-effects of it. The way his solar energy ran rampant in his body and made it so he couldn’t do anything with it should be just as effective on an Infested. Maybe even more so, with the sheer volume of energy they had. Now, causing something similar to happen to another person had been a bit tricky.

Luckily, Yanily had volunteered – translation, been told by Seena – which had been very helpful. The first few tries didn’t do anything but make him feel a little dizzy, then a little weak in the legs. Both were decent effects, but not nearly worth the set-up time and energy investment.

It wasn’t until he got just the right combination of Energy, Attraction, Compression, Unsealing, Dreaming, and Exchange that he’d gotten it to work. While the cause of the energy flowing irregularly wasn’t the same, the result certainly was. Setting off one of the traps would create something akin to an energy-blackhole within a part of the person’s body. Just part of it, and that was the important part.

Any solar energy flowing through there would get sucked straight into the hole before getting spit back out as marbles of solid energy, for lack of a better way to describe the process. Not only did it completely ruin anything that required solar energy to power it – the energy couldn’t enter skills or abilities – but it was also damn uncomfortable.

Nivian had volunteered after that to make sure it would work on Undead too, and Hiral wasn’t without a little pride when the sturdy Death Knight was forced to take a seat. His solar energy was so out of control on one side, he couldn’t even stand, and it had taken nearly twenty minutes before things settled down. The trap was brutal and effective in combination with the tower’s natural defenses.

Add in the floating death-hot-spots Seeyela had tactically placed, and even an A-Rank group of Infested would be threatened by what they’d prepared. Best part of it all? The traps they’d set up would last more than twenty hours, giving them more than enough time even if they had to leave the tower to go after Vorinal without the Infested arriving.

“The tower is as ready as it can be,” Seena said from beside him. She had one foot up on the crenelation of the tower, and leaned her elbow on the knee while she peered at the barrier. Flames ran down her back from her mantle, while Li’l Ur glared ahead. The little lich had added his own traps to the place – though on a smaller scale than the others – and he was still recovering. Getting him to A-Rank had unlocked a lot more of his personality and knowledge, but he wasn’t anywhere near the power of Ur’Thul the Undying. Yet.

“So are we,” Seeyela said. One of her hands was on the Fang of the Lady at her back, while her other cradled her eight-eyed helm. “This isn’t going to be the same as the last few Infested we fought.”

“Yes it is,” Yanily said from where he leaned on his spear. “We’re going to win.”

“Well… yes,” Seeyela said with a roll of her eyes. “I just mean we’re going to win better. Harder? Quicker?”

“Stabbier?” Hiral offered.

“Oh, definitely stabbier,” Seeyela said, fully drawing the dagger from its sheath. Since she’d chosen to make her Fangs the target of Greater Entwined Destinies, new engravings had emerged on the blades. Little more than what appeared to be etched cracks on the weapons shone with an internal, black light that radiated a tremendous pull. Black Gates.

More than that, though the weapons had previously appeared to be made by slapping some leather grips on a pair of terrifyingly large, spider’s fangs, they had now taken on a more metallic sheen. According to Seeyela, the paired weapons aligned much better with her new growth, now incorporating concepts of teleportation along with the poison.

“You’re happy with your item choice?” Seena asked her sister.

“It was a choice between the Fangs or my armor,” Seeyela said. “A tough one, really. I think these better fit my – What did you call it, Hiral? – my path.” At her words, the cloak of liquid blood over her shoulders actually lifted into the air, put itself between Seeyela and her sister, formed a mirror-like face, then turned it away with a Tsk. “Don’t be like that! You were… my third choice.”

“Little Shadow’s Cloak is still jealous?” Seena chuckled.

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“And huffy,” Seeyela said, glaring at the cloak until it seemed to giggle and return to hanging from her back like a normal cloak should. “Almost makes me think you were the smarter one choosing your mantle over anything else.”

Seena glanced back at her Mantle of the Phoenix, the flames running like a constant waterfall from where the crescent bar of gold floated around her at shoulder level. Though it didn’t actually touch the party leader at any point, it never deviated from that position.

“It’s what felt right,” Seena said. “Especially since I only got Entwined Destinies, not the greater version. Felt like I needed to pick something I already knew was going to come with me on my journey. My tomes… I like them and all, but I think they’re nearing the end of their use.”

“Your armor?” Yanily asked.

“Was my second choice,” Seena said. “Except, it’s tied to Rocs, which isn’t where I’m going. I’m aiming well past that. Past even Phoenixes, hopefully. I need something that can go all the way with me, and that’s the mantle. Sure, Phoenix is in the name, but I can feel – especially now that I’ve bonded with it – that it’s more than that. It’s just a name the creator gave it, but it’s tied to the primal aspects of fire and rebirth. It’s perfect.”

“And it’ll hit S-Rank when you do,” Hiral said.

“Exactly,” the party leader said. “I’m still surprised you chose your RHCsinstead of the sword.” She pointed over his shoulder at the now-much-shorter Greatsword of Amin Thett. Bringing the quest – Unfathomable Power – to almost-complete had removed nearly the entire blade.

“It’s in the name,” Hiral said with a chuckle. “It’s not my sword, it’s Amin Thett’s. I still considered trying to bond with it, but even without the name thing, it’s already S-Rank. My RHCs, on the other hand, have been with me almost since this all started. They’re mine. And now that I can take them to S-Rank with me…? They were the right choice.”

“They don’t look any different,” Seeyela said, looking from her changed Fang to the RHCs on his thighs.

“Ah, that’s because…” he pulled one of the weapons from his thigh to show the others, three runic rings appearing in front of the barrel. “Piercing Shot is now a permanent addition to the weapons. I don’t need to activate the ability at all anymore. And! Now I can add more Edict-power to these rings.” Even as he spoke, he pulled on the Edicts of Rejection, Energy, and Impact to supercharge the three rings.

As soon as he did, the script rotating in the air in three, distinct, vertical rings seemed to solidify, while they warped the space around them. It wasn’t the same as the Edicts manifesting before, but they’d clearly influenced the empowered ability.

“How powerful?” Yanily asked, leaning in close to look at the rings. “You going to one-shot Mid-Bosses now?”

“Not unless they’re lower-Rank,” Hiral said. “And I probably would’ve one-shot them before this anyway. This combination of Edicts will do more damage, yes, but the RHCs aren’t perfectly aligned to make the most of them yet. Part of the growing together stuff, I think. They’ll get stronger as I get stronger.”

“Are there other combinations you can use?” Seena said.

“If I used, say, an Edict of Gravity instead of Impact, it would add a debuff similar to Seeyela’s venom, I think. Haven’t had enough time to test it since I chose the weapons for Greater Entwined Destinies. How about you, Yan? You obviously picked your spear.”

“Of course I did,” Yanily said while nuzzling his face up against the weapon. “Me and her, we’re going places. Together.”

“You’re as bad as Igwanda and Drahn,” Seeyela deadpanned. “Did it change anything?”

“Just one thing, so far,” Yanily said.

Pause.

“… and that is?” Seeyela prompted.

In response, Yanily stopped leaning on his spear, then casually tossed it off the edge of the tower like it was a bag of week-old garbage.

“Uhh…” everybody said at the same time.

Then came the smile on Yanily’s face, and he held his hand out to his side, only for a bolt of lightning to strike down from the sky. Through the palm of his open hand, the bolt sizzled into the ground, flashing white and causing the others to look away. When they turned back, he was holding his spear again.

“It’s part of me now,” Yanily said. “No matter where it goes – or who tries to take it from me – I can always call it back. It also unlocked a new ability that lets me throw my spear, though I’m not sure how I feel about it. We’ll see.”

“Is there a cooldown on that?” Hiral asked. “The return, I mean.”

“No…” Yanily said slowly, eyes narrowing like he was concentrating on something. “Which means I could…” He trailed off as he walked to the center of the tower, then began working his way through spear forms. They began as things Hiral was familiar seeing, but quickly began to deviate from there.

“He’s creating his own weapon style from scratch, isn’t he?” Seeyela asked.

“Expect another Yanvolution,” Seena said. “Only him. We should leave him to that for now. Gran, you chose your Shard of the Lost Epoch?”

“I did, girlie,” Gran said from where she sat on empty air, knitting needles a blur in front of her. The scarf resting across her knees was a stark combination of black and white, reminiscent of how the world when monochrome when Yanily used his Dragon Breath, or Hiral used Annihilation of Amin Thett. The vampire hardly needed to pay attention to what her hands were doing, though, and her hidden face turned in the direction of the party leader. “And before you ask, it’s using my blood – and my nature as a vampire – to connect the history of the staff to my fate abilities.”

“What’s that mean?” Seeyela said.

“No idea!” Gran cackled. “For now, not much, but I can feel it building to something. Whatever Fenil – the damn, sneaky Custodian of Tomorrow – did to me back in The Playhouse is part of it too. I can feel that little nugget of something in my head maturing with this connection.”

“Is it dangerous?” Seena asked.

“Nah. Fenil was a whole lot of frustrating sometimes, but he’d never hurt me. Treated me like the little sister he didn’t have. I’m sure it’ll be a good thing. Eventually. Least I don’t have to worry about growing old while I wait for it to happen. I’m already there!” Another cackle, and the woman shook her hooded head.

“Think Tomorrow planned this?” Seena asked.

“Could be,” Hiral said. “Gran had the staff when we met that fragment of Tomorrow. Bet she knew there was the option of bonding with items… even if it was an off chance. I still can’t believe Tomorrow was involved in building the PIMP and our PIMs.”

“After everything we’ve done and seen,” Seena said. “I’m getting surprised by less and less. Romin, you’re the last one. Just to confirm, you chose your new armor?”

“I did,” Romin said, spreading his arms so they all got a good look at the brass covering his body, then looked at Hiral. “I’m sorry I didn’t choose the blunderbuss you gave me, but…”

“It doesn’t fit your role as well as the armor does,” Hiral said. “No worries, I get it.”

“Thank you,” Romin said. “With the bonding, the armor, conveys its bonuses when Wallop and I combine into our Onslaught form. It makes our natural protection even sturdier. Even The Archwizard would have some trouble getting through it now.”

“Good,” Seena and Gran both said at the same time.

“What?” the healer said when Seena looked in her direction. “Sure, I complain about him playing the part of practice dummy most of the time, but if he’s going to do it anyway, he might as well be better at it.”

“I’m not sure if that’s you being caring or lazy,” Seena said flatly.

“Can’t it be both?” Gran cackled back at her.

“I…” Seena started, hand already rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“It’s almost time,” Left said, and the party cut off the banter. Everybody other than Yanily – who continued working through spear forms – stood at the parapet wall, eyes glued on the shimmering barrier.

“Nivian, Ilrolik,” Hiral said into the raid chat. “You both in position?”

“We’re beside the power source for the tower,” Nivian said.

“We’ve got the control room covered,” Ilrolik said. “You really think they’ll rush over?”

“More likely than them sitting to defend,” Hiral said. “If they’re anything like the Infested we fought in the past, they’ll underestimate us. Wouldn’t surprise me if they charged our defended position just to prove they could win.”

“That won’t go well for them,” Nivian said.

“No, it certainly won’t,” Hiral said. “So, let’s hope they do that. If they don’t come quicky, though, then we’re going to have to go to them.”

“Let’s cross that bridge if we come to it,” Seena said. “First, the barrier needs to…”

Even as she spoke, the shimmer spanning from edge to edge in the Cradle popped like a soap bubble. One second it was there – everything beyond a blur – and the next it was just gone, the terrain appearing crystal clear and stretching into the distance.

In that instant, Hiral caught a glimpse of a distant castle, forged of heavy, dark stone, crowned with an open, upturned hand. Design wise, it was a little strange, but Hiral didn’t have long to look at it, his eyes going to the much-closer tower directly across the divide. Almost a mirror image of the one they stood on, the opposite tower rested on a cliff face, dense forest on both sides, making the direct approach more difficult.

Immediately between the two towers – almost exactly at the midway point – right where the shimmering wall had been, a circular clearing stood barren. Hiral almost had time to wonder about it, before the ground erupted in a shower of stone and dirt.

Bursting out of the ground, a new structure emerged, growing and growing until it blocked the view of the other tower – and the distant castle beyond – to stand hundreds of feet tall.

“Well,” Romin started. “I wonder what that is.”

They all got the answer to the question as a notification window popped up in front of them.

Dynamic Quest: The Tower of Dynamic Trials

“Should’ve known,” Seeyela said.