Fortress Dungeon

  Fourth Floor

  One Shard Active

  The sun shone directly into Owin’s eyes as he ascended the stairs. He blocked it with his hand and squinted, trying to see what was before him.

  Four elves in loyalist armor stood behind parapets with their backs to Owin. Quiet conversation passed between them.

  Shade, surprisingly, walked up the stairs quietly. He passed the Incandescent Blade to Owin before leaning his elbow on Owin’s head.

  “I can’t see anything,” Owin whispered. Other than the elves, the only thing he had figured out was that they had appeared at the top of a tower, not unlike those near the gate on the first floor. The wind was strong and whistled in his ear, but he couldn’t see how high up he was.

  “There’s a portal across the floor. It’s glowing green.”

  “Green? Really?”

  Shade’s eye sockets narrowed. “I think that might actually be the passage to the next floor. Wait here.” The skeleton strode over to the loyalist elves. “What do you think is happening over there?”

  “A magical incursion,” an elf said without turning. “Who can protect us with our king dead? The royal bloodline is gone.”

  “Not gone,” another elf blurted. “The prince lives.”

  “The prince doesn’t have the power,” another said.

  “Is the prince the skinny one down there?” Shade asked.

  The elves all turned and noticed they had been talking to a rather obnoxious looking skeleton.

  All the archers pulled arrows from their quivers. Before the first could even start to draw the bow, Shade smacked him across the head with the magical staff.

  Owin dashed forward as the other three loosed arrows, which all pinged harmlessly off the skeleton. The Incandescent Blade scraped on the elves’ armor as Owin tried to cut through thighs. He dropped the sword, grabbed the lich bone, and stabbed into the joints between armor. Panicked confusion quickly spread among the elves as the first died.

  Shade continued smacking them with the staff, which only really stunned the higher level mobs. With the skeleton’s distraction, Owin easily found openings and killed the remaining three archers without taking a point of damage.

  “A magical incursion?” Shade leaned on a parapet. “I bet it’s going to belch a bunch of specters out.”

  Owin’s eyes had adjusted, at least partially, to the bright light of the setting sun. They were on top of the Fortress, or at least the castle they had been passing through for the previous floors. Stretching out before them was the roof with angled tiles sloping down to both sides of the raised center. A party of elves stood on the raised stone in the center of the roof. Most were loyalist elves, but one was a skinny, young-looking elf with a small crown.

  The prince, apparently.

  Giant statues sat on the edges of the roof, overlooking the land below, which was hidden by a thick fog. From his current point in the corner of the floor, Owin could already see the shimmer of the boundary wall ending right in front of the statues. Getting off the roof was not an option.

  At the far end of the roof was a tower with a staircase spiraling around the outside. Above was a swirling green portal. It looked nearly identical to the portals between cities, but this had no frame and glowed with the same spectral appearance as the gas on the previous floor.

  A monstrous statue of a cathkabel sat, posed, near the tower. It held a scythe and its bulbous eyes looked longingly into the distance.

  “Do you think I can survive this fall?” Shade was already leaning halfway over the parapet.

  “No.” It was probably thirty feet below, which shouldn’t be a problem for a Shard Hero, but Shade would find a way to poof to dust and cause all kinds of issues. “Don’t do it. What class are you?”

  “Umbra. Really? Alright.” Shade immediately stood upright and pretended to fix a tie. “Do I look like Vondaire?”

  “He has skin.”

  Shade’s eye sockets narrowed. “Not after I’m done with him.”

  Owin gave him a look.

  “Fine. He can keep his skin.”

  The elf prince looked back, staring straight at Owin. His eyes glowed with arcane magic.

  Shade noticed Owin’s face, leaned on the parapet, and looked far down at the elf. “He looks angry.”

  “You.” The elf prince pointed. “Goblin. Approach.” His voice carried effortlessly.

  “I think he wants to work together,” Shade said as he climbed awkwardly over the parapet.

  “I thought everyone said the Fortress didn’t have peaceful options.”

  “Says something about how much fighting there will be.” The skeleton scooted to the edge. “I can survive this.”

  Owin hopped onto the parapet and pushed Shade. The skeleton flailed and screamed until he struck the tiles.

  The elves formed a half circle around Shade with weapons drawn. The prince, as calm as before, continued staring at Owin.

  Shade sat up, pulled his head off, and reattached it. “Shook me up good. Are you coming down here or not?”

  Owin stepped off the tower and leaned deftly beside Shade.

  Fortress Mob

  Athtar Faven

  Elf Prince

  Level 25

  “Athtar,” Owin said as if he was already familiar with the elf.

  “Goblin.” The arcane magic in Athtar’s eyes vanished. He pointed to the portal on the opposite side of the roof. “They breach our defenses. Even goblins are part of this world.”

  “What’s coming through the portal?” Owin asked.

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  Shade stood. “Specters.”

  “Yes,” Athtar said. “There have been intrusions all through the keep.” The elf’s face hardened as arcane magic flickered in his eyes once again. “They even killed my father.”

  Shade’s eye sockets widened.

  “Will you help defend your world?” Athtar asked.

  “Yes.” It didn’t matter to Owin if it was his world or not. Fighting alongside some mobs was going to be better than trying to do it all on his own. Without the ability to gain experience, there was no real benefit to fighting every mob he came across.

  Athtar nodded. He turned and started toward the portal. His guard moved as one like water, always keeping him surrounded. None of the guards seemed to have actual personalities. They didn’t speak or even give Owin a second glance.

  “It’s about to begin,” Athtar said. “Prepare yourself.”

  Owin nudged Shade. “What weapon do you want?”

  “As an umbra, it seems fitting to have a knife. Doesn’t it?” The skeleton tried twirling the Darkblade, but dropped it on the tiles instead. He quickly picked it up and turned toward the portal. “Try to keep your mana.”

  “I should be telling you that.” Owin adjusted his grip on the Incandescent Blade. If this was the big finale of specters for the Fortress, he wasn’t sure what kinds there would be. Shapeless specters were difficult to fight, but they weren’t particularly strong.

  Possessors and skinweaves were normally strong, and there was the flying one he had only briefly spotted before it vanished with an elf on the previous floor.

  He had to be ready for anything.

  The air crackled as the light flashed in the portal. Cracks slithered through the air as if reality was a glass pane.

  All of the elven guards drew their weapons. The archers on the second tower drew arrows. Everyone was tense.

  Owin tried stopping himself from making a face, but as soon as it dawned on him, he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

  He motioned for Shade to crouch. “None of the elves are going to be able to do damage with their weapons. I think only the prince can actually help.”

  Shade looked around for a moment. “Huh.” He quickly walked up to the prince. “Can I touch one of your guards’ weapons?”

  “What?”

  “Let me rephrase that.” Shade turned to an elf holding a sword. “Hit me.”

  Athtar gestured.

  The guard grunted and swung at Shade’s neck. The sword hit his spine and bounced right off.

  “Thank you,” Shade said. He ran back over and crouched beside Owin. “That’s a normal sword.”

  “What if it wasn’t?”

  “Then you’d be on your own for two minutes. What do you want from me?”

  “Is it worth fighting or do we just go for the portal? We can probably get there easily.”

  Just as he finished the sentence, a loud crack sounded.

  “Now, I don’t want you to start thinking that I’m all about doom and our inevitable demise, but, well . . .” Shade grabbed Owin’s shoulder and gestured to the now glowing red portal with green smoke flowing out. “That doesn’t look great.”

  Screams, laughs, and cries filled the air as specters poured from the portal. Some fell to the tiles and started sprinting, some shapeless specters oozed out, and others flew through the air.

  Owin recognized some, and didn’t recognize others. Shade was right. Fighting didn’t really seem like an option. The portal still glowed brightly, even as the wave of specters ended. If that was the door to the fifth floor, he was going to have to turn it into a void nexus before passing through.

  “There has to be a leader among the specters.” Shade squinted, which Owin still didn’t think made him see any better. “Uh.”

  All of the walking specters stopped about halfway across the roof. A few skinweave specters darted overhead, taking over the elves Owin had just killed on top of the tower. Shapeless specters continued their slow ooze across the rooftop.

  There were a lot, but none of them looked like a boss.

  Hazy shapes zipped past Owin then vanished before he could follow where they went.

  Shade grabbed his shoulder. “Hey, so you remember on the second floor when I was holding that door shut?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you remember what was on the other side?”

  “A statue.” Owin looked past the skeleton at the huge griffin statue on the edge of the building. The onyx statue looked over its shoulder to regard Owin.

  “There’s one over there too,” Shade said as he pointed over Owin’s head.

  “This would be a good time to use the hammer.”

  Shade held out the staff. “If you can wait two minutes.”

  With his index open, Owin took a quick glance at umbra skills. None were particularly suited to fighting specters. There were options for hiding and poison, but none of that would do anything to a massive stone statue.

  Owin snatched the staff. “Be ready as soon as you appear.”

  Shade nodded, then poofed into dust.

  The onyx griffin climbed off its pedestal. Each step cracked the roof tiles under its paws. Behind Owin the elves surrounded the prince, who barked orders. An identical griffin was quickly approaching them. Arrows were already pinging off its back.

  Bolt and Discharge weren’t going to do a thing against a massive statue. Smoke Cloud might give him temporary cover, but specters also didn’t actually have eyes and could probably see the same way as Shade. The electric spells from the staff weren’t going to be any better.

  An arrow struck a tile right in front of Owin. He took a step back and looked at the tower where the skinweave specters were preparing their bows.

  “Begin,” a voice said, thrumming through the air.

  All the specters that had waited halfway charged at once. Both griffins sprinted forward with stone wings spread wide.

  Arcane spells flew from Athtar, striking the griffin’s face without slowing it down at all.

  Hitting a statue with a sword wasn’t a good idea. Owin looked to his right at the oncoming horde of other specters. The Incandescent Blade ignited. At least there were other things he could hit.

  He took off with enough power to shatter the roof tiles.

  ***

  Blood mixed with melting snow, running in a thin stream between Nikoletta’s feet. She took a deep breath through her mouth, licked the blood from her lips, and pushed luminous energy into the head of her mace.

  Zazenk stretched out his wings. “Well done, Mistress.”

  A horde of white rabbit people covered the hillside, led by one with blue paint on her face. Their spears were long, and with their speed, the rabbits were dangerous.

  Nikoletta stepped forward, smashing a rabbit corpse under her boot. Their negotiator lay in a pool of blood and melted snow.

  “Who wants to be next?” she asked without raising her voice.

  “Who wishes to be the next sacrifice to my mistress?” Zazenk gestured to her. “Who wishes to experience the pleasure of suffering?”

  The lead rabbit stomped her foot. The entire line of rabbits stomped their feet in response.

  “So be it,” Zazenk said. He curled his wings close to his back. “Let us taste their blood, Mistress.”

  Luminous Surge rushed through Nikoletta. “Come and face your cleansing bravely.”

  The leader rabbit stomped her foot again and raised her spear high. “To battle!”

  Rabbit mobs poured down the hill, converging on Nikoletta and Zazenk.

  The cathkabel lifted his scythe high and took a step to the side. His abnormally long tongue lolled from his open mouth.

  She ignored him. As foolish as the rabbits were, they still posed a threat.

  The leader launched herself forward and stabbed her spear at Nikoletta’s face. The luminous mace smashed into the rabbit’s nose, stopping her momentum completely. Blood splattered across Nikoletta’s face.

  She heard Zazenk moan at her side. The cathkabel slashed horizontally with his scythe as the rabbits neared. He cleaved right through the front line. He was immediately peppered with spears.

  Nikoletta seized the leader by the ears and yanked her head up. The mobs froze, watching as blood dripped from the rabbit’s mouth.

  “Please,” the rabbit said, sputtering. “My people.”

  Zazenk grunted and flexed, causing luminous magic to swirl around him. All nearby mobs were pushed back. The spears remained embedded in him. Silver blood dripped out of each wound.

  Nikoletta glared at the rabbits on her right. She yanked the leader’s head up roughly, stopping the advance.

  Zazenk composed himself. He tore the spears free, wiped the blood away with his fingers and licked it. “Kill her.”

  Nikoletta swept her golden eyes over the mobs in front of her.

  “My people,” the rabbit whispered.

  “They’ll join you soon enough.” Nikoletta dropped the leader’s head and stomped. Brains splattered her boot and leaked into the muddy mixture.

  A cry spread through the remaining rabbits.

  Nikoletta raised her mace as the luminous light glowed brightly. “You will all be purged!” Before the rabbit horde could react, she charged in, swinging her mace with all her might. Zazenk followed close behind, cutting rabbits down in wide arcs.