Siora watched silently. If she moved, if she said a word, if she did anything but sit quietly, Ernie could make a mistake.

  Of course, this was Althowin Alegarra’s prime apprentice. But he was also a short, awkward man who needed a haircut and a shave.

  What was special about him?

  She had asked herself that a few times before. Now, her questions were answered.

  Even the claverstan smiths were quiet upon seeing Ernie start forging. Katalin stayed right at his side, helping him think through some processes and helping with spells, while Potilia stayed nearby answering questions about how to actually operate the Forge of Divine Light. How that woman knew everything was beyond Siora.

  Ernie produced a god quality hammer from his bag.

  If asked before now, Siora would have denied the existence of any god quality items. The idea of those items was too powerful. Divine weapons could already destroy entire cities.

  When the hammer was removed from Ernie’s specter bag, a blast of energy hit Siora like someone activated a shard. His arm trembled at first, but then he controlled it and even let Siora hold it.

  Unique God Magical Item

  Smithing Hammer

  Created by Ernsworth Eckelson.

  The simple description was the wildest part.

  “This is the first time I’ll use it,” Ernie said. “Unique weapons need experience to develop their story. This is the start.”

  He laid the Rilokos family blade on the Forge and waited. Divine light bathed the whole area, and before long, the ringing of his hammering started.

  An hour later, the whole floor was silent, still watching.

  Ernie had separated the blade into three different swords, which Siora didn’t even partially understand. Where had the hilts and crossguards come from? One sword glowed, one was on fire, and another was simple iron. It was like the three aspects of her family’s blade had been pulled apart.

  Katalin helped pull luminous light from the Forge toward the blade as Ernie continued hammering. Each strike rang like a massive bell.

  Over and over.

  The others slept and ate, somehow able to relax in the heat and noise of the Forge. Siora stayed. Afraid to disturb.

  ***

  They ran into swarmers and dead ends, over and over.

  Several long corridors made it feel like they were heading in the right direction, only to lead them to a dead end.

  Luckily, ocular swarmers were hardly a threat anymore. Owin punched or grabbed and smashed most of them, but he also used Isotelus in its floppy state to smack the eyes into the white stone walls.

  After what felt like an hour, Shade came to a complete stop in the middle of the corridor. The skeleton just pointed until Owin finally approached.

  “There’s a jar,” Shade said.

  It was a two foot tall jar filled with ocular mobs. They were smaller than swarmers and tracked Owin as he stepped back and forth.

  “I killed a jar of those earlier,” Roese said.

  “We saw the broken glass.” Owin took a step closer.

  Red energy gathered in all the miniature eyes.

  “How did you kill them?”

  “Stepped on them.”

  “Ah.” Shade gently pushed Owin aside. “I can handle this.” He hurried over and lifted his foot. Before he managed to stomp, all the ocular mobs shot their lasers. The energy pinged off the glass inside causing the lasers to bounce around inside the jar. The liquid in which the eyes floated boiled immediately.

  In only a few seconds, all the mobs floated dead inside the jar.

  “Huh.” Shade put his foot down and looked back. “I appear to be stronger than I originally thought.”

  Owin opened the jar, winced at the smell of cooked eyes, and immediately put the lid back on. The ocular hearts would be helpful, but he had been covered in repugnant liquids enough to know he didn’t want that smell lingering.

  “I think this is a good sign,” Owin said. He opened his index back to the map. They had primarily been on the right side, when compared to the entrance, but now they were further left. Their path had zigzagged a bit, and they had retraced their own path a few times as well, but they were finally revealing more of the map.

  “If there was a jar at the very beginning and one here, it might be a marker to show if we’re going in the right direction.” Owin wasn’t sure if that had any merit, but it made sense to him. He continued on before Shade could make a comment.

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  Roese seemed content just to follow far enough back to avoid danger.

  Owin ran into a few dead ends, but continued leading while ignoring Shade’s comments. Before long, they seemed to be making progress again. A few swarmers appeared and were quickly killed.

  He was feeling good. Compared to all the explosives in the Ocean, this fifth floor was a little less intense.

  An Omen Appears

  Owin stopped and looked back at Shade. “What’s that mean?”

  “Oh. Oh. Not good.” He stepped back and grabbed Roese’s shoulders. “An Omen at first shard level is incredibly dangerous.”

  Roese shied away for a moment, then fully shoved Shade off. “What is that!”

  Owin turned to see . . . something.

  A creature as big as the corridor was turning the corner. Its face was long with massive fangs. Its eyes glowed yellow. He had seen something similar before, but it was so much smaller.

  It was a snake, but judging by the size of its head, it was the biggest mob Owin had ever seen.

  Omen

  Bashe

  Level —

  “Nope. No.” Shade grabbed Owin and immediately yanked him back. “Bashe is bad. Bashe will eat us so quick.”

  “If we go back, we’ll just get stuck in the maze.” Owin shrugged off Shade’s grip.

  Bashe was coming from straight ahead, but a path still led to the left. He knew they were heading in the right direction, so running back now wouldn’t help. The stone walls cracked as Bashe continued turning.

  “Follow me,” Owin said, running ahead. He didn’t sprint. Shade was already slow enough, and Owin had no doubt that Roese was even slower than the skeleton.

  A hiss that sounded like a raging thunderstorm followed them through the winding maze.

  “Hurry,” Owin said over his shoulder, as if they didn’t already know. He ran with his index open, turning away from dead ends as soon as he noticed. It was impossible to flee when they didn’t know where to go.

  It wasn’t hopeless. He could always fight if he needed to.

  He promised to help Roese to safety. She was in danger because of him.

  They would all make it.

  Owin kept repeating thoughts to himself as he sprinted ahead. He found multiple dead ends, then met back with Shade and Roese and guided them in what looked like the right direction.

  Every time he looked back, it felt like Bashe was closer. How the monstrous snake fit through the maze at all was beyond Owin’s understanding. The walls and tiles were cracking and buckling under the Omen’s weight.

  He turned a corner and nearly tripped over a jar of eyes. Shade nearly ran directly into Owin’s back. The skeleton wobbled as he stopped, pushed Owin aside, let Roese past, then picked up the jar.

  “Eat this!” Shade stepped around the corner and tossed the jar before the ocular mobs could roast themselves.

  Owin didn’t bother looking. He heard the glass shatter and a series of lasers shooting, before a hiss passed through the maze. Any sounds of lasers from the ocular mobs stopped immediately.

  Shade didn’t need much convincing to continue, but Owin still grabbed the skeleton’s hand and nearly dragged him away. Only a moment later, Bashe crashed into the wall, sending debris off the walls and tile.

  Roese waited, sweating and wide-eyed at a turn farther ahead, waving them on. Owin didn’t let go of Shade, even as the skeleton bounced off the wall and went limp, letting himself get dragged over the tiled floor.

  It only took a few bounding steps to catch and pass Roese. Owin let Shade go and opened his index again. They were definitely in a new area, but it was impossible to tell how much they had left.

  He turned to a dead end, then leapt back and tried a different turn. It was a long, straight corridor that looked like it was nearly a mile long. He took off down it, hoping the others would catch up.

  The ground rumbled. Owin glanced over his shoulder, catching Bashe’s yellow eyes. The Omen was moving too quickly. Roese hadn’t looked back, but if she did, she would likely be too scared to continue. The snake’s massive fangs nearly hung directly over the berserker.

  Owin bounded over and nearly tossed Roese as he pushed her along. Bashe’s breath was warm and filled with power. Something caused the chitin armor to sizzle just from his proximity to the Omen.

  Owin held up Isotelus and activated Ice Blade. Razor sharp ice formed between the the sections of bone until Isotelus stood tall as a complete sword.

  Instead of charging, Bashe stopped. The snake closed its mouth and even pulled away enough to look at Owin with its glowing eyes.

  A voice rumbled like thunder directly inside Owin’s head. “Who challenges me?”

  “My name is Owin.” He shifted his feet, following what Suta had taught him. He could move any direction if needed. He could jump, charge, or retreat.

  “Owin of the Great Forest,” the voice said. A long hiss escaped Bashe’s lips. “Owin the Darkblade. Owin the Awakened.”

  Owin lowered Isotelus. “You know me?”

  “The world knows the Awakened.” Bashe moved a little closer. “Only the Divine Awaken.”

  Light flashed.

  Owin stepped back as he moved Isotelus to block, but when the light faded Owin saw a tall woman-like being in front of him. She had the same yellow eyes and snake fangs, but she stood like any human would. Her skin was gray-green and scaly, and her hair was . . . more snakes.

  He lowered the sword. “Bashe?”

  She lowered herself to one knee and cocked her head while looking at him. “You are not Divine. You are a hero.” She said the word with disdain. Bashe hissed.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Owin said.

  “A disappointment.” Bashe stood tall. “Ruvaine should have cleaned her mess.”

  Owin’s breath caught as he swung Isotelus. He didn’t even see Bashe move. Something deep in his mind, some instinct could feel her hostility. Her long nails scraped against the ice blade and sent Owin tumbling down the corridor.

  Before he could crash into the stone wall, crab legs extended from his back, digging into the mortar of the walls to stop his momentum. Owin immediately brought the sword up again as his vision blurred green.

  A hiss was all he heard as Isotelus dug into Bashe’s palm. She stood, tiles cracked beneath her feet, pushing back. Without the crab legs, Owin would have been thrown off his feet again. Whatever strength he had, even multiplied by the shard, was nothing compared to this Omen.

  She wrapped her hand around the blade. Partially frozen black blood fell from Bashe’s hand. Some rivulets flowed down Isotelus, freezing before they reached Owin’s hand.

  “A hero fighting for scraps.” The last word was a full hiss.

  Owin held Isotelus with both hands. They trembled as Bashe continued letting her blood flow onto the sword.

  “A mistake doesn’t deserve such a weapon.” For just a moment, he felt her pull, but before the sword could be yanked from his hand, a bubble of gray dust appeared.

  Owin’s armor pulled its legs back in as Shade reached through the Withered Shield and pulled Owin back. The gray dust dropped away only a moment later, but Owin was already running and dragging Shade once again.

  When he looked back, he could see Bashe standing at the corner with black blood dripping to the tiles.

  “Run while you can,” she said quietly inside Owin’s head.

  He turned the corner, finding Roese leaning against a door while cradling her arm. A dead swarmer lay split in two on the ground in front of her.

  “Are we still alive?” she asked.

  “For now.” Owin grabbed a potion and passed it to her. “Drink it and keep moving. I don’t know if that thing is still chasing us.”