Rune Seeker

With the counter finally ticking from two-forty-nine to two-fifty, the final Chimeric Wolf fell to the ground. One last heave lifted its flank, before a bloody cough from its fanged mouth signaled the end of the battle.

Dynamic Quest: Complete – Beast Wave

Chimeric Interlopers slain: 250/250

You’ve beaten back the first assault on your new territory, but more dangers lurk within the Cradle of Tomorrow, their eyes set on taking what you have.

Prepare. Build. Survive.

Time until next Beast Wave – Unknown

Partial Achievement Unlocked – (1/3) Ride the Wave

Participate in and survive three Beast Waves to complete achievement.

“Well,” Hiral said, reading the notification. “Guess that’s not a one-time thing.”

“At least three waves,” Gran said. “What a bother.”

“And it does change our plans a little bit,” Elezad said. “We can’t send of our raid parties out at the same time.”

“We could’ve handled that wave with less people,” Hiral said. “Probably. A little more experience and practice, and each of the raid groups should be able to handle at least two or three dozen of those things at once.”

“Unless we start seeing Elites,” Seena said.

“Which is why I’m staying here,” Grandmother said. “I won’t interfere with the youngin’s fun, unless I have to. But, worse comes to worst, I’ll step in.”

“Thank you, Grandmother,” Elezad said. “Or maybe we should be calling you General from now on?”

Grandmother waved her hand dismissively. “None of that now.”

Elezad nodded. “Still, I think we’ll need to keep a few parties in reserve at all times. It’ll be a good excuse to get some rest as well. I can only imagine how much people will want to be out there constantly running trials if the rewards are good. Then again, the way that achievement reads, they’ll need to be here to get credit for it.”

“Does it change anything for us?” Hiral asked his father.

“I don’t think so,” Elezad replied. “We want the rewards from those six trials as soon as possible. Still, let me double check with the rest of the Trust. If I were you, though, I’d be getting ready to get a move on.”

“Just say the word and we’ll be gone,” Hiral said.

His father gave him a pat on the shoulder, then turned and weaved his way through the crowd towards where the other members of the Trust were gathering.

“Left, would you mind dropping the Banner of Courage to help everybody?” Hiral asked. From the looks of things, his double was already one step ahead of him, the thick solar energy snapping into place to cover the area in a golden dome. “Thanks.”

“We’re going to go see if there’s anything we can do to help,” Wule said, pointing at himself, Yully, and Gran.

“We are?” Gran asked.

“We are. Stop whining,” Wule said with a good-natured roll of his eyes at the old vampire. “I’m sure there’s at least one limb out there that needs some reattachment.”

“You say that like I enjoy it,” Gran said.

“You do.”

Gran’s hood stayed locked in Wule’s direction. Then the floating woman began to cackle. “You’re right! I do! Let’s go.”

“Call us when it’s time to leave,” Wule said, and the three healers also worked their way out into the crowd.

“You think they’ll have much time?” Yanily asked. The spearman’s head slowly scanned across the battlefield – it wasn’t too bad, considering the surprise attack – and then to the strange, valley splayed out ahead of them.

“No,” Seena said. “Like Elezad said, they want the reward from the A-Rank trial. We’ll be heading out. Everybody in good-enough condition?”

“One-hundred percent,” Ilrolik said.

“Same,” Nivian said. “We hardly did anything.”

“Bash no smash,” the buff Troblin complained, looking at his new hammer like he was apologizing to it.

“There’ll be plenty to smash, don’t worry,” Right said, and Bash immediately perked up.

“Where is it we’re heading?” Romin asked. “I don’t see The Playhouse.”

“That’s it, over there,” Hiral said, pointing. Like on the War Table’s map, the building itself looked like a series of cascading waves – or at least an architect’s impression of it – but now they could see more of the surrounding area.

A kind of port on the edge of a large body of water, with a city sprawled out behind it. It was… strange, like the city beyond The Playhouse was almost a kind of prop. Or a set for a performance. Hiral could see complete buildings – even from the distance – but something about them just seemed off. Fake. Sure, part of that could be the more than a dozen city blocks full of buildings made of materials he’d never even seen or imagined before. Square towers seemingly made of glass and metal that towered hundreds of feet high and scraped against the false sky of the Cradle. Heavy, industrial buildings with huge chimneys spewing smoke that vanished another fifty feet up. Smaller, squat buildings that reminded Hiral of an inn, with window after perfect window sitting beside each other.

Just how small would the rooms inside be for the window to be that close?

Even the streets, now that he looked at them, were made out of some kind of black stone. It sort of reminded him of the cooled lava over near the volcano, except it was perfectly level, with some kind of yellow lines running down the middle of it.

Just… what exactly was that place? Was it something Tomorrow had come up with herself? Or had she seen it somewhere?

“Al,” Hiral asked as the guide wandered nearby. “What do you know about the Cradle? About all those places we’re looking at. The landscapes.”

The Triclops paused to glance at the valley before turning his attention to the party. “You’re wondering about the strangeness of some of the places?”

“That’s one way to put it,” Yanily said. “Pretty sure I just saw that forest over there eat something. And I don’t mean an animal in the forest eating another animal. I’m talking, a whole section of trees just closed on some poor critter and started chewing.”

“Ah, yes, that would be The Carnivorous Conifers,” Al said. “Wonderful place for a picnic, as long as you’re strong enough to make sure you aren’t the meal.”

“Sounds great,” Yanily said.

“Did Tomorrow create all these places?” Hiral asked. “Imagine them all up and then put them here? Or are they places she’s been?”

Al rubbed at his chin in thought. “While I don’t know for sure, I don’t believe either of those are true for all of these. Some of these locations – like the one you’re going to – are neither places she created or visited. It was only in passing – and I may have misunderstood – but Tomorrow once mentioned something about ‘seeing wonders through a gate’ and using that as a model for what she built here. Part of her inspiration.”

“Through a gate?” Hiral asked, then looked again at the city of towering glass and metal. “A Black Gate? Could that be the Enemy’s world?”

“Seems way too… square,” Seeyela said flatly.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

And, Al was already shaking his head. “The city isn’t the only locale Tomorrow copied.” He pointed to the floating, stacked islands. “The Soaring Mesas.” His gesture turned to the palace made of mirrors. “The Cathedral of Reflection.” Again, his hand moved, this time to a corner so shrouded in darkness, Hiral couldn’t make out anything within. “The Plane of Night.” Finally, his pointed at one last location. Finally, he pointed at one last location, a hollowed-out mountain with the statue of a multi-headed wolf overlooking an ancient stadium. “The Arena of the Howling God.”

“All of those place – and more I didn’t name – seemed inspired by things Tomorrow had seen. At least, that was what I got from her as she explained my role in this current, final Cradle.” Al chuckled. “She was very proud of this place, and did tend to ramble a bit as she bragged.”

“Which means any of those places – or none of them – could be where the Enemy comes from,” Seena said from beside Hiral.

“Does it matter?” Yanily asked. “Not like we’re planning on taking a vacation there. I can’t imagine any visitors would have anything good to say. Took the family for a trip. Rained all the time. Invisible squids tried to eat my face – and they got my son. Conveniently, he was the noisy one. Wouldn’t go back… until I have another kid.” He spoke in a deep voice the whole time, and when he was finished, everybody was just sort of looking at him.

“You sound like you practiced that,” Seena said slowly.

“In case they need somebody to narrate the guide,” Yanily said. “Figured I’d work on my public-speaking voice. What did you think?”

“That we should just get ready to go,” Seena said while rubbing the bridge of her nose. “I think Elezad is on his way back over. Tell me he is, please?” She looked at Hiral as she said the last part, practically pleading so she could escape Yan’s antics.

“That’s him,” Hiral said. His sensory domain had spotted his father as soon as he’d separated from the rest of the Trust – who were each also heading back to the parties they’d started with.

“You’re up,” Elezad said as he arrived. “We’re still sending the six groups out for their trials, as well as a mix of the others to scout. We thought about asking Burs and his group to stay nearby until the next wave hits, in case we get some B-Ranks in there, but we have the Sentinels and Brass Cannons. If it’s mainly just E- through C-Rank again, then we don’t have anything to worry about. If there are some B’s, Grandmother said she’d step in. If there are more than some B’s, well, even Burs and his group may not have been enough.”

“You want us to hurry back after we clear our trial, to check in?” Nivian asked.

“Please,” Elezad said. “I know it might slow down your progress a bit…”

“But it’s only fair,” Ilrolik said. “It’s fine.”

“Nat and Milly?” Sera asked.

“They’re one of the raid groups going out for a specific trial,” Elezad said. “Don’t worry, they’ll be careful.”

“Of course I’ll worry about my children,” Sera said.

Elezad’s eyes went to Hiral to see if he’d react, but he’d already said his piece to Sera. He didn’t consider the woman his mother anymore, so the comment didn’t apply to him. At least, not in his opinion. She was welcome to think what she liked.

It only took a few seconds for it to become clear there wasn’t going to be any sort of retort, and Elezad met his wife’s eyes. “You be careful out there too. This isn’t like our work back up on Fallen Reach.”

“You say that, but you always had all the easy clients,” Sera said. “I had the grumpy ones. And the squirmers.”

“You’re going into an A-Rank trial,” Elezad said evenly, putting his hands on his wife’s shoulders and pulling her closer so their foreheads touched. “Be careful. Be smart. And don’t be afraid to retreat if you have to.”

“I’ll take good care of your wife,” Ilrolik said. “Don’t worry. Nothing will happen to her.”

“And she said it,” Yanily said. “Completely jinxed us.”

“Whatever happens to her, Yully will heal it,” Loan said. “Better?”

“Much!” Yanily said cheerfully.

“Good,” Seena said. “Then we should be going, unless anybody has anything else?”

“Just one thing,” Hiral said. “Keep an eye on how long between waves. If we’re going to have some more forced downtime, I may actually need a few new tattoos from you.”

“But you can’t…” Elezad said, then looked from Hiral’s open palms to Left. “Ah. I see. Anything in mind?”

“A few ideas,” Hiral said. “And I should’ve talked to you about it all earlier, but… we can chat more later. Think about it as well?”

“For sure,” Elezad said. “There’s one or two I always thought would be good for you. I’ll need to rethink that with dungeons, raid trials, and parties in mind.”

“Sounds good, talk to you later then,” Hiral said, then turned to the rest of his raid group. “Everybody else ready? Like we discussed before, since Ilrolik’s group doesn’t have mounts or anything, I’ll get us to the trial.”

“Now that you see the distance,” Seeyela said. “Still think you can do it?”

“After the practice I’ve had, yeah,” Hiral said. “It won’t be quite as fast or pleasant as flying with Drake, but I’ll make do.”

“There are marked paths you can follow,” Al said. “It’s the only way for higher-Ranks to stay within the lower-Rank areas and avoid solar-energy poisoning.”

“Good to know,” Hiral said. “Do there happen to be road signs to point us in the right direction?”

Al just shook his head.

“No problem, I’ll figure it out.” He turned from the guide to the other party leaders – their parties arranged behind them – and got three nods they were good to go. So, without further delay, Hiral stepped into the center of the group and pushed more power into his pseudo-aspect. Though his Coat of Amin Thett had already been lightly glowing in the places where he had runes corresponding to the Edicts he’d unlocked, the energy intensified with his touch. Around his neck, the scarves of energy folded outward, back through the hanging Ring of Amin Thett and around the lower part of his face like a mask.

It still wasn’t even close to a full Aspect like Yanily had, but Hiral marveled at the feeling of the power flowing through his body. Still, his power alone probably wouldn’t be enough to accomplish what he was aiming for, and he reached out to the Edicts for their aid. Connecting with them, he used their power to split his scarves from two to four. From four to eight, to sixteen, to twenty, to twenty three.

Behind him, the thick scarves of energy twisted in a wind that wasn’t there, then gently reached out to wrap each of his allies, their companions, his doubles, and Li’l Ur. Oh, and Politet. That one wasn’t quite an afterthought, but the undead had a natural inclination to resist Hiral, so it took an extra push.

Connected to them like that, Hiral started fueling his different runes, removing gravity’s hold over the parties, tying them to Hiral, and making for the most comfortable ride he could. For them, they’d just need to sit back and relax.

For Hiral, though? Now it was time for the… fun part.

“Here’s where he tells us to hold on to something,” Seeyela said.

“Usually your lunch,” Yanily said. “For anybody who hasn’t traveled like this before.”

“Can he really carry us with this flimsy energy?” Loan asked. His sausage-like fingers were running along the energy scarf wrapped around him.

“You better hope it’s not flimsy,” Hiral said over his shoulder with a smile. “With how fast we’re going to be moving, you don’t want it to break.”

“I’m pretty tough,” Loan reminded him.

“Remember you said that,” Hiral said, then launched forward on planes of Rejection before Loan could comment again.

The world practically snapped around him, trees and ground instantly transforming into little more than a wild blur, the other parties and the keep already left in the dust. A single step devoured a hundred feet, then two, five hundred, a thousand, the three parties trailing behind him in scarves of energy. Like the first time he’d activated his pseudo-aspect back in the savanna, Hiral’s body leaned forward until he was dashing on all four limbs, claws naturally forming around his fingers as he tore ahead.

Part of his brain told him he was very strange to run like that, while another part – his instincts – told him it was entirely natural. And, really, with the way his leaps weren’t limited to just the ground as he moved, having all his feet and hands to create planes of Rejectionwas speeding him up.

Seena had asked him about flying when he’d originally presented the idea of how to get them to the trial, but something about this was just easier. Which meant faster and cheaper on this solar energy. He’d get to the point where he could fly people around – he would – but he wasn’t there yet. For now, it was easier to do this on the ground.

Or, at least, close to it.

Running like that, his sensory domain guided him ever forward, around bends and obstacles, picking up hints of monsters hiding to either side of the path. Those things weren’t all the domain detected, either, with energy fluctuations tickling his Cycling sense. He could feel the different levels of solar energy as he passed them. The places that would try to poison him with the strange density of the energy. Though, maybe density wasn’t exactly the right word.

Kind of like the solar energy around his sisters wasn’t the same as that around his parents, the energy he felt in the air was likewise varied. The lower-Rank areas had thick clusters of solar energy that would integrate easily with lower-Ranked people. Conversely, somebody B-Rank had energy more akin to a cloud around them. A cloud that would get torn up by the lower-Rank energy bulling its way through.

The ‘poison’ would act almost opposite Drahn’s Pollen Poison, constantly clogging up solar energy channels that had evolved to become more porous to allow the fog-like energy through. And, from the feeling Hiral was getting, that clog would lead to a build in pressure, and an explosion even he wouldn’t enjoy.

Note to self, stay out of lower-Rank areas.

Thanks to his sensory domain and the landscape, that wasn’t actually a challenge. The few times he lost sight of the destination – and came to a fork in the path – a simple leap into the air gave him the vantage he needed. And, with his control of gravity to yank him back to the ground if the jump took him off course, it was easy enough to get back to where he needed to be.

Still, even at the speed he was going, there was something odd about the way space was behaving. Things looked small until he arrived. Then, a field that appeared to be no more than a hundred feet long was suddenly a mile. Or, a winding path that should’ve only taken a few minutes of twists and turns took ten times that.

It was almost like Tomorrow had done spatial expansions within spatial expansions. Just thinking about it made Hiral’s head hurt, so he forced himself not to map it out, and instead focused on the road in front of him. And on the monsters that thought to ambush them, but instead found the parties already past by the time they got into position.

Like that, the feet became miles. The minutes became more than an hour. But, finally – finally – the everchanging terrains around them resolved into what Hiral was looking for.

A city of metal and glass. Towering buildings and perfect roads. Fake as it all looked – something about it just being off – Hiral slowed his mad dash. At his sides, the whisps of forward momentum pulled the rest of the party up beside him, and Hiral gently put them down.

“We’ve arrived,” he said.