Chapter Three: Complicated

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Incubator - Mythic

Through great skill and painstaking effort, this item has been forged to be indestructible.

Countless runic Formations nurture the being inside.

Incubation Status:

Active

51% developed

Time To Completion:

6 Days 20 Hours 21 Minutes 36 Seconds

“Huh.” Aiden pressed Silver’s icy edge against the incubator. Like the Guard’s armor, his efforts didn’t even reward a scratch. He glanced towards the spot where the Advisor and Guard had fallen and frowned. “If they were guarding this thing, it must be important.”

He ran his hand across the perfectly smooth surface and sighed. Turning away, he looked around the room at the glowing runic Formations. Kneeling, he used Icy Touch and Hoarspike to remove the shadow magic from the ground. Underneath, the Formations still functioned, completely undamaged.

“If the Advisor’s magic didn’t destroy these, then I guess there’s not really much I can do.”

He pet Blizzy and stood, walking away from the incubator back the way he’d come. As if he’d never passed through the area, the hordes of Evils pestered him as he walked. After fighting the two Bosses, he found little satisfaction in the weak Shadowborn monsters. The threat they posed left him feeling bored. Even picking up the Cores that dropped felt like a hassle, but Zion needed any and all resources they could get their hands on.

When he stepped out of the dungeon’s entrance, Anna raised a brow and gestured towards the still active portal. “So?”

“Keep two guards— no, a whole team here at all times. If anybody has an issue with it, double their hourly allotment of Essence.”

The crystalline armor sloughed off his frame and shattered on the ground like broken glass. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes to collect himself, and then let it out. When he looked at Anna, she patiently waited with concern, her hands playing with her hair as her eyes darted between him and the portal.

“It’s an anomaly,” he said.

“I figured as much, but in what way specifically?”

“There’s hordes of Shadowborn in there,” he said, thumbing over his shoulder, “but they’re not the issue. Strongest I fought was a single Pillar. The real issue is that all the Shadowborn are just a byproduct of whatever’s sleeping in the boss room.”

“Only you would say a Pillar monster isn’t an issue.”

“You’re right. Make sure whatever teams come out here consist of at least one B-rank combatant. Anybody under C-rank is to be denied.”

Anna whistled. “That serious?”

Aiden reached into his bag to reveal the dozen Perfectly Formed Pillars. “That’s from one of the two bosses. Blizzy ate the others.”

“That serious, got it.”

“I don’t think the bosses will reanimate, they seemed like the special one-and-done type, but even if they do, I don’t think they’ll leave the main chamber. There’s something in there they were protecting.” He waved her toward the portal. “Care to take a look with me? I just cleared the whole dungeon on the way out, so it shouldn’t take us too long. And I really have no idea how to explain what’s in there.”

She covered her eyes with her hand and looked up at the sky. “Shouldn’t be an issue if we’re gone for another thirty minutes or so.”

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“Shouldn’t take more than ten minutes. The walk is fairly short, and there’s nothing to slow us down at the moment.”

She shrugged. “Either way, let’s go.”

He turned to Blizzy. “Coming?”

The little blizzard dragon growled from where she curled up under a big tree, resting in the shade.

“You know the rules. If anybody you don’t recognize appears, come to me.” He hesitated to leave his Companion, shooting a glance in the direction of the nearest Faction’s Town, but he knew she could handle herself. “Alright, we’ll be right back.”

She huffed once, closed her eyes, and proceeded to ignore him.

Aiden followed Anna through the portal, and they passed through the empty dungeon. The doors to the Boss room remained open, convincing Aiden that the Guard and Advisor were a one-time ordeal. Otherwise, the dungeon would’ve already started to reset.

“What is that?” Anna asked, her eyes scanning the entire room and recognizing the Formations for what they were.

“The problem.” Aiden approached the incubator and rested a hand on it. “Not sure what to do about this.”

“Indestructible?” She pressed an emerald ball of magic against the surface, grabbed Aiden’s hand, and led him a healthy distance away. “I think I’ll be the judge of that.”

Like a grenade going off, the emerald ball exploded in a torrent of primordial fury. Thorny vines wrapped around the incubator tightly, writhing and roiling erratically until the individual vines started to wrap together and surge upward toward the vortex of coalescing shadow magic.

The instant one of those vines touched the vortex, a violet wave of magic coursed through the entirety of her spell and reduced everything to ash and dust near instantly. Anna led him forward to inspect her work, letting out another impressed whistle.

“I’m convinced.” She looked at him and grinned. “So, what do you think is in there?”

“Something strong. It’s being fed raw shadow Essence,” he said, pointing towards the vortex that treated her spell like child’s play. “And it’s been given a Mythic incubator, which probably isn’t cheap or easy to make. Add to the fact it had two Boss-rank monsters as guards, I’m willing to bet this dungeon’s only purpose is to act as a source of energy for its development.”

“A monster then?”

Aiden shook his head, the images of the Shadowborn Nobles he’d once seen in a vision with the World Devourer resurfacing. “Something worse than a monster, much worse.”

“Which is?”

“Avacyn’s story about Akroma and Galayu, do you remember it?” he asked.

She grimaced. “How could I forget?”

“Galayu was a Shadowborn, but he almost looked human. In her story, she said his reputation or status in their society meant he could casually break the traditions of the Etherene. When Avacyn left him braindead, the Shadowborn avenged him as if he were—”

“Royalty, or some greater nobility,” Anna finished with a whisper. When she looked at the incubator, fear flashed through her eyes. She looked at the vortex of power, the Formations across the room, and then back at Aiden. “I see.”

“Like I said, it’s a problem.” He pointed towards where the Advisor had fallen. “In the description of one of the Bosses, it talked about knowing the ways of Shadowborn Royalty and the customs of their race almost as if it were sent here to be a teacher” He pointed toward where the Guard had fallen. “And both were loyal servants of Royalty.”

She glared at him. “If you knew all this, then why did you want me to come see? From what it seems, you already had everything figured out before bringing me.”

“Honestly, I didn’t want to worry alone,” he said with a shrug, grinning as she poked him in the side. He took a deep breath, placed a hand on the incubator, and closed his eyes. “In one of my visions, Earth is being invaded by the Shadowborn. They have the World Devourer— I’ve seen it— and there’s no way we can stop them if they get serious.”

Anna looked between the incubator and Aiden, eyes widening. “You can’t be serious?”

“Yet to be determined. I can’t say I have much experience with hatching Shadowborn Royalty. For all we know, it could come out of incubation and try to kill us.” He pointed towards the two fallen servants and the swirling vortex of shadow Essence. “If its guards were anything to go by, I’m not sure I want to be here when it’s finished developing, but we can’t let it go unchecked.”

She held a finger up and looked over the whole room again. “Let me get this straight so we’re on the same page. You’re implying you want to— what exactly? Invite it into Zion to have a picnic, drink tea, and sing kumbaya?”

“Something like that.”

She blinked twice. “You’re crazy.”

“Coming from you, I’ll take that as a compliment.” He turned away from the incubator and waved towards the countless Patterns woven into the countless Formations. “I need you to meet with V’Yenya. Maybe he knows something, and if he doesn’t, I need a book.”

“What kind of book?” she asked.

“A magical one. I think I’ll be spending a lot of time here in the near future to study all of these Patterns and Formations. If the dungeon disappears when the incubation period is over, I’d prefer to have a record of the Formations to study.” Already, he felt a headache forming as he considered the monumental task of transcribing the Patterns and Formations. “If I learn how to use the Patterns and Formations and somehow don’t get butchered by whatever comes out of the incubator, this might be the most important thing to happen to us since we arrived in Midrath.”

“Since when did you start being so optimistic? Something I need to know or should be concerned about?” she asked playfully.

“For the first time since coming to Midrath, I’m hopeful.”