Chapter 50

The creature towered over me, immensely muscled upper arms opening wide to swipe at me if I tried to go around it, lower arms pointed straight toward me like spear-tips, all four legs braced to receive my charge. I swept my staff before me, pouring flames from my wand into its’ tip, fire exploding forth to shower the creature’s rocky-looking front. The flames hardly seemed to bother it, but I kept pouring them on, so much fire that the air filled with smoke and roiled with heat, blanketing the area in a haze of fire so dense that even I could barely see through it. The creature barely reacted, hardly seeming to notice the nearly ineffectual crimson haze that drenched its’ front, bits of moss curling away here and there, burning into trickles of oily black smoke. I charged straight toward its’ center of mass, staff held out before me as if I were an armored knight with a lance held out before me.

I could only imagine what its’ expression must’ve been when the hit never came.

I swam up out of the stone behind it, jaw clenched tight against the desire to gasp for breath. The cloak wasn’t kidding; it is definitely harder to swim through stone than dirt, and my muscles ached from the effort of dragging myself forward, like wading through tar. I could see its’ head sweeping side to side, trying to find me, and I tried to stay as quiet as possible as I darted up the stairway behind it, rushing toward the second floor. I released my held breath in a burst just short of the landing, chest shuddering as I drew in a heaving breath, trying to fill my aching lungs. The snarl of rage from below trembled the great gray stones of the tower, the beast finally realizing it had been duped. I pushed my way up to the second floor landing, a grin splitting my face from ear to ear as I took in the room before me.

The room may have been easily three times the circumference of the old towers, but the vine-veined grey stone and stairway built into the outer wall was unmistakable. It almost felt nostalgic, given how the first three towers had shaped me and grown my power. This room was far more comfortable than most of the towers had been, however, with an array of cots stacked around the room, a long trench of running water that gave the air a cool, crisp taste, and a table dressed with verdant cloth. Chairs were strewn about, here and there, clustered together or standing alone. Pillars stood here and there within the room, forming concentric rings across the space, easily sixty feet from wall to wall. Every inch of stone was decorated in nature-themed engravings, flower-studded ivy and thorn-edged brambles, animals running or hunting or swimming or digging, the water trench festooned with images of fish and birds preying upon them.

After the savage fighting that had consumed the last – I glanced at the quest timer, shocked to see several hours had passed – seven hours, the sight of such comfortable accommodations was almost undeniable. I walked over and cupped a double handful of water, startled at how cold it was to the touch. Drinking it felt like taking the first sip of coffee after a good night’s rest, the cold seeping into my bones and radiating from my stomach with an energizing clarity. I greedily drank it down, drinking until my stomach ached a little from how quickly I’d ingested it. I stretched, warming my hands until the last droplets evaporated, and then cupped more water and splashed it over my face, scrubbing away the soot and dirt that clung to me until my skin ached, washing my hands clean in the constant flow of water. I looked to its’ source, a small carven serpent’s head with water spilling out between enormous fangs, and then toward its’ end, where the water pooled into the open maw of one of the spider-gators, long jaws up and open to embrace the steady flow of water.

Despite the fact that it must’ve known I’d gotten past it, the immense beast down below didn’t seem at all interested in pursuing me, no sound emerging from below. I moved to sit down on one of the chairs, sinking into the plush upholstery with a groan of relief. I smiled at the sensation of bliss and comfort that overtook me, eyes half-lidding for a moment just from the joy of comfort. I hadn’t been really comfortable since I’d arrived in the Tutorial. Even when I’d slept in the first tower, I’d been too worn out to actually appreciate the comforts. Even Haven hadn’t really been comfortable; the accommodations there were very… Rustic.

No longer constantly assaulted by outside sensations, comfortable and secure for the first time in a while, I finally gave in to the pressure of notifications in the corner of my vision, tilting my head back against the headrest to read it over.

[Greenwarden’s Tower: First Floor]

Welcome to the Greenwarden’s Tower!

This tower is divided into eleven floors, each with increasing difficulty or challenges to overcome. The first floor is a shared space in which all may gather. Every floor from the second upward, however, will be a separate state of existence from the first; you may enter alone or with up to four allies, and challenges will scale accordingly. If you choose to change your entry state – returning with more allies or choosing to go alone – you will have to restart your progress within the Greenwarden’s Tower. These instances will each have to attempt the tower alone. However, certain floors may involve puzzles that will allow you to help or hinder other groups, with an associated cost or benefit to doing so.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Your current instance: Solo Entry.

You may descend to the first floor and gather allies to re-enter as a Party.

Rewards will be granted based on individual contribution.

I frowned as I read it over, glancing toward the stairway I’d taken to come up. Given the mass of enemies outside, I didn’t foresee anyone else coming to join me any time soon. Given that the entrance was hidden underground, through a maze of caves and beyond a literal ocean of foes, I wasn’t sure how they expected anyone to make it. I had, sure, but that was almost more of cheating than anything else; I hadn’t fought my way through that last creature.

Then again, I considered, not everyone is going to be on a path that specializes in direct fighting. I bet there are a million ways into the tower other than through the front door. I pondered on that for a couple of minutes, finding it easier to focus on that than to get back up out of the chair. Only reluctantly, and with a great deal of internal grumbling, did I rise back up to my feet, moving toward the stairway that was set along the wall leading upward. I ran through a few stretches as I ambled my way over. The first three towers hadn’t been easy , but they’d been fairly straightforward. Even if this one was going to be more difficult, I didn’t expect it to be awfully complicated. Probably more variety of enemies, and some of these ‘puzzles’ the message had mentioned, but I felt pretty confident of passing through them successfully. After all, I'd managed to overcome everything else thrown before me, right?

I drew in a deep breath, pulling on the sensation of flames that now lingered in the air all around me, drawing forth energy from the Cindervault into a handful of firebolts, and a single star-bright Candleflame, the ring on my right hand giving it much brighter illumination. As I moved up the stairs, I felt an odd sensation as if I were pushing through a dense fog, the air seeming to have an almost physical mass to it, clinging to me and pressing against me. When I stepped out onto the second floor, I felt the vague pressure in my mind of a message as words appeared before me, hanging in the center of my sight.

[Greenwarden’s Tower: Second Floor.]

Find the exit.

Find the exit? That was straightforward enough. If it was some kind of maze or labyrinth, I knew you were supposed to follow the right-hand wall. Go for long enough and you’re bound to find the exit. Perhaps it was a test of wisdom, to see if you could avoid getting lost?

I peered around me at the rough stone walls, a natural-looking cave that split and veered off in various directions, some leading up, and others leading down. Just within the range of the steady candleflame I could see two of the tunnels splitting again, a veritable warren of directions and choices. I stood, wracked by indecision as I fought to find any difference between the paths that lay before me. I slowly lifted my hand, and picked a path at random, stepping toward it. As soon as I stepped off the worked stone around the entrance to this floor, a familiar voice began to speak.

“It was when I was absolutely… Lost, that I first found myself,” the Greenwarden murmured, his voice seeming to suffuse the stone around me and rise from it like waves of heat, not echoing despite the caverns, loud as a shout but close as a whisper. “I was angry. And afraid. Actually, most I remember being… cold. Anger could drive me. Fear I could fight. But the cold? I shivered like a child, chafing my arms for warmth, walking just to keep myself warm with no sense of where I was going or how I might escape. I knew there would be… challenges, troubles, enemies that would bar my path, but nothing pursued me so fiercely as the cold that I was certain would end me. I was weak, and alone.”

His voice paused for a lingering moment, and when he spoke again, his tone had changed, an added weight to his words. “But there, in the dark, I learned to listen. I learned to see. I heard the whispers of the world that reach even into these darkest caverns, and it led me…” His voice trailed off, fading like a distant echo.