I backed up as the crack spiraled outward, zigzagging its way towards the far wall. The further it got, the more the floor beneath us—and the roof above—began to separate. Soon there was a gap running half the length of the room a foot across. Then two feet. Then five.

It kept growing with every passing moment.

[I don’t like this, other dog, I don’t like this!] Zapper barked, the sound high-pitched amid the rumble of earth and stone tearing itself apart. He darted about, snapping at the growing split like he could sew it back together through sheer willpower.

While I shared Zapper’s anxiety, I also tried to remain the level-headed one. [Calm down, take a breath. This probably has something to do with that instance message we saw.]

[So this is a good thing?] Zapper paused and cocked his head at me.

[Maybe?] I hesitated to assure him outright, lest the lie come back to bite me. So instead, I hedged using what little knowledge I possessed on the subject. [It mentioned a zone, which makes me think that whatever this is will be contained somehow, like with the safe zone the others are back in. We’ll check it out once the five minutes elapses, and if it looks too dangerous, we’ll retreat.]

[Okay, other dog! Boy, I’m sure lucky you’re so smart!]

[Uh, sure.] I turned my attention back to the growing rift. The room had practically doubled in width at the far end now, with the gap coming to a point at the center of the star platform. Looking past it, I gaped at what I saw.

A large crevasse, going deep into the ground, probably a hundred—no, two hundred!—feet down at least. And above...

The sky. Stars twinkled above our heads, and the moon glowed in the distance. Seeing them reminded me of my conversation with Crunch the other night, and I realized that before that, it must have been years before I last looked at them. The city lights in Oakland weren’t exactly the best for stargazing.

Until recently. Now, most of those lights on the ground were dark, and the heavens glowed in the distance above us. It was pretty, for all that it was unnerving to see it down here.

[Hey, my skill reset!] my companion yipped, pulling me from my thoughts. [More dodgies! More dodgies! Yay!!!]

I glanced at him in confusion a moment before it clicked. Right. His Fast Twitch skill must reset at midnight, same as my Second Chance dog tag. I wasn’t sure whether to feel resentful that I hadn’t gotten any uses out of it yet tonight, or relieved for the very same reason. After all, if something was strong enough to kill me once, there was a good chance it could do it a second time.

[Be sure to heal yourself up, too,] I reminded him. [We don’t know what’s waiting for us down there.]

[Don’t worry, other dog, I’ll find out for us!] Zapper leapt forward.

A warning bark rumbled in my throat, but it died as the little dog simply bounced off of nothing as he reached the edge of the rift. The air shimmered golden for a moment before returning to normal.

Glancing upward, I caught the barest hint of more gold shimmering above. So, this instance was like the safe zone. And it appeared it was keeping us out—at least for the moment.

I checked the timer. Three minutes left.

[You okay?] I asked as Zapper sat up and gave a full-body shake. The little dog panted and wagged his tail.

[I’m fine! Did you see that? I was all zoom! And the air was like, bonk! And those monsters are all, grr, argh!]

[Monsters?]

[Down there, below us!]

I moved closer. He was right. At the bottom of the rift, just a short distance away, the ground flattened out, onto a sort of ledge. There, three of the rubble golems were moving about, smashing each other with their non-meaty fists. A few roars echoed up to us, sounds I’d initially taken for more of the earth shifting.

[What are they doing?] I asked, as much to myself as my companion.

[It looks like they’re fighting each other. Maybe we won’t have to do anything, and the monsters will just kill themselves!]

[No...] I realized the truth of what was happening just as one of the rubble golems dropped to its knees. Immediately the other two set upon it, bashing it over and over and over. The golem let out a final roar just before its head caved in.

Something below caught the starlight as it tumbled from the rubble golem’s corpse. One of its opponents seized it up, lifting it high above for us to see more easily before smashing it into the chest of its companion.

A golem gem.

The two remaining monsters began to ooze together. I lunged forward, even knowing the barrier would stop me, bouncing off it harmlessly. [No! No, no, no no!!!]

[What’s wrong, other dog?]

[They’re performing a fusion! That’s what we’re going to have to fight down there! Whatever those things above were going to turn into, it’s happening now!] I glanced at the timer. Less than two minutes. Below us, the golems formed into an enormous lump, one far greater than the sum of its parts. Occasionally it shuddered and let off belches of hot air. Tentacles rose from within, waving at us menacingly.

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Zapper glanced down into the rift, then at me. [But... we don’t have to fight it, right? You said yourself, we could just leave.]

That’s right. I was betting we couldn’t enter the rift until the timer ended, but there was no reason to think that the monster could leave, either. We could simply retreat down the tunnel, something which it would have no chance of fitting its enormous bulk along.

[Okay, I think it’s time we leave.]

As I turned to go, the timer in the corner of my vision reached sixty seconds. A new window appeared in front of me.

New quest available!

From Beneath You It Devours — Part 3

In the bowels of this ancient ruin, you’ve discovered a terrible secret. The wizards of yore experimented at creating life itself, and gave birth to an army of monstrosities. Now, thanks to your foolishness in activating the beacons, one of those monstrosities has been loosed upon the world.

Defeat the Golem Guardian before it escapes the rift and destroys the village of Somerset.

Task: Defeat Golem Guardian

Time limit: 1 Hour

Reward: 750 XP, Red Quality Loot Box

Village of Somerset? I was pretty certain there was no part of Oakland that went by that name. Another one of the misnomers by the system.

[I have a bad feeling about this, other dog,] Zapper said, his own eyes glazed over as he read the quest description. [This rift cuts right back towards the others! What happens to them if we let this thing go?]

[I’m sure the safe zone will protect them.] The words came out with more confidence than I felt. Against a golem or zombie, sure. But would that little generator be enough to withstand a massive monster like this?

[What about the humans? They weren’t too far from our camp,] Zapper said. I was rather surprised to hear such worry from him. Perhaps I’d misjudged Crunch’s intentions. Or perhaps allowing a monster to rampage in their direction was simply a step too far.

Anyway, the humans weren’t my responsibility, but thinking of them made me recall Prometheus. He was still out there in the city somewhere, and I doubt he had a safe zone generator to hide behind. Was I really willing to let this guardian go, knowing it might threaten him and others like him?

No. I wasn’t the sort to take risks needlessly, but also not the sort to back down from a challenge. Dogs had been protectors for eons. It was encoded in my blood.

[Okay, we’ll try to take this thing down. But if it proves too much, you have to promise to retreat if I say so.]

[Okay!] Zapper bounced up and down. The little dog looked far more eager for a fight than I was suddenly feeling, but his energy was admittedly infectious. I felt a smile creep onto my face.

We turned back and watched as the creature below let off a few more bursts of hot air, shuddered, and went still. Ten seconds left on the counter.

It shuddered again, then lifted its bulk up with a myriad of stone and rebar tentacles.

Eight seconds.

The thing no longer looked like one of the golems, but rather an enormous spider, gray and fat.

Five seconds.

It swiveled back and forth. While I couldn’t make out eyes or other sensory organs, I did very clearly see a trio of gems glittering on the top of its head.

Two seconds.

One.

The timer winked out, and the air in front of us gave a soft sigh. When I pressed forward, the barrier was gone. We were free to enter the arena.

Or perhaps killing field was the better term. It certainly looked more trap than boss chamber.

I squinted at the monster, hoping I could get a look at its description before engaging, but we must have been too far away. Which meant the next question was: how were we planning to reach it?

[Look!] Zapper whipped his nose to draw my attention. Following his gaze, I saw that small ledges had appeared on either side of the rift at various heights—close enough to jump to, and numerous enough to give us options. Whatever happened, we wouldn’t have trouble reaching the spider golem.

Speaking of. It gave a final shudder, then reached one of its metal-laced legs towards the rift walls. Rock crunched and crumbled as it sank it in. Another followed, and another on the opposite side. The monster began lifting its bulk into the air, making its way slowly down the rift.

In the same direction as the rest of our pack.

[Time to move,] I told Zapper. [You take the left side, I take the right?]

[Sure, other dog! Um... which way is left?]

I sighed, then swung my nose about. [Just go that way. Try to get on the monster if you can, but don’t use your skills or equipment unless you have to.]

[Okay!] With an enormous leap that belied his short legs, Zapper landed on the first ledge. He let out an excited bark and jumped for the next one. I watched him, too stunned at first to move.

Huh. That extra Agility was doing wonders for him.

Shaking my head, I jumped for the first ledge. My own Agility might not have been much better than an average human, but I still reached it easily. The next one lay about three feet away and a foot or two higher. Easy.

At least until a monster lumbered out of the alcove next to it.

I caught a brief flash of a description box appear in my vision before I dismissed it out of hand, but it was unnecessary. I recognized the monster easily enough. It was a lightfall plant!

Seriously, what the darn heck? Like the boss wasn’t enough trouble already?

I just barely managed to dodge a bile ball as the plant waved at me, then shut it down with a stun blast from my wand. There, easy enough to dodge around the stupid—

[Ooooootheeeeer doooooggggg, heeeeeeeellllllppppp!!!]

I turned and saw another lightfall plant on the other side of the rift. It had Zapper pinned against the wall, and while he wasn’t snared in its vines yet, it appeared to be a matter of moments.

[Hold on!] I shot another stun blast. [Retreat! Back to the platform!]

Zapper gave a deep bark, then slowly hobbled to the edge. I wasn’t sure he’d make the jump, but somehow, he still managed to clear the distance to the next ledge, if barely.

We met back at the broken star platform. Soon as the slow effect wore off, Zapper turned and growled in the direction of the rift.

[Bad monsters. What do we do?]

I studied the rift as well. More lightfall plants were emerging from alcoves further in, and past that I could make out various white and yellow dots that had to be more of the beastly things. Lovely. At least the two that had attacked us weren’t attempting to leave the rift. Perhaps they couldn’t.

[The rock monster is getting away!] Zapper noted, drawing my attention back to the boss. It wasn’t moving particularly fast, but it was already twice as far from us as when the rift first opened.

[I have an idea,] I said, [But I don’t know if it’s going to work. If it doesn’t, we may have to go back through the tunnels and try to find our way to the top of the rift.

Though given how long it had taken us to get down here, that would take hours. But I was out of better ideas.

Opening my inventory, I removed the two bottles of Chameleon Potion and dropped them onto the platform. [There’s a chance—only a chance—these will keep the lightfall plants from seeing us. Assuming they ‘see’ in a way that actually involves vision, anyway.]

[I like that idea, other dog!] Zapper gave an excited bark. He darted over, hesitated, then nosed one of the bottles. [How do we get them open?]

[The hard way. With our teeth.]