Annalise faced her opponent. She held in her hand a glass wand. Chaotic lines traced the inside of the wand. From the internal fractures, one would be forgiven for believing it would shatter at any moment, but in truth, The Shattered Wand was as sturdy as steel. During her trials within the Dungeon Cell, her Remnant's durability had been tested nearly as thoroughly as she had been.
‘We don’t have to do this! You have always been my friend! We can find another way!’ Not for the first time, Annalise begged the woman before her to reconsider. Together with four other members of their party, they had journeyed from the seventh floor of the Dungeon down to the eighth. They had crossed mountainous regions, and frozen wastelands, all to locate The Grandfather’s Cell.
Through Anne’s gifts of foresight, she had divined the Cell would soon open. Within, she was determined to find a remnant which could protect a growing community where she had found her home. Clinging to paradise, she stumbled into Hell. The Grandfather’s Cell was unforgiving.
An accursed miasma spread the land. All who came in contact with the scarlet haze would feel its effect immediately. Endlessly, they would be confronted with their greatest shame, their deepest regret, and unspeakable fears. Without the comfort of her companions, Annalise could not have survived contamination.
Nothing grew beneath the rocky terrain. Bereft of daylight, the only light in the perpetually black sky was that of the night sun. It tricked below its phantom radiance. Charcoal day after ebony night, there was no brightness within the Cell.
Annalise lost track of the days spent surviving. Together with her party, they had battled inconceivable horrors. A giant composed of decomposing human limbs had ambushed them within the first few hours of their arrival. The party maintained their positions. Though the battle was gruelling, their leader had eventually reduced the creature to ash with the power of his flaming spear.
That’s right. It wasn’t unbearable. While he was here, there was still hope, Annalise thought as she raised her wand towards her friend.
They did not need the day sun because he was their sun. A raging star in an otherwise empty sky. With his burning spear, he cut through the nightmares of the Cell. With his shield, he called forth walls of incinerating heat to protect the weaker members of their group. He was a Servant Inheritor as were the rest of them, but they were not made equally. The purity of his Harmony was unmatched, and his reserves were never ending.
When a legion of skinless ghouls descended from the jagged cliffs, it was he who pierced through their ranks to lead his group to safety. He never gave up. He never surrendered. Adam Greaves did not know the meaning of hesitation. He would act, and do so selflessly.
In the end, The Dungeon did not care. It paid no notice to his unparalleled bravery or generosity of spirit. Rather, he was punished for it.
The Cell was arranged in six circular regions. To pass deeper into the nightmare, a sacrifice was required. The first offering was a remnant. Gladys, one of their weaker members, gladly offered a charm. It enhanced her perceptions. It was useful, but it could be spared. The second region demanded a finger. The third required a hand, and the forth accepted a sense of perception. It was Annalise who fulfilled that requirement. She surrendered her sense of taste. To protect the ones who had adopted her as their own, it was an inconsequential loss... Hardly worth mentioning. The fifth desired a life. It hungered for three, but it would accept one.
Their strongest one.
Adam did not hesitate to offer himself. Try as they did, the rest of the party could not hold him back.
‘He was the best of us…’ Annalise muttered under her breath as shards of razored glass manifested around her.
Adam had thrown himself at a wall of outstretched hands. Giddily, it received him. Anne had watched as he was torn apart, and dissolved into its fabric. He did not scream, he did not cry. He never begged for mercy. Instead, his final words were to say he was sorry. He was not strong enough to watch his friends die.
‘What about us, Adam? You were stronger than all of us! What makes you think we’re strong enough to watch you die!’ By the time the words left Anne’s lips, it was already too late. Adam was gone, and the fifth barrier parted.
Without Adam to lead the way, The final circle of The Grandfather’s Cell overwhelmed the party. Annalise had done all that she could to keep their spirits high, but the tide of unholy monsters and the deepening miasma proved to be insurmountable. Turning her blade on herself, the weakest of the group had ended her own life. Another had been torn from limb from limb by an empty-eyed giant resembling a grey and sickly human infant. The forth to die did so heroically. He faced the corpse of a ravenous wolf. It was five times his size, but he did not back down.
Screaming ‘For Adam!’ He used his armour remnant to enhance his own size to that of the wolf, and wrestled with it as Annalise and her oldest friend escaped deeper into the Cell.
Anne could still hear his tortured wails as the wolf overpowered him. His screams for help hounded her as she fled further.
Most of her party was gone now, and the one who remained was resolute in being the only one to remain.
‘Mary, Please! We don’t have to do this…’ Annalise cried. ‘We can find another way… There’s always another way!’
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Mary’s raven hair fluttered in the wind lifting from below, and she began to hover above the ground. The winds gathered to flank her shoulders. Shaped by an unseen force, they formed into spears.
Annalise had been with Mary when her friend had claimed The Sealed Storm. She could remember Mary’s excitement at having discovered a remnant which so perfectly complimented her Anchor. When the tear-shaped earrings first manifested through her lobes, Annalise was the one to first notice the tempest sealed within the otherwise plane glass adornments. She was also the first to see its power as Mary had closed her eyes the first time she launched a spear of of twisting heavens through the centre of a lumbering dungeon spawn.
They had both been delighted by its might. Mary’s anchor, the Scarf of Feathers, allowed her to float. Her Inherited physique allowed her to assist, but it was The Sealed Storm which had given her the power to fight.
That power was now turned against Annalise.
‘Only one us can leave here, Anne. The Dungeon wills it.’ Mary’s voice was bittersweet to Annalise’s ears. It was the voice of her friend, but stripped of all passion. All that was left was a stark resolve.
‘That isn’t true!’
‘You know that it is. Only one of us will ascend. Only one of us can Inherit the right to be called a Soldier. If we leave now, we will forever be slaves of this world.’
They were not fighting for their lives. Their battle was for power…
When they had reached the final barrier, they were given three choices. The first was slay the master of the Cell. The Abomination known only as Grandfather was a terror such as Annalise had never seen. It was a creature of the Champion rank, the third ascension of its infernal Inheritance.
Sealed within a dark-crystal, Grandfather could not be seen, but its terrible wrath permeated the Cell. From its spite, the hateful miasma flowed. The party could have challenged the demon at any stage. Had they done so, the Cell would have demanded no sacrifice. However... one and all, they would have surely died.
The second option was to simply leave. Doing so would not harm the women physically, but they would lose the favour of the will of the Dungeon. While advancement would not be impossible, by defying the settled will of their world, their world would turn its back on them. Its voice would no longer guide them, and without its guide, their path to further accension would likely reach its end.
But I could live with that… Annalise thought as the shards of glass before her rotated horizontally.
The final choice was to fight, not a monster or beast, but one another. To the palpable glee of their world, that is the option Mary had chosen. Annalise’s oldest friend was determined to strike her dead.
‘Rest easy, Annalise. After you’re gone, I will protect our home.’
Anne did not wait for Mary to finish her goodbye. Diving to the left, she escaped the piercing winds hurled her way at at lethal speeds.
There was no time to avoid Mary’s next strike. Anne knew it would skewer her before she could move from her place. With her wand in hand, Annalise jerked her wrist, sending a plane of razored glass to intercept the strike.
The glass shattered on impact, but the force of Mary’s storm was depleted. Flicking her wrist, Anne sent the second shard flying towards her opponent. She knew it would not hit her agile foe, but it was distraction enough to allow her back on her feet.
Flooding her spirit chain with Harmony, she summoned a further shard and launched it forward. Her aim was true, and it was too swift for even Mary avoid. However, before shard could end her friend’s life, it shattered into nothing. With wavering resolve, Anne could not kill her friend.
‘You fool,’ Mary whispered as two new spears of a mighty storm formed beside her.
‘Mary, please! It’s not too late, we don’t have to do this… No one else needs to die!’ Futile words upon deafened ears, Mary gripped both spears in her hands and charged towards Anne. With vicious speeds, Mary narrowed the gap between the two and struck.
Neither woman excelled in close quarters, but Mary’s ability to wield the storms in her hand had allowed her to develop a level of proficiency. Were Annalise not able to predict Mary’s intent, the savage wounds suffered upon retreat would have proven fatal.
Forcing Mary backward, Annalise hurled sharpened glass towards her. The second shard came, and Mary sacrificed one a spear in her defence.
Surging Harmony, Annalise fashioned more projectiles. Her mastery over her remnant's had always excelled her friend. It was no challenge to outpace Mary’s attacks. The difficulty was in landing a decisive strike. As their exchange continued, there had been openings. Mary was swift, but against an opponent who could glimpse into the mind, speed was of limited utility. It was Annalise’s reluctance, and nothing more, prolonging their combat.
‘With all of your gifts and all of your power, look at what you’ve made of it,’ Stretching both arms wide, Mary halted in place as a razor projectile sped towards her. Before the glass could impale her friend, Anne dismissed the attack and the shard disintegrated into mist. ‘Annalise, you are too weak to ascend. You cannot defeat this world, but I can. Lay down your life for me, and I will carry your will. Through me, our dream of creating a better world is still possible.’
‘Listen to yourself! This isn’t you, Mary! This isn’t who you are. Think about our friends! They gave everything for us. More than any of us, you admired Adam. He would never do this! Never!’
‘You are right, he would not. But he’s dead, Anne… They’re all dead,’ something flickered in Mary’s eyes as she spoke. For a moment, Annalise could see her friend, but the moment faded quickly. ‘Has our journey taught you nothing? This world is cruel and unforgiving. The weak die, the strong die too. Only those willing to do whatever it takes to survive are worthy of survival.’
Lifted from below, dust rose to the air. It circled Mary before forming into a spike. More and more dust compiled. It grew until forming rotating lance of rock suspended within the pressurised heavens before Mary.
Annalise could feel Mary’s intent. She was going to kill her. The attack could not be dodged, and it would shatter all defence. Mary’s everything compiled into killing intent. There would be no next blow. There would be no need.
The lance grew into a pointed boulder, and the boulder grew even still. Annalise knew It would be moments before the attack would be unleashed. Raising her wand, she formed her transparent attack behind Mary’s back. Looking into the hollowed eyes of her friend, tears began to fall from her own. The rock angled towards Annalise, promising the certainty of death. Death arrived, but not to Annalise. Before Mary’s final strike, Annalise pulled at the glass behind her friend, and the bladed shard pierced through Mary’s back, its sharpened tip protruding from her chest.