The Stars were beautiful in this Realm.

Those shining balls of light exist between the Realms according to Wisdom, growing on a huge, unseeable Dark Branch in the Celestial. Beyond the pale crimson light of our own Realm, with enough illumination we could see those flickering worlds above our own. We spent long years studying the Stars and the Realms during my peaceful period in the Demon Realm, when no Primordial or General died and their Stars no longer fell to the Realm’s surface. When a Demon grew powerful enough, so too did their Star. Soon, that fruit would grow brighter and larger on the Dark Branch. When they died, that Star would implode from the lost power and fall in pieces across the night sky. Thus, people of old called this phenomenon a Starfall — the death of a legend.

I was no exception. My Star fell from the Celestial Tree and landed here. Everytime I looked up at the sky at night here I remembered those streaks of light. Pieces of me that I would never get back, crashing down upon this Realm and the next. Attor and I watched from the Tower’s windows in anticipation of the predicted Starfall. I wondered who fell in battle and lost their Star? A flash of light barely lit the sky from just behind the moon, but then it grew brighter as intense spears of light. The Starfall was arriving, much closer than I thought it would. Attor looked at me with concern.

Uhh, duck! I motioned and dove for cover as one of the pillars of light split the clouds and the darkness above. Everything was white and the grounds shook from the tremendous strike. The rumbling must have taken hours, with no end in sight. I sure hoped my Spiders were doing okay out there, but even then despite my closed eyes I could sense that not all of them would survive this strike. These were the brightest and the darkest times indeed.

All I could do is hope this Tower could make it through the blast, as my knees quaked together struggled to hold onto anything to keep from falling over. Attor manifested beside me and I felt his tail wrap around me tightly. I didn’t even know he could do that on his own, but I was secretly glad he could. I wanted to protest, but it was oddly comforting to not hear or feel anything but his heartbeat as the Starfall continued its final wailing.

The rumbling stopped and I surveyed the room. Aside from the empty bookshelves toppled over and the cauldron being thrown to the side, everything was relatively intact. I should make my way over to the Forbidden Burrows before I investigate the situation. The Messenger Spiders were not sending me any of their memort fragments, but at least the ones inside my Bag of Holding were still alive. There was one thing about Starfalls that I was not sure if the humans knew about: The power lost could be harvested if one got to the crash site fast enough.

— Contact [Origin]: Allows entry into Starfalls.

Yes, I grinned as I sat on my broom. With this Passive Skill, I could potentially learn what lies within a Star. I could reach Wisdom once more! There was one important thing about Starfalls that I was missing, but I had to check on the Spiders first. Perhaps I’ll remember on the way, I hoped. Flying high in the sky, I could not see anything besides smoke covering the wide area where that Star fell.

The Burrow on the other hand was blasted to pieces! Yet it was quiet. Too quiet. There was a burning crisp in the air as I descended, but I hoped that did not mean all the fuzzy butts were cooked to death. When I landed, there was not a soul in sight. The Circle of Protection the Mage Spiders and the Antling Druids were casting was missing, too. This was bad, I hurried over it. Thanks to my Fire Immunity, the flames and burnt grounds did nothing to me. I warned the Caretakers about the Starfall, but I was not sure if they understood me. They survived multiple Starfalls before I even came to this Realm, including my own. I wandered the empty tunnels until I noticed it.

The Dungeon! Right! They must have retreated into the Dungeon.

I rushed through the door, despite how dangerous it could be and gasped. All of them were inside, shivering and preparing to evolve. The place was much more larger, but due to all the fuzzy butts it was not enough.

“Your Majesty,” a female’s voice greeted me, making me jump. A Caretaker! She bowed before me. “We are safe, but we are cramped. Soon, our expansion shall begin.”

“I-Is there anything I could do to help?” I asked them. The Caretaker’s Skill activated and suddenly an image of a strange red smear on the ground with the sky set ablaze appeared in my mind. A crimson haze settled and there were decimated trees everywhere. The crash site? “I-I’ll go there and investigate.”

“As you wish, Your Majesty,” the Caretaker bowed. “I shall be tending to these ones with my Sisters.”

I scanned the ocean of shivering fuzzy butts and sure enough, every one of them from the Warriors to the Workers was going through some kind of evolution. What do Warriors even evolve into? I wondered. A chime rang in my head and Wisdom spoke to me.

— Wisdom’s Intervention activated. Spider Steel Warriors will evolve into Arch Spiders.

Oh. I sighed. They’re going to get even bigger?! I hesitated to open the boss door to check on the pink Fuzzy Butt, but I stopped myself. I did not want to know just how large he got. The chime rang in my head again, despite my protests.

— Wisdom’s Intervention activated. The specified Pink Arch Spider will evolve into a Pink Spider Queen and rule over the dungeon as its final Boss. Since this Spider Clan’s current generation exists within this dungeon and can no longer leave, the Pink Spider Queen will act in your stead.

Wait, he was a Queen in the making this entire time? I gawked. I should go in and apologize! On second thought, I should wait until he is done evolving. Maybe he was changing into a Queen by necessity? I determined that the Pink Fuzzy Butt will always be cute to me, no matter how big he gets! Then I’ll figure out a name for him. So how do I make more Spiders in the Human Realm outside? I wondered. The Fey must have pet Spiders of their own and not to mention the Spiders that survived from the precious Spider Queen’s remains.

I’ll make a note in scooping those up to replace these guys outside. In the meantime, I’ll be heading over to the crash site finally. There were fires everywhere, but I was not deterred. Attor looked at me with concern and I decided to go faster in the smoky haze.

“I got Fire Immunity for this reason and you thought it was stupid, ha!” I taunted him. “Why are you sighing?”

“I did not say that the passive skill was stupid,” he scoffed. “I said the way you got it was stupid. Dying, that is.”

“Is that concern for me?” I laughed. “You’re too kind.”

The dragon groaned, but we both quieted down as soon as I passed through the smoky veil. This place was definitely warped somehow by the fallen Star. It matched the vision of the Caretaker exactly. Everything was covered in a crimson glow and the night sky was impossible to see from here. I scanned around as I flew and found a large crater.

“That’s where it crashed,” I pointed the broom down to land nearby. There was no sign of life anywhere, but I could tell we were north of the Burrows. This was where the orc village would be if this didn’t happen, I thought as I climbed to the lip the crater. Why didn’t I just land on top of this thing? “Say, do you hear that?”

Attor looked around and it was evident that he could even in his Spirit Form. The atmosphere in this whole area was silent. Not even the wind rustling produced any noise, but from the middle of the reddened crater I could hear the sound of bubbling liquid. Boiling water? I rushed up the hill to investigate.

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“Watch it!” Attor hovered above me. Before I could ask, the liquid burst skyward above the crater.

“That doesn’t seem like water,” I mumbled, staring upward at the spray of red liquid. Why was everything in this Dimension red? I pulled out my wand and levitated away as the sizzling sound came crashing down. As the liquid splashed down on the ground, I noticed the puddles still bubbled. A slick fleshy sound swirled around in the goop, and suddenly a tentacle emerged out of it. To my disgust, more squishy balls covered in eyes and tentacles crawled out of each of the puddles. “Yuck! Have you seen anything like this, Attor?”

“It appears that those creatures are from the Ocean Realm,” he mused. “Twisted, but I still see some semblance of their former selves.”

I floated near one of the disgusting things, but to my surprise it flipped over and revealed a beak and muscular legs. Black, smelly liquid sprayed at me, soaking my skin.

“What the— you jerk!” I shrieked. “Skill: Martial Arts! First Form: Kick!”

With my Prestige Attack, you won’t stand a chance! I unleashed a powerful kick into the slimy thing and watched it soar into the pool of red liquid below. Experience points chimes in my vision. Maybe I should kick all of them! I grinned as the others began to notice me. Another rush of liquid erupted from the pool. Second thought, I guessed there would be too many of them. I stared at the shoreline of the red bubbling liquid. Was I supposed to go in there?

“Don’t tell me you’re actually going to do that,” Attor groaned.

“What? I would never,” I feigned disinterest.

“Then why are you going over to it right now?”

“You know, just looking!” I kicked more of the squishy things back into the blood red pool, watching them disintegrate in there. I dipped my foot in the waters and immediately pulled it back. “Yowch!”

Attor grumbled at my self-inflicted experiment. I ignored him. The feeling stung a little, but I could drink Healing Potions to make up the difference. Those weird Ocean creatures ignored me as long as I stayed away from them. There was a new Skill in my Status that I wanted to try out.

— Extra Skill: Call Spiders.

“Okay! Come to me, fuzzy butts!” I activated the Skill in this silent place. Of course, I thought. It was only natural I could call upon them since they could call to me. I heard skittering in my head, though I kept my eyes in the deep crimson waters. Something pulled a part of me towards its depths. The Space Stone was reacting? Does that mean that I could go deeper within the Starfall? I would have to wait until my reinforcements get here, I guessed as I kicked more of those creatures in the crater lake.

“Rampage! Oh yeah!” I squished one and kicked another. “How dare you ink me!”

Rumbling suddenly shifted my feet as ripples curved the burning water. I stumbled and nearly tripped in the pool, but hopped out. The squishy tentacle monsters on the crater’s dry ground all pointed their tentacles at the lake and I saw a great shadow manifesting in the crimson waters. It definitely was not happy with me killing its friends, whatever it was!

The monster that emerged was nothing like any I’ve encountered, possessing a bulbous mass of tentacles on top of a body shaped like a giant’s. Two glowing orbs flashed bright blue and I could tell it was looking right at me. He was the size of an entire castle by my estimate and unfortunately my eyes were rarely wrong. Attor scoffed.

Stop reading my mind! The giant tentacle face was the only thing that was not dark in this whole place; My eyes widened at its Status.

— Umibōzu, level 20

— Class: Celestial Boss (Ancient)

HP: 56%

Buffs: Chaos Infused, Immune to Water and Ice damage, Respawns

Debuffs: Blood Soaked, Starfallen, Irregular

IT ----- CAME ---- FROM ----- ----- BETRAYAL ----- 606C DEG ----- FAH ----- SAH

Half of its HP was gone already, but I bet this guy will pack a mean punch! The eyes in its mass gleamed with a new energy, and several golden orbs launched at my position from them. Well, it wasn’t like I had a choice to run, but a battle is a battle even in a twisted space like this! I summoned my broom from my Quick Slot and launched into the air.

“You might be a freak from another Realm but so am I! Wait a minute…” I trailed off, but pointed my wand at it. Before I could unleash a spell, one of the golden orbs burst into a shower of zigzagging black and white energy. “A Chaos attack?”

This was no good, but it was expected of the great boss before me. Even though its body seemed immobile, the eyes inside its writhing tentacles tracked me. The orbs followed my flight path as well, but thanks to my Reflex Stat I could dodge them easily!

“Third Spell: Lightning Strike!” I let the powerful magic rip through my Tier 3 Spellpage. A blast of jagged chaotic lightning of my own sent my broom into a spiral. As my vision whirled, I clutched onto my hat as the spell resolved into a brilliant explosion of blue energy. “Yeah! I’ll paint you and this blood red place blue!”

“Watch out!” Attor shouted at me. As I turned, a massive dark pillar swung at me. I yanked my broom skyward once more, but the wind lashing from the tentacle sent me careening off of it! My stomach twisted into color out my mouth and I swore I could hear Attor groaning.

I’m definitely going to die! I wanted to scream but another giant tentacle was flailing towards me. Before it got closer my body slammed into something hard. Attor’s scales dug into my palm, but I survived!

“You saved me!” I screamed. “Thank—“

“Now’s not the time, Charlotte,” he chastised me. “Use your wand! Reduce it to ashes!”

“Right, erm,” I held in my stomach’s churning urges and directed my wand once again at the tentacle spire. “Third Spell! Eldritch Beam!”

My wand started to emit a high pitched haunting scream and I felt the veins in my wrist pop trying to hold onto it. The Eldritch Beam lanced through the Umibōzu’s golden spheres and their Chaos elemental power with its own Chaos damage. Right, I remembered Wisdom’s teaching that Chaos damage did not care if it was used against the same element. My mana was draining rapidly towards 0%, but I grinned as I felt the wand shatter. Its HP was falling faster! A transparent hole blasted out of the towering Boss’s “head” and torso, even piercing through the red water and whatever was in the way.

“It’s over,” I hung onto Attor. The creature’s health dropped to 0% before exploding into a harmless but shattering bright light, like a rock shattering a glass window into numerous pieces. He was descending to land. Little did I know, he dodged multiple swings from those tentacles until we landed. “Thank you, Attor.”

— Charlotte has leveled up to 13!

— Charlotte has gained a Tier 3 Spellpage.

— Charlotte has gained the Skill: Metamorphosis!

This was great! However, before I could celebrate I felt the dragon’s scales rattled. Hey! I smacked his side. I was losing my grip! What’s the big deal?

“You’re welcome, now get off of me,” he scoffed. “You are heavy!”

So much for a serious moment! I feel like I should be offended! Despite my weakening grip and my protests I slid off of him.

“You’re a painful ride anyways!” I barked back at him, but together we looked at the snapped handle of my broom drifting deeper towards the center of the bubbling lake. That monster’s energy orbs destroyed most of this hazy place and most of the smaller creatures. “Maybe I should craft a saddle for you?”

“You wouldn’t dare—“ Attor stopped. His eyes were fixated on the center of the lake again. The rumbling began once more, and our tentacle friend emerged once more. He groaned, but upon glancing at my Status I noticed my Spells and Mana was restored. “We can’t do a round two, Charlotte. Your wand and broom have broken.”

“Oh, right,” I sighed, but the Umibōzu was upon us again!

— Umibōzu, level 15

— Class: Celestial Boss (Ancient)

HP: 78%

Buffs: Chaos Infused, Immune to Water and Ice damage, Respawns

Debuffs: Blood Soaked, Starfallen, Irregular

“Well, this is rough!” I complained. Instead of writhing tentacles the Boss was more seemingly more formless, containing a few thick tentacles as opposed to the smaller and numerous ones on its extremities. It made no noise, like last time, but I could tell it was winding up an attack. Without a Wand, Attor and I were defenseless! As the pitch-black arm of the Umibōzu jabbed towards us, I activated my final reliable Skill in a last ditch effort. “Skill: Steel Web Conjuration! Skill: Martial Arts. First form: Punch!”

To my surprise, my webs nor fist hit anything. I didn’t realize it, but I had my eyes closed. The monster’s limbs craned backwards and through the red fog I saw the glint of webs that were not my own. Hissing and thundering thumps skittered over the crater walls. That’s right! I called you guys!

“Attor look! We’re saved!” I cheered for the Steel Spider Warriors that were unleashing their webs upon the titanic boss. Among the chittering ranks, I saw one of the fuzzy butts poised to strike the Umibōzu.

— Nameless, level 20

— Class: Spider Assassin [Epic]

Buffs: Death Touch, Darkness Infused Attack, Leap Attack Up

A Spider Monster who lurks in the shadows or in an invisible cloak, waiting to strike its unsuspecting prey in a single deadly blow.

It leaped an astonishing height, slicing the head off of the pinned Boss. I gawked and just like before, the monster burst into light. Everyone started to glow as they became showered in experience points. Moments later, however, the boss emerged with different Stats. I grinned. If that’s the case, my Spiders would have some fun keeping you at bay. It was time to use my Space Stone’s Contact Skill and see what was inside the bottom of this burning lake.