“I’m not asleep. I’m just resting my eyes,” Zeke muttered as he lay on the ground. Nearby, the pile of ashes that had been the raggedy princess remained scattered across the cracked and charred tile floor, evidence of the battle that had nearly claimed Talia’s life. Meanwhile, the other battle Zeke had fought was less evident, though the pain and exhaustion gripping his body and soul reminded him of what it had cost. It had been hours since his first use of [Touch of Divinity], and in that time, he’d recovered only slightly. And Zeke expected it would take much longer before his convalescence was complete.
“Tearing pieces off of your soul will do that,” Eveline remarked.
“Is that what I did?” he asked. The skill’s description had talked about using his divinity, so it was a little unclear.
“Of course. That’s where divinity resides,” she answered. “Not all souls are divine, of course. But all divinity lives in the soul.”
“It comes back though, right?”
“It’s just like any other wound. It will heal, but it takes time. It will also leave scars,” she said. Then, she added, “I think. This is new territory for me. You’re using your nascent divinity all wrong.”
“I don’t think it’s wrong,” Zeke said. “And I don’t think it’s quite as unprecedented as you think.”
“What do you mean?”
“How do you think the kobolds got to where they were?” he asked. “I mean, sure – the wyrm mother might’ve used some other method. A skill maybe. But I think she had a spark of divinity, too.”
“If she did, I didn’t feel it.”
“Would you have?” Zeke asked.
“Probably.”
“So, you don’t know.”
“I didn’t say that,” she insisted.
But Zeke knew the truth. If Eveline displayed any lack of certainty, it was a good indication that she really had no idea one way or the other, but didn’t want to admit it.
“That’s unfair,” Eveline said.
“Maybe,” he responded. Then, he went back to the original subject, saying, “I think she had a spark. Maybe she didn’t know what she was doing. Or maybe she did. But I just don’t think the kobolds would have gotten so close to sapience without that kind of influence.”
He’d felt the vast power of his own divinity, and it had left him with some idea of its capabilities. They seemed endless, like with that spark, he could do anything. The only limiter was his own imagination.
Of course, Zeke also knew that that wasn’t really accurate. It was a finite resource, and though he’d progressed past the point where it could be described as a spark, he knew that it would be a long time before he could enact any real changes, especially on the scale of his imagination. Still, with divinity, all things seemed possible. After spending so long using his skills, that godly force felt more like magic than anything else he’d encountered since being reborn.
And he held the power of a nuclear bomb in the palm of his hand, so that was saying something.
After a couple more hours, during which Zeke let himself drift in and out of consciousness, he pushed himself upright to see that Talia hadn’t moved. She’d stood sentry over him the entire time.
Looking around, Zeke saw that the area hadn’t really changed much. The tiles were all the same, and behind him, he could see the shadowy forms of the obstacles they’d overcome before fighting the raggedy princess. But there were two major changes. First, Little Lord Liddle was nowhere to be seen. Above, there was only nothingness, completely devoid of any features. And second, there was a small staircase leading upward into the black expanse.
“I’m guessing we’re supposed to go up,” Zeke said aloud, having deduced the dungeon’s intentions.
“I believe so,” Talia admitted. Thankfully, she’d donned the clothes he’d given her, though she looked a bit odd wearing one of Abby’s tee-shirts and pants. Not only were they slightly oversized, making her look a bit like a pre-teen who’d raided her older sister’s wardrobe, but it was also strangely incongruent. That was probably because he was so accustomed to seeing her in her black leathers. She asked, “How are you feeling?”
“Sore,” Zeke admitted. It was an understatement. His soul still hurt, and in a way that wasn’t mitigated by his racial pain tolerance. “But I should be okay-ish in another couple of hours. Maybe a day. What about you?”
“Perfect condition,” she said. Then, after a brief pause, she added, “Thanks to you. I didn’t know you could do that.”
“I couldn’t. I…I evolved one of my skills,” Zeke responded. “You were there on the ground, and I thought you were going to die. So, I did something stupid. And miraculously, it worked out.”
“Like with the armor skill in the Mortal Realm?”
“Yeah. But I was better prepared for it,” he answered. “I’ve had that skill evolution on the backburner for months. It was never my primary focus, but I had a lot of stuff already worked out. I’m just glad it didn’t backfire.”
“I am as well,” she admitted. “Thank you.”
He nodded graciously, and after that, the pair lapsed into silence. Even Eveline refrained from speaking as Zeke focused on his recovery. He wished he could summon a gate and return to the tower so he could go for a good soak in the Crimson Springs, but that was impossible within a dungeon. He could still access his spatial storage, but every other aspect of the Crimson Tower was out of reach while he was in a dungeon.
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Still, even though he couldn’t take advantage of the healing powers of the Crimson Springs, he found himself slowly recovering, and as he’d predicted, it only took a day before he judged himself ready to move on. So, without any further hesitation, he and Talia mounted the long staircase and climbed into the sky.
It was straight, steep, and without rails. However, with their high stats, maintaining their balance wasn’t difficult. Even so, the trip was disconcerting, especially when they’d been climbing for more than an hour and they were surrounded by nothing but impenetrable darkness.
It took another few hours before Zeke saw a pinprick of light in the distance. After pointing it out to Talia, he led the way, and over the next half hour, that light resolved into a doorway, through which was an unexpected scene.
“It looks like a mountain pass,” Zeke said. “Doesn’t seem like we have much of a choice here.”
Talia agreed, and Zeke stepped through. She followed. Once they were on the other side, the doorway winked out, leaving them to observe their new surroundings. In most ways, it was precisely what he’d expected. They were standing upon a rough trail, surrounded by tall, craggy mountains whose snowy summits were wreathed in clouds. A few hardy trees dotted the slopes, but for the most part, the area was bare of flora.
When Zeke looked back, he saw the enormous jungle stretched out below them. He could even spot a speck at the base of the mountain that he thought might have been the temple. They’d reached the surface.
Of course, none of the distances made sense, but Zeke hadn’t expected them to. Still, the sight was a little jarring and incredibly awe-inspiring. He could see for hundreds of miles, and there was nothing but thick jungle stretching all the way to the horizon.
“It didn’t seem this big from down there,” he said.
But it had been. He and Talia had spent weeks traveling back and forth through that rainforest, fighting every step of the way. With how quickly they could travel – even through the dense brush – that was confirmation of just how large the forest was. Yet, he hadn’t really made that connection until he could see everything laid out beneath them.
“What do you think the next challenge will be?” Talia asked, and he saw that she was looking in the opposite direction. Leading up the mountain was a twisting trail that Zeke suspected would end at the peak.
“I don’t know,” Zeke admitted. At that moment, he received another notification of an update to the quest chain associated with the dungeon:
New Quest Acquired!
Quest: The Third Challenge
Objective: Climb the Mountain and Free the Prisoner
Reward: Passage to the Summit of God
Accompanying that notification was the sudden appearance of a silver key in his hand. He hadn’t even noticed when it had happened. Just one second, there was nothing there, and the next, the key had appeared.
“I guess that’s it, then,” Zeke said. “We need to climb the mountain and free some prisoner.”
“I’m sure it won’t be that easy,” Talia said, gazing up the mountain. The path looked peaceful enough, but after everything they’d experienced in the dungeon, neither of them expected that the climb would lack hardship.
“Nothing for it but to get started, I guess,” Zeke said. Then, he took a deep breath before setting off up the steep path. For a while, they followed the narrow and winding path, and no threats presented themselves. However, after a couple of hours, a chill went up Zeke’s spine, and he happened to glance back the way they had come.
He flinched in shock.
Only twenty feet behind them was a transparent person. She was petite, young, and completely recognizable as the shield mage he’d accidentally killed by leaving her in his storage space. The event had occurred back in the Mortal Realm – even before he’d ever met Talia – but the memory had stuck with him ever since.
The specter didn’t move. Instead, she just stared at him accusingly. Even when he called out, there was no response.
“What do you think?” Zeke asked.
“Death,” Talia stated. “Do you not feel it?”
He shook his head. “I don’t feel anything,” he admitted. “Just cold.”
That much was true, but the mountain itself was frigid, so the sensation wasn’t really noteworthy.
“That is death. If you touch that…thing, you will have your life force sucked out of you,” Talia explained.
“Are you sure?”
“I am.”
“She seems like she knows what she’s talking about,” Eveline added. “Probably best if we listen to her.”
“So, do we just keep going? I don’t like leaving enemies behind me,” he said aloud.
“I think it’s there to keep us from going back the way we came,” Eveline guessed.
Zeke sighed. It was an odd challenge, but he wasn’t going to argue with it. So, after only a little more delay, he set off up the mountain once again. However, when he looked back after another few minutes, he saw another figure – this one depicting the leader of that troupe of would-be assassins. She was a tall, rawboned woman, and Zeke remembered her face almost as well as the other. A few minutes after her appearance, another ghost appeared. This was one of the giants. A host of the same manifested after that, and over the next few hours, hundreds more joined them until it was difficult to differentiate where one ended and the others began.
That’s when Zeke and Talia reached the first fork in the road. They both continued up the mountain, but one of the options went left, while the other went right. “Which way?” Zeke asked.
“There’s no way to tell,” Talia answered. “Just pick a direction.”
Zeke did just that, going left. An hour later, they found themselves faced with a wide chasm, at the bottom of which were hundreds of vicious-looking treants.
“Can you make that jump?” Talia asked.
“Probably?” answered Zeke. It was almost three hundred feet from one side to the other, and though he suspected he was capable of making that leap, it wasn’t a chance he wanted to take. He said as much, adding, “We should probably just go back and pick the other route.”
Just then, the ghosts let out a collective shriek and surged forward. Talia shouted, “Run!”
Knowing that he couldn’t endure the touch of so many life-draining specters, Zeke obeyed, took a short running start, then leaped across the chasm.
He sailed through the air, and only halfway across, he could tell that he wasn’t going to make it. But there was nothing he could do about it. His arc took him directly into the chasm wall, and the moment he made contact, he used [Shifting Sands]. Time slowed down, and sank into the rock. A moment later, he erupted from the ground at the top of the cliff.
However, when he looked back, he saw that the ghosts had neither stopped nor slowed, and his desperate leap had only given him a few extra feet of clearance. So, he didn’t have time to think. Instead, he could only move. So, he quickly accelerated, following the twisting path at a dead sprint. Every turn sent rocks skidding down the mountain, but Zeke managed to stay just ahead of the specters.
Then, he reached another chasm.
Without hesitation, he leaped. This one was even wider, but he had the benefit of much more speed, and he managed to clear the span with a few feet to spare. After that, he continued on.
Over the next half-day, Zeke continued in that way. Every so often, he encountered another chasm, but none gave him any more trouble. Instead, his issues came were more in the realm of focus. Maintaining a dead sprint for so long was mentally exhausting, and it highlighted the fact that his soul hadn’t completely recovered.
Still, he pushed on.
For her part, Talia remained just ahead. She could have gone much faster, but she didn’t want to leave him behind.
Then, suddenly, the path leveled out and Zeke skidded to a stop. As he crossed some invisible line, the ghosts dissipated. That left him and Talia alone atop the mountain.
Except for a single cage in the center.
“I don’t care about the quest,” spat Talia, staring daggers at the prisoner. “I’m not freeing her.”