“Why do floating islands float?

The sky-bound landmass existed long before the gods fell and even predates the start of their tyranny.

Historical records are spotty, but many scholars believe they were key in humankind first wielding magic. Following and tracking the floating islands’ path helped them identify and outline the world’s leylines. They subsequently found mana Wells, gems, and resources to begin arcane training. One can't help but wonder if the gods wouldn't have grown fearful of mankind and attempted to enslave us if we didn't start on our current path.

Despite everything that happened. One can't help but think it was all for the better. Magic set us free and we stand toe to toe with the immortal and supposedly all-powerful. There is no going back now.”

—Dean Rohan Gupta, Scholar Arcanum, Arcane Metallurgist

“Nox!” Pallav called. “Where are you, Baba?” Even though Baba meant father, many used it as a term of endearment for the young men in the family. “I haven’t seen you all day.”

“Coming, Baba!” He yelled back, stuffing his textbooks. Stolen beakers, flasks, and vials lay on the ground spread around him. Nox had stolen ingredients to hide too, but he knew better than to shove them aside haphazardly and did his best to safely secure them.

“Hurry up!” Lillin told him, peeking out the playroom door. He could always rely on her to keep watch.

“Ouch!” Nox winced when trying to move the little bubbling cauldron. He didn’t want his father to see the surprise and settled for moving his toys around to hide the metal pot from Pallav’s line of sight. The vapors rising from the container and the accompanying aroma were unmistakable, but it didn’t hurt to try. “I’m coming!” He yelled, throwing up a few more obstacles. Living in a palace had its benefits. The large rooms ensured there was a chance of his mischief and forbidden play going unnoticed. “Give me a second.”

“What were you up to?” Pallav asked when Nox came sprinting out of the playroom. If Lillin hadn’t snaked her arm around the young prince, he would’ve run into his father. Pallav peeked over his son’s head. His nostrils twitched and his little smile betrayed amusement. “Never mind, your mother hasn’t seen you all day and wants a hug. Should we go see her?”

“Okay!” Nox chirped. He walked between Pallav and Lillin, one of their hands in each of his. “How is the new project going, Baba? Did you finish it?”

“Not yet, but I’m almost there. Mou and I just need—”

“Can I help?” Nox interrupted, ignoring the discomfort around his chest. He felt a strange chill but successfully ignored it. “I can stir and grind, and I promise I’ll be good.”

“You know it's too dangerous, Baba,” Pallav replied. He attempted to pick up Nox but the five year old wriggled, doing his best impression of a worm. The man failed to get a good enough grip on his son. “But I’ll bring you in for the demonstration. Alright?”

Nox pulled his hand free and ran ahead of his father. “But I’m so good. Honest! I bet I’m better than Mou.”

Pallav laughed. “Your aunty has been at this for years. It will take you a long time to catch up with her. But I promise you will have a great time getting there. One doesn't become an expert overnight. You need to learn, practise, and polish your skills. Then one day, you'll overtake her and me too.” The man received a glare despite his gentle tone and sage words. “Why don’t I give you a shoulder ride? We’ll Haste to the throne room. That sounds fun, doesn’t it, Baba?”

“No!” Nox protested. His rising pitch and volume indicated the start of a tantrum. “You’re mean. I’m better than Mou!”

“Nox. My little prince! Come here.” Pallav kneeled, waving his son closer.

“You’re being silly,” Lillin added. She put her hands on her hips and frowned.

As Nox glanced between the two people beckoning him, his chest felt cold. Something hummed against it, and everything felt heavy. When he clutched at his sternum, it felt as if something was there, but his hands and eyes struggled to find it.

“Come on, Baba.” Pallav’s voice sounded like a soothing song in his ears. “Mummy is waiting.”

“No.” Nox tried to think of an argument, but his head felt heavy. He frowned, glancing at the hallway around him. It resembled the Mercer palace, but sections of it looked damaged by dampness, and mold sprouted in corners. The estate manager and housekeeping staff would never allow such neglect. “Something isn’t right.”

“Stop being silly, Nox.”

“Come here, Baba. I have a surprise for you out on the Greywing. We just need to see your mummy first.”

The hallway trembled. Nox glanced over his shoulder and saw an invisible force ripping the walls, furniture, and tapestries to bits. It looked like a storm was raging toward him. Then Nox felt his inner arcane energy. His mana circuits felt muted. It wasn’t an external force limiting him. Instead, Nox was doing it to himself.

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“Crystallize Essence,” he whispered, channeling the spell. All memory of the spell and almost all magic had left him. It was like instinct and dreams somehow met and guided his mind on the correct path. Pink essence glass rained on and around Nox. Pallav and Lillin disappeared. Statues of two topless women with serpent tails and snake-like hair replaced them. Nox glanced over his shoulder and saw Brianna rampaging. Her tattoos glowed through her clothes, fiery chains extended from her arms, and the dual axes destroyed everything she touched. He molded his mana zone to reach her head and cast Crystallize Essence again. She staggered to a stop. Confused eyes scanned her surroundings. She glanced past Nox and then at the two gorgon statues next to her. When Nox returned his attention to the shapes in front of him, he found that entities that were formerly Pallav and Lillin had moved closer.

“What in Ygg’s name is going on here?” Brianna growled. Her chains retracted and wrapped around her arms before turning into tattoos again. Sweat covered her flushed face and neck. She sounded angry and exhausted.

“Don’t take your eyes off the statues,” Diya told her, walking backward to close the distance between himself and Brianna. “They only revert to flesh and move when we look away. Then we’ll get stuck in their illusion spell again.”

“To the Hell with these mother fecking snakes and this mother fecking floating island.” Brianna sounded different. It was almost as if she had put a lot of effort into appearing proper thus far, containing her natural ways. It made her polite demeanor and body language appear unnatural and restrained. Now, she spoke a lot more like she looked as she continued, reminding Nox of the few true Freefolk he had met during his secret excursions from the Golden Isles. “Do ye remember how we got here? My head is a blighted mess, I tell ye.”

“No,” Nox replied. “The last thing I remember before all of this is the vessel docking and us walking into the temple complex. Everything is a blur afterward. What about you?”

“The same. So ye don’t feckin’ know what happened to the others?”

“I wish I did. Druid powers come with strong psychic resistance. Joey has his patron and also dabbles in illusion magic. It's likely they snapped out of the enchantment quicker than us. Hopefully, Caitlin didn't wander far from either.”

“So we're the fools that got enchanted and lost. What do we do now, boss?”

“What did the gorgons want from you?” Nox asked. “Were they trying to make you do something?”

“We were in a blighted battle with Voidlings,” Brianna said, sounding disgusted. She slipped in and out of city speak. “They wanted me to abandon the village and go after the evacuation caravan. They said me mother wanted me. But the critters got close, and I used Fenrir’s Chains, and everything got blurry. Me Da and brother grew a tail, and I got scared.”

“The rage aspect must’ve interfered with the Mind Magic,” Nox mumbled. She wore an amulet, much like the rest of the party, but it didn’t do her much good either. He imagined the Crystallize Essence interrupted the gorgon’s spell for a moment but then ceased functioning. The amulet had vibrated and turned cold afterward as it continued to detect Mind Magic, but they had no reference for the strange stimuli while in the illusion. “The gorgons wanted to take me to my mother too. Now that I think about it, that makes no sense. My father never wanted me to bother Mum during the day. Courtly duties always kept her busy. I bet these things wanted to escort us to their leader. Perhaps the boss.”

“So let's let them take us there. Then we’ll kill them all at once.”

“They’ll revert to flesh if we look away, and then they’ll turn us into their playthings again. Perhaps they’ll ensure we can’t break free again. I think our only option is to destroy them and find the boss ourselves.”

“That’s easily done.” Brianna punched a statue and threw the other. They suffered no damage. Nox hit the pair near him with projectiles from Ratra’s Bow and used flame essence to produce explosions but got the same results.

“Great.” He sighed. “I bet they can’t suffer damage while stone.”

“So let's throw them over the ledge.”

The pair stood on a long balcony and a river raged below it. Nox hadn’t thought of the idea since he lacked the strength to move the stone gorgons, which were almost twice his size. Brianna had no such issues while empowering her tattoos. She dealt with the gorgons closest to her first and then got rid of Nox’s pair. They both took a moment for their headaches to pass. It took even longer for their hearts to calm down.

Mental fatigue followed. Nox’s pocket watch claimed only a couple of hours had passed since they entered the temple. However, it felt like he hadn't slept in days. It was tempting to rest and recover, but they pushed on. The hallways, archways, and stairs featured the grandeur of a throne room's entrance. They passed stone gorgons and found ways to dispose of them—usually looking for windows or balconies to throw them into the waterway below. Nox worried they'd come to life when he turned his back and once again entrap them in Mind Magic.

“Are ye sure we shouldn't find the others first?” Brianna asked after she and Nox consumed stamina pills and started on the obvious path to the boss.

“I believe in always moving forward, Brianna,” Nox said, but his answer appeared to irritate her, so he elaborated. “A boss room is the most natural place of convergence in a god's domain. That's what Intermediate Dungeon Theory says. I have my familiar scouting for a path out, but he hasn't yet found one. Given the dungeon lord’s fondness for illusion, I bet this place is like a maze.”

“So ye think the boss room might connect to an exit?”

Nox nodded. “It's our best bet. Are you concerned about facing a boss?”

“Are ye not? I've never been a lone vanguard against an adept-ranked creature. Professor Wolfhammer hasn't let me fight Hogg's Avatar either.”

“Then just listen out for my instructions,” Nox said. “I have more practice double-teaming boss monsters than fighting them in a party.” Brianna was too tall for him to place a hand on her shoulder without it being awkward. So he reassuringly patted her upper back. “Trust me, alright? I'll watch your back.”

“How?” Brianna frowned. “Yer weak.”

Nox laughed. “Advanced Dungeon Theory and fighting in a party is usually an exercise in self-restraint for me. What you saw against the cloudhunters was merely a taste, Brianna. We'll destroy whatever we face.”

“Assuming they don't enchant us.”

“Now that I know what to expect, it's not an issue for me. In fact, my Crystallize Essence will help use the boss's mana against them if they hit us with a powerful illusion spell. Give me your amulet.” He held out his hand. “I'll tweak it so you have a better psychic defense.”