Stars surrounded the party as they climbed the invisible staircase. It was visible for the first few steps but quickly faded away as they moved further up this extraordinary path. Everyone stepped cautiously out of fear of falling off into the endless expanse of the space around them.
A shooting star passed by as they processed forward, it was almost close enough to touch. Although Ciylia thought she’d be able to do it, she didn’t dare because it might have been the last thing she did. A small hole appeared in the area of infinite distance. It seemed to be above them and looked like the only exit from this area. The Jellybeans continued forward and reached the white tear within this unknown universe without any incidents.
Going through this portal, lead the team into a large empty room with only a giant, semicircle shaped, wooden door on the other side of it. After the last person passed through the magical gap in space, it disappeared, locking the group in the room.
“Do you think leaving this room is as easy as it looks?” Fern asked Gene with a hopeful look in his eyes.
“I doubt it,” replied the monk. “But there is only one way to find out.
As the group began to cross the room, six lights appeared around the frame of the door. The druid sprinted across the room and tried to open the door. When he grabbed the handle, an invisible force flung him backward. Six platforms appeared around the room, lifting out of the ground. Each one had a model of some sort of structure accompanied by some sort of scenery resting on the top face of the platforms.
From the door and going clockwise, the buildings were: An abandoned watchtower overlooking an ocean as the waves rolled in and out. The next one Ciylia recognized as it was the bar where her old thieves guild was located. On the platform next to that was a house on a hill with a big tree that had a swing. Then there was a large mountain with some sort of temple on it. After that, there was a church with small bushes growing around it. Finally, there was a tent with many wagons gathered around it with a small campfire.
Ciylia moved to the bar from her past. It was long and rectangular with booths that had tables in the middle of them. Upon closer inspection, it even had that table she use to sit at complete with the arrowheads she would stab into it. They were from her arrows that were damaged during a job. Ciylia really disliked when her arrows snapped from a shot she missed or if they bent as pulled them out of a target. It was her way of dealing with failure though she'd never admitted it.
Sometimes she missed the guild, being in the company of her fellow outlaws. Though the reason she left the guild was that it escalated into areas she wasn't comfortable with such as kidnapping, rape, mass murder. They claimed it was all for better money in order to try to persuade her into staying. The elf loved money but she still had some morals. Her limits usually went as high as theft, blackmail, and the occasional assassination. She only assassinated rivals of other guilds. The thief was disgusted by the thought of killing children which the mass-murdering involved.
Ciylia lifted her eyes from her past to see who went to which building. Kira was standing in front of the watchtower. It looked as if she was listening to the silent waves crashing against the shore. Fern was pushing the swing on the tree with his finger. His eyes seemed to be avoiding the house on the hill. Gene was tracing his fingers across the mountain as he slowly walked around its platform. Aliya was in prayer next to the church. At the backside of it were two tin graves that she seemed to be talking to. Meowlynn's eyes were fixed on the campfire next to the tent. She could peel her eyes from the dancing flames.
Looking around the room, Ciylia noticed that one of the lights on the door kept blinking periodically. What or who was causing this? The elf watched her teammates closely to see if any of them were the trigger to this occurrence. None of the women besides herself were moving or even touching their memories. The men, on the other hand, were both interacting with theirs.
The elf moved behind the druid to see if the light changed as he touched the swing. After watching for a bit, she concluded that Fern was not the one activating the light. It would turn on and off regardless of him pushing the swing or not.
The elven ranger then turned her attention to her leader. She watched him pace around the platform, running his fingers down the grooves on the model. Every time he passed the right side of the model, the light on the door would turn on. Ciylia went to stand on that side of the platform and face there door. Oddly, the light didn't appear when she stood there but did appear when Gene arrived at that spot. Was that because this wasn't her memory?
This epiphany caused her to return to the platform with the bar on it. She slowly moved around it with her gaze locked on the door. When Ciylia reached the left side of the building a light appeared on the door.
"Gene!" shouted the elf. "I know how to get out of this room!"
The monk snapped out of the daze he was in. "How can we do that?"
"Everyone needs to move around their platform slowly until a light glows on the door and then stop. Gene, yours is on the right-hand side of the temple in the mountain." Listening to the team's thief, Gene went to where she told him to go and the light appeared as she promised.
One by one, the party moved around until all the lights on the door turned on. The sound of a machine echoed through the room before the door swung open revealing a flight of stairs. Everyone left the room and proceeded up the stairs. Fresh air greeted their noses, announcing that they were outside.
The Jellybeans moved quietly up the steps, the sky coming into view the higher they got. Clouds were forming overhead, signaling that rain was coming. As they were about to reach the top, a flash of green light surrounded them. Suddenly, Buddy was dashing up the stairs with no explanation to how he even got there. Another odd thing that Ciylia noticed was that the assassin was clutching an emerald necklace. What that how he got here? Some sort of teleportation magic? Buddy did look like the spellcasting type.
Gene broke out into a sprint, following the man who gave him the dagger at his side. After watching their leader, the rest of the Jellybeans started running too. A moment later, they were at the top of the tower.
The top of the tower was onyx black, round, flat, and smooth except for the parapet that stood along the edge. I looked almost peaceful up here, a place to escape to when you want to be alone. Two things ruined this thought though. The first was the cursed man with purple skin standing in one spot yelling some sort incantation. The other was a little girl slowly lifting into the air, surrounded by a wall of wind that looked like a thin tornado. She appeared to be in a deep slumber. Buddy's daughter had long blonde hair with perfect porcelain skin and a thin frame, a true sleeping beauty.
Buddy's scream filled with rage engulfed the air like thunder during a storm. "Shield! Let my daughter go right now before I spill your guts across this roof!"
The man with the cursed blood laughed in response. Half of his body shifted into the plain-looking thug some of the Jellybeans had met. "I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, your daughter has a lot of magical prowess and I need that to sacrifice to my god. Those fools just gave me the excuse I needed to take her with no one asking annoying questions. Thank you Jellybeans." Shield clapped his hands and the tornado began spinning faster, causing Buddy's little girl to ascend towards the heavens.
The assassin ran towards his daughter and tried to grab her but as soon as his hands touched the wind he was thrown to the side. He pulled out his dagger and threw it at Shield but it missed. "Fuck!" yelled Buddy as his blade returned to his hand.
Gene also dashed towards the girl and made his way into the wall. He reached out and touched the girl's leg but was then swirled around in the tornado before being flung not far from the demon-faced man. The monk scrambled to his feet and took a fighting stance.
Kira tapped Ciylia on the butt and moved to the side. Both rangers took aim at their target and let their arrows loose. The halfling's arrow hit Shield in the left thigh, while Ciylia's hit him in the right shoulder. Fern saw this would-be kidnapper reel back in pain so he ran towards him while transforming into a bear.
The bear charged at the demonic-looking man but before the beast could reach him, Shield shot a blast of ice from his hands. The ice tore into the fur and flesh of Fern's bear form. The hulking figure did a fair job of also blocking most of the ice shards from hitting Ciylia, leaving her with only a few cuts along her skin. Kira was not as lucky. She had many icicles lodged into her body. A pool of blood started to form where she was standing. By some miracle, she was still standing and clutching her bow tightly even though she looked like she could die at any moment.
Seeing her friend in danger, Aliya ran to her side and clutched her holy symbol with all her might. She muttered a silent prayer to Tyora, then dragged her pendant through the bandage wraps on her arm and into her skin. The crimson liquid flowed down from her arm as she placed her hand on the dying ranger. Slowly, the blood began to glow until it was somewhere between a hot pink and white in colour. It slithered off of the gnome's hand and moved into the red pool of Kira's life. Kira's blood swirled around her, the dark red liquid followed Aliya's bright blood as it climbed up Kira's body and into her wounds. The holy blessing began healing the shorter ranger and soon the halfling's wounds began to close and her vitality was restored.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Meowlynn stared at the floating girl and grabbed some sliver dust from the component pouch on her hip. She tossed it into the air while muttering some elvish words then teleported next to the girl. The moment appeared, the wind began to lift her into the air. To make sure that they would stay together, Meowlynn clung onto Buddy's daughter's waist. The wizard then placed her head on the girl's chest and relaxed slightly. The moment her grip loosened a tiny bit, the pair began to rise even higher. The noble elf tightened her grip again, so much that her fingers ached, and held the young maiden close.
Shield's villainous laugh boomed louder than the thunder from the coming storm, as he watched the two ladies trapped within his magic continue their climb towards the sky. Similar to Meowlynn, the demonic man threw silver dust into the air and then teleported further away from the Jellybeans. He couldn't allow himself to be surrounded. As he disappeared, a dagger flew through the space where he was previously standing.
"Hold still, you fucking rat," said Buddy before her threw his second dagger. This time his blade found purchase in Shield's gut but it still did not wipe the smile off of his face.
The monk moved next to Shield and punched into his now bleeding stomach. He bent over slightly which gave Gene an opening to send a left hook into the magic user's face. "How dare you touch me with your disgusting hands!", shouted the curse-blooded man. Shield glanced up and noticed that the rain began to gently fall. He began muttering something as an arrow hit him in one of his ram-like horns. His focus shifted to see the halfling woman standing tall, holding her bow with her eyes burning for vengeance.
Another arrow zipped past his head. The rangers were becoming a constant thorn in Shield's side. Ciylia knew that she and Kira had to pressure him with their assault to keep his focus shifting and away from casting magic. The thief had a dreadful feeling that if he was given too much time to focus or they can't kill him before Buddy's daughter ascends too high, then something catastrophic would happen. They had to find a way to stop this lunatic.
Again, Fern tried his best to charge at Shield and lunge at him with the massive bear's jaws. Sadly, the attack was easily avoided. The druid then swiped with his giant bear claws, only to collide with a barrier of arcane magic. Hiding behind his magical wall, Shield produced some sort of powder from his rode and continued his incantation. The rainwater touched the mysterious powder and caused snowflakes to float into the air. Whenever a drop of rain touched one of these snowflakes, they became one as well. Quickly, the light drizzle became a tiny snowstorm. The snow itself then shifted into pebbles of ice and started pelting everyone it could.
Cuts starting forming across Gene's but since he was at the edge of the unnatural phenomenon, it didn't harm like those in the centre of the storm. Fern's thick fur helped him endure that hail beating down against him as well. It honestly was more frustrating to the druid then painful as the bear form wasn't his true body. Meowlynn was the only one not affected by the magical flurry as the vortex of air she was trapped in repelled the ice for her.
The unlucky ones were those trapped in the middle. Buddy pulled his cloak over himself and tried to block his vitals. Ciylia tried to cover her face as the frozen water stabbed into her flesh, even hitting her leather armour, she felt the pain severely. Oddly, the pain felt searing despite the near-freezing origins of the attack. The wood elf was horribly conflicted about what parts of her body to protect. Her eyes so that she may continue to see the wonders of the world? Her fingers so that she may continue to use her bow and take the beautiful things from people that she felt should be with her? Her vital organs are a must to be able to do any of the things she wanted. With all these thoughts in her mind, she curled into a ball with her back facing towards the sky as the quiver on her back would act as a cushion from the relentless attack.
Kira and Aliya were also bombarded with hail. The halfling's body couldn't endure the pain anymore and fell face-first onto the ground, allowing the cold embrace of the storm to take her. Ciylia watched as her fellow ranger stared at her and mouthed the words, "Good luck" before slowly closing shut. It was as if Kira had fallen into a peaceful sleep.
Aliya was able to mimic the thief's idea and used the shield on her back to block the ice. The three Jellybeans were trapped by the blizzard with no hope of escape. The gnome's gaze was fixated on her friend as tears tried to form in her eyes but were slowly freezing them shut. The cleric could not heal anyone right now. She had already used the last of her healing magic and even then she had begged her goddess and her other six gods to give her an extra bit of energy to restore Kira's life just a few seconds ago. Hopelessness began to set in as thoughts of Kira and her parents dying flashed into her mind.
Alyia had just enough magic within her to shoot out a holy fire. She produced the flame and cradled it in her hand before firing it at that evil creature who was causing all this pain. It flew through the ice and rain, fueled by all of her rage. Just as the fire was about to connect with him, another magical wall appeared and protected him from the cleric's final effort to fight. The gnome dropped her head in defeat and accepted the defeat and destiny that was placed before her.
Seeing the struggle of her ally, Meowlynn tried to use a magic spell that never missed its target. The magic was weak in nature but very reliable. After muttering a few words from an old language, three magical darts shot out from her fingertips and sailed towards Shield. Again, the arcane barrier absorbed the attack completely. Panic set into the wizard's mind as she watched herself move farther away from the tower.
As all hope was lost, a voice rose above the storm, the dread, and hopelessness. "Don't give up! This battle is greater than any of us!" Gene's voice lightened the darkness in Ciylia's heart and mind. "If we give up, we die. If we die then we can't help children from getting kidnapped. We can't help Erend return to its more pleasant manner. This man, no, this monster is causing pain to more than just us. Buddy needs his daughter and Gerald needs his father and the people need us! We helped Tormund and we can help Erand as well!"
Buddy stood up from the edge of the storm, "Well said, Gene. Let's get my daughter back!" The assassin threw one of his daggers at Shield. It carved its way through the magical barrier and hit the man in the gut like the previous did but the wall of arcane energy reduced the momentum of the blade so it didn't have as much of an effect as the first hit. Even though the damage wasn't severe but it did break Shield's concentration. The snowstorm stopped swirling and melted back into raindrops. Buddy flung his second blade but the force wasn't great enough to go through the wall this time.
Gene sprinted at the man with the cursed blood. Shield threw some more sliver dust into the air and teleported on top of a parapet and began chanting for a spell. The monk pulled out the dagger that Buddy had lent him and threw it. As he did, a ray of pale blue light shot out of Shield's left index finger. The beam of frost hit the Jellybean's leader in the chest and caused Gene to get knocked down. The borrowed blade careened through the air and hit Shield in the heart but still, the demonic man would not fall.
"You wretched creature! Do you think an inspirational speech and hope can stop the coming doom of the world?! No, you are only prolonging the suffering of your allies. So that they know their leader is nothing but a sack of empty promises, I will kill you before their eyes!" Shield began chanting again, his eyes flaring with pure disgust and rage. Fern moved in front of Gene, hoping to protect him with the bear's massive body.
Ciylia would not allow Gene to die. He had shown her kindness and paid her fairly even though she tried to steal from the Jellybeans the first time they met. Such selflessness in the world was rare and she wanted to continue seeing the world with this team. She stood up and nocked an arrow. Her breath steadied and her mind became clear and focused. A blue glow started to appear around Shield's fingers. "Not this time!" shouted Ciylia as she released the bowstring. The arrow cut through the rain and impaled Shield in the forehead. He just stood there and stared at the elven woman before tumbling forward onto the tower's roof.
The thief let out a sigh a dropped to the floor. The tornado stopped spinning and both Meowlynn and Buddy's daughter fell towards the tower. Buddy and Aliya dashed over there to try and catch them or at least soften the landing. The girls crashed into the pair below but everyone was relatively unharmed. Fern reverted to his half-elf form and gave Gene a berry that had minor healing properties to stabilize him. Finally, the druid ran to Kira and tried to administer a berry down her throat. After placing it into her mouth, he massaged it down her throat. A moment later the started to breathe again but her breath was still shallow.
"Sora! Sora, honey, can you hear me?" Buddy was cradling his baby girl in his arms. After a few seconds, sora's eyes fluttered open.
"Daddy? Is that you?" she whispered.
"Yes, sweetie, it's me." He turned to face the group, "Thank you very much for helping us."
Sora stood up and looked at each person before she started to whisper something. She slowly waved her hand and then a small emerald ball appeared near the centre of the roof. The sphere split open horizontally and released a pulse of energy. It did this four times before vanishing. As each pulse hit Ciylia, she could feel her body healing and getting better. Any cuts she suffered or mild frostbite was completely gone. The elf didn't know how but Buddy's little girl was an extremely powerful healer.
Her father placed the emerald necklace he was holding around his daughter's neck. Gene approached Buddy holding out the blade he borrowed. Somehow while they were being healed, Ciylia didn't notice Gene retrieve the dagger from Shield's corpse. "You keep it, Gene," laughed the assassin. "It will serve as a token of our friendship. Besides, it looks like you don't have any kind of proper weapon."
The monk shook Buddy's hand, "Thanks. I was not trained to use weapons primarily but I'll use it when it's needed."
"Oh, before I forget, take this as well." The proud father produced a strip of parchment. "If you need my help, just write my name on the paper and I'll come to your aid just one time. I have a life too, you know." He chuckled to himself before continuing, "Or just write the word: Help."
After a final head nod, Buddy turned his attention to Ciylia. "You are a person more akin to my ways. I can see that you are lacking in a reliable set of lock picks. Take these and get some practice. You will find them very helpful for a thief such as yourself." The elven thief was filled with overwhelming joy as she accepted the gift. She was in desperate need of such tools after her old set broke a few months ago. Unfortunately, finding a thieves guild in this part of the continent was proving difficult. There are a lot more on the west half of Asmir then here on the east according to the elf's personal research.
With that, Buddy took his daughter, Sora, by the hand and went down the staircase. Ciylia noticed that her leader had gone back to the body and lifted a black necklace from it. It was also obvious that other people noticed this strange behaviour as well since Gene had never looted a body before.
"Gene," called out the thief. "What did you put in your pocket?"
"Uh, nothing," the monk lied.
"I saw you pick something up!" Aliya shouted. It was clear that she felt hurt bu this weak lie.
"Let's just go," laughed the monk awkwardly before walking towards the stairs. As he walked near the cleric, the holy symbol around her neck began to pull towards Gene as if it was attracted by a magnet. The jewelry in the monk's pocket was acting as if it wanted to run away. It thrashed around before tumbling out of the pocket and onto the ground.
There, for everyone to see, was a pendant the shape of a bird's wing. It was black and attached to a hollowed-out circle that was behind it. Once Ciylia's gaze fell upon it, a voice in her head started speaking. "Grab me. Protect me. Don't let anyone take me." These sentences kept repeating in her mind, getting louder and louder until it was almost maddening.
The forest elf started to move towards it but the gnome reached it before she could. Aliya placed her symbol of Tyora on the black wing. Some sparks appeared between the two items before the string tied to the cleric's holy symbol wrapped around the corrupted necklace and pulled them together. When the two touched, the vines that were carved into the protective shield of the Tyora, Goddess of life, came to life and grew onto the black wing pendent and fused the symbols together.
Aliya was wheezing and having difficulty breathing. Whatever just happened much of used up a lot of her energy. "This thing has a lot of evil within it. It's trying to silence my connections to my gods."
Gene looked around both worried and embarrassed, "I'm sorry everyone. That thing got into my mind and compelled me to lie and hide it." He then turned to Aliya, "Are you going to be okay? Do you need to rest?"
"I'll be okay for now. I know my gods are still watching over me and will aid me."
The human patted the cleric on the shoulder, "Alright, how about we get off this tower and head back into town. I'll help Kira, everyone else should watch out for one another. Thank you for being so reliable. The Jellybeans saved a lot of lives today."
The group nodded their heads. No one thanked their leader for lifting their spirits and giving them hope when the odds were stacked against them. Perhaps they didn't have to. Instead, Ciylia was enjoying the praise from her teammates because she was the one to kill Shield. She felt amazing. Everyone was recounting the journey up the tower, letting Ciylia know heroic and important she was. She was starting to understand how helping people could be rewarding but it still wasn't as nice as a sack full of gold.