Ray swallowed. His mind was scrambling to tie the threads he had been presented together, but they were simply too disparate. A Sylvan leading the Everstead? How was that even possible?
He supposed the fact that the Floor Lord had remained hidden within the Everstead ranks might be related to the fact their head honcho was a Sylvan too. But—no—what?
“I don’t understand.” Ray clenched his fists, then took a deep breath. “But I don’t need to. Whoever—whatever—you are, you’re going to stop.”
The large doors at the end of the chamber slowly began opening. As Ray turned to see who was entering, his body tensing in preparation for more soldiers to rush in like piranhas seeing a corpse, he got an eyeful of the actual room he was in.
It was indeed large. Big enough to house a cricket field easily, plus some stands to hold an audience as well. But the vast majority of the room was empty. Where the rest of the palace had been filled with finery and opulence of various kinds, all this huge room had were a fancy throne on a raised dais at the far end and some large, gilt-edged, floor-to-ceiling windows.
But the strangest part was that it was open to the air. Someone had removed a huge section of the ceiling so that the twister-studded sky looked a lot closer than normal.
Ray’s attention was drawn to the soldier coming through the open doorway. Just the one. Not a huge, rabid horde coming for Ray’s head. The door itself had only slid apart just enough for the lone man to squeeze through. Ray thought he caught a huge number of soldiers who had gathered at the doorstep, but they didn’t dare enter. The doors closed swiftly behind the entrant.
“Sire,” the man said, shooting Ray a venomous glare. “I beg your leave to take this mortal trash out of your sanctified throne room.”
“Oh, leave it,” the king of the Everstead said. “He’ll die soon enough anyway.”
“I apologize greatly for the intrusion, sire, and humbly beg your—”
“Go away. They will be arriving soon, and I cannot have you making a mess of things like that upstart little lord.”
The man hastily bowed, not daring to contradict his king. He shot Ray another scathing look, before quickly scurrying out of the room.
Ray himself could only stare agog. Not only had the man—a member of the Everstead military by the looks of him—had obeyed a Sylvan, but he had also been very subservient and accepting. Like there was nothing wrong at all about the fact that he was being ordered around by a Sylvan of all people.
The same race that he and his kingdom were fighting against so hard. What. The. Fuck?
Ray used Primal Spiritcraft to regain the draconic maw around his hand. Then he pointed it at the ruler. “Silly mistake to send off your soldiers. Now, talk. Who’s coming? What have you done?”
It probably would have been better to start demanding the Tower Nodes, but he had a feeling the king wasn’t going to be very cooperative about those.
“Patience, Denizen,” the Sylvan said. His silver horns gleamed as he spun to face Ray with a smile. Even his teeth were silver. “All will be revealed soon enough.”
“I don’t want it to be revealed.” When Ray fired off the draconic maw, the laser breath struck the floor a few feet from the king, setting off a little explosion that sent burning shrapnel flying everywhere. “I’m asking you.”
“Paltry threats are meaningless here and now. Did I not say you would end up dead regardless?”
Ray frowned. How was this guy this confident, when he wasn’t even facing Ray? Was he that strong?
Just as he was about to use Primordial Gauge on the Sylvan, though, he froze. Something was coming. Something huge.
It was a shadow passing over the room that made him look up. Through the hole in the roof, Ray spotted a huge, winged creature making its way towards the palace. Towards the throne room itself.
“Is that…?”
Ray didn’t even finish his sentence as the creature’s shape became more fully-defined.
“Ah, you’ve met the Eternal Guardian?” the Sylvan ruler of the Everstead said. “Well, I suppose you must have, since you’ve ascended to the Second Floor from the First. Quite the sight, yes?”
That was an understatement. The Eternal Guardian soaring through the skies was an arresting sight. In no time at all, the Guardian arrived.
So the Sylvan was right. Ray was about to receive his enlightenment after all.
The Eternal Guardian floated just outside the throne room, stretching its hands into the palace interior. Ray had to admit he was gawking. There were too many figures for the Eternal Guardian to close its hand like the monster had when it had transported Ray to the Second Floor.
A gaggle of Sylvans dropped from the Guardian’s palms. But it was the human among them who Ray was staring at.
Mary Felds stepped onto the palace floor like she belonged here.
“Mary?” Ray asked. He couldn’t help it. It was just—it was simply—inconceivable.
She looked up, eyeing him with a bit of surprise and no small amount of annoyance. “Of all the people at all the places…”
The Sylvans were soundly ignoring Ray and Mary. While the ruler of the Everstead kingdom had stepped up to greet the newcomers, the rest of them threw Ray inquisitive looks. Not completely hostile. Not yet. Ray found himself thinking the ones who had just arrived were even more important than this Everstead king.
Especially the Sylvan at the lead. He gave off the same vibes as the Floor Lord Ray had met in that one, fateful battle.
The air tightened around Ray, making it slightly harder to breathe. He was a deer caught in the headlights. Unable to move or think much. A sensation of pure power thrummed off the Sylvan. A feeling like Ray’s best bet would be to make himself small and pretend to be invisible.
The Sylvan even looked the part too. Where the rest of his fellows were dressed in black armoured robes, he had on a golden breastplate with an ornately carved design of what seemed like ivory on it, though the robes underneath were dark just as those of the rest of the Sylvans. His skin gleamed a silken light green, his horns a burnished evening blue.
Ray was almost positive this guy was even worse news than the Floor Lord.
“Welcome, welcome”! the king of the Everstead said. He offered a short bow. Oh yes, this king didn’t consider himself anywhere near as important as his visitors. “Please excuse the uninvited guest. He is of no consequence.”
With a sudden jerk, Ray stared at the Sylvan the golden breastplate again. No way. This sensation of power. This feeling of overwhelming might.
He couldn’t be the Tower Lord, could he?
The Sylvan in gold lazily glanced at Ray before turning back to the Everstead king. His voice was like a needle, spiking and threading through with sharp jabs. “There is no point in drawing attention to inconsequential matters, now is there? Are your preparations complete? You have drawn us in earlier than we expected.”
Ray decided to keep his mouth shut, just to see if he could parse what was going on here. His opportunity to act would come. He just had to keep an eye out for it.
“Apologies for the short notice,” the king said with another bow. “But our enemies grew a little feisty, so I thought to move it up a little.”
The Sylvan leader scoffed, glancing at Ray again. “Then we will handle it from here.”
“Of course, my lord.”
“My lord.” Another Sylvan stepped forward, casting a disparaging look at the Everstead king. The leader of the Sylvans slowly turned to his subordinate with a raised eyebrow, an almost dangerous glint in his eye. Still, the speaker was undaunted. He walked up unafraid. “Must we truly cooperate with… this?”
Before the leader could reply, the king spoke up first. “We are making things easier on you. Surely you would prefer a smoother path towards—”
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“A smooth, honourless path.”
“There is always a balance to maintain. We cannot undertake everything with the same degree of honour. You only need to look at the First Floor.”
Mary’s cold expression flickered just a bit at the mention of the First Floor.
The rest of the Sylvans bristled at that, all of them glaring at the king of the Everstead. Ray frowned. It was difficult to make sense of what was going on. He was missing some key context here.
But he recognized that the opportunity for him to participate had appeared.
“You’re welcome,” he said, smiling at the gathering. “I had a lot of fun taking over the First Floor from you guys.”
“Ah.” The Sylvan leader glanced briefly at Ray, now with a more calculating look and a knife-slash of a grin, before shaking his had at the king. “You told me he was of no consequence? But this is the man who was such a pest on the First Floor. The one who killed little old Olgolair. Shame on you for deceiving me, Your Majesty.”
The king glared at Ray for interrupting. “Please, ignore the fool. He has little power to do anything.”
Ignoring that statement, the Sylvan leader turned to observe Ray. It was like being under the scrutiny of a thousand microscopes. Primordial Guage didn’t warn him about any abilities being used, though.
“You must be the catalyst that’s caused this expedited meeting,” the Sylvan leader said. “Purportedly powerless though you appear, that you caused this to occur says a lot. His Majesty here seems to be tolerating your presence, yet not keen to have you killed off immediately by his many, many subordinates. You must be something else indeed…”
“Not at all, my lord,” the king hissed. “We can’t have anyone else finding out what’s going on here. As such, I thought he could remain. After all, if he tries anything, we can simply squash him like the bug he is.”
“I don’t fully know what’s going on here,” Ray said. When he looked at the king of the Everstead, though, he smiled. “But I’m starting to get a taste of betrayal in the air.”
As the king scowled at him, the gold-adorned Sylvan laughed with a boom.
“You are correct,” he said.
“My lord!” the king protested.
The Sylvan leader ignored him. “Our little puppet here has decided to give up his constituents to us in return for ascending to the Third Floor. That is what threatened you to come here, yes? Your assumption that your place on the Third Floor would be compromised.”
“More or less.” No point in revealing anything about the Tower Nodes that he didn’t have to. He turned to Mary, who was still remaining silent in the background. “That’s why I couldn’t contact you anymore. You did meet the Floor Lord, and then you learned the real truth. You went to the Third Floor. Or was sent, rather, by them. The Everstead.”
It was starting to fall into place now. He couldn’t contact people on other Floors through the System’s chat function. Mary had never died. She had just moved on to the last Floor of the Tower of Forging.
“What if I guaranteed you the same thing?” the Sylvan leader said. “A place on the Third Floor. What would you do next, then?”
The king protested again, wringing his hands in a very un-Sylvan-like manner. “My lord! We need not countenance such a thing. This worm only deserves to stepped on and crushed. Humouring its base ambitions is not something we need to concern ourselves over.”
“Oh? I thought we were already doing that?” The dark smile he shot the king made the subservient Sylvan turn even more cowed. “No point in pretending to be hypocritical, now is there?”
Ray shook his head. “I had this exact conversation with the very Paragon you serve. The Fleshcrafter offered me the same thing. And yet, here I am, standing before you as your enemy. The hell you think my answer is going to be?”
Several of the other Sylvans gasped.
“He talked with the Fleshcrafter?”
“The Paragon we serve?”
The Sylvan leader held up a hand. “Then you are determined to stand against us? Even when you aren’t even fully sure what is going on? Consider, Denizen, that me kindly offering you a path that does not—”
“I know enough,” Ray said. “I know you’re determined to corrupt this whole floor with the Flesh Plague that’s already covered half of everybody here.” He scowled at the king. “I know this bastard is determined to betray his entire kingdom just so he can fulfil his ambitions.” Lastly, he turned to Mary. “And I see you’ve got a Denizens already acting as a puppet too.”
That ticked off Mary. All the stoicism she had held onto melted away like snow springtime snow. “You have no idea what you’re talking about, Raymond.”
“Oh, yeah? After everything that’s happened, after Alice gave her life—”
“Shut up.”
“—you’re working for these evil bastards who want to corrupt the whole Tower?”
“I said shut the fuck up!”
Mary had screamed that last part out so loud, everybody in the room was taken aback. Ray wouldn’t have been surprised if the throne room doors cracked open again for that man to come back in to check if everything was alright.
“You don’t know anything,” Mary said. “You’ve got no clue where things stand. All you do, all you’re capable of, is blindly rushing everywhere in a braindead attempt to grow stronger or climb higher. You don’t take any time engaging with the people of the Floor, you don’t spend an ounce of energy trying to understand where the true power lies. You’re fucking misguided, Raymond.”
Ray felt his face heating up. It wasn’t anger at Mary’s accusations. It wasn’t even embarrassment because she wasn’t that far from the mark. He was just annoyed at her deflections. “What did Alice tell you before she died, Mary?”
“She—” For the briefest second, her eyes flickered to the Sylvans. “She said I needed to forge on and continue my path onwards. That I couldn’t let anything come before me and my goals.”
“Enough.” The Sylvan leader’s voice was softer but still firm. “We’ve spent enough time dawdling here. You can carry on your squabbling. We have places to be.”
The Sylvan who had begun to protest his lord’s cooperation with the king of the Everstead was clearly satisfied now. He didn’t hesitate to carry out his duties, stepping forward and leading the rest of his troops. The king quickly accosted them, engaging in a quick conversation about their intended route of action.
“And in the end,” Mary said, quiet enough not to disturb the Sylvans but still loud enough for Ray to hear. “You’re still too powerless and outnumbered to do anything.”
Ray had seen and heard enough. All the while this little conversation had gone on, he had understood just what sort of conspiracy he had stumbled into. Sure, he still didn’t fully understand Mary’s motivations, but her intentions were clear enough. He had to act.
And unlike what Mary and the rest of them thought, he wasn’t helpless.
Ray turned to face the Eternal Guardian through the large hole in the roof. Its huge hood cloaked most of its face, besides the gigantic beak poking through the opening, but he felt its regard on him. It knew him. Not just from the time it had carried him up to the Second Floor. The Gurdian remembered him from the time he had found a way to control it.
Without further ado, Ray summoned up the Tower Node of the Songstress.
Don’t forget the power of the Tower Nodes. That was what the Marauder had warned him about. A good warning, because he now knew where he was supposed to act.
“Ah. Ah.” The Sylvan leader wasn’t the only one staring at Ray. All the others were now taking in him and his Tower Node with a mix of surprise and apprehension. “What do we have here?”
“Stop him!” the king screeched. “Stop him!”
Several Sylvans and Mary stepped forward, but they all halted at a raised hand from the lord. Ray had begun to channel the power of the Songstress Tower Node, pulling out the Flight Mana crystal from his Bag of Holding. But then he stopped too.
A different Tower Node had popped up beside the Sylvan leader. This one was same diamond-shaped crystal, but its top surfaces were spinning and glowing like the light of an ambulance.
“Worry not, Your Majesty,” the Sylvan leader said. “The Tower Node of the Revealer shall unveil any other surprises in store.”
“The Revealer?” the king said. “Wait—”
Ray stepped back, the Flight Mana crystal disappearing as he used the innate power of the Songstress Tower Node. The Eternal Guardian shifted outside. But the Sylvan leader acted at the same time. A pulse from the gleaming Tower Node burst across the entire throne room.
Revealing everything.
Ray wasn’t taken aback at the fact that all his Tower Nodes had now emerged. What he was more concerned about was the fact that the entire throne room was turning grey. He couldn’t help but stare as the walls, floor, ceiling, and windows all became silvery sludge. Where had he seen that before?
His feet would have sunk into the sludge, but a quick cast of Soaring Wings kept him afloat.
Elsewhere, the Sylvans were taken aback by the sudden change too. One of them used Growth Mana to call up spiralling protrusions of growths to stand on. The leader himself was floating in the air, completely unsupported, while Mary was standing on a large shard of ice.
The only one who wasn’t having trouble was the king of the Everstead. For, like his throne room, he had turned into sludge as well. Writhing, silvery, reflective goop.
“You—” Ray’s breath caught in his throat. “You’re an Imitator.”
The sludge pile didn’t reply, instead quickly reforming back to a recognizable shape. But Ray was faster. He immediately used Primordial Gauge on the slimy blob that was supposed to be the king of the Everstead.
[Primordial Gauge]
Arch Imitator [Monster] [Tier 15] [Level 53]
There was a lot more information after that, with Primordial Guage listing out a description and skills and all that. Ray didn’t pay it any mind. He dismissed the display and stared at the reforming king, looking once again like a pale Sylvan with silver horns bedecked in royal finery.
“My lord,” he said, whining a little. “You could have warned us.”
The Sylvan leader turned to Ray with a mock shocked expression. “Oh, you didn’t know? They are all these… strangely ascended beings called Imitators.” He turned to Mary with a grin. “You never mentioned?”
Mary stared at Ray like she was itching to kill him. “It wasn’t relevant.”
For his part, Ray’s head was reeling a little. He had already learned so much that he still hadn’t fully reconciled with himself yet. And now he was learning that the Everstead, that this kingdom of people who had always seemed fishy to him, had never been people to begin with.
Imitators. Monsters he had dealt with from the very beginning of the Second Floor. That’s what the Everstead truly were. The evidence was all around him as the throne room itself writhed back into its original shape, just as the king of the Everstead had done. Everyone—everything—in the kingdom of Everstead was just like this. An Imitator construction.
Quite an understatement to say it was hard to believe.
“So you’ve been on a Tower Node collecting spree, I see?” the Sylvan leader said.
“Shall we kill him and retrieve the Nodes, Floor Lord?” his subordinate asked.
“Yes. Why not. While I take care of his foolish plan to use the Eternal Guardian.”
They got moving. Ray was in danger. Ray was in danger. Mentally slapping himself, he got back to what he was doing, especially since his intentions had been discovered.
As the Sylvans rushed his position, as bursts of Growth Mana emerged from the ground and started attacking the Eternal Guardian, as Mary and the king both prepared to attack after hearing that the Guardian was going to get involved, Ray focused on only one thing—the Flight Mana rushing through his Tower Node of the Songstress
Despite the attacks by the Lord of the Third Floor, the Eternal Guardian rallied. Its hooded gaze once more found Ray.
Then it roared out as it charged into the throne room.