“My legs,” panted Aurin, flopping to the ground as a large Gorunze was banished from the tower in a flash of steely grey light. The young tamer massaged his legs and tried to catch his breath as Shamtile joined his tamer in flopping on the floor of the twenty-fifth floor.

“So tired,” muttered Luna, leaning against the wall and then sliding down it until she was flat on her backside.

“Take a second to catch your breath and then we’re back at it,” said Kyle, patting Hogannon on the back as the pig shook the smoke away from his cannon arms.

The journey from the thirteenth floor to the halfway point of the tower had been filled with battles. Between the occasional roaming gaggles of Zodiac guards to the wide elemental range of Minakai, there had been no shortage of work for the Minakai, but Shamtile, Innogon and Hogannon were still all here to tell the tale, however, it had taken quite a few healing items to keep everyone in shape. It hadn’t helped that a wild Minakai had triggered a Poison Trap while scuffling with Shamtile and Luna had to use one of the antidotes to save him from being too injured to continue.

Much to Aurin’s dismay, the group had passed by two eggs. He had been half-tempted to pick one up and bring it with him temporarily, but he didn’t need anything slowing him down. It was truly a fight with temptation on every floor as the piles of silver coins grew larger and the variety of items increased. The three tamers all agreed that they would only pick up what would help them reach Taurus.

“Alright,” said Aurin, standing up earlier than he would truly have liked. He walked over to Luna, held out his hand to her and then helped her back to her feet.

They had thought it was better to try and run from the rather large Gorunze that decided to hunt them like prey, but he was not so easy to outrun. Had they fought immediately, they wouldn’t have tired themselves out so much, but it was a lesson they would take to heart for the rest of the journey.

“Halfway there,” said Kyle, looking down the corridor, “and we’ve yet to stumble across any rare floors. Let’s count ourselves lucky.”

“Why would you say that?” asked Aurin.

“Heh?”

“You’ve jinxed us!” Luna scolded the rancher.

“Don’t be silly,” said Kyle, leading the way with his Hogannon.

“I’m telling you,” said Aurin. “We’re going to find a weird floor now. Maybe it’ll be a wide open one or one of the waterlogged ones, but it’s going to happen.”

“Superstitious nonsense,” remarked Kyle without looking back.

“He doesn’t get it,” said Luna, shaking her head.

“He’s rusty in the tower still,” said Aurin. “Every time we’ve made a comment like that, we’ve been struck by bad luck. It’s like the tower is listening to us and responds.”

“Maybe that’s what’s really happening.”

“I don’t know anymore, but I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Aurin, Luna, Shamtile and Innogon followed Kyle and Hogannon through the corridors, each of them carefully keeping an eye to any rooms they passed in case the elevator was waiting for them. The wild Minakai weren’t making things easy, but the group scavenged just enough healing items along the way to get themselves through the floor and to the blue orb that carried them higher.

“A normal floor,” said Kyle upon landing on floor twenty-six. “See?”

“We never said it would be the very next floor,” said Aurin.

“Yes, we never said that,” said Luna.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Kyle. “The odds are the odds. We’ll get what we get. I haven’t jinxed anything. Do you think if I said that we’ll reach Taurus for sure that we’ll suddenly find ourselves thrown from the tower?”

“Now who’s being silly?” asked Luna.

“You just don’t get it, Kyle,” said Aurin.

“Sometimes I can’t deal with you two,” sighed Kyle, placing a palm on his forehead. “I often forget that neither of you are adults yet because you’re usually so mature.”

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“Say what you want, but you won’t undo the jinx,” shrugged Luna, walking onwards.

The group pushed their way through the floor, fighting their way past Minakai after Minakai, managing to conquer the floor by sticking together and attacking in unison where they could. They ascended to floor twenty-seven and fought on through. They ascended to floor twenty-eight and stampeded towards the elevator. They ascended to floor twenty-nine, taking quite the beating along the way, and then they ascended to floor thirty.

“Still no sign of them,” sighed Luna upon landing on the thirtieth floor. Being this high hadn’t phased her, so focused she was on the goal.

Aurin reached into his bag and pulled out his Orb of Tamers. “I wonder if it’s worth using this to check ahead,” he said.

“How many charges do you have in it?” asked Kyle.

“I think it’s four.”

“Think?”

“Truth be told, it’s been a while since I checked. It’s either four or five, but I’m going to say four to air on the side of caution.”

“What time is it?” asked Luna.

“About nine o’clock,” said Kyle, checking his watch. “We’ve been here for hours, but we’ve been making good time.”

“Watch out!” called Aurin, pulling Luna aside as a fireball was flung down the corridor. “Shamtile, take it out!”

Shamtile leapt to action, followed closely by Innogon and Hogannon. A wild Fyrvern was beating its wings down the corridor, spitting fireball after fireball. The masked lizard hurled a rock, the blue drake spat a water jet and the burly pig shot fireballs of his own at their opponent, but it swerved out of the way of all three incoming attacks.

With a deep roar, the Fyrvern unleashed a powerful pillar of flame from its mouth. Shamtile stomped his feet and brought up a stone wall to block the attack, but the fire burst through and sent the rocks flying at Innogon, who was caught off guard. Fyrvern came charging down the corridor as Innogon rolled back onto his feat. The three Minakai struck the Fyrvern with more powerful attacks, banishing it from the tower.

“We need to be on higher alert,” said Aurin. “I fear we’ve gotten com—”

A large chunk of shrapnel crashed into Innogon, knocking the little drake against the wall and banishing from the tower.

“No!” cried Luna.

“Shamtile!” called Aurin, prompting his reptilian companion to coat himself in stone armour.

Shamtile stormed down the corridor, conjuring rocks to beat flying shrapnel out of the way. Each chunk of sharp metal that he missed his armour weathered for him. He ran towards the wild Dolissile and slammed his fist into its pale blue armour, knocking the dolphin to the ground and leaving a huge dent in its side. Shamtile continued to pummel it until it was ejected from the tower and Innogon was avenged.

“You’ll be okay,” said Kyle, placing his hand on Luna’s shoulder. “Losing our first Minakai on the thirtieth floor is more than I expected.”

Luna sniffed, upset about Innogon falling to the sneak attack of the Dolissile, but she nodded in agreement. The trio pushed ahead, now joined by Luna’s Frocean who hopped along beside them. The rest of the floor was filled with challenge, but the tamers and their Minakai conquered it and arrived on the thirty-first floor, weary but holding onto their strength.

“Oh no,” said Aurin, looking at the room surrounding him.

“We told you that you jinxed it,” whispered to Kyle, hoping not to attract any enemies too early.

“A coincidence,” said Kyle.

They were stood in a huge dark room, so large that the walls were very much distant and illuminated faintly by the torches that rested upon them. The glowing orbs of light were specks and every floor tile around them was a potential trap that they couldn’t see clearly enough to check for safety.

“I prepared for this,” said Aurin, pulling out an Orb of Traps from his bag and casting the spell within.

Upon unleashing the magic of the orb, violet lights flashed into existence throughout the room. Aurin counted there to be seventeen of them, all traps that were primed and waiting to be sprung, but now they could see where they were.

“Good thinking,” said Kyle, clapping Aurin on the back. “How many more charges?”

“Only one more,” said Aurin, “but this one I’m certain of.”

The tamers crept into the darkness, keeping a lookout for the Minakai that spawned in the shadows. Shamtile and Frocean dealt with the majority of the enemies that reared their heads, the tamers concerned that the light from Hogannon’s fireballs would alert the lurking monsters to their presence.

“Agh,” groaned Aurin, prompting Luna to slap his arm to shush him. “I know,” he whispered, “it’s just that there are gold coins here.”

“Forget about them,” said Kyle. “There’ll be other opportunities.”

“Eee!” squealed Luna, leaping into Aurin’s arms.

“What?” he asked her, looking at the ground.

“Something grabbed my leg! Something grabbed my leg!”

Kyle squinted into the darkness. “I don’t see—”

A large vine wrapped itself around Kyle’s arm and pulled him towards it as a Debigger revealed itself. It was pulling Kyle into its sack, wanting to devour him. The rancher tried to wrench his arm free, but the vines were too tight and the Debigger was too strong.

Hogannon threw itself on top of the demonic plant and crushed it, before unleashing a series of fireballs into the wild Minakai’s mouth that dared attack his tamer. Once Hogannon was finished with it, the Debigger was burned and crippled, unable to move. It disappeared in a flash of green light, banished from the tower, but any pretence of stealth was gone.

Roars, groans, howls and screeches echoed throughout the massive room, letting the three tamers know that the hidden dwellers were coming for them. They all looked for each other and ran, careful to avoid the traps while Hogannon shot fireballs ahead to help the party see the way ahead.

“There!” called Aurin, pointing straight ahead as an Electrout threw itself at him while covered in crackling electricity. He ducked out of the way and Shamtile launched a rocky javelin at the lightning fish.

The three tamers sprinted towards the golden pedestal housing the blue orb. There was a sudden snorting and a groan as Hogannon vanished in a burst of orange light.

“Damn!” called Kyle as they reached the elevator and placed their hands on it.

They were pulled upwards, down another Minakai and they arrived on the thirty-second floor.