As soon as I loaded up, I found most of the others waiting for me. Ariana, Anhe, Maryn, Healina, and Derwydd were in the room, along with Peaches and Cylodel, all of them focused on the table in the middle of the room.

“Good timing!” our healer said to me as I loaded in.

“What's that?” I wondered as I walked over, and then noticed it was a map. “Ahh, Memphani; did you find the place we have to get to?”

“Yep! It's called the Profane Temple,” she nodded back to me, “But let's get to Fivr'ang quick; Wildeye was asking for our help down there!” she then said, and I nodded back.

“Let's go!” I said, and we headed out to the wayport to get Fyu and join our friends.

We found ourselves in the ever-snowy Tundralands moments later, just on the outskirts of Fivr'ang. One of the Mountain Tigers, a girl named Elara, waved for us to follow her away from the town itself. Heh, not even staying in town, huh? I mused as we made our way westward towards the Glacial Peaks. Several sleighs awaited us near a copse of pine; these hauled us to the tallest of the three peaks west of Fivr'ang, Everice Peak, where a camouflaged outpost established by the 'Tigers had been built. Inside, we found most of our fellow alliance leaders waiting.

“'Tis good you are here; and now at last let counsels be given in haste!” Eothane said as we entered the room.

“Lana; the King-Priests are planning a major raid of the Wildlands tonight, worse than they've ever done before. We were warned directly by some of their messengers. I know, I know; we've had some pretty bad ones lately--but this time, the Guardians are, at least temporarily, on their side.” Wildeye told me.

“Gyeck!?” I stiffened in surprise. “Djaziim and Fènghuáng's phoenix... hahh...” I sighed ruefully as others around the room murmured in either anxious or angry tones.

“There's no counter for her mystical ally, since it's technically a spell,” Magisteria said, and I nodded back.

“I've seen that thing in person,” I recalled with a slight shudder, Ari and Anhe both nodding.

“That means the only thing we can stop is Djaziim, who, is arguably the more destructive of the two.” Wildeye nodded. “I'm not discounting Fènghuáng's phoenix, but she only tends to use it when pushed to extremes.”

Ah-heh.

“So she'll most likely try to overwhelm us with pure numbers.” Wildeye continued.

“This timing is unfortunate, for there is unrest in the north, and the Nightkin make now their move to assail us,” Eothane shook his head.

“I can try to provide help.” Qi Lin volunteered.

“We could not spare much more than that, if we want to keep our holds in the Wildlands intact.” Jannie noted. “The real thrust of our counterattack will be Lana's group--oh, Myanihia, you're here,” she said with a sudden smile as the Snow Elf assassin came to join us.

“I am.” she softly replied, subtly placing her hand on my shoulder. “Continue.”

“Right,” Wildeye nodded, and we turned to him again. “With Qi Lin and Eothane fighting in the north, along with a few of the Night Wolves who have already been fighting with the Horselords, the great defense tonight will comprise all of us except Lana and her allies. I'm sending you a battle-plan that Jannie, Magisteria, Hua Ling, and myself have been composing; please let me know if you see any deficiencies or things we can improve,” he told us as he sent it out.

Northern Warriors and Valiant Maidens are gonna hold the coasts, huh? Hmm... it looks like they're expecting the enemy's main attack to be at Mount Solitude in the west, along with the ore-rich regions north of the Olwood, though I wouldn't discount the smaller--ohhh, I see, he's gonna have them use guerrilla tactics in those areas... it looks like he's not counting on Dracuoatlax being around, too. Hmm.

“Let's keep Dracky at Queen's Haven for now; I think he really needs a rest after all the stuff he's been through the past few days,” Ariana softly whispered to me, anticipating my thoughts on the matter.

“You're right.” I agreed. “If he comes out on his own, though...”

“Then at least we won't have forced him!” she smiled back.

“I agree with your decision about most of the smaller outposts we have.” Mad Dog said.

“Most?” Wildeye wondered.

“This one, up in the Blade Heights; that one defends a crucial mining and smelting operation.” he said, giving the other guild-leader a solemn gaze.

“He's right,” Jannie reminded her lover. “That's where our alliance is getting silver-steel from. If they take that over even for a few hours they can outfit their mages with upgraded gear in the next fights.”

“Blast!” Wildeye brought his fist down angrily. “But if we divert too many forces from anywhere else...”

“It's a gamble, but it's worth it.” Mad Dog returned.

“Perhaps I might be of assistance in such a regard,” a familiar voice called from outside. I looked over at Ari immediately.

“Like we said,” I softly smirked, and she gave me a lopsided grin.

“He chose it!” she said.

“Magis, mirror-spell please,” Jannie said to the leader of Words and Sorcery, who opened the communication spell at once. Dracuoatlax appeared on the shimmering image, looking around at us.

“Lady Lana; I understand your feelings regarding me. Yet do not count me out of this last fight against mine enemy! At the least I shall defend this little fortress of your allies in the Blade Heights.” the dragon said to me.

“As you wish,” I said with a smile. “Just be mindful of Venomheart.”

“Of course, master. I will not let myself be felled by such as they,” he assured me.

“Venomheart is the real wild-card now.” Johann Starson remarked. They seem less focused on the alliance and more focused on the Silvernight Queens; but I don't want to discount them being around our neck of the woods tonight, either.”

“I'd bet about half of them at least show up in the Wildlands again tonight.” Angela said confidently.

“Agreed.” Jannie nodded to her. “The others will definitely try and go after Lana and her group.” she asserted. I saw Angelfire fidget in her seat at those words.

“Yo, boss, I want in on this Memphani raid group.” Tyman then jumped in.

“Eh? You sure?” Wildeye asked him.

“Damn sure.” the reply came.

“Then I'm going too!” Angelfire declared at once.

“We need you for Mount Solitude!” Jannie returned with a pleading tone.

“Dante and Vesuvi will more than make up for me, I promise.” the girl with fiery hair told her confidently. Jannie was about to protest again, but Wildeye laid a gentle hand on her, shaking his head. Then he turned to Angelfire.

“I'll trust your word on this. But no more than you two. We're already short Peaches, Derwydd, and Cylodel in addition to the Silvernight Queens, and when the three missing Queens get on... hmm...” he mused uncertainly.

“Lysandra, and Sky Belle... will help you in the Wildlands. Lizzy... I could not say.” Myanihia told him.

“Ehh... she'll be fussy about it, but she'll definitely help you guys if she thinks she has to, or if there's not much of a choice when she logs in.” I shrugged, and Healina nodded in agreement.

“Couldn't have said it better myself.” she said with a smirk.

“If needs be, I will take the rest of my masters to Memphani myself, if I judge the situation to be favorable,” Dracuoatlax remarked. “The Profane Temple is a place of darkness; only the most determined or the most foolish should dare enter its demonic demesne. Even I dare not guess what slumbers there, guarding the way to the Altar of Blood where one can either bind or release that blight of the sands, Djaziim the Unholy.” the dragon told us.

“It's east of Pithoeses, right?” Healina asked to clarify.

“It is. Beyond the Jungles of Zyda and south of the River Goy in the Hollow Wastes.” the reply came.

“Sounds like Bara Zyn is the closer option to that,” Tyman noted at once.

“Wherever you go, you need to be gone five minutes ago.” Magisteria said. “The main assault is going to happen in about thirty minutes. Let's get to the wayport and get to our positions.” she said to us, and with that we adjourned.

Peaches, Derwydd, Cylodel, Tyman, and Angelfire then joined our party, and we headed down to where Fyu and Dracuoatlax awaited us. The dragon gave us a nod, a smug look on his face as we approached him.

“Fear not, Lady Lana! Tonight will be a night of terror for them and not I!” he said with confidence, and leapt into the sky with a flap of his great wings, heading northwest.

“Let us be off, masters,” Fyu said a moment later, and we headed to the wayport ahead of the others. Tyman input our destination of Bara Zyn, and in moments we were whisked away to our next adventure.

***

Hahhh... I can't wait to get back to doing normal quests and stuff for this competition... I thought to myself as Fyu hauled us along in the waggon; then I reflected that a good deal of our adventures ended up being the furthest thing from normal possible. Well at least we could get back to doing more normal things, like running cargo-- oh wait... we couldn't even do *that* normally without dragging a sea-monster into it, could we? I recalled bemusedly, the expression manifesting on my face.

I looked up towards the north, where the jungles lay in the distance. Tyman said something about there being a magical oasis that shifted locations under its boughs every couple of days. Apparently he and some of his guildies had even experienced the phenomenon.

“That was one of the wildest things I ever had happen here,” he remarked as we made our way east by northeast to our destination.

“I've heard about something similar on one of the outer island chains; or was it actually the islands themselves that did it...?” Angelfire said, her expression thoughtful as she tried to recall the details.

“Jans said something like that too,” Tyman nodded. “This whole damn chain of islands that disappears and reappears and stuff; think she said it has some super-rare stuff on it, too,” he said.

“Neat-o,” Peaches said with interest. “We should try and find them sometime, if we can.”

“Hmm.” Cylodel nodded.

“That'd be good for the competition, too,” Maryn noted. “Wasn't there something about exploration bonuses and first-comers to the Hitherlands?”

“Ooh, that's right!” I snapped my fingers.

“You were reading about that a couple months ago, weren't you?” Ari asked me.

“Yeah,” I nodded back. “If you get to one of those islands beyond the mainland first, you get a two-percent increase on profits you make from its resources, or something like that,” I recalled.

“Nice!” Angelfire exclaimed. “Wait a sec...” she then said.

“Yeah... I can't remember if that's based on party or guild...” I said in anticipation of her thoughts.

“Hmm... well, we'll just have to find out later,” she shrugged.

“Have you ever been to these Hollow Wastes, Tyman?” Ariana then asked.

“Hrrn, I usually avoid them. That place ain't right.” he told us, turning his gaze ahead. “I think I know what this Profane Temple is, too; there's these blackened ruins on the top of this mesa out there. Well, there's a lot of them; but this one's the biggest of them all. There's all sorts of dead trees and rotting forests below them, along with tons of undead creatures--and that's just what you can see without getting too close,” he recounted for us.

“No bugs or spiders, then... phew.” Healina sighed in relief. But Tyman raised an eyebrow. “… Th-there's no b-bugs or spiders... r-r-right?” our healer then asked with a desperate look in her eyes.

“Not the normal kind, no.” he returned with a shrug, and she gulped.

“I guess that means they're also--” I started, but Ari softly put a hand over my mouth.

“We'll get through it.” she smiled to Heali, who slowly nodded. “Besides, we have Angelfire with us. I bet you won't even have time to go 'Eek!' before they get burned up!” my partner quipped.

“May-be,” Angelfire replied with a wink, and we laughed.

Our light mood carried us all the way to where we could see the Hollow Wastes themselves, where it began to shift into a more solemn one. I could understand Tyman's earlier words for sure; even as far away as we still were, I could feel a subtle change in something around us. When we got to the outskirts I could definitely feel it. This place was definitely a new level of evil for me.

“Masters,” Fyu said as he paused on the invisible edge of the place, “I can see the ascent to the temple in question. I see, and smell, also, the despicable hordes of undead creatures which lie between it and us. Dracuoatlax could no doubt tell you more of this place, were he here; yet I can recall an ancient story that tells of a band of ancient heroes who did no harm to those below and made it to the temple in safety. What this means, I do not know.” the dog-beast said to us.

“Hmm... I guess it means if we don't attack, at least, we can lose their aggro if they come after us by the time we reach the top,” I pondered.

“That'd make the most sense of that story,” Angelfire agreed.

“Fyu, you can pick out a pretty safe path through all that, right?” Ariana asked the dog-beast.

“I am mostly certain of the path I might take, Lady Ariana,” he replied.

“Good enough for me.” I said.

“I could just whisk us up there by pairs or by threes.” Cylodel then reminded us.

“Oooh, there we go.” Healina smiled.

“That might be safest.” Anhe agreed, and Cylodel began readying himself.

I held my doubts in check for the moment at this suggestion. There were certain areas in most MMO games that prevented teleports of one sort or another, after all; if it was that easy to get up to this dungeon, I would be pleasantly surprised. Sure enough, a moment after Cylodel had enacted his magic to try and get up there, the spell fizzled out. With his characteristic nonchalance, he turned to gaze at the notification window that popped up next to him.

“No go.” he shook his head.

“Kinda thought so,” I nodded.

“Anti-portal and teleport area?” Peaches said, and he gave a nod. “Drat.”

“Then I shall run, masters,” Fyu said, and he pulled away at a speedy pace, doing what he could to keep us from the swells of undead creatures that were roaming or idling around the area.

They were... grotesque, to use the safest word that comes to mind. I was used to undead things such as walking corpses or skeletons, wraiths, and even a couple undead animals from time to time. But, bugs, man, they had undead bugs in this game. And bugs are already creepy looking most of the time.

“Hyeck!?” I tensed up as I caught sight of a slightly familiar thing, quickly burying myself in Ariana's arms so I couldn't see anything.

“Hmm? Oh!” she remarked, suddenly noticing what had briefly caught my attention. “Um. Okay. Yuck.” she said, patting my back as she observed the corpse-hive buzzing off to our left.

“Yo! What the hell kinda honey do those things have?” Tyman wondered.

“Really?? That honey?!” Angelfire said in amazement.

“I'd investigate with him,” Derwydd remarked.

“You two can go ahead. We'll leave you here.” Peaches quipped.

“You never know! It might have some kinda value!” Tyman returned.

“I would guess it is poisonous,” Anhe observed as we got further away from it.

“Hrrn! I bet you're right,” Tyman agreed. “Wouldn't surprise me if those Venomheart twerps came here for it now and then... speaking of which--!” he quickly changed his tone, sitting upright as he caught sight of something in the distance.

As soon as he said the words, I managed to bring myself out of Ari's embrace and look in the direction he was now facing. In the distance behind us, there was a black carriage with a team of four black horses, and in the driver's seat of that carriage was a figure I registered with Shadow Vision as Cyan Idewyll, the Necromancer of Poisons. Worst of all, it was ahead of us, off to the side of the path at the top of the mesa. And I could see the other members of Venomheart getting out of the carriage too--all of them.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Oh, snap--!!” I swore as I went to full alert.

“How did they--no, never mind... I can pretty much guess...” Angelfire sighed.

“Either they knew from the start or they interrogated someone who did know.” Derwydd said with a nod.

I looked around the area quickly. There had to be something here we could use to our advantage. If the Wildlands was under a major assault, there was probably no time to play around with Venomheart before completing the quest, which was definitely at least one of their objectives in being here.

Ugh, there has to be something; there's always something... wait!!

“Fyu! Keep going at a steady pace!” I said as I got ready to hop out.

“Understood, master!” he replied.

“Where are you going!?” Ariana wondered.

“To get a friend!” I said with a cheeky grin, and dropped out of the waggon to head for a particularly large monster.

“Oh boy, here come the rage-posts...” I heard Peaches say as I ran towards my target.

Yeah, yeah... Silvernight Queens this, Silvernight Queens that... I've heard it all, Peaches, I thought to myself with a grin. Well... maybe not yet!

The monster in question was, as I had hoped, a boss-monster. It was a massive, undead tarantula-like creature with looots and lots of little underlings scurrying around it. And as soon as I had gotten its attention, they all came after me. That was my cue. Making sure to keep their aggro on me, I used Shadow Speed and Shadow Evasion to keep them just far enough away so that they didn't kill me, leading them up the mesa all the while. The rest of the gang, having caught on to my plan, came rolling up well behind the monster-spider and its minions.

I'm probably gonna owe Heali for a bit of trauma when this is over, I mused as I scrambled up the path. Ahead of me, I could hear Melody calling out orders to attack the spider and its minions--along with me--as soon as we all got to the top. Ehhh, not quite according to plan, but I'll make it work, I grinned to myself.

As soon as I got to the top, I saw Clara waiting and ready, an eager look on her face. Her hands were wreathed in green-colored wisps, and she raised her hands to launch them at me as I came into view.

“No dragon this time, girlie!” she crowed triumphantly. The spell came hurtling towards me a moment later.

“Shadow Leap!” I said, springing into the air and sailing over their heads. Jana shot an arrow at me, and Merc fired one of his pistols, but they both missed.

On the other hand... Clara's spell hit the monster-spider. Which, apparently, was immune to poison. It, along with its horde of mini-spiders, aggroed to Venomheart at once, allowing me to continue helter-skelter towards the temple while Fyu picked up his own pace to join me there. By sheer luck, the swarm of spiderlings came between us and Venomheart, allowing us to get to the temple unimpeded. As the others got out of the waggon, I looked behind at the battle I had set into motion, and began cackling with delight. I could see Ariana shaking with laughter as well, along with the others; even Heali was managing a wry grin.

“Immune to poison, eh? Tough break for them!” Derwydd beamed as we entered the temple with Fyu, after we unhitched the waggon from him.

“Heard that! All the same, though... they kinda deserve it!” Tyman grinned.

“They never learn.” Peaches sighed. “The more you drive Lana into a corner, the more bonkers she gets.”

“Ah-heh,” I returned bemusedly.

“Masters, they may destroy our waggon out of spite,” Fyu noted.

“Ehh, we can get another waggon anyway.” I shrugged, placing a hand on his head as we walked along. “But we can't get another Fyu.”

“Your words warm my heart, master.” he replied, a grin on his face.

“Although I am sure Lizzy will be mad at us; that was originally just hers, was it not?” Anhe suddenly reminded me, and I stopped in my tracks.

“Gyeck!?”

“Ahh--! It was hers... wasn't it...” Ariana said. “G-good luck explaining things if we do lose it!” she said to me with a nervous laugh.

“I'm just gonna bet they'll be too invested in getting away from that thing to remember it being there.” I said with a shrug.

“Good point!” she smiled.

“Man, this place is dark though,” Tyman remarked as we came to a wider hall.

Angelfire and Peaches activated their mage-light skills so we could see better as the musty gloam encroached upon us in the ancient ruins. The entire place was pitch-black; or perhaps “blackened” might be a better word. It was as if this temple had been burned several times over, charred beyond recognition of what it might have looked like. Ashes littered the place like a carpet, as well as being piled up on what looked to be braziers and tables. The door on the far end seemed to lead into an even darker corridor beyond the hall we now saw.

“Lovely. We'll have to have postcards made up.” Peaches remarked as she headed down first, Cylodel and Maryn at her side.

Unexpectedly, there were no monsters or creatures wandering around the ash-strewn halls to hinder us. On the other hand, there were loads of traps and obstacles. Some of them looked pretty intentional, others seemed like an unintended yet devious result of the temple's decay. Yeah, yeah, I know; it's all intentional on the part of the game-designers, but hey. Immersion, man, immersion.

Anyhow. For the most part, we found ourselves on a descending route. Occasionally, we would find something that had managed to survive the disasters that had struck the temple, and after a while we managed to piece together a general history of the place. It was a site where Djaziim had been worshiped in days gone by; he had ruled over an empire in Memphani, but eventually, rebel forces, together with the aid of a winged terror from the west, managed to overthrow him. The temple was repeatedly burnt and then rebuilt over a decades long war, even after the winged terror had left, and then a certain cabal of priests and magic-users bound Djaziim with the Nine Orbs; from then on, he could only be summoned with a lamp, and only after undergoing the Trial of the Orbs.

“'Yet if the Trial of the Orbs is reversed, this bond between Djaziim and his summoners is broken, and he will again be confined to the depths of this Profane Temple',” Healina recounted for us as she read from the brittle manuscript we had found just moments ago. We were in what looked like a small lecture hall of some kind, or maybe even a scriptorium.

“'Reversed', huh?” I mused.

“Boy does that sound like a pain.” Tyman groaned.

“I'm sure it's simpler than it sounds,” Peaches shrugged.

“It seems like we're almost to the place we need to be, too, since we've found out this much,” Angelfire mused aloud.

“Agreed.” Maryn nodded. “The left passage back there looked blocked off, so we'll try the one on the right.”

“Come on, Lana!” Ari said, gently taking my arm as we headed out. “You thinking about the reversal?” she said a moment later as we continued down the corridor, and I nodded.

“The last place we went to; 'around this dial, turn them right'... could that be the release for Djaziim?” I whispered to her, and she latched on to my thoughts.

“Which means the reverse order might be the sealing pattern... so counterclockwise around the center,” she said.

“But we have all nine orbs now, so we have to think of how that one would fit in,” I returned.

“True. Maybe it goes into the center first since it was the last one we found, and then the others will go in counterclockwise in reverse order of the riddle,” she noted.

“Oh good point,” I agreed. “That sounds pretty solid. I guess we'll see!” I smiled, and she smiled back, nodding to me.

As close as Angelfire thought we might have been to the end, there was still no end in sight to the meandering passage that continued to take us downward, the angle of descent getting steeper by the minute. It was bordering on a slide when it finally leveled out again, depositing us in a large room that was somewhat untouched by the repeated destruction of the temple. There was a large door ahead of us, and engraved upon the door was a semblance of Djaziim himself. An ancient manuscript rested on a lectern to the left side of the door. We made our way over to it, and our lore-experts began pouring over it.

“Not too much in here we didn't know before,” Peaches eventually told us. “But there is a thing in here about what's on the other side of these doors.”

“Oh boy.” Maryn said.

“When Djaziim is sealed away, four holy guardians are in the room to keep potential summoners at bay. When Djaziim is bound to someone, four demonic servants are here instead, to prevent the binding from being undone.” the hauflin guild-leader told us.

“So we have four demonic servants to deal with, probably before we even get to use the orbs,” Angelfire noted.

“Probably,” Peaches said. “What's up, kiddo?” she asked Healina a moment later.

“Doesn't this character imply that we have to fight them while solving the orb puzzle?” the Sea Elf wondered.

“Hmm? Ohh, I see now,” the older woman returned as Heali pointed it out to her. “That... might also be the case.”

“Fun, fun.” Tyman grinned.

“Any clues on how we might beat them?” I asked.

“Not a word... though, maybe this character here... it could be suggesting that finishing the Reversal of the Orbs is also key to eliminating the four demonic servants and restoring the holy guardians,” Healina said as she read some more.

“Ooh, good catch. I agree!” Peaches nodded.

“Two teams, then, perhaps three,” Myanihia then suggested.

“One or two to keep the servants distracted while the other solves the puzzle,” I said with a nod.

“Yes.” she returned softly.

“I'd go with three teams myself.” Tyman shrugged.

“Maryn, Heali, Derwydd, Tyman, and Myanihia on team one; Fyu, Anhe, Angelfire, Cylodel, and Peaches on team two, and Ariana and I will take care of the orbs.”

“You got it, hon!” Peaches said.

“We'll keep them off of you,” Angelfire nodded confidently.

“Let's do this!” Tyman grinned excitedly, and we pushed open the door to head in, breaking up into our respective teams as we ventured inside.

There was a circular platform in the middle of the room; on it was a short and cylindrical-shaped altar with nine impresses, eight around the edges and one in the center. Around the main platform were four statues... scratch that, they weren't statues. The four demonic guardians stood there, still as stone; but I had a feeling that as soon as we started putting the orbs in place they would come to life.

Now hang on. There's got to be some other gimmick going on here. If we could just dump all nine orbs on the altar and be done with it, that'd be way too easy. What's the catch here? I suddenly started wondering as Ari and I approached the altar.

“Be on your guard for any sort of tricks,” I said in a loud voice. “I suddenly have a bad feeling about this...”

“There's a first,” Maryn quipped as she readied her shield. “We'll get these two.”

“And I shall divert these over here,” Fyu nodded. “They will not harm you, Lady Lana.”

“Thanks, you two,” I replied. My partner and I examined the altar carefully for another few moments, then nodded to each other.

“It's got to be the way we talked about earlier.” she said.

“So we put the Orb of Secrets in the center first.” I replied.

“Exactly. Then, counterclockwise from the top-left... ah! I see. They're marked with the symbols, and in the proper order, too,” Ari noted as she examined it.

“Hmm... I'm gonna bet there'll be some sort of delay mechanic between each orb to keep us from putting them all down as fast as we can.” I then told her, and she nodded.

“Oh def. I'd be surprised if it didn't happen that way. I'm guessing the altar might need to confirm or 'register' each orb somehow.” she agreed.

“Right,” I nodded back.

“Yo, Lans, Ari! There's another dial on the wall opposite the door!” Tyman called.

“He's right; and this one has gems in it,” Maryn told us.

“Looking!” Ariana said. “Hmm... generally I think they correspond to the orbs, more or less? At least with their colors.” she noted.

“Maybe they light up when the orb is confirmed as valid?” I wondered.

“Good thought!”

“The only big question is how long that will take...”

“Right?” she smiled wryly.

“Hmm... oh, don't tell me... I bet it's a minute for the first one, and then two minutes for the next, and so on...” I suddenly pondered.

“Ruuuude!” Angelfire sighed. “We have to fight these things for forty-five minutes?!”

“Hahh.” Cylodel shrugged.

“He's right. We can handle it.” Derwydd clapped his hands together.

“Y-you understood him just from that?” I quietly wondered, and Ari giggled at me.

“The same way we understand each other from similar things,” she winked back.

“Eh, true,” I softly grinned in reply.

“Yo! Let's get this fight going!” Tyman called over.

“Right,” I said, pulling out the Orb of Secrets. “Here goes nothing...!” I murmured softly, placing it in the center. A thrumming sort of sound started up, and in an instant the four demonic servants woke up. Maryn and Fyu got their attention at once, and I observed the orb on the altar.

It's glowing red now. If I'm right and it takes a minute for this first one to be recognized the way Ari thinks, will it turn another color? Will we hear a sound or something? I mused as I watched it carefully. The seconds passed by agonizingly. Finally, a minute passed. The orb turned green, and the sound of a bell was heard. At the same time, the gem in the center of the wall-dial also lit up.

“Dyahh... the Jungle Orb!” I then said, placing that one in the slot next. Again it turned red, and the thrumming sound, like the sound of a train starting up, grew louder.

“They got stronger!” Maryn called over to us.

“By how much?” I asked.

“By ten-percent, it looks like,” Derwydd said.

“The combo... doesn't work,” Myanihia reported.

“That figures... these guys aren't exactly world-bosses, but they have some sort of equivalent status, I bet,” I mused as the words reached me.

“Or they could be immune to major and critical attacks,” Ariana suggested. “The game designers wouldn't want us to breeze through this, after all.”

“True,” I agreed. After another two minutes had passed, the second orb turned green, and the bell sounded again. I then placed the Wind Orb down, and once more the thrumming sound grew louder.

“Now they have received a twenty-percent increase,” Anhe called over to us.

“That's the game, huh?” I frowned. “Defend and evade! Don't try to attack!” I said in a louder voice.

“Right!” Maryn called back.

“Understood, master!” Fyu replied.

“Their damage increases based upon the number of orbs we place, huh? First ten, now by twenty-percent.” Ariana said to me.

“For a grand total of thirty-percent; that stacking will be a real pain by the ninth orb...” I noted with consternation.

“Potentially four-hundred and fifty percent, unless they go away after the ninth orb.” she told me.

“So their possible limit is... a three-hundred and sixty percent damage increase,” I said, managing to do a quick subtraction.

“Hey! You did math!” my partner grinned back.

“Simple math only,” I shrugged.

“True,” she giggled.

“Three-sixty or four-fifty; either one is a real pain!” Angelfire exclaimed as she laid down a maze of fire to keep our enemies at bay.

“Even my battle auras can only increase our damage and defenses by one-hundred and eighty percent!” Anhe added.

“You have this, right?” Ari then said to me.

“Pretty much,” I nodded.

“I'll go help the defense teams, then!” she said, quickly kissing my cheek before heading to join the others.

“Gotcha!” I nodded.

As the battle went on around me, I patiently and anxiously awaited the opportunity to set down the next orb, the Orb of Jade. I decided to throw down some lotus bombs around the edges to try and slow our enemies down while I waited; it had only a minimal effect on them. Better than nothing, I sighed as the second orb was confirmed, and then quickly placed the third one down.

For the next half hour, after I had set an orb into place I would use some of my distraction or hindering skills to help out the others with their fight, which was getting pretty edgy with each damage increase. Finally, the time for the ninth orb came along. As soon as I had set the Ice Orb in place, instead of waiting for the confirmation of the orb, the damage increase happened immediately.

“Ack!” Maryn cried out as one of hers almost broke free of her aggro-skills. “This is gonna be a long nine minutes if their aggro-resist has also increased!!”

“Oh, snap...” I sighed with a slight shudder.

“Didn't wait for the bell this time, huh?” Derwydd said as he recovered himself from a sprawl.

“Eight minutes and thirty seconds left!” I called out.

“Lovely!” Peaches returned as she summoned up Bubs to help us out. “Bubs! Use all the tricks!” she said.

“Hoo-hoo-hoo! Just for you!” the gremlin squealed in delight, unleashing his whimsical yet effective barrage of tricks and traps upon our enemies to help keep them away from the altar.

Ugh. This really is gonna be a long few minutes at this rate... I noted with another sigh as I reached for an arrow.

“Lana!!” Maryn called out in an unusually concerned tone.

I soon saw why. One of the big lunks had gotten free of her aggro after all, and he was charging towards me. Or was it towards the altar? Deciding it didn't matter, I quickly loosed an explosive arrow to try and knock him back. It staggered him. More importantly, I caught his aggro, diverting him away from the altar, which I had feared more than actually dying. I shot him with another arrow, and then scurried away as he began definitely lumbering after me.

“I'll get him in a sec!” Maryn said to me.

“It doesn't matter! We just need to keep them away from the altar!” I returned.

“Right!” she replied.

“Lana, this way!” Derwydd called, and I ran towards him. A moment later, the demonic servant was briefly entangled by a vine trap; he broke free a few seconds later and started coming after me once more, but that little delay had given me a decent headway.

I looked back towards the altar. The orb was still safe. I looked over at the wall-dial; for the first time, I noticed that the gems acted as a sort of timer. Their radiance grew stronger as time wore on. Right now, it looked about halfway illuminated. So about four or five minutes left? I mused to myself as I kept running.

“Four minutes, forty-one seconds!” Ari called out.

Oh, right, you were keeping a timer on them as well, I suddenly remembered as I turned back to redouble my aggro with a particularly fiendish attack, Hail of Arrows. The enraged monster with its ten-fold damage increase came barreling towards me after it ended, and I ran like a rabbit.

“Girl, how d'you run so fast?!” Tyman managed to call out to me.

“Shadow-warriors. What can you do?” Angelfire shrugged.

“Aw, hell no; there's got to be some way to compete!” he quipped back.

“Let's finish this quest first!” she returned to him with a fierce grin.

“You got it!” he replied.

Slowly but surely, the minutes counted down. Finally, we got to the thirty-second mark. Gleefully, I smiled to myself. And then I tripped. I went sprawling towards the wall dial, picking myself up as quick as I could. The demonic servant was on me in an instant.

Gyeck!? There's no time to switch weapons -- by the time I get my swords out to parry, he'll have split me in two!! I frantically thought, bracing myself for my first Panarena death. But at the last moment, there was a loud clang. I opened my eyes. Angelfire was there, her greatsword having parried the servant's wicked zweihander just in time. Quickly I switched to my own short-swords, and helped her to block the attack. Ariana then attacked, blasting him from the side and sending him sprawling a couple meters away.

“Nice timing,” I gasped in relief. Angelfire grinned back, and Ari ran over to join us.

“That was close!” she remarked breathlessly.

“Right?” Angelfire agreed. “You can pay me back with a girl's night later!”

“Ahh--” I started.

“You bet!” Ariana beamed back.

“More importantly--!!” I said, rushing to distract the demonic servant from his orb-smashing once again.

“Whoops!” Angelfire cried out, trailing behind me in a blaze while Ariana supported us with a few lightning strikes. Just as we blasted him back, the ritual finished. The bell sounded out again, and the thrumming came to a crescendo. An ethereal figure appeared near the wall dial; or was it being projected from there? Either way, it spoke as soon as it materialized.

“Brave adventurers; will you send Djaziim back to his prison?” it asked us.

“Of course!”

“Yes!!”

“Absolutely yes!” the three of us then chorused at once, the others echoing the sentiments with their own words.

“Then be it so! Djaziim, the ritual is undone! Your prison awaits!” the figure announced, vanishing a moment later.

The demonic servants disappeared, replaced by four holy guardians, and the orbs vanished. We heard the sound of an angry cry wailing in the distance, and the victory banner for completing the quest came up. I sighed in relief and sank to my knees.

Take that, King-Priests.