The soft lapping of stagnant waves against a metallic shore and the rasping caress of a bony tongue upon my cheek gently roused me from oblivion. The foggy beginnings of consciousness brought with them a sharp, piercing migraine, a dreadful pulsing in my temples.
“Lvrmbalgr,” I groaned, shifting, rolling over onto my stomach and trying my best to ignore it.
The tongue, however, stubbornly resumed its vexing assault.
“Leave me alone!” I snapped, waving off the offending organ and burying my head in my arms.
Its owner growled petulantly.
Poink.
“YE-OWCH!” I cried out in pain as it abruptly poked me in the gut, its force not quite enough to draw blood, but plenty successful in preventing my blissful return to slumber.
“HOW DARE YOU!?” I roared, swinging blindly at open air as I staggered blearily to my feet.
Fang yipped delightedly at me, snapping playfully at my fingers as he danced back and forth, just beyond my grasp. I blinked groggily out at him, still half-asleep.
“Betrayed by my closest ally,” I lamented. “How could you?”
Fang barked eagerly at my words, tail wagging furiously, full of pent-up energy. He danced left. He danced right. He eyed me challengingly.
“Alright, alright. I get it. I’m awake,” I grumbled, massaging my throbbing head.
I wasn’t in the mood for play. The last room’s exertions had taken their toll on me. Running dry of Entropy left me feeling as if my soul itself had been chewed up and spit out, deeply uncomfortable in a way physical anguish just couldn’t touch. What little rest I got was fitful and unsatisfying.
I was still exhausted.
I yawned miserably, gazing down upon the cold metal that had served as my impromptu bedroll. Belatedly, I wondered why I’d even bothered to bring along a sleeping bag. At this point in the delve, I’d passed out so many times that it might as well have been decorative.
A good thing, I supposed, that I hadn’t sprung for one of the enchanted models.
Fang yelped at me again, before shooting forward in a burst of speed, taking advantage of my distraction to launch a direct assault aimed for my gut.
A feral grin spread across my face.
Surprise attack, eh? Foolish.
I allowed my muscles to bunch and tense and release, shooting me high into the air, where I hung freely aloft by the grace of Lesser Levitation. Fang missed me entirely, whistling past my prior location to slam against the other wall, and collapse in a slumping heap.
I laughed haughtily down upon my adversary from on high.
“Ha, ha ha! What will you do now, foul beast?” I jeered, spreading my arms wide, gesturing to all around me. “I have the high ground!”
Fang pulled himself to his feet, shook vigorously, and plopped sedately onto his haunches. Tongue lolling good-naturedly, he looked up at me from below and quirked his head to the side quizzically, as if saying what are you doing up there?
I narrowed my eyes.
“Poor sport,” I growled, slowly floating back down. “Feigning disinterest the moment you lose?”
Fang huffed, snorted, and started to lick himself, totally ignoring my barb. Well, whatever. We both knew who’d won this day. And, speaking of which…
I glanced downwards, raising my wrist.
3:01:17
Three days. Three days spent inside the World Titan. Two of them upon the second floor, alone. Who knew how many had passed outside? Suddenly, the month-long time limit didn’t seem so outrageous. Temporal distortion effects weren’t supposed to be common this early along a delve, but then, this Dungeon was far from normal.
“Actually, come to think of it…” I muttered, approaching the wolf. “How are you here at all, buddy?”
The moment I drew near to him, Fang, all offensive now abandoned, trotted over to meet me. My Soulbound Weapon nudged his head plaintively into my thigh, his request obvious. I raised an eyebrow curiously, bent slightly over, and reached one hand towards the back of his ears.
My fingers met dense fur. Sharp and steely, but surprisingly soft, and altogether real.
Fang crooned in delight.
“Fascinating…” I whispered.
His appeareance was much lesser here, in both size and grandeur. Right now, he was more akin to a conventional, if somewhat metallic, mundane wolf than the comet of silver, bone and red lightning that was his true form.
And yet…he was here. Somehow. And yet, simultaneously, he was not.
Looking directly at my Soulbound Weapon was an exercise in confusion. His material sword-form had overlapped with his more lupine ethereal body, such that I could see both, to an extent. But…he was tangible, too. To me, at least. My Attunement with him was already nine, it could grow no higher. So what had brought about this change?
And, more importantly, did this mean others could see him, as well?
I frowned. Such a thing would do me no favors in future. I’d no longer be able to claim the creature a mere Entropic weapon. Then again, Rover had seen through that ruse in short order, anyway. He’d called Fang…what was it? A Relic? A living weapon? Both, maybe?
Frustrated, I shook my head. I didn’t really remember, but it didn’t matter. It’d be stupid to pretend Fang was either of those, when I didn’t understand them, myself.
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I scowled down at the source of my concern.
Fang looked back up at me, tongue lolling good-naturedly, just as oblivious as ever.
“Well?” I demanded, grabbing both his ears and worrying them gently. “You understand the sort of trouble you cause me, do you?”
Fang yipped gleefully, perhaps in an attempt to communicate back, or perhaps simply enjoying my attention. Sighing heavily, I released his scruffy ears and turned around.
From its place dead center upon the terminating wall, Rubik’s symbol winked out at me. A three-by-three lattice of green dots. Seven solid, one blinking, one dark.
The eighth room awaited.
Fang growled warningly, his hackles roused by my distress.
Well, Hero? Are you ready?
The voice from inside, once more, clearer now than ever before, so clear it almost sounded real. My eyes hardened upon hearing it. Cirque was not its source. I knew that, now. The enigmatic android couldn’t be.
The voice came from inside me.
Each time it spoke to me, somehow, I was more easily able to hear it. And yet, doing so gave me little comfort. It was a terrible, barely comprehensible thing, a chorus of one thousand souls speaking discordantly, a hundred different tunes and tenors, highs and lows, all converging unusually into one theme. A cacophony forced to coexist. Its words were barely even real, merely my sorry attempt at understanding its message.
Just what was it?
It was unrecognizable, yet somehow familiar. Its tone was half mocking, half serious. Half sarcastic, half genuinely inquisitive. It was poking me, prodding me, probing my mind from I knew not where. Yet, just as I wished to understand it, I could tell it wanted to know me, wanted to know my true nature, wanted to determine just what kind of Hero I intended to become.
“I do not know,” I admitted to whatever it was, in belated response.
My Entropy reserves were full and, though not particularly well-rested, my companions could afford no further delays. I extended one hand outwards, readying Bullet Time for action. The other I snapped, causing Fang to slap firmly into my palm.
I twirled him once, twice, loosening my fingers, lightly exercising my muscles.
Preparing for war.
“But I have no choice,” I continued, explaining myself to nothing at all. “I will not abandon my allies a second time. I wasn’t fast enough, before. I was too slow for Aldwyn, for Ewan, for Raynie.” My timbre firmed.
“Never again.”
My outstretched fingertips brushed against cool metal, and I was teleported to the eighth room.
The moment my surroundings materialized, I whirled into motion.
Pain cut through me like a knife as I called upon my Blessings, but I grit my teeth tight and pushed through its mangled grip. Fang roared from my side, and I returned his growl with one of my own. Draconic Blood surged through my veins, clearing what few cobwebs of sleep yet hampered my thoughts and filling me with feral might.
Flash Step and Bullet Time marched in lockstep, the two Blessings promising an instant response to all possible threats. My awareness billowed outward all around me thanks to Sensory Perception, allowing an unrivaled picture of my surroundings.
I saw them, and gasped.
Gone were the traps, and the drones, and the sea. Gone was the suffocating, disorienting, all-white decor and sterile, bright-green lighting.
Something…magnificent had taken its place.
A massive throne room.
A cubic space spanning easily one hundred feet in every direction, and absolutely breathtaking to behold. The harsh, glaring confines of blank metal had been replaced by smooth, shimmering marble cut with exquisitely complex patterns of gold and ruby and onyx and sapphire, unknown characters that were at once mechanical and human.
There were no lights. There was no need for them. The marble itself seemed to glow with a warm, soothing radiance, casting sourceless beams of brilliance that refracted kaleidoscopically off its own mirrored finish.
Little specks of gold dust hung stagnant in that air, twinkling like tiny stars.
It was barren, yet beautiful. Artificial, yet strangely alluring. Perhaps similarly to the mimic manor I’d encountered so long ago, it was an inhuman intelligence’s attempt at replicating our own architecture, such that it almost more resembled some freak act of natural beauty than genuine, directed design. It lacked any articles of furniture, save for one.
Resting at the eighth room’s opposite side and completing its otherworldly splendor, was a giant, diamond throne.
And, interspersed evenly at the foot of it, their backs facing my direction, knelt nine robotic knights.
~~~
SUB-NODE #0033, UNIT DESIGNATION:
KINGSGUARD
~~~
I froze in place.
The Guardsmen were just as still. Motionless, wholly and utterly undisturbed by my entry into their domain. They didn’t even seem to know I was here.
Their thick, alabaster armor complimented the molten gold circuitry that crisscrossed their hulking forms, each stretching more than ten feet tall. Despite, or perhaps aided by, their prodigious size, their dead, empty eyes made them appear more statue than machine. In fact, the only thing about them giving me any inclination as to their true purpose were the colossal, red-hot greatswords that sprouted from their every right wrist.
Aside from the gentle whirring of resting servos, the room was absolutely quiet.
I swallowed, nervously.
My Blessings were ready. All of them. Attending me in the song. Waiting merely for my say so. My reserves were full. I didn’t notice any trick, any trap, but this was an exotic floor, and nothing could be taken for granted.
Just how strong were the Guard? Were swords their only weapons, or had they something more dangerous in store? Would they all attack me at once, or one at a time? The room seemed harmless enough, but would it remain that way?
I didn’t know. It didn’t matter. Every moment I hesitated, every moment I delayed, my lost companions drew nearer and nearer to grisly death.
I licked my lips, shifting slowly into a stance. As far as it seemed, the Guardsmen activated based on my proximity to them. If so, I’d only get one chance at a first strike.
I had to make it count.
One more time, boy. Start with the breath. Everything starts with the breath.
Ewan’s words, consoling me from beyond the grave.
A grim smile spread across my face, and I chuckled in spite of the nerves. A straight fight, against bladed opponents. Despite the man’s hatred for the World Titan, I couldn’t help but imagine that he’d have loved this.
I closed my eyes, blocking out everything unnecessary.
In through the nose, out through the mouth.
My breathing steadied.
In, and out.
My soul was still sore, raw and weeping, ravaged by my labours in the seventh room. For once, the song wasn’t eager to heed my call. My Entropy was sluggish, the sea within me stagnant. With ethereal palms I gently pushed and pulled, stirring the waves, easing it back into action.
Gradually the currents compounded, the crests foamed, and my sea was roused to life.
In, and out.
I built the circuits slow, minute spurts of Lightning that ricocheted tightly through vessels and arteries, from soul to body, and back again. Bullet Time flashed intermittently to aid my focus, Draconic Blood watching for damage like a hawk. The pain wasn’t fading, but I didn’t mind. It was useful, in a way. It kept me centered, kept me focused.
It made me strong.
In, and out.
My arm raised. My muscles bunched. My blood sang. My nerves prepared to fire.
I exhaled one final time, and opened my eyes.
Flash Step.