Whereupon I was instantly sent flying backwards, a biting pain flaring from my midsection as twin holes punched through my chest and gut.

Without a moment’s delay, Bullet Time whirled into motion, spinning up in my soul and increasing my perception to sixfold the normal rate.

Even at half-capacity, the Blessing’s Entropy draw was still enormous, more costly yet than Flash Step, but the greatly slowed time was invaluable in combat, granting me a pseudo-eternity to grasp my situation whilst Draconic Blood sluggishly knit my obliterated flesh back together.

The sixth room’s layout was just the same as ever. The same lasers, the same lava ocean. The magma had gotten rougher, but that was all, and far from a concern. In slow motion, its crests and crashes and deadly spray actually seemed quite beautiful.

I slowly rotated my eyes towards the direction of the attack, and beheld my adversary, my hearing somehow unobstructed by the greatly slowed time.

~~~

SUB-NODE #6968, UNIT DESIGNATION:

GH–0S7

~~~

It was a small, sphere-shaped robotic drone, just about half my own height in diameter.

It hung absolutely still in the frozen world, borne aloft by one cylindrical jet located somewhere within the thing’s midsection, invisible save for the subtle rippling distortions it produced in the superheated air below.

The drone was plated in all-white armor that, I surmised, served to completely camouflage the thing against its surrounding backdrop, the same shade precisely as the corridor’s walls and ceiling. The only reason I could see it right now at all, without the song’s assistance, were the twin cannons it had extended, protruding from its spheroid frame on either side to aim directly at me.

Already, they had begun to glow anew. The creature meant to finish me off.

It would be disappointed.

Flash Step crackled forth from the depths of my soul, barely troubled by the slowed time, easily transporting me to just atop the robot’s mechanical shell.

Bullet Time gave way to Soulbound Weapon, and my lupine companion howled joyfully as I brought him down, slicing cleanly through the wretched machine and falling elegantly into a crouch upon the cold, metallic floor. The drone ruptured from above me, detonating violently and showering me in a rain of sparks, fuel, and metal.

And dropping not a single Entropy crystal. Not that I expected anything different.

“That was some fucking Spawnshit,” I cursed, emptily, as the robot’s shattered remnants deflected off my hardened skin. The first salvo hit me immediately; I’d no time at all to react. Since when was there danger before the room had even begun?

Then again, since when had an exotic floor played fair?

“Fuck. This. Place.”

I groaned in frustration. Now I’d have to activate Bullet Time before every single teleport, lest the drones get lucky, and hit somewhere more vital next time. It was an absolutely necessary precaution, yet doing so would preclude me from ever entering a room full-up on Entropy in the future. Hardly ideal.

And I had a bad feeling about this room, in particular.

I looked out across the blistering, burning, bubbling sea of red and white. I noticed nothing, save for lasers and lava. No more drones appeared amidst the homogenous background.

It didn’t set me at ease.

There had to be more of them. I was certain of it. I didn’t know where, precisely, but I knew I didn’t trust my base senses to recognize them, concealed as they were by their own armor. No, the only way I’d have to perceive them was by extension of my awareness in the song.

But, therein lay the problem.

I couldn’t split my focus into three directions at once, not when it came to Entropy. The moment I began my traverse, I’d need to use Fire to protect myself. That was one. Then, I’d need to fly to get across. Two.

And searching for the drones made three. Not to mention the fact that, previously, I’d had to flare Bullet Time more than once whilst navigating around a particularly dense cluster of lasers.

Moreover, what would I do if I actually saw one?

Even if I noticed the drone before it noticed me, how was I to destroy it? I couldn’t very well fly over to the thing and simply hope it didn’t detect me in time–that was far too dangerous. I’d be forced to use Flash Step which, again, meant dropping one of my two other abilities.

Success, in other words, was possible, but required the extremely precise and adept cycling of specific Blessings in specific sequences; Protection from the ubiquitous heat would be required at all times. Therefore, I’d have to switch flight to Flash Step to reach the drone, Flash Step for Soulbound Weapon to take it out, then swap back in flight before I fell to my death. All the while, I’d need to have my sense extension switched for Bullet Time’s at least doubling my reflexes, to comfortably avoid taking damage.

As I stood there, at the room’s inception, tapping my fingers upon my chin with my brow furrowed, I took a sudden step back as a thought occurred to me.

At first, I’d imagined myself made for this challenge.

After all, I’d been sent here alone; clearly, this was a test intended for a solo delver–a single Blessed. And exotic floor or no, the World Titan’s tests tended to center around creativity, flexibility. Pitting a group of delvers against a number of thematically varying challenges, to test every aspect of their capabilities. It was why, after all, every experienced delver sought a well-balanced party.

The challenge of this floor, then, would be to see how we might fare alone, without each other to augment our individual strengths and weaknesses. A test of mind and body alike.

One in which I’d cheated.

I commanded well more than a conventional Blessed’s fair share of abilities. Where others might be forced to use their smarts or divine canny new uses of their own powers, I had enough tools within my arsenal to face just about anything the second floor sent my way.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

But the World Titan, or Cirque, or whomever, wasn’t doing that.

They weren’t testing me with discrete tasks. They weren’t pitting me against one challenge, then another, then the next. No, quite the opposite. The rooms had been slowly ramping up, requiring more and more combined powers to survive.

But that was ridiculous.

Most Blessed were specialized in a single area, largely incapable of more than one archetype of task, and certainly not of manipulating multiple high-level abilities at the same time. This was a challenge no single Blessed could be expected to pass. Except…

Was Rubik’s Warren designed for me?

First, you’ll play my game.

That’s what the creature, the android, that Cirque had said. At the time, I’d just thought the thing was crazy. Sub-sentient, like the rest of the World Titan’s creations. Speaking in riddles. But was this what it meant? That the test I faced, and likewise those my companions no doubt faced simultaneously, were designed for each of us, specifically?

I felt a chill run down my spine and swallowed nervously, glancing forwards to surveil my awaiting path once more. I’d never anticipated something like this. Never. If this entire floor was tailored to challenge me, specifically, then I was in particular trouble.

Because this was the second floor.

Floor 1, recommended Attunement 0-5. Floor 2, recommended Attunement 5-10. For reasons I still didn’t truly understand, unlike all other Blessed I’d heard of, I’d triggered at the Grain stage. Attunement 5. I’d struggled to clear the first floor, last time, but despite my inexperience, I’d been comparatively overpowered.

Not so, now.

This was the sixth room. Three more remained. If this challenge had been specifically designed, then it wasn’t tailored to me, but to a version of me at the Marble stage. And I didn’t have any companions to help even the odds.

I couldn’t force myself to reach the Marble stage. I didn’t know how. I didn’t even know if such a thing was possible. But maybe, just maybe, I could do something else.

I knew how to use Entropy to accomplish some basic tasks. Pithy miracles. Minor telekinesis, modest flight, even elemental manipulation via my affinities. But such powers were only possible through the Shardsong.

It made anything seem possible. It connected me to everything. It worked like a sixth sense, a fifth limb, reflexive and intuitive in a way my copied Blessings never were. In a way even my primary Blessing wasn’t.

Despite its addictive, maddening allure, it’d saved my life more than once. It was what kept me alive back in the Burrick Maw, an occult conduit that Entropy might be channeled through for myriad purpose.

But its utility, its flexibility came at a cost.

Its form, its function, wasn’t crystallized or condensed or codified, like my Shards. I couldn’t simply shove Entropy into the song and expect something to happen. I had to provide direction. Constant, concentrated direction. Such was its nature. It could do almost anything, but not all at once.

…Or could it?

The abilities I asked of it were simple enough. Not altogether different from the more commonplace enchanted items I’d encountered time and time again in Talos’s marketplace. Boots of levitation. Circlets of perception. Simple runic circuits, intended for pedestrian Blessed.

Not that I’d ever drawn a rune before, of course. Not that I even knew the name of one.

But then, maybe I didn’t have to. The song had long allowed me a deep, instinctual understanding of runic items. Perhaps it and the cipher were closely entwined. Two sides of the same coin.

The same language, written and spoken.

I swallowed nervously. Ultimately, it was just a guess. I didn’t know. I knew nothing of runic engineering, nothing of the ways Entropy might formally be given function and form. Once more, I harshly stamped down the rising fear.

To do what I now considered would require a manipulation of my soul itself, a reconstruction of my inner sea. I’d never attempted anything like it before and, if I failed, the consequences could be catastrophic. But, what choice did I have? I had to continue. There was no room for failure, not now.

Slowly, cautiously, I rose into the air and drifted forth until no solid ground remained beneath me.

The lava boiled furiously, meters below my hanging feet. Every hiss and pop made me jump. I scanned fervently back and forth across the breadth of the large corridor, seeing nothing. I couldn’t just go in blind.

Now hovering near the corridor’s apex, I closed my eyes, licked my lips, and activated Bullet Time.

Never before had I attempted to do what I did now. But, never had I been pressed like this before, either. If not for the Mimic Knight, I’d never have triggered. If not for the Kobold Champion, I’d never have gained my most useful Blessing.

Adversity was the crucible that made me stronger, the Fire that nurtured my growth. And in order to survive, I’d need to grow. I’d need to change. I’d need to evolve. If my Marble stubbornly refused to make itself known, then I wouldn’t wait for it.

I’d do it myself.

For the second time in my life, now in a far less comfortable situation than before, I began to focus on the sound of my breaths, patiently directing my own respiration.

In, hold, two, three.

Out, hold, two, three.

The hot, dry, choking air of the superheated corridor filled my lungs, making each gasp a painful struggle. As it sufflated me, I felt feverish. As it departed, it left my lungs cracked and weeping.

Grizzled delvers spoke of the wondrous deeper levels of the Labyrinth, of air filled with unattuned Entropy so thick you could almost drink it like sweet nectar, but this place was sterile. Barren. The only thing sustaining me was that which came from within.

There was no tranquility, only focus.

There was no peace, only control.

I felt the song grow stronger than ever, prostrating beneath my commanding touch. I felt it strain and snap and shiver under the yoke, but gave it no respite. Instead, I watched it closely, gazing deeply into its ephemeral whorls and eddies as it bore me aloft, as it formed a gentle shield to keep out the worst of the sweltering heat. If it wanted freedom, if it wanted release, it would learn to obey.

My breaths were shaky, and my mind far from calm, but I felt aware like never before.

As I continued to respire, each breath a rasping wheeze, I turned my gaze towards my inner sea.

It raged furiously from within the recesses of my soul, deep and dark and violent. My Blessings sensed my tension, my desperation, my distress, and their mood echoed my own, each locked in a perpetual battle to prove their worth and might.

They knew my will, for it was theirs in turn, and the oldest amongst them heralded my arrival, Draconic Blood clashing with Flash Step at the point where land met sky in an explosion of Entropic power.

As crimson Lightning met Fire and Blood and occult shockwaves echoed across my soul, I coalesced into being.

I levitated effortlessly, held high above the raging seas, Bullet Time embedded in the center of my chest as a frozen stopwatch. The song draped across my shoulders and wrapped about my waist, clothing me in regency and authority, marking me as king. I flexed my arms and clenched my fists and felt the metaphysical muscles ripple, overwhelming strength rushing through me in an awesome euphoria.

Within my veins was the power to cleave mountains, to drain oceans, to reshape this place with a gesture or a whisper, for it was mine, and mine alone. Scarcely three days had passed in the outside world since first I’d managed to apparate here, but back then I’d been merely an observer.

Now, I was something more.

Fang flashed into existence beside me, howling raucously, bugling my arrival to all. He raced eagerly around me, impossibly fast, his massive bulk becoming a whirlwind of blood and bone and silver as he roared.

Today, I would not be an observer.

Today, I would be God.

With a minute flexure of will, I teleported to Draconic Blood’s massive volcanic island, appearing just beside where the surf vengefully battered his impervious obsidian cliffs. Here, in this place, my Brute Blessing spanned larger than Talos and rose higher than its tallest spires. Far below, deep within it, I felt Personal Storage’s soft hum.

It was time to begin.