“Clara! Clara, where are you?!”
Mikella roared at the top of her lungs, her hands cupped to her mouth. No matter how hard she screamed, there was no response. Only the sounds of either combat or the natural noises of the biodome itself.
“Mikky, relax!” Myra shouted, outstretching her hand and grabbing Mikella’s shoulder. “Screaming won’t get you anywhere, and it’ll probably call the enemy over instead.”
“But Clara’s out there!” Mikella slapped Myra’s hand away, her shoulders heaving in panic. “And Zeke’s gone too! And all the other Journeymen! How can I relax knowing everything’s gone to hell?!”
When Mikella woke up after the strange explosion that occurred in the tower, she found herself separated from the group. Thankfully, she wasn’t alone–Myra and Piker were with her, surprisingly.
That’s when she realized that Clara was once again here in the dangerous biodome, this time filled with dangerous Bastion soldiers who didn’t mind killing innocent children and elderly back at Eve Glade.
“Look, I get it,” Myra raised her hands in a peaceful gesture. “But panicking won’t do a thing. You’re just gonna make it worse for the three of us if you keep losing your mind.”
“Myra’s right,” Piker stepped over. He was just surveying the surroundings gathering his own thoughts while Mikella was having a slight panic, emphasis on ‘panic’. “And you’re forgetting–Clara is possessed by the angel, isn’t she?”
“Don’t say it like that!” Mikella shouted, her scowl returning. It wasn’t as though she didn’t ignore that, but she disliked anyone actually saying it out loud. Piker remained neutral, however, and Myra stared at her intensely.
“But it’s the truth,” Piker said, ignoring Mikella’s anger. “Clara is possessed, or rather, the angel is using her body as a vessel. There is nothing we can do about that. But the best part is that Clara couldn’t be more safe than she is now. With the angel using her body, there is no chance of Clara being hurt. If she is, then wouldn’t that angel be in trouble on her own?”
Mikella still glowered at Piker, but to his credit, he didn’t budge at all. Knowing his logic seeping into her panic-riddled mind, she calmed down. Her head slumped.
“I know, I know, but…”
“Mikky,” Myra held onto her shoulder again, this time grasping it tighter. “Everything is fine. Knowing Zeke, he’s gonna survive this no matter what. The Journeymen are fine, that much is certain, and we don’t need them to look out for us. Right now, our best choice is to try to find our teammates, then get back on the mission. Bastion is still here, and we’re going to face them at some point. We need to get our heads straight. Mikky, we need you to stay focused.”
Myra’s words seeped into her mind, finally unraveling her frayed nerves. Mikella knew she was just being stupid, but when everything turned to shit, she always relied on Zeke to keep her steady, to tell her that everything’s fine just by his presence.
But she knew that this shouldn’t be the case. She needed to rely on her own self, and if nothing else, rely on her comrades. Despite the differences between them, Myra and Piker have always kept up with her and Zeke, calling themselves the go-getters of the group. If no one else, Mikella was glad that she was together with these two.
“...You’re right. I’m sorry,” Mikella said demurely. “I… I lost myself again.”
“Your sister’s involved,” Piker mentioned. “We already knew you tend to go crazy when she does. We don’t blame you.”
“Yeah, and fuck that angel for bringing a little girl into this dangerous place!” Myra said, now fuming at the thought. “But… Piker’s right. That angel shouldn’t let Clara get hurt, and right now, we should focus on the main mission. Piker?”
Piker nodded. “Right now, we’re near the fortress, a few miles away from the tower itself. I managed to get a good look, but I don’t have any specialties in tracking our location. For now, I suggest we stick together and not gain any attention.”
Mikella winced, fingering that she did enough to call forth a parade of soldiers coming after them. Though if it’s for Clara, she didn’t mind slaughtering them all, but there was no point if she could just avoid it all.
Getting a closer look herself, she found that they were within a small valley, one side being the fortress itself–its stone walls dominating the entire scene alone, not even showing its entirety, and the other side at the nearby mountain pass that could expand further out into the biodome. She thought the fortress was somehow at the end of the biodome, but once again she found herself impressed at the sheer size of it all.
Surrounding her were several crystals, but this time there was some greenery involved, actual greenery of leaves and roots from nearby trees. After seeing nothing but crystals all this time, it was a rare but welcome sight to behold.
“Alright, so what’s the–”
Right when Mikella was going to get into the swing of things, something buzzed. It wasn’t on her person, rather, it was as though something buzzed near her soul. It was tugging at the back of her mind, reminding her of something similar to a smartphone.
That’s when her eyes widened, catching the other two’s attention as she quickly dug into her pack like a crazed maniac.
“It’s Zeke! Zeke’s calling me!”
She shouted to appease their stares, surprising them when they heard those words. Mikella, in her fluster, completely forgot about the rune stone Zeke gave her for this exact reason.
She can’t exactly blame herself for forgetting about it after the entire time she was used to not having a phone. Hell, she didn’t even use the phone as much other than for contacting her family in the old world.
When she finally brought out the rune stone, it was buzzing just as she felt in her soul. Since it was connected via her own mana due to the stone’s properties, it tugged at her core to notify her that Zeke was calling. It took a while, taking her staring at the stone to figure out what to do to the buzzing glowing stone riddled with intensely compact runes before she just poured mana into it and spoke to it like an actual phone.
“Zeke? Zeke?” Mikella called out, hoping against hope that there was any kind of connection in this place.
[...Mikella? Is that you?]
A confused, but energetic voice called out, sounding just like the crazy Runist she knew and love.
“Zeke! Are you okay? More importantly, is Clara with you? Is she okay?!”
She probably could have worded it better, getting a stink eye from both Myra and Piker. But she didn’t care about that as Zeke responded.
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[Everything’s fine,] Zeke responded, his voice sounding like he was on shaky connection. There was all sorts of noise that was there, but thankfully none of it intruded into their conversation. [Especially Clara. Zoan is still in there, but she told me Clara is perfectly fine. I also made sure with my Recovery skill.]
Hearing Zeke’s reassuring and calm voice was like a balm to Mikella’s heart. Her earlier panic had completely disappeared, and now there was no doubt in her heart that she could get back into the swing of things now.
Eventually Myra and Piker came in, hearing Zeke’s voice on their end as well. Hearing that everyone’s fine, Zeke’s own voice sounded rejuvenated as he detailed his current location and situation.
More importantly, he let loose the information regarding their rewards. Gained from none other than Zoan herself.
“So the orbs let us get another Acquired Skill slot,” Mikella nodded, even if Zeke couldn’t see her. “That’s good. And it makes sense that the fusion crystal thing shouldn’t be used. I’m still not comfortable fusing my mastery skills yet.”
It may sound arrogant on her end, but the chance of her fusing skills was definitely there now. What she truly looked forward to was the orb, even if the experience of swallowing it dampened her spirit a bit.
[By the way, the orbs can only be taken by the otherworlders. What did Myra and Piker get?] Zeke asked, prompting a rather good question for them all.
Mikella looked back at them, realizing that Myra and Piker also gained the Skill Unison Fragment capable of fusing skills. Apparently that one was a freebie for everyone. The other reward, on the other hand…
“It’s a natural treasure!” Myra screamed with glee, pulling out her second reward from facing the Master of the Tower, hence what the angel named the Drake Commander.
She pulled out what looked like a simple molten rock. A black, almost burnt like piece of stone with glowing embers that radiated in a deep red color like veins across the surface. It looked hot to the touch, but strangely it was just decently warm when Mikella approached it.
What she felt instead was a wave of heat unlike anything she ever felt. Rather than a heatwave, it was her soul that felt like she was drowning in a current of flames ready to burn her alive. She actually had to take a step back. It wasn’t like she couldn’t handle it, but it was getting extremely uncomfortable for her. Myra, on the other hand, practically cuddled it close to her face.
“A natural treasure… wait, you mean the thing that helps people rank up their attunements?”
That was something she learned and actually planned on getting the moment they were done with this Bastion business. One’s attunement cannot be raised normally, unlike with class and skill levels. They can only increase the rank by imbuing or absorbing so called natural treasures, items gained from any facet of the planet Tarial from natural places filled with dense mana.
Obviously it has to be filled with mana of a certain aspect, and the elemental natural treasures were as various as well as popular for loads of people across the world. They were also just as expensive, and the stronger the natural treasure, the more expensive it is in any market–and that’s if you can even find it as they were still rare enough to make it troublesome to get them.
You have to get through to the monsters who could also get to the treasure, but they guard the treasure instead, and sometimes even entire dungeons are built around those treasures, providing passive power to the monsters and getting them stronger each and every day. Dungeons come and go, and so do each of the treasures.
What Myra has was not only a popular fire-attuned natural treasure, but it was pretty damn potent too. And just as she expected, Piker also pulled out a natural treasure–a spike made entirely out of ice, and it couldn't be more opposite than the molten rock as just getting near it gave Mikella the shivers straight to her soul.
“I can’t believe I get to rank up my attunement this early…” Myra said, her tone sounding like an exaggerating high school girl squeal. “I thought I would have to spend years just to find the first one!”
“Great,” Mikella said, her tone dry as the molten rock in Myra’s hands. “So while you guys get to rank up, I get another skill slot with no skill to gain.”
“Cry harder,” Myra sneered. “I can’t hear you over the sound of my vast improvement.”
“You, of all people, can’t say that you didn’t get much out of it,” Piker also added in, but Mikella gave a sickeningly fake smile to the two of them.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I forgot how we graciously gave you two skill books from the tower rather than keep them for ourselves. You know, to sell and make bank?”
“Yeah… but I don’t care,” Myra sounded sincere at first, but immediately grinned at her as she held her magma stone. “I’m still bitter how you maxed out Spear Mastery, so fuck you.”
Mikella flipped her off, which thankfully was a universal thing across worlds as Myra did the same, with Piker just shaking his head at the scene. Mikella turned to the treasures and figured she should just ask.
“So how do you rank up? Do you like… eat them?”
Hearing from Zeke on how they have to swallow the orb, she wondered if that was also the case. That clearly got the two Experts to look back at the treasure in their hands with dread in their eyes.
[To absorb the treasure, you just need to take the mana within it and take it into your own. With your attunements, it is possible. At your current rank, you can do it in just a few minutes.]
The sudden voice of the angel caught Mikella off guard, looking back at the rune stone in her hand to understand that it was Zoan the angel who spoke. Hearing her casually giving advice to everyone was just off-putting, getting Mikella to scowl.
“Umm… thanks,” She said in return. She might be scowling, but it was good advice. But then she frowned as she continued. “And I suppose I should also thank you for protecting us. Umm… thanks, again.”
[It is my duty to see that my wards are protected to fulfill their own duty. And you deserve credit for accomplishing the feat of clearing the tower–even if you had outside help.]
Mikella glared at the rune stone, wanting to glare at the angel on the other side instead. How can she say that when with just the two of them, the otherworlders would stand no chance against the Master of the Tower?
And as soon as the fallen otherworlders from the tower came into her mind, she was full on ready to shout at the rune stone before Zeke’s voice came in.
[Mikky, there’s no more time. The rune stone is running out of juice. I’ll keep Clara safe, or her body at least. You just make sure to stay alive and I’ll come to you as soon as I can. Do you guys know if the lords are around?]
“No, but I’m certain they’ll be fine,” Piker answered instead, Mikella having no choice but to keep her rage tucked in for later.
[Alright,] Zeke’s voice said with relief. Just as he predicted, the rune stone’s glow was dimming little by little, proving that the energy poured into the stone would run out, and soon the stone itself would dissipate from the complicated magic marked into it.
“Zeke, just stay safe, alright? I know it’s you, but please!”
[I will,] Zeke said, and she could just see him flash his usual smile in her mind as he kept speaking. [You stay safe too, alright? Piker, Myra–make sure she doesn't do anything crazy, you hear me?]
“No promises,” Myra said without any hesitation. “But we’ll keep your missus alive before you see her soon. That we’ll guarantee.”
Zeke’s chuckle resounded from the stone before eventually the stone crumbled into pieces. The pieces soon turned to dust before it slipped between her fingers.
Seeing the stone wither away into nothing left Mikella with a hole in her chest, as though she lost her chance to speak to both Zeke and Clara. It was even worse that she couldn’t hear Clara’s voice, and instead hear that angel’s instead.
Her heart ached from not being able to hear her voice, but she put aside her doubts now. Zeke was with her now, at least physically. As long as Zeke is fine, she’ll be fine. And if Clara’s fine, then Mikella will thrive.
And she won’t let anything stand in her way to reunite with her family. Gripping her fist, Mikella turned to her teammates who stared back with resolution in their eyes.
“Let’s get ready. We’ll rendezvous with Zeke and hopefully with the lords at the fortress as planned. How long do you guys think you need to take the treasure’s whole load down your throats?”
“You definitely could have worded that better,” Myra said, not in the least enjoying her choice of words. Mikella only smiled back after Piker answered with a shaking head.
“Let’s hope the angel is right about it being a few minutes. I’m not sure if we can just stop in the middle either. Mikky–”
“I’ll keep a lookout,” Mikella said, nodding to the two. “You two just do your thing. I can’t wait to see how you two will turn out.”
She grinned, getting the two to nod back as they prepared to absorb the treasure’s power.