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Mira grunted with effort. The Staff's casing was completely resistant to magic making her plan to levitate it a moot point. Her newly enhanced Qi core had bolstered her physical strength, but not enough to easily carry the heavy staff. She could slowly drag it with great effort, not a good solution in the enemy's palace dungeon. Meanwhile, the Grand Magister Glaucus was likely getting nearer and nearer.
“Come on, Mira. Let go with option Kaiju.” Tiamat encouraged.
“Miss T, you know that spell only works once a day. We have a lot of rooms to retrace; all with very small doors if you remember. I know you love Kaiju, but let's hold off for now. Okay? Let me think a moment.” Mira winced as her grip slipped and the Staff in its casing dropped with a booming clank. The Fae threads continued to coax her to the corner of the room, but her mage sight and a physical inspection revealed no hidden doors. Mira was vexed as to what the right path forward could be.
“Too bad your Teleport doesn’t work, even a small jump to take us down a couple of levels to get closer to the docks would be super.” Tiamat said.
Mira stomped the ground in frustration and then paused as an idea formed in her head. She focused and mentally built the map of the palace in her head, remembering the approximate path and rooms as best she could. The realization of what the faen threads meant finally became clear to her.
Hah, maybe we can skip a few levels. She thought.
“Alright, my beautiful girl. Get yourself ready. I’m going to follow your advice. It’s about to be Hawaiian Punch time again.” Mira declared.
“Why? The doors are all open already, M.” Tiamat said confused.
“That's because we won’t be using the door, T.” Mira stomped her foot again in emphasis until Tiamat’s answering grin showed her that the little dragon got the hint and knew what she intended.
Mira spun her array of spells around, only visible to her mage sight. At her mental command, the stored spells spun to put her choice front and center. The array moved and soon lined up the specific series of glyphs she wanted. She pulled her Aether Nexus Staff out of inventory and with a mental effort she gathered all the diffuse Akasic energy from the room and pulled it tightly to her. She funneled the power into the glyph and shouted her spell’s activation phrase.
“FUS! RO! DAH!”
The compressed Akasic energy was trapped between the floor and its activation glyph exploded downward as it was converted into pure force. The mundane floor, while very thick, proved no obstacle to the massive release of power. A huge section of floor and the adjacent wall were reduced to powder, gravel, and larger sections that hurtled outward into a brightly lit void below.
Mira tipped the heavy God Staff into the newly formed massive hole and leaped after it. Tiamat was close behind her. Mira triggered her stored [Feather Fall] spell to slow her descent. As she had figured out, the huge Vivarium was located almost directly below the Dragon’s lair. The large staff fell with a ponderous majesty telling the truth about its immense weight, a consequence of its power. The large case thudded into the pavement that outlined the beast enclosures. The large paving-stone walkway shattered under the impact, but the Vivarium floor held.
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Mira cursed when she saw something new and unexpected. A trio of Gateway Guardians were below. They were investigating Mira’s earlier vandalism; the disrupted enclosure pens for the Pseudodragons, Sprites, and Pegasi. When the Staff thudded into the ground, they all looked back towards it. Another Guardian of a different class, slimmer and armed with a sword - a Commander type, exited the Pseudodragon enclosure’s stone hut at that very moment and saw her. It pointed its sword, crackling with arcs of lightning, directly at her as it emitted a metallic screeching alert to its troops. Soon all of the ponderous Guardians were looking at her and began to lumber her way.
Mira cursed as a bolt of lightning shot out of the smaller Guardian’s sword. It hit her staff. She managed to contain the bolt until she could convert it back to Akasic energy and absorb it into the staff. The Fae threads rippled about the room in her second sight. They were in equal measures of gold and black; good and bad luck incarnate.
“Fucking fairy fates! I make my own luck, damn it!” Mira yelled as she triggered the remote link to the focused spell trap. She was glad she had prepared to disrupt the other enclosures earlier. Luck had nothing to compare to the power of good planning.
The force-wall barrier’s battery glyph detonated in an impressive explosion. The captive Rocs, Wyverns, and Gryphon immediately understood the barriers holding them were no more. The debris from the explosion rained across their enclosures, pelting the beasts with grit and pebbles. The enraged beasts charged free, attacking the first targets available.
Fortunately for Mira and Tiamat, the Guardians were now between them and the beasts. The golems took the brunt of the deadly stampede. As the larger Guardians crashed together with the beasts, only the smaller nimble one had managed to evade the monstrous charge. It dodged and weaved as it ran in a wide arc toward Mira. The pair of adventurers’ time was running out.
“[KAIJU]!” Mira screamed her custom vocalization for her next spell.
Tiamat, with an act of will, suppressed her natural resistance to magic. Mira’s spell landed and her body began to grow and change. Her tiny form expanded and grew to over twice the size of one of the battling Wyverns.
The enlarged familiar landed with an immense thud and swept her tail into the charging Guardian Commander. Her now-massive tail hit HARD. The comparatively small guardian flew head over heels back into the battle that had erupted. Mira saw even the little Red Caps had begun to charge out with tiny spears and javelins, trying to fend off the large beasts crashing through their jungle territory.
Mira ducked low while the beasts and Tiamat rampaged. The Guardians had formed an orderly battle formation. They had stalled the animal charge and had counterattacked. Mira reached out. She gathered and twisted some of the faen threads with her power. She didn’t know many Faen spells, but the room was so thick with them that it took very little effort to nudge and pull them a bit. She pulled the golden threads about her and Tiamat while pushing the black towards the automatons and beast. Very quickly the chaotic melee turned into a classic child’s game of Knights and Monsters. The two sides coalesced into opposing armies, leaving the two rogues unengaged.
“Quickly T. Grab the staff. Let’s go.” Mira yelled, leading the way.
Tiamat’s enlarged form came with boosted strength, giving her the power that she needed to lift the God Staff. Mira crashed through the door into the Vivarium’s prep room. Mira jukked sideways behind the door as the Staff of Law crashed into the room from behind her. She canceled the Enlargement spell. Tiamat quickly shrank down to her normal size and followed her into the room.
As they slammed the door, the sounds of fighting continued with lightning, impacts, roars, and screeches.
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