The inside of the tower of bone was shocking. It was dark inside, so Dan needed to use what little mana he had to map out his surroundings. Instead of dampening his mana, the walls within were smooth, almost frictionless to his energy. With just a breath of power, Dan felt his magic bounce around the room as easily as it ever had.

Dan wasn’t sure how far he had fallen but it could not have been more than twenty feet. However, the ceiling had closed itself off like a wound healing. It was theoretically possible for Dan to break from the top but the exertion would leave him spent. Considering they had been trying to get into the tower, that seemed counterproductive. So did being lost but Dan was hopeful he could fix that.

He had fallen into a reasonably large but empty space. The walls curved evenly around, no corners. There were no clear exits against any of the curved walls but Dan walked the circular room, tracing his hand against the material. Now that he was inside, Dan could see that the bulk of the structure was not made of bone but instead of shaped labyrinthite. The skeletons on the outside were similar to moss growing on a tree.

That only served to confuse Dan more. Labyrinthite had made his ambient mana all but useless each time he had encountered it before yet here it enhanced it massively. Without any clues, Dan could only make guesses as to the reason. The idea he decided to consider true until proven otherwise was that proximity to the soul relics was causing the labyrinthite to be more malleable.

It certainly felt that way. Dan was hesitant to push his magic into the walls, wanting to preserve each and every ounce of energy he could until he and his friends were safe. Yet it was as though the rock of the tower was calling out to the energy within. Dan could feel a pull on his core, wanting him to press his intent on the shape and make it his own.

He resisted the call for now, opting to see if there were any other ways onwards. For some reason, Dan felt as though brute forcing his way through would only serve to work against him. Instead, his eyes became adjusted to the very low light of the labyrinthite, widening as they took in the room. His manasense was a powerful tool but his eyes could perceive the rock of the walls much more clearly.

A gorgeous mural covered the wall. Dan had been tracing his fingers over it but there was no texture to the art, as though the rock had always looked that way inside and simply needed smoothing. The depiction on the wall was slightly confusing. The room being circular, Dan was not sure where the story began. Depending on the direction you followed the art, the story would be vastly different.

Dan followed it from left to right. He decided that the most likely beginning was a dense, dark spot. Following the story, the dark spot exploded into a dozen different black lines. These black lines flowed around each other in intricate patterns, never colliding. Eventually, they begin to swirl around a jewel. As one, the dozen dark lines pierce the jewel, fracturing it. Dan’s hair stood on end and his throat became dry. He had seen this story before. From a much more personal angle.

The fragments of the jewels each contained a piece of the dark spot from before. The twelve chunks of jewel floated around each other for a time before coming back together. Except, like a puzzle forced into place incorrectly, the pieces weren’t placed correctly. They ground against each other until the edges were smoothed. The disfigured jewel was now full of the dark energy, bouncing against the now smooth edges ferociously as the pieces tried to become whole again.

Except now, Dan knew, they had taken rigid form. The power, now separate, protected itself. To do so, the power took on new, more warlike forms. They impressed themselves on the space around them. In the mural, the pieces eventually ground the jewel, which must be Jaia, into a perfect circle. The story, if you continued circling the room, would suggest that these events were a cycle, repeating over and over. The possibilities that were coming to Dan’s mind were large, thought provoking and grand in scale.

Had the calamity Dan avoided in his nightmares been a real event? Enough signs pointed to it being a possibility. If it were true… was it the first, such calamity? Steel Fever had claimed to come from before the labyrinth, as had Ryong Aang. Kumiho felt ancient, sometimes. Dan felt a quick snap in his mind. Kumiho had given him a pinch for calling her old.

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Despite the dire situation, Dan smiled and thanked Kumiho in his head. Spiralling in thought about what might be would do him no good. His friends could be in danger while he surveyed these walls. Dan took a deep breath and gathered his mana. He covered the mana with intent and then, with thoughts of Fa Lian and Shade, Dan began shaping the tower.

———————

If the entire tower was like this, they were in trouble.

Fa Lian was bouncing from wall to wall, avoiding attacks and blocking those she couldn’t slip. Each block jarred her arm as the massive golems took hill-shatteringly powerful swings at her. Three in total, the assault had begun the moment she had plunged into the room. Two scales floated in the air, casting illumination around the room and upon her assailants.

Maybe, she thought, I was supposed to fall with Dan and Shade. If she had, they could have each dealt with one of the stone monsters and it would have been quick work. Instead, each time Fa Lian readied an attack, one of the two she was not hitting intercepted the blow. She had not managed to land a solid attack on any of the three but they had hit her.

Three separate but similar designs, it was all she could do just to figure out their attack patterns. Unlike the skeletons below, these puppets were incredibly agile for their weight and bulk. She had no better description than to say that they were moving with three distinct personalities.

She had been battling them for a few minutes already. Attrition would defeat her for the golems if she wasn’t able to destroy them. All they would need to do is continue pressing her until she slipped. Each of the stone combatants had a different weapon, fused to their arm in place of a hand, so she named them accordingly.

Hammer was the slowest, a second hand free at its left hand free to grasp for Fa Lian or to double up on the long maul it swung. Sword was of middling speed, which in this case meant blisteringly quick. Sword had a shield fused to its left hand, solid enough to block big attacks from Fa Lian and skillful enough to use the shield as part of its attack combinations.

The most problematic was Daggers. Daggers had a sharp blade in not just its left and right hands but in another set of arms as well. Having four limbs made Daggers’ attacks unpredictable and dangerous. Fa Lian was also worried that their weapons might have effects she could not anticipate.

All in all, she would say that she was on the back foot. She jumped and twirled in the air, using the dragon scale staff to vault an attack from Hammer. The swinging mace caught the staff and her spinning increased. With a hopeful jab, Fa Lian tried to push herself from the ground once more, even as she spun. Her poke landed true and she bounced a few extra feet, enough to avoid being bisected by Sword. She had to drop the staff, however.

Daggers made their move, a practised team of three. The manoeuvre was perfect and would have worked on nearly anyone. Even knowing it was coming, Fa Lian was a hair’s breadth from death as she contorted herself in midair. Her floating scales dropped perfectly and blocked two of the incoming blades. One skimmed harmlessly through her hair and the final was her main focus. She expelled as much mana as she possibly could from her hands right as she grasped the fourth dagger.

She wrenched it from Daggers’ arm with a scream. It pulled away like melting cheese, leaving the one arm useless. Undisturbed by the loss of a limb, the attack continued. Fa Lian planted her feet on the unbalanced Daggers’ chest and pushed away, sending the construct careening into the wall and herself away from danger.

She summoned the dropped staff, willing it to change form as it leapt to her hand. Sword and Hammer were already barrelling after her, a step behind her weapon. The fight continued and despite herself, Fa Lian found herself laughing. There was something in the way her opponents moved that sent a thrill through her spine. They were skilled, with tiny flaws in their technique.

With the force of a thunderbolt, she realised why. She recognised the small quirks in their movements and her eyes filled with emotion. The battle took on a sombre note and with the realisation in hand, Fa Lian suddenly found it simple fare to slip the incoming attacks.

Hammer will try to crush from overhead. Except it’s a feint. Fa Lian dropped to the ground as the hammer waved to the side, trajectory thrown off by the kick Hammer threw. Sword was waiting to the left of Hammer, right where the kick would have placed her. Instead of having herself sliced in two, Fa Lian had thrown both enemies off at once. Not multiple personalities. Three facets of the same man.

The weapon in her hand flashed out. As sharp as the dragon scales could go, they were all but useless against these rock enemies. Instead, the scales had become a club. Her strength was more than enough to throw the bulk of Hammer horizontal with her swipe. She punched the ground, throwing herself into the air before dropping both feet into the still airborne Hammer.

With crushing force and exactly to plan, Hammer collided with the just recovered Daggers. The scales weren’t hard enough to destroy the golems but they were hard enough to damage each other. The hammer and three daggers fell to the ground as the two bodies crumbled against each other.

“Just you and me now.” Fa Lian said aloud, her voice thick and pained. Sword made no reply except to square his shoulders. Just like Shen. “I swear,” Fa Lian promised, a binding vow on her soul, “I will save you. Wherever you are.”

Without answering her, Sword jumped forward and met Fa Lian’s blade.

When Ah Dan arrived, appearing through a hole in the wall that wasn’t there a moment before, Fa Lian had dried her tears and waited on the collected rubble of her enemies. “I assume you had as much of a fight as I did. Let’s find Shade and move on.”