After reaching level thirteen, he had shunted the skill choice window to the side in order to continue farming the Leviathans. Chaeli’s impatience was a consideration, but it was mostly to give the penguins a little time to make a decision. There was the interdimensional lag between communications to consider, and since the Leviathans were relatively safe to farm, there was no specific need to grab the skill as soon as possible.
Gaining experience after reaching level thirteen in Mirror Lake was significantly more difficult than at level twelve. Most of the Leviathans were either level eleven or twelve with only a handful pushing level thirteen. This meant that they only managed to take down six of the giant beasts before they grew too tired to continue.
Or, well. Chilly grew too tired to continue. Chaeli was just as chipper as she was before, only requiring a couple essences of Azurite to sustain her. Patently unfair, but scarily efficient. She continued encouraging him to keep fighting, but when he received a stack of Exhaustion, he put his foot down.
The beach was mostly safe and Chaeli promised to keep watch as he slept. So with aching limbs after a long day of excitement, Chilly found a mostly clean section of the beach and lay down.
Starfire Aegis sizzled comfortably on his back, as he closed his tired eyes.
The sounds of marching feet caught his attention. He jolted to a sitting position and found a veritable army of penguins approaching over the surface of Mirror Lake. Each one marched in lockstep with the others and held Realm Walker high.
Chilly slowly stood as the army approached.
“What is it?” Chaeli asked, bored.
“The penguins are coming.” Chilly replied. “All the penguins are coming.”
Chaeli shot him an odd look, as he stepped forwards to the water's edge, shaking off bits of white sand that stuck to his armor. The penguins arrived before him and stopped as one.
The army of hundreds of penguins opened their beaks in unison, their collective voices booming across the lake and washing over him like a physical force.
SENT HERE YOU WERE, FROM TIME LONG PAST,
AWOKE IN DARKNESS, ALONE AND LOST.
SKILLS WERE OFFERED,
A SYSTEM LEARNED,
BRUTAL MONSTERS, ALL WERE BURNED
The army quieted as a dozen or so familiar penguins stepped forwards. Their voices softer. More intimate. Personal.
We watched, we wandered, we laughed with glee
As you roamed these halls of death and debris
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Advice we’ve given,
You’ve learned to heed.
To challenge him of endless greed.
The closer penguins turned back to their fellows and thrust their blades towards the sky. The army mirrored the forerunners, their tiny bodies reflected over the lake of perfect stillness.
Each wooden blade began to glow with powerful magic as the hundreds of penguins began to channel their energy into a single massive spellwork.
All the penguins raised their voices to the sky. A choir raging against the heavens.
SO NOW WE MARCH,
ON LAKE OF CHROME.
A GIFT OF POWER,
TO SEND YOU HOME.
A beam of brilliant cerulean burst up from each penguin and arced through the air to slam into Chilly. He stumbled, even though the magic had no physical force, as the great spellcasting absorbed into his bones.
Windows flickered into existence before his eyes before glitching out and cracking. Shattering and falling to the ground like physical objects.
“Are you alright?” a voice said from behind, but Chilly barely noticed.
He shuddered and fell to his knees. The blue boxes disappeared all at once. Leaving him feeling empty and cold.
A whizzing burr, hummed into existence and he looked up to see a portal. It stood before him and had blue sparks getting flung off of the edge. The center of the portal showed an ordinary room. A bed. A dresser. Plenty of clothes strewn haphazardly over the floor.
A boy’s room. His room.
“Woah! What’s that?” Chaeli stepped forwards, her eyes wide with shock.
Chilly slowly stood. “I...it’s a portal out of here. Home.”
“It goes out of the dungeon?” Chaeli spun to face him.
“Yeah,” Chilly said, then spotted a penguin standing beside the portal with a huge wooden alarm clock counting down from sixty. “But it won’t stay open for long. About a minute.”
“Then what are we waiting for!” Chaeli said. She ran forwards, sprinting through the portal, “Freedom!”
----------------------------------------
“I’m SO slooowww,” Chaeli whined.
The portal had closed behind, leaving the two of them standing awkwardly in Chilly’s bedroom. The first thing they both instantly noticed was the absence of their abilities. No glowing cape came down from Chilly’s shoulders. No consecrated ground materialized at their feet. No Tables to will open, with but a thought. Try as they might, all they managed to will into existence was a pair of constipated expressions.
“I miss the tables,” Chilly said, even as he instinctively stepped away from his own desk. Some habits died hard, and anyways now that Chilly had made enemies with their brethren, he doubted any tables would look too kindly upon him.
“I don’t understand”, said Chaeli with a frown, “where are we? Why can’t I access my character sheet? Where are my essences?!”
“My room.”
“Yeah but where? These items don’t seem standard, who is the lead crafter in this part of the realm?”
“Items? Realm? Chaeli, this is Earth. If you want a character sheet I suggest looking there”, replied Chilly, pointing at his computer. “Or Billy’s basement for game night every Saturday”.
Chaeli did not seem pleased.
“This is why you stay away from crazy people and their crazy imaginary penguins. At least my beautiful armor is still here”. Chaeli hugged herself tightly.
Now that he thought about it, Chilly realized how odd Chaeli looked, standing there in the middle of his room. The armor was one thing, but more importantly she was still distinctly tree-ish.
“Don’t be hasty”, he muttered to himself. “I expect this will be very interesting”.