Devick felt torn on how she should proceed. Right now, she simply put one foot in front of the other. Her skin tingled with the powerful images of this pathway. Insanity in the form of snakes were whispering in her ears, offering her truths about Grand Fates, if only she would accept them into her body. The man in the wheelchair was doing a very poor job of hiding both his malice and fear with his sharp glances over his shoulder.

This is the Path to the Pinnacle. And I’m walking it. Randidly would be so pissed if he knew I had somehow made it here… Devick thought. And she sorta hated herself for the thrill of pleasure that ran down her spine at the thought of Randidly’s displeasure.

The small group passed through the gateway and into a tunnel of darkness and crackling mauve lightning. In the distance, there was the faintest pulse of light, but sometimes it seemed more like a mirage than a destination. The Don took the lead, his two remaining subordinates walking just behind his wheelchair, and Devick bringing up the rear with snakes slithering around her head and dragging the mass of Grand Fates behind her like a balloon with the potency of an atomic bomb.

As always, Devick moved with flair and an entourage.

Malice, Merry Consort of Perdition crouched down in Devick’s body as the strange image refinement continued. Whatever misunderstanding made the Don fear her now would be revealed if her image seeped out of the edge of her body. At the moment, the presence of the serpents of madness covered for her, but even Devick wasn’t so unreasonable that she believed she would be able to rely on them.

She suspected at the worst moment, they would pull back their protection and reveal her. It was what she would do, in their position.

But hiding her image became more difficult as they advanced, spitting electrical discharge the only light on the narrow path. Every step forward sent a ringing echo up through Devick’s heel, the pulse concentrating on the core of Malice. Each wave refined the image slightly. Even without listening to the serpents, she improved. Sometimes, it was enough just to be present, to walk the path.

The palm of her hand that had helped slay a god ached. That deadliness deepened, without even any conscious effort on her part.

“What a place,” Devick whispered.

Ahead, the Don paused in his rolling and glanced over his shoulder again. “Of course, you can sense the profound implications of this space as well. Ahem. I had heard the Sonora contained similar image extrapolation chambers… but the quality of this space is positively ridiculous. And I believe… the true prize waits ahead.”

The Don turned forward and continued, but his tone revealed his anxiety. As a damp powderkeg even at her most reasonable, Devick understood he would likely soon try something desperate. However, her instincts warned her of a different threat— while she walked at the rear of the procession, one of the eyes of the dinosaur skull remained fixed on her. Of them all, this broken being felt the most dangerous.

Not because of its shattered image, but because… Devick’s Nether had been transformed, participating in the process of Randidly’s Nether Core evolution. Even now, she couldn’t quite understand her own new depths. Yet the waves of Nether she released vanished when they touched that skull.

Her heart quivered with emotion. And then those quivering emotions began to change too, becoming invigorated and expansive. If Devick didn’t remain focused, she could easily drown in them.

She kept taking steps, her image being refined. Malice shifted her weight slightly, one ear sticking straight up, the other flopping down. The image’s crimson fur became even more lustrous and smooth. The warped and twisted left hand seemed even more monstrous, the veins turning black and poisoned down into the wrist.

Devick’s eyes blazed. Her ‘self’ grew and grew, given the rich environment. She had been lured into this situation by the snakes, but she would have done it again, a thousand times. Because here, she felt the possibility that she might grow quickly enough to catch up with Randidly Ghosthound.

Her eyes flicked from the skull, to the Don, and back again. Then she looked straight ahead, to the vast abyss stretching in front of them. No viable escape routes presented themselves; she would need to see this through to the end. Let’s just not pay with my life for this privilege, alright?

“Actus Suprem. We should speak on how we will behave when we arrive at the final chamber.” The Don said after a few more minutes of walking. Devick almost missed a step; she had gotten so caught up in a tumbling shift between anxiety about her situation and euphoria about her image improving that she had started to daydream. However, he didn’t appear to notice. “Obviously, there is not descriptions of the place we will soon witness; Elhume has made sure of that. But I have a few theories about what will be present.

“First, space enough for both of us. The… benefits of the image amplification will be dampened by multiple images being simultaneously active, but there is no need to compete. I will allow you to have the first use of the space, to better hone my own chance to improve.” The Don paused in his advancement and turned sideways to look at Devick.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Asshole, you want me to go first so you can drill your hand through my lower back and rip out my spleen, Devick offered the Don a beautiful smile. However, her worries were mollified quite a bit when she saw a finger-length serpent of rust circling the Don’s ear slowly.

So Devick just nodded magnanimously and the Don continued. “In addition, I suspect there will be two more items. First, a remnant of the first Pinnacle event. Obviously, considering its historical significance, it is only proper that you receive this rare artifact. As for the other… this is an item of personal significance. My wife died years ago, punished and slaughtered for coveting an object that did not belong to her. I believe that item is also present in this place, because I have not found it in any other areas. I hope… you will allow me to possess it.”

“What is it?” Devick asked because she couldn’t help her curiosity. The Don’s face twisted again, torn between that fear and malice. Behind her, the snakes grew excited. Their eyes fixed on him and their little words grew louder.

Tell usss…

What?

Take.

Tell us.

Take item.

Ours…

Let us in.

All ours.

Tell usss…

The Don cleared his throat after suppressing his emotions. “A memento of a dead friend. Of a powerful individual, obviously, which was why Elhume claimed it. But likely useless to you. I hope we can come to an agreement before we arrive.”

“Don, sir,” one of the subordinates whispered, causing his superior to whip his head around, features warped in fury.

“Do not interrupt-” The Don seethed, but he fell silent when he saw the subordinate’s pointing finger. There, only a short distance forward down the narrow pathway, the road changed. It shifted to become an extremely narrow stairway in the darkness.

A stairway heading down, deeper into the abyss.

“What? This…” The Don’s eyes bulged. The group moved closer, soon standing at the top of the stairwell. The change had no special gateway or threshold but was just a series of descending stones. After a few seconds of lingering at the top, the Don growled and waved a hand. His wheelchair began floating slightly off the ground. He serenely began to descend.

Devick looked up, seeing the floating point of light in the darkness that they had been walking toward, which seemed to have only barely drawn closer, while her image had improved so much. Devick shrugged at the delay; more time in this place would be better for her survival in the long term. So she followed after the others down the stairs, not thinking too much of it.

But soon, she could only grimace and wish she had lingered at the top of the stairs for a while. If the area above had been perfectly sculpted to allow an image to flourish, as they descended, the environment became increasingly jagged and inhospitable. If an image was allowed to seep out of the body, it would be scratched. Even the Grand Fates floating behind Devick dimmed.

Well, except for you stubborn bastards. Devick’s eyes flicked sideways to the snakes of madness. Sure, as they flowed around, they were clearly being raked by the dangerous environment, but their jagged wounds only made them pulse with glee. Their bodies grew thicker and longer underneath the constant pressure. She could only shake her head. Yea, other me is an entitled bitch. But this is impressive as fuck.

The descent continued. The oppression from the environment became overwhelming. The scale had slid further back from Malice bubbling up from within Devick to not daring to move beyond her skin lest she be torn to shreds. And without the reinforcement from her developing Nether Core, Devick didn’t know whether her body would have been able to cope with the environment.

Walking down the steps felt like descending into the belly of the darkness. And in that place where light died, they began to be digested. They glided down, the danger increasing every moment. Devick’s pulse began to race, but it was more excitement than anything else.

These are the sorts of Paths he walked, I bet. To get as far as he did… Devick straightened. She lifted her chin. She advanced into the darkness, daring it to do its worst.

After about ten minutes, the bottom of this place came into view. A small platform waited below, only about three meters across. In the middle of the platform, a woman sat in a meditative posture. As the group approached, her head rose and she spoke. The motions were wooden, her words flat. “Welcome. I am the Third Guardian. Approach and offer me your hand. I will determine whether you are worthy to continue forward on the Path to the Pinnacle.”

There was, Devick reflected, an almost comedic pause after the figure’s words.

“What the hell is this?!?” The Don hissed.

And, to her own surprise, Devick realized she knew the answer. “That… is Mae Myrna.”

The Don wavered for a moment. “This… is the corpse of the Patron of Truth? But that still doesn’t explain this being the Third Guardian-”

“I suppose that is my cue.”

The dinosaur skull flickered and blurred. In the next instant, it became a humanoid, standing at the bottom of the stairs, right in front of the Don. The sharp-featured individual smiled at the man in the wheelchair. “We meet again. I know you’ve had other problems on your mind, but honestly, I’m slightly insulted that you didn’t remember I was loitering here. Perhaps you hoped I got myself killed?”

“Nether King…!” The Don growled and grasped at the new arrival, but the Nether King took a step backward. A barrier snapped into place around the platform; the Don’s attack bounced off of the barrier.

“Only one applicant can proceed forward at once,” The hollow-eyed corpse said matter of factly. “Approach, and let me see the Path you took to get here.”

“You…!!” The Don screeched in fury, frothing at the mouth. Devick could see the rust-colored serpent happily frolicking amongst the chaotic emotions. “You tricked me!”

“You will always be a minor character in the history of the Nexus,” The Nether King shrugged, clearly unimpressed with the display. He looked over the Don’s shoulder toward Devick for a last second, then turned away. “If you can, just pass this test. We can settle this upon the Pinnacle, Don Beigon.”