Time Since Reckless Self-Endangerment: 1 Day 20 Hours

Goal: Kill 'Baby Boots'

“The tele- portation circle sho- ould be at the to- p of the to- wer.”

“Should?” Nic asked. The golem head was startlingly vague when it came to him living or dying. “And keep your voice down.

“It ha- s been a lo- ng time…”

Nic was wedged into a thin crevice in the wall, his pack and gear shoved behind him. It was the only hiding place small enough that sand devils would overlook it. Hour by hour he waited for the approach of dawn to recharge his spirit weapons- he had considered waiting longer and trying to absorb the Drowning Shard, but his cultivation multipliers were turning off one by one, starting with ‘rest in a toxic environment.’

Without them it would be too slow to risk waiting. Nearly half a day would pass and he’d spend the entire time in the crawling fortress of the sand devils.

Instead he drew out the crystal bell and tried to meditate. A faint harmonious note filled his mind each time he closed his eyes. The sound helped him sweep away distractions and worries to focus solely on the movement of his cultivation base within.

It was a fantastically powerful feeling.

A week ago he’d been nothing but street trash chronically starved for Essence. As a human his cultivation base had been a few faint sparks in a slow orbit within his core. Now, energy flowed from hidden nodes down pathways like rivers, joining into a tempest-turned sea of Essence in the base below his heart. The constant turning filled him with a slow fire that eased pain, healed his wounds, and strengthened his body.

Nic was proud of what he’d achieved- and he refused to believe it would end here.

Simply sinking into that feeling of strength was like taking a warm bath. He luxuriated in it for long moments as the crystal chime swept his mind clean.

Until the faint roar of the phantom tiger and boar returning filled his mind instead. Opening his eyes, Nic discovered sparks of light had bloomed within the crystal bell. Stowing it away and slipping the stone head into his bag he crept from his hiding place.

The distant rumble of the Monarch moving through her unstopping schedule shook the earth. He paused to pick up a pair of well-weighted stone and use Adhesive Touch to bind them to a length of vine, creating a sticky, clinging set of bolas.

Armed and ready he crawled towards the chamber full of ruins. The tunnel he was hiding in emerged into the cavern on a raised balcony, where a solid leap would be enough to carry him to the enormous tower that sat crookedly in the chamber’s center.

The problem was the sand devils swarming over it.

Unhooking a handmade grenade from his belt, Nic flung the spore-lob high into the air. It shattered on the far side of the cavern with a blast that echoed and echoed, instantly drawing the beast’s attention.

For one beautiful moment the tower was clear of enemies. They were swarming towards the grenade’s sound instead, ripping at each other with their claws in a blind frenzy as they fought to reach the ‘prey’ first.

Nic flung himself forward in a long leap, hitting the tower hard and clinging on with Adhesive Touch. Flattening his body out to evade detection he scuttled upwards towards the peak.

The drone of wings warned him in the instant before the beast attacked. Sharp talons raked across his back, and while his reinforced pack protected him from the worst of the assault, huge gouges were torn into his leg and shoulder. The claws had punctured his bag, and Nic saw the quartz-pink gleam of the bell slip free and tumble towards the ground-

His tongue shot out and grabbed it from the air, Adhesive Touch allowing him to snag it with ease. Yanking it up into his mouth, he let go of the tower with one hand and grabbed the bolas from his belt, spinning them through the air as he turned to face his attacker.

It was one of the flying sand devils. Unlike their brothers they weren’t heavily armed or armored but had four gossamer-thin wings instead, as well as feet that end in clawed toes like the talons of a hunting bird. It was turning in the air, coming in for a second strike.

As it shot towards him Nic flung the bolas around its midsection and tangled its wing. Adhesive slime stuck to them and brought the beast down- it plummeted through the air to land on the floor below with a sickening crack.

Nic climbed higher, bell clutched in his mouth and determination in his beady eyes. As he reached the top of the tower and began to climb down through the broken roof into the chambers at the top, two more flying devils caught sight of him.

One landed on the rooftops edge, hissing.

The other went straight for the kill. Talons slashed across his face, barely missing his eye. They snagged against his pack and yanked at it, trying to drag him up into the air to drop him to a brutal doom. One of the straps gave way and Nic lost hold of the walls; in a dizzying moment of vertigo he was ripped free and left to dangle by the backpack’s one remaining strap.

Turning upwards, he threw a fistful of Poison Mist across the beast’s wings. Its carapace might have been enough to deflect the caustic spray- its wings were a different matter. The thin material sizzled and burnt away, dropping them both to the ground in an impact that knocked the breath from Nic’s lungs. The bell rolled from his mouth as he spat up blood.

But it did worse to the hard-shelled sand devil.

Rolling onto his feet, Nic smashed his punching dagger down into the beast’s throat as it lay broken on the ground. The kill was quick and satisfying.

But before he could turn to find the second combatant, it found him. Dropping from above the second sand devil kicked Nic dead in the chest. He sprawled backwards, deep wounds ripped into his skin by the beast’s talons. His pack spilled off his shoulders and the stone head rolled out alongside his other things.

“Ki- ll! Ki- ll! Sla- y the chi- ldren of the fa- lse god!”

“I’m…” With a frustrated grunt Nic climbed to his feet. His whole body felt heavy, blood-loss making his head dizzy. “Trying!”

The sand devil vaulted forward and kicked him again. Once more, Nic was knocked to the ground, and this time the beast clung on. It lashed at him with its claws from above, ripping dozens of shallow cuts against his face and his hands as he tried to shield himself.

“Come on!”

With a roar and a burst of phantom flame the tiger echo tackled the sand devil off of Nic. Caught unawares, the thinner shell and weaker frame of the flying wasp phenotypes was a death sentence.

As the tiger mauled its prey Nic got to his feet- again- and shoveled the contents of his pack back inside. Lifting up the stone head in his hands he demanded, “How do I get this ‘teleportation circle’ to work!?”

They were coming. He could hear them climbing the walls. Like ants, the swarm’s anger was drawn by the pheromonal scent of their dead brethren.

“Yo- u need a cry- stal for po- wer.”

In the center of the room was a carved map of the desert contained with a runic circle. The stone wall, the enormous statue of an angelic face, everything was there- including many things Nic hadn’t seen before. An oasis in the south. Pyramids to the east. What looked to be a colossal skull in the west.

In every location of note there was a round indentation. In addition, seven brass stands rose from the edge of the map where the edges of the circle glowed and sputtered with a faint blue light. Each of them ended in a holder meant to fit the same size of object.

“Dammit, you could’ve mentioned!” The first of the sand devils dropped from above. Without even thinking, Nic summoned the boar echo to smash it through the wall. The ancient bricks caved away and the beast was sent tumbling to the cavern floor below.

Leaving a new entrance for the rest to crawl through.

“Hold them off!” He ordered the boar, before turning his attention back to the stone head. “And you! Where are these crystals?”

“They we- re in the ro- om. At one po- int.”

Casting his gaze around Nic saw nothing but rubble and decay. With nothing better he could do he flung himself at the pile of fallen stone from the collapsed roof. He clawed away chunks of masonry, until in the dust beneath, something gleamed.

Crying out in triumph Nic held up a marble-sized sphere of crystal. Then another, and another, until he found a whole iron chest of them, grasping a handful to run towards the circle.

As he turned he felt the boar echo being ripped apart.

Dozens of sand devils had crawled up from the breached wall and more were dropping through the roof. The boar had simply been torn to pieces by a dozen hands.

Licking his lips, Nic stared at the circle. It was only a half-dozen steps away. “Anything else I need to know?”

“The activation wo- rds. Attul Lo- cora Mo- Tus.”

Oddly, none of the sand devils were moving to attack. They held back and watched him with beady eyes. He took one careful step forward, expecting for one of them to lunge. None did. Two steps.

Three-

A pitch black sand devil dropped from the ceiling. It had a wasp’s angular arrow-shaped head and night-dark eyes. It had a body covered in thick black armor like a scorpion. The writhing blue tongue of a centipede. White fur covered its shoulders and wings descended like a cape.

It lunged for him. Nic dove to push the gem into one of the slots.

And the devil beat him to the draw. Its tongue whipped across his face and left a burning, white-hot line of sickly poison sting. Its claw grasped his throat and yanked him into the air, feet dangling. The marble tumbled from his grip and rolled across the map like a wayward comet.

It’s jaws snapped open to deliver the fatal bite and Nic, acting on pure instinct, slammed a spore-lob coated in adhesive directly between them. The beast reeled back and dropped him, clutching its face. The explosion tore into its eyes and throat with brutal force-

But couldn’t kill it.

Nic sprawled to the floor and reached for the marble. His hand was shaking violently, poison spreading through his veins.

The beast screamed in rage and grabbed his leg. Yanking him away.

Nic’s tongue shot out and seized the gem. Slamming it into the slot, he turned and kicked as hard as he could into the beast’s chest. “Attul!”

It staggered back. One foot crossing over the line of the runic circle.

“Locora!”

Its face was a bloody ruin. Its tongue had been blown clearly away. It could only let out a wretched scream of anger as it reached for him again.

“Motus!”

A flash. A line of light rose from the runic circle. It cut upwards, and sliced cleanly through the beast’s throat and reaching arm.

There was a weightless moment of vertigo as the tower vanished, and Nic tumbled through space along the severed arm and head. Cerulean lights flashed through a dark void like stars in the night.

Then the teleportation spell dropped Nic into another circle, in another place, and the lights bled away.

Leaving Nic to roll over, coughing violently, body weak from poison. Blood soaking every inch of his skin. He’d won- but it felt an awful lot like having the shit kicked out of him. As he watched a small silver sphere slowly emerged from the black devil’s skull and drifted into the air.

“Sofia… y’know… if you have to reset the count after this one… I understand…” He coughed weakly, laughing as he lay on the floor. Too tired to stand.

“I think I’ll let this one pass.”