Tormacc had heard Zedna describe the Stone Wurms to him, but her verbal description didn’t do them justice. The wurm was huge; its body rising up and towering over them despite most of it still being underground. Its body was made of interlocking stone plates, weaved together more closely than any scale-mail armor. It looked nearly impregnable to Tormacc’s eye, the only way through was to attack with enough power to pierce the wurm’s hide.

Its face was one giant maw of teeth, a gaping chasm of constantly churning incisors that would grind anyone caught inside to ribbons in a handful of seconds. Looking closer, he couldn’t even spot any actual facial features: the teeth the main attraction. It was hideous and horrifying, and Tormacc knew that unless Zedna could take care of it he and Athra would be no more than a light snack for the giant beast.

Before he could even ask Zedna what they should do she took action, darting forwards, dagger at the ready as she seemed to glide up the wurm’s side, her feet finding purchase on the ridged plates covering its exterior. The Stone Wurm roared, a haunting trill ripped from whatever it had for vocal chords. But before the wurm could take action to rid itself of the pest climbing its exterior, Zedna swung her dagger, activating a skill to create a clean slice a little more than a meter back from where its mouth was.

The Stone Wurm froze, coming to a complete standstill before collapsing, its body contracting in on itself before it fell over sideways, lying dead on the ground. Tormacc stared at it, mouth agape. It was dead just like that? He had been expecting a long drawn out battle, but it turned out that when Zedna said she could protect them from the Stone Wurms she wasn’t joking around. That hadn’t been a battle, it had been a slaughter.

“We should get moving soon,” Zedna said as she leisurely walked over to where Tormacc and Athra were resting. “Now that the Stone Wurms’ nest was disturbed they might be more active. I can handle one or two easily even in my injured state, but if a whole pack were to attack us I might not be able to protect the two of you.”

No more wurms disturbed their rest time, and after another half-hour the party was moving forward once more, although this time at a more reasonable pace. Now that the Greenstone Rager was taken care of they weren’t under any real pressure, since as long as Zedna could defeat the Stone Wurms and Athra could guide them around the holes and warn them of any ambushes they were in the clear. And despite all the excitement that the first part of the journey held, the remainder was rather calm.

There were a few close calls while they finished traversing the Stone Wurms’ territory but thanks to Athra there were never any surprise attacks, and even injured Zedna could easily finish off the Stone Wurms, her ability to pinpoint their weakness making the fights almost trivial. When Tormacc asked her how she knew where their weak point was, Zedna told him that when she came into the mountains before with her previous party one of them had dissected a Stone Wurm to try and find its weakness. They had succeeded, but without someone like Athra to prevent ambushes they still lost a teammate and were forced to turn back, lest they lose more people. While targeting the Stone Wurm’s weak point was a good way to kill them, if they killed you first that knowledge was useless.

It took them three weeks of travel to get through the Stone Wurms’ territory after which they took a two week rest to allow Zedna to regrow her arm. After that it only took them another week to get out of the mountains and a week and a half to reach the exit portal.

While the portal wasn’t huge, it did stand out, its large height making it a beacon on the otherwise flat landscape. Because of that, perhaps unsurprisingly, there were a group of people surrounding the portal. When he first saw them, Tormacc guessed they had set up some sort of town or trading post, but as the three of them moved closer it became evident that something else was afoot. There were clear defensive fortifications surrounding the portal, and they didn’t look like the kind that were made to fend off monsters.

Walking closer, a large, defensive wall surrounded the portal, with various buildings able to be seen poking up from behind. Everything was made of stone, as there was nothing else to build with. Some of it looked like it was built with clean-cut stone blocks, where other sections looked like something that Athra would make, the stone sculpted by a skill to form complete shapes.

Blocking the gate were four guards. They didn’t look quite as scruffy as the bandits in Zedna’s gang did, but it was clear they were up to no good; their unkempt appearance suitable for their current job but little else. Standing on top of the wall were a few more guards stationed at regular intervals around the wall, and as they walked up to the gate a guard stepped forwards to stop them.

“Halt!” he said. “There’s a toll if you want to enter the portal. One Blue Sphere each or somethin’ equivalent.”

“I see,” Zedna said, stepping forward. “So if we want to exit the Shard through the portal we have to pay you fine gentlemen to do so?”

“That’s right. Boss’s orders, no one gets through without paying the toll.”

“There’s just one small problem with that,” Zedna said. “You see, I don’t want to pay the toll.”

As soon as Tormacc saw the smile on Zedna’s face he barely had time to step back and close his eyes before a giant beam of light crashed down on the people guarding the portal, killing the weaker ones outright and blinding the more powerful. Screams started to echo out, and by the time he opened his eyes everyone he could see was dead, and based on the sounds coming from farther in, the rest were soon to follow.

Not even five minutes later silence echoed out over the ruined fortifications, the bandits guarding the portal no longer among the living. Tormacc and Athra didn’t even have a chance to intervene, and as Zedna sauntered back out of the ruins he was once more reminded of her strength, or, more accurately, reminded how she stacked up against everyone else in The Tower. He had grown a bit used to her feats during their travels, but it was good to know that even if he couldn’t catch up to her he might be able to face normal people.

She was carrying two large bags on her back, and as she reached them she threw one each at their feet.

“Payment for guiding me over the mountains,” she said. “The Essence should be a nice extra as well.”

Turning inwards to look at his Fate Wheel, Tormacc was shocked by the amount of Essence he now had. He had been too focused on the battle to notice, but they had still be in a Party when Zedna slaughtered the bandits, meaning all the Essence gained from killing them was shared equally. He had gotten at least a few hundred Essence from Zedna that way over the course of their trip, but it paled in comparison to his current windfall of tens of thousands of Essence.

“In addition,” Zedna said,” I have something else for you. We might have ran into a bit of trouble crossing the mountains because of the Greenstone Ragers, but it wasn’t without its benefits.” She then took out two pieces of Sparkle Stone and handed one to each of them.

Athra was rather stoic for most things, but even she experienced a clear change of expression when presented with Sparkle Stone. It was only one piece each, but the pieces were sizeable, and while Tormacc suspected Zedna had saved the majority for herself, he wasn’t going to complain. He had earned more than he could have dreamed of from partnering with her. Athra’s piece was slightly larger than his, but it had been Athra that she needed anyway, so getting anything at all was more than he could ask for.

“Thank you,” Athra said,” May Great Rock shelter you in its shadow.”

“Yeah, thank you,” Tormacc said. “Are you leaving now?”

Zedna nodded. “I’ve been on this Shard for too long. Perhaps we’ll meet again when the two of you become stronger.”

And with that Zedna turned and flitted away through the destruction she caused. There was a brief flash from the portal and then she was gone, leaving Tormacc and Athra alone.

“Are you going to leave the Shard?” Tormacc said.

Athra shook her head. “Not yet. Still much to do. Maybe, one or two years, leave then.”

“Then hopefully we can meet again when I’m no longer a little rock.”

“May Great Rock guide you and watch you grow.”

With a mental command Tormacc left the Party and made his way towards the portal. It was a strange feeling, not being in the Party. While he was in it there had been this external sense of connection, and now it was gone, leaving him alone once more. He almost turned back and asked to join Athra again, but he had things to do and places to be. If he wanted to climb The Tower and increase his own strength he needed to move forwards. Zedna had opened up a whole new world for him, and now he had a goal to reach.

During their travel out of the mountains he had eventually broken down and asked her what her highest tier skill was. She didn’t give him a direct answer, but she did say she had tier twenty skills. Tier twenty skills cost twenty million Essence to unlock, so it wasn’t surprising that she didn’t mind sharing the thousands of Essence from killing the bandits guarding the portal. To her it was literal chump change; the only way she could gain meaningful amounts of Essence through spheres or something similar.

Approaching the portal he almost looked back, but after a brief pause he entered the portal, warping back to the First City. He could only go forwards; while he may have felt alone, he was carrying the hopes and dreams of his people on his shoulders. It was time to try and use his newfound wealth to live up to those expectations.

Stepping back into the First City it felt like he could breathe again, the stale air no longer burning his lungs. It was a strange sight, stepping from a blasted, arid landscapes to a bustling metropolis, but it felt good to be back, even if he had not real association with the city itself. In his mind it was still the internal hub of The Tower, a thought reinforced by how his former party members had referred to it.

Unlike his first time stepping into the city, this time he was immediately inundated with crowds of people, the surging tide moving towards the portals leading to the Shards. He was a bit out of the way, as the entrance and exit to the First City had a bit of space between them, but outside the plaza he was currently in there was a steady stream of traffic heading for the Shards.

He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but if that many people were leaving the First City there must be a good Shard available. It seemed luck was on his side; not only did he receive a sack of loot and a ton of Essence from Zedna as a parting gift but even the Shards were aligning in his favor.