Saving Throw Versus Oblivion Made!

Veti Girig's soul has been successfully archived!

Veti Girig now walks the Path of Peril.

Barlton StrongThew's soul has been successfully archived!

Barlton StrongThews now walks the Path of Peril.

Drake de Leone's soul has been successfully archived!

Drake de Leone now walks the Path of Peril.

You have failed to fuse Greater Fissure within the soul of Elof Grey.

Elof Grey has suffered Catastrophic Damage!

Previous Soul Surgery prevents complete dissolution!

"You did it, boy! You did it!" Barlton whooped for sheer joy after what felt like an endless moment that had somehow lasted for a full day and night, if the others weren't pulling his leg. But certainly they all looked both excited and completely on edge, as if they really had been waiting breathlessly for countless hours.

Drake nodded, whistling as he caught a look at Barlton's back. "I didn't realize you were a natural artist, Jack! The detail here is nothing short of extraordinary!

Jack blinked at this, realizing that, as much as he had felt utterly in tune with Barlton as he somehow encapsulated and revealed his soul to what he tried to think of as the universe as a whole, he really had no idea what form his symbolism had taken, so lost in his fugue he had been. Then he caught sight of the shimmering latticework of fine mithril lines in a border of crimson the color of his own blood.

Jack's eyes widened, realizing the hideously complex rune looked more like an integrated circuit board than anything else. And much to his surprise, he wasn't tired at all. If anything, he felt strangely rejuvenated. But as much as he wanted to immediately immerse himself in reforging the rest of his party, he was wise enough to know the value of a good night's sleep, and refused to imperil the lives of his friends unnecessarily.

A caution that turned out to be a very good thing.

"Jack! Please help him, you have to help him!"

This from the newly risen Veti who had been so filled with undeserved praise when she too received the brilliant message flashing across her mind's eye, just as Drake had the day before, their procedures going just as smoothly as Barlton's had, such that it hardly felt like Jack had to struggle against anything. Rather, he had been bringing life to the potential of their souls that had always been just a single spark... and a hideously complex mithril bloodrune... away.

Only now, their earler jubilation had been replaced by horror as they all finally understood the terrible risks they had been taken, gambling with their very souls.

And much to Veti's good fortune and Drake's and Barlton's as well, they had metaphorically rolled perfect triple sixes.

Elof, as was obvious by the way the lad was screaming and clawing at the bloody drops pouring from his own beat red face, had not.

And it was all Jack could do just to keep him alive as he howled and thrashed, his body twisting and pulsating as if the very pressures of the deep, long denied for months they had thought everything was well, was now attacking with renewed vengeance, the young man pulsating as if he would turn into a slime at any moment.

"Jack!"

"I know, Drake. Shut up and let me work!" Jack roared, immediately slashing open his own wrist and covering Elof with his blood, using so much of the potency he had absorbed from the mithril, refilling his potency pool after each soul-surgery, awed to find that even his Master Rank Rune Forging was still capable of ascending as he carefully worked on his friends, now putting every bit of skill and potency he had achieved with his friends to desperate use.

And it cost him almost every potency point he had earned to stabilize a now shaking and sobbing Elof, his soul little more than shattered fragments kept tight within a casing of Jack's desperately reinforced rune.

For long moments they all gazed at Elof's sobbing form, and Jack felt the sudden release of so much terrible tension, replaced by the weight of what he feared was condemnation, as four pairs of watching eyes now met his own.

Jack flushed under their regard. He couldn't help but lower his gaze. "I was a fool to think I had any right, any right at all, to dare forge another man's soul."

No one said anything to that, and Jack was haunted by the weight of their lingering gazes as they all prepared for sleep, the only one speaking being Aroust. "Will you be alright looking after Elof, Jack?"

Jack swallowed the lump in his throat. "I... yes. Of course. It's the least I can do."

Jack spent what felt like an endless night beside the groaning and thrashing Elof, as the boy, for all that he was but a year younger than Jack, grimaced with pain that transcended the merely physical.

A pain that did not abate until after a solid week of Jack putting everything he had into gently and very carefully strengthening the blood rune he had originally instilled to give Elof access to his interface and was now acting like a splint containing Elof's entire soul.

And Jack did everything he could to turn that bare-bone's splint into an unbreakable cast, saturating Drakes shattered soul with an infusion of mithril enhanced potency and Jack's own spiritual essence, as if he would reforge his friend with a composite comprised of both their souls.

As mad as it was, as desperate as it was, Jack knew it shouldn't have a chance in hell of working.

But somehow, it did.

Soul of Elof Grey has been successfully stabilized!

Elof Grey no longer benefits from Mithril Infusion.

Additional Perks for Elof Grey will now be available upon level-up!

Congratulations!

Arcane Manipulation is now Adept Rank 3.

Lesser Healing is now Adept Rank 4.

Rune Forging is now Master Rank 2. You have gained a new perk! Spiritual Tattoo. You now have +6 to all skill checks to modify the souls of any Delver who would dare place themselves under your care! Note. Raw Mithril Ore & Potency is required for any soul surgery!

"Elof, how are you feeling?"

It was a question he had asked every day. At first all he had been met with were pain-filled sobs which had only advanced to bitter anger when the agony no longer tormented.

And now, over a week later, Elof, for the first time, cracked a smile.

"I... better, Jack. Honestly, I feel better than I have since the moment I thought I was about to die." His eyes grew wide, haunted by visions only he could see. "It was awful, Jack... knowing that death was coming for me, mocking me with my desperate escape from the doom that should have been mine when I first escaped the deeps only to die, crushed to slime here after months doing all I could to better myself, having thought that my luck was finally on the rise."

He gave a rueful shake of his head. "But I had to dare the biggest prize imaginable, ignoring the warning in Barlton's eyes... and your own. To see if I had it in me to become one of the greats." He chuckled bitterly. "But I should have known better. I'm common as dirt. No heroes to my family name. And all I got for my stupid daring was pain like you wouldn't believe. And if you hadn't been there, Jack, if you hadn't been willing to do so much to save me... to sacrifice so much to save me..." he gave a humbled shake of his head. "And there I was, cursing you out loud enough I know you could hear, but you didn't forsake me for my bitterness, even though I was the one who insisted you try!"

Jack flashed a pained smile. "It tore me up, seeing how badly you were hurting. Knowing from the moment I first clasped your hand that we walked a perilous path... that I had already pushed your soul as far as it could safely go."

Jack bowed his head. "I owe you a major apology, Elof, and the cost in potency is one I willingly paid." He flashed a bitter smile. "Because I have yet to forge my own class, so the excess potency isn't doing me that much good, at least not right now."

Which wasn't entirely true, because when he was saturated with potency he could master his spells at a truly ridiculous pace, but no reason to trouble a smiling Elof with that.

And when he held out his hand, Jack gladly took it.

"Thank you, Jack. Thank you both for giving me the chance for greatness, and not forsaking me when it became too much to bear. And thank you as well for opening my eyes to my own interface. Had it not been for you?" Elof shrugged. "I'd be a lot worse off than just unable to mine for Mithril any more.

He sighed at that, and Jack didn't blame him. Though he desperately hoped Elof's soul would successfully fuse and heal over levels and time, now was certainly not the time to push, and Elof didn't dare even use his mithril saturated armor. At least not now, Jack pulling a far more humble set from his soul pouch, all of them carefully paying no attention to the body it had been attached to when Jack put it back in storage, having no intention of soiling their nest beyond the careful arrangements, amounting to a deep pit his Artisanal Manipulation now allowed for with minimal mana drain and a single concentrated act of will.

Their entire party took a pause from their mining and studying to celebrate with a beaming Elof, Barlton now a fair expert and preparing their admittedly dwindling spider meat reserves, but no one stinted or worried as they savored a few precious hours of celebration, Drake cracking open one of his remaining brandy flasks that would have seemed pure foolishness had they known he was storing it just months ago, and was now a welcome treat.

Only then did his friends feel comfortable commending Jack openly for his singular feat, no longer feeling guilty celebrating when one of their own had been so close to death.

Even Aroust saluted Jack with the crystal snifter Drake had provided. "You're a rare talent, Jack," he said with a bemused smile, earning raised glasses and cheers from all of them, even Elof.

Jack couldn't help wincing at that.

"Don't say a word, Jack!" A half drunk Elof scolded. "Thanks to you, I can still level up as good as any mortal delver, and when it comes to friends in high places, I get to know all you future movers and shakers from the get go! And I'm still asking Sophie out, Barlton. I'm not going to let a silly thing like nearly melting to slime dampen my resolve one bit!"

Drake and Veti blinked at this, but Barlton roared with laughter, clapping a suddenly stumbling Elof on the back. "That's the spirit, lad! A true dwarf let's nothin' stop him! Fact is, you endured the mining for months, and survived a transformation I get the strong feelin' should a left ya dead! So yer certainly doing somethin' right, lad!"

Jack saluted his now bushing friend's half-drunken resolve along with everyone else, his smile of heartfelt relief lasted only as long as it took him to curl up under his blankets, before losing himself to the first good bit of sleep he had been able to enjoy in over a week.

When he woke up it was to the harmonious ring of priceless mithril ore being snatched from stubborn rock, and Jack realized he had a choice to make. One that would be so easy to ignore, assuring their fortune, and Jack somehow understood as well that no one would gainsay his choice.

It would be so easy to ignore all memory of the desperate light in Aroust's eyes, so easily belied by his easy laugh and bemused smile, even saluting a drink in Jack's honor.

Who didn't even hold back his diligence as Barlton mined the ore with almost desperate intensity.

The remaining glitter just a fraction of the original fortune as they all truly took in the cost of rising three of their numbers upon the Path of Peril, their souls now somehow transcendant.

For all that Elof had nearly perished with his desperate need to walk beside them... and the cost in mithril ore had been the same for all of them.

Mithril ore that, once freed completely from the Midnight Mantel holding it so tight... could no longer be used to signal Jack's intent to the universe at large. A signal that would resonate, rebound, and, if Jack forged his rune just right, result in another soul achieving transcendant status.

Or, for those who's potential was somehow flawed, might just allow him to seal the cracks, allowing for nearly unlimited advancement in this life, whether or not the imprint of their souls would be somehow divinely stored.

Or kill the recipient in the most hideous way imaginable.

Either way, Jack had a choice to make.

And he was rapidly running out of time.

"Barlton! Stop!"

Jack's voice cracked on the last of those two words, but the ringing of pick and hammer instantly stopped.

Because somehow, he knew. They all knew.

Barlton gazed almost longingly at the ore he was so close to prying free in one glorious whole. He turned to gaze at Aroust for long moment's the duelist's lips pressed in sudden tension, his eyes both apologetic, and determined.

"Are ya sure, friend? Tis yer right, but like I said, should ya decline, a full half o' the ore we dig up is yours."

Aroust flashed a rueful smile. "You have no idea how much I want to take you up on that offer, my friend. But if there's a chance, even a chance..."

The words hung in the air. Barlton sighed, then shrugged, flashing a great big smile. "And won't I be a grateful bugger, should we be facin' down titans one day, knowing I'll have yer inhumanely quick presence by my side! Sure, lad. Do what ya must. Rich now, or impossibly powerful in the years ta come."

Aroust dipped his head. "Thank you for understanding, my friend."

Barlton shrugged. "Of course, ya could be dancin' with oblivion, but every man has the right to choose his own fate. And if yer soul ain't ascendin', and ya already know it..."

Aroust nodded. "On the one hand, it's the mark of a fool. On the other, this is my one and only life... no System, or god, or AI interface is going to bother making backup copies of my flawed soul. So I might as well do all I can to become as strong as I can, so that no one and nothing can take my one shot at existance away."

With those words, he bowed to Drake and Barlton before giving a grinning Elof a friendly clap on the shoulder, then winking Veti's way before making his way to a quietly waiting Jack.

"Jack?"

Jack swallowed the lump in his throat, ignoring the pounding in his heart as he gazed up his friend's rugged features that he now knew so well, covered in ore dust and smelling of raw magic and desperation that didn't quite reach his eyes, Jack already knew what his answer had to be. But still, he had to ask.

"Are you sure?"

Aroust dipped his head. "Tell me true, Jack. What do you think my chances are?"

Jack closed his eyes, and placed his hand on his friend's forehead, sensing the tiny fissures in the soul of his friend with what was now perfect clarity, have honed and refined his gifts since his almost fatal disaster with Elof.

"Honestly, there's a chance forging this rune could kill you."

Aroust paled, but his gaze held firm.

Jack smiled. "And a chance I could patch you up so thoroughly that you're advancing all most as fast as a twice-born."

Aroust flashed a fierce smile. "Then you already know what my answer will be, friend Jack."

Jack nodded.

He did indeed.

You have successfully fused Medium Fissure within the soul of Aroust Craveat.

Aroust Craveat's potency costs have been reduced to a multiplier of 1.35.

You have successfully fused 3 Lesser Fissures within the soul of Aroust Craveat.

Aroust Craveat's potency costs have been reduced to base minimum!

Arcane Manipulation is now Adept Rank 4!

After what seemed endless hours lost in what almost felt like an ancient architect's dream, repairing the cracks in a magnificent ancient castle, only to see dull ancient stone transform to palest ivory and jade as the whole shimmered to brilliant pearlescent life once more, Jack opened his eyes to four breathless stares and a fiercely grinning Aroust. "You did something, didn't you, Jack? I feel... different." His normally hard features broke into a surprisingly warm smile. "I feel strangely whole, in a way I haven't since the day I lost everything to a madman I had once thought a friend."

Jack swallowed, stumbling to the ground in unexpected exhaustion, having the strength only to nod. "I think... I think you'll be leveling up a hell of a lot faster than anyone who's not twice-born," he said, before collapsing into a stupor as the others cheered and celebrated, even Elof among their number.

Before Barlton suddenly started howling in dismay.

"Me ore!!"

You have successfully Reforged the Soul of Aroust Cravat. You are suffering from Potency Depletion! Remaining Mithril reserves have been relegated to Spiritual Rejuvenation!

And Jack looked on in dismay as the final traces of brilliant mithril fire within the obsidian walls flickered out of existence, only finding the strength to stand when the last filaments had faded away.