“From the ashes, rise. Like a Phoenix, you will burst into flame.”

“So...Ashes of the Stars,” Chilly nodded along. “Makes sense, though I’m pretty scared of losing Vitality.”

“Honestly dude, you need the DPS.”

“Mhmm,” Chilly hummed. “You’re not wrong, but I’ve got Chaeli for that.”

“One, you no longer are,” the penguin pointed at Chaeli then Teluria and flexed its diminutive flippers. Then it pointed at Rahlin and slapped its chest twice. Lastly, it pointed at Sooty and tapped Chilly’s shield. “The greater your numbers, the stronger you end.”

“Rahlin’s the tank, huh,” Chilly scratched at his stubble. The rough hairs were getting out of hand. “So where do I fit in if we don’t need a tank or DPS?”

“Penguins live together,” Nobody shrugged.

“A penguin can't fly, but it can swim.”

Nobody stepped up and put a flipper on Mr. Lait’s shoulder. “One need not swim the fastest. We only hope you can swim the furthest.”

Mr. Lait looked at Nobody, little pink hearts appearing in the black voids of the penguin’s pupils.

“Focus on your strength,” they said together, looking deep into each other’s eyes. The air grew sultry. Nobody’s Realm Walker transformed into a headband with two wooden horns curling back from the temples. Likewise, Lait’s Realm Walker rippled and transformed into a suit of wooden Living Steel armor. The two penguins approached each other, their beaks opening in anticipation—

A colossal wooden bat with the letters BONK carved into the surface flattened the two embracing penguins.

The two penguins popped up, and their ornaments transformed back into wooden swords as they giggled uncontrollably. Mr. Chaos tapped its foot with a deep frown furrowing its brow, which only had the two penguins giggling harder.

Chilly ignored the penguins as he considered their words. “The more I think about it, the more I feel like the glue that holds the party together. I’ve got AOE healing, resistance buffs, and some minor damage to stop enemy regeneration. Hell, even the Chains of Subjugation can help my allies deal more fire damage.”

Another penguin shoved the giggling duo aside and shooed Mr. Chaos out of the way then looked up to Chilly. “Absolute power pierces through millions of skills.”

“And levels grant that.” Chilly nodded, just as another penguin floated on by.

The penguin was sitting in a lotus position at about chest height. Its head was shaved of feathers and a robe made of flexible wood covered its body. It floated up to Chilly and opened its eyes, then began to speak.

Except no sound came out.

“Uhuh,” Chilly nodded along as the penguin spoke. All the penguins around looked at their comrade and nodded along. Clearly, what the penguin was saying was important. “Uhuh, uhuh. I have no idea what you are saying.”

Mr. Dynamo remained taciturn and calmly continued to explain to Chilly a matter of great importance that he couldn’t hear at all.

“Ok,” Chilly said. “Let’s play twenty questions. You are also in support of Ashes?”

Mr. Dynamo nodded, taking a deep breath and placing both flippers on its core.

Chilly narrowed his eyes. “Monk, meditation, energy. Xianxia? Oh! Meridians. You’re saying that Ashes provides the most energy? No! The best foundation. I see. And Inoculation is specializing unnecessarily, and Vitality isn’t really building my foundation.”

Mr. Dynamo smiled, as another penguin floated up to inspect the penguin’s bald pate.

“The limit lies beyond the stars.”

“Ok,” Chilly nodded, “makes sense to me, but if that’s the case then we have a slight problem.”

Chilly slapped his thighs and got up. He made his way over to the others and grabbed their attention.

“Have you chosen a suitable skill yet?” Teluria asked, her eyes scanning his body for any visible signs of a new skill.

“Not yet, I just had a couple of administrative questions first,” Chilly said, then turned to Rahlin. “You’ve fought this guy before, right? What is he like? What is the plan for taking him out?”

“Sure, we can do a quick rundown of how the fight’ll go,” Rahlin started. “Hellbringer’s a big blob of flesh. A jacked-up gluttony demon, if any of you are familiar. It’s got a big stomach that splits into a mouth. Lotta nasty teeth. Don’t get swallowed.”

He gave each member of the party a meaningful glance.

“Hellbringer got a chain flail with heads at the ends. Each one hits for a different element or effect. Worst one is the ash-covered one, which I suppose is yours...Sooty. They inflict ailments and different damage types, but the main gist is don’t get hit. Luckily, only I should have to worry about the flail since I’m going to be the one getting all close and personal with the meat sack. I have a skill to cure ailments, and with Chilly’s healing and resistance buffs I should be fine to tank it for a good long while.”

“The other thing to worry ‘bout is the headless bodies followin’ it around. They got collars like Sooty ‘ere, and cast buff and healing spells on it. Real annoying to deal with ‘em since they have these shields ‘round them, but it shouldn’t be a big problem for us. Or for you.” Rahlin pointed at Chaeli.

“Your job is going to be to assassinate the headless healers with that teleport assassinate attack of yours. They aren’t going to let you whack them sitting down, so your going to need to bob in and out.”

Chaeli nodded her understanding.

“And me?” Chilly asked.

“You’ve got the boring job. Cover the arena in your sparkles and make sure all of us and the boss are always covered. Besides that, there are going to be adds coming from the walls. Don’t let them get to ‘im or he’ll eat ‘em and we’ll be back to square one.”

“Cover arena and kill adds, got it.” Chilly nodded.

“And I?” Telluria asked.

“You're our primary DPS. With Gar-Khan back in Tel...uh, the village,” Rahlin said, shooting Chilly a glance who stubbornly ignored it with a frown and crossed arms. “We’re going to need you to keep up the damage for as long and as hard as you can.”

“I can do that,” Teluria replied.

“Now, I know I asked this already, but you sure the Hellbringer won’t level match you, uh, Teluria?” Rahlin grunted.

“Oh, no. There is still some influence of the dungeon left on me. That beast should recognize me as an ally when we enter.”

“And you, soot man. You won’t join us?”

[I shall refrain from joining as I fear the Hellbringer would use my meager power against you] Sooty signed, which Chilly translated with the help of the penguins.

“Hmm, it’s still like a bloody cheat, bringing a level twenty into a level nineteen boss fight,” Rahlin grunted. “I’ll take it.”

“About that,” Chilly raised his hand sheepishly.

“What did you do?” Chaeli said.

“So, I got a skill that increases my level, and uh, I think I’m going to take it,” Chilly said.

The rest of the group stood still and silent for an awkwardly long moment.

The silence broke when Teluria giggled into her hand, which prompted Chaeli to stomp into his personal space.

“You filthy cheater. That’s why you asked me about breaking the level cap yesterday! How’d you do it?! Huh? How!”

Chilly backpedaled, holding his hands up to keep the raging Warforged away. “Uh, I don’t know. I swear, it just happened.”

“Y-you, you...Uh!” she threw her hands up and backed up. A fleck of ash touched down on her pristine pauldron.

“Blessed by the gods,” Rahlin murmured.

“I don’t—” Chilly started but paused when a penguin with an overly large baseball bat, that had the letters BONK carved onto the side, stomped up.

The penguin jumped up and bonked the large Dragonkin right on his crimson snout and elicited a sonorous crack.

“What—” Rahlin started, completely ignoring the penguin's attack, but Chilly forestalled the question with a raised hand.

“Hold on,” he said, watching as another penguin materialized beside the bat-wielder.

“Thanks. For. The. Chapter.” the second penguin said, punctuating each word by tapping Realm Walker on the hard ground while glaring at Rahlin.

“Ember has been disappoint! The Taken do not step first!” Mr. Chaos added, leaning the great bat onto its shoulder with a huff.

“Uh, Chilly?” Teluria asked demurely. “Why are you looking at my feet?”

“Hmm? Oh, nothing, never mind.” Chilly said, turning back to Rahlin who had adopted a contemplative look. “I think if I’m being helped by anyone, it’s by the Royal Penguins.”

“I see...” Rahlin said, his lowered brows darkening his lizard eyes that scanned Chilly’s face.

“By the way,” Chilly continued, “does the name Ember mean anything to you?”

Rahlin stiffened, his meaty hands closing into tight sledgehammers.

“...it does.”

“Sorry,” Chilly said. The Dragonborn’s reaction indicated that he had hit a nerve with that remark. Or, the penguins had hit a nerve, as he was just repeating their words. “Didn’t mean to—”

“What did they say?” Rahlin interjected.

“Uhm,” Chilly shot his gaze to the others who only looked on with interest. Somehow this had turned into an interrogation. “Ember is a disappointment? Has been disappointed. Something, I don’t know. There was also something about the Taken not stepping in as well.”

Rahlin, Teluria and Sooty all froze. Staring - or in Sooty’s case, facing - at Chilly with wide eyes.

“Wait I recognize that. Taken...” Chaeli said. “Who were they again?”

“Old gods,” Rahlin whispered.

Teluria giggled again and then skipped up to Chilly. She grabbed his arm and pressed her chest up against his armored bicep.

“You’re our little hero!”

Chilly chuckled awkwardly, a flush rising to his cheeks as he awkwardly pried the elf off of his arm.

“So, yeah. Uh. Will the skill make the boss higher level?”

“Definitely,” Rahlin rumbled, staring at Chilly before looking away with a wry shake of his head. “It should be fine if you don’t take the skill until after the fight. Your role in the upcoming battle should be manageable with your current configuration.”

“Is everyone ok with that?” Chilly asked. “I’m going in with only seven skills.”

The rest of the group nodded and after another session of grilling Rahlin for details and triple-checking that all of their augments were in order, they pushed open the great doors leading to Hellbringer’s Domain.

Chilly dismissed the notification and stepped deeper into what was a large chamber whose ceiling was lost in a hazy brimstone cloud. His nose twitched as an acrid burning assaulted his nostrils and he sensed his life regeneration spool up to stop the damage over time.

In the center of the chamber stood a great throne decorated with numerous skulls and bones of various creatures. Atop the throne sat a blob of flesh. Horribly distended rolls of fat drooped over the sides of the throne. The skin was a mottled grayish-red with tufts of hair growing out in random intervals as if the creature was covered in dozens of overgrown moles. Two chunky arms gripped a black-iron flail with a half dozen chains connected to a mound of skulls languishing on its stomach. The head and legs where no where to be seen. Presumably hidden beneath its bulk.

Beside the throne, a group of headless humanoids stood with chains leading to an iron loop held loosely in the boss’ other hand. Their clothes were shabby and mismatched with holes through which open wounds and sores were visible.

If those aren’t undead of some sort, I’ll eat my boot, Chilly thought as his domain rushed to fill the huge chamber. The wave enveloped the boss and its minions in purple embers and radiant green mist that instantly went to work to weaken and damage the enemies.

A shudder rippled across the layers of fat. Where the nipples should have been on the fat blob, two horizontal slits appeared and spread to reveal baleful bloodshot eyes that rolled around until they settled upon the newcomers. Beneath the eyes, another slit - far more massive and nearly entirely encompassing the breadth of the mound - opened to reveal rows of shark-like teeth and a colossal tongue slathered in thick saliva.

The boss smacked its lips and began to speak—

The penguin snapped its flippers and silence descended upon Chilly. He looked in askance at the penguin but paused when he spotted his companions grimacing at whatever the boss was saying.

“Thanks,” Chilly said, to which Mr. Xenix nodded.

“As your dim corrupting spark, Lights the mortals in the dark,” Mr. Xenix intoned, gesturing to the softly smoldering boss. “Though I know not what you are, Hurtful, hateful, baleful star.”

A flipper lifted, then cut down to signify the start of the battle.

Chilly grinned as sound returned. “Light ‘em up!”

Their group burst into motion as protective red bubbles spawned around the healers. Rahlin roared and blurred forwards as a plethora of phantom dragon claws appeared around his cast-iron scales. Teluria raised her palm and a portal of shifting blue spun into existence. A second later, her canted eyes narrowed further and a meter-long lance of ice with a glowing red core shot out of the portal with enough velocity to tear the air.

The spears shot forwards so fast that they didn’t even have enough time to arc down before they crashed into the boss and injected their superheated payload deep within its skin.

“Fresh Meat!”

The boss roared, shaking the chamber and causing little pebbles to fall from the ceiling as it lumbered to its feet. The group of headless healers began to glow with green, yellow, and blue light as wounds across the boss’ surface healed and strengthened, only for more ice spears to revert the recovery.

Chilly nodded in satisfaction and jogged forwards to completely cover the great arena in his domain. Chaeli had completely vanished, and Rahlin was just about to slam into the boss, but his job in this fight would be different.

“Minions! Aid me!”

All around the edges of the arena, monsters appeared. Humanoid zombies crawled out of cracks in the floor as spiders chittered down from the ceiling. Hounds with glowing red eyes snarled and spat as they emerged from dark caves. All were level seventeen; two levels below the boss.

The moment they stepped into the chamber the Smoldering Embers in the air alighted on their skin and wails spread as the balefire burned. The monsters recovered from the shock and began to sprint towards the boss. Despite the chaos-infused fire eating away at their flesh, Chilly’s vastly reduced life meant that the power of the embers was but a faint echo of what it once was, and the monsters managed to push through the damage to rush to the aid of their progenitor.

Chilly shook his head and sprinted towards the nearest monsters. Star Fuel ripped out and tickled the monsters, but a quick use of Flame Dash spread a huge area of burning ground beneath the monsters which sufficiently empowered the Smoldering Embers to vaporize the charging monsters.

Chilly continued to sprint, doing a lap around the boss, and physically tackling a particularly tough hellhound just before it could leap into the Hellbringer’s open and waiting maw. The close range and burning ground quickly eradicated the hound, and Chilly rolled to his feet to continue clearing the adds.

He spammed Flame Dash at every opportunity, though he made sure not to spread the burning ground beneath the boss itself because the ground effect did not discriminate and would damage his allies as well. The first couple laps were the toughest, with monsters nearly making it to the boss before he managed to catch them. The longer the fight progressed, however, the more he could spam Flame Dash and the more burning ground he could summon. The minute duration ground effect smoldered darkly in a tight ring around the boss and filled the outskirts of the arena in an impenetrable wall of fire.

Monsters died. Screams resounded as monsters fell into a raging inferno a second after their summonings. Chilly continued, using Flame Dash as often as he could and running laps around the boss to clear any tougher monsters that neared the boss with personal uses of Star Fuel.

“Food! Give Me Food!”

Chilly idly glanced at the boss and blinked at the carnage. Only three healers remained, with eviscerated bodies spread chaotically around the arena. Blood leaked out of frozen and cauterized wounds on the boss as a hail of projectiles beat back its impressive bulk from an array of six swirling blue portals. A blizzard of razor-sharp snowflakes danced and cut, while somehow avoiding the bobbing and weaving Dragonborn who worked to avoid the multiple heads of the flail with impeccable agility.

“Beware of the spine goblin traveler!”

Chilly’s gaze snapped up and he spotted a hunched gray humanoid with spines along its back slinked along a wire hanging over the center of the arena. The goblin reached the center, and the moment that it was positioned above the boss’ mouth it let out a victorious cry and jumped off.

Chilly’s eyes narrowed and he took a running leap and doubled tapped Flame Dash to teleport into the air above the boss.

The spines of the goblin jabbed into him, but his momentum prevailed and he and the goblin went flying over the side. The goblin wailed, scratching and biting him which had Starfire Aegis and Aegis Aurora flare in reaction.

Spoiler :

They landed in a mess of limbs within the raging inferno of the burning ground. Chilly stood and fended off the enraged goblin with his shields as Star Fuel ripped out in starts and spurts whenever his life dipped below full.

In the time it took for flame dash to come off cooldown the goblin burned away.

Chilly took a breath and wiped some ash off his shoulders. Then, he rolled his shoulders and sprinted back into the action.

Nearly a thousand low-leveled mobs and three more sneaky spine goblins later, the main group finally managed to take out the Hellbringer.

Chilly slowed to a stop and put his hands on his knees as he panted. The body of the boss was rapidly decomposing under the effect of Smoldering Embers. Each of the chains connecting the boss to its slaves also began to burn. A line of black fire spread like a fuse out of the room towards where Sooty was waiting at the entrance.

“The head! Quickly!” Chilly wheezed and a blur of darkness quickly grabbed the black head impaled on the end of the flail and sprinted out of the room before Chilly’s fire could vaporize it.

A second of silence passed then:

“I’m fReeEEeeEEEeee!” an alien voice sounded from the open gates and a soot-stained humanoid sprinted in. His arms raised, trailing waves of ash that billowed off of him in waves to reveal pale gray skin underneath. He did a lap of the room, shedding the final layers of ash before he stopped with bright eyes in the center.

He grabbed Teluria by the hands and spun her around. Both of them laughing with faces full of joy, before Sooty couldn’t handle it anymore and let go of the maiden’s hands and sprinted again around the arena periodically letting out whoops of excitement.

Chilly smiled and plopped down, watching the gray-skinned man express his jubilation.

Sooty finished his lap, and his eyes settled on Chilly. He ran over and grabbed Chilly’s hands.

“Thank you! Thank you, so much!” Sooty grinned wide, revealing a pair of elongated incisors, almost like a vampire. “I can’t thank you enough. Oh, I have a gift. Yes, a gift. Here. I? Yes. One second.”

Sooty sprinted out of the room before Chilly could tell him that it wasn’t necessary. He ran back, holding his hammer loosely in his grip.

“Here, for you,” Sooty said, shoving the blacksmithing implement into Chilly’s hands, then yanked it back and grabbed Chilly’s hand and tapped the ugly iron bracelet with the tip of the hammer. The heavy iron cracked and fell to the ground and Chilly felt his life and armor diminish slightly.

Sooty then flicked some iron flakes off his arm and shoved the hammer into his hands.

“You don’t have to,” Chilly started, but Sooty shook his head and reached into his pocket with shaking hands. He brought out a necklace crafted of delicate swirls of gold and jade depicting a stylized cross or an ornate hammer.

“I want you to have it. I’m done using that infernal thing, and this necklace is just payment for making you wear that horrid thing for so long. You can throw them in a lava pool if you don’t want them, but I hope you use them well.” Sooty said, his energy noticeably reducing from earlier.

“Well, ok. Thanks then. I’ll use both...well.” Chilly said, glancing down at the hammer as Sooty skipped to Teluria with a wide grin.

Hammer of Barad-dur

Convert up to 10 Essences of Steel to Essences of Branding

30h cooldown

Essences of Branding

Brand a random explicit on an item

Brand: Mod cannot be modified or removed

It was similar to Teluria’s horn, except instead of creating Essences of Exchange, it created Essences of Branding. He already had several ideas on how he could use the new essences to craft epic-level gear.

He put the hammer away and turned to study the amulet.

Badge of the Brotherhood

Legendary

Jewelry

iLevel: 12

Dimensional Vault

48 armor

77 life

14 life regeneration

35 armor

10.31% increased armor

25% increased Ashes of the Stars effect

20 fire resistance

Legendary? And six mods? Chilly raised a brow as he considered the necklace. It was only level twelve which was suboptimal but having two extra mods on the item might make up for it. When he got back to the village he would ask around for a method of raising the level of an item.

Chaeli called him over, and Chilly halted his ruminations to join her and Rahlin around the loot the boss had dropped.

“Look at this,” Chaeli said, picking up a skull-shaped mask with flames dancing along its surface. “It would fit you so well!”

Skull Mask

Normal

Helmet

iLevel: 19

21% increased fire damage

“That would be pretty good for me,” Chilly agreed, then turned towards an iridescent octahedron that lay untouched on the ground.

“Who is taking the soul fragment?” Chilly asked.

“Already got it,” Rahlin rumbled, his arms crossed over his chest. “It gives increased fire damage, so it’s best on you.”

Chaeli pouted, to which Rahlin snorted. “We can kill this boss again if you really want it, little one. With Chilly properly taking care of the horde and you clearing out the healers it ain't so bad.”

That brightened her up, and without further ado, Chilly grabbed the silver object and watched as it melded with his skin.

You have gained the Blessing Of Tyranny

10% increased fire damage

His cape flared, and the embers in the air blazed bright as all his magic grew stronger from the blessing.

Chilly stood, taking a deep breath. He had one final task before this whole thing would be done. He brought up his interface and scrolled to the skill offerings. He focused on Ashes of the Stars and gasped as the skill settled into his bones.

Light pulsed through his skin as his bones began to glow with incandescent radiance. He threw his head back, his mouth falling open as his eyes were flooded with light from behind.

His companions took several steps back and even Sooty’s wild euphoria was briefly slaked as they turned to stare.

A minute passed in rapture. Waves of light played underneath his skin. Ever so slowly, the lights faded to just a faint luminance. With a gasp and half-lidded eyes, Chilly lowed his head and slowly sank to the floor. He brought up the tooltip for his new skill and when his eyes finally managed to focus he couldn’t help but laugh.

Ashes of the Stars :

Stardust gathers in your bones and acts as a catalyst to empower every other skill in your arsenal.

2 levels

Choose an Augment for Ashes of the Stars. Costs 1 skill point.

Maximum 4 Augments.

Stardust gathers in your bones and acts as a catalyst to empower every other skill in your arsenal.

Neutronium Empowerment

You infuse your bones with the greatest of all the ashes of the stars, further enhancing your level

1 level

Star Catalyst

All skills have the potential for greatness, most just need a little...help

5% increased effect of all other skills

Titan's Bone

Forged in the fires of stars, your bones gain unparalleled toughness

Gain 1% increased life per level

Starlit Marrow

Your connection with the stars, though ancient, spurs your blood to pulse and regenerate faster than ever before

Gain 1% increased life regeneration per level

Unbound Power

When built from the very building blocks of heaven, how can limitations even be a consideration

Remove the maximum augment requirement from skills

Ancient Form

The bones of titans do not wither or weaken under any circumstance

150 drain resistance

Gregory “Chilly” Morhuil

Level

Exp

Skill Points

Spec

21.5 (19)

0/19

0

Baelfire

Life

Life Regeneration

4491/4491

698.43

Armor

Fire

Cold

Lightning

Chaos

458

82.08%

200

66.67%

203

67.00%

0

0.00%

0

0.00%

Aegis Aurora

Helmet:

Living Steel Helmet

Ashes of the Stars

Body Armor:

Aredrite Plate Vest

Pious Path

Pants:

Living Steel Tassets

Starfire Aegis

Boots:

Living Steel Greaves

Flame Dash

Gloves:

Steel Gauntlets

Chains of Subjugation

Jewelry:

Badge of the Brotherhood

Smoldering Embers

Mainhand:

Living Steel Kite Shield

Mutagenic Engine

Offhand:

Living Steel Buckler

End of Arc 2: The Wendigo