1

Zack was definitely not okay.

He remained motionless where the monster had left him, unconscious and breathing shallowly. His pallid skin was cool to the touch.

“Is he dead?” Damon asked Angie, who was kneeling beside his body. She shook her head. The ripped flesh at his breastbone looked like spoiled meat in the murky light of the glow spells. A dried-out crimson ring circled it from where the blood had stopped flowing.

The Inmates spent the next two hours using Mana Heal on the orc before he eventually regained a dazed level of consciousness. His skin color improved, and the wound started to heal.

Another patch of scar tissue from this damned trip, Damon thought blearily.

With the tower aperture covered by the black glitch, the Inmates didn’t know what time it was, but they agreed four to five hours had passed since they entered the chamber. They compared their injuries from the battle. Aside from Zack, Jordan was the worst off. As he had cast Basic Heal on the top of his head, scar tissue grew back where his lush hair had been.

“Nice haircut,” Damon quipped.

“Yup,” Emma added. “I think you might start a new trend: the reverse mohawk.”

Jordan had also suffered bite wounds from the worms and zombie heads. He had six ring-shaped wounds on his arms and legs where his splint armor hadn’t fully protected his skin. He’d lost a lot of blood from his head wound, but had remained conscious and healed the wound on the fly during the battle.

Emma had received similar wounds from Kali’s minions. Harper had sustained a concussion and would experience headaches for the next couple of days. Her other injuries included a deep cut along her right cheek and cuts on her neck and forehead. Damon had suffered a shallow neck wound and a long gash along the inside of his left arm, while Angie had fought through the entire battle unscathed.

2

An Epiphany cloud had drifted up from Kali’s corpse. Angie wondered if they should even bother with it since they were going to be home soon, but Harper insisted on checking it. She moved her hand into the cloud and was prompted.

Congratulations, Harper! You have found an Epiphany that contains the spell: Mana Reject, Level 2. This spell will create a protective barrier around your target of choice, rejecting the effects of attacking spells and physical weapons! Certain advanced creatures will counter Mana Reject. Ranked progressive and available to Mages only, so tell all your friends. Mana Reject will cost you 5 MP every second, and has a cooldown rate of 10 seconds and a range of 150 meters. Don’t just be a social reject, be a Mana Reject, too!

Congratulations, Harper! You have found an Epiphany that contains the spell: Mana Leech. This spell will leech the mana from a targeted enemy. Ranked progressive and available to Hunters and Mages, so tell all your friends. Mana Leech will cost you 1 MP every second while stealing 5 mana per second! It has a cooldown rate of 15 seconds, and a range of 150 meters. Why use your mana when you can use someone else’s?

Harper was thrilled with the powerful new spells, but Angie, Jordan, and Emma collected their Mana Leech spell with little enthusiasm. It had been a long battle and their thoughts were with Janna, Ethan, and Zack.

“She really saved our asses,” Jordan muttered, and the Inmates responded with joyless murmurs of agreement. They rummaged through the monster’s golden clothing and discovered a red jewel embedded in her headpiece. The moment Harper touched it, she received another message.

Brilliant, Harper! You have discovered a Spell Gem! You can transfer and store spells in the Spell Gem by simply touching it. This gem can contain an unlimited number of spells, so tell all your friends. Missing a cloud doesn’t have to be tragic when you can transfer magic!

“Oh my god,” Harper muttered. “This would’ve come in handy.”

While Damon pulled the gem from the headpiece, Harper examined the circular ball that had hovered above the throne during the entire campaign. It had changed to a transparent green and descended to the seat of the throne. Harper passed her hand into the luminescent object and received a message.

Congratulations on defeating the Earth Tower! As a reward, you will receive several weapon and armor upgrades and one new spell! Pass your equipment into the Earth Orb to gain the upgrades.

Another Epiphany cloud popped up above the orb, settling two feet above the green orb. Harper extended her hand into the cloud and received another message.

Congratulations, Harper! You have found an Epiphany that contains the spell: Wall of Thorns. This spell will create a continually expanding wall of thorns that will impede the progress of your foes. Ranked progressive and available to Hunters and Mages, so tell all your friends. Wall of Thorns will cost you 10 MP every second, and has a cooldown rate of 20 seconds and a range of 200 meters. Take the bull by the horns with the Wall of Thorns!

Excited by the extra spell, Harper passed her druid staff into the earth orb to see if it received a weapon upgrade. Vibrations shuddered through the weapon as a glimmering wave of silver washed over the wood and transformed her staff into steel. Instantly, the staff became heavier in her hand, but it wasn’t anything Harper couldn’t get used to. Even the prongs on the end of her staff shone with the gleaming metal. Meanwhile, her studded leather armor was resurfaced with steel scales that looked like sequins.

The upgrade worked on all the bone elements in their weapons. Their swords, arrows, kobold spears, clipeus shields, helmets, and splint mail also transformed to the shiny steel. Jordan, Emma, and Angie’s bone shurikens kept their shape, but the brittle bone spikes that covered the edges of the weapon turned into much more durable steel.

Damon saw his bone-axe change. His bronze-plated pants, armor, helmet, gloves, and shield all morphed into steel. “These feel like real weapons now,” he muttered.

Peculiarly, Janna and Ethan’s loot—their armor, weapons, tools, and food items—had bounced away from their corpses when they died. The items were scattered along the floor. Wanting to leave most of their loot where it lay, Damon only took the flail. He upgraded it to steel and discarded his extra set of battle armor to make room.

The five scimitars that Kali dropped were useful swords. But they weren’t enough of an upgrade for most of the Inmates to consider switching. They had grown accustomed to their bone-upgraded weapons. Angie was the only member to switch to the scimitar, replacing her nagamarrow sword. They left the discarded gear in the boss chamber, never expecting to see it again.

3

“We should stay another night,” Harper suggested to the team. Although she was met with surprise, it didn’t take long for the Inmates to agree with her.

“Yeah, we don’t know what to expect for the trip back,” Damon said, “and Zack needs more healing time, along with the rest of us.”

Emma glanced up at the aperture and shuddered. “As long as we don’t have to spend the night here.”

“Agreed,” Damon said. “We’ll backtrack to the eighteenth room and camp there.”

As they gathered their remaining items, Damon glanced at Jordan. “I think we should bury Ethan and Janna before we call it a night.”

Jordan’s face trembled. “I… I want them buried outside of this tower,” he said as his voice quivered.

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Damon said. “Somewhere in the soil on the forest side.”

Emma took Jordan’s arm. “We’ll go with you.”

Damon picked up Janna’s limp body first, then Jordan lifted his brother’s heavy mass, sobbing profusely the entire time. Before they went through the re-enabled entry portal, Damon nodded toward the portal at the far end of the chamber. “Is that portal still going to be enabled in the morning?” he asked Harper.

“I sure hope so,” she muttered.

Damon grew irritated.

“Yes, yes, probably,” Harper added, trying to appease him. “It shouldn’t change for, at least, forty-eight hours.”

“Let’s meet back at the boss rush room,” he grunted.

4

When Damon, Jordan, and Emma got to the tower’s highest bridge, they noticed light streaming from the room on the other side.

“I thought Zack plugged that hole in the wall,” Jordan inquired.

“You know he did,” Damon said.

They stared at the open hole in the wall.

“Who or what would have taken the wood out?” Emma asked.

For a moment, no one answered. Then Damon said what they were all thinking. “That fucker, Brett, was here.”

Emma shivered and looked around the tower, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

They dragged the two bodies across the bridge, leaving a trail of blood on the orange stone. Halfway over, Emma pointed at a dark shape suspended in the air above them. They stopped and stared at it for several minutes. It was dark at the top of the tower with the aperture covered by the glitch, so the Inmates had difficulty discerning what the object was. It lay suspended in the air, a dark, ominous shape.

Finally, Jordan realized they were peering at Kali’s decapitated head, which had caromed off the guardrail. It had landed in the center of the invisible barrier to the final room. Blood had pooled around it, making it look like a dark ink spot.

“That thing is going to be there forever,” Damon said grimly.

When they reached the fifteenth room, where they had encountered the Pygmalions, they took the left portal, which transported them directly to the courtyard on the ground floor. Saddened and disgusted by the splatter Ethan’s head had left on the rough stone, they exited quickly to the adjoining room and walked out of the tower.

5

They stepped onto the massive stone slabs at the base of the tower and could see it was late afternoon. They climbed down to the grass on the western side of the tower.

Damon faced Jordan and Emma. “You stay here. I’m going back to the village to get the shovels.”

Emma looked surprised. “You shouldn’t go alone,” she replied.

Damon shook his head. “We have nothing to dig with, and I don’t want you two having to face the village after what happened to…” He trailed off.

Emma and Jordan grimaced.

“Let me try something first,” Emma said, and cast her Boulder spell. She maneuvered the marble ball high into the sky then whipped her arm down. The rock pounded into the earth with sheer force, sending up showers of dirt thirty feet high. As the dust settled, they saw the boulder had created a crater three feet wide.

“Smart,” Damon said with no emotion.

They backed away and Emma blasted the site seventeen more times, digging a trench five feet deep. Damon dropped himself into the hole and lowered Janna’s body into it. He climbed back out and approached Jordan. “Let me take him for you.”

Jordan shook his head furiously. Tears spilled down his cheeks. “No,” he sobbed, “me…”

Damon shrugged and backed away.

Jordan carried Ethan’s body into the grave. They heard him whispering inaudibly to his brother. After a few minutes, his miserable face appeared at the edge of the hole and he lifted himself out.

“You two, turn around while I refill the grave,” Damon ordered.

Jordan and Emma turned to face the tower entrance. They noticed something disturbing. Damon didn’t witness their visceral reactions as he worked his enormous arms to push the earth back into the hole. He tamped the soil then called them back over. “Does anyone have any last words before we go back in?” he asked solemnly as his eyes appeared to water.

Jordan and Emma were both weeping. Emma started first. “Uh… I… huh, huh, huh, just want to thank you, huh, Janna, for saving our lives,” she whimpered. “It… it was an honor to know you. And Ethan…” She peeked at Jordan. “Thuh, thuh, thank you for forgiving… me.” Emma broke down, heaving from her sobs.

Damon put his arm around Emma. “Yeah, Janna and Ethan, you’ll be missed.” He glanced at Jordan, who was crying profusely but appeared resolute.

“Ethan, I will miss you, brother,” the Grimalkin member muttered. “I’m happy we… came together in the end, and I’m sorry for what happened between us in the past.” Jordan cleared his throat. “You will…” he choked, “you will always be my… brother.”

His body shuddered as he struggled to maintain control. Emma embraced him. They stood together, shaking and sobbing for a few minutes before Damon asked them to return to the tower.

As they climbed back up the colossal stone steps, Emma pointed to the sky, at what she and Jordan had seen earlier. Damon peered up and saw that the black glitch that had covered the tower’s aperture had expanded to ninety feet wide. It blanketed the entire roof with its malignant shadow.

6

With no portal shortcuts to take, the trip back to the top of the tower took over an hour as Damon, Jordan, and Emma had to crawl across both bridges once again. On the way, they grabbed armfuls of firewood from the seventeenth room.

When they got back to the boss rush room, Zack was up, but brooding. After the cobwebs had cleared from his mind, Harper and Angie had broken the news about Janna to him. His face had sagged, and he’d stumbled to his knees. It was the first time Angie had ever seen tears in the big Marine’s eyes. They’d told him the Inmates wouldn’t be alive if she hadn’t intervened, and talked about her courageous fight against Kali.

“I wish I could have seen that,” Zack had whispered. Now, the big orc wandered around the chamber, looking lost. As Damon watched him, dropping his load of wooden Rukh remains onto the floor, he approached Angie. “How’s he doing?”

“He’s crushed, but he’ll make it through.” Angie drew in close, embracing Damon. “How did it go out there?”

“It went,” Damon grunted, “and it looks like Brett is back.”

Zack glanced over at them.

“What? How do you know?” Angie asked.

Damon told Angie, Zack, and Harper how the Rukh’s remains had been pulled out of the wall. Angie spat on the floor. “Well, unless he wants to show his face around here in the next twenty-four hours,” she said defiantly, brandishing her scimitar, “I ain’t worrying about his ass. We’ll be back home tomorrow.”

7

While Damon informed the Inmates about the expanding glitch at the top of the tower, Zack cooked the salmon that had been stored in Janna’s food inventory.

“That’ll make him feel better,” Damon told Angie. “He enjoys cooking.”

The Inmates were starving, but they ate their food quietly, drinking water from the wineskins. Because of the absence of light coming from the aperture, the tower was pitch black. By the firelight, they toasted to Janna, Ethan, and Miguel.

“I knew it was going to be dangerous,” Damon whispered, “but I didn’t think we’d lose anyone.” He peeked at Harper, seeking affirmation, but she stared at the fire, her face devoid of any emotion.

“Me neither,” Angie remarked.

As the flickering of the orange flames reflected on their mournful faces, the fire popped. They all jumped.

“I can’t wait to get the fuck out of here,” Emma announced.

“You are not alone,” Angie muttered.

Jordan shoved a hunk of wood closer to the fire. “What are you going to do when you get back?”

Angie peeked over at Damon. “Cash that check, get married, and retire.”

Emma looked surprised as she peeped up from the fire. “Um, congratulations,” she said mirthlessly.

Angie thanked her.

“Me, I’m going back to France,” Jordan said. He gazed at Emma and clutched her hand. “Hopefully, someone is coming with me.” She kissed him on the cheek, smiling brightly.

As they slid into their beds, Jordan told them about the experience he had gained, receiving 868 points for the boss kill along with 400 XP for something called a “critical kill.”

“That’s a bonus for an especially savage attack,” Harper told him. “It’s a game thing.”

Killing Kali earned Jordan an accumulated 1,268 XP, giving him a total of 5,424, which raised him four levels to 66. He considered asking Harper what to do with his 16 attribute points, but didn’t bother. The journey was over and he never wanted to worry about fucking stat points again.