Olivia fell to her knees and clutched her hands to her chest. She felt like her body was about to burst into flames or explode. She concentrated on taking deep, slow breaths, even though the air burned her throat as though she were breathing fire. She could hear Morgan and Bronwyn talking, maybe to her, but it sounded like they were far away, and the roaring in her ears made their voices indistinct.

Ever so slowly, she felt the roiling, rampant Energy coursing through her body start to return to her Core or burn off into the air. Her breaths began to cool, the bright sepia of her vision returned to normal, and she sat back on her butt with a sigh of relief.

“. . . okay?” Bronwyn asked, and Olivia became aware of her kneeling before her, gingerly holding out her hands like she wanted to grab hold of Olivia but didn’t want to cause further harm.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” she said, her voice weak and hoarse. “The crown’s surge of Energy was more than anything I’ve ever felt. It took me a minute to cool down.”

“More like three or four,” Morgan said. Olivia turned to see him standing just a bit to her left, a potion in his hands. “I was about to try forcing this down your throat.”

“No need, no need. I’ll be okay.” Olivia stood up, holding out a hand so Bronwyn could steady her. Bronwyn rushed to her, putting an arm around her for support.

“Brace yourselves,” Morgan said, pointing to the slumped body of the titan. Orbs of purple-gold Energy were starting to form all over the gigantic surface of the monster. Despite the lopsided proportion of the damage done to the titanic monster in favor of Olivia, when the streams of Energy rushed toward the trio, they looked fairly similar in size. Olivia and Bronwyn were pulled apart as the surging Energy lifted them into the air, flooding their pathways. As always, the System-generated Energy was pleasing, even euphoric in nature—nothing like the course flood that had come from her crown.

Olivia closed her eyes and let the renewing effect of the Energy pour through her, filling her pathways, replenishing her Core, and permeating the cells of her body.

***Congratulations! You have achieved level 24 Elemental Paragon, gained 12 Intelligence, 12 Will, and have 12 points to distribute.***

When she settled back to the ground, much relieved and refreshed, she said, “I leveled! Did you two?”

“Yeah,” Morgan stooped to pick up the potion he’d dropped and put it away.

“I did!” Bronwyn announced, retaking Olivia’s hand. Looking into Bronwyn’s bright eyes, Olivia suddenly remembered her under that giant’s foot.

“How did you shout like that, Bron?”

“Yeah, you almost brought the whole place down!” Morgan said with a chuckle.

“It’s one of my boons from the Summer court. I can ‘speak with the voice of thunder in times of great need.’ Pretty cool, huh?” She squeezed Olivia’s hand, and Olivia pulled her into a hug.

“I thought you were about to be smushed!” she whispered, her throat growing tight with emotion.

“Is that why you blasted him to kingdom come?” Bronwyn asked, kissing her three times on her cheek, the corner of her eye, and the side of her forehead.

“Olivia, that crown effect was certifiably bad-ass,” Morgan said. “And Bronwyn, please, never yell at me like that.” He laughed, then turned toward the large marble chest that had appeared near the closed doors. He winked at Bronwyn, then jumped and flapped his wings, launching himself into a glide toward it.

“What a showoff! Do you want to go see what we got?” Bronwyn asked, squeezing her again.

“Yeah, I’m feeling a lot better. Come on, let me inspect that chest before Morgan blows himself up.” Olivia took Bronwyn’s hand and started after the tall figure in shining armor.

“It’s not fair that he can fly,” Bronwyn said, though a hint of a giggle hid beneath her words.

“Who knows what you’ll get when you hit advanced race, though.” Olivia squeezed her hand and smiled, glancing sideways to make eye contact.

“Doubt I’ll have a flame aura like you,” Bronwyn said.

“Hey, I can control it now; I hardly let it show!”

“Yeah, that’s what you think.”

“What? Really? I thought I had it suppressed most of the time, now.”

“Oh, you do. Except when you’re casting or startled, or moving fast, or dreaming or embarrassed or . . .”

“Dreaming?”

“Yeah, when you’re having a particularly interesting dream, the flames really start up!” Bronwyn’s grin was wicked, and her eyes were glittering with amusement.

“You’re lying!” Olivia stopped and stared at Bronwyn, trying to gauge if she was teasing or not.

“You’ll never know!” Bronwyn laughed and pulled Olivia’s hand to get her to start walking again.

When they stepped up next to Morgan, Olivia cast Surveying Breeze and saw that the chest, once again, was trapped with some sort of elemental blast. She spent some time defacing most of the runes until all the lines of Energy were dull, and then she nodded. “I think it’s safe now. Let’s be cautious, though. Morgan, do your thing.”

“Yep,” Morgan nodded, backing up a bit and then adding, “I’m guarding you, Olivia.”

“Back up, Bronwyn!” Olivia said, nudging her away.

“Alright, alright.” Bronwyn moved back several feet to Morgan’s left.

“More,” Morgan said, giving her a push away from him.

“You guys are paranoid!” Bronwyn said but backed away even more. Olivia nodded and then lifted the chest. Nothing exploded, and no lighting erupted, but a shower of needle-tipped darts erupted from the chest and tore toward her. As they impacted her, though, they flashed with blue light, and Olivia heard Morgan grunt as his silvery armor pinged a dozen or more times. Olivia whirled to see if he was okay, but he stood there, grinning, clearly unharmed.

“Paranoid, huh?” Morgan asked, giving Bronwyn a pointed stare.

“Alright! I’ve officially learned my lesson.” Bronwyn was holding both hands to the sides of her head, clearly dismayed by the additional trap.

“No harm done.” Morgan strolled forward to peer into the chest, and Olivia did the same. Most of the chest’s contents were obscured by three golden orbs about the size of golf balls hovering near the top of the opening.

“Are those what I think they are?” Olivia asked.

“Yeah, those are advancement orbs. It looks like we’re getting another level before we go home.”

“Really? They’re an automatic level?” Bronwyn asked.

“All the times I’ve seen them, yes,” Morgan replied. “You can’t save them, either. Once you touch them, the effect takes place.”

“Well? Shall we?” Olivia asked. Morgan shrugged, and Bronwyn nodded, so they all reached out for one of the golden orbs. Olivia felt the warmth of pure Energy enter her fingertips and then rush into her pathways, instantly suffusing her body. She arched her back, and a groan escaped her as the dopamine-like burst of well-being rolled through her.

***Congratulations! You have achieved level 25 Elemental Paragon, gained 12 Intelligence, 12 Will, and have 12 points to distribute.***

“Well, that was a fast level,” Bronwyn said.

“You’re not kidding.” Morgan leaned forward to look into the chest. “Aha! Are those what I think they are?” He pointed to some shiny pieces of armor on the left-hand side of the chest, and Olivia thought they were probably the leg armor to match the rest of his suit.

“Yeah, I think so,” she said. “And there’s a book, and what is that, a wand?”

“I think so,” Bronwyn said, her voice hushed, peering into the chest. “Morgan, you pick your armor first. Just in case.”

“That alright with you, Liv?” Morgan asked. He and Bronwyn had been using her nickname more and more frequently. She liked it, though it reminded her of Adaida, and she felt a pang of guilt thinking about the sweet, friendly Ghelli. She’d have to have a real heart-to-heart with her when she got back to the academy.

“That’s fine. I think we’ll be able to take all three rewards, anyway, seeing as this was a boss.” Morgan nodded at her words, then reached in and lifted out his armor. As he pulled it free of the chest, the container dissolved into a cloud of pink mist, proving her words entirely wrong.

“Oh shit!” Morgan said, a panic-stricken look in his eyes.

“It’s not your fault,” Bronwyn shrugged. “At least we all got the orbs.”

“True. It’s okay, Morgan—we all agreed you should get the armor. I hope it completes the set.” While she spoke, Morgan’s eyes had gone glassy, and she knew he was bonding with the new armor pieces.

“Yeah, it did! The description says ‘complete set’ now. Hang on,” he said, holding the steel shinguards to his legs. As soon as they were in place, they stretched and flowed over his thighs, upper feet, and groin, connecting to his breastplate with a tiny, flexible seam.

“Jeez, you’re a regular knight in shining armor now.” Bronwyn stepped forward and rapped her knuckles against Morgan’s breastplate.

“Heh. Well, all these levels and treasures make me almost want to keep exploring this dungeon. Almost. A deal’s a deal, though, right? You guys ready for me to make that portal?”

“Easy there, tiger,” Olvia said. “I need to create the pattern on the floor, place all the Energy gems, and then you need to scry a safe location to open the portal to. It might take some trial and error.”

“Safe location?”

“Well, your portal is based on void-attuned Energy. I’m not sure the opening of the portal won’t be destructive to, you know, everything. I think you should scry Issa or Arthur until you catch one of them outdoors. Then I think we should watch that location until there isn’t anyone around. As I said, it might take some trial and error.”

“Damn! I hadn’t thought of that—I don’t think I’d like to rip a hole in my tower or a crowd of people,” Morgan said, smiling despite the slight setback. Olivia figured he could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

#

Arthur Ballard stood on Bronwyn’s Hill, watching the enormous airship anchor and settle near the northeast corner of the colony’s wall. The captain, Gella, had come down earlier on a much smaller flying ship to announce their desire to dock the Skybreaker. He’d assured Arthur and the council of their peaceful intent, saying the airship was here with representatives who wanted to offer opportunities to the citizens of First Landing in the Ridonne Empire. Arthur was skeptical, but the ship didn’t appear geared for war—no visible cannons or other devices were aboard, and Gella had insisted it was a passenger vessel.

Arthur felt troubled, despite Gella’s assurances. Why such a large vessel? First Landing couldn’t spare a significant number of people; everyone was needed in a frontier town, especially if their people were meant to prosper. Things were going so well, and people were happy. He didn’t think many would want to leave, even if the council didn’t urge them to stay. The colonists had, by and large, been chosen for their drive and willingness to work to a common end. How would Gella’s “representatives” react when very few humans took them up on their offer?

Several of the ship’s crew had come down to prep the squat earthen tower at the wall’s corner. They’d worked some sort of Energy magic to plant reinforced girders around the structure, the tops of which had huge metal eyelets for the ship’s anchor lines. Everything seemed to be holding up fine, all twelve lines were tied down, and the ship seemed quite stable, floating near the rampart. Still, it made Arthur nervous—some anxious part of his mind kept waiting for the ship to get blown by a stray gust into the tower or for one of the lines to snap, creating some sort of Hindenburg-like accident.

He watched for a few minutes longer before the ship was tugged into the correct position for the boarding ramp to be deployed. Before it could be set down, though, a tall figure approached the ship's railing and launched himself over. Arthur caught his breath, wondering if he were leaping to his doom, but then he saw his fluttering wings and the stream of glittering motes that trailed him as he flew past the wall to land in the grass, not far from Morgan’s tall, iron tower. “Huh, I didn’t think Ghelli could fly. Is he a Ghelli?”