March 16, 2019, 2:22 pm. Sneaky, sneak, until the dark.

The remaining section of our trip is surprisingly boring. There’s no guards or fellow delvers in the stone passage that winds back and forth, leading us beneath the palace.

It takes a full fifteen minutes before we emerge into the Upper Preparation area. Unlike the plain passage we followed to get here, the Upper Preparation area itself is ornate to the point it feels gaudy. There is an overabundance of fancy benches, each inlaid with enough gold, silver, and gems to ruin any sense of grandeur.

“What’s with all the bling?” I ask, gesturing around.

Rufka tries to hide her snicker behind her hand as Ael’thani turns to us, her brows drawn tight. “I don’t know that word. But if you’re referring to the glorious Preparation Chamber, the trial is the most important event in a K’tharn’s life. It is only appropriate our final preparation area is as grand as in their dreams.”

I blink as I process her words, my cheeks warming at my unintentional insult to their traditions. She waves toward a fancier staircase at the far end of the room leading upward under golden light. Each step is as overdone as the benches. “Since the council banned use of the main entrance… not even honest K’tharn are able to get inside.”

Ael’thani pauses, staring at us. “But you’re not here to listen to me whine like a kitten. You’re here for your own trials, as is the right of every user. Follow me.”

When I glance towards Kellica, she just shoots us an awkward smile, before motioning us to follow Ael’thani.

Amazingly, the decor becomes more decadent as she leads us toward the downward stairway. Yet despite the décor, the stairs are simple stone, with only a minimal stripe of white lights hanging above. Ael’thani stops just outside the stairway, her eyes flicking over us. “This is where we leave you. The K’mintar… I hope you have a good trial.”

Kellica steps forward, giving me a hug. “Good luck, Tel’thoni.”

Then she pulls Rufka into a hug, “Best of luck, Rukie.”

Rufka’s clearly startled, as it takes ‘Rukie’ a couple of seconds to return the embrace. When they finally pull away, Rufka coughs lightly, but can’t stop from smiling at Kellica.

No one comments on it, passing beneath the plain stone arch into the dungeon below instead.

I glance back, but Kellica and Ael’thani have already disappeared. The second I cross the threshold, a message pops up, confirming several of the warnings were correct. It also shows the standard dungeon quest screen, though with a minor upgrade. The whole reason we’re here.

"Copper Rank Ascension Challenge: The World Dungeon joined."

"Teleportation abilities have been locked to The World Dungeon. Flight spells and abilities have been restricted."

"Zone Quest received: Rewards: Variable. 1 Copper-Rank Advancement Point. Time: 12 days."

We file down a couple of landings until the entrance is out of site before Beth drops the invisibility covering the others. “Okay, that went smoothly. Let’s get to the real preparation area, then we can make plans about how we’re going to approach this.”

Even at Beth’s directive to wait, we all start chatting about the dungeon, wondering how different it’ll be from the others we’ve visited so far.

“We’re not going to have access to Raz’s.” Josh points out while running his hand on the less flashy walls inside the actual dungeon.

“We were already planning for that. Most of them haven’t allowed easy access,” Roberts says as I test to see how flight is restricted, floating a foot into the air and not meeting any resistance.

Beth nods, as I float back down, “It’s unfortunate, but it’s less disruptive here than for any of our other objectives.”

“Wait? We have objectives other than getting the cities flying again?” I ask, watching my arm disappear as I test my invisibility.

“Kid, you know that’s just part of our overarching objective. We’re trying to save the world. All the rest is to get that done.”

“Oh. Oh, right. My bad,” I apologize as we pass another landing. “Wait, we’re in the dungeon now, aren’t we? Shouldn’t we be checking for traps?”

Beth doesn’t so much as pause as she replies, “I’ve been searching. I haven’t seen any yet.”

I nod, letting myself drift to my normalish position in the middle.

Eventually, after far too many stairs, we emerge into a small chamber filled with crisscrossing streams and tiny waterfalls. In the streams float a plant that reminds me of a lily-pad crossed with a four-leaf clover, their petals rotating slowly in the current.

Beth leads us through the room, stopping at a circle at the far end, a small area free of the abundant waterways. Whole room, and not a single monster. Not even a water spout to try to knock us to the side.

“Safe Zone: Amongst the Lilies. This safe zone will expire twelve hours after activation. May only be activated once.”

“Okay, no one activate the zone. We’ve had a few days sitting around already. If we need to, we have at least one to fall back to,” Beth instructs us. No one objects, but then we’ve been through stranger. Beth continues taking us through the same plan she laid out for us when we first discussed coming here. It’s slightly modified since we don’t have access to Raz’s or unrestricted flight, but for the most part it’s simply a refresher on party order and fall-back points. After a few minutes, she finishes with, “All right, people. Anything I missed?”

Shaking my head, along with the others, we start into what should be the real challenge of the dungeon. The labyrinth.

The dungeon’s first area is the most typical video game dungeon we’ve encountered on Akilo. Trapped rooms where we disable the traps without them triggering. Monster rooms that we take turns killing solo. There’s even a single puzzle room that involves rings and poles that’s so simple that we get the bonus prize for solving it in the minimum number of steps.

Five whole iron-rank integration points for the whole party, for putting rings on a stick.

While some of the monsters are interesting, like the crying frog that filled the room with its tears, nothing dangerous has shown up, so we decide to pick up the pace.

After several hours, hundreds of monster and trap rooms, and twelve puzzle/treasure rooms, we’ve searched the entire floor. But we haven’t found the way forward.

“Tipan, I thought you said there was an obvious staircase leading to the next level?” Beth sighs as we come back to the entrance again.

“That’s what I was told. I’ve never been here myself.”

“Mum said the same thing. She would’ve mentioned if it was hidden.”

“Then how did we miss it?” Roberts wonders, leaning against the entrance to the lily room.

“It’s probably in here,” Josh shrugs, gesturing past Roberts back at the peaceful entrance room.

Beth runs a hand through her fiery red hair before nodding. “Only place we haven’t searched. Lex, you and Rufka wanna take the right? Roberts, you and Tipan take the left? Josh and I will support. Try not to disturb the natives.”

We all move to comply, using my magic to lift entire streams of water to glance beneath them. It’s kind of fun, and if Smoulder were here, she’d be crashing through the streams, making all kinds of a mess. The thought makes me frown, ruining the moment.

Rufka and I make it halfway across our side of the room when Tipan calls out, “We found… something.”

Setting the dozen cubic metres of water and several startled fish I was levitating back into their place in the watery maze, I float over to see what they’ve discovered. It’s not an exit, instead there’s a mural with each of the puzzle rooms represented hidden beneath the stream. It shows a specific path leading between each of the puzzle rooms before finally approaching a room in the centre.

“Looks like we did it out of order,” Josh notes, “You’d think there’d be better directions. This is like exploring the entire fairgrounds only to find out the bathrooms were setup behind the main stage.”

“I’m sensing a story there,” Roberts says, drawing Josh into a retelling of his first time at an SCA festival.

I only half listen, having heard Rose tell the story before. Though Rose focused on how lively the festival was, how enthusiastic the participants were. Josh takes a more humorous approach. Less wonder, but a lot more self-deprecation. It makes for amusing listening as we return to each of the puzzle rooms resetting the puzzles, then solving them in order. The first time we went through, I thought the puzzles were just random difficulties. Now it’s obvious that the ‘correct’ path would’ve had us solving them in ascending difficulty. Still easy though.

With the last puzzle once again solved, the rapid wave of water pushed to the side instead of washing over our legs this time, we make our way to the centre of the labyrinth. Contrary to my expectations, the exit isn’t on the floor. Or the wall. It’s in the ceiling of the chamber, a set of handholds set into a shaft that wasn’t there when we first explored the room hours ago. The handholds have several different colours to them, and I realize that the dark green ones follow a route similar to the one we took through the labyrinth. It’s tough to tell if they complete the pattern because the shaft curves out of sight.

Tipan beats me to mentioning the pattern, having started relaying the discovery to the others while I’m still investigating. I fly up, confirming my suspicion that flight is suppressed within the shaft as my spell is dispelled, dropping me to the floor where I roll to my feet. Not too surprising. A dungeon putting an obvious climb zone like this and having restricted flight practically guaranteed I’d be coming down. Good thing I can fall with style these days.

“Kid, thoughts?”

“Anti-flight zone. Probably some sort of monster disguised as a handhold. Maybe just knockdown traps?” I supply, still inspecting the handholds. None of them are lighting up when I Focus on them, but it’s not perfect. “Unless there’s a drastic increase in difficulty, it shouldn’t be too dangerous.”

“Good. Josh, if you would,” Beth waves upward and Josh forms a small set of thorn-stairs leading to the lowest handholds before springing upward. We watch him climb for several metres before he stops, staring down the bend.

“Opens up like Niagara Falls,” he calls, then continues out of sight.

Rufka goes next, not needing to be asked. I follow shortly behind her, the green handholds a disgusting mix of slimy and sticky. I wait until I join Josh and Rufka at the top of the shaft before I scour my hands clean. I’m about to lay into Josh for not warning us about the slime when I gaze up. And up, and up.

“No one mentioned this,” I mutter, staring at the kilometres tall complex protruding from the valley below. A valley which was obviously mined at some point, clear lines cut in the sides of the nearby mountains. Each cut seems to correlate with one of the massive cubes forming the monstrosity that dominates the centre of the apparently open-air dungeon.

“Vaus-damn,” Rufka mumbles while I marvel at the size of the behemoth before us. How long would it take me to make something that big? I start inspecting our other surroundings as everyone emerges from the tunnel.

Off to each side are four valleys, for a total of eight. Each has obvious elemental leanings. Just to our left, what I’m assuming is the fire valley, trees bathed in flame stand silent vigil over the narrow path leading inward.

Standard operating procedure would have us exploring each of the valleys, looking for hidden training zones, but then, we haven’t followed standard operating procedure before. So, I ask, “What do you guys think? Training or quick completion?”

Beth leans forward, squinting at the far valleys. “If we can afford to, training. We should investigate the entrances of each valley. See if we can find additional safe zones.”

“New produce too,” Josh notes, inspecting a flowering vine along the edge of the bluff, holding a single white blossom towards his face before sniffing it.

“Yep. Mum’s droned on about her Five Seasons Tea that she brewed from the Fire-Blossoms more times than I can count. If we can find a bunch, she’d be grateful.”

“Okay. Securing a good stock of Fire-Blossoms is on the list. Having a way to entice Genitha to help more often would be great,” Beth says, nodding with a smile at Rufka. “Especially if it means she’s not…”

The last is lost as Beth mumbles what I can’t even consider words to herself.

“There’s other stuff too. I’ll write you a list,” Rufka offers, causing Beth’s smile to return, then grow into a giant grin.

While Rufka and Beth sort through their bribe-my-mum list, Tipan and I scout the western valleys and Josh and Roberts go east.

“You think we’ll start with fire?” Tipan asks as we float in front of the burning valley, labelled helpfully by the System as Fireside. Even my elemental resistance is going to be tested if the heat I can feel from here is any indication. And is that a pack of flaming elk chasing down a hyena made of smoldering coal?

“Hard to say. If Smoulder were here, definitely,” I answer, shooting toward an outcropping of rock overlooking the valley entrance. Atop the outcropping, I find a circle carved into the stone, the runes flashing with a dull red glow. “Think I found a safe-zone.”

As I set foot inside the familiar circle, a notification appears, confirming my suspicion.

“Safe Zone: Fireside’s Respite. Requires Champion’s Trophy to activate. This safe zone will expire twelve hours after activation. May only be activated once.”

“It appears it is indeed. You know, this is the first time you’ve mentioned Smoulder since you returned. Did you want to talk about what happened?”

“Rose didn’t tell you?”

“He didn’t exactly have time. Besides, I’d rather hear it from you,” Tipan squeezes my shoulder.

I don’t respond immediately, drifting upward before flying toward the next valley entrance, a pair of thick stone pillars leaning against each other, as I think about my response. “Well, I gave you guys the short version, mentioned that we contacted Uthica directly?”

“Yes. I remember. I’ve never had such an amazing experience described with such little wonder.”

Her response kills my next words as I remember just who Uthica is to Tipan. Me meeting her is probably like if Tipan got to meet Cleopatra. I shake my head, refocusing, “Uh. I guess it’s cause she feels like a sister. It absolutely was amazing.”

“Okay,” Tipan responds, blinking rapidly before adding, “And Smoulder?”

“She got stuck in the past, with Uthica. And I keep having… visions…” I pause for a second, waiting for one to take me, but I remain grounded in the present. “Seeing her doing stuff with Uthica.”

“Wait. Smoulder? Smoulder is with Uthica? She’s…” Tipan trails off, spinning in the air, just short of the leaning pillars. Then she shakes her head, staring at me. “As in, she’s Uthica’s famous companion of fire? Smoulder is the Paragon of Flame?”

I shrug at her, “Probably. Wait, do you guys have statues of her? Once she comes back, I bet she’d love to see them.”

Tipan closes all four eyes, rubbing the ridge of her nose, “Alexis, I… this is weird. I remember her… I hate to be the one to tell you this. Smoulder’s not coming back. She sacrificed herself in the battle of Burning Skies. The Paragon’s ashes are interred within the World’s End palace.”

I’m stunned for a second until I realize something Tipan said doesn’t make sense. “Ashes? How can she have ashes? Everybody turns to blue dust when we die?”

“I read that it was from the amount of magic she used that day. She infused her body with such intense fire that it didn’t return to mana.”

…

Part of me wants to collapse to the dungeon floor, weeping.

But I don’t. Instead, I nod curtly at Tipan and continue our scouting while considering what this means.

It’s possible that Smoulder really did die. But, so what? She was sent back in time, so, clearly, she can be brought forward. And it’s not like death is permanent. Not for us.

Either way, I know I won't believe it until I see her ashes for myself.