Nothing happened for three days. Going about my normal routine without teleporting or leaving the tower was mind-numbing. I tried to focus on Kalli and what she was doing, but she was just as bored as me. Wendy, Zofia, and Shara made themselves scarce too, probably because they didn’t want to attract too much attention to the fact that we knew each other. Merlin was true to his word and didn’t drop in on me at all. I walked over to the throne room once and discovered the doors were sealed tight. There was no way I could investigate them without alerting him.

Marcelle and Ulli were acting weird too. I wasn’t sure if I should be concerned, but I woke up one morning and neither of them were there. The next time I saw them, they whispered while casting nervous glances my way.

I wanted to talk to Ulli by herself, but the moment Marcelle left, she made a beeline for the bathroom. “Sorry, Melvin. Gotta go.”

I knew they were up to something, but couldn’t do much about it. Lavender chose that moment to make her move. The door between worlds burst open and she looked straight at Kalli while speaking to me. “Melvin. It’s time. Merlin has left the tower and is coming for your mother. Meet Wendy and find a way to the relic.

Where are they?

Lavender replied, knowing my reply before Kalli translated. “She will meet you at the elevator. Do not teleport.”

I left Ulli in the bathroom and sprinted for the door. The elevator dinged right when I arrived and Wendy stepped out. She was with Shara.

“Where’s Zofia?” I asked, wondering if they had left her behind.

“She’s in her room,” Wendy replied hurrying past me into the hall. “She’s monitoring us from her computer.”

“Okay,” I replied, leading them to the stairwell.

“I thought the throne was on this level,” Wendy said as we ascended to the next floor.

“It is,” I replied. “But the door is sealed. Don’t worry, I have an idea.”

It wasn’t perfect. I’d never had a chance to see if my theory was true. I burst through the first door I came to on the next floor. It was right above the throne room. A woman in a red nightgown jumped out of her chair. “M-my Lord? This is highly irregular. I’m The Chosen…”

“I know,” I replied, waving her off. “I need to borrow your stairs real quick.”

“But…” she stammered.

I ignored her and raced over to a winding stairwell on the far side of the room.

If she has a way of contacting him, this is totally going to backfire.

Kalli started pacing. Be careful, Mel.

It would be easier if I knew what Merlin was doing. Wendy and Shara looked worried, but neither of them said anything. All I could do was hurry.

At the bottom of the stairs, was one of the alcoves that normally connected to the throne room. Only, there was a problem. A wall stood between the tiny nook and the vast throne room that hadn’t been there before. Did it grow when Merlin was out of the tower? I was positive it hadn’t been there when I snuck in the other night. That could only mean one thing. Merlin sealed off the alcoves before he left. He knew I intended to break in again.

“Now what?” Wendy asked.

I shrugged and turned to face them. “I don’t know. Maybe try the front door?”

She shook her head. “No. Zofia says that’s a bad idea.”

“Why?” I asked. “I know it’s locked. But we can…”

“It’s guarded?” Shara mumbled, sounding as though she didn’t believe what she was saying.

“By who?” I asked, realizing I’d never seen any guards in the tower before.

Wendy looked horrified when she replied. “Not a who. A what. It appears your father has a dragon.”

“We need to get through this wall then,” I replied. “Zofia, can you tell if any of the alcoves are open?”

I couldn’t interact with Zofia from outside the group but I knew she could hear me through the group.

“They’re all sealed,” Wendy replied for her. “We’re going to have to break the wall down. Also, Zofia doesn’t have eyes in the throne room. There are either no cameras or she’s being blocked.”

“Keep me posted on that dragon,” I replied, walking back to the wall. “We’re in trouble if it gets into the throne room.”

While it was a solid wall, it didn’t feel particularly special. There was no mana imbued in it. I closed my eyes and probed it with mana. The wall was designed to seal off the throne room. Was it meant to keep me out? No. It clearly wasn’t. Did he not realize I’d make another attempt on the throne? The whole thing screamed trap.

“Be ready for anything,” I whispered, glancing over my shoulder to make sure nobody was spying on us above.

Once imbued with my mana, the walls parted as though they were liquid. I could tell by feel that they were made of dense metal, probably lead or something similar. The throne room was bathed in darkness, with only dim light behind me leaking in. I stepped into the throne room, feeling exposed in the large space. From the subtle sounds behind me, I knew Wendy and Shara were at my back.

We tiptoed slowly, stopping every few feet to watch a shadow that appeared to be moving on the throne. While I could see the entirety of the room, the condensed darkness around the throne played tricks with my eyes. Was someone sitting there?

“Identify yourself,” A deep voice bellowed so loud it echoed throughout the chamber.

“I’m Melvin Murphy,” I replied, puffing my chest out. “I’m the son of The Crea…I’m the son of Merlin!”

“You are not yet worthy.” the voice boomed. “Prepare to prove yourself.”

I looked over my shoulder at Wendy. “Did Lavender give you any advice for me?”

She shook her head rapidly. A siren went off in the background and glowing red eyes appeared behind the throne.

“Hold on a sec, guys,” Zofia’s voice boomed somewhere in the distance. “I think I can help.”

A second pair of red eyes appeared just above where Zofia’s voice came from.

“What do we do?” Shara asked. “Make a run for the throne?”

I shook my head, eyes still locked on the shadow above the throne. “There’s something there. I think it will kill us if we don’t deal with whatever that thing is first.”

“I don’t see anything,” Wendy said, standing beside a paid of wind dervishes she’d summoned.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” I replied. “It’s a living shadow.”

The first set of red eyes slowly made its way to the throne. There was a metallic clink every time it took a step. When I finally managed to make out what it was, I gasped. A shimmering black robot blended perfectly with the darkness. All except for the glowing red eyes. It was roughly humanoid in shape with two massive arms and legs. It was so huge, it stood nearly twice as tall as I was.

“We have to fight a pair of those?” Shara asked, gasping. “I sincerely doubt they have blood.”

I gulped, looking at the eyes in the back of the room. “I take the front, you two take the back?”

“There’s no need for that,” Zofia’s voice echoed again. “I’m controlling that one. Just back me up.”

A beam of light shot out of the darkness directly toward the black robot. Its hips swiveled on the spot, raising a plated arm to absorb the blast. Sparks flew in every direction, lighting up the room. That silhouetted a being of pure darkness that sat on the throne with the same bored posture Merlin usually had. It reminded me of a shadow boss in one of the video games I played.

The dark robots didn’t let me focus on the shadow boss for long. A maelstrom roared to life at my side as Wendy prepared powerful magic. I looked for Shara but she’d vanished into the darkness. If I wasn’t preoccupied with the monsters in front of me, I’d probably have wondered if she was taking after her mother after all.

While Zofia’s robot was putting up a good fight, it was obvious that she didn’t know how to control her robot as well as the one she was fighting. The other one transformed one of its arms into a sword that was long enough to be a lance. It lashed out at the other robot while blocking laser beams with its plated arm. Zofia tried to dodge but the blade went right through its torso. Sparks shot out and it began to stagger as it attempted to extricate itself.

By that point, Wendy’s storm had built up to a proper mini-tornado. She sent it at the enemy robot with a swish of her hand. It struggled to remove its blade from the other’s chest as it tried to deflect the tornado with its arm just as it had the laser beam. The wind ignored the obstruction and slammed into the robot full force, knocking it off balance.

Realizing I wasn’t helping, I held up my hand and shot a jet of flame at the monster. If I had access to the system, I would have chanted Kalli’s favorite spell, “Pvruzth.” Instead, I closed my eyes and willed the fire to be hot enough to melt metal.

Wendy’s tornado helped my flame, feeding it and fanning it around the robot. If machines needed to breathe, we would have suffocated it to death. Aside from turning red, it didn’t melt. It didn’t even stop working. The robot ignored us and used its second hand to brace itself so it could pull the sword out of the other robot. I heard Zofia swearing like a sailor through the speaker as she struggled to make the fallen machine respond before eventually giving up. “I’m sorry guys. You’re on your own for now. I’ll see what other defense systems I can access.”

“This isn’t working,” Wendy said as she tugged me back. It was impossible to tell if our attacks were doing anything more than annoying the massive robot.

I redoubled my efforts, adding an electrical element to my mana and naming the new attack for good measure. “Thunderous Arson!”

The robot staggered and stopped advancing, its sword arm transforming into something else that looked like a cannon. Wendy let her storm dissipate and began to levitate, two tiny tornados forming under her feet.

“What are you going to do?” I stammered between clenched teeth. “I can barely hold this thing off.”

“Give me some time,” she shouted to be heard over her storms which sounded like jet engines. “I have an idea.”

I held up my other hand, pushing more mana into the attack in an attempt to make up for the lack of Wendy. Zofia had gone silent since her robot went offline.

Use rage! Kalli barked through our bond. Add a storm of emotions to your, um, storm.

Becoming enraged on command was difficult. I wondered how the big green guy from the comics did it. Kalli helped by picturing Rasputin. That did the trick. I saw an image of Kalli exploding and an unhealthy rage flooded through me. The power of my attack grew as I poured raw emotion into it. The inferno was no longer able to contain the electricity it and it lashed out, striking the walls and ceiling in random strikes of lightning.

Wendy yelped from above as one of the lightning bolts struck close to her but managed to call out a custom spell of her own. “Downburst!”

I felt the wall of pressure as wind plummeted off of Wendy and slammed into the robot. Its legs buckled and it fell to its knees, parts of its armor peeling off under the force of the wind. I used the opening to force my attack inside. The electric flame vanished for a moment. Then it began to glow from everywhere before bursting out in a spectacular explosion.