Rune Seeker - Book 3: Chapter 55: One Down

As pieces of the sky fell like broken glass that vanished in sparkles of solar energy, torrential rain hammered the distant island, the clouds above thick and dark. Sheets of the storm lashed across the surface, and whether it was some kind of magic in the dungeon, or his high Atn, Hiral saw something else move within the rain.

“What’s happening?” Seena asked.

But Hiral couldn’t answer. His mind was reeling at what he saw.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

ENEMY DETECTED!

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

He forced the notification out of his vision; it wasn’t like he needed the explanation.

Tentacles—even though he could only see an outline in the falling rain, that’s what they had to be—reached out of the storm. It was an Enemy, no doubt about that, but this was unlike anything he’d ever seen before. These tentacles stretched across the island, on and on and on. So huge they each had to be a mile thick, the sheer size of the beast was absolutely mind-boggling.

The monstrous appendages almost looked like they moved in slow motion from where he watched, slinking across the island as if there was no limit to their size. Really, they had to be covering entire miles within seconds. Anything that stood in their way was absolutely crushed until, finally, the gigantic arms reached across the full thirty-mile length of the island. And somehow, they didn’t end there, even going so far as to wrap around the edges and down underneath.

Unbelievably, things got even worse. Glowing runes formed at regular intervals along the lengths of the tentacles, the solar energy comprising them carving the air and turning the rain to mist. Impact and Compression, dozens of them, blazed fiercely.

“Hiral!” Seena shouted. “We can’t see what’s going on. Can you?”

“An Enemy,” he said, his voice barely a whisper, “as big as the island. It’s wrapped its tentacles around it.”

“What? Why would it do…?” Seeyela started, but they all got their answer a second later—and they didn’t need Hiral’s high Atn to see it.

With a flex of unimaginable strength, the tentacles began to squeeze the island. Starting at the edges, stone shattered and broke apart, whole sections of the island falling off in huge chunks. The CRACK of breaking stone carried over the KA-THOOM of thunder, and still the giant squid continued to squeeze.

Hiral watched as the tentacles writhed and repositioned for a better grip, stone turning to gravel beneath the pressure. Distant screams seemed to reach his ears—though that was probably just his imagination—and another mile-wide section of island fell to the surface below.

“If… if as many people made it through the portal over there as here…” Seeyela said.

Nobody had a chance to respond, as another titanic squeeze from the Enemy severed the stone support holding the upside-down-mountain-like island up. For a moment, Hiral almost thought—hoped—the squid would simply let it drop. At least then there would be a chance for survivors, but that small hope was immediately dashed.

As if ripping the island off its braces motivated the squid even more, a dozen more CRACKS echoed through the dungeon. The lightning overhead flashed in a fury in time with the cracking, some of it even arcing down to dance across the massive appendages. Up the island went, almost as if it had decided it could fly.

Then the squid slammed it down so hard the shockwave of the impact visibly raced outward. Dust, rain, and stone expanded and expanded, a roar of the oncoming rush vibrating the air and the ground at their feet.

“Brace!” Seena shouted as it became clear the shockwave wouldn’t slow.

Hiral pushed solar energy into his Runes of Rejection and Expansion, while two flaming wings surrounded the group in a thick shield.

That should be enough to…

It wasn’t enough.

The shockwave hit the wings and field of Rejection hard enough to blast through both of them, knocking Hiral and the others to the ground. Above them, the Reflections that’d been hovering and waiting until needed were completely dispelled, and the building behind Hiral creaked ominously.

“We can’t stay here,” Hiral said, pushing himself to his feet even as his Regeneration+ went to work healing the dozens of small bruises and injuries from the shockwave. Through the dust and debris, his high Atn picked out the silhouette of what was left of the island—maybe half of it—being lifted into the air for a second smash. “It’s going to do it again! Dr. Benza, is there a tunnel in this house?”

“What?” Dr. Benza asked, eyes wide in shock and blood running down one side of his face from a cut on his head.

“Whatever,” Seena said. “Grab him and go in.” She struggled to her feet like she’d been drinking, then stumbled into the building.

“Right,” Hiral said, and his double scooped the doctor up without a word of complaint. “Come on, Seeyela,” he said to the dazed woman. One of her arms went over his shoulder, Yanily grabbing the other, and the party shuffled through the door.

Immediately inside, they found the wide pit Hiral was hoping for, though there was no ladder peeking over the edge. A quick look down showed why: Fenil lay unmoving on the ground, the toppled ladder beside him. On his other side, Laseen was groggily holding one hand to her head, her face pinched like she was trying to figure out where she was.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

No time for this!

Even with his back to the massive Enemy, Hiral could feel it bringing the island down for a second smash. Another shockwave would be coming any second now.

“In the pit, now!” Hiral said, pushing energy into his Runes of Gravity, Decrease, and Expansion. It wasn’t enough for anybody to float, but it would make the landing far easier for their addled bodies.

As a testament to the group’s trust in him, they all jumped without a word—just in time.

WHAAAAAM echoed behind them, the shaking of the ground increasing in intensity every second as the shockwave raced in their direction. Even down there in the pit, they wouldn’t be completely shielded from the blast, and Hiral let go of Seeyela’s arm while his eyes frantically searched for… There!

Hiral dove across the room and smacked his hand against the small crystal, plunging them all into darkness at the same time a deafening roar surged overhead.

A look up—though he couldn’t actually see anything—and the rumbling eventually passed.

“Everybody okay?”

“More scrapes and bruises,” Yanily said. “Oh, and I’m pretty sure I’ve been blinded.”

“That’s just ‘cause the lights are off, Yan,” Seena said. A glowing orb of fire appeared in her hand the next second, filling the room with flickering light.

“Phew.”

“Sis?” Seena asked.

“Fine. Smacked my head pretty good when that first wave hit us. Thanks for the carry, Hiral, Yanily.” Seeyela’s words were still slightly slurred, but getting better with each one spoken.

“Dr. Benza?” Seena said. “You okay? Is there a way we can turn on the lights?”

“Near the tunnel exit opposite where we came in,” the doctor said after a few seconds of silence. Right still held the man up, and his blinks came slow and infrequent.

“I’ll get the lights,” Hiral said, standing up and heading over to the tunnel. It didn’t take him more than a moment to find the crystal, and a swipe of his hand brought several of the stones glowing to life. Several… but not all the ones Hiral would’ve expected. Unlike the consistent pattern of light from before, the illumination was intermittent and unpredictable. “Dr. Benza, something’s wrong with the lights.”

“With the destruction of the other island, the balance will fail,” Laseen said. “We call them compassionate systems, each island helping take care of the others.” She pushed herself to her feet but swayed a little, knees going weak, and suddenly Left was there, holding her up. “Thanks.”

“You okay?” Left asked quietly.

“Got thrown down here by that wave,” she explained.

“How bad is it?” Hiral said. “Losing the other island?”

“We’ll lose the least crucial systems first, like the lighting. If we lose another island…” Laseen trailed off.

“We need to get the islands into the air,” Dr. Benza said, his voice strained.

“They’re not ready,” Laseen argued. “We need another year to get everything finished.”

“We don’t have another year,” Dr. Benza countered. “If we don’t get them out of here now, we’ll lose everything. All the people we were trying to save and the power the PIMP needs to evolve. Not to mention the Fallen. They’ll get away. Everything we’ve worked for, gone.”

“What can we do?” Hiral asked. “Is the mechanism to lift the islands back in the city?” It would make sense, since Dr. Benza had said this island was responsible for all of them flying.

“No. This island is central to the magic of getting us into the air, but it can only be activated from the village down on the surface. That’s the central control node for all four islands.”

“Okay. How do we get down there?” Hiral looked up at the sealed roof. Would they have to go back out that way and risk using their mounts? Even if they did, they couldn’t carry everybody.

“These tunnels lead to exits near the bottom of the island,” Dr. Benza said. “Some of them, where we designed the water intake, don’t seal. We’ll be able to get out that way. There are also Discs of Passage there for exactly this purpose.”

“There are?” Hiral asked. Now that he thought about it, he’d never read about anybody exploring the swirling curtain of mist under the island. It was kind of like flying into a tornado. Were there really actual Discs of Passage down there still?

“Yes, but we’re not going to the surface,” Dr. Benza said, his voice stronger as he took his weight off Right. “We need to get the Spear of Clouds to one of the other islands first. Laseen, you still have it, don’t you?”

“I… I dropped it when I got knocked into the pit. It must be around here somewhere.”

All at once, every head in the room started looking around, but it was—unsurprisingly—Yanily who ducked under a table and came up with a long, slender, crystal spear.

“Whoa,” he said in awe at the weapon in his hands. Exactly matching the details of the tattoo on Hiral’s back, there was no doubt what Yanily was holding.

Still, Hiral couldn’t resist using View on it.

Spear of Clouds – S-Rank

Even the sky isn’t the limit.

That’s it? No item or skill descriptions?

Still, even without text explaining what the spear did, power radiated off it like a physical thing. Even the Emperor’s Greatsword, Ring of Amin Thett, and Second-Skin of Ur’Thul didn’t give off the same aura of strength.

As Yanily lifted the spear up to get a closer look at the crystal blade, a pair of notification windows sprang up in Hiral’s vision.

Dynamic Quest: Update

Abomination Defeated: 1/1

Researcher(s) Saved: 3/3

Weapon of Legend Secured: 1/1

That’s no surprise, which means the other window should be…

Dynamic Quest Complete

Congratulations. Achievement unlocked – The Legendary Rat Pack

You have defeated an Abomination created from an ancient and powerful rat, and saved the hope of the future. For now.

Please access a Dungeon Interface to unlock class-specific reward.

That “for now” part is a little ominous, but the part about the ancient rat… Does the creature made into the abomination have to be something special? The Lady of the Web was some kind of matriarch too. Those Army Ants seemed more common, unless they were just test subjects?

“Good, give it here,” Dr. Benza said, snapping Hiral out of his usual inner thoughts, as he held out his hand towards Yanily. “We need to get it over to the island where the Growers are before that monstrous squid destroys it too.”

“Actually…” Hiral stepped in between Dr. Benza and the spearman, his hand held up to the doctor. “I think Yanily should carry it until we get to wherever we’re taking it. I can’t imagine we’ll get there without a fight, and if he has that, it increases our odds.”

“I get to play with this a bit?” Yanily asked, eyes lighting up like a child with their first toy.

“That okay, Dr. Benza?” Seena asked.

The doctor seemed to think about it for a few seconds, then finally nodded. “I doubt he’ll be able to use the weapon’s full strength, but even a sliver of it should make this easier. But! When we get to Hugor, we need to give him the spear.”

“Hugor?” Seeyela asked.

“Yes, though everybody just calls him Grandfather.”