Hot air tinged with sulfur washed over our team as the doors finished yawning. Inside the sepulchre, alcoves lined the walls, each horizontal slot open enough for a body. All were empty. The ceiling writhed with living motes of flame that provided ample illumination to the stone tile covered hallway. Elementals that small didn’t warrant concern.
Nyla stepped forward and immolated herself in blue flames, not a blue signifying intense heat. Nyla didn’t wield simple mundane flames. These flames danced with frost and produced snow instead of ash as they burnt the warmth. A refreshing cool breeze emanated from her, bringing immediate relief to Riena.
Damn, I forgot how fragile our Commander still was. I had assumed she had Crafted solutions to minor environmental hazards after enrolling at Aspiration. Perhaps she had. In case she hadn’t, I moved close enough to her that I could change the temperature with my aura.
Our entire group processed down the hall with wary determination. I broke the silence to say, “Preserve the imp’s wings. I don’t need anything else. The venom in their stingers is irrelevant for mid tier monsters. For the sludges, try to preserve the brain sacks.”
Riena nodded along to my analysis while Derek shivered and said, “Can’t we put them to rest?”
I suppressed an eyeroll. Sludges were the nearly transparent remains of heroes after their shade had been stripped from them. “These things aren’t sapient anymore. One team managed to communicate via blinks for a few hours before their teammate lost all cohesion.” The brain sacks were still a potent source of psionic MP.
Derek still softly shook his head.
“People can die before their body does. Remember that well, because it is the trick to killing certain monsters.” Once Derek looked away, I continued. “Don’t hold back against the fire elementals. They need to be suppressed until I can capture them. Furthermore, keep an eye out for metal coffins. Infernal iron will make for decent armor.” Chainmail from that and healing potions from more imp paste should be all the support they would need for the excursion this weekend.
Riena held up a finger. “Not entirely correct on the elementals. The more stringent the suppression technique, the slower the energy rejuvenation of your container later. Though, only Nyla and myself should have to worry about that.”
As I accepted her correction, the hallway opened into a square room. Stairways of lava rolled to the left and right as an imp sat imperiously on a throne far too big for him in front of a lowered portcullis. The creature was like an all-red goblin with wings, a tail, tiny horns, and a sharp angular face. “Welcome heroes,” he shrieked in a voice like claws raked along a smoldering chalkboard. “The master is away for now, but if you proceed down either path, the rest of us can entertain you.”
“What—” Riena began to ask as Nyla rushed forward, and Derek raised blue barriers around us. Once they were up, a dozen invisible imps I detected shot small fireballs at the fortifications.
The speaking imp teleported above us as Nyla punched through the stone throne he had sat on. It shattered in frozen chunks that immediately began to steam. The imp tutted. “Such rude guests. Wouldn’t you rather take a relaxing bath?”
For an instant, the lava flows seemed lovely. Then I closed my mind like a fortress and repelled the creature's compulsion with mental bursts of aura by intentionally thinking my own thoughts and willing the reality of my brain to conform with those thoughts.
The others weathered the attack without issue, except for Riena. She took a step toward one of the stairs before feeling all of our alarm. Her face twisted in confusion before she pulled deeper on our bond to see things from our point of view. With a shake, Riena seemed to dispel the compulsion and focused back on ‘the fight’.
Sadly, it was depressingly one-sided. The gathering of imps stood little chance against Nyla’s fists. Ribcages shattered like mirrors as Nyla punched holes through them. They tried to fly away from her, but our Vanguard could jump far. She grabbed one by the stinger and spun it in the air before throwing it at the leader.
The greater imp sneered and teleported to the right. “I swear. Heroes have less decorum with each passing year. Why, when I first started this post, the freshmen would at least engage in soliloquy.” He wagged a claw toward one of Derek’s barriers. “Idiots, focus on the weak one.”
Even as Nyla ripped through their ranks, the imps converged and attacked a single point with fireballs. When the barrier shattered, half of them transformed into wolves and rushed into the opening only to be intercepted by Casimir’s shadowhounds. Casimir stroked one of the waist-high mounds of muscle as his pack drew and quartered a couple of imps.
I wasn’t needed, but I still leapt into the fray. With my left hand, I whipped my venom blade to score a hit along two of the imps’ chests. They flopped to the ground and writhed in agony as my glaive beheaded one of the wolves. Its corpse transformed back with its death.
With the dogs, I pushed the imps out of Derek’s barriers. My glaive drank freely as I blended it through the monsters. Tooth and claw broke on my armor, and the imps’ fireballs were easy to perceive and dodge. Derek raised a new barrier behind me, sensing my intent.
Nyla, myself, and the hounds encircled the imps and butchered them as they begged for mercy. The greater imp rubbed his face in exasperation and teleported away.
After a quick cheer of victory, I began to harvest the wings and bottle crushed imp viscera. My team was oddly silent. When I glanced at them, my own work was forgotten. In each of their eyes, I saw the same righteous satisfaction that I had only shared with Gabriel. Seeing their delight in heroism caused me to smile. Finally, I had met people like me.
Many heroes tolerated our good work. Others took abstract pleasure in a hard-fought battle, but nearly no one thrilled in the slaughter. They didn’t draw strength from it like I did. They couldn’t see the beauty of twinkling blood or the mosaic masterpieces of monster guts on the ground. Every battlefield was a canvas to create new wonders.
But my team saw it. In them was my fiery passion, and I knew a belonging I didn’t think possible.
Casimir pawed at his face. “What the hell is this? Did that imp curse us?”
Riena’s face morphed between deep concern, pity, and joy. “No, it’s from the bond. We’re all experiencing an inkling of what Mari feels while fighting.”
Nyla bounced on her feet. “I like it.”
“There…” Riena focused. “...isn’t a way to filter it out. Her emotions come with the bond. It’s a core part of how it works.”
“Eh, that’s fine.” Nyla perched herself across the armrests of the shattered throne and made herself comfortable.
Casimir, Derek, and Riena had doubts that I tried to head off. “We have to do this anyway. Wouldn’t you rather enjoy it?” Please be like me. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve wanted to share this love for heroism.”
Derek nearly scoffed before sensing my honesty. He instead slouched. “Oh Mari…”
“She has a point.” Casimir rubbed his chin. “I’m a little worried about permanent bleedthrough, but in our world, Mari’s perspective would be useful to have.”
After analyzing the phenomena and attempting to solve it, Riena pondered how to feel about it. Her thoughts buzzed through the bond like a hive of bees. They flew and exploded into each other as she chewed the issue from all angles.
“Riena… What is it?” I asked.
Her eyes roved over me like a specimen. “I’ve met sadistic psychopaths before, and you aren’t like them.”
I rolled my eyes at this old debate I’ve had with nearly every friend. “It’s not the same thing. I kill monsters, not humans.” The line was pretty clear in my mind. Sure, I killed people, but they were monsters. In the great struggle of preserving humanity, that was a world of difference.
“How can you be sure? Have you ever killed a human?”
“Nay! Choosing to engage in such a test would be a greater reflection of character than any base responses from such a test. Moral fiber comes from what we choose to do, not preferences. I deny your pejorative labels. They disregard the heroic context of my joy. When the light banishes the dark, should we not celebrate? Would finally winning the war not cause you tears of happiness? How different are the smaller battles leading to that final conclusion? I know I would prefer to storm the gates of hell with a smile on my face and a song in my heart. Through your blessing, none of us need to become weary of this righteous cause.”
“Yeah!” Nyla offered her support with a raised fist.
Derek shrugged. “I can deal.” Casimir nodded with the statement.
Riena hesitated and looked at her own hands. “I worry if I’ll be able to have your line, Mari. There are people that I hate more than any monster, but…” She sighed. “I want to live through this school, and after that little fight, I get why you all want me to use my ability. It was like having eyes in the back of my head, and we all moved together like clockwork. I didn’t do much… but I get it.”
She looked away and the bond remained steady.
I harvested the wings after showing everyone else how to gather imp paste. After we were done, I approached the gate and rolled my shoulders. Derek stepped behind me. “Are you going to lift that? The crank is on the other side.”
“That is my intent.” I squatted and grabbed the lowest bar with perfect form. “While magical lava is far less hot than the real thing, I don’t want to wade through it.” Soak enough MP into stone and it’ll run like water at barely higher temperatures than a campfire.
Nyla tapped Derek on the shoulder. “I’ll bet 20 kuai that she can’t lift it.”
“That’s a sucker’s bet. I’m in,” Derek said. “She wouldn’t be trying to do it if she couldn’t.”
Riena joined the group. “No way. That’s a solid wrought iron portcullis. See that mechanism at the edges. Extra weight presses against the gate unless you use the crank, which is attached to levers that push away the weight. That thing has to weigh over a hundred tons.”
“Good eye.” I sucked in a breath and flexed my muscles. “That’s well within my capacity for this lift, but the real limit is always the ground beneath me.” The scalding hot temperature of the iron only succeeded in sublimating sweat from my pores and leaving tiny salt crystals. My aura flowed into the actual problem. The stone beneath my feet was thin, probably designed as such to counter this exact means of bypassing the gate.
I had to stretch my control in a disk under me, redirecting the reactive force of my lift to outside my influence. Stone cracked and metal groaned, but the gate steadily rose. I had to go slow. The faster I went, the more force the ground would experience.
Not for the first time, I lamented not having proper superstrength. For such heroes, their aura would easily and cheaply reinforce the world so that only their intended targets experienced their might. Power, one of the top heroes, could punt a demon across Last Stand without shattering a single window from his supersonic movements. Meanwhile, I had to exhaust half my stamina to make the world comply with a simple lift.
With a grunt of exaltation, I hefted the gate over my head and stepped through. The mass of iron clanged behind me as I approached the crank. While ratcheting the portcullis up, I saw Riena and Nyla each give Derek a twenty. Casimir, thankfully, watched out backs during the impromptu round of betting.
By the time the gate was raised, I had regained my breath and my team had formed up to continue our march down the hall. Nyla tapped one of the bottom spikes on her way in. “Didn’t you want this metal?”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“No,” I answered as I re-entered our formation. “The presence of infernally aligned demons around iron used to contain humans creates the infernal metal. In the case of coffins, a corpse counts. Cages would work too. That’s part of why they are eager to capture humans. For those kinds of demons, the metal’s durability increases with the strength of the demon. There was once a demon noble who made a steady profit by staffing his manor with human servants and binding them in decorative shackles.”
“What happened to that guy?”
“He tried to shackle the wrong hero and died for his error. Unfortunately, the servants had been so ensorcelled by the creature that some of them tried to kill me for freeing them.”
Our group fell into silence until we arrived at the dungeon's final room. By busting through the intended shortcut to the exit, we had skipped most of the layout. Sludges oozed over haphazard piles of metal coffins as imps flitted between columns and elementals stalked between the piles. To our left and right, flows of lava spilled into the room and ceased. The walls were still lined with almost empty alcoves with the occasional imp nests. Everything spiraled out from a raised central dais. The top was a round disk of smooth stone with spiraled stairs around it. At its center was a sealed portal.
Not everyone could see the invisible line. The bending of light was so faint that I would have struggled to notice if wind pressure didn’t shift around it and create a slight whistling sound. From across the room, my nose smelled a deeper sulfur wafting one molecule at a time from the portal. Beyond that rift in reality lay one of the hell worlds, lands of fire, ash, and suffering.
Through me, the rest perceived the portal, and we all knew where the Demogorgon must come from. Casimir whispered, “We need to get out of here quickly. Mari, how badly do you need the sludge brains?”
“Only a few for potions,” I said.
“Good. We’ll grab—” Casimir paused. “Sorry Riena, I’m overstepping, but now is not the time for training. Nyla and Derek, go grab a couple coffins each. Quick and easy. If a sludge attacks, let it. I’ll heal any damage. We’ll pull them into the hall for a quieter kill. Exemplar, capture any elementals that approach. Riena, stay close to me.”
I planted my glaive next to Riena and moved. The unwieldy polearm would attract too much attention. I outpaced my allies and jumped the first elemental. Grasping fire was impossible. Stabbing it did nothing. I led with one of my glass spheres and held the ball within the creature.
This one had a feline grace with several pseudopods of flame. Those struck at me while my hand cooked inside of it. My aura coaxed most of the heat to flow through my armor and radiated off of me rather than into me, and my durability handled the rest. Once the elemental realized I was unfazed, it tried to flee my sphere. Careful footwork let me keep pace with it until the crystal swallowed the creature.
Barely singed, I moved on to the next elemental. This one had snared coal into its workings and grew into a stag that stood eye level with me. When I landed in front of it, it dragged a hoof over the stone twice and charged. I stifled a laugh before tackling it. My foot crunched through stone and flattened a hidden iron spike as I stopped the creature’s charge and heaved it to the ground.
I wrapped my blade around its head and tightened the fibers. Hot coals and embers went flying from the decapitated body. The buck tried to buck, but I braced its torso between my legs and shoved another sphere into its fiery staghead. It didn’t like that at all and burned brightly.
Sadly for the little flameling, a tier 2 fire elemental couldn’t significantly hurt me. Their attacks were too mundane, and their abilities too weak. This creature’s ‘dying’ attack was equivalent to a shadeless dumping fresh coffee on her cooch, painful but not lethal. The final explosion sent sparks showering across the room as I captured it.
This commotion drew the attention of two more elementals. They hopped over each side of the coffin piles next to me and leered down. Before I chose which one to capture, a large metal hand reached from an extradimensional portal and grasped the fire hyena on my right. The mana conduits at its palm sucked the elemental into it before the arm withdrew back into its storage dimension.
I spared Riena a glance. She winked at me, confirming that was her drone. Our not-so-hapless Commander had mastered spatial storage to get around the problem humanity’s most advanced drones tended to have: they were too big for dungeons and portals. It was a level of Crafting I was too ignorant to properly appreciate. Spatial runes were beyond my ken, let alone their devastating MP expenses or the exorbitant difficulty of maintaining your own personal dimension. Riena certainly had reason to believe she was up to the challenges of Aspiration.
Her intervention let me focus on the remaining elemental. This one was shaped like an octopus and perched precariously such that it could twist its body out of my reach and pivot if I leapt into the air. Reluctantly, I chased one of the creature’s tentacles instead of the main body. This capture took much longer as the creature found ways to escape my sphere, disrupting the process.
It wasn’t until Nyla beat it over the head with chilling flames that the elemental slowed down long enough to contain it. “Come on, we have to go.” She waved me to the exit where my companions had finished off the sludges.
We bounded back to our group silently while carefully avoiding the gazes of the other monsters. It appeared that Nyla had also mastered scouting techniques. Good, more Vanguards should know when to be stealthy.
On the final leap, I froze in the air.
“Uh-uh. Did you think you could despoil my garden so easily? And after skipping most of my arrangements! Tut tut.” The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. I heard it as the voice of my doubts. It rang in my skull and echoed off the walls.
Slowly, I was turned around and pulled toward the Demogorgon by invisible bonds. He stood in front of an opened portal of fire. The rest of my team had avoided the snare, but they couldn’t leave me. As I lost sight of them, the demon came into view. He stood naked, though his kind didn’t wear clothes. To humans, Demogorgon’s looked humanoid. They had two arms, two legs, and one head. The rough twisting of flesh was obvious in his mishappened mounds of skin and his muscles arranged without order. That was before the random eyes and askew mouth gave away the ruse.
Our scholars thought Demogorgon’s weren’t really shapeshifters. They merely contorted themselves into new shapes based on who they wanted to torment. This one had a bald head and two solid red orbs where eyes normally go. The other eyes on his body were of every variety and roamed with minds of their own. His skin was dark with a green hue, but his species came in different colors. There were actually some stereotypes associated with warm colors versus cold colors in their culture. None of which did me any good, but my mind grasped for all the relevant information.
“There you are. My lovely guest.” I hung a meter away from the creature as he enjoyed the sound of his own voice. “My poor—” He named the greater imp in High Infernal, a foul magical language, which implied a deep understanding of his pet. Lies were difficult in magical languages, so a name in one would accurately describe the creature. This casual display of magical prowess served as a reminder of what kind of foe I faced.
Demogorgons were spellcasters. A clever spellcasting monster doesn’t rely on raw power. All their spells have hidden rules and compromises to narrow the effect of their arcane might. This telekinetic grasp, for example, likely required that he not harm me while using the spell.
He continued, “—was beside himself with your treatment.” The creature rotated me again and hummed. “Normally, I would ask an impossible riddle and collect your shade, but yours is nearing the precipice. How about this: I’ll let your teammates go if you come live in my estate. My abode is normally hostile to your kind, but you’ll be a fine addition to my menagerie.”
“No.” A firm ‘no’ was the appropriate response to this advance. In his culture, this offer was considered very respectful. Further ranting would only needlessly aggravate his alien mind.
“A shame.” He sighed. “I’m sure my buttercup would have adored you. If we are fortunate, your shade might retain its shape on its own. It won’t be you, not at this stage, but… I digress. It’s time for the riddle!” Little fireworks erupt behind him. “Are you the same person you were a year ago?”
I give the 3 meter tall demon a flat look. Any answer could be wrong or right based on what he thought was true in the moment. Riddle traps like these were common bait. By answering at all, you gave the magic more power. “I did not agree to the terms of the riddle.”
He chuckled like a group of former friends behind my back. “If you refuse to answer, then we can fight the old fashioned way. Would that be wise? You are already completely in my power.” He torqued my limbs until they hurt, but not to the point of injury. “Do you want me to rip you apart with the flicker of a thought? Perhaps you would prefer my earlier offer? It’s still open.”
“Duel me, monster.”
When he expanded his palm, the telekinesis released me and a blast of air sent me into a pile of coffins. “So be it.”
I pried myself free in time to watch the Demogorgon fade from view. A limb brushed through the folds between reality and passed through my aura. No other sense could perceive it. I struck at the attack with my blade and felt the enchanted edge part flesh. The thing whipped away before I could sever it, but not before the creature was poisoned.
The demon didn’t audibly scream or flail limbs through the air. When the trap had failed, the creature had stepped to a side dimension and hoped to best me from there, which would have worked if I hadn’t fought creatures like him before. I spread my aura wide and waited for the next strike.
This time, two attacks from slightly outside reality came at my front and back. I relaxed my blade into segments and spun to catch both limbs in the strike. They pushed through my edged whip and pressed the flat back of my weapon against me before they flinched away. One of the limbs caressed my leg as he backed off. My body didn’t feel the contact; my shade did.
I tightened my sword again and braced for another attack. Instead, a magic circle formed around the pile I stood on and sucked it into a portal. I leapt from the falling mass and was struck by three ‘limbs’ this time. After cutting two of them, I caught the 3rd one with my hand and that ended up being a mistake.
Lightning coursed through my body and arced into the ground from the spell charge limb. The electricity locked my muscles long enough for the creature to wrap me in what I was sure was pincers. He squeezed and I pushed with all my considerable strength. There was no weaker world to fail me now. It was my might against his.
I proved to be stronger and forced his grip to relax or be torn apart. Once I had my arms open and a chitinous edge in each hand, my team made their move. Derek formed barriers around the creature and then conjured turrets on those barriers. His disgust radiated over the bond as the blue hemispheres with cannons turned and blasted the creature’s body with blue light. The only sign that he hit was the beams disappearing.
A flock of ravens pecked at where the creature should be. They died in droves as invisible forces ripped through them. One alighted on my shoulder and pulsed vital energy, healing my burns and bruises. Casimir himself stood back to back with Derek as one large serpent encircled them and ate approaching imps.
Nyla dove from the ceiling and kicked at the center of Casimir’s flock, foot wreathed in white flames. The haunting fire burned across dimensions and lapped hungrily at the Demogorgon’s soul.
Souls were still a mysterious concept. Some thought they were shades. Others thought they were the definition of who you were. Many still clung to ancient religious beliefs. No matter the truth, rare abilities and monsters could interact with the soul, whatever it was. Enough damage could kill most mid tier or lower creatures.
The esoteric flame caused the demon to flinch and hurl me into the lava at the left side of the room. I hurried out of the puddle in time to see Nyla flip away from the beast as he reeled from other invisible blows.
By the exit, Riena wore a visor and was punching the air in motions that aligned with the Demogorgon’s reactions. Casimir’s birds continued to harry the creature until it stepped out of his pocket dimension back into his humanoid form by the portal.
Having seen the transformation, Riena bent over and hurled as the Demogorgon jumped through his portal and shut it.
None of us said a word as we grabbed our loot and ran out the dungeon. I retrieved my glaive and an extra coffin before tossing Riena into it and carrying her out.
Outside the dungeon, we sealed the doors, and I updated the information to specify that this was a tier 2 dungeon around an active tier 5 portal.
I sighed, “It’s a shame we let him get away, but we weren’t prepared for him to return with other mid tier allies and pets.”
Casimir vibrated to shake off the specter of death. “I could use a drink.”
“I still have a keg of giant’s mead,” Nyla offered.
“Oo, that would do it.”
Derek perked up at that. “It’s been ages since I had some.”
Riena leaned out of the coffin. “I’ve never had the pleasure.”
I laughed. “And you won’t. Until 10% shade, it’s best to avoid magical liquors. A sip would kill an unpowered person. You could drink a lethal amount before feeling a buzz.”
She crossed her arms. “Fine then. I have an excellent bottle of whiskey for a mere mortal like myself.”
“The entire bottle should be enough for you to feel something. Alcoholism is a horrifically expensive hobby for heroes if you engage in it outside of rare loot.” Quenching the thirst of Last Stand was lucrative enough that I sold any brews I found. If Gabriel hadn’t shared with me, I wouldn’t know what getting drunk was like. “Many heroes drink away all their money, but the need motivates them to go out and slay more monsters.”
Derek said softly, “I have an uncle like that. Whenever we ask him about starting his own family, he laughs and takes another drink.”
I mentally checked out of the conversation as Nyla ribbed Derek for his ‘flex’ of ‘having an uncle’. That led to lots of joking back and forth, which was the part of conversations I struggled with. Personally, I respected mortally wounded heroes like Derek’s uncle. That dogged determination to fight one more day even as you forgot why you fought was worthy of admiration.
When our group returned to our dorm, we saw a purple tentacle drag a vorpal squirrel back to my room.
As my team braced for battle, I stepped in front of them. “Stop. That’s just Fyrnell.”
Riena asked, “Who?”
“They are… my…” I mumbled the last part, “Bed Monster.”
Nyla grinned. Derek looked away embarrassed. Casimir snorted and said, “No way, the blood-crazed Exemplar kept her Bed Monster.”
I blushed and looked away while Riena remained confused. Someone from the high-rises couldn’t understand how this was equivalent to keeping a stuffed animal from my childhood.
He patted me on the shoulder. “Hey, Ignore what I said. I think it's great that you care for something outside of Riena’s bond.”
I scowled. “I’m not a loveless zombie. I’ve cared about plenty of people. You started peering into my head while I’m between social circles. It’s not representative of how I normally am.” I huffed and turned around. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go talk to a dear friend.”
Why does Casimir think I’m blood-crazed? He felt what I felt. The difference should be obvious. I barely focused on the thrill in the battle anymore. It brought clarity to a mind that had too many needless worries—like this one.
I banished the concern and entered my bedroom.
