Rune Seeker

They left the cave the same way they came in, all of them pausing only briefly to look at the oncoming storm-wall. Less than fifteen hours until it was on them, but they’d gotten to the dungeon pretty quickly.

“How far is the jump point?” Hiral asked, looking up at the islands floating high above.

“Almost fifty miles,” Seena said. “I hope your endurance holds up.”

“Me too,” Hiral mumbled as the group turned from the storm and started up a different path than they’d arrived from.

Nivian set a faster pace, though Seena told everybody to keep their eyes open for any sign of her sister’s party. Or more Troblins. If Hiral had possessed any real expertise with tracking, he would’ve done the same, but his mind was stuck on the dungeon, replaying over and over the things the strange image had said.

To get his achievement award, he’d need to get into the dungeon and clear it, but that still didn’t actually guarantee he’d get a class. Would he get to the end only to get turned down there too? Or, would that interface at least give him some idea what was wrong with him? Sure, it would be great if it handed a class over to him, but even a hint as to where he was going wrong would be enough.

Something. Anything to get him on the right track.

And Seena had said they’d be coming back, and they’d need him—or another Maker—if they wanted to access the dungeon.

Why does it need a Grower and a Maker both present to activate that interface? What could possibly be the reasoning for it? And that’s not even getting into what the dungeon actually is, and how it connects to our PIMs. Why did somebody go to all the trouble to build something like that?

The questions rattled around in Hiral’s head nonstop as the hours and miles passed, his high base End enabling him to keep up with the E-Ranked growers. It was actually Wule who slowed down first, and Hiral pulled himself out of his own head and looked at his surroundings for the first time.

Still in the forest, but the trees had gotten bigger. Not just the width of their trunks, which would take at least two or three people wrapping their arms around to touch each other’s hands, but also their height. The rigidly straight trees stretched hundreds of feet in the air, and seemed to have some kind of needles instead of leaves on their branches.

“We’ll take a few-minute break here,” Seena said, also breathing more heavily. “We’re making good time, and we’re probably halfway there, so drink some water and…”

She cut off as something cracked in the woods, like a branch breaking, and the entire party turned in that direction.

“Could it be…?” Yanily started, but cut off as Wule put a hand on his shoulder and gently shook his head.

Nivian’s thorny whip and shield grew from his hands after a brief pulse of energy, and that seemed to be some kind of signal for the others. Weapons came out and Wule buffed the party with a quick Nature’s Bulwark, while Hiral drew the pair of swords from over his shoulders.

“Standard formation,” Seena said, sidestepping in beside Wule, who stood directly behind Nivian.

Vix and Yanily took up positions on the outside of the small triangle, and Hiral moved in behind the group to stay out of their way. It sure felt cowardly, but he’d cause more harm than good if he interrupted their teamwork.

Another branch cracked from the same side of the small path, this time much closer, and the group shifted slightly to make sure Nivian was at the front.

“Speak up if you get an eye on whatever it is,” Seena instructed. “We know what we can take, even without Julka. Like more Troblins. But, if it’s not something that goes down quickly, I’ll slow it with Snaring Roots, and then we’re running. Getting to the jump point is more important than a bit of experience.”

“So close to level nineteen,” Yanily whined quietly, though he eventually nodded.

All eyes stayed on the woods, the air still and humid on the forest floor, and everything stiflingly quiet. Were there animal sounds before? Birds? Anything? I don’t remember. Maybe after the first Troblin ambush.

Another crack came, like something heavy stepped on a branch, and there was movement between the trees.

“There,” Nivian said as something rounded one of the large trees.

Taller than any of the party members by at least solid foot, the thing was all hard lines and sharp edges, with the light between the branches reflecting off its polished surface. Three arms—no, four, with one of them broken off just below the elbow. Walking on two legs, it had a body seemingly made of solid crystal and a faceless head that turned in their direction.

Turned in Hiral’s direction.

Even without eyes, he could feel it looking at him, like the others hardly mattered.

“Look at its feet,” Vix hissed, and Hiral did.

Like the rest of the body, the feet were angular and rigid as the thing took a step forward. Two toes on the front, and one on the back—this was the thing that’d made the track on the path before. The thing they’d been told to avoid at all costs.

“Plan?” Yanily asked, his spear angled toward the crystal monster in a ready position.

“Move up the road, slowly,” Seena said. “Maybe it’s not interested in us.”

“Not our usual luck,” Wule said dryly, but they moved down the road as a group, shifting to keep all eyes on the monster as it took another step forward.

“Nivian, throw it a sandwich or something to keep it busy,” Yanily hissed out of the side of his mouth.

“It’s not a dog, Yan,” Nivian said quietly.

“Doesn’t even have a mouth…” Vix added.

“Would you all just shut up?” Seena snapped in a whisper, turning her attention back to the monster. “Good monster. Good boy.” She spoke like she was trying to calm a wild animal, though she still held her staff in front of her. “Keep moving.”

“She’s treating it like a dog,” Yanily said. “Try the sandwich.”

“I’m not…” Nivian started, only to cut off at another glare from Seena.

The group shifted a bit more, and the monster’s gaze followed them. Its body turned again in their direction as it took its next step.

Crack. Another branch broke beneath its foot, and everybody jumped at the sudden noise.

“Pretty sure it’s interested in us,” Nivian said, the thing not more than thirty feet from them. “Fight or flight?”

“Sandwich!” Yanily insisted.

Everybody ignored him.

“How fast do you think it is?” Wule asked.

“Faster than you,” Vix said.

Even with the rough terrain off the side of the path, Vix was probably right. Sure, it was moving slowly and steadily now, but there was an atmosphere of coiled tension around it. Like it was waiting to explode into motion.

“Flight,” Seena said, apparently sensing the same thing. “On my mark…” She raised her staff, and there was a pulse of solar energy from her.

The roots hadn’t even sprouted an inch from the ground before the crystal monster sprang forward, covering the thirty feet in the blink of an eye.

“Look out!” somebody screamed, and the thing was on them.

Nivian’s shield came out of nowhere to block the thing’s leading hand, which had its palm open as though reaching for something, but the tight-wound vine blasted apart at the slightest touch, and its fingers wrapped around his arm. Then Nivian was in the air, tossed aside like a children’s toy—if the child could throw a grown man fifteen feet with barely a shrug.

Wule and Seena reflexively stepped back, while Hiral rushed between them to delay the monster, and Vix and Yanily came in from the sides. Another of the monster’s hands shifted toward Yanily, almost too fast to see, and there was a shimmer like a soap bubble bursting. Everything on the ground in a wide cone in front of the hand, including Yanily, shot backwards, leaving a widening scar in the ground. The poor Grower hurtled through the underbrush.

A grunt—he must’ve hit something—and he was gone.

Vix came in hard from the other side, fists pack, pack, packing as he landed a trio of blows against the crystal skin, then quick-stepped back as the head turned toward him. Form blurred from the buff he gave himself, he sprinted right to try and circle around behind the monster, but the third hand came up like it was reaching for him, even though he was ten feet away.

A brief look of confusion passed across Vix’s face, and then he lunged ahead, like something had grabbed him by the shirt and pulled.

Hiral leapt forward, colliding with Vix and throwing them both to the ground as the monster’s fist sailed through the air right where Vix would’ve gone. They hit the dirt and rolled apart, Hiral being the first to his feet. He spun around just in time to see the monster’s open palm reaching for him.

The same palm that’d blasted Nivian’s shield into little pieces.

Even with his 20 Dex,he was too slow, the thing in front of him moving infinitely faster. Somehow, his mind had time to tell him there was no way this thing could be E-Rank, or even D, for that matter. It had to be C-Rank or above, which meant it was way out of their league.

And then the hand was just inches in front of his chest, palm glowing from some kind of symbol etched into the crystal.

Another one of those strange runes…?

Hiral braced for the contact—there wasn’t anything else he could do—but the ground erupted in a shower of dirt and forest debris as the hand reached for him. Thick roots, like large spikes as wide as Hiral’s leg, pin-cushioned the monster, and though none of them were able to pierce its crystal skin, they did a good job of stopping its movement.

For the moment.

“Run. Run now!” Seena shouted, releasing another pulse of energy as smaller roots grew out of the large spikes to further entangle the monster.

Hiral looked at the head, which gave him the feeling the monster was gazing into his soul, then dashed past the immobile creature and ran toward where Yanily had been hurled.

The spearman was already coming out of the woods, one arm over Nivian’s shoulder. With a quick glance back at the trapped crystal monster, the party fled down the path as fast as they could.

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