Path of Dragons

Like the library itself, the site of the first rune was made of engraved crystal. However, instead of a mostly clean design featuring straight lines and sharp edges, the new building was all curves and fin-like protrusions. As Elijah looked upon the glittering structure, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe. On Earth, there were plenty of predominantly glass buildings, and many of them were artistically impressive. None of them were surrounded by the same aura of majesty as what lay before him.

“It’s easy to forget, sometimes.”

“What?” asked Sadie, glancing his way.

“That these were real people. That there was a fully realized culture here,” Elijah answered. “I get caught up in all the challenges – the manufactured parts of it, I mean – but this building really existed. Someone built it. Someone designed it. It was probably some architect’s life’s work, the defining achievement of their professional life. And look at how detailed it is. The level of artistry involved is staggering. It makes me wonder…”

He trailed off, casting his eyes toward the surface of the street.

“What is it, bro?”

“What are we going to leave behind?” he asked. “I’ve done a lot of traveling, you know. Thousands of miles. And I’ve seen some wondrous things along the way. But one thing I couldn’t fail to notice is that, even though we’re only five years removed from Earth’s transformation, so little of humanity’s influence has managed to survive. And it’s going to get worse. Thousands of years of history, just gone.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know. I guess I just hope we don’t forget the people who came before. Building something like the Eiffel Tower isn’t as impressive as that…” He gestured to the crystal building. “But in a way, it’s just as great an accomplishment. Maybe greater, because we didn’t have fancy abilities or magic. It was built by human skill and human ingenuity. Will all of that be forgotten? How much have we already lost?”

No one had anything to say to that, because they all knew just how valid a question it was. Humanity’s tale wasn’t finished – far from it, if any of them had anything to say about it – but so much had been lost that it was difficult not to feel a sense of melancholy concerning the soon-to-be-forgotten past. How long would it take before humanity’s greatest accomplishments faded from memory? A generation? Two?

Hopefully, someone would work toward keeping it alive.

Looking at that crystal building, Elijah was also reminded of just how close to the ledge they really were. Thousands of years of history with the system hadn’t helped the natives of Ka’arath survive. Even with all their power, they’d fallen.

“I sometimes think that this whole Trial is just a huge cautionary tale,” he remarked. “Don’t do what these people did, you know? I just don’t know how many of the participants have gotten the message.”

“Not many,” Sadie said.

That was probably true. Even with his group’s accomplishments, they wouldn’t have known much if it hadn’t been for Elijah’s curiosity. And they were on the cutting edge.

“I’m not trying to undercut this poignant moment, but we don’t have time to just stand around and contemplate humanity’s past or our future,” Ron pointed out. “It won’t be long before more patrols come by.”

Elijah shook his head. “You’re right. Sorry. I just get into weird moods when I stop to think about the implications of everything I’ve seen,” he admitted. “I’ll keep it to myself from now on.”

Sadie reached out and gripped his upper arm. “No. It’s important that we work through it. Just table it for right now,” she said.

“Yeah. I guess.”

“I don’t like this version of you,” said Kurik.

“Kurik!”

“Bro.”

“What?” the dwarf asked. “All thoughtful and maudlin? Who likes that? He needs to run off and challenge a giant or somethin’ equally reckless.”

Elijah chuckled. “I’ll get right on that,” he said. He took a deep breath, then said, “We ready to go in?”

Everyone agreed, and they stepped forward. One of the oddities of Ka’arathian architecture was that most of the buildings were set into the ground. So, instead of climbing steps to reach the entrance, they were forced to descend almost ten feet before they reached the massive door. Like the entrance to the library, the temple-like building was equipped with a circular door that, when they approached, split into seven equal pieces that retracted and rotated until the entrance was open.

“I guess we’re expected,” Ron said.

Elijah didn’t think so. Rather, from the tiny swirl of ethera he’d felt, he expected that the doors worked on a similar principle as the automatic entrances so common on Earth. When someone got close, they would open automatically.

In any case, they didn’t hesitate much longer before stepping inside.

The interior was almost entirely bare, though Elijah immediately took note of a few key details. First, the crystalline structure allowed for the passage of light, which cast the entire chamber in rainbow light. Clearly, it had been designed with that feature in mind, because the resulting patterns were oddly soothing. Second, Elijah couldn’t help but note the whorls etched upon the floor tiles.

But the third detail was the most important.

In the center of the room was a small mountain of jagged rock. Within the elegant confines of the crystal building, it looked completely out of place. More distressingly, it pulsed with powerful ethera that told Elijah that they’d found the first runic defender.

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The second everyone had passed through the doors, they slammed shut with enough force to send a tremor through the entire structure. Nobody had an opportunity to react before the pile of rocks shifted. Tiny pebbles cascaded down the slope as the rocks shook. Over the next few seconds, that pile of rocks resolved itself into a rough, bipedal, and four-armed shaped.

“It’s called a manifested rock spirit,” Dat breathed in awe. The thing was at least thirty feet tall and must have weighed hundreds of tons.

“How do we kill something like that?” Ron wondered.

Elijah, already shifting into the Shape of Venom, answered, “The same way we kill any other powerful creature. One bite at a time.”

“That’s terrible,” Sadie muttered, almost too low for Elijah to hear.

He ignored her. Just because she couldn’t appreciate a good line didn’t invalidate it. In any case, he scurried to the side as the rock monster spread its arms and let out a roar that shook the very foundations of the crystalline building.

Elijah was still incapable of using Guise of the Unseen, but that didn’t mean Shape of Venom’s other abilities were inactive. And as far as he knew, the rock monster wasn’t equipped with the same ethera-nullifying trait that made the sentry golems so difficult to fight.

And there was one thing he’d noticed about overly large creatures. Often, enormous size turned out to be more of a detriment than a benefit. He likened it to how he dealt with insects. Sure, he could kill them easily, but not if he never noticed them. And there was also the issue of reach to consider. If an ant was crawling on his back, there really wasn’t much Elijah could do about it.

He intended to channel the spirit of an ant.

But first, he needed to reach the rock creature, so even as it thundered forward – making a beeline toward Sadie because she’d used Call of the Crusader – Elijah scurried to the right. Dat opened up with his crossbow, and when the glowing bolts hit the rock spirit, they exploded with force that gouged craters into the thing’s chest.

“Spells work!” he shouted.

Even as Elijah circled around, Kurik took off in the opposite direction. As he did so, he tossed out a half-dozen traps – in the form of tiny spikes decorated with gem-like crystals – into the rock spirit’s path. When its foot landed, the floor quaked and those traps activated. Ropes of water exploded, wrapping around the creature’s foot, and lashing it to the ground as they froze.

It roared, trying to tug the limb free.

At the same time, Sadie let loose with an instance of Blade of the Avenger. The sword that exploded from the ground seemed small compared to the enormous earth spirit, but it erupted with enough force that it easily sliced into the thing’s other foot. It teetered in place, and for a moment, Elijah thought it was going to fall.

But then, a pillar of stone exploded from its chest, slamming into the ground and preventing the creature’s fall. It didn’t last long, crumbling only a moment later, but that was enough to let it rip its trapped foot free and regain its stability. Still, it wasn’t happy about the chain of events, and it rumbled forward with ill intent.

Elijah tried not to let the progression of the battle affect him. Instead, he chose to trust his companions to do their jobs while he focused on his own. To that end, as soon as he found himself to the creature’s rear, he raced forward and leaped upon the back of its leg.

At the same time, its fist – which was more of a rocky club – descended upon Sadie. She activated her shield at the last second, but with how much force – and sheer weight – the thing could bring to bear, Elijah was convinced it wouldn’t be enough.

He couldn’t save her, though.

If her shield had shattered, and she’d been crushed, he needed to maintain faith that her Constitution could hold up, at least enough that Ron could bring her back. In the meantime, he had a job to do.

To that end, Elijah rushed up the rock spirit’s leg, and when he reached the middle of the thing’s back – hoping that such a position would be inaccessible to the thing – he used Envenom and bit it.

Elijah had bitten a lot of things since the world’s transformation. But to date, nothing had been quite as hard as the rock spirit’s flesh – such as it was. Still, Elijah only needed to lightly score the surface to inflict Envenom upon it – which was lucky, because his fangs barely managed to penetrate an eighth of an inch into the rock.

It was enough, though, and immediately, Elijah felt ethera and stamina flow into the ability and out through his fangs. He pushed more into it, willing the skill closer to its maximum capability. As he did, he discovered two things. For one, the ability didn’t have near the range that something like his Lightning Domain possessed. It wasn’t static, but the span of its effect was so narrow that it might as well have been.

For another, the venom had to be pretty painful, because it was at that moment that the rock spirit finally noticed him. As the caustic stuff flowed through it, spreading out from the bite, the monster went wild. It flailed and roared in an attempt to dislodge him, but the nature of Shape of Venom stood him in good stead as he clung to the creature’s rocky body.

Its reaction was the distraction that Sadie and the others needed, and soon enough, they had aimed a barrage of attacks its way. Each one chipped a little of its rocky body away, sending a cascade of rocks and to fall upon the floor as clouds of dust filled the air.

But the creature wasn’t done.

Elijah found that out when he felt the thing’s ethera churn, and a second later, spikes of rock erupted from its body. He twisted, avoiding the first, but the second clipped his side, gouging him down to his ribcage. The third took him in the hind leg, while a fourth barely missed skewering his brain. Instead, it hit him just above the eye, skating across his skull and ripping the flesh from his head.

Elijah used Stormbind with his next bite, and lightning lanced out from his fangs, twisting around his venom and spreading through the monster’s rocky body. It stumbled, and the bombardment of rocky spears ceased.

More importantly, the venom continued to snake its way through the creature’s form. He bit it, once again using Envenom. After that, he shouted, “Interrupt it when it uses the rock spears!”

“On it!” he vaguely heard Dat yell.

Unfortunately, Stormbind wouldn’t be available again for another ten minutes, so he needed to depend on Dat. Thankfully, the Witch Hunter was as reliable as they came, and as the battle wore on, he continued to fire crossbow bolts laced with Hex of Tongues in the creature’s direction.

They did almost no damage, but that wasn’t the point. Instead, they were meant to ensure that Elijah wasn’t speared while he continued to inflict his venom upon the monster. At the same time, Sadie maintained Call of the Crusader, keeping it distracted while Kurik continued to throw out traps meant to restrict its movement.

And over it all loomed Ron’s healing spells, keeping everyone healthy enough to continue the fight.

In the end, killing the rock monster was more of an exercise in focus and persistence than sheer power. None of them were strong enough to take it down alone, but working together, they managed to slowly whittle it down until, at last, it succumbed to Elijah’s venom. He’d lost count of how many times he’d bitten the thing, but he knew it had to at least be in the hundreds.

So, when it fell, and he finally allowed himself to slip out of the Shape of Venom, he was absolutely exhausted. He plopped down, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.

“Great job everyone,” Sadie said. Her patched-together armor was hanging on by a few threads, and Elijah couldn’t help but wonder if it actually offered any protection anymore. Probably not, meaning that she was likely wearing it more out of habit than for its effectiveness.

Once they’d all caught their breath, Elijah broached the subject that had to have been on everyone’s minds. “So, what now? I don’t think anyone’s become an expert on runes, have they?”

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