Rune Seeker

“Exit Dungeon,” Hiral said after waving his hand over the interface crystal. Like when they’d come in, no blue portal spiraled open to take them out, but instead, two nearby roots took on a yellow glow. With five feet between them as they ran in a straight line to a door opposite where the party had originally come in, it was clearly the path leading them out.

“Might still be some monsters running around,” Seena said. “Stay on your toes.” Then she purposely walked over to Nivian and tapped him on the shoulder. “Keep us safe.”

“Always,” Nivian said, wincing at the otherworldly sound of his own voice. The expression passed from his face in the blink of an eye, though, and he hefted his shield. “Stay behind me,” he added, spinal-whip forming in his right hand as he stalked towards the exit.

Given what he’d done to Ur’Thul, the zone-capping boss, it would be a big mistake for any undead to get in his way.

Still, the others fell in step as usual behind their tank, Hiral drawing his RHCs as he went, with Right and Left on his sides. Seeyela was the other one in the back with them, but they all moved without speaking through the castle hall. The same thick roots lined the floor, walls, and ceiling, but their glow had noticeably dimmed back to the same weak light from the rest of the city. They’d really done it. Really stopped the Urn.

And that crystal seal they’d used, that was the first real clue they had on the Fallen. Hiral glanced back through the open door once more to where it sat on the throne. Left had been right—it did look similar to the crystal of the Emperor’s Greatsword, but there was no way he was going to take some away from sealing the Urn.

Then again, as he stared at the crystal, it reminded him of something else. Something on the tip of his tongue. What was…?

“You coming, Hiral?” Seena asked.

“Yeah, sorry,” Hiral said, turning from the mystery and jogging to catch up with the party. The group had stopped at the top of a flight of stairs, and the roots clearly led down. “Another basement?”

“Would make sense,” Left said. “Odi said the humans built down to escape the Enemy, and the last Discs of Passage we took were all below ground.”

Seena gave Nivian the shoulder tap, and the tank started down the stairs without a word, the party only a few steps behind. Down one flight, two, five, ten… The stairs seemed endless. Down, down, down the party went, the stairs changing in structure from the Lizardmen’s thick blocks to the smaller ones reminiscent of Fallen Reach.

“We’re getting closer,” Hiral said.

“And nothing chasing us for once,” Yanily said.

“You’re trying to jinx us, aren’t you?” Seena said.

“Just enjoying not running for my life,” Yanily answered, and nobody could really argue with that.

A few short minutes later, the seemingly infinite stairs finally ended, and the party breathed a sigh of relief as they started through the level hallway. It didn’t take long after that to spot the familiar pedestal on a circular disc, a long, root-lined passage extending out beyond.

“Looks like we found our ride,” Hiral said, walking ahead as Nivian and Wule stopped to watch the group’s back.

When he got to the interface, he put his hands on it, and the image of Dr. Benza predictably appeared. After not seeing him for so long with the lost dungeons, it was almost like coming back to an old friend.

The image of the doctor shimmered briefly. “Accessing PIMs…. Access complete,” Dr. Benza said, his voice flat. “All zone-dungeon clears detected. Asylum destination unlocked. Would you like to proceed to the Asylum?”

“Hold that thought,” Hiral told Dr. Benza, turning back to make sure everybody was on the Disc of Passage. Seena, Seeyela, Yanily, Left, and Right were with him, but Nivian and Wule still hadn’t walked on. “Guys?”

With the way Wule smiled at him, it felt like a heavy stone settled in his gut.

“What are you waiting for?” Seena asked, but the quiver in her voice spoke volumes. Something was wrong.

“We’re not coming with you,” Wule said, actually taking a step away from the disc.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Seeyela said in her mom-voice. “Get on the disc.”

Wule shook his head. “Wish we could.”

“What’s this all about?” Hiral asked, stepping away from the interface.

Both Nivian and Wule took another step back, like they were trying to keep their distance from the party. What, did they think the others would force them to go? Fallen’s balls, after what Nivian had done to Ur’Thul, could they even do it if they tried?

Why am I even wondering this?

“Wule, Nivian,” Seena said, practically pleading, “explain. Please.”

“It’s like Odi said,” Wule began. “After the Urn was sealed, the undead of the city started going a little crazy. Nivian could feel it. They’re killing each other.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Yanily asked.

“No, it puts a time limit on things,” Wule said. “Since Nivian… turned… he needs death energy to stay sane.”

“Sane?” Seena asked.

“The hunger,” Nivian said, his voice echoing in the passage. “I can’t control it. If we stay with you, I will attack.”

“What about Wule?” Seeyela asked. “It’s okay to put him in danger?”

“Ah, I’m not in danger,” Wule said. “Our evolutions didn’t happen at the same time by coincidence. We’re connected, even more than we were before. I’m the only reason he didn’t immediately attack like the other undead did. I can’t leave his side.”

“We… we can all come back together after we save Fallen Reach,” Seena suggested.

“No, we can’t,” Hiral said, remembering the other things Odi had said. “The undead in the city will consume each other. If Nivian wants to beat the hunger, he has to evolve twice, and he needs the death energy to do that. With the undead already fighting, there’s a time limit now. He has to consume as much as he can, while he can. If he waits to come back, the other undead will be too strong, or maybe there won’t be enough death energy.”

“He’s right,” Wule said, pointing at Hiral. “We have to stay, and you have to go. No, don’t look at me like that. You have to. Fallen Reach—Favela—needs you. And since you don’t need to clear any more dungeons…”

“We can’t just leave you,” Seena said, fighting to hold back tears. “Not here, of all places.”

“It’s not so bad,” Wule said with a shrug.

“Mistress, he speaks the truth,” Li’l Ur said quietly. “I can already sense Nivian’s energy fluctuating. He needs to glut on the other undead, and soon.”

“We’ll be fine,” Wule said. “We’ll take care of each other like we’ve always done. After you save the islands, and after we reach B-Rank, we’ll find each other again.”

“There has to be another way,” Seeyela said.

“There isn’t,” Nivian said, finality in his voice like death itself. Surprisingly, the tank strode forward to the edge of the disc and held out his hand. A huge sack appeared out of nowhere, and he lowered it down. “Food. For the road.”

Despite the situation, Hiral couldn’t help but smile. Nivian and his damn packed lunches.

“I’m not leaving without hugging both of you,” Seena said through a sniffle, and she forced herself to stand straight.

“The hunger…” Nivian started, but Seeyela bamf’dbeside him.

“You won’t hurt us,” she said softly. “I don’t care what you say. You never would.”

“Won’t risk it,” Nivian said.

“I know,” Seeyela said, wrapping her arms around his bone-clad chest. “And that’s why we love you.”

The others quickly joined the pair before Nivian could slip away, and they wrapped their arms around each other in a group hug. Wule was the last to come, and they held on for a long time, until a shift in the center signaled Nivian was done.

“I’ll miss you,” he said simply. “Maybe not Yanily.”

“Hey!” Yanily said, but he had tears running down his cheeks.

“We’ll come back for you if you don’t come find us first,” Seena said, also crying.

“Take care of yourselves,” Hiral said, his own cheeks wet. Somehow this was harder than losing Lonil and the others, or even Balyo. Nivian and Wule were standing right in front of them… and they weren’t coming.

“Try not to explode too much,” Wule said, patting Hiral on the shoulder and giving one more hug to the sisters and Yanily. Then he stepped back from the disc. “It’s time.”

“We could stay longer, help out…” Seena offered, but Nivian shook his head.

“Please,” the tank said simply, and there was nothing else to say to that.

“Yan, grab the food, would you?” Seena said. “Hiral… get us moving.”

“You sure?” Hiral asked.

Seena nodded, her lips tight like she couldn’t bring herself to speak again.

Hiral took another look at his two friends, mind racing for something they could do so they wouldn’t have to split up… but there wasn’t anything. Sighing, he turned and went back over to the interface where Dr. Benza waited.

“Dr. Benza, take us to the Asylum,” he said, the words painfully heavy in his mouth.

“Destination selected,” Dr. Benza said, and a dome of soft blue light rose around the circular platform. Then it gently pulled ahead into the wide hallway, gliding so smoothly Hiral couldn’t even feel it moving under his feet.

Without waiting, he rushed back to the edge where the others stood, watching as they pulled away from Nivian and Wule.

The twins waved at the party as they grew smaller and smaller, but it didn’t take nearly long enough for them to vanish from sight.

“Will we ever see them again?” Yanily asked.

“I don’t know, Yan,” Seena said. “I hope so.”

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