Rune Seeker

BOOOOOOM! The massive explosion made even the madly battling Shapers pause and take note of the flames stretching for the sky. Nearby, black doorways likewise spat out columns of fiery death, and Seeyela appeared beside Hiral and Seena with a bamf.

“Did we get him?” she asked.

“We’ll see,” Hiral said, his tattoos and Meridian Lines appearing on his Second-Skin of Ur’Thul.

Left and Right hadn’t tried to escape like Seeyela had, instead opting to hold Fitch in place to take the full brunt of Seena’s attack. With the three of them together and the fire still roaring, Hiral took the few seconds to Cycle. If Fitch wasn’t…

The flames split apart horizontally like they’d been cut in half, the top falling sideways against all logic until it hit the ground and shattered like glass. Where the fire had been, Fitch stood with the spear out to his side. Green veins threaded their way through the tentacles at his back, up his calf, and along the wound just visible on his side. The cloak he’d been wearing was nothing more than a crispy piece of black cloth that turned to ash as he lowered the spear.

Small burns on his face and arms still smoked and glowed red-hot—though that faded under the constant rain—and his eyes narrowed. Within his pupils, pinpricks of orange light glowed fiercely.

“So, you’re not D-Rank,” Fitch said, his voice somewhere between insulted and surprised.

“Never said we were,” Seeyela said. With her health showing back above 75% in the Party Interface, she must’ve taken a potion, but her solar energy was well below half. Opening that many portals was effective but draining.

Seena was at full health and a bit better off on solar energy—but not by a lot. If Fitch wanted to talk for a minute and let them Cycle, they weren’t going to stop him.

Partially because if Seena’s strongest attack didn’t stop him, Hiral wasn’t exactly sure how they were going to do that.

“At first I’d thought it was just the dungeon gear you had,” Fitch went on. “It’s strong, but not that strong. You’re C-Rank, aren’t you?”

“You going to give up now?” Seeyela asked, her voice still slightly strained from the blow to the ribs she’d taken.

Fitch shook his head immediately. Sadly. “I’ll admit, I’m impressed with how much you managed to grow, even though it’s not enough. I was holding back until the others showed themselves. Wule. Nivian. Yanily. Cal. I figured you’d kept them in reserve to surprise me. To try and catch me off guard. Since they haven’t appeared, that can only mean they’re already dead.”

His eyes bored into Seena. “Look what your choice to bring an Islander with us has done. Look how many of your friends have died.”

“Who are you to talk?” Seena asked. “You’re trying to kill both our peoples! Everybody!”

Another shake of Fitch’s head. “I told you. I’m giving our people the future.” He blew out a breath that sizzled in the falling rain. “I’m sorry about Cal, Wule, Nivian, and Yanily. I would’ve offered them the same deal I gave you.”

“And they would’ve turned you down just like we did,” Seeyela said.

“Then they would’ve died, just like you will. So I guess nothing is really different.”

“Maybe you missed the fact that we aren’t dead,” Seena said.

“Don’t mistake surviving for winning,” Fitch said, and solar energy spiked within the Spear of Clouds.

The Runes of Separation and Connection lit up like molten lines, the same previous threads extending out to Hiral’s eyes. And, again, that unusual strand with lightning sparking within it demanded his attention. It was the…

Fitch twisted and whipped the spear around and up, a crescent of Separation splitting the rain and air itself to collide with the crystal atop the Fallen’s tower. Shards of the crystalline prison burst outward, while a new, deeper well of solar energy stirred within the prism.

Hiral’s heart nearly stopped in his chest at Fitch’s sudden attack on the crystal—and the movement within it. The well he felt only deepened, the energy thicker and more potent than anything he’d ever sensed, And so, so much more of it. Even Grandmother was barely a drop in the ocean compared to what blossomed before his eyes. The ebbs and flows inside the crystal confirmed his earlier belief—the Fallen was already awake—but the crystal had continued to contain it. Now… Now…

The deep scar in the crystal didn’t shatter it. It was a close thing, but Hiral’s eyes—enhanced by his Runic Artificer class—spotted where it held strong. The matrix of the seal was intact, though just barely. Fitch would need at least one more attack before he truly freed the Fallen within. And, from the way the runes on the spear barely held any light, it would take time for the weapon to build up the necessary charge again.

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Not long, if the time since the first attack on the crystal was any indication, but it meant they still had the chance to stop him.

Despite what Hiral saw, Fitch continued to watch the crystal as if he expected the remaining pieces to fall aside and release the monster within.

“Eloquently Enraged?” Hiral asked quietly over the party chat. The ability came with some risks, but they were going to need to push if they wanted to have a chance to beat the Infested.

“Still on cooldown,” Seena said. “Few more minutes.”

“What? Why?”

“Uh, B-Rank Shapers,” Seeyela said. “Didn’t you use it?”

“I managed without it, somehow,” Hiral said.

Just because their abilities were still on cooldown didn’t mean he couldn’t use his… but would he alone be enough to beat Fitch? Probably not. They’d gotten the best results from that particular cooldown when they’d all been able to use it together to really threaten their enemies. If he could put off using it just a few minutes until theirs was ready, that would be the real advantage they needed.

So, how do we buy enough time until the cooldowns are ready?

They needed more power.

A deep THUUUMP sounded from the ongoing Shaper battle, all the rain sliding sideways and the ground shaking for a heartbeat. Hiral’s eyes immediately went to the melee. Could some of the Shapers help them? Loan? Ilrolik? They were B-Rank, and with a B-Rank Shaper to physically match Fitch and utilize the versatility of their tattoos, that might be enough of an equalizer.

With the Second-Skin of Ur’Thul, Left and Right had been close—the outfit increased the potency of their tattoos and Meridian Lines to B-Rank—though they were each only half a Shaper.

But, even in those few seconds Hiral watched the other battle, he knew no help was coming. The Shapers fought each other furiously, and if there was one thing they were very good at, it was endurance. Even taking island-shaking blows wasn’t enough to put one of them down.

“Well, I’d hoped to let you catch a glimpse of the future before I killed you,” Fitch said, turning his attention back to the party. “As a favor to old friends. It looks like I underestimated the resilience of the seal, though. Instead, I’ll have to use the power from killing you to speed up recharging the spear.”

Seena and Seeyela reflexively took a step back as Fitch took a step forward, the tentacles on his back spreading out like they were preparing to attack.

Even with Eloquently Enragedon my own, it won’t be enough. I need more than that. We need more than that.

Fitch took another step forward, and Hiral’s eyes went to his status window. To one ability in particular. It was reckless, to say the least, but if it succeeded…

“I’m sorry if this doesn’t work,” Hiral said to Seena and Seeyela.

“What are you doing?” Seena hissed.

“Giving my mother what she always wanted,” Hiral said.

“Pardon?”

Hiral didn’t reply as Fitch took his third step in their direction. Even almost a hundred feet away, he could be on them within the blink of an eye if he wanted. The time for hesitation was over.

Taking a deep breath and holding it, Hiral focused on the energy around him with Cycling, listening for the faint beating of the Chord. Come on, I know you’re there.

Fitch took a fourth step, his fingers tightening around the Spear of Clouds in his hand.

Hiral ignored the Infested, instead falling deeper into the rhythm of Cycling, of listening for the Chord. Instinct told him it would help guide the activation of his ability. He just needed…

There!

The Chord hid within the howling wind and beat with the pounding thunder. It rode the storm and called his name, dancing with the lightning and falling with the rain. It gathered on the ground in puddles that crashed like cymbals under stomping feet, and filled the heaving lungs of mighty warriors like bellows.

The presence of Fitch and the Fallen had interfered, but this was one of the primal songs of creation. It swirled around Hiral, just waiting for him to finally hear its music.

Fitch’s fifth step landed as the man’s shoulder leaned forward. In his left hand, the deadly sword angled out to the side in preparation. He was coming.

Still, Hiral waited to activate his ability. The Chord was building, the thunder coming faster as lightning surged across the sky. Rain pounded on the ground around him, so hard he could feel it through the soles of his feet. The wind whipped the bottom tails of his Coat of Ur’Thul to snap around him, but it still wasn’t the climax. It wasn’t time.

Fitch took his sixth step and launched forward so fast he carved a tunnel through the falling rain.

And in that cut, the music of the Chord finally came together like the crescendo of a massive orchestra hitting the pinnacle note at the conductor’s commanding gesture.

Now.

Hiral blew out his breath and activated Terminal—cranking one skill to its maximum potential and trusting in the Chord’s timing to protect him from the risk—then activated his true trump card.

Foundational Split.

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