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EIGHTEEN. World Claimer

  “Level three contract.” Sam said, sliding the papers over the wooden table.

  “Seriously? not super convenient we've already done five today.” Gavin said Pointing a fork full of food at the contract.

  “We're still doing it.” Sam said.

  “Yeah yeah, didn't say we weren't going, when this whole thing is done though, we're definitely not chaining ourselves down to someone else's schedule.”

  “Do we know how long this assignment is even for?” Val said.

  “You know, that's something we probably should have checked before we got out here.” Gavin said, storing his plate in his inventory with a touch. “Where's this for?”

  “Close, only six or so miles north, we've been past there before when we first got here.”

  “Alright, come on, let's check it out.”

  The portal rose from the dining hall floor, the team filing through moments after their armour and weapons formed up around them.

  The team ventured out into the wilderness, exploring the small circle of bush on their map where the magic had condensed. The guild beacons did a pretty good job of triangulating the area they needed to look but never pinpointed it exactly. At higher levels they would be able to track monsters with their senses, but that was quite a while off yet.

  Val led the way, her four magical swords hacking a path through the dense underbrush. Insects were a constant harassment for the four, they variously tried to climb into their ears and noses, bite, lay eggs and get into their clothes. Gavin tried to hone his fine control of his force of will power by killing the insects with a handful of stones. He was only mildly successful, killing dozens while hundreds more swarmed.

  “The encounter better not be a big swarm of level three mosquitos.” Gavin said, slapping at his face and neck

  “Don't say that.” Judy scolded with a mental flick, “you know you'll make it happen.”

  “I don't think that's how it works.” Gavin said unconvincing.

  “It isn't? Then what's that?” She said pointing off through the trees.

  One hundred metres off to the side of where they were headed was an earthy mound surrounding a rent in the ground. The area had been cleared of trees and shrubs, gnawed down to barren dirt. A line of chihuahua sized wasps stood sentinel around their hive while a steady stream of their brood took off and landed, often returning with birds, lizards and insects clutched in their mandibles.

  “Doesn't count. Not mosquitos.” Gavin said.

  “This looks like it could be a problem, my radiance of the dawn power is only going to get the ones outside, and they're probably strong enough to get in a few attacks anyway.” Sam said, assessing the situation.

  “We need to hit them hard and fast before they can all come crawling out then take them as they come.” Val said.

  “Gavin, can you block up the entrance?” Judy asked.

  “Yeah, but we're gonna be boned if they have a second entrance somewhere.”

  “Do you have anything that can wipe out the hive without having to dig it up?” Sam said.

  “Actually, if you give me a minute to set up then yeah.”

  “We might not have a minute.” Judy said, watching one of the guardian wasps notice them.

  “Go. Make it work Gavin.” Sam said as she blurred forward, her sword trailing a stream of glowing white light.

  Val was close behind, two swords shooting forward to hack at the flying creatures. Judy and Gavin ran in behind, arrows and bullets felling wasps as they appeared as Gavin summoned a plug of iron the size of a small car and dropped it on the opening. A terrible thrum vibrated the earth as the hive of angered wasps roused.

  “Let's not have a repeat of last time” Sam said

  “Right the tzar bomba strat really eats into our profits.” Gavin said as he lay down tiles of adamantium over the ground as his team fought the buzzing monsters.

  Judy and Val were especially useful, while Sam was normally limited to swatting wasps from the air as they came at her, her new sword slashed crescents of energy across the sky letting her contribute to the fight as well. Judy was like a mobile anti aircraft emplacement, her arrows detonating as they hit their targets, usually knocking several more out of the air at the same time. Vals swords minced anything they came close to as she shunted them through the sky at the thickest parts of the throng.

  “Ahh, fuck, can you keep them off me? They're eating through the plug” Gavin said, pummeling a wasp on his back with his hexahedrons.

  “On it.” Sam said, moving to defend him.

  Gavin worked quickly, fabricating a furnace of adamantium that he enchanted with a sloppy constructed heat enchantment. The crucible would heat continuously until it melted itself, something he wasn't concerned about at that moment. He funnelled bucketfuls of level three aluminium into his forge and watched as the contraption began to glow a dull red.

  He deconstructed a small hole in his plug, narrow enough to allow molten liquid to pour into but not enough to allow the wasps to get out.

  Returning to his furnace he fabricated a tap, then moved the whole assembly to the hole in the ground, letting the liquid metal dribble down into the hive. The buzzing increased in volume and intensity the instant the aluminium dropped through the hole.

  The furnace was running through its feedback loop, Getting hotter and hotter as moments passed. He fed more and more metal into it, his near limitless supply disappearing in moments as it melted an even bigger hole into the tomb.

  Gavin fabricated a hopper to track even more metal into, loading it up with everything he had stored and then some as he deconstructed large chunks and fabricated more ingots, gaining a good portion back as free resources.

  “Okay guys, time to go.” Gavin said, retreating from his construction and drawing his gun.

  “Are they dead?”

  “Don't know, but we will be if we don't get out of here in about thirty seconds.”

  “Go.” Sam ordered, realising with dawning realisation what he had done. “How far do we need to be?”

  “I don't actually know, somewhere between twenty and a few hundred metres.”

  “Portal us out as far as you can then.” Sam said, not wanting to take any chances.

  Gavin summoned his portal and the team all dove through. They scrambled to get their bearings, spotting the small patch of cleared forest in the distance moments before it exploded. A fireball the size of an apartment building enveloped the area, igniting the trees in a wide circle.

  “Judy, get us back down there before the forest burns down.” Sam said.

  The team rushed back through to the wasp nest, finding the area a ruined hellscape. Brilliant white droplets of metal littered the ground smouldering in the dirt where they lay. Burnt insect carcasses were scattered in haphazard clumps. All around them flames licked the trees, catching them alight as the budding inferno began crawling away from them.

  From the centre of it all rumbled another threat. Earth parted as the massive forelegs of the wasp queen pulled itself from its molten grave, it's hard armoured shell blackened and cracked, but it wasn’t enough damage to kill it.

  “You three deal with the fire, I can take the bug.” Val said, her four swords springing to life again.

  “Do it.” Sam said “we need to get the fire out before it gets away from us.”

  Gavin and Judy had a decent quantity of fresh water in their inventories, and they used it now to douse a good section of the circle, working from a point out and away from each other. Sam ploughed through the fire, calling her form of the forest heart and slashing a firebreak in front of the wave threatening to overrun her.

  Val faced off against her foe, she shot forward like a bolt of lightning, hacking at the wasp with all of her skill and speed. She felt her mana and stamina dip as she loaded up every special attack and ability in her arsenal, dodging aside from the wasps vicious attacks. Val tore at it, her four swords hacking the delicate wings off before it could get airborne.

  Rapid fire stingers shot from its abdomen, shattering against her. She grinned, feeling the strength of gavins enchantments hold, feeling invulnerable in her heavy armour.

  Val metered out her attacks, her syphon soul ability stacking up the soul drain debuff, sapping a tiny bit of the monsters mana and stamina over time for each hit inflicted on it. She was reaching the second phase of her fighting style. She'd pumped out the maximum damage she could in the initial engagement, now she was settling back into a more cautious style. The monster was still stronger and more resilient than her, but it was injured before the fight began and now less mobile.

  It crawled with surprising speed, it's six legs tearing furrows in the churned earth as it sprang at her. She sent a mirror image off to the side while she dodged left, slicing her two swords at its leg joints while her animated ones repeatedly stabbed at its eyes.

  More stingers shot out, bursting in blue shards as the energy shield failed. The wasp made its last ditch attempt to kill its quarry, launching itself again this time clipping Vals armoured leg in its jaws. Steel creaked as its powerful mandibles crushed down, the enchanted metal straining against the monster's brute strength.

  She hacked at its neck with all her power, leeching as much mana from the monster as she was expending on special attacks. The monster racked up multiple haemorrhaging conditions, each periodically creating a bleeding debuff.

  Thick ichor welled from the wasps neck, dribbling down across its ruined carapace in rivulets. The wasp queen was incensed with rage, thrashing and screeching as it tossed Val from side to side as they fought.

  She felt the metal encasing her calf begin to buckle, with a grunt she jammed her two swords into its jaw, using them like levers to relieve the pressure. Her two animated swords did likewise, jabbing themselves deep into the neck wound and levering themselves against its carapace. With a slurping crunch the sinew and chitin holding it head in place tore free. With a valiant scream Val forced the jaws open, wrenching herself out of its cracked jaw.

  With a final series of blows she bludgeoned at the wasp queen with her razor sharp swords, hacking more and more of its head away until it stopped moving. She gave it a moment to ensure it wasn't going to hatch another monster to fight before she turned to what her friends had been doing.

  She looked up the hill at her companions, wary with exertion. They had the fire largely under control, working together on the last part that had ballooned its way up a ridge. She set off at a limping jog to help, catching her team in time to finish cutting the firebreak. Gavin, and Judy casually tossed trees over the fire as Sam hacked them down leaving a wide strip of cleared land.

  A stiff updraft carried smoke and embers up towards them, Gavin broke off to battle them with his new wands of the tempest, blasting torrents of wind at the fire. Burning logs and coals blew out in plumes back down the slope, and up into the sky in a pillar of acrid black smoke that burnt itself out before it could spread past their line.

  Finally they were done, the fire had reduced down to isolated pockets of coals and embers, leaving a parabola shaped trail of barren ground. Gavin floated over the destruction down to its epicentre. He moved to touch each of the wasp corpses he could find as well as the pile of metal slag buried in the hive.

  “Lame.” he said as he deconstructed the pool of metal into his inventory.

  “What's lame?” Judy asked following along behind picking out other corpses Gavin had missed.

  “I once saw a video of someone filling up an ants nest with aluminium, it looked cool when they dug it up. Turns out setting off a bomb on top of it might also ruin it a bit.”

  “Bombs do tend to ruin things.” Judy said sagely.

  “Yeah. Oh, hey, neat, this thing had a unique soul crystal.”

  “What's that do?”

  “I think it's like Sam's awakened tree power, it's called Avatar of the brood queen. Not sure about that though, sounds a little- icky.”

  “It probably just summons a lot of wasps.” Judy said.

  “Yeah, but from where? You know Geoff got a crystal that turned him into a goat, what if this turned you into an abomination that-”

  “Okay, I got it.” Judy said, shuddering.

  “Anyway, let's go turn this contract in and go find that goat.”

  They portalled back to base, Gavin hurriedly filled out the paperwork and let Haylee know the team would be unavailable for the remainder of the day, they would complete any further contracts the following morning if there were any. Upon entering the fortress he noticed two things, first, there was a goat helping himself to the other half of their store of food and Vals magical aura had subtly changed.

  “You're level three?” Gavin said surprised.

  “Yes.”

  “You didn't tell us you were close.”

  “I didn't think it mattered.”

  “You. Didn't. Think. It. Mattered?” Gavin said slowly “You're just back to being stronger than us again.”

  Val shrugged “I was enjoying being at your level, I don't especially like feeling like I need to do the majority of the work because I'm stronger than the rest of you.”

  “You shouldn't, we need to take on more work to catch up to you.” Gavin said.

  “Which is also a problem, I love being part of this team, but babysitting you all isn't as fun as when we're all at the same level.”

  “That's fair. We'll catch you up, in a level or two we'll only be a few weeks apart. Levelling up this fortress is going to be my limiting factor.”

  “How does one level up a castle?” Geoff asked.

  “By having it constantly summoned mostly, I guess getting someone to damage it might work but I haven't really tried it out..”

  “I could destroy it for you?” Geoff suggested.

  “Uhh, thanks but no thanks.” Gavin said uneasily.

  “Did you find the location of the tower?” Sam asked, preventing Gavin from getting caught up in more inane rambling that wouldn't lead them anywhere.

  “I did. At least im mildly confident. I intend to go there today, give me your map and I will point out its location.”

  Judy retrieved the map and smoothed it out over the dining table. It was crossmarked with more annotation now, including every portal location they'd been to and the location of every known beacon. Geoff extended a hoof and pointed to a location well outside of the area they were responsible for searching. It was marked as a mountain rising out of an area of low rolling hills.

  “We can get there in about twenty minutes.” Gavin said, tracing the route they would take with a finger.

  “Twenty minutes it is then.” Geoff said, winking out of existence.

  “We'd better go.” Gavin said, opening his portal out into the wilderness.

  ***

  The team stood in amongst a copse of haggard trees. The windblown landscape felt cold and bleak, hard shale and rock stood against a rasping breeze, even the midday sun in the perpetual summer did little to warm them. The mountain was the lone notable feature for several kilometres, an oddly oval dome with a flattened top broke up the meandering horizon.

  Gavin stared at it intently, it was definitely triggering feelings of nostalgia for him. He was certain it was identical to the mountain he'd seen as a child. He didn't get an opportunity to voice that thought before Geoff appeared beside them.

  “The tower is in there?” Sam asked sceptically, “you're sure?”

  “Yes, it's buried in the mountain, buried quite intentionally” Geoff confirmed.

  “Anything else we should know? What defences is it likely to have?” Sam asked, her sword resting easily on her pauldron.

  “It could have none, it could be full of monsters, golems and traps. It could be dangerous for even me, or it could be barely an inconvenience for you. We won't know until we're inside.”

  “It'll be fine.” Gavin said, his tone exuding casual confidence, “if Soliece wanted us out here she must think we can handle anything we come across.”

  “Or she's manipulated Geoff out here too because we'll need someone as powerful as him to have a hope of survival.” Val said.

  “There's a comforting thought” Gavin said “well, only one way to find out.”

  He opened his final portal out to the base of the mountain and the team passed through, Geoff was waiting for them on the other side, scratching an itch against a tree. Gavin led the way, creating them a tunnel guided by Geoff who pointed them towards the buried structure within the earth.

  The tunnel stopped abruptly as they hit a solid marble wall. Gavin placed a hand on it to help identify what it was made of but it resisted him. It felt like a blank spot to his developing magical senses, a void in the world that his magical abilities couldn't identify or penetrate.

  “It has been enchanted against detection and identification.” Geoff said offhandedly. “It is level fifteen. Not ideal, but far from the worst case scenario. You'd better all stand aside.”

  The goat waited for them to clear the area then charged, he moved in an eye blink, exploding forward to butt his head against the wall. The wall disintegrated into a fine powder where he hit, turning to coarse grains and gravel In a wider area then to spidery fissures at the edges of the tunnel. Gavin moved to reinforce the hole, shoring up the cracks with a fast setting alchemical putty.

  “That was impressive.” Val said, her feet crunching on the marble floor as she stepped into the room.

  “He's a higher level than it, of course he could blow it up.” Gavin said following her.

  “No, he blew it up without getting us at all, the control needed to do this is impressive, not the power.”

  “Oh, yeah, good point,” Gavin said, turning back to look at the settling rubble.

  They stood in a wide dark chamber, concentric rings of marble blocks spread out from a thick central pillar. The walls were made of the same marble, carved into tall arches not unlike Gavins portal power.

  Twelve steel golems, twice as tall as a person, stood guard around the room at even spacing, the gaps in their bright polished visors felt like pits of deepest night. Each clutched a sword by its pommel at chest height, the points resting millimetres off the floor.

  Gavin’s glow globes floated out around them, casting an even white light over everything, scattering shadows in a myriad pattern around each object in the room.

  He could sense no magical spark in the golems, but that just made him feel all the more apprehensive. Their footsteps sounded too loud in his ears, surely they would attack at any moment. The team walked in a tight knot behind the goat who seemed unconcerned as he trotted across the open expanse. The golems watched them without reaction as they trespassed within the tower.

  The moment they reached some arbitrary point halfway to the central pillar the golems activated as one, fierce blue light lit up their empty eyes as they brought their swords up to the ready in identical fighting poses.

  Before they could take a step, the room bent. Gavin felt an instantaneous pressure suck the air from his lungs and the floor tilt underneath him before slamming back to normal. He stumbled three steps to the side, using his force of will to keep himself righted. Judy and Val barely faltered, but Sam crashed to the floor. The golems tumbled to the floor too, their parts cascading across the tiles. The cacophony of clanging metal stabbed spikes into their ears. Echoes of the destruction ebbed to silence as the team stood still, waiting and listening.

  “Well, if anyone’s here they know we're coming," Gavin said, dusting himself off.

  “This is the entry chamber, I'd expect the strongest active defences to be here. If there was anything more dangerous I'd expect to see stronger walls and golems.”

  “Until commander Kalista turns up.” Gavin said nonchalantly as he moved over to the ruined armour on the floor.

  “And how do you figure that?” Sam asked.

  Gavin shrugged “it's how these things go.”

  “What do we do if she does turn up here?” Sam asked.

  “Depends on if she wants to talk or not.”

  “She will want the sword for herself. I cannot let that happen, if she arrives and intends to fight for it, I can buy maybe a second for you to get out before I have to do what needs to be done.” Geoff said seriously.

  “I can probably stall her if she doesn't bust in guns blazing.” Gavin said.

  “Plan villain monologue?” Judy asked.

  “I'm thinking variation three, oh, Geoff, that will involve you having to monologue too, how's your banter game?”

  “I can talk when I need to” Geoff said “come, we must be going.”

  “Hold up, I'm gonna loot these golems, they're gonna make us fuckin rich.”

  “Be quick about it.” Geoff said, walking to the central pillar and touching it with a horn.

  A door fell away revealing an internal spiral staircase. He stopped and waited patiently for Gavin to loot the golems, their corpses turning to ash as he touched a part of each in turn.

  “Jesus shit guys.” he said eyes wide as he walked back to the group.

  “What?”

  “We got some good shit, my power is way less effective on high level stuff, I bet it's only a few percentage points of what we'd get at their level, but two or three percent of something thousands of times more powerful than us is still quite a fuckin haul.”

  “What did you get?” Geoff asked, mildly curious.

  “Got a level six golem core, I think it's some sort of energy source.”

  “It is more than that, it is a stable version of the corrupted soul monsters contain, it has a rudimentary will that is used to make a golem.” Geoff explained.

  “Wait, a stable monster soul? Does that mean monsters can be stabilised so they don't break down?”

  “Yes, that's how familiars work, it's not really feasible on a large scale, but it is possible to tame the monsters you come across with the right resources and knowledge.”

  “Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?” Gavin said giddy with excitement.

  “I very much doubt it” Sam said.

  “Dinosaur mounts.” Gavin said, gesturing with his hands like a movie director, “wait, dragon mounts.”

  “You don't even know how to do it,” Sam said.

  “It is a field of study that some scholars dedicate their lives to, I don't think it's something that you could just learn.” Geoff said.

  “I mean, that's why there's skill books right?” Gavin said.

  “If you can find one.” Sam snorted, “what else did you get?”

  “Oh, yeah, a bunch of solars, like a whole bunch. Some high level adamantium and other metals we can't really use, some gemstones called fire and lightning crystals, no idea what they are.”

  “They're like temporary demon souls for the base elements, you can absorb them for an ability or imbue a magic item, there are enchantments that make the effect permanent, but they aren't more powerful than just enchanting an effect into an item. If you're done, we must carry on.” Geoff said, beginning to regret taking the tesm along with him.

  “Yeah, good to go mate, lead the way.”

  They ascended the wide stairs. The pillar that contained the stairs was a good two metres thick, but inside was much more spacious. There was a central hollow that led all the way to the top of the tower that was easily wider than the pillar itself with the stairs wrapping around it as wide as that again. They could see points above them in the darkness that levelled off at even intervals before spiralling upwards.

  The second floor door was closed to them as they walked past, Gavin risked a peek inside, finding a library stocked with more books than he'd seen at any one point. The room was richly furnished with desks and chairs, affording every comfort and use for casual and studious reading.

  “We can spare five minutes here right?” Gavin said, pushing the doors open.

  Geoff frowned, weighing up what course of action he should take.

  “We cannot delay at every floor, we can explore the building more thoroughly on the way out, time may be of the essence.”

  “Fine.” Gavin said, pulling on the door with a longing look on his face. It swung nearly closed, catching on the latch and pushing itself back open a hair as they left it behind.

  The third floor revealed a lavish garden of exotic plants in neat rows sprawling out in all directions. In the far distance an alchemy table with a vast collection of tools and apparatus sat ready to brew potions and tinctures. The air flowing out smelled fresh and crisp with a perpetual cool spring breeze circulating the room.

  The fourth floor was an inky black void, constellations of stars and galaxies hung suspended in the air, like a haze of luminous motes of dust. Gavin was wary of that room immediately especially given there was no floor or walls, the entire chamber seeming to stretch on into infinity. It was something he would love to study when he knew enough to understand what he was looking at.

  At floor five they stopped. The room was barred by an ornate obstinite door. No handle or keyhole marred its perfectly smooth surface.

  “I can sense powerful magic from this area, it is even more heavily warded against scrying and damage than the tower itself.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Should we go in?”

  “Yes. You’d better get back down the stairs some, if I break in, it could be dangerous.” Geoff said, eyeing the door.

  The team obeyed, standing back as the goat butted his head into the doors with a casual wallop. They broke open, buckling and breaking their hinges from the marble wall with a colossal clang that reverberated with teeth jarring pain. The fathom deep slabs of metal crashed inwards, falling across a row of waist height plinths each holding an item in a glass dome. They got an instant to process the scene before the doors collapsed across them, smashing them and the plinths they stood on. Detonations of energy erupted as the items broke, blasting the doors up and away. A plume of white hot fire spilled out into the stairs, swallowing Geoff as it thundered towards the knights. Gavin pulled his team back through his portal, pushing off the stairs with his force of will with as much power as he could muster, throwing his team through the arch before rolling through himself.

  His portal disintegrated as he passed through, barely scraping the soles of his boots as he slid face first across the hard marble floor of the entrance hall. The flames continued down the stairs, blasting out over them.

  “Shit.” Gavin whispered as he pulled a wall of metal from his inventory to shield them.

  Blistering heat assaulted them as he erected more defences, pulling walls on walls from his inventory, cocooning them in a dome and reinforcing it from the inside as the flames ate at the outer layers.

  The trembling subsided and Gavin dropped his dome, thick black smoke filled the air, obscuring everything around them in smog. The team each took their water breathing amulets, slipping them on so they wouldn't suffocate in the choking air.

  The entrance was sweltering hot, punctuated with crackling and popping sounds from above. The walls hadn't had enough time to bake as the fire flashed through, but the air was hot enough to curl hair the further up the stairs they went. Gavin took out his wind wand and blasted it up as they went, the rod producing a cascade of fresh air that beat back the heat.

  “Shit. The library” Gavin said racing off up the stairs, his wind wand blowing a buffer out before him and clearing the smoke from his vision.

  His feet slipped on the stairs as he took them three at a time, using his force of will to rocket himself upwards to regain his balance. The library doors were gone, black smoke and orange flames burst through the door. Inside was aflame, the majority of the shelves on fire, exploding every few seconds as magical tomes were destroyed.

  Without thinking Gavin teleported through the library, catching shrapnel as he stumbled through. He felt himself tossed around like a ragdoll as his teleport power came off cooldown, jumping from one explosion to the next.

  He found his way to the last small section of the library, racing along the shelves and pulling everything he could into his inventory before it too was swallowed by the inferno. He was able to save a small portion of them but it was nowhere close to enough. They represented what might have been one of the best lost repositories of knowledge in the world, and it was gone in an instant, all except a few hundred books when tens of thousands were aflame behind him.

  Picking his moments he teleported back out of the library, the shield on his armour dangerously depleted. He found his team waiting at the door, none of them sharing the same enthusiasm to race into the store of burning books.

  “Come on.” he said, trudging up past the ashen garden and the dark empty room.

  They found Geoff unharmed picking his way through the ruined vault. The whole area was like a bombed city, piles of rubble crumbled against the walls, the once solid doors were glowing pools of slag scattered about the room. Plinths were nothing more than ruined nubs barely distinguishable amongst the torn and pitted floor. The items in the chamber were all gone, reduced to their component particles as they annihilated each other.

  Geoff was inspecting a second door on the opposite side of the room.

  “Maybe let's not bust this one down just yet aye mate?” Gavin said, standing up beside him.

  “I was just thinking the same thing. This one looks like it's designed to explode if tampered with. I don't think it will hurt me, but it will hurt you, the tower, and everything around it for a good way.”

  “How about let's definitely not bust it down then.”

  “I will need to think about this before proceding.” Geoff said, sitting on his haunches like a scraggly dog.

  “Right, well, if it's all the the same to you, I think we're gonna go exploring, assuming anything is left after all this”

  “I should think any defences the tower had would have been triggered and made themselves known by now if there were any.”

  “Sweet as then, give us a shout when you want us to come back down.”

  “I will.” the goat said.

  The floor above was an empty room of smoke and ash, anything it used to hold was now gone. The one above that may have been a dining hall and kitchen, but all that was left were some glowing embers and rubble. The next floor looked almost exactly like the aftermath of the encounter with the wasps, what had once been an area of thick foliage looked like the scene of a forest fire, perfectly arranged boulders marked an empty stream, vaporised in the flames. The team carried on up, barely pausing to explore the damage.

  The next floor wasn't a complete bombsite, it was an open hallway, opening up into a series of guest rooms. The first few were ruined beyond repair but the last ones were still in good condition, lavish furniture adorned each room, no accommodation had been spared for the visitors of the tower.

  Judy filled her inventory with as much as she could carry, taking beds, couches, rugs, paintings, desks, every furnishing she could squeeze in.

  The next floor was the final floor, the door was locked and had no key. It had some sort of enchantment on the door but not one Gavin could identify or deconstruct. He sat in frustrated contemplation for a minute, trying to figure a way into the room without having to bother Geoff to do it for him.

  “I don't suppose any gods want to come along and pop this open for us?” Gavin asked the ceiling. “No? Lame, you guys have been annoyingly hands off these past few months.”

  “Gavin-” Sam began.

  “Yeah yeah, come on, let's go see if Geoff wants to help.”

  He opened his portal back down to the vault, finding Geoff precisely where they'd left him earlier.

  “Hey mate, top floors locked, reckon you can give us a hand while you think of a way inside?”

  “Can't hurt.” the goat said bobbing his head from side to side “I don't have to be here to do my thinking.”

  They walked back up to the top of the tower, coming to the door that had stopped them earlier.

  “Hmm,” Geoff said, sitting down to inspect the door “this one is similarly enchanted, though to a lesser degree.”

  “Practice run?” Gavin said.

  “Yes, I think I can use this to better identify how to open the other door. It's extremely impressive work for something of such a low comparative level.”

  “Low level?” Judy asked, “it's only a couple levels below you.”

  “The gulf between level fifteen and twenty is more than the gap between you and level fifteen, it's shocking this door poses me any challenge whatsoever.”

  “Do you have the right skillset to break enchantments?” Gavin asked, curious.

  “Yes. I have a power that can weaken and destroy enchantments and enchanted items, though these doors have been hardened against that sort of attack, even attacks of a higher level. It's odd, anyone stronger than the lock could just break it, but not if they want to get in without damaging anything inside.”

  “Makes sense, if you know someone who's stronger than you wants to steal your toys, having the option to destroy those toys gives you the ultimate control of it, there's a legend from my world about a guy who does that with some magic nutmeg.”

  “Don't ask.” the three women said simultaneously.

  “I wont.” Geoff said offhandedly as he stared at the door.

  “How much do you know about enchantment architecture?” Gavin asked, a thought occurring to him.

  “More than you, I'd guess.” The goat said without trace of condescension or boasting in his tone, it was just a fact.

  “No doubt, just spitballing ideas here, can you disrupt the molecular makeup of the door? It should make the enchantment less efficient right? If you focus on the trigger mechanisms maybe you can make those parts non functional.”

  “Molecular makeup?” Sam asked.

  “Fuck. Do not tell Soliece about that” Gavin said.

  “Interesting.” Geoff mused, thinking “It will be exceedingly risky, if I try here and get it wrong it will almost certainly destroy the other door with it.”

  “Isn't that what you want? Can we just portal out of range, you blow everything up, break the sword if it's not already broken and leave?” Val asked.

  “I did think about that yes, but I don't think it's a good idea, if the sword is in there and I can't destroy it, I will have to flee and keep it safe until I can. If I do destroy it that way it will be obvious to everyone what has happened and I may have to fight my way free, something I don't wish to try against an unknown number of my peers.”

  “Okay, fine, so what's the plan now?”

  “I think I will try Gavins idea, but not on the door. Come with me.”

  They followed Geoff down the stairs into the room directly below. There he bent his

  will on the ceiling above. Reality seemed to warp around them as the pressure coming off the goat built. Teeth ached and bones ground against each other as the world pulled itself in cross directions. Gavin felt his ears pop. His brain felt like it was pulling itself through itself as he fell to the floor. Gasping for breath.

  The sensation vanished like it had never been there, the world snapping back to normal in an instant. The knights pulled themselves to their feet uneasily, not trusting their senses as the disorientation abated.

  Above them was just the same as before though Geoff was looking at it with a new expression. Triumph.

  “Excellent work Gavin.” He said, cracking a disturbing smile made all the worse as his watery rectangular eyes focused on Gavin for a second too long. “It would have taken me a good long while to come up with that idea on my own.”

  “No worries mate, So, you're good to go, we can get through up there?”

  instead of answering the goat leapt into the air, plunging through the ceiling like it was no more substantial than packed breadcrumbs. Dust showered down, coating them all in fine white powder.

  Gavin floated himself up behind the goat, dropping a ladder down for his companions to follow. Judy pushed herself up with a copy of his same power, floating up to land lightly beside him.

  The room was a classic wizards personal chamber. In the centre of the room was the marble pillar, its door barring the way out. Around them lay several distinct zones, organised into living quarters, a study nook, tables with magical apparatus’, an area for relaxing, and an intricate circle of inlaid gold in one large slab of marble isolated from everything else.

  “This is a portal cicle.” Gavin said, drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

  “To?”

  “Everywhere.” he said, running trembling fingertips across the gold symbols that dotted the relic.

  “Everywhere? Or everywhere everywhere?” Judy asked kneeling beside him.

  “Everywhere everywhere. It's like a permanent version of my portal power, except one side is always ready to go, you just have to give it a destination.”

  “And can you?”

  “Ahh, yes and no.” Gavin said, running his hands over the intricate diagram as previously suppressed knowledge awakened in his mind.

  “That's not a helpful answer.” Sam said.

  “Well, I'm going to be guessing a lot here, but I'm pretty sure this is like a back door to an existing portal network. You have to know where the other nodes in the network are and you can link to them.”

  “Which you can do?”

  “Not specifically.” Gavin said, holding up a finger to think.

  “Can you tell if the network goes to your world?”

  “There either isn't, or I need to find it there first. This part here looks like it uses your soul to provide the coordinates.” Gavin said, standing in the circle and letting his mind drift.

  “There might be books on how to use it up here,” Judy said, starting to look through the small library.

  Geoff paced around the room before shrugging as recognisably as tje goat could with his goat body. “There's nothing of interest for me up here. I am going to return downstairs. My power is on cooldown for a short while, if you wish to enter the inner vault with me, come when you feel me use it again.”

  “Sounds good mate.” Gavin said, eyes closed in contemplation.

  Val and Sam were content exploring the room, turning things over and inspecting each item.

  “There's some high level items here.” Sam said holding up some sort of magical device, “we can't use them though. Sell them, maybe?”

  “Ehh, what do we need the money for? We probably can't store much in our inventories, if anything at all, and I won't be able to identify the enchantments. We may as well leave all this stuff here and hope no one touches it by the time we go up another ten or so levels. Those golem parts nearly took up my entire inventory as it is. I doubt I'd be able to store anything more than a level or two above me without having to dump a bunch of stuff.” Gavin said, now sitting and letting his mana flow into the circle.

  “Are we sure you should be playing with that?” Val asked hesitantly watching Gavin touch the marble slab the portal was inscribed into agin.

  “I think I have to play with it. I have a feeling like we'll need to figure it out sooner rather than later.”

  “A feeling based on?” Val pressed.

  “Shit hitting the fan and us needing an exit strategy.”

  “You're very set on commander Kalista turning up aren't you?” Sam said.

  “I'm not saying it's going to happen, it's just the best way for the universe to fuck us over if we aren't prepared.”

  “That's fair. We'll, you'd better think of something in the next few minutes.”

  Gavin sat down in the circle to clear his mind, rifling through his skill book knowledge to find a solution. He knew, or at least hoped, he had the solution buried inside his brain but couldn't figure out how to puzzle it together. Now he was focusing on it he was becoming increasingly conscious of just how much information the skill book had given him, he could only hold parts of the information in his consciousness, like trying to visualise the first million digits of pi. It made trying to think about how to use the whole of it frustratingly tedious.

  A minute later they all felt the unmistakable effect of Geoff's power working its way into the tower. It was less jarring than being immediately next to the goat, but still extremely unsettling. The thought that he could make a mistake and destroy them all wasn't lost on any of them. This time took much longer than the last, the effect building on itself until even at the top of the tower felt unbearable.

  The fundamental forces of the universe were unravelling, and Gavin really didn't want to think about how powerful Geoff must be to wield it so casually. He knew level twenty adventurers were shockingly powerful, but this was something else entirely. If Geoff was right, that if the sword was powerful enough to make a meaningful difference at that level then it needed to be removed from existence.

  Gavin snapped back to reality, feeling gravity right itself. Pushing himself to his feet he opened a portal back downstairs. He tried the floor above the vault first, finding a hole in the floor leading directly into the vault.

  The team leapt down, finding the goat standing in the room right in front of them. The room was a facsimile of the outer vault, though instead of rows of plinths holding an array of magical items this room had one. A perfect rectangular marble block dominated the otherwise empty space, a long sword lay on a sheet of blue silk atop it.

  “So that's it?” Gavin said inspecting it with his vision power.

  “Yes. That block its sitting on has some sort of enchantment I can't discern, it's definitely transcendent, which means it was at least created by someone of the highest level.”

  “I think I know what it does.” Gavin said, walking up to the stone slab.

  “What? Wait, dont-”

  The team watched on as Gavin reached a hand into the invisible barrier surrounding the sword, feeling it crackle around him as it interacted with his magical shield. His fingers clasped the cold steel hilt of the sword and drew it from its protective case. His eyes bulged as he read the description.

  [Item: World Claimer]

  Type: Long Sword

  Rank: level 20, Transcendent, unique

  Description: Wield the power of reality itself.

  Effect: Bound world, Earth

  Effect: Absorbs latent mana from bound world. Excess mana is stored in an extradimensional space linked with [World Claimer]. User may use transfer stored energy to enhance their soul powers and abilities

  Effect: Deals transcendent damage

  Effect: Activate to deal transcendent damage to enemies within range.

  “Geoff. I think trying to destroy this would be a very, and I can't understate this enough, fuckin bad idea.”

  “He's right Geoff the Goat.” commander Kalista said as she lowered herself into the room, she said his name with a sneer as if he was less than dirt to her.

  “Commander” Geoff said, nodding his head.

  “Commander Kalista?” Gavin asked, confusion on his face.

  “Yes. Now, stand aside from that sword.”

  “Hold on Commander, I think taking it out could be dangerous too. It's been absorbing energy from an entire planet for close to a thousand years, trying to use it could tear a hole in reality.”

  “I am quite certain it's fine.” The Commander said, walking towards him slowly and deliberately.

  “You don't know what I know. Soliece sent me here, it, well, even touching it could set off a chain reaction that turns the planet into a black hole.”

  “Soliece told you?”

  “Yes, her, Paragon and Florrin have been working to get us here to stop it being disturbed at all, we need to bury this place forever.”

  “I don't see them here? They could stop me if they wished.”

  “Not without Entropy or Void turning up too. This needs to be settled with words or we all die.”

  “It is stable. There is no danger.”

  “No danger now.” Gavin said, panic creeping into his voice, “as soon as you take it out the sword is going to make the Tunguska event look like a water balloon. That block of marble is all that's been keeping it in one piece all this time.”

  “Then I will take the whole thing, in time we will work out how to harness its power.”

  “I cannot allow that.” Geoff said, hackles rising, “this is too much power for one person to hold, better I turn the world to ruin than one person takes the sword.” Geoff said taking a step towards the weapon himself.

  “Don't take one more step, goat.” Kalista snarled, her own sword appearing in her hands.

  “Commander. Do you know why I chose the affinity crystal that changed me into this?” he said, mentally gesturing at himself.

  “I have no idea,” the commander said, disinterested.

  “because. I. Am. The mother fucking GOAT.” he bellowed.

  Crushing weight screeched in Gavins ears. If he hadn't got a taste of the sensation several times before he would have been lost. This was worse than everything he'd experienced previously by ten fold, he could feel a sour smell as his perceptions blended together. His mind crumbled, falling away at the edges leaving only what he could cling to. His friends. The sword. He needed to get out. Away from the demigods fighting, where they couldn't get to him. Home.

  Gavin activated his ether warp power, feeling for the first time what it was actually doing. He felt himself shunted through the ether on a path to his chosen destination. The world folded in on itself, two points coming together like folded paper. Raw energy ground away at him as he punched himself through time and space on a rope of willpower.

  His hands clasped the hilt of the sword, the weapon buzzed with power in his fingers. With an effort of will he shot himself along the ground at his companions, Sam hauled him through Judy's portal by his shoulders as he struggled to maintain his balance.

  “You'd better have a plan Gavin.” she said as they came up inside the topmost room of the tower.

  “Ahh, yeah, shit, I- maybe.”

  “You do?”

  “Ahh, yeah. You know how I said there was two ways to travel between worlds?”

  “The easy way and the hard way? Yes I remember”

  “There might be a third way.” Gavin said as more possibilities unlocked themselves in his mind.

  “Which is?” Sam asked apprehensively.

  “The Gavin way.” Gavin said, a crazed grin breaking out on his face.

  “No. No no no.” Sam said, crossing her arms firmly.

  “Either that or stick around to see who wins the fight downstairs, assuming the fight itself doesn't just kill us incidentally.”

  The tower was thrumming with disjointed power as two titans of will and magic clashed several floors below.

  “Okay, fine. You'd better not kill us though Gavin. You'd better not.”

  “I won't. Probably. Maybe. Gold plated Schmaybe at least.”

  “For the gods sakes.” Sam groaned.

  “Everyone on the circle, hold hands, I'll guide us through.”

  They stood together, clammy hands clasped awkwardly as Gavin fed his jumbled understanding of what he was doing into their minds. It was not unlike the time in Entropy's domain where he'd used Sam as a portal focus, though this time Gavin was tugging on a piece of his own soul. The piece he'd left behind on his home world. He felt it connect to him now, the wash of bitter emotion flooding into him, a pain in his heart he'd repressed for so long.

  “Give that sword here.” Kalista ordered, thundering into room.

  She was drenched in blood, and she seemed to be coming unstuck at the seams, her features blistering as her magical body frayed.

  “Sure.” Gavin said, opening his eyes “come and grab it.”

  He activated the portal through dimensions, energy from the sword pulsing into the floor below them. Kalista wailed in rage, the room behind her disintegrating as she shot herself forward. Her hands clasped the sword the instant the transfer happened.

  Everything went completely still, then sensations flooded back into them.

  The five adventurers fell to the ground, landing on soft grass. Pain wracked Gavins body, it felt like the world itself was sapping handfuls of his power directly from his soul. Waves of distortion washed off him as his body leaked itself out into the magical desert that was his homeworld. He felt his vision close as a throbbing headache punched its way into his skull.

  The other four were in no better condition, with Kalista being the worst affected of all. She glowed with effervescent energy, it fell off her in torrents that burned and withered the grass she writhed on.

  Gasping for air Gavin crawled to the sword, his fingers finding the razor sharp blade. Instantly he felt a flood of energy pulse into him, he fed that energy to his team, feeling them recover as he rolled onto his back panting with the exertion of the past few seconds.

  Kalista pushed herself to her knees, lunging at Gavin who pulled himself out of her reach with a jolt of force. He watched as she crumbled to ash in front of him, her body that had once been made of mana held together by her soul stripped away to nothing. In her place, a single round crystal of smokey grey light fell to the patch of withered grass.

  They sat there in stunned silence for a good long while. Gavin unpacking the consequences of what had just happened.

  “Gavin, what is this place?” Judy asked, breaking the silence.

  They were in a field, hundreds of mismatched tombstones lay in ordered rows, running off into the distance. Nearby an ancient totora tree shaded them, obscuring the sun's afternoon glow.

  “Cemetery. It's where we bury the dead”

  “And why are we here?”

  “I needed a connection to my world, this is the place that holds the most meaning for me here.”

  “Why, who is buried here?” Val asked, looking at the stone closest to her.

  Gavin stood beside her, following her gaze. The headstone was heart shaped, it was carved with fine flowing letters, the silhouette of a bird flying into the sun surrounded by flowers stood prominently above the inscription.

  Tom Pene & Hinemoa Ratu

  2021-2021 1994-2021

  Survived by a loving father and partner.

  Gavin slumped to the ground, tears welling up. The pain was back. Fresh and raw.

  He felt a warmth flow into him, his three friends standing behind him sharing their feelings of compassion and reassurance as they witnessed his past laid bare.

  With their help Gavin pulled himself together, standing slowly, with purpose.

  “Come on guys” he said, his usual upbeat demeanour a little greyer than usual “let's go find a steak and cheese pie and a V.”

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