EMPATHIC CONNECTION

Valuing guardians above your own development is a calling, but it comes at a constant cost.

A blue rectangle replaced the attribute selection. Dallion glanced at it for a few moments, then waved it away. It had been a while since he’d received an achievement, and this one was more cryptic than most.

COMPANION – AZURE FIREBIRD CHICK

You have gained a Level 1 companion!

Newly hatched, the firebird has established a deep connection with you and will follow you both in the real and in any awakened world. The firebird will guard your awakening room, or attack any enemy you command in an awakening realm.

Unlike other members of its species, the azure firebird has the ability to heal wounds with its flames. The degree to which it heals depends on the firebird’s level.

A second rectangle appeared, along with a small version of the ex-guardian. The only difference was that the bird no longer was a guardian; now it was another familiar.

“Azure?” Dallion stared at it. Having it back brought him some joy, though still not enough to take him to his previous emotional state. In future he would have to be careful how he used his emotions. Pouring emotions into something else was clearly advantageous, though it was harsh to a person’s own state.

The firebird let out a high-pitched chirp, then flapped its wings in front of Dallion. At this point Dallion had no choice but to crouch down and pet the creature on the head. The creature’s reaction was childish in a very adult way. After enjoying the pets for a few seconds, it attempted to push away Dallion’s hand with its wings. Comically, the flame would pass through his hand, achieving little more than the equivalent of a very localized breeze. Being made entirely of flame had its limitations.

While the firebird was playing, Dallion’s other familiar slowly made his way from the tunnel outside to the center of the chamber. Head stretched to its maximum, the crackling sniffed at the creature several times, before taking a step back.

“Of course, now you show up.” Dallion sighed. He could have used Nox during the actual fight. Although, thinking about it, there probably wasn’t much the crackling would be able to do.

“Nox, this is Lux,” Dallion said. The cracking didn’t seem one bit impressed. “Lux, this is your senior.” Dallion pushed the firebird gently towards the crackling. Doing so with a full palm proved possible—like slowly nudging a bubble of hot air.

On a personal level, Dallion was happy that the guardian hadn’t disappeared. His gamer mind, though, was already running on overdrive. With this new creature he now had attack and heal abilities at his disposal. Both would prove quite useful in the battle to come, even if both creatures were at level one. The main thing was not to allow them to get harmed.

“Nil, can you take care of them for me?”

Raising a cat and a being made entirely out of fire in a vast library? The echo asked. What could possibly go wrong?

“Healing flames, Nil,” Dallion said. “It’s made of healing flames.”

Oh, if that’s the case I guess everything is alright, isn’t it? You realize how this looks, right? You have a crackling and a blue firebird, most likely the result of chainling involvement. Some might claim that you are closer to the Crippled Star than is healthy for an awakened.

“I don’t see how having familiars could be considered a bad thing.” The notion made Dallion think of his grandfather. When he had set out to make a chainling, what exactly had he done? Had he set one loose from a sphere item? Or had he sacrificed someone to achieve the effect? The notion made Dallion’s stomach churn.

They aren’t but I’ll tell you what I keep telling my students: your mind has a limited capacity, so don’t fill it up with nonsense, or with familiars as your case might be.

“Point taken. Any luck with contacting Adzorg?”

Dear boy, this is a rather complicated process that has no guarantees of success. I would have you know that two-way echo communication is an endeavor that has been attempted by scholars for hundreds of years. Even the—

“Any luck?” Dallion interrupted.

I’m not certain. I sent a message, but my original hasn’t noticed. Possibly one of the other captains will. It’s just a matter of time.

I really hope so, Dallion thought.

“Okay, you two, into the library,” he said to the familiars.

Nox was first to disappear with an elegant leap. The firebird was next, poofing out like a candle flame at a birthday party. With that, Dallion went on to the final level.

To Dallion’s surprise, the starting chamber of the fifth level was way smaller than he expected. A fraction of the size of the previous one, it loomed more like an entrance lobby than anything else. The faint light coming from the level above was enough to make all the walls clearly visible, as well as the entrance to the tunnel moving on.

“Is there anyone out there?” Dallion asked, his words resonating with calm. “Anyone out there who could hear me?”

There were no creatures visible the first few hundred feet. After close to a minute, Dallion stopped. Having no enemies wasn’t unusual, although from a logical perspective it meant only one thing: whoever, or whatever the guardian was, they had made sure that the level was barren.

After a short while the tunnel took a sharp turn, then continued curving along an arc. In his mind, Dallion could see it circling the entrance area in a reverse spiral. That was unfortunate since it limited his field of vision and made it far more difficult to tell if there were creatures lurking further in.

“Lux, come out.” At this point, it was pointless walking in the dark. It was far more comfortable to actually see where he was going.

The firebird appeared on his shoulder—a preferred place for familiars, it seemed—and just stood there perched calmly, as if it were taking a nap. The contrast from Nox’s playfulness was much appreciated in the situation.

In the light, Dallion was able to get a better look at the walls. While not entirely smooth, they were obviously no longer made of rock, but of what seemed like dark red smoked glass. Rough in texture, they felt pleasantly warm, almost organic.

“What do you think, Lux?” Dallion asked. “Different from the level you knew?”

The firebird yawned. It didn’t seem interested in the least. Either that or Dallion had interrupted its nap time.

“Nil, is this normal?”

Many things can be considered normal, dear boy, and alas this is one of them, the echo replied. Unless there’s something extraordinary beneath the walls themselves, I’d say this is a rather mundane artifact.

“I thought all sphere items were special.”

That’s true in a manner of speaking. While such items are quite different from the items we know today, thus the separate category for them, they still are divided into ordinary and extraordinary. Whine awakening items could be treated as extraordinary in the sense that they actually allow level increases, the daggers are nothing much. If they were, we wouldn’t be using them for selection trials.

That made sense, and still Dallion felt that something was off. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but it was there, staring him in the face and mocking him.

“If I clear another dagger, will I raise another five levels?” Dallion leaned to the outer wall, trying to get a better view of what expected him further on. As before, there were no new surprises.

Wishful thinking, I’m afraid. And the topic of multiple scholar studies. Apparently, the sphere items share a leveling system of their own. Completing one would allow you to increase your level by five regardless of your current state. At the same time, completing one awakening item is considered completing them all. The only way to raise your level more is to find a ten-level awakening item, and so far, there have been only six found in the entire empire.

“Interesting system.” Dallion summoned his harpsisword. With each step, he was getting more and more jumpy. By his estimates he had made two revolutions and a half around the starting point. Something deep inside told him that he didn’t have much to go before reaching the guardian chamber.

Interesting is hardly the word I’d use. Anomalous is more to the point.

“I’m there with you. Let me know if Adzorg gets your message.”

The further Dallion went, the slower he became. By the time the guardian chamber entrance became visible, he was hesitating at every step. At this point it wasn’t only his inner sense that was alarming him, his music skills also showed him echoes of void and chaos flickering along the walls, like venomous cracks. The last time he had experienced that, he had fought a chainling.

“Nox,” Dallion whispers. “I think I’ll need you on this one.”

Taking a deep breath, Dallion recited the names of the Seven Moons and went past the threshold. To his surprise, the final guardian chamber was lit up, though not in the way he had expected a sphere item to be. Instead, there were touches all over the walls, burning in a whitish-yellow light. That was not the shocking part; that honor was reserved for the outline of smothering ash in the center of the chamber, along with the person standing over it—someone that Dallion knew quite well.

“Art?” Dallion asked in disbelief, uncertain if he wasn’t dealing with another copyette. Seeing the lack of emotions emanating from the creature, however, it was more likely that he was dealing with a chainling.

“Oh, you’re early,” Arthurows replied in a calm fashion. “Sorry about the mess. Didn’t know you’d deal with the last level so fast.” With a wave of his hand, the ash outline was gone. “So, how have you been, Dal?” Arthurows smiled. “You’ve gotten yourself a second familiar. That’s quite rare. I’m not sure I know anyone with two familiars outside the capital. Then again, I can’t be everywhere, so who knows?”

“What are you doing here, Art?” Dallion held his harpsisword firmly. “You weren’t in the room when I entered the dagger.”

“Such deductive skills,” the other started a slow clam. “You’re a real Sherlock Holmes.”

Sherlock Holmes? That wasn’t something a person from this world was supposed to know.. not unless the person came from Earth as well.

“Oh, but where are my manners?” Arthurows snapped his fingers. A white rectangle appeared above his head.

THE TWISTED STAR

Species: Wouldn’t you like to know?

Class: Wouldn’t you like to know?

Statistics: Wouldn’t you like to know?

Skills: Wouldn’t you like to know?

Weak spots: Wouldn’t you like to know?

Dallion felt as if ice cubes had sprouted in his stomach. All this time he had thought that Arthurows was a sneak and slacker, but never once had he considered that he could be a Star. The mere notion made Dallion feel dread, as if he were in the presence of a demon, and as far as this world was concerned that could be the case.

There wasn’t much mentioned about the Star. Dallion knew enough from the fragments he’d heard or read in the ring library to be afraid. Allegedly, the Star had managed to be the downfall of entire kingdoms, even species.

Fear gripped hold of Dallion’s conscience. It was only to the harprisword’s vibrating strings that it somewhat released him.

“Don’t be so afraid, it’s not like I’m all-powerful,” Arthurows laughed. “At least not yet.”

“You’re the Crippled?” Dallion swallowed. “What about Art?”

“Art was an unfortunate kid that asked for too much while he should have known better. Sadly, he passed away.. nine years ago. I took his place. Come to think about it, you’ve done the exact same thing.” The star took a step forward, at which point Dallion instantly retreated, blade pointing the Arthurows’ direction. “After all, didn’t you take over the body of a person in this world when you came from Earth? I doubt they’re too happy about that. But hey, it’s not like they can complain.” He laughed.

“You created the chainlings in the rescue mission.”

“Correct. And I did it just for you.”

Dallion took another step back.

“Do you know what they call people from another world here?” the Star asked. “No? Soul confused, irregular, wildcards.. I personally like to call them a pain in the ass. Your very existence is a problem. Most of your kind join the nobility or the hunters, which makes it much more difficult for me in the long run. Your case, though, is special. You—” Arthurows pointed at Dallion “—really managed to piss me off. I’ve plans for this city. Plans that you’ve already started to mess up.”

“I don’t even know you.” Dallion felt part of his confidence returning, all thanks to the music of the harpsisword.

“You don’t have to know someone to mess things up. It’s enough that you started going on explorations. When I made you mess up the selection trial, that was supposed to be the end of it. You were supposed to accept defeat and start going on sanitation missions. But no, you had to have your little arrangement with Vend, then join in as a packrat.”

“You made me mess up my selection?”

Arthurows laughed.

“Where do you think your sudden burst of confidence came from? Because you were doing oh so well in the previous levels. Level six, barely managed to pull through with a group and you thought you’d make it to here on your own? Or did you think you’re the only one who could influence people? Either way, it ends here.”

Thinking back, a lot of Dallion’s problems were linked to Arthurows in some way. The mission failure, the deal with the general, the chainlings during the rescue job, the lieutenant’s attitude during the interview a while back.. Dallion had even told Arthurows when he was about to go to the awakening shrine. It was entirely possible that the Star had had a hand in him getting mugged, although wouldn’t it have been easier to outright kill him? For an entity of his strength, there were ample opportunities.

“You can’t kill me, can you?” Dallion voiced the question in his mind.

The star narrowed his eyes.

“The Moons are preventing you, aren’t they?”

“I can’t kill you directly,” Arthurows pointed out. “But that’s beyond the point. I don’t want to kill you. I just want to seal away your powers.”

COMBAT INITIATED