Empyrean 38: An Unlikely Jungle (Patreon)

Amelia, here! :) please enjoy another chapter of Empyrean's Flight. We are nearing the end of the book, so let me know how you think it will end!

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Screaming, I ignored the punishment of fire and released a surge of light through my hands into the fire golem’s cracks. The tendrils grew the longer I stood still and channelled them, and as they twisted into the fire golem, I watched as it lifted its hands up in the air.

The flames enveloped me, but I stood and let them. I was not about to lose this challenge.

“Your time has run out,” the voice said. I ignored it, continuing to breath light from my fingers into the golem. And, to my surprise, it fell down—cold and dead.

“Congratulations, hatchlings, you have passed the Trial of Strength. Although you did not kill your foe, you managed to stay alive. Your reward awaits you.”

I let out a long breath and bent down to touch my knees. After all that, we still hadn’t killed the golem, but thankfully that was not the challenge. I suspected we may have received a better reward if we did, but for now, I was happy that we made it through the trial without anyone getting seriously hurt.

“Elana,” Adalinda said softly. “Your arm.”

I had spoken too soon. Looking down to what the celestial was talking about, I noticed that the skin on my right forearm had nearly been burnt off. What remained now was red and angry. I hadn’t even noticed.

And I could still not feel the pain, really. I supposed that the wisp was helping in that regard, but the fire had done damage too quickly for it to heal in time. I looked around to find that it was still active, and thankfully, still helping me heal.

“I’ll be fine,” I said aloud. “Soren? Where are you?”

My brother peeked around a corner of a large gem and waved. “I’m here,” he said, walking toward Adalinda and me. “I’m sorry for not helping much. I wasn’t sure how I could help there.”

“It’s fine,” I reassured him. “I told you to step aside if things got too hairy. I’m sure you’ll be able to help in the other trials.”

“I hope so,” he said, holding his hand against his forehead. “I’m starting to regret coming to the dungeon with you.”

I lifted my hand to his face and gave him a smile. “I am glad you’re here,” I said. “And I’d rather you stay safe than get in harm’s way.”

My brother said nothing, and as he rubbed his hand along my forearm, I noticed that my burn had been healed.

Your health has been fully replenished.

Your light magic skill has increased to level 42, reaching rank 4.

Your summoning skill has increased to level 41, reaching rank 4.

Adalinda’s tooth and claw skill has increased to level 39.

“Let’s look around for this supposed reward,” I said. Turning around to face the back of the room, I noticed the gems were slowly coming back to life to light the way again. But this time, they were growing to light the way as they did throughout the rest of the dungeon. A few seconds more passed, and the chamber was fully lit.

I saw another table had appeared in the back of the room with three books on it. Moving closer to inspect them, I noticed they were ability tomes.

The target is a basic ability tome: spiked skin. This ability is compatible with your companion’s Class and may be learned.

The target is a basic ability tome: fire-breath

The target is a basic ability tome: analyze

Sighing in frustration, I realized that if we had killed the golem, we may have received something better than basic ability tomes like this. One of them Adalinda already had in her arsenal, while we already had a copy of another.

But, thankfully, the third could prove useful. I picked up the spiked skin tome and handed it to the celestial. “This could be useful for you,” I said. “I am not sure what it does, but I imagine you will either get another attack or protection ability.”

Adalinda took the tome from me and browsed it. As she looked through, she looked up at me and gave me a slight nod. She pushed her nose into the book and before I knew it, a new Game alert appeared.

Adalinda has learned the basic ability: spiked skin. In accordance with her physical form, this ability has been renamed to spiked tail. Adalinda is now able to use her tail as a weapon.

Adalinda has 7 of 8 Dexterity ability slots remaining.

Immediately, I told Adalinda what the new ability offered her. And, strangely enough, I saw as small spikes appeared on the end of her tail. As they stopped growing, the celestial swung it from side to side, and I thought I could see a small smile on her face. “I am happy with this,” she said simply, continuing to shake her tail.

I looked back at the table and saw the other two tomes had disappeared, and in their stead, a small coin had emerged. Soren walked toward it, picked it up, and started studying it.

“It says ‘Trial of Strength’ on it,” he said. “I think we need to present this somewhere as proof of finishing the trials.”

“That makes sense,” I said. “Better you hold onto it, then, I don’t trust myself not to lose it.”

My brother nodded and pocketed the coin. “Let’s get going,” he said. “We still have players to catch.”

✵ ✵ ✵

We walked through the corridor into the next door on the left. It had not changed yet, and to my dismay, we had not come across Alastair yet. We hadn’t even heard anything—the dungeon was quiet.

But we tread on anyway and walked through the entryway to the next trial. When we entered the room, we were greeted by… a forest.

The gem-laden walls were uncharacteristically white gems, and there were brushes and lush trees around the room. The floor, more muddy than usual, had small roots of plants that made it softer to tread on.

Next to me, Soren started sneezing relentlessly. “Are you okay?” I asked.

He nodded, wiping his nose. “Allergies, I think,” he said. “The vegetation is thick here. How is it surviving?”

“I don’t know,” I said in bewilderment.

“It’s like the gems are acting as a greenhouse,” Adalinda said, who had moved closer to the wall. “They’re radiating heat and light.”

I walked toward the celestial and touched the gems, jerking my hand back when I realized she was right. They were hot, and they were bright. Even though I logically knew we were in a dungeon, it was easy enough to believe we had stepped outside again.

And, this time, there was no disembodied voice to greet us.

“Let’s explore a little more,” my brother called out. “I think I see something in the distance.”

Following his lead, we walked through the forest of small trees. Looking around, I noticed that the chamber was not just one room, but had arches leading into smaller abodes—but these were dark, and I could not be sure what they contained.

As we reached the back of the room, I felt the now familiar tremble of the ground.

“Damnit,” I said aloud. “I think we have more insects coming.”

The three of us looked behind us, where the trembling was coming from, and found that I was right. Small beetles had emerged from the ground, and they were screeching in our direction. I held my arrows ready and shot two into the head of the first beetle.

You have killed a level 10 beetle larva!

Adalinda sprinted forward and, using her new weapon, whipped her tail around her body and cleaved into the remaining to beetles. Purple blood oozed out of their body, and before they could react, Soren had moved in to plunge his daggers into their bodies.

The remaining larva died, but before we could take a breath to rest, the ground started trembling again. And this time, it was much louder, and whatever was coming would be much larger.

The three of us stayed silent, waiting for our foe to make its appearance. The trembling continued for a minute or so before stopping, though, and nothing had emerged.

“I think we’re—”

Before I could finish speaking, a giant beetle dug itself out from the ground and slammed its pincers in front of us. Adalinda, who it had almost hit, jumped out of the way, and let out a breath of fire to retaliate. I shot more arrows in the direction of the insect.

You have injured a level 25 dire beetle.

You have been poisoned for 30 seconds. Your health will decrease by 1% every 2 seconds.

The dire beetle, which I could only assume was the mother of the nest, slammed its body down and released a hazy gas into the chamber where we stood. I watched as the light green particles covered the floor, slowly moving toward all of us, and leaving no space to escape.

Unable to hold my breath, I could only cough and splutter as I inhaled the poison. My lungs burned, and I could see my skin start to form boils where I was burnt by the fire golem.

I looked toward my brother, who was also coughing, but holding his own. Surprisingly, I felt myself get used to the poisonous air, and pulled myself together to continue shooting my arrows at the beetle.

As I shot, some of my arrows missed, but one hit it critically enough to set it on fire. Adalinda, still right next to the dire beetle, swung her tail around and hooked it into the flesh on its sides. The insect let out a mighty screech and started punching its pincers down toward the celestial. Adalinda, still caught in the beetles’ flesh, could only twist her body slightly away from the insects’ attacks.

I watched as Soren, who had also recovered slightly from the poison, moved in closer to the beetle with his dagger at the ready. And I, letting my hands burning with light’s fury, followed him in.

My brother plunged his dagger into the other side of the beetle, pulling out pieces of her flesh. I let the tendrils of light emit from my fingertips and curled them around the beetles’ pincers.

You have critically injured a level 25 dire beetle!

Warning! Your mana is critically low at 10%.

Ignoring the Game alert for now, I focused all my energy into the light from my hands. I could at lest hurt it with my last bits of mana.

But the beetle would not stand for that. Even with the tendrils grabbing its pincers, it scurried forward slightly toward me and swiped a leg across the floor and under my feet. With little time to react, I was pushed over, and the beetle hooked a pincer through my pants.

Lifting me up, it wasted no time in throwing me against the wall with the gems. I scrunched my face, waiting for the impact, and found that I had not been hit by hard crystals. Instead, when I made contact with the wall, I heard a large squishing noise, and looked to the ground to find two more beetle larva had emerged.

They’re not gems, I thought frantically. “They’re eggs!” I shouted to my companions. “Don’t let the gems break!”

Now having to deal with the insects that had fallen on me, I pulled my dagger out and slashed toward the larva. Thankfully, they did not give much resistance, and I killed them both with one strike.

You have been critically injured by a level 25 dire beetle. Your leg has broken from the impact of its attack, and you have been crippled.

Your health is at 35%.

You have killed a level 6 beetle larva.

You have killed a level 5 beetle larva.

I tried to stand, but I found I was unable to. A broken leg was nothing to scoff at, and even though I didn’t notice it at first, I had become a useless heap on the floor. All I could do now was hold my arrows ready and shoot them toward the beetle mother.

Soren and Adalinda, to their credit, were deftly dodging all the attacks from the beetle. Unlike the soldier we faced earlier, it seemed she could not fly. She slammed her body and pincers on the ground and, using her head, swung around in a desperate attempt to hit my companions.

But the celestial and my brother were holding strong against her. Alongside my arrows, Adalinda unleashed fire on the beetle, keeping her steadily on fire and ticking her health down. While Soren moved to the opposite sides of the beetle and plunged his dagger into her whenever he found the chance.

You have been poisoned for 30 seconds. Your health will decrease at 1% every 2 seconds.

I watched on in horror as the beetle released another bout of poison. Soren, directly in the way of her pores, got hit in the eyes. Stumbling backward, he could not react in time to miss the beetle turning and hitting him away with her pincer. Just missing the eggs on the other side of the chamber, he rolled on the ground and held his arm in his hand.

Adalinda, now, was our last hope. And I could only trust she would not let us down.

With the last bits of my mana, I continued to sit on the ground and shoot toward the beetle. The only thing I could do to help.

Warning! Death is imminent. Your health is at 10%.

Warning! Your mana has been drained.

Holding back tears as my bow faded from my hands, I sat and watched as Adalinda tore through the beetle. She continued to dodge the insects’ attacks, and the Game alerts poured through as she clawed and bashed through the beetle’s body.

Adalinda has critically injured a hostile entity.

Adalinda has critically injured a hostile entity.

Adalinda has…

…

A level 25 dire beetle has died.

The celestial, in all her glory, twisted her body in a last smack of her tail through the beetle’s… face. I watched on in awe as this Komodo dragon, our last hope, killed the foe which almost felled both Soren and me.

And, with a last shriek, the beetle collapsed to the ground. I let out a long breath of relief.

You and Adalinda have gained 2 levels and 2 attribute points.

Your fire magic skill has increased to level 47.

Your light magic skill has increased to level 46.

Your summoning skill has increased to level 45.

Adalinda’s natural armor skill has increased to level 45.

Adalinda’s tooth and claw skill has increased to level 45, reaching rank 4.

Involuntary tears started flowing down my cheeks. Looking down at my arm, I couldn’t recognize my own body. The scars from the fire had not healed entirely by the time the poison gas touched them, and now I had boils covering my skin.

I was in immeasurable pain.

“El?” Soren said softly, having walked up to me. “Are you okay?”

I said nothing, only showing him my arm. My brother gave me a soft nod, pulled me forward gently, and pulled my bag off my back. He scratched through the potions I had stored in there. “Is this a healing potion?” he asked, holding up a stamina vial.

I chuckled a little and shook my head. He scrounged up three more stamina potions before finally reaching a health potion and poured it into my mouth.

You have taken a moderate healing potion, giving you 30% health.

Your health is at 40%.

You are no longer crippled.

As the boils on my skin visibly disappeared, I turned my leg slightly to check it and found that I could move again. I pushed my hands down into the ground and, careful not to break any eggs as I stood up, hugged my brother.

Scratching in my pack for a second health potion, I handed it to him and smiled. “Take this, it’ll make you feel better.”

He took the vial and gulped it down, wiping his mouth when he was done. “Thank you,” he said, handing me back the empty bottle. “Where is Adalinda?”

“Ada,” I called out loud. “Where are you?” I wanted to find the celestial. Not only to thank her for saving us, but to make sure she was okay too.

“I’m here,” she said softly. “Behind the trees.”

I looked to my left where we had come from and spied a small sliver of her tail through the bushes. Although the beetle had knocked down some trees, the forest in the chamber remained mostly intact. I took Soren’s hand and weaved through the brush toward the celestial.

And when we found her, she wasn’t alone.