Empyrean 41: The Final Trial (Patreon)

“You have acquired your final reward,” the woman continued. “Please come forward to receive it.”

Not seeing any change in the chamber, I assumed she meant we would need to walk toward her. The three of us stepped forward slowly and, when we reached about a foot away from her face, she started speaking again.

“A player, non-player, and celestial companion,” she said. “You each have a reward that suits your needs. The non-player will come forward first.”

The woman held out a hand to Soren. My brother tried to grab it, but his own hand went through hers. She is a vision, I thought. But how did she know what we all were? Did the dungeon know when we entered through the portal?

“State your name,” the woman said.

“Soren.”

“Soren,” she repeated. “Find your gift at my feet.”

My brother looked down, as did I, and a small box appeared in front of the woman. He bent down to pick it up and opened it immediately. What he pulled out looked like a ring, but I could not be sure.

“What is that?” I asked.

“It’s a resurrection stone,” he said in awe, admiring the gem. “I have only heard about these.”

“Oh my—”

“The celestial will come forward now,” the woman interrupted.

Adalinda patted forward slowly and stood on her hind legs in front of the vision. Feeling a bit embarrassed that we seemed to be talking over her, I kept quiet for the moment and watched my celestial companion accept her gift.

This time, the woman did not ask for a name, but merely bent down to touch the celestial. She waved her hands along Adalinda’s scales and, within seconds, a purple haze covered her skin. But, just as quickly as it appeared, it almost sunk into the celestial’s body.

Adalinda has received a gift of strength. Her Constitution has been permanently increased by +5.

“The player will come forward now,” the woman said, standing up straight again.

I walked forward slowly and stopped to face her.

“Empyrean,” she said. “You possess the true nature of a leader. The Elders will be pleased with your progress.”

The woman reached her hand out to my face and cupped it gently. Despite that she was a vision, I could feel her skin against mine. It felt… fuzzy. Almost like she was brimming with electricity. Her face, framed only by two long strands of white hair, had an imperceptible trace of pride.

“You possess a skill no player has presented in decades,” she continued. “By defeating the demon Naberius without entering combat, your gift will be twofold.”

As the same with Adalinda, I saw a haze of color cover my skin. Instead of purple, though, it was a clear cerulean shade. I felt as the gift sunk into my flesh, and I felt more clear-minded than ever.

You have received a gift of cunning. Your Magic has been permanently increased by +5, and your Faith has been permanently increased by +5.

Your Magic has reached rank 2.

Your task: Trials of Flame and Brimstone has been completed.

Before I could respond to the woman, or even ask her questions, she disappeared. Looking back to my companions, I was at a bit of a loss for words. “What was that?” I asked.

“I know even less than you do,” Soren said incredulously.

“That was a messenger of the Elders,” Adalinda said. “She was not real. More of a construct. Whoever set up the Trials in this dungeon left her here to dispense these gifts.”

“So, this place was where players came to test their strength,” I concluded. “But for what purpose? And for who?”

“I am not sure,” the celestial said.

“It seems to me that we were actually supposed to fight that demon thing,” Soren said. “But your… light magic? I think it helped us get rid of it without having to fight it.”

“That makes sense,” I said. “Unfortunately, I don’t think we can linger on it for too long. We need to catch Alastair.”

“Look over there,” Soren said. “The token.”

I looked behind me to where he pointed and saw that where the woman was standing was the last token. This, hopefully, would help us get through the last door of this level and find the player we were seeking.

It had been a long journey to this point, and I could not wait to get my hands on him. Picking up the token and handing it to Soren, I walked back toward the door confidently and back into the corridor.

✵ ✵ ✵

Entering the path we had come to know so intimately was jarring. Now, instead of the seemingly endless loop of doors into a darkened corridor, the walls were solid gemstones and there was one large wooden door near us.

Behind it, there were the sounds of fighting.

Wide eyed, I turned to Soren. “That wasn’t there before,” I said. “This used to be quiet.”

“We have to go,” he said urgently. “That could be the players we were looking for.”

Wasting no time, the three of us hurried to the door and burst through it. As we entered what looked like the final chamber on the level, we were met with a grisly sight.

Five bodies were lying strewn across the floor of the room, and in the middle of the room was Alastair fighting the largest beetle I had seen yet. Unlike the dire beetle we had fought earlier, this creature would have towered over her. It had wings, and its body was covered in the calluses of a thousand battles.

It was frightening.

“We must help him,” I said.

“Wait,” Adalinda urged. “That’s Alastair, I think. What if we just let it kill him?”

“No. If anyone kills him, it’s us,” I argued. “Besides, I imagine killing that thing will bring in some grand rewards.”

“Let’s get it then,” Soren said, running forward with his daggers.

“Our decision is made, I suppose,” Adalinda sighed, moving forward with my brother.

Deciding to stand back, I started chanting to ready an elemental. Considering the size of the foe we were about to face I thought a large construct on our side would be ideal. While Adalinda and Soren distracted the beetle, I believed I would have more than enough time to summon it.

As I readied my spell, I watched as Adalinda stood on her hind legs in front of the beetle and released a breath of fire on it. As usual, thankfully, the giant insect seemed to be as resilient to fire as the others had been—which is to say, not at all.

As her flames enveloped the beast, Soren rushed behind it to plunge his daggers into its hind legs. With no hesitation, my brother hooked the beast into the ground with his weapons and jumped back in time to miss a big swing from its pincer.

The daggers would not hold the beetle, though, and it pulled itself from the ground—barely reacting to the flesh that ripped off. The insect took flight, and within seconds, my spell was finally ready.

You have summoned a fire elemental.

The mishmash of rocks appeared in front of me and flames burst from the cracks through its body. “Kill the beetle!” I ordered, not waiting any longer to hold arrows aimed at the large insect.

While I shot my bow, I looked around frantically to find Alastair. But, to my dismay, it seemed he had disappeared. Damnit, I thought. Seeing us come in must have given him an opportunity to escape.

Paying it no mind for now, I turned my attention back to the beetle.

The chamber ceiling was low enough that my elemental could grab it by its pincers. And it did—unceremoniously throwing it around in a circle before it let go and slammed the insect into a nearby wall.

You have critically injured a level 30 dire beetle!

Adalinda and Soren, who had managed to recover his daggers, rushed toward the beetle. The celestial swung her tail around, slamming it into the insect’s body. Behind them, the fire elemental was rushing back toward our foe.

Before the insect could react, the elemental slammed itself into it and squished it closer into the wall. I heard the hard shell of its body crunch and snap, and the beetle let out a wail of pain. Now on fire and surrounded by enemies, the insect tried to scurry away. But the fire elemental had broken its wing.

For its final attack, my elemental slammed down onto the insect, further pounding it into the ground. As it dissipated, the dire beetle collapsed and remained still.

You have killed a level 30 dire beetle.

You and Adalinda have gained a level and an attribute point.

Your summoning skill has increased to level 44.

Your fire magic skill has increased to level 45.

Adalinda’s tooth and claw skill has increased to level 42, reaching rank 4.

Slightly confused at how quickly the beetle died, but also relieved, I looked around the room for Alastair. I saw no doors open—and, besides, there was only one leading out of the chamber—so he must have still been with us.

Looking behind the larger gems, I spotted nothing.

“Elana, what are you looking for?” Adalinda asked.

“Alastair,” I said. “He is here somewhere.”

“Is that him?”

I shot my head around and looked in all directions of the chamber. Then, I spotted what Adalinda was talking about. From a small shadow between two large gems sticking out of the ground, he appeared. Alastair limped toward us, holding his side and keeping his hand up.

“Don’t shoot,” he said breathlessly. “I’m no threat to you.”

“We’ll see about that,” I sneered. “What happened here?”

“We were looking for the final chamber. The Trials, as I’m sure you know, were hard on us. We barely made it out of the corridor before running into that thing,” he explained. “I managed to do some damage to it, but I would have been a goner if you did not show up.”

“How did a level sixty player almost get bested by an insect?” Soren quipped.

“How do you…? Never mind,” Alastair said. He sat on the ground in front of us and placed his hands on his knees. “I was cursed by that goddess.”

“What did she do?”

“I don’t rightly know,” he said, chuckling nervously. “I am just weak. Nothing works properly anymore. I take more damage and do less. I haven’t had this much of a difficult time since I was a new player.”

I looked at the man, who admittedly, looked worse for ware. His head was bleeding, his clothes were torn, and he had bruises along his face. Which, at one point, must have been pretty—but it was battered so badly I could barely see his eyes anymore.

“Ada, I can’t kill him.” I started pacing back and forth, reaching out to the celestial.

“I see,” she said. “Why?”

“Look at him,” I said. “It wouldn’t be right. He can barely stand.”

“I don’t think we should trust him,” Adalinda warned. “But yes, let’s wait a bit. He is not our friend, but he doesn’t have to be our enemy right now.”

I stopped pacing and walked brusquely toward Alastair, kneeling in front of him. “What were you doing here?” I asked.

“You don’t know?”

“Know what?” I snapped.

“Oh my,” he said, holding his hand against his forehead. “This wasn’t the final boss of the dungeon. We still need to find it.”

“I don’t care about that,” I said. “I asked what you were doing here at all.”

“Why should I tell you?” he asked, frowning.

“Because I could kill you right here or I could let you live,” I said simply. I stood up and twirled my dagger softly against my fingertip. “Answer my question.”

Alastair sighed and hung his head between his legs. “We are looking for the sulb…”

“The what? Speak up and stop mumbling.”

“We were looking for the soulbound artifact,” he said, raising his voice and lifting his head to look at me.

“Tell me about this artifact,” I demanded softly.

“We don’t know much about it, but it’s supposed to be powerful. Plus, it’s soulbound. You know why that’s important, right?” Alastair sneered.

“Of course,” I snapped. “I’m not an idiot.”

“Just checking,” he said, taking on the tone of an impetuous child. “Anyway, we thought it may be behind that door, but that bloody insect jumped out of the ground and surprised us, killing the rest of my party.”

“We can go with you if you want,” Soren said suddenly. “If we work together, we’re more likely to beat the boss and find the artifact.”

I shot my brother a glare. The last thing I wanted was to work with this person. Even though I was hesitant to kill him, he was still a key in Alon’s death.

“That sounds like a plan,” the player said. Standing up, he limped slowly toward Soren and held out his hand. “What is your name?”

“Soren,” my brother said simply, refusing to take his offer of a shake. “That’s Elana.”

“A pleasure, really,” Alastair said sarcastically. “Well, it seems we are stuck with each other now. Shall we go?”

“Sure,” I said through gritted teeth. “Let’s find the artifact.”