Empyrean 42: Keep Your Enemies Close (Patreon)

“Soren,” I whispered, pulling my brother back as we walked toward the large wooden door leading out of the chamber. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Trust me, sis,” he said equally softly. “If he can lead us to this treasure, then maybe we can get it for ourselves and kill him later.”

“That’s…” I started, pausing to think of the right word. “That’s quite devious of you.”

Soren shrugged. “I’m tired of this dungeon, and I figured we all deserve something out of it.”

He walked away from me quickly before I could answer. Sighing heavily, making sure that he would hear, I followed him slowly. Alastair was waiting for us at the door, drinking what I thought may be a health potion.

“By the way, I’m Alastair,” he said as we approached.

“I know,” I said curtly, pushing past him to open the door.

“El, I don’t know about this,” Adalinda said, keeping her pace next to me.

“It’ll be fine,” I said. “He’s weakened. If anything happens, we’ll be able to take him. Just keep an eye out.”

“That thing is coming with us?” the player asked from behind me.

“Yes.”

I was not in the mood to make conversation with him, nor was I willing to tell him exactly who Adalinda was. I just wanted to reach the last chamber of this dungeon and get the artifact and leave Alastair to deal with his own problems.

The door led up a similar staircase that brought us into the second level of the dungeon. However, when we reached the top, there was no long corridor. Instead, we were faced with a massive chamber—bigger than any we had seen before—and there was another portal toward the back.

The gems in this room were burning red, like they were rubies with fireflies caught in them. It made the atmosphere of the room ominous, but it was still beautiful.

“Is that the exit portal?” I asked.

“It must be,” Alastair replied. “There has only been one other portal in this place. The one we came through.”

I scoffed and started walking toward it. But when I tried to go through, I couldn’t.

Error! You cannot pass through this portal without defeating the dungeon boss.

I stood back and pulled my mouth to the side. Looking back, I saw nothing in the room. So where was the final boss? I was sure we hadn’t missed anything. Did we have to use the tokens?

“Soren, hand me the tokens,” I called to my brother, walking back toward him.

I watched him dig in his pockets for the rewards we received from the Trials. But before I could reach him, the ground beneath me shifted. I stood still in my tracks, waiting—listening. And then it happened again.

But it wasn’t the same kind of rumble we had heard when the beetles appeared. This was deeper, as if the earth was tearing itself apart.

Suddenly, a giant gem flew by my face. I jumped backward, and to my horror, it stopped midair and started floating there. Then, one by one, bigger and smaller gems rushed toward it. I ran around the floating crystals back to my companions and got ready.

Whatever was happening was not going to be easy to deal with.

A few seconds later, the gems stopped rushing toward each other, and instead started cracking and crashing against each other. In front of our eyes, the gems were forming into… something. A gem construct.

And it was huge.

It was a matter of moments before the red beast appeared in all its glory. The glow of the red rubies subtly highlighted each joint of its arms, legs, and it had eyes—unlike the golem we had faced before.

Without warning, the construct turned itself into a ball and hurled straight toward me. I dodged, but unfortunately, I was not quick enough.

You have been critically injured by a level 40 gemstone elemental! Your health is at 60%.

The force of the elemental’s attack threw me across the chamber, thankfully not far enough for me to crash into anything, but hard enough that I took a massive amount of damage in one hit. Soren ran toward me.

“Are you okay?” he asked, reaching his hand out to me.

I grasped it and rubbed myself down, noticing new bruises across my arm, and feeling them along my ribs. “I’m fine, but you need to stay out of this.”

“But—”

“Soren, that thing will kill you in one hit. Stay out of it.”

My brother said nothing more and moved back toward a corner of the room. I felt bad, if only for a moment, dismissing him the way I did. But this was no ordinary foe. I preferred to know he was safe so we could focus on killing it.

I looked up to see Alastair had already started fighting against the beast. With a large sword in hand, he rushed toward the elemental. He swung down, and to my surprise, cut through the gemstone. A new crack formed, and the beast let out a mighty roar.

Adalinda, meanwhile, seemed to be drawing her breath to make her own attack. She pushed into the fight and, with a whip of her tail, made another small crack in the elemental’s back.

With the two of them keeping it busy, I thought it wise to summon my own construct. I started my chant, all the while keeping an eye on the celestial.

The gemstone beast pushed its legs down into the ground, holding its arms in front of its face. A resistance tactic against Alastair’s sword, I thought. In a moment where the player took a break, the elemental swung both arms out to hit him.

But Alastair disappeared.

Within seconds, he reappeared behind the beast next to Adalinda and plunged his sword down into the gems of its leg. Another crack formed.

And my spell was ready.

You have summoned a light magic elemental.

“Kill the gems!” I shouted. Realizing immediately that my command could be misconstrued, I watched to check if my elemental started attacking the walls.

Thankfully, it didn’t, and it rushed straight toward the boss. My elemental huddled into itself for a moment, and as it reached the gemstone beast, burst out a large pulse of light magic. This smacked the construct back.

You have critically injured a gemstone elemental!

Your elemental has cast light burst.

A gemstone elemental has been blinded for 5 seconds.

“It’s blinded!” I screamed, hoping Adalinda and the player would hear. Alastair did, at least, as I watched him teleport near the gemstone elemental and unleash another attack with his sword. The weapon cut through the first crack he made. As his sword came out, a gem broke from the construct to reveal a fleshy substance underneath.

The crack Alastair made was big enough for me to ready my arrows. I neared slowly to get a better hit and, one by one, my arrows hit the boss in its flesh.

You have injured a gemstone elemental.

You have injured a gemstone elemental.

You have injured…

As the third arrow struck, the boss huddled into a ball again and rushed into my elemental. It was enough to knock it back, but it stood its ground, and I could not help but smile with a strange sense of pride.

Adalinda launched herself toward the boss and bared her claws. She caught the edge of a gem and pulled down. With formidable strength, the celestial was able to remove another piece of the elemental—baring more flesh.

I continued to shoot arrows at the openings.

Your elemental has cast light burst.

A gemstone elemental has been critically injured!

A gemstone elemental has been blinded for 10 seconds.

With another bright light, my elemental managed to knock the boss into a wall. More pieces of gemstone broke off the beast, and I managed to get a few more hits in with my arrows. Blinded, it was unable to retaliate more hits from Alastair. Adalinda, clawing at it more, managed to bring its gem ‘armor’ to the ground piece by piece.

As my elemental readied a slam attack, everything looked like it was going our way.

You have critically injured a gemstone elemental.

Your elemental has dissipated.

As my elemental disappeared, the construct stood. Lifting its arms, I watched as it made its own slam attack. As it slammed the ground, it rose up in a long line across the chamber. Gemstones lined the room now, and without being able to dodge, both Adalinda and Alastair were knocked to the side.

The player, who had taken a severe knock to his head, could not stand up. I rushed forward and screamed. Trying to distract the construct, I could not let Alastair die. Not now.

But then the boss did turn its attention to me.

Grabbing a piece of the wall next to it, a large rock covered in gemstones was flung toward me. Unable to move adeptly enough out of the way, I was struck almost immediately after it threw it.

You have been knocked prone for 5 seconds.

Your health is at 40%.

The hit took another large chunk of health, and I could not stand nor react to the elemental’s attack. I turned my head to the side and saw Adalinda rush back from her position toward the boss. Swinging her tail, she knocked more gems from its feet.

The elemental slammed a fist down into the ground, pummeling the celestial into it.

Alastair, thankfully, had been able to stand again, and rushed once more toward the boss. His sword out in front of him, he pierced the boss in a crack baring flesh, and a strange liquid started pouring out of it. The elemental barely noticed this, though, and immediately swung its other fist to smack Alastair into a wall behind it.

I pushed my palms into the ground and tried to stand again. My legs, while wobbling, did not let me down, and I was able to gain some ground again. I held arrows ready and frantically shot them toward the elemental.

“Ada, get up,” I pleaded, continuing to shoot.

“I… can’t…”

“Get up now,” I said again, a little more command in my voice.

The celestial rolled her body slowly, and with some time, was able to stand on her legs again. I saw as she swayed side to side slowly. Damnit, I thought. Everyone was getting pummeled. In a panic, I quickly cast another spell to protect myself against the worst.

You have cast witch armor. Damage is reduced by 10% for 2 hits.

With a little more protection, I felt myself regain a little confidence. And I knew what my next attack needed to be.

I started running toward the elemental, who had turned to face Adalinda again. With all the speed I could muster, I started channeling light’s fury into my hands and held them out. But this time, no tendrils were necessary. I focused all the energy I had into the light, and as I reached the elemental, bright rays emitted from my hands.

You have blinded a gemstone elemental for 3 seconds!

In a fit of panic, the elemental started swinging its arms frantically. It was blinded, but this time it was not being pushed down by another construct.

And, unfortunately, it hit Adalinda and Alastair in the process. Watching ahead in trepidation, I noticed the boss regain its sight and turn its attention to me.

Raising its arms for a slam attack.