Chapter 393 - All that Glimmers (Patreon)

The moment he’d chosen to climb the cyclops and kill the creature he should not have been able to kill, Zeke knew he was deviating from the dungeon’s intended script. Since the very beginning, every single obstacle had featured a clear goal and a straightforward way to progress. The same was true of the kitchen where he’d fought the ants. If he’d only looked around, he would have found the doors.

There were three of them, each embedded in the base of the cabinet and looking no different from the others. So, there was no indication as to which was the proper route. In fact, the only difference between the three was that one of them – the left-most – was locked. The other two were not.

It was a good thing, then, that he had a key that he’d looted earlier in the dungeon.

“So,” he said, pacing back and forth as he looked at the key in question. “Is having this a good thing? Or is it here to make the dungeon more difficult?”

“It troubles me that I’m not sure which you would prefer,” Eveline said, having manifested in her succubus form.

Zeke could certainly understand that. On the one hand, progressing through the dungeon more quickly would make it easier to get the end reward. He’d already gained a handful of levels, which had granted him a new skill, but completing a dungeon always gave some sort of overall reward. It could range from extra stat points to useful items, and Zeke would have been lying if he didn’t admit that he was looking forward to seeing what he could gain from conquering such a hellish place.

However, just like was the case with the cyclops, he also knew that throwing himself against increasingly difficult opponents would do wonders for his progress.

“Oh, don’t even act like that’s why you’d do it. You just like fighting insanely powerful things,” she said.

“I like the winning part,” he admitted. “The fights themselves are…eh.”

“That’s a blatant lie, and you know it,” she stated, planting her hands on her hips. “You’re an action junkie. Don’t even try to deny it.”

Zeke shrugged. He couldn’t really refute her statement. There was something invigorating about pitting himself against powerful opponents that got his blood pumping. On Earth, he might’ve ended up driving fast cars or jumping out of planes, but in the Eternal Realm? He fought monsters the size of buildings, and if he was honest with himself, he loved every second of it.

Not in a pleasurable sort of way. His fights were often agonizingly painful – even with the tolerance that came with his race – and anything but enjoyable. But seeing monsters fall before him, feeling their bones crunch beneath his hammer, and overcoming incredible challenges brought with it a joy all its own.

Added to that was the addictive nature of progression, and it didn’t take Zeke long to realize how right Eveline was.

Still, the question of which door to take remained.

Eveline said. “You have no way of knowing what the dungeon’s going to throw at you next. You pick the locked door, and maybe it makes things easier. Or maybe it leads to some bonus challenge that will give you the chance for more progression. It might even be neither. They could all lead to the same place, and the dungeon is just trying to present you with the illusion of choice.”

“So, it doesn’t matter which door I pick.”

“Not in any way that matters,” she responded.”

Zeke sighed, then said, “Well, I have this key. May as well use it.”

So, he approached the left-most door, shoved the key into the lock, and said, “Well, here it goes.”

He turned the key, which resulted in a loud click. The door swung open, then, all on its own. But Zeke couldn’t see through to the other side. Instead, it only presented a plain, black expanse.

Taking a deep breath, Zeke stepped through.

And after a brief moment of disorientation, he found himself falling. It only lasted a few seconds before he thudded into the ground. Or floor, he amended, picking himself up from the cracked tiles. They were blood red, each with an elaborate white pattern of interlocking lines that flowed, one to the next to create a much more expansive design.

It reminded Zeke of the glyphs that comprised runes, though the tiles’ patterns were more like symbolic representations of the infinitely more complex glyphs. Still, it elicited the same feeling, which was an achievement all its own.

He rose to his knees, looking around at the rest of the room.

“Another cathedral,” he said, his gaze taking in the majestic décor. “Someone never learned the ‘less is more’ lesson, huh?”

Indeed, the cavernous room was coated in gold mosaics, relief sculptures, and sweeping arches. The vaulted roof was glass, giving a view of the clear night sky. And throughout the cathedral were intricately carved columns studded with cherubs, angels, and other beautiful, winged figures. Silvery moonlight bounced off of the golden surfaces, bathing the chamber in sufficient light for Zeke’s enhanced eyesight.

For the first time since entering the dungeon, the sight didn’t spark any recognition. He wasn’t certain what that meant, but it definitely put his hackles up.

Without any other choice, Zeke strode forward. He couldn’t see to the other end of the cathedral, which meant that it was at least a few miles long. So, he fully expected to be attacked by some horrible creatures along the way.

He was not.

But that was not to say that he was alone. As he passed the first column, he was alarmed to see one of the angelic carvings dislodge itself from the column. Then, as it alighted to the floor, another followed.

And another after that.

In seconds, the column was entirely bare, which exposed the white stone of its construction. To Zeke, it looked so out of place – almost naked, if such a term could be applied to a pillar of stone.

In any case, he was far more concerned with the golden angels. The larger ones shifted back and forth, wings outspread, but they seemed incapable of passing into the pathway that presumably flowed from one end of the cathedral to the other. Instead, the looked on with obvious interest.

Meanwhile, the smaller cherubs flitted around, hovering about the angels’ heads.

“This place gives me the creeps,” said Eveline.

“You and me both,” he muttered. He could deal with demons and monsters of every stripe, but he found the beautiful angel sculptures at least as disturbing as anything he’d seen in his previous adventures. “That probably says something about me.”

“More about what you’ve been through,” Eveline pointed out. “You can grow accustomed to all sorts of terrible things, and when you see something on the opposite end of the spectrum, it can be a bit disorienting. Especially when you’re in the middle of a dungeon, and you know those things are dangerous.”

“I can’t even [Inspect] them,” he said. He’d tried the moment the first dropped from the column, but it was like they didn’t even exist.

“I know. It’s strange,” was her only response.

Shaking his head, Zeke didn’t see that he had much choice but to continue on. So, he strode down the center of the cathedral. With each column he passed, more of the golden angels joined the first group. And as he continued on, they followed along, never once crossing the ephemeral boundary that separated the pillars from the path.

At one point, Zeke had had enough, and he tried to attack. However, his hammer hit some invisible field before he ever got close to the stunned-looking angel that had been his target. It shook its head, then wagged its finger at him.

But it did not speak.

None of them made a single sound.

“I really don’t like this,” Zeke muttered to himself.

Though he didn’t stop. For hours, he continued on, the sound of his heavy footsteps echoing throughout the cavernous cathedral. However, even when night should have turned to day, the dark skies remained.

Hours turned to more than a day, and yet, no end was in sight. With every step, the number of golden angels grew more overbearing until he could scarcely see where the crowd ended. The air was thick with hovering cherubs, and each of the androgynous angels watched him with hawklike intensity.

“I think it’s the way they move,” Zeke said. “They look like gold, but they move like they’re made of snakes.”

“Evocative. You truly are a wordsmith,” Eveline deadpanned.

Zeke ignored her sarcasm. Without the ability [Inspect] the creatures, he had no idea how much danger he would be in if they were suddenly capable of reaching him. But he suspected it wouldn’t be insignificant. With so many, even if they were comparatively weak, they could easily overwhelm him.

But he didn’t think they were weak.

Nothing else in the dungeon had been. And after having used [Unleash Momentum] to help him kill the cyclops, he had no force stored. He still had the strength of his arms and [Hell Geyser], as well as the destructive force of his Will. But he couldn’t help but question whether or not that would be enough against a horde numbering in the thousands.

Pushing that thought to the back of his mind, Zeke continued on. Another day passed, and along the way, he stopped a few times to eat and rest, and time started to blend together. He had no idea how long it had been since he’d been separated from the others. Days? Weeks? It might have even been months, for all he could tell. Even if he didn’t include his time digging through the cyclops’ skull, he had no way of knowing how long he’d been in the cathedral.

But he grew increasingly distressed with every passing hour.

Then, suddenly, he felt something in the distance. Something familiar. Something he’d long taken for granted, but was capable of raising his declining spirits.

“Pudge,” he said.

“What?” asked Eveline. During the trek, she’d taken to long periods of silence. Zeke didn’t know how she occupied herself during those stretches, and she hadn’t volunteered any information. But as far as he was concerned, they both deserved at least some modicum of privacy, even if it was only a thin, easily bypassed veneer.

“I feel him,” Zeke said.

“That’s not new,” she remarked. Indeed, the presence of his soul-bound companion was always there, even if its strength was dictated by Pudge’s location.

“No – he’s up ahead,” Zeke insisted.

“Are you sure?” Eveline asked. “This place…it can play havoc with your thoughts.”

That was certainly true. Zeke’s mind had taken to wandering, much as it had back in the troll caves. Part of that was the sheer monotony of the setting, but it was also because he’d recently experienced a series of reminders concerning the little brother he’d left behind on Earth. He tried not to dwell on those sorts of thoughts – the last thing he wanted to do was whine about things he could neither control nor change – but his willpower wasn’t always up to the task.

“I’m sure,” he sure. Then, he gestured ahead, adding, “He’s a long way off, but he’s definitely in that direction.”

“Good,” she said. “That means we might be coming to the end of this dungeon.”

“You think?” he asked. They’d been reunited before, so there was nothing to suggest that another reunion meant anything about the end of their ordeal.

“I do,” was her response. “We’ve been here for months. It has to be coming to an end.”

Zeke wasn’t sure if that was wishful thinking or if the former demoness truly believed it. For his part, he expected she was on the right track. After all, not only had the group been in the dungeon far longer than any of them could have anticipated, but they’d also defeated a host of powerful creatures and scenarios. Judging by how Pudge had described the Ixilak Hive he’d defeated back in the Pale Moon Territory, their experiences already exceeded normality.

But then again, the dungeon clearly wasn’t normal. That much had been made perfectly clear.

Regardless, none of that really mattered because there really was only one way to go. So, still flanked by thousands of golden angels, Zeke continued on. His pace was steady but unhurried, and time continued to tick back. With every passing hour, Pudge’s presence in Zeke’s mind grew stronger.

Until, at last, some indeterminable time later, things changed.

Miles ahead, a twinkle caught Zeke’s eye. At first, he thought it was a trick of perception brought on by long periods of solitude. Such was a common occurrence, and while it never transitioned into a full-blown hallucination, it was pervasive enough that he was forced to recognize the danger of chasing things that weren’t really there.

As he had for so long, he kept going. However, with every minute change to the feel of Pudge’s presence, hope bloomed.

Until the glimmer in the distance resolved into the first real change he’d experienced since falling into the cathedral.

Ahead was a man sitting on a throne atop a dais. From a distance, his features were indistinguishable. However, Zeke recognized his posture. He saw through the easy confidence of the man’s demeanor.

Because he knew him, probably better than he’d ever known anyone else. So much of his life had been dictated that man.

Zeke’s heart beat out of his chest as he approached. At first he held out hope that he was mistaken, that he was once again seeing things that weren’t there. But as he drew closer, all his hopes were dashed.

There was no mistaking him, especially when he stood and cast that same derisive glare in Zeke’s direction.

“Hello, son,” he said.