“Anything?” Ryuk asks.
“Nothing helpful.”
Ryuk steps to the front of the group, his marble gun at the ready. He takes a position next to the big wooden door with its black metal framing and motions for everyone to step back and out of the fatal funnel. FeeTwix joins him, his M-4 up and ready to go.
After a breath to calm his nerves, Ryuk gives Zaena the signal. The door pops open and in he goes, taking the right while FeeTwix takes to the left.
It’s only after they are in position do they realize how unnecessary their movie-style dynamic entry was. The well-lit great hall that lies before them, with its marble flooring and twenty-foot-high ceilings, is completely empty.
Hiccup lets loose with a honking, quacking, fluttering blast that echoes most impressively in the great, empty hall. “Fick, that felt good! I was holding that one in since before we hit the front gate!”
With a sour look on her face, Zaena steps around the gassy goblin. She’s equipped the swords that Dirty Dave gave her, two of which float in the air above her head. Tamana is last in; she bangs the tip of her buster sword against the door and nearly trips over her own feet.
“Dammit, Tammy!” Hiccup growls.
FeeTwix keeps his weapon up as he moves to the center of the room, the single door at the other end of the open space is in his crosshairs. “Sensing anything?”
“Just the magic I sensed earlier, below,” says Ryuk. “Some type of algomagic.” As the others pass around him, he closes his eyes and focuses on his breathing. Random, unhelpful thoughts – from his altercation with his brother to Tamana’s death leap in front of the train – chase themselves through his consciousness and rob him of his focus. He wills them away and concentrates on his breathing; as he does, the outline of a robed figure takes shape at the far corner of the room.
A targeting reticle appears.
Without opening his eyes, Ryuk fires four molten marbles at the robed figure – one connects before his shield comes up.
-45 HP!
The staccato crack-crack-crack from FeeTwix’s M-4 carbine forces Ryuk’s eyes open.
Dark Mage Level 35
HP: 555/590
MANA: 315/325
ATK: 19
MATK: 137
DEF: 166
MDF: 283
LUCK: 22
Everyone hits the floor as FeeTwix’s bullets are sucked into the shield and projected back out at the Mitherfickers.
The robed figure, the same they encountered in the courtyard a day ago and the one who brought the cathedral down in the Paradise of the Insane, now has a red shield of blistering energy around him.
Another mage spawns in the center of the room. Thick bands encircle his upper arms and accentuate his bulging muscles. His face is half-human half-orc; as his form solidifies, two double-bitted axes take shape in his hands.
Berserker Mage Level 38
HP: 843/843
MANA: 81/81
ATK: 146
MATK: 12
DEF: 251
MDF: 237
LUCK: 4
Hiccup, Zaena and Tamana move to engage him; FeeTwix and Ryuk confront the Dark Mage as crimson mana boils from his hands and strengthens his shield.
Ryuk fires twice and the Dark Mage’s protective sphere hurls the molten marbles back at FeeTwix and Ryuk. The duo dive out of the way as the pair of marbles blast molten craters into the floor.
FeeTwix’s double-bladed sword appears in his hand. The blades begin rotating Cuisinart-fast; he slaps his palm against the pommel and the two blades leap from the cross-guard on a trail of incandescent cobalt flame. The whirling blades settle in the air above FeeTwix’s shoulders like a pair of drones.
Ryuk: Holy shit! I didn’t know they could do that!
FeeTwix grins, his eyes black as ever. He points the hilt of his sword at the mage and the blades streak across the room. They slice through his shield, blast through his chest and out his back, then loop back around to return to their invisible perches above FeeTwix’s shoulders.
-79 HP! -77 HP!
A healing potion appears in the mage’s hand and he tosses it back. More red mana boils from his hands, strengthening his shield.
“I got this!” The Swede nods to the door that leads to the other chambers of the guildhall. “Go get the power source!”
He points the hilt of his sword at the dark mage, just as the robed figure conjures a boomerang of electrified red magic. Blades and boomerang clash in burst of blue-white fire, and the rotating twin blades return to the space above his shoulders. An AK-200 with drum magazine appears in his free hand. “Go! Ryuk!”
He hesitates, takes a quick glance back at his guildmates. Hiccup and Zaena tag-team the Berserker Mage, who holds them at bay with his whirling war axes; Tamana conjures a blast of white magic; FeeTwix launches his two spinning swords at the Dark Mage and follows up with a burst of armor piercing goodness.
They’ve got this.
Ryuk rushes the door and kicks it open, his weapon at the ready as he charges through. The door slams shut and he stands with his back to it for a moment, his marble gun in close, waiting for whatever comes next.
Chapter 30: The golden door
A single stairwell cut from marble lies before Ryuk. He heads down, towards the source of the energy he keeps sensing. Muffled sounds of battle reach his ears, but he doesn’t allow them to distract him.
Eyes on the prize.
He reaches a stone door at the bottom of the stairwell and pauses for a moment, taking in the image of the griffin carved into its surface. His Extreme Focus and Magic Eye tell him that an unbelievable source of arcane algoenergy lies on the other side of the wall. It’s practically boiling out of the room, invisible to the naked eye but readily apparent to Ryuk. He calms himself, takes a position to the side of the door, and pops it open.
He waits for anything to blast out. Once it doesn’t, he sucks in a deep breath, takes to the room, skidding to a halt once he sees what’s inside.
In the center of the otherwise empty room is a golden door with Thulean script carved into its surface. It sits on a tiled floor, each tile bearing the image of the Eye of Horus over a cube of vertical Thulean script. The golden door is definitely the source of the energy, and as he circles it, he gets the notion that it can be opened from either side.
Where it may lead is another thing entirely.
Destroy it. Ryuk takes a position at the front of the room and fires two shots at the mysterious golden door.
Time stands still as the marbles twist through the air. Suddenly, the door swings wide open to reveal a galaxy of stars.
A portal?
The marbles fly through and vanish with no effect. From nowhere, wind hisses and screams as it’s sucked into the open door. Ryuk fires two more marbles into the portal and they disappear as if they’d never existed. The temperature of the room falls, and a voice appears at the back of his head.
“Hello.”
Startled, Ryuk turns, only to find nothing.
“In here.”
The snake-like whisper seems to come from every direction in the room, the voice of a female.
“Won’t you come inside?”
The word ‘inside’ echoes in his head on repeat; Ryuk again aims his weapon at the portal. He focuses, but his magical abilities give him nothing at all to work with aside from the faint green glow around the doorframe.