Chapter 67
Nexus Guardian
They entered the ‘Nexus Dungeon’, slowly, weapons raised.
“What the hell. I can't believe this den is an actual fucking dungeon,” Dan uttered in a harsh whisper.
“We have no idea what that entails, slow and steady.” Jimmy's eyes never stopped moving, analyzing the chaotic environment.
The cave was a shallow bowl, crack in the ceiling allowing moonlight to filter in.
In the center, a crystalline white spire.
It jutted up from a bank of snow, a delicate mist flowing down its surface, pooling below.
A thick layer of ice encrusted the rough walls, surrounding them in countless shimmering reflections.
After a brief pause, Dan stepped forwards, frozen rock crunching under his weight.
They circled down the gradually sloping side, giving the center mound a large berth.
Ice cracked, echoes bouncing around the cavern.
The cold imposed more heavily with every step they took, their breathing fogging the air.
They froze.
Suddenly, there it was.
Fur as thick and pure as driven snow.
Crystals covered its coat, throwing off pearlescent splashes of light.
Laying in a bed of icy snow, head resting on its paws, its eyes snapped open.
Bright blue iris glowed in its predatory stare.
Jimmy's arrow passed right through its forehead, sinking into the snow below.
The illusion faded away, turning to a mist.
The cave grew dark, the light closing in on them.
The temperature dropped, limbs growing numb, clothes becoming stiff.
Breath came shallow, lungs burning with every frost-laced inhale.
Thoughts slowed, like wading through slush.
Jaime shivered.
How.. is anything.. this cold.
She breathed out, feeling her Aura radiate.
Only to be smothered, her breath catching, face going numb.
How…
“EYES OUT!” Dan bellowed, his breath blasting out as a cloud of steam as the group huddled tighter.
Out of the darkness four identical Alphas started circling, slipping in and out of the shadows.
Jimmy pulsed a wave of light.
It was swallowed by the darkness.
A cone of frost came from the right, rocking Dan back a step.
Ice coated him, pain flashing across his face.
He groaned, the rime slowly dissipating, as he fought to absorb Qi.
Annette felt nothing.
Wh-what do I do?
Though her aura held, it was suppressed, barely ranging a few feet.
She just realized how much she had been leaning on her new senses.
With it cut off, she felt blind, useless.
Hopeless…
Another cone came from the left.
Kim's Qi surged, manifesting a wave of water.
The deluge was turned to a wall of slush, thundering to the ground.
George couldn't remember ever feeling so spread thin.
He felt it, and his Affinity whispered the truth.
We’re dying.
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Our time is ticking.
Frigid temperatures fought with the living flesh and blood.
The cold is winning.
He fought a silent war, pushing back against the grip of death.
Wherever they looked, piercing blue eyes cut through the wall of black.
Their bodies shook as the cold closed, and their will started to crumble.
Heads swung back and forth, looking for the next attack, seeking a way out.
Everyone, except Luna.
Her eyes were locked onto a singular location.
She growled, fur standing straight.
She slipped through the formation to the front, and let out the fiercest bark of her life.
Jimmy thought he could almost see it, it was so potent.
A cone shape blew away the darkness.
For the first time, they saw the real Alpha.
The full presence of the beast slammed down, drawing strained gasps.
The beast shook its head, recoiling from the sudden blast.
An arrow caught it in the neck.
The monster gave off a sharp yelp, as shadow pooled, starting to swallow it back into the darkness.
A small flickering ball arc’d out, dissipating into the gloom.
An explosion rocked the cave.
The CRACK flashed white.
A shockwave blew a hole in the shadows, revealing the Alpha once more.
Steam burst off its smoking fur, claws scrambling, as it rolled back upright.
Mist roiled off it, starting to coalesce into more illusions.
The shadows started to advance.
Capillaries burst in his sclera, Dan slowly reached out a shaking arm.
His hand snapped into a fist.
The Nexus Guardian flinched as the Domain gripped it, darkness and forming mist halted.
“Advance!” Dan bellowed.
Veins bulged across his corded neck and temples, blood pounding in his ears as he forced another step.
I can't feel anything.
Belle, skin white, reached a shaking limb into a makeshift pouch.
Numb hand grasped desperately, struggling to find its grip.
Eventually, pulling out another heavy stick.
Her mom was shaking beside her, aiming her own munition.
But I'll do my part.
She threw.
They took slow, plodding steps forward, the environment weighing on them like a blanket.
Two throwing sticks and an arrow slammed into the worg, the budding illusions fading as it rocked back.
George’s jaw clenched as his overtaxed Aura swirled faster.
White discoloration on their skin slowed to a crawl.
Dan’s buckling knees straightened, as Annette’s face drooped.
Jaime could barely follow her husband through blurred vision, as she flooded the circle with what little warmth she could provide.
The sharp furry head snapped up, as the cold spiked.
HOOOOWWWWLLL– the whole den rattled, cracks forming all around.
A sphere of force expanded from it, turning the moisture in the air into shards of ice.
Kim, acting on instinct, dumped most of her Qi, and a two-foot thick wall of water rose before them.
Extreme cold met water.
Molecules froze instantly on contact.
The domino effect of freezing and expansion sent a wave across the surface of the wall, creating a barrier to the warmth within.
The differential expansion and warring Qi started a chain of violent cracks.
It all took place in a fraction of a second.
Jimmy watched in fascination.
The corresponding explosion sent everyone to the ground, except Dan, whose Domain kept him planted firmly to the ground.
Frozen blood dotted all along his body, marking the many shards piercing him.
He took one plodding step forwards, as his Qi started crushing and absorbing the slivers.
Jaime started to collapse, the last bit of warmth fading away.
Belle hugged her, supporting her best she could.
George’s healing grit slowed, and dispersed.
Annette sat and closed her eyes, but unerringly followed Dan’s advance.
Once more, the darkness started closing back in on the Alpha, white coat turning red.
Left foot.
“Bark!”
Right foot.
The wave rocked the other canine, obliterating a corridor in its Domain, knocking the Alpha back onto its haunch.
Left foot.
Its wide head rose up, blood running from its ears.
The light started to shine.
Right foot.
Die.
Poorcalibur screamed down, bone cracking like thunder.
Showering Dan in freezing blood.
The light turned back on as its Domain winked out.
The bleeding and battered head snapped back up, throwing one last weak cone.
Dan took it to the chest with a growled “NO”, and bashed its skull open with one more devastating swing.
Adrenaline crashing through their systems, they stood shaking in the sudden silence.
Struggling to process the fact that they were still alive.
Jimmy turned to Luna, “You are such a good girl.”
Luna's eyes lit up as she let out a weak bark and plopped on her side by Kim's feet.
Panting.
Jimmy’s sharp gaze was locked onto the softly shifting Qi pouring out of the beast.
Twisting, turning, shapes shifting in the glow.
“It is everything I thought it would be.. and more”
Strange forms, brought forth from the either, just to dissipate once more.
“Endless realities...”
