Volatility: 15 of 100

  Divine Resonance: 0 of 100

  Demonic Resonance: 0 of 100

  “Brycen, I see you’ve made the best of the second chance we gave you.” Greg ran his hand along the back of his neck, watching the men behind him closely. Down to the eyebrows, they were hairless as the day they were born, and a strange blue shimmer encased their eyes. Definitely had Frost in their systems.

  “Thought I was going to give it up cause your daddy is a little scary?” Brycen chuckled and gestured for the door. “Not a chance. The boss said we might be seeing you. Let’s go pay him a visit, huh?”

  “Don’t argue.” Seraphae cut him off through Autumn’s communication power right before he opened his mouth again. “We’re not here to cause any trouble.” She said to Brycen. “Just passing through.”

  He gave a quick snort, “Sure. You’d been chasing me for months before pipsqueak here got lucky.” Brycen gestured at Greg, and he caught a glimpse of three thin vials fastened to his wrist beneath his shirt cuff. “Follow me. Any of them try anything funny, squash them.” He told the hairless elf to his left.

  The alchemist led them out into the cold again and immediately to the right where an almost identical trail to the one they descended on the other side of the pass lead up the face of the mountain. People gave Brycen a wide berth as he walked, dipping into wooden doors or nooks in the rock until they all passed. It was a strange dynamic to witness for someone who’d spent his time in the city walking the tightrope of anonymity and affluence.

  “We are all aware we’re about to be massively outnumbered, right?” Autumn expressed her concern into their heads. “Do we have a plan for that? Because it doesn’t feel like we have a plan for that.”

  “I’m working on it.” Was all Seraphae had to say as they were led up and up and up some more.

  They must have hiked halfway up the mountain over again before Brycen stopped at a door. The only door Greg could see on this level of the mountain. A large ruby embedded into it at about eye level flashed a dim light when he knocked before the door creaked open and he pushed inside.

  The bright daylight shifted to an entrance hall lit by equally spaced everburn lights mounted on the walls. A deep purple carpet ran down the center of the easily hundred-foot hall, ten bleached white perfectly preserved dragon skulls facing the center of the room every twenty feet. Greg swallowed hard as the alchemist guided them between the open maws to a set of stone double doors on the other end of the hall.

  The stone slid into the mountain as if it were on rollers at a single touch from Brycen. Some sort of expensive enchantment, no doubt. Greg struggled to keep his expression even keel as they stepped into the next chamber. It was looking more and more like the Rillon’s had hollowed out this mountain just to show off their collection of corpses.

  The chamber was easily the biggest open space within a building, if you could call it that, that he’d ever been in. It must have extended a couple hundred feet up to the mountain’s peak, a staircase curling around the walls leading to the top, and at least that much wide, if not more. The centerpiece of the room was an assortment of enormous gemstones. Rubies, topaz, and sapphires were situated in such a way that they resembled a bonfire that lit up the room in dancing beams of their assorted colors.

  Hung from the ceiling by wire were four full dragon skeletons, each of increasing size and decorated to appear to be flying to the top until the final one. Unlike the other bleached white remains, its onyx bones curled down, maw open as if it would rain fire down upon them at any moment.

  The six of them were not alone.

  Roaring laughter filled the chamber from the inhabitants sitting in plush furniture around the psuedo-fire. Upon their approach the laughter died, and one of them stood.

  “Brought you a present boss.” Brycen announced.

  “My friends!” Kael held his arms out as if he were to embrace them. “I had a feeling you’d come. I’m guessing that means the Rillon boys met their end?” He glanced over at another figure that Greg could just see the silhouette of through the glowing gemstone fire. “I told you they’d deal with them. My dearest Sera could have done it on her own, I’d bet.”

  “Keep moving!” the elf behind them snarled, knocking Seraphae forward into Greg.

  Her hand landed on his shoulder, the other on Autumn’s, and a chill formed in his core. It branched out, spreading through his body like his blood had been supercooled. A buff popped up under all three of their statuses on their UI, and Isabella threw up the notification he got.

  Affected by The Mother’s Crucible

  Boon: Divine

  The user may select any number of allies. Upon selection and for the next ten minutes, chosen allies cannot take lethal damage as long as the boon’s caster remains standing. The boon’s caster receives a Burden each time any ally is dealt lethal damage. As long as the boon’s caster has dealt damage to an enemy within the last ten seconds, The Mother’s Crucible also grants the following:

  —Significant damage reduction from all sources

  —Unable to be forcibly moved or knocked prone

  —Successful attacks inflict small but stacking slowing effects.

  When all enemies are defeated or the ten minutes runs out triggers Final Judgement

  While he was reading, the conversation continued around him.

  “I’m not your dearest anything.” Seraphae spit on the ground as they were urged forward.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Sweet, sweet little demigod.” Kael made a tsk-tsk sound with his tongue and sighed. “You’re on the wrong side of this fight, my dear. The gods are nothing compared to the coming calamity. The inexpressable power of our patron.”

  “What the fuck is Final Judgement, Seraphae?” Greg asked without thinking. She didn’t have the UI. Brannoc said people without the interface had a natural inkling of what their abilities were capable of even if they’d never used them. She probably had no idea what it was called, but she surely knew what he was talking about.

  “Just keep do what you can to keep me alive, and keep fighting.” She spoke into their minds while stepping through them and addressing Kael simultaneously. “And the right side is filling innocent people with poison until they kill your friends?”

  “Kill my friends?” Kael tilted his head and looked to his side where Horatio Rillon stepped out from behind the fire to stand beside him. “All my friends are right here, alive and well.” He gestured across the room, including the three of them, and smiled wide.

  “What did you do with Doran?” Seraphae snapped at him. “There’s no way he signed up for this.”

  Kael sighed and bobbed his head. “He was rather difficult to convince, to be sure.” He jerked a thumb upward. “Brycen, do me a kindness and fetch Doran for me?”

  “Of course, sir.” The alchemist started sprinting up the stairs.

  “Killed my cousins did you, scum?” Horatio snarled at Greg. “Looks like they took a chunk out of you first.” Horatio’s eyes fell on his gloved hand, empty fingers slots turned inside out and pinned to his wrist.

  “Dragon, actually. The steroid twins mostly just cried for their mothers and talked about how much of a whiny bitch you were.” To his glee, Horatio was just as easy to infuriate as ever, but Kael was there to mediate this time.

  “Now, now. Let’s take it easy, kids. The adults need to have a discussion so we can figure out what to do with you.” He stepped forward to put himself between Horatio and the group and flashed his smile at them again. “I’m going to give you the same offer I gave Doran. I hope you take it.” Kael’s bombastic nature settled into something resembling genuine concern.

  “Does it include you falling over dead?” Autumn stepped to her side as she snapped at the man, but Seraphae held her hand up.

  “Then talk.” Seraphae said to Kael as she silently addressed them. “There is a decent chance we are all going to die here. If I can get Doran to rejoin us, that chance goes down a lot. Keep the sass to a minimum until then.”

  “Sorry,” Autumn replied.

  “The Inexpressible has chosen this planet. There is no stopping it now.” He took a few steps forward, his mouth forming a tight line as he held his hand out in front of him. “It told me about you, daughter of Ruarth. It knows all.” His head tilted up slightly as a door slid closed above them, but turned his attention back almost immediately. “It doesn’t require anything from you but obedience. No sacrifice. No babysitting.”

  Greg frowned as Kael’s completely brown orbs flicked to him. Babysitting? She had told him that The Mother Below asked her to look after him once, but he’d taken it as hyperbole.

  “You can sit with me. Lording over what remains after it comes.” Kael took the final step toward her, grabbing her hands and squeezing them. “It’s the only logical option. No one would be able to touch us. Just say yes.”

  Greg looked up as Brycen crested into view from the path along the walls. Behind him was what was left of Doran Hightide. His wild, colorful curls had fallen out, ebony skin faded to ash, and the pride in his walk no longer existed. Chills ran from his spine throughout his body when the pair turned to face them. Doran was far enough away that specific details were hard to make out, but the dull glow and blue mist expelled with each breath were unmistakable.

  Kael had turned a Gifted into a Frostkissed.

  A Frostkissed that apparently wasn’t just a bloodlust machine.

  “Doran…” Seraphae audibly gasped and turned to walk toward the end of the stairs, but Kael shifted to block her path. “What did you do to him?”

  “He didn’t accept my offer.” Kael shrugged. “So I did what was best for my friend.”

  A silent tension fell over them, the only sound in the chamber the echoing of Brycen’s boots as he led Doran down the stairs barefoot. He could feel Autumn to his side, like a coiled snake ready to strike. He did not have a good feeling about this.

  Frostkissed were normal people once. The Frost gave them enough power and ruthlessness to be a match for any untrained Gifted. Doran…was not a regular person. Doran was one of the most decorated adventurers in Rhobair. A descendant of the wizard that created a demon blocking fog cloud that persisted over the city to this day.

  If the Frost increased his power by a fraction of what it did for normal folk…

  “I’m going to fucking kill you,” Seraphae whispered, her voice catching as Doran took the final step onto the ground floor. “You’re not going to get away with this.”

  “I already have, Sera.” Kael reached up and stroked her cheek. “I’ve got a being beyond anyone’s comprehension and the world’s most powerful family backing me. Even if you weren’t horribly outmatched here…what would you be able to do?”

  “Now.”

  Greg pulled Light Drinker from its scabbard, spinning to slash at the unsuspecting elf behind him. Autumn matched his move, but with a pent up power and speed that he would never be able to match. Her enormous green blade was a flash of a downward strike that showered him and the elf beside him in blood. Brycen’s second companion split in two, from left shoulder to right hip, and crumbled to the floor.

  The elf was fast, especially with the Frost in his system, but he was definitely not a trained fighter. Greg carved into him again and again with his rapier, alternating radiant and flame strikes to keep his resonance low and build up the burning blood effect. It didn’t take long for him to really start to notice the slow that Seraphae’s boon placed with each strike. By the time the elf collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony as he melted from the inside, he was unable to dodge even the most telegraphed strike.

  In the half a minute that elapsed while he dealt with the elf, all hell had broken loose behind him. Seraphae had somehow started climbing the stairs and lept onto the bones of one of the dragons, firing off arrows from above while Kael pulled blocks of stone from the ground to hurl at her.

  “Don’t hit the dragons, father will kill us all!” Horatio whined as gold mist floated from his hands, draping over Kael and Doran.

  Autumn was doing her best to keep Doran busy, but was obviously outclassed in speed and power. As long as the boon stayed active, she would be fine, which drew his eyes to the immediate issue. Brycen had chased her up the stairs and was mid gulp on whatever elixir he’d had up his sleeve.

  Greg sprinted for the stairs, taking them two at a time until he was close enough to Volatile Step. Appearing behind the alchemist on the narrow stairs, he leaned in as his body started to twist and bulge.

  “Gonna do this disgusting shit again, are we?” he said as he drove his rapier into the man’s back and kicked him off the edge.

  Greg ducked as a hunk of rock came hurtling toward him, crashing into the wall and shaking the steps beneath him. He reached up into his inventory space and pulled out the harpoon before leaping off the stairs, hoping to pop the quickly expanding alchemist’s body like a birthday party bounce house.

  Right before making impact, his body froze in place.

  Golden light encircled his body as he struggled to move, a familiar box popping up beside the boon indicator on his UI. A bright red box with a little face with swirls for eyes. It didn’t last long, but it was long enough for the grotesque bloated form of the alchemist to push himself back to his feet and bring two fists down on him in a vicious hammer fist that sent shockwaves through his body, cracking the stone beneath.