Chapter 7: Chapter 7.

The sun hadn’t moved in the slightest after I had backtracked one hour into the past. Not that I could notice anyway. I scanned from side to side just to be sure, but didn’t see any of the bugs in sight. Dandee was alive and with his head still attached to his body.

I stopped. “Hold up. Grublings are coming.”

Dandee scoffed. “Nah mate, the sun’s still out.”

“No, trust me. They are.”

“How can you tell?”

“I-I … I can smell them.”

“Ya sure mate?”

“Oh yeah, a thousand of them. From the black wall. We can’t be caught out in the open like this.”

“No problem, we just wait them out under water.”

“No, no. I can’t breathe under water.”

Though, I could have made a snorkel. But that was not how I would play it. I didn’t see any wings on the grublings, so I assumed they couldn’t fly. I looked around for the tallest ruins in the area, and found none. None that were taller than a single story height. While the bugs couldn’t fly, they’d certainly scale something like that. I tried to recall if we passed any ruins in the past hour, but couldn’t remember any. So, I asked Dandee.

“How tall we talkin?” he said.

“Twenty feet or more. We need to get up from the ground, and not just any tree. Especially none of these rotten ones.”

Dandee pointed west, to the setting sun. “I do recall … about an hour that way, or so.”

“That works. Let’s go.”

I took off at a jog, and he followed. It was better to be early than late. We had at least an hour on them, and because they’d be coming in from the direction of the wall we’d gain a distance on them by heading away from it. We might even miss them altogether.

I checked to be sure, but the Essence I got earlier for killing the grubling wasn’t on my status screen any longer. The [Backtrack] spell had reset it. I checked the cooldown on the spell to see when I could use it again.

[t1][Backtrack]

• Rewinds the clock. Returns the caster in time up to the limit into the past and to the same state. Automatically activates if lethal damage is taken, incapacitated or mind controlled.

• Mana Cost: 250 mana

• Cast Time: Instant

• Time limit: 60 min

• Cooldown: 24 hours

My mana was also reset back to full, as it was an hour before I used the spell. It made me wonder what was the point of Backtrack having a mana cost. I’d have to be always mindful to keep enough mana to cast it, and avoid getting mana drained somehow. It was my get-out-jail card.

The swamp seemed near endless in every direction. None of the parts looked much different from another, and I had seen hours of it. I kept an eye on the Backtrack cooldown. It gave me a good indicator for how much time had passed. Fifty minutes later and I still didn’t see any tall ruins that Dandee had mentioned.

“How much longer?” I asked him.

“Just a bit more.”

“Are you sure?”

“Sure? Of course I’m sure. Why would I be-” He looked from side to side. “Lost?”

There were no tall ruins in sight, and I couldn’t see far into the swamp with all the growth and the trees. A bit of panic was starting to set in. I didn’t want to end up as bug food.

“Wait, wait. I see it.” He pointed north. “It’s right over there, mate.”

“Where?”

He pointed across a small lake and I could barely make out the ruins in between the trees. I also noticed a couple small islands that bobbed in the middle of the lake, sent out gentle ripples.

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We’d need to circle around the perimeter to get to it. By about this time, the bugs were close to reaching the area where I had Backtracked from. Fortunately, we had gained some distance from the black wall. So, we still had plenty of time.

“What’s your class?” I asked him.

“Blademaster.”

“Is that right?” I chuckled. “Where’s your blade?”

“Seen a blacksmith in the swamp, have ya?”

“Alright, alright. Here, you can have this machete.”

“Ya sure?”

“Of course. It’s a crime for a blademaster to go around without a blade, you know?” I laughed. “Go on, take it before I report you to the authorities myself.”

He took the machete from me, and swung it around with a grin on his face. In return I got his spear, with the same spear-head I had made earlier. I was equally bad with either sword or spear, but at least a spear was simpler to use.

“Thanks a bunch, mate,” he said.

“Not a problem. When we get to Hillmoor I’ll make you a proper sword alright?”

“That’d be swell.”

Movement caught my sight out to my right, to the east. Across the lake, a group of grublings was moving in the same direction as we were. To the ruins around the lake. Where the hell did those come from? And so soon?

I pointed east. “See those? Get running!”

“You weren’t lying, mate. Thems a grubs.”

I bolted ahead. “Yeah. Hurry up!”

I spun up the star, moved it ahead of me like a lawnmower to slice through the growth. We skirted along the shore of the small lake, running as fast as possible. I wasn’t sure who’d make it to the ruins first, them or us.

As we neared the ruins, I spotted many eyes pop up to the surface in the water ahead, in between the cattails. Sunlight reflected off green shiny scales scattered around the ruins. Were they sunbathing?

I pointed to the lizards lurking in the water. “We’re about to have guests!”

More eyeballs appeared at the surface. Together they rose out of the water, hissing and growling. They rushed straight for us. Mouths gaping wide, and full of sharp teeth.

I didn’t have time for their crap. Without stopping I sent the star straight at them. Sliced their wobbly eyeballs right off their ugly heads. Across the way, a group of grublings were getting close from other side. I was breathing fast, my legs were on fire.

“We can’t stop!”

Dandee leaped into the air, came down to hack and slash them like a natural. I should have given him the machete from the start. I used [Blink] to get right past, twenty feet in an instant, then used it again after a thirty second cooldown. Dandee was a better runner than me. He had enough energy to leap about and avoid them.

Ahead, vines snaked over the partial walls, through the rubble and up the tower. At a height of thirty feet, it looked sturdy enough for my liking. Not something a few hundred bugs could bring down. The ruins were infested with damn lizards, then more climbed out of the water. We bolted past them. I killed any that got close.

Grublings arrived just as we did. The scene turned to chaos. They pounced on the lizards and the lizards attacked them back. We dashed through the rubble avoiding them both. Ran inside the tower through an opening.

“Damn it.” I didn’t find any stairs. The inside of the tower was hollow like a chimney. I sent the star to block the way in.

“We have to climb up!” I said between gasping breath.

Dandee showed his hands to me. His finger tips were as big as my toes, not the best for gripping the fine cracks or holds that the tower offered.

“That’s fine, I have an idea,” I said. “Watch the entrance.”

My tower shield didn’t have as much use for what would be coming soon. And not at the top of the tower. I sliced off sections of the shield, fashioned them into grips. Then used them to seep steel into the cracks between the stones of the tower. I tested them to make sure they were stuck solid before moving up higher and higher. They held my weight, so they’d hold his without an issue. I left a trail for Dandee to follow after me.

Half way up, I heard the star as it went careening to the ground and against the wall across from the entrance. Grublings flooded inside, jumped up and down, but they couldn’t reach us. A fall at this point would be death, and not because of the height.

“Holy crap,” I said “This was too damn close.”

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