23 – Less good plan

“There’s movement.” Said the spectacled man, waving his magical contraption in the air of the glade. “The realm is about to collapse.”

Syrma yanked the device from the man’s hands and studied the symbols being projected in the air above it. All around, in tents and sitting around the fire, dozens of adventurers were waiting orders, their heads turning towards the new Guild Master and to the opening in space in the middle of the circle of statues.

“This data can’t be correct.” Syrma said.

“I double-checked sir. It’s collapsing. It was about to eject up to five minutes ago, but then something changed, and it started to deteriorate.”

Syrma grunted.

“Sir, if I may, isn’t this a much better outcome?”

A hand, gilded and golden, suddenly was around the spectacled man’s neck. “I get to decide what’s better and what’s worse. No, you may not.”

The man tried to plead, but no voice came out. He was released soon after but fell to the ground heaving and vomiting. Syrma turned around to call one of the newly promoted Tier 10 adventurers who he personally allowed to retain their rank.

“Take him away and clear the camp. We are going back to the guild. Notify all adventurers that the crisis is over.”

“Sir!” the man nodded and left at once.

In the distance Goddard, a Tier 8 now, observed and listened.

“Fuck.” He thought he could hear Syrma say, by looking at the way his lips move. “I can’t send the Dynasty away. They will skin me alive for wasting—” Then Syrma’s eyes shone evilly. “But I never told the Dynasty what threat we are facing. Between the Volcano rift and the otherworlder… yes… this will work out fine in the end.”

***

A small very unstable portal opened at the base of the mountain. From it, three shapes emerged, accompanied by another smaller shape that flew in the air above the three. Ishrin was the last of the three to appear, and immediately rushed to the portal behind him to close it, as if in a hurry. And indeed, barely one second after he did, the whole mountain shook and rumbled, explosions going off one after the other in a chain reaction of ever stronger blasts. Chunks of rock and ice, technological parts and circuit debris were being shaken loose from the crumbling mountain as it lost structural integrity, threatening to bury the party whole.

For the first time maybe ever, Ishrin looked scared. Not in control. He checked his body, seeing that his energy armor was gone, fizzled out of existence. The two girls were also without their armor now but were otherwise unscathed. He, on the other hand, was not. His body was smoking, his hair singed and burnt, his leather armor stained and charred. He flexed his arms and let pieces of dead skin flake off of him and fall to the ground while the mountain behind him still shook and groaned, checking if he could walk fine and feeling the tips of his fingers. He was not surprised to learn that he couldn’t feel his ring and pinky fingers in both hands, and that he was limping. At least he was alive.

“Are you okay?” Asked Melina.

He gave her a sharp look. Then he drew breath, calming his mind before speaking.

“I will be. Thank fuck we got out of it with only minor injuries. Don’t look at me like that. You know I’m right. We are not fucking doing this again, you hear me? We won’t be this lucky next time.”

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The plan had gone off without a hitch. Apart from the portal part, obviously. The small cube, the ‘spawn’, was sitting in time stasis in Ishrin’s inventory with its small vat and powering pedestal still attached to it. The big cube was, hopefully, blowing up with the rest of the mountain or being buried forever inside of it. Now it was only a matter of putting some distance between the party and the mountain before it all collapsed on them. That was the plan at least.

But something new was now barring the way. Something unexpected.

Under a much brighter sky of magic so dense Ishrin had to remove his damaged helmet, lit by the light of the twin stars that seemed as close as the planet used to be but a thousand times brighter, a herd of monsters had amassed in the small field in front of the adventurers. The planet above was close, so close that they could see with their naked eyes mountains and plains, trees and rivers, and it was getting closer. It was on a collision course, already creating earthquakes and destabilizing the land of this little astral realm. In the distance they could see the borders of the realm shrink in real time, swallowing land and monsters and consigning them to the oblivion of utter destruction.

“Shit.” Ishrin muttered.

Melina stared as if in a trance. Lisette was already drawing her weapons, the twin blades glinting under the magic light of the stars in the sky. Liù too seemed ready.

“I count 56,” Lisette said without a hint of fear in her voice.

“Fifty… six.” Ishrin echoed. “No, there’s more.” His voice was that of a defeated man, of someone who still didn’t have the time to recover from the last traumatic event and was being thrown right into another, worse yet situation.

“W-we can’t fight them.” Melina said.

Ishrin stared at her wide eyed. “Yeah, no shit sherlock.”

She frowned.

“What do we do?” she asked.

“I don’t know…” Ishrin said in a low voice. “I’m out of mana. Out of tricks.”

Two hands squeezed his shoulders and looking up he saw twin golden eyes staring right at his face, the dark pupils a thin vertical reptilian slit he never seemed to notice before. Melina stared right through him, into his soul, and for a moment the whole world around them seemed to fade.

“Hey,” she said. “Pull yourself together.”

Ishrin nodded. “Yes. I only need a moment.”

“Guys,” came Lisette’s voice. “We might not have a moment.”