The Grand Weave

"Cyrus, seriously..." Sereza complained as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "I shouldn't have ignored all the warning signs when I met you."

"Hey, you chose to come along. I wrote 'Danger' in big letters when I explained it. Don't blame me for this."

"A vaguely worded letter saying your god has asked you to do something is not enough—not even mentioning that your god directly asked you for something. Don't think I don't know what that implies!"

"Right..." Orlun muttered. His face looked paler than before, his complexion turning pasty as he firmly gripped the pommel of his sword.

"Are the three of you good to go? I want to find the others before it's too late. There's a good chance Broken Tower is still in control."

"Oh yeah, potions. That's probably why we're fine. Fuck, that means the captain might have a parasite," Sereza cursed.

"Aleena, Rello, get up." Orlun ordered.

They both stood up and separated. To my surprise, the look of grief on Aleena's face was absent. In its place, righteous fury. Mana pulsed from around her hands, and she white-knuckled the handle of her sword.

Rello looked tense but calm enough to silently pat Aleena on the shoulder and join Orlun where he stood.

They reminded me of Warren, Marcus, and Nadia. It was a strangely nice feeling to see them stand together.

Orlun turned to me. "What are your orders, sir?"

Aaaand it's gone.

"Hold up," I said, raising a hand. "Why are you asking me for orders?"

Orlun looked confused and glanced toward Sereza, who was no help, as she raised an eyebrow and smirked my way.

"I mean... it's the most logical choice? You know what's going on. And you are the only one who can cure us of the parasites... so."

It took every muscle in my face not to scowl. Instead of replying right away, I summoned my mask and donned it, letting the ink swirls become bright red and assume the usual three-eyed appearance.

With the mask on, I dropped the neutral expression and glared. Outwardly, I kept my voice neutral. "Fine. We need to find the others and explore this place. If we can find the entrance and test if we can leave, that would be ideal. If not, we find whoever is around here."

"Yes sir!" all three guards replied.

I felt a vein on my neck begin to form.

"What exactly can you guys do? I know the stone spikes and blue leaves, but that's it."

Orlun spoke first. "I am, unfortunately, basic in my kit. Double Slash, Charge, Honed Edge, and Quick Guard."

That's... alright.

"I only have the blue leaves like you mentioned and Stumbling Roots," Aleena answered next.

Crowd control is welcomed. Good.

I turned to the last guard, Rello. "And you?"

"Stone spikes, Crushing Fist, Heavy Boots, and Heavy Edge," Rello listed.

Sereza glanced over and smiled.

"What?" I asked.

"The mask may hide it, but at least uncross your arms. You're acting like a noble brat."

I looked down; she was right; I was crossing my arms.

"I'm not. It's a little polarizing. I forgot what it's like to be around ordinary people."

She snorted. "I don't want to hear it. Your skills are still insane."

"Okay, fine. I concede. I guess it'll be smarter for me to play range support. Orlun, Rello can you take lead, while me and Aleena proceed from behind. Sereza you know best where to place yourself."

She flashed a toothy grin and unhooked one of the vials in her bandolier. The top had a small opening for her blade to slide right through, and when she pulled it out, it was surprisingly dry.

"I don't remember that being a part of the blade's description."

"It's not. It's my skill; I can store poison inside the blade itself. They'll replace the Spectral Daggers usual effects. Stronger paralytic; will need it if we don't want to hurt the others."

"Sounds good. Everyone ready?"

The guards got into position almost immediately. And Sereza shrugged while hovering off to the side just slightly behind Aleena and to the left.

We exited the room and found ourselves in a long hallway.

Sereza pointed to the fourth door on the right. "I came from there, tiny room, nothing in it."

We stopped briefly once we made it near the first pair of doors. Orlun and Rello made a count with their fingers and rushed forward, splitting apart to face different directions.

I waited, ready to do something, but Orlun shook his head. 'Empty,' he mouthed.

Rello lowered his sword, but when he turned, he looked unsure. Orlun approached from behind and cocked his head.

"Uh, sir. You might want to check this out," Orlun muttered.

Rage slipped a swipe between its bars at the word sir, and for a brief second, I wanted to slap someone.

I stopped myself and crammed it into an even smaller cage.

Quit it.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Uh, just look."

Orlun stepped aside, and I finally saw what he wanted me to see.

It was a wall of flesh, pale-reddish skin that pulsed with faint light.

"Not again..." Sereza muttered.

I summoned an empty cup and held it out. "Throwing it in three. Prepare to run."

The guards got in position, and Sereza brought her daggers up.

On three, I tossed the cup with enough force to easily sail through the air and smack into the flesh wall.

It bounced.

As the cup clacked against the floor, the wall lit up with brighter light but faded away after two pulses. The cup looked unharmed, and the spot on the wall where the small ceramic had come into contact seemed perfectly fine.

"No reaction. At least that's something."

"Should I cut it?"

I debated the merits of experimenting on the weird wall, but I shook my head in the end. "Nah. Let's leave the room alone and focus on finding the others first."

We continued down the next pair of doorways and were met with more blank rooms. They each held nothing within, lacking furniture and decorations you'd typically find in a temple.

"Okay, this is weird. I don't like the flesh walls," Sereza complained as she lowered her daggers.

Sereza backed away but... there was something there. I felt it, a weird want inside my stomach. It wasn't hunger, but I felt hungry.

"Stop, get into positions."

The moment I said those words, a sense of pressure blanketed me from the right. It caressed my ear and blew a breath along my skin.

Trusting my instinct, I lashed a spear toward Rello's head, who stared wide-eyed as he flinched.

Blood splattered onto the back of his head, causing a sizzling sound to erupt with the smell of burnt hair. Rello grunted in alarm and dove to the ground while Sereza sent out a fan of spectral daggers into the invisible target.

All but one hit and painted the outline of a wide creature whose form began to waver into existence. Orlun activated a skill and rushed forward, swinging his blade wide.

Something knocked his blade aside, but a second phantom blade cut deep and sent another splash of caustic blood onto the floor.

The blade was blue rather than green and looked like a perfect replica of Orlun's sword.

Suddenly, a loud screech made the others flinch. I ignored the sound and pushed, plunging my blade through—up to the shaft.

"Sturmrorex!"

My familiar snaked down my arm and unleashed a continuous discharge of electricity through his horns. With Sturmorex's power surging through the enemy's body, it began to flicker into existence, revealing an elongated mass of speckles of grey-white hide.

Rello flipped over and slammed his fist against the ground, sending a large spike of stone to shoot forward and impale the creature's torso.

Orlun was there once more, his blade blazing with a cerulean edge. Sturmrorex released his skill as he slashed upward, carving a line up to the creature's shoulder. As he stepped back, a phantom blade appeared, nearly severed the thing in half.

I pulled out my spear and sent mana into its shaft to finish it. With a single plunge, the creature screeched again, but I twisted and jerked my weapon through its head.

I stepped back as blood began to sizzle against the floor and flicked my spear free of the blood coating it.

The creature was something grotesque. Dry, rubbery skin formed a wide pillar that ended in a pointed cone-shaped head with four sets of eyes. They reminded me of reptile eyes, each with a second layer of film covering them. Instead of hands, its forearms bent downward to form a pair of bone-like blades similar to a praying mantis.

I expected the corpse to fall and splash into the growing puddle beneath it, but when it merely leaned forward, limplessly, I cocked my head and finally noticed the four thick tubes connecting it to the wall.

"Everyone okay?" I called out.

"We... are. Damn you and your mask!" Sereza managed between coughs.

I turned and saw everyone else was covering their faces while standing in the hall away from the room's entrance.

"Sturmrorex, can you try to push the smoke out."

Sturmrorex rose into the air, and I willingly sent mana through the link. He sucked it up and blasted a gust of wind that blew the smoke toward the hall. Sadly, he couldn't control the air entirely, and some spilled out to where the others were.

"Cyrus!"

"Give it a moment!"

It took another minute, but the room was cleared enough that they all rushed in and near the corpse and examined it.

"I've never seen a creature like this before..." Aleena muttered.

"Do you think all the empty rooms have one?"

I thought back to the strange feeling I had and shook my head. "I don't think so. I only received a warning for this room."

The others stepped back as I approached the tubes and ran my claws through them. Crystal claws parted the rubbery flesh with some difficulties, but I eventually managed. The tube dripped a grainy black substance that collected on the floor, but unlike the blood, it wasn't caustic.

"Sereza, got a spare knife?"

She pulled out one of the daggers from her belt and flipped it over, presenting the handle.

I accepted the blade and made quick work of the remaining tubes. With the tubes no longer supporting it, the corpse dropped to the floor and flattened like a deflated dodgeball.

I wiped the dagger with a clean cloth from my inventory and handed it back.

"Got a lead on something?" she asked.

I bit my lip and turned to the guards. "You promise not to say a word? I don't care who asks or whatever their reason is."

All three saluted.

I shifted Áine around and adjusted Sturmrorex, who resettled around my neck. Extending my hand, I let mana flow into my skill and caught my familiar as he appeared.

"Are you sure it's worth the mana?" Sereza asked.

"I got a funny feeling."

She shrugged and waved to Erebus, who waved back. Gently, I lowered the spider onto the deflated corpse, and he sank into the shadows, his white chitin disappearing into the black threads.

As he activated his skill, I subtly glanced at the guards without turning my head and saw them intensely staring at where Erebus used to be.

Aleena had a question on her face, while Rello and Orlun looked mostly curious.

There has to be a better way to hide this in the future. I can't keep revealing Erebus to everyone.

Erebus drained a good chunk of his mana, and I placed my hand beside where he emerged. Erebus popped out and hopped on, presenting the orb to me.

"Is that..."

"Oh, he has a looting skill.

"A looting familiar?"

I contained my sigh and squeezed down on the orb.