The Grand Weave

"Ge-get off me!"

I rolled my neck and cracked open my eyelids to see Isaac slapping a wall of furry flesh. His lower half was trapped underneath, and he even had a few tendrils out trying in vain to pull him free.

My body wasn't hurt, but it felt wrong in every flavor. I could taste colors again, and while some burned, others were too cold, and a few actively felt like acid eating my skin.

The explosion of wrongness lasted long enough for me to cough before it faded away and something hard was thrown at my head.

"Cyrus... Heals, now. I'm going to throw up..." There was a pause and the sound of retching before another something hit my cheek. "Too late."

Well at least Sereza is alive.

Thankfully, my mana channels were relatively fine. Mana stretched and flowed and green light formed above my chest.

Áine appeared, and she landed next to my chin. "Stop getting hurt."

I chuckled. "An impossible ask. Sorry, Áine."

"I know." She booped my nose and a thread of green light swirled in the air. "Try."

"Yes, mam."

For a moment I thought I recognized a rune but it blurred too fast and the light took on the shape of a leaf. A single thread stayed attached but the leaf itself floated around her wrist in a slow orbit.

That's new.

The thread stretched as she flew out of sight. Sereza mumbled something but it sounded wet and I tuned her out. Slowly, Áine landed on my chest and held out her arm.

"Watch."

Mana thrummed from inside my familiar and flowed into the two leaves. The threads took in the mana and a wave of healing settled across my chest. Áine stopped, and waited.

Knowing what she wanted, I closed my eyes and played through the memories. Her skill activated, reaching for a connection that blazed in her sight. Mana flowed, she adjusted the output, and let her skill take over, delivering a burst of non-targeted healing.

"So you trade off control for a mass-general heal?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Think you'll be able to adjust that in the future?"

There was a long pause, and concern slipped through the soul-link but I reached out a hand and lightly booped Áine's nose.

"Maybe. Stubborn skill,” she relented.

"Whether or not you can, it's amazing. Thank you."

The healing process was slower than the normal method as the skill blasted me with energy rather than targeting the injuries directly and efficiently repairing them.

Still, it took less than a minute for the healing to cure the chaos in my muscles and I could finally breathe.

Isaac was finally able to pry himself free as Teddy coaxed Arturous up.

Celenae appeared above me, her eyes transfixed on Áine. It looked painful for her to look away, but she did and helped me up.

"Cyrus. You have some explaining to do," she said.

"What do you mean?"

She pointed across the way.

Oh.

There was a spinning cube of gold and crystal encased by Celenae's barriers. Even with the two hiding their presence behind the monstrosity of a defense floating around them, I recognized their mana signature.

Celenae leaned closer. "What is that?"

"What makes you think I know?" I protested.

"Am I wrong?"

"Potentially."

"Cyrus..."

"Can you just ignore it? Actually hold on a second."

I scanned the room and found Igas staring fish-eyed at the wall as Isaac ranted endlessly about his puny legs.

"Hey, Igas!"

The oni turned and began to draw his sword but I shook my head.

"What do you need?" he said.

"Come here. I need a favor."

"Hey! I wasn't done!" Isaac yelled.

Igas pushed past him and stopped near me. He glared suspiciously at the barriers but he stood straight and held his sword ready.

"What is it?"

I stepped away and splayed my arms. "Can you summon enough ice pillars to block off the room?"

"In front of you or behind?"

"In front."

"Cyrus, no," Teddy argued.

"Listen, it's just temporary. If you hear screaming, you're free to bust it down."

Isaac stalked forward, grabbing my shirt as he wrapped my arms in his tendrils. "You're not doing this again. I'll drag us somewhere else if you try."

I wanted to make a scathing remark, or brush him off, but I stopped and took in his face. His mask was off, and his eyes contained not just anger, but worry.

He tensed as I reached forward and gripped his shoulder. I smiled and gave him a few pats while he loosened his grip on my arms.

"I trust in everyone of you. With my life and then some. But I don't want to betray Cal's trust."

"Then he can get mad at us. We're forcing you to do this. Simple as that."

I sighed and looked at Áine who shrugged.

"Grandpa understands," she said.

"He better. Though, I think Eraztis might have a fit."

I pulled away from Isaac and rubbed Arturous head as I put on a smile.

"If everyone is in agreement, just know you'll be sworn to secrecy, and all that. Not entirely sure, but from how it sounds, it's very serious."

"We swear, Cyrus," Teddy offered.

I turned to Sereza who crossed her arms. "And you?"

She snorted. "I'm still waiting on an explanation. But you already know the answer."

"Alright. Don't say you haven't been warned."

After securing a halfhearted-attempt at best to keep secrets, I approached Celenae's barrier, and motioned for her to let me through. She looked uneasy, but she complied and I stepped within the whirling mechanism.

I threaded my mana slowly, letting it fill the area as the metal tore through it. Each attempt brought an increased sense of panic, and the crystal core in the center flashed red before the metal pieces sped up.

"Listen, I know you're in there. And I know you sense me."

My words drew a few pointed stares to the back of my head, but I pushed on with another attempt.

After the eight unsuccessful try, I took a step back and closed my eyes.

"Galarion. Wake up!"

"Whaa?" he groaned. It took a couple of mental pokes but my familiar sprang to life. "I'm up! More memories to eat?"

"No. But help me with this. We're going to brute force our way in."

"Ready!"

This time, the mana thread I connected to, I throttled a good chunk of my mana pool to reinforce the stability. The air in front of me glowed a subtle pink, that intensified as Galarion added his mana into the mix.

Celenae’s pen scribbled on paper behind me, but I shut it out and focused on the thread. Slowly I pushed it forward, and the metal threatened to tear it apart.

But it was too reinforced, and I pushed another half of my mana through. It slithered deep, carving a path away from the crystals that actively repelled the thread.

As it got within reach of the central core, an explosion of information threatened to undo my thoughts. Galarion burbled in delight as he happily devoured the needless knowledge.

"St-stop! No more!" Gimbal screamed.

The thread closed the distance, and the spinning stopped. Pain laced through my skull, and Áine started to soothe the agony away while Galarion relieved me of the mental burden.

"Keeper. Please, he means no harm. The explosion of the dungeon gate was out of our control." Neolenn whispered.

With the golem frozen, I opened my eyes and approached the hidden altar.

"It's okay. I'm not here to hurt you. I promise. I just want to know if there's anything we can do to help. You said last time the monsters were after me, is that still true?"

Gimbal whimpered something incoherent but Neolenn took control of the connection.

"We haven't checked. When we sensed the portal connecting to the core room, we activated our safety golem and disconnected from the dungeon."

"Why did the portal bring us here? Was it meant to do that?"

"No." Neolenn soothed Gimbal as his panic bled through the link. She spoke after he settled down. "No portal should have led here."

Just my luck.

I groaned and waved off the other's as they started to move closer.

"I'm fine. Just annoyed."

"Do you need anything?" Teddy asked.

I shook my head. "Can you check now?"

"No!" Gimbal screamed.

"I'm sorry, Keeper. Give us a moment." It took a few minutes but Neolenn managed to convince Gimbal to calm down and check on the dungeon. "We will begin."

While I wasn't truly connected to the core, Galarion siphoned snippets that revealed the massive amount of enchantments activating around the room.

The focal point was the altar they were on; it served as a tree with its roots anchoring the floors together. I took the pause to take in the core room and watch the gears and metal contraptions along the walls rotate at insane speeds.

Broken Tower and Sereza were tense, their bodies pressed close and their weapons out. I didn't blame them, they were in an unknown place, but I doubted we were in any real danger.

Not here; not in the core room.

Gimbal whimpered again.

"Is something wrong?"

"My dungeon... it's..."

The pieces of metal floating around us vibrated before they collapsed.

"What's happening?"

"Centuries of work. Gone... Gone!"

"Gimbal, calm down. We can rebuild. It's okay I-" Neolenn tried.

"No! He did this! We were good! But he had to come in here and ruin this. A mortal! A fleshling!"

"It doesn't matter. We'll make it better. We have the ether."

Gimbal screamed, gears on the wall exploding off their parts and sending scattering of metal across the room. Celenae's barriers prevented injuries, but a few smaller pieces slipped through and cut into my limbs.

"No! I don't want something different."

"It's oka-"

The metal encasing the altar split into strips that unfurled to reveal Gimbal and Neolenn squished inside. Neolenn rubbed Gimbal's body, but mana inside the altar swelled as golden spears formed above me.

"You! It was all your fault!"

I took a step back. Another spear formed and the others rushed in, taking position around me.

"Destroy or contain?" Teddy asked, as he raised his shield and activated his skills.

As Teddy said 'destroy' a pulse of condensed energy disturbed the bits and bobs scattered around the floor.

A brush of cold air rushed down my spine and the alarm bells went off in my head.

"Destroy before we get destroyed. Neolenn, no more. We destroy him!" Gimbal roared.

The chill sharpened and it reached down my back toward the center. The feeling pushed inside my chest, as a bundle of the golden spears covered the ceiling. As the first spear crashed against Teddy's shield, the pressure reached a crescendo. Lightning filled the room while thunder boomed through my eardrums.

The others dropped to the floor as pressure pushed them down while the golden spears melted into slag as a fanged maw swallowed Gimbal and Neolenn in a tide of water and scales.

What the hell?

"Cyrus," a familiar voice whispered into my ear.

I looked up and blinked at the storm goddess standing above a portal in the ceiling.

"My apologies, this will hurt," Ysanna said.

"What in the hells is-"

A hand made of water rushed through the portal and swiped us off the ground. The sharp, cold tendril in my chest began to burn as the elemental limb retreated into the portal.

Ah shit, not again.