Level One God

I woke with something hard and earthy in my mouth. I sat up, tried to bite down, and found my teeth sinking into something with the texture of a potato.

Several pairs of hands urged me back down. I noticed black veins bulging across my body and a feeling of… something. There was another presence in my body.

“What are you trying to do?” I managed to ask. I was speaking to the voice, this time.

“We’re keeping you still until you can sleep, Brynn,” Lyria said. “You just need to hold on. You’re on your bedroll.”

I noticed the entire group around me, hands holding me on my shins, arms, shoulders, and hips. They were pushing hard as if I had been resisting. Even Sylara was helping with a grim look of determination on her face.

My helmet.

I was about to summon it again, feeling suddenly exposed as so many of them were seeing my face plain and clear. But Timbo appeared, squeezing himself between Lyria and Ramzi, who were to my right.

“Mmm… This medicine is… bad for squishy parts behind the hard parts, yes? His bed will heal the damage?”

“It will heal him,” Lyria said.

My blurry vision cleared enough for me to see. A ring of curious but somber grommets surrounded us in a hairy ring. I didn’t recognize where we were, but thought maybe they had carved out a larger room from the narrow tunnel so we had space.

I tried to check my map, then remembered I couldn’t without Voidgaze.

An overwhelming feeling of something pushing from inside my core hit me like a fist around my throat.

I gasped, back arching as I frantically fought to hold the door close, even as my grasp on mana felt slippery and weak.

I only want to help, the voice said softly. You can end this pain. Release me and I will help with all of it. I will show you where Rake is. I’ll dispatch him. I can take you to your sister, Seraphel. Maybe she’ll even forgive you now that your memories are gone. Just let me out…

My sister? Sylvie was back on Earth, long lost to the passage of time since I had originally arrived on Eros. What the hell did that mean?

The voice chuckled. Let me out, and I’ll bring you to her. I’ll help you say the right things to earn her forgiveness. Just let me out. All you need to do is let go, Seraphel.

My heart pounded. Did he mean he could take me back to Earth? Or… No.

I was only distantly aware of a conversation happening outside the confines of my head and the many hands pressing hard against me to keep me from moving again.

“This one is… sorry,” Timbo said as he raised his staff and slammed it down on my forehead again.

#

Lyria

I was exhausted. The cave smelled like sweat, desperation, and the deep musk of grommets.

We had held Brynn down for hours that seemed to stretch on without end. He was at war inside himself, and there hadn’t been anything we could do but continue to restrain him and keep him on the bed. Every time he woke, Timbo knocked him out again.

I was covered in small bites from the disgusting bedbugs that infested his bedroll. With Brynn laying on the thing and us pinning him down, we had all been subjected to a constant assault from the things. Fortunately, the grommets said they were delicious, and the watching grommets had eventually taken turns picking them from our bodies and snacking on them.

Now, Brynn had been sleeping for about ten minutes. His dark hair was drenched in sweat and pushed back from his forehead. Before falling asleep, his forehead had been covered in red welts from Timbo’s repeated medical interventions. As soon as he truly fell asleep, they vanished in an instant, along with the strained expression he had worn for hours.

I sat with my knees up to my chest and my arms wrapped around them. My chin rested on top of my knees as I watched his sleeping form.

All of this was yet another reminder that I couldn’t protect him for much longer, not in the way I had wanted, at least. Brynn was quickly delving into things so far beyond my comprehension that I worried I’d be left behind and forgotten. Worse, I worried he’d move too quickly for his own good, leaving behind the people who could keep him grounded and safe.

He had told me whatever power he gained in that room with the Eclipsed was something he thought he could control—that he’d be able to practice carefully and clear the effects each night. But how realistic was that?

How many more times would he face a threat he couldn’t handle without calling too hard on it? What would happen if we weren’t here to help restrain him next time?

I caught myself chewing a filthy nail and sighed, pulling my hand away from my face as I continued to watch.

Zahra came toward me, steps as silent as a cat as she sat down. Both sekmeti had a hypnotic kind of grace to their movements and a calm about them that seemed supernatural. “You worry about him,” she said. It was a statement, not a question.

“We all should. I’m pretty sure if he didn’t control whatever that was, we would’ve all died.”

“Hmm,” Zahra said. She looked at me, then seemed to mirror my position, pulling her knees up and resting her chin on top of them, but somehow making it look far less awkward. “I think he saved us by putting himself at great risk. I have spoken with Sylara about this. She understands now.”

“You did?” I asked. I had noticed the others talking quietly in a small group once Brynn slept, but hardly thought much of it. Honestly, I was expecting them to make an excuse and leave us. There was obviously something dangerous within Brynn, and I wouldn’t have blamed them for wanting to get away from it.

“Sylara and Thorn owe Brynn blood debts. He has saved their lives many times over. In exchange, they offer their lives in service of his protection. They know the risks. They accept them.”

“We can trust them?” I asked. I had already been watching Sylara carefully since Brynn was possessed. I saw the look in her eyes. It had been like she was prepared to put down a mad dog, if needed.

While I doubted she would be capable, I had been making sure the woman never got behind Brynn or too close when he wasn’t looking. I still didn’t plan to trust her with his safety, but it was good to know she was at least avoiding open hostility for now.

“And what about you and Ramzi?”

Zahra’s dark purple lips pursed slightly. “Sekmeti are valuable to your kind. Exotic, capable slaves. You and your friend did not hesitate to help us. You did not think of profiting from our discovery. The sekmeti don’t have blood debts, but we honor those who honor us. It would bring great shame to abandon you both now. You have our support, though our paths may part when we leave this place. We cannot go to the city. They will be looking for us there, just as they will look for Thorn and Sylara.”

We both sat quietly for a few moments until Zahra leaned very close, voice barely a whisper. “I know his face.”

My chest tightened. “What?” I asked.

“There is a temple in the Sekmet Sands. A holy place, long protected and long revered. The base is a nine-pointed star nearly four times as high as the tallest man. The peak is a triangle, reaching for the stars, and topped with the purest gemstones. Inside, ancient sekmeti have carved our histories. Even the kiergard don’t dare deface the beauty of those carvings. In the deepest chamber of the temple, there are nine statues. One for each divinity…

“Ithariel, Sylphara, Elyon, Azmeria, Thalion, Celethiel, Morathai, Nythera, and Seraphel. I would know their faces anywhere…”

I swallowed, throat suddenly dry.

Zahra’s eyes were lit with burning curiosity. “How?” she whispered.

“I don’t know what you mean…” I said, unable to meet her eyes.

“I mean him no harm, Lyria. The gods were allies to my people. Revered. Honored. I would give my life to help any one of them if asked. I only want to know how. How is he here? How is it possible? And where is his power? He’s strong for a Wood, yes, but… Seraphel should have been able to snap his fingers and leave a crater where this place stood.”

I shook my head, lips pressed tightly together.

Zahra sighed, but nodded. “It is okay. I respect your loyalty. And Ramzi was never allowed to work the temple. He does not know. I won’t speak of it to him. I will only say I envy you… To be tasked with such a mission as yours must be… It’s incredible. You are highly honored.”

Zahra gave a strange kind of salute, then got up and walked off to join Ramzi, who was speaking with Timbo. Timbo appeared to be overseeing the pointless expansion of the place we would be waiting while Brynn slept.

The grommets were happily digging, embellishing the dirt with decorative shapes and designs, consulting one another on the placement and shape of support columns, and appeared to be enjoying themselves.

Several grommets had begun climbing the walls and traversing the ceiling by punching their surprisingly strong hands into the dirt. They punched and swung, then dropped handfuls of excavated dirt to helpers below, who compacted it and used it for decorative flairs or supports. Other grommets dangled from the ceiling to use one free hand to pat shapes and designs into the dirt overhead.

It was a frenzy of activity, but with Rake gone for the moment and Brynn healed, I felt like I could finally relax just the slightest bit. An incredible tension between my shoulders had seemed to grow by the hour ever since we came into this place, and for the first time, it began to release.

Brynn would wake, we would continue digging toward the “spawning room” he kept mentioning, and we’d find a way to deal with that. Compared to everything we had faced so far, it felt almost trivial by comparison.

From how he described it, clearing the spawning room would allow us to join forces with a huge contingent of adventurers, some of which were Iron. After that, even if Rake managed to recover and wait for us, it wouldn’t matter. We’d be too large a group for him to interfere. But I didn’t get the sense that Rake was coming for us immediately. He told Brynn he’d be Silver next time they met, and he would’ve already been Silver if he had an ascension token.

No… I seriously doubted Rake wanted to come for us. But Brynn had mentioned an Iron waiting at the entrance not long before we were ambushed. If that Iron wasn’t Rake, would it be one of his allies?

I supposed it didn’t matter. We were going to be leaving the dungeon with dozens of allies. A single Iron wouldn’t be able to touch us with such a large group.

We were going to get out of here.

I felt sure of that for the first time since our clash with Rake. The biggest obstacles were out of our way, and we would survive this.

The relief was almost overwhelming. I was surprised to find I was excited to track down Kass, Perch, Minara, and even Bloody Steve when we got back to Thrask. I was also curious to see if the people from Riverwell had successfully used their money from their share to start their business yet.

I realized I was smiling as I dwelled on all the thoughts. Maybe we weren’t out of this yet, but there was just one last barrier between us and escape. Compared to an Eclipsed and a murderous Iron hell-bent on revenge, it felt like a laughable obstacle, one I was sure Brynn had a plan for.

#

Vitus

I drained a flask of water, hardly slaking my thirst, then took a huge bite of dried meat. I was starved, thirsty, and exhausted beyond anything I had ever experienced. We pushed into this tunnel for the spawning room more than a day ago.

I hadn’t slept. I hadn’t taken more than a few minutes of recovery between shifts at the front lines, hacking down endless, nightmarish waves of the half-intelligent rat things.

There were simply too many of them. Despite our numbers, the casters were completely drained of mana by now, even with regular rotations to let them refuel. Warriors were physically broken, poisoned, wounded, or too exhausted to continue. One by one, we had taken the wounded and exhausted back to the entrance chamber to recover or get healing.

Now there were only seven of us still on our feet and fighting. The only small blessing was how few casualties we had. The rats were small and ferocious, but they fought with poison and numbers instead of strength and cunning. People were paralyzed by their poison or collapsing because of exhaustion, but we only had two actual deaths. One was a mage who had overdrawn and burned himself out, which was a damn shame. Even being capable of overdrawing hinted at massive potential, and the man had only been a Wood. Had he lived, he would’ve surely gone on to do great things. If I survived this, I would make sure he was honored properly.

The other death was one of the first to get paralyzed. He had been over-confident, wading deep into the enemy lines during the first phase of our push for the spawning room. While he was laughing about how weak the rats were, one caught him in the leg, paralyzing him. They had swarmed over him and ended his life before any of us could reach him, which led to my strict order that we were to hold the line, no matter what.

It had prevented more deaths, allowing anyone who was caught by a blade to be dragged back to safety while the rest of us formed a human wall, preventing the rat things from advancing.

But no tactics or grit could get us through this. They simply. Kept. Coming.

I chewed, sweat dripping from my face and eyes blurred as I stared ahead. Julius Amun stood at the front of the formation, twin blades flashing as blood sprayed in either direction. His once-pristine armor and weapons were caked with blood and gore. His usually well-groomed hair was filthy and clumped together with something black. To the boy’s credit, he was proving himself to be more than I had given him credit for. Without him, I suspected we would have already been pushed to the entrance hall. Marcia Anukis fought at his side, using a long spear to jab the waves of approaching spears methodically. She looked more like a lumberjack who had perfected the least exhausting way to chop down a huge tree than a girl locked in mortal combat.

But her efficiency had helped her stay able to fight longer than most, and was also another large part of the reason we had held.

With my minute of rest, I knew I needed to get back into the fray. I was Iron, and I owed it to my allies to take a larger share of the work. I owed it to them to—

There was a deafening boom from far ahead in the direction of the spawning room.

The dirt beneath my feet shook, sending dust rattling down all around. Even the ratlings paused, turning to look as Julius and Marcia carved a few feet of progress into the temporarily frozen ratlings.

What the hell was that?

“Forward!” I shouted, pushing past the others to take to the front. I swung my weapon, cleaving through the rats with fresh vigor. If somebody had found a way into the spawning room, perhaps from deeper in the dungeon, we needed to get in there and help them.

We stepped over a carpet of fallen ratlings, constantly on the watch for weapons that had landed point-side up. Many of us had taken a wrong step and succumbed to the poison of a long-dead ratling, and I didn’t plan to join them. I had found a kind of shuffling approach combined with my plate boots worked best. My armor could protect me from shallow cuts, but a dagger wedged into the dirt could punch through even my armor if I stepped on it.

I led the way, creating a small pathway for the others to follow as I pushed aside bodies with my shins, arms swinging as I cleaved through the ratlings.

They fought differently, as if some of the spark had left their eyes. The semblance of intelligence seemed to have left them as well. They were no longer speaking in broken Erosian as they died, begging oddly for mercy. They even stopped using their weapons, falling to all fours and simply trying to bite, which turned them from real threats to trivial beasts.

We made fast progress for several minutes, carving our way forward as quickly as we could walk.

And then it stopped.

We rounded a corner and were met with what felt wrong after so long of fighting.

There were no more rats.

There was only a tunnel with no corpses. No fresh enemies rushing to kill us. No more sound of scurrying feet and heavy breathing.

“Gods,” Marcia said, her voice half-broken with emotion as she fell to her knees. “Is it really over?”

“Be on your guard,” I warned. “We didn’t come this far to be caught by surprise. On your feet Marcia.”

She was exhausted beyond reason, but didn’t hesitate before standing and hardening her eyes. “Yes, Sir.”

If nothing else, this push had tightened our bonds significantly. Some of the younger Azure Guard I had seen as troublemakers or layabouts had shown their worth when it mattered, and I was grateful for that.

I also wasn’t about to let them die to a trap.

“With me,” I said quietly, advancing deeper.

We crept through the empty tunnel for minutes, constantly on edge that another attack or larger threat was coming. Maybe the boom we heard was the sound of a monstrosity emerging. Maybe the dungeon had shifted itself, trapping us in with the true threat. Perhaps we were about to walk into the dungeon heart itself and find ourselves facing off against the dungeon guardian, who had given up sending the ratlings after us.

“Hold!” I hissed, hands going tight around my weapon. The others stopped short, motionless behind me.

I heard something coming from ahead. It was shuffling slowly our way from around a bend in the tunnel. It didn’t sound quite like the ratlings…

“Who goes there?” I called.

A small, hairy creature with large eyes and flat, smiling teeth appeared around the corner.

A grommet? What in the name of The Nine was a grommet doing in a dungeon?

“Hey ho,” it said, waving a fleshy pink hand.