Rune Seeker

“Anybody get a quest?” Hiral asked as the others stood ready. There hadn’t been a ready room for the raid zone like they usually got for dungeons. Still, he felt an odd sort of pull urging him ahead. Like there was something he should see just outside the tunnel.

“Nothing,” Seena said.

“Then forward is the only option,” Ilrolik said.

“Yup,” Hiral agreed. “Let’s move, same formation.”

“Wallop, show us your stuff.” Seena gave the Rune-o another tap, and the companion lumbered forward.

The three groups covered the fifty feet to the end of the tunnel quickly, and only paused at the exit briefly before stepping onto what could only be described as a verdant field. Hundreds of feet of tall grass covered a small plateau, tall trees on either side, the mountain at their backs, and what had to be a vast valley shrouded in fog extending beyond. Above them, well, that was even stranger.

Hiral’s sensory domain told him there was a roof up there, like the mountains had crossed to block out the noticeably absent rain. His eyes, though? His eyes told him something entirely different. A beautiful blue sky spread out above them, clouds lazily drifting across the distance. It even looked like there were flocks of birds soaring up there.

And, to his sense of Cycling, it was a storm of energy. One he – frankly – had no interest in getting too close to. Whatever Tomorrow had put up there nurtured their solar-energy-hungry bodies from a distance. Getting too close, though, would do exactly the opposite.

The environment aside – he’d only looked for a second – Hiral’s eyes went to the giant standing in the center of the field. And, a giant it was. Forty-or-so-feet tall, just like his sensory domain had felt, the creature looked almost like a very large man. With a bare chest and arms of lean muscle, above a short, skirt-like covering, it stood at ease. Behind it, a staff – a shaft of worn bone capped with a four-horned skull and a shard of obsidian etched with orange glyphs driven into the forehead – floated in the air much like Hiral’s Ring of Amin Thett did.

Besides the floating weapon – and its size – the biggest difference between the creature in front of them and a normal person was its eyes. Instead of two eyes and a nose, it instead had three eyes. One in place of where a person had two eyes, then the other pair on its cheeks, with a flat space between in place of a nose. A far-too-normal mouth smiled at seeing them, and it nodded its head in greeting.

“Again, welcome to the Cradle of Tomorrow,” the creature said, and View provided a name to Hiral.

(Wild-Boss) Alesandio, The Arborean Triclops of Tomorrow – Unknown-Rank

The name was a bit of a mouthful, but it confirmed a few things quickly for Hiral. The first, and biggest, was that the strange pull Hiral had felt must’ve been from his Call of the Wild ability to find Wild-Bosses. Second, of course, was that the creature ahead of them was connected to the Custodian of Tomorrow, as if they’d needed any more proof.

Interestingly, it didn’t seem poised to attack, despite what it had said earlier. Did that mean it was there for a chat?

“Nice to meet you, Alesandio?” Hiral tentatively said, and the giant’s mouth split in a wide smile.

“It has been a long, long time since any have said my name,” Alesandio said.

“You’re not surprised we know your name?” Seena asked.

“Why would I be surprised at another of the Custodian of Tomorrow’s predictions coming true?” Alesandio asked. “Just like you are here as she predicted, so to do you have the ability to view my name.”

The way the giant said view clearly implied he knew about the ability. But, how?

“What else did Tomorrow predict?” Hiral asked instead.

“Many, many things,” Alesandio said. “Though not the use of such a short-form for her name.” The giant chuckled like that was quite funny. When nobody else seemed to laugh along with him, Alesandio coughed gently into a free hand, then took on a more serious look. “Her predictions included the return of the Enemy and your discovery of her Cradle, which brings us to now.”

“That’s not actually that many predictions,” Yanily pointed out.

Alesandio’s three eyes blinked slowly at the statement, and again he let out a full belly-laugh. “You speak true small one. I like you! Tomorrow – as you call her – predicted a great many other things, though I fear I can’t tell you all of them.”

“Why not?” Yanily asked.

“Because you have not passed my trial and earned that knowledge,” Alesandio said.

“That challenge you mentioned when we entered,” Hiral guessed, and Alesandio nodded.

“You have to fight us?” Yanily asked, catching on, though Alesandio quirked his large head at the spearman’s choice of words.

“Don’t you mean you have to fight me?” Alesandio asked.

Yanily shook his head. “Nah. Since we’re going to win, that makes you the challenger, doesn’t it?”

Again, Alesandio blinked. Which, of course, was followed by another echoing laugh.

“Oh, I really like you,” Alesandio said. “It will be unfortunate if you misjudged your strength.”

“What happens if we did?” Seeyela asked.

“You will die,” Alesandio said simply. “The challenge is one older than your races. Ancient and holy. A fight to the death. Survive and defeat me to earn entrance to the valley. Fail, and, well, it doesn’t matter. You’ll be dead.”

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“And if we win?” Hiral asked. “What happens to you?”

“I die, of course,” Alesandio said, clearly not minding that outcome at all.

“Before all that happens,” Seena said holding up a hand. “Can we ask you some questions?”

Alesandio reached up to scratch his cheek beside one of his eyes, then nodded. “You’ve entertained me, so I’ll allow a few questions. Understand, though, there are things I cannot tell you.”

“These should be easy things,” Seena said. “The door that closed behind us, will it open again when we beat you?”

Alesandio chuckled. “Whether you defeat me or not, the door will open again. If you win, it will open and allow up to five hundred others to enter. If you lose, it will allow another group of eighteen to enter and challenge me. That process shall continue to repeat until either I am defeated, or no more challengers remain.”

“What if we lose and the next group isn’t as strong as us?” Ilrolik asked.

“Then they will die faster,” Alesandio said. “My strength is the test. If you – or somebody waiting out there – do not have the power to overcome me, you have no chance overcoming the trials of the Cradle.”

“What are the trials here? Why are they here?” Hiral asked.

Alesandio shook his head. “Defeat me to discover those answers.”

“Why eighteen people?” Wule asked. “That seems like a very… specific – and oddly convenient – number.”

The big Triclops smiled. “I already answered that question,” he said cryptically.

“Tomorrow predicted it,” Hiral guessed. Again, why? How? How did Tomorrow know about things like View and raid groups? They were missing something about all this. Wule was right, it was all oddly convenient.

“I shall grant you one more question,” Alesandio said without addressing Hiral’s comment. “Then we shall begin the challenge.”

“If we kill you, who’s going to answer our other questions?” Yanily asked before anybody else could even open their mouths.

It… wasn’t necessarily the question Hiral would’ve asked, but it was a good one.

Alesandio chuckled one last time, before his face turned deadly serious. “There’s only one way to find out. Prepare yourselves. Remember, fight like your lives depend on it, for they do. Defeat us or die trying.”

“Wait, us?” Hiral asked. “You said we were just fighting you.”

“You are,” Alesandio replied, solar energy pouring out of the giant as thick, tree-like roots emerged from his back, shoulders, and arms. Within seconds, they grew to impressive lengths, reaching down to the ground at his sides, and taking the shape of nearby, identical copies beside him.

“Somebody else stealing your tricks, Hiral,” Yanily leaned over and whispered to him.

Hiral could only nod, his eyes on the two new forty-foot giants in front of them. Unlike Right and Left, these two new additions had significant differences that only grew more pronounced as the roots solidified and hardened.

On Alesandio’s right, the new giant stood covered head to toe in heavy, plate armor, not even his eyes visible behind the helmet. In his hand, he held a simple-looking axe – the kind somebody would use to cut down a tree, not a person. Still, the aura it gave off was feral and raw, like a wild animal.

To Alesandio’s left, the giant there lived up to the word giant even further. This monstrosity had to be closer to fifty feet tall as it finished growing, with wide shoulders and arms that would make even the Hulking Behemoth blush. It wore the same skirt-like bottom, while heavy leather bracers wrapped its forearms. Besides that, it wore no armor or clothing. In its left hand, it carried little more than a large boulder on the end of a metal bar, that looked vaguely hammer-shaped. Regardless of its appearance, getting hit by it would result in getting squashed by it.

In the middle, Alesandio stood like he always had, the staff floating behind him. No, that wasn’t quite true – he only had one eye now. On a second look, that was true for the two new giants at his sides.

A quick second, and a new View entry popped up above each other their heads.

(Wild-Boss) Arborean Uniclops of Tomorrow – Unknown-Rank

The name ‘Alesandio’ had vanished, and it was no longer listed as a Triclops.

A deep growl from the barbaric giant on the right signalled Hiral didn’t have a lot of time to think about that what meant.

“Plan?” Seena asked.

“We’ll take the one with the hammer,” Nivian said, his group already moving in that direction.

“Bash would be distracted the entire time if we didn’t,” Wule quickly explained, following his brother.

“Then we’ll take this one with the axe,” Ilrolik said, her party stalking towards the knight-like giant as it waited patiently for them to arrive. At the movement of the group, Hiral’s mother looked over in his direction – he’d ignored her and rebuffed any attempt at conversation since she’d arrived – and opened her mouth as if to say something. That barely lasted a second, then she turned and followed her party.

“What happened to you being the raid leader?” Seena asked Hiral, though her party stayed calmly in place, watching the staff-wielder ahead of them.

“Good question,” he mumbled. “Maybe they don’t need instructions. Let’s see how this plays out. We have our own target to deal with.”

“Hit it?” Yanily asked.

“Hiral?” Seena asked as Nivian and Ilrolik engaged their own targets in a furious exchange that sent shockwaves through the tall grass.

“Might as well,” Hiral said. “It’s a Wild-Boss.”

“Hit it hard,” Seena said. “Everything but Eloquently Enraged+.”

Since the group had already used their longer-duration buffs, it was the big abilities that came out now. The ones that altered the landscape and radiated oppressive power. And they didn’t hold back.

The Aura’s of The Mother of Flame, The Void-Venom Empress, and Heaven’s Punishment sent colored energy rippling across their bodies. Storm clouds boiled above, blocking out the calm sky, darkening the entire area between the bright flashes of lightning, while the field sprouted flaming flowers with thorned vines. Red and yellow stained the space, though none of the natural growth erupted in flames or smoke.

Not that those two domains were the end of things. Off to the left, Drahn had used his own domain, with his large flower beginning its blooming process, while three portals opened beside Seeyela, her artillery spiders crawling out. From Left, the Circleand Auraof Peace enveloped the party, and his hand went to another tattoo in readiness, like the double was waiting.

Which, frankly, he was, and Hiral activated Double Trouble+ and Domain of the Sun+ in quick succession. Tall walls of glowing solar energy emerged from the ground, depositing the three parties – and their opponents – within an arena of fun and death. As soon as it formed, the rolling clouds lessened as the power of Yanily’s domain was absorbed into Hiral’s domain, while Seena’s plants merged with the walls and floor like they’d always been there. The next second, banners unfurled down the walls as Left’s Banner of Courage also joined in.

Cheers roared out from all sides, their voices acting like buffs to empower Hiral’s party – unfortunately, it wouldn’t do anything for non-party members.

With all that done, Hiral then activated Resonance of Heroes, and they were just about ready.

“Gran, is twenty percent okay?” Seena asked.

“It’s fine, girlie,” Gran said.

With permission given, Yanily, Seena, Seeyela, and Hiral – along with his doubles – each activated Delicate Balance, their health each dropping by the aforementioned twenty percent. In exchange, though, they’d be doing forty percent more damage, on top of all their other buffs.

Quick needles and threads shot out from the sleeves of Gran’s dress, sticking each of the party members who’d used the buff, and their health started ticking back up from a fast-acting heal-over-time ability.

They were ready, though the Uniclops in front of them didn’t look impressed at all by their display.

Time to change that.