Rune Seeker

One more look for any obvious traps – that sign in the box-office was far too suspicious – and the three groups followed their tanks into The Playhouse. As soon as Hiral crossed the threshold, he stopped, a massive wave of information and memories slamming into him. Dozens of images flashed by in front of his eyes, while a cacophony of sounds burrowed into his ears, and phantom sensations flooded across his body like a seizure.

“Hiral?” Seena asked, putting a hand against his shoulder to steady him. He probably wouldn’t have fallen without it, but that had been a lot all at once. “You okay?”

He shook his head before he answered, and maybe it was the motion or just the second it took to do it, but it cleared his thoughts surprisingly well.

“I’m fine,” he said, turning to look back out the way they’d come. He couldn’t see anything with his eyes, but as soon as he pressed his sensory domain up against the doorway, it stopped cold. There wasn’t a physical barrier there, but something was completely cutting solar energy off from the outside world. “There’s some kind of barrier. Solar energy can’t go in or out, and it cut me off from my clones. All of them, all at once.”

“We can’t go out?” Yanily asked, though the spearman didn’t turn back to the outside. No, his eyes were locked in the opposite direction, clearly waiting for something to attack them. He wasn’t the only one, either, with weapons lifting in readiness.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about, boy,” Gran said. From outside. Then she floated in through the door and back out again.

“Can you heal me from there?” Hiral asked her.

“Don’t look hurt, but maybe you just like getting poked,” Gran cackled, lifting her arm. A flick of her wrist snapped a needle as long as her hand straight at him. Only, the thing completely vanished when it reached the threshold of the door. “Well, damn. I guess…”

She cut off as a pair of mechanical ROARS bellowed out across the city. In the distance, a trio of black specks – W45Ps to Hiral’s high Atn – lifted above the buildings, their powerful thrusters flaring to rush them in the direction of The Playhouse.

“Get inside,” Hiral said calmly to Gran. “I think I know what’s going on.”

The vampire didn’t need to be told twice, floating smoothly through the door and into the lobby. “Now what?” she asked.

“We’ll see if… there. They’re already stopping,” Hiral said, eyes locked on the flyers. As soon as Gran had entered the building, it was like they’d completely lost her. “They can’t sense us if we use solar energy in here.”

“Which means we’re probably in for a fight,” Loan said. “At least Tomorrow was kind enough to make it so we didn’t have to deal with a few of those G14NTs at the same time.”

“Just means whatever is in here is worse,” Wule said. “Yay.”

“Good thing we have each other to watch our backs,” Seeyela said, and the healer didn’t have a point to argue that.

“You sure you’re okay?” Seena asked him. “Your whole body twitched there.”

“Really, I’m fine,” Hiral said, the memories he gotten from his clones finally ordering themselves into something more than a blurred mess. “Maybe even better. I know where the Mecha-Armors are coming from. There’s an entrance to some kind of underground facility on the outskirts of the city, one in each direction. G14NTs come from one, W45Ps from the other. I bet that’s where we’ll have to go to find the 0M3G4 W34P0N when it’s time.”

“Good to know,” Nivian said.

“It is… for later,” Hiral agreed, turning to the lobby. “How about here, though? Anybody see anything?”

“Nothing’s moved since we entered,” Drahn said. “And there’s not a speck of dust anywhere.”

“And this place is faaaaancy,” Devison said. “Never seen anything like it. You have one of these up on Fallen Reach?”

“Nothing like this,” Ilrolik said.

“The door up on the second level looks to be open,” Igwanda said. “The higher floors are closed, but they all look smaller anyway.”

“If it’s anything like where we fought Banst,” Seeyela said. “That’s where the theatre or whatever is.”

“And probably the point of this trial,” Hiral agreed.

“Should we split up and take different doors?” Nivian asked. “They may be closed, but it doesn’t mean they’re locked. If there is something waiting for us on the other side, each party coming at it from a different door could give us an advantage.”

Hiral considered it for a moment – it was a good idea – then nodded. “We’ll take the central door. Nivian’s group,” he pointed up and to the right, “take that door on the second level. Ilrolik, you and your group have that one up on the third floor.” He pointed up and to the left this time. “Before anybody enters though, make sure you can get the doors open. If you can’t, come back down and we’ll all go in the second-level door.”

“Got it,” Nivian said, leading his party where Hiral had directed.

“Why’d you give us all the stairs?” Loan asked, walking backward beside his party, and shrugging at Hiral.

“You’ve got the highest endurance,” Hiral said.

“I don’t think those undead tire,” Loan pointed out.

“I’ll remember that for next time,” Hiral chuckled. Then he fell in with his party as Romin and Wallop led them to their entrance. As he walked, he ran his fingers along the polished wood of the bannisters. Even they had been carved to resemble a school of fish swimming in a tight, straight line. The work was so finely done, he could feel the fish scales under his fingertips, and every time he looked away, he could swear he saw movement out of the corner of his eyes. But, no, when his eyes went back, it was the same wooden banister.

“This place is amazing,” Romin said, blunderbuss in hand and eyes scanning everywhere for threats. “I hope we don’t have to fight here. I’d hate to damage any of this.”

“The fight is through that door,” Yanily said as the party reached the second level. “Uh, I think so?Can anybody actually see what’s through that door?”

The spearman had a point, with nothing but darkness beyond the wide, ornate, double doors that stood open. Like everything else in the lobby, they had elaborate detailing that seemed to perfectly continue from the doors to the walls beside them. And, from this angle, those carvings, they were pictures.

Not just pictures. A story? There was some kind of flow to the images. An absolutely massive dragon. Some kind of beastmen, one of them clad in armor and glowing. Then what looked like others of all shapes and sizes arriving. That right there, that had to be a Squalian. No, two. Hand in hand. Ur’Thul and his ex-wife? There was also a Kindred, and Hiral’s eyes locked on the horns on it head.

The exact same horns on Hiral’s head right now.

It was the Emperor. Amin Thett.

And more. A giant spider. A phoenix.

These are the Progenitors.

Hiral’s eyes moved to what came next, but a call from Nivian’s group drew his attention.

“Door wasn’t locked,” Wule said into the raid chat. “But, uh, it’s real dark in there.”

“Same up here,” Ilrolik said. “Door is open, but I don’t even see a floor in there.”

“All those stairs and, what, we’re going to drop back down?” Loan asked.

“We don’t see a floor here either,” Seeyela said. “If that makes you feel any better.”

“It really doesn’t,” Wule said.

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“Hiral?” Seena asked him as their raid leader. “I think we have to go in. No trial notifications out here yet.”

“I agree,” Nivian said.

“Don’t even look at me, Loan,” Ilrolik said. “Me too. We have to go in.”

“Okay,” Hiral said. “I feel a floor down here with my sensory domain, so even if you drop, it won’t be a long one. Also, there’s a chance the doors will close behind us, so we need to all go in at the same time. Ready?” As soon as he got three affirmatives, he gave the signal. “Go!”

Romin and Wallop led the way in for their party – and didn’t drop from lack of a floor – and the group rushed past the threshold and readied their weapons. As soon as the last person was in – Gran – the doors did exactly what Hiral expected them to.

They slammed shut with a booming echo, small sparks and cracks spreading outward along what had to be the back wall. Had to be, but there was no way for Hiral to tell – everything was simply too dark. Like there was an absolute nothing ahead of him, his sensory domain stretched and stretched and stretched, unable to find a far wall.

Stranger still, the floor he’d felt was gone too. So was the back wall and the door!

As soon as he realized that, he also realized he’d started floating at some point. Around him, his party – the only thing he could actually see – were likewise hovering in the air, all of them catching on to the same things he was.

Up and right. Nothing. Up and left, also nothing. Where were Nivian and Ilrolik’s parties? Had they made it into the room? Or were they trapped outside, leaving Seena’s party responsible for clearing the eighteen-person trial?

“Welcome!” a deep, feminine voice boomed, shaking the room and sending vibrations straight through Hiral’s body. “I am so happy to see you found my Playhouse, the latest and most advanced attraction built for my Cradle. Built… for you.

“But, I get ahead of myself. All things in due time. There’s an order to how things have to happen, you understand? How things did happen. How they will. All of this matters. All of this is my responsibility, for I am The Custodian of Tomorrow.”

With the – not unexpected – announcement, a bright light flared off to the side of the party, bathing them in a warm yellow glow.

A sun. One far closer than Hiral had ever seen. It dominated his vision, with ropes of plasma lifting off its golden surface to stretch out and vanish in the vast emptiness. Solar energy flooded into him, proving the vision wasn’t a hallucination – at least not completely.

But, even as his eyes stared at the beauty of the sun in front of him, he felt more than saw other things forming around them. Small specks of light at first, just hovering in the darkness. Next came streaks, like objects moving at unbelievable speeds. A huge rock with a trail of ice behind it. Another sun, this one a bright white, radiating an age and kind of sadness that felt empty to him.

All around, the tapestry unfolded. One he’d seen – sort of – before. He was looking at the night sky. He was in the night sky. Above. Below. To all sides. It was everywhere. And it was beautiful.

“You may not have a name for where you are now,” Tomorrow said. “Many call this space… space. Yes. Space. And this is where our story will begin. Where your story will begin, even though this space you see now is very far away from your homes. In more ways than one.

“But, it’s where I was when I first stumbled across your world. I had come out this way, you see, to visit this white dwarf. This dying sun.”

As Tomorrow spoke, another shape drew closer to the floating party. No less massive than many of the other things in the sky with them, this one had a far different shape. A much more draconic one. Much like Heaven’s Punishment, The Custodian of Tomorrow was huge. Her wings stretched miles and miles in both directions, but that was about where their similarities ended.

Where Yanily’s sponsor was bulky and muscular, physically terrifying, and the embodiment of punishment, Tomorrow was sleeker. And it wasn’t just because she was a she, at least from what Hiral could see. Her whole body was long – where Heaven’s Punishment was thick – and thin. Her fine scales shone brass-like along the side facing them as she swept between heavenly bodies, her chest wide before it narrowed almost unrealistically at her waist. A single horn jutted up and back from her left temple, and a line of stubby spines ran from her chin down the length of her underside.

Then, when she turned – almost serpentine in her movements, like a snake through water – the differences only grew. Her left side was that of a normal dragon – if normal could be large enough to dwarf a moon – but her right was entirely different.

It was… mechanical. Her right legs – both front and back – had been completely replaced by skeletal brass constructs. Thick metal made up the powerful limbs, pistons pumping – steam blasting out – with every movement and flex of the curved claws. Along her neck, body, and tail, thick metal plating – much like what Tomorrow’s Colossus had – protected her in place of the fine scales. Even the right side of her face and jaw were now made from the same brass. The red eye within the sculpted expression locked on to the party, and suddenly, the dragon was right in front of them.

The sheer size of her was like a pressure on their senses, but nothing about her body language suggested she would attack. Instead, she looked at them.

“Hrm. I always forget how… small you are,” she said. Then, between the blinks of Hiral’s eyes, she went from a towering dragon to a person their size, albeit one hidden entirely in a hooded robe. “There, that should be easier for you.”

“You… you can see us?” Hiral asked.

“You’re not that small,” Tomorrow said.

“No, I mean, you’re here,” Hiral tried to order his thoughts after the sudden shifts in their surroundings. It was a lot to process, after all.

“Obviously,” Tomorrow said, and even though Hiral couldn’t see her hooded face, he could hear the smirk in her voice.

“Did the two of you have the same tailor?” Yanily asked Gran quietly.

“Shush, knucklehead,” Gran said.

“Are you really the Custodian of Tomorrow?” Seena asked. “Here?”

“No, Mistress,” Li’l Ur said. “This can’t be…”

“Ur’Thul! Is that you?” Tomorrow asked, vanishing from sight to appear again in front of Seena so quickly the woman jumped. “It is! You’re even smaller. What happened? Oh, don’t tell me Sin’Tul finally got tired of your undead phase.” Tomorrow even used air quotes. “What did she do? Bury you in a coffin somewhere?”

“Stuffed him in an urn,” Yanily offered helpfully.

“Oh?” Tomorrow said. “Oh, that’s priceless. It would’ve cost her, but I guess that would explain where you two vanished to.”

“Vanished?” Hiral asked. “Are you really Tomorrow?”

The robed figured waved a gloved hand dismissively. “Don’t be silly. I’m just a fragment of the real thing. Left behind to monitor the Cradle, and to be the host-slash-narrator of this show. Once I complete my role, well, I’ll be gone. After that, you’ll…” Tomorrow trailed off, eyes settling on Gran.

“Well, well, well,” the robed figure said, again just appearing in front of the vampire. “I never expected to see you again.”

Gran’s hood shifted in the way Hiral had come to associate with her either scowling or glaring – or at least narrowing her eyes. “Again?” Gran asked. “Don’t think I’ve been meeting you before.”

Tomorrow’s hand went to her chest in mock pain. “I’m wounded you don’t remember me. Is it the age? You are pretty old. Losing a bit of the edge?” Tomorrow moved her hand from her chest to tap the side of her head.

“Keep talking like that and we’ll find out what you can be losing,” Gran said, but her threat didn’t have the usual fire in it. When had she met one of the Progenitors? Well, one other than Ur’Thul.

“Oh, you got crotchety in your old age,” Tomorrow said, but then her body language changed. “Interesting cloak you have there – it doesn’t hide your identity at all from me, by the way – but am I seeing this right? Are you…?” Tomorrow pointed from Ur’Thul to Gran and back again. “Did he make you into one of his little undead projects?”

Tomorrow then tilted her hooded head to the side. “Huh, one of the other ‘me’ is talking to more undead too. Strong ones. Did you actually succeed you old lizard?”

“Hey,” Gran snapped her fingers in front of Tomorrow’s face. “We were talking.”

“We were,” Tomorrow said. “And, it’s good to see you again after all these years.”

“You keep talking like I know you,” Gran said. “That ain’t true.”

“Your father would be rolling in his grave if he heard you talking like that,” Tomorrow said. “After all the trouble he went to get you educated.”

“You knew my da?” Gran asked quietly, physically floating back a few inches at the revelation.

“Of course I did! But, enough about all this. Sorry, sorry, I shouldn’t have broken character and come so close, but I just couldn’t resist seeing how far the fruits of our work had come. Not bad, not bad. Not quite where you need to be, yet, though. No match for the squids or their masters. Though, I guess that is why you are here, isn’t it? And in my A-Rank attraction already! They grow up so fast.”

“I thought this was a trial,” Romin said. “You keep calling it an attraction.”

“Same difference,” Tomorrow said. “Now, we should really get back to why you’re here. I have a story to tell, and there are things you should know. I’ve already gone off script too much. Besides, the doors are locked and you’re not leaving until you complete this tale. We might as well get started.”

“Locked?” Seeyela asked, spinning in the air to look back towards where the door would’ve been. Instead, it was just more space. “You mean we can’t leave if we want to? Al said we could leave.”

“Alesandio said that? Well, it would make sense. For any other trial, that’s an option. But, The Playhouse is new! He doesn’t even know what’s in here. I built it after his time. And I didn’t bother with the exit feature for this one. Who really likes those? You won’t need it now, will you?”

“I would’ve kind of liked the option…” Seeyela said quietly.

“All we have to do is listen to you tell us a story?” Seena asked hopefully.

“Mostly,” Tomorrow said. “Though, there will be some – let’s call it – audience participation.”

Wallop snuffed in reply to that.

“Yes, that does sound ominous,” Romin said.

“Don’t be like that,” Tomorrow said to the Rune-o. “This wouldn’t be much of an A-Rank trial without a bit of physical exercise, am I right? I hope you stretched a bit before you came.”

“I have to ask,” Hiral interrupted. “Why are you calling this an A-Rank anything? How do you know that term? How is the Cradle working with our PIMs and the PIMP so smoothly?”

“All part of the tale,” Tomorrow said. “It’s time for you to learn a bit more about your history. About your world. About... Genesis.”