Jackal Among Snakes

On the other side of the portal, Argrave’s ears flooded with the sound of flowing water. An endless ocean of beautifully translucent water spread out before them, and they stood above it all. A geyser of water jetted upward beneath them, buoying the purple carpet beneath their feet and suspending them far above the endless clear ocean. As Argrave’s feet met the fabric, it felt as though he was standing atop a waterbed. Ahead, above, and around, several other geysers of water branched from the central one. They spiraled incomprehensibly, forming paths to portals. The purple carpet marked each geyser, as though informing them it was indeed a pathway.

This was the Promenade of Wisdom, leading to all other wings of the vault. Argrave knew this place well enough.

“The Living Wing is the only way we get through this,” Argrave pointed upward, where a red portal awaited at the end of a spiraling geyser. “Do your thing, spread your wings!”

The Alchemist sprouted giant bat-like wings from his back—not raven wings, fortunately—and all gathered near him. Limbs sprouted once they drew near, wrapping around their waist and clenching tightly until they had no room to move. These sprouted hands rejoined with his flesh, securing them in a closed loop. His legs grew muscular and powerful to prepare for a jump, and when he leapt Argrave heard the howl of the wind passing by his ears.

The Alchemist ascended as fast as he was able, using his wings to swerve through the labyrinthine geysers of water comprising the pathways to the other wings of the vault. Argrave stared at where they’d come in from, waiting the arrival of the Castellan of the Empty with a dreadful knot in his stomach. The elven cult leader entered, looking around. Argrave hoped they might’ve eluded him, but his hearing was sharp and he spotted them quickly. He braced and jumped upward in half a second, slamming straight through various geysers in his single-minded pursuit.

The Alchemist’s feet turned into hands, and two mana ripples spread out in the air moments before a fell blast of wind exploded out. It dually propelled their party forth with tremendous speed and met the unstoppable ascent of Mozzahr. The Castellan broke past the S-rank spell, yet the distance between them grew all the same. He landed on a geyser, then prepared for another jump. Just as Argrave saw him jump again, speed redoubled… the scene changed.

The Alchemist passed into the first room of the Living Wing of Erlebnis’ vault—the Palace of the Beasts. Where there had once been an endless ocean, a long corridor of nature spread out before them, contained by towering black walls of the same metal comprising the seal of the vault. There seemed to be no ceiling, and the place was brilliantly illuminated by a star above, yet this room was contained all the same by the black walls. And here, the beasts of myth abounded.

Wyverns roamed the skies while unicorns ruled the grassland ahead. In the distance, great jungles rose up into the sky where giant serpents and elemental salamanders prowled the trees and ground both. He saw centaurs, even—manticores, ogres, giant vampire bats, werewolves, wargs, boarmen, monstrous mollusks, lightning harpies, trolls, animated trees, and every manner of rare beast that the mind could conjure. It was an emporium of living treasures. And just beside them, as Erlebnis’ proudest exhibit…

Dragons were lined up on the right and left like a royal procession. Chained, muzzled, and shackled by the black metal comprising most of this place, they stood erect like gargoyles with bloodshot eyes of rage. As Argrave remembered, there were eight of various colors, to be chosen by the player as reward deep into Erlebnis’ questline.

The Alchemist immediately flew to a red dragon’s head, and though it strained in protest as they did, the chains kept it tightly bound. He landed there and released all of them, holding one hand to its head as everyone else stayed bound. He cast druidic magic, attempting to tame this dragon. Most grabbed its spine, preparing for the ride. Argrave, meanwhile, called upon his Domain of Law.

“In this domain, concentration is limitless,” he said quickly enough it sounded like babble, but the resulting clarity of mind told him it worked. Then, he cast out twenty echoes from his body, and utilized a variation of a spell he’d used all so commonly—namely, [Tempest Eel], the wind-attributed version of [Electric Eel]. With an infusion of blood magic from his echoes, they rose up, and Argrave immediately set them to work at freeing the dragon of its chains.

The blood-infused constructs of wind tore at the bindings, chipping through the black metal and eventually breaking past it one by one. Though its wings were liberated, it stayed eerily still, fighting the Alchemist mentally in resistance against his druidic magic. As Raven seemed to master it, Mozzahr entered. He spotted them all too quickly despite the sheer chaos of the Palace of the Beasts, and Argrave’s concentration wavered somewhat.

you make a portal near

knee. The Castellan did stagger, but in one quick move

the shock of the blow, and helped him steady himself. The attack was not in vain, however. The dragon ripped free of the rest of the chains that Argrave had yet to hit, then started to run as it prepared to lift off. Everyone grabbed places for purchase—Argrave slipped his hand beneath its metal muzzle. Thinking quickly, he looked back at the other dragons, and sent his eels out to break their muzzles. Dragons were intelligent—with their mouths free, they could free themselves.

forced to get a firmer grip on its spine. As a mythical beast, a dragon was incredibly strong, even despite what might’ve been centuries of imprisonment. It

incarnate, Mozzahr caught in the middle. All of the powers of nature worked in rough tandem, and in seconds dragons burst free of their

upright. Its blinding white had become gray in this environment, subdued by the arcane enchantments of the walls. “Spellcasters—come. The beast knows its path. We

while Argrave grit his teeth, but they landed near the back of the dragon’s broad back. He saw its massive tail flowing behind it as it soared, and saw grass, forest, and desert pass them by in this rapid traversal of the

cannon’s shot, through the Alchemist’s wards, and then impacted with Argrave’s. It shattered even that, passing through and striking Argrave in the

as he threatened to fly away, and then pulled him back. They both collapsed back

Anneliese,” the Alchemist criticized. Argrave didn’t know if he was being praised, but he accepted it nonetheless. He

their mark. The sheer quantity of the attacks made them a threat, however, and they couldn’t protect all of the dragon. Some blows inevitably landed, and the flight was unsteady and faltering. Perhaps the only reason Mozzahr had not caught up to them was the utter pandemonium they’d

what felt like an eternity, the

what he saw did not indicate that

a crown. He looked like the King of Gimps, but he was truly the King of Beasts—the keeper of this place, and the tender of all the animals. As Erlebnis’ servant, this titan kept everything here alive and secured. And now he

again stood at its head. Here,

down. We go the rest of the way on

questioned if the Alchemist had misjudged the distance… but they jumped away just in time, and the King of Beasts grabbed the dragon as though it was a small bird. Along the way the Alchemist cast illusion magic, disguising them all from the titan’s vision.

Wing,” Argrave said. “Once there, we can break off

directed. His body started to shift—his legs flattened, his torso and wings retracted within, and before long all of them sat aback a grotesque spider with a human torso. He brandished the dimmed spear, pointing it to their destination. “We move. We have the advantage, for now, and we

#####

they cut through the remainder of the Palace of the Beasts under the guise of the Alchemist’s illusion and on the back of his spider-like form. They finally made it to a grandiose construction of the black metal barring spirits from working in this area. It looked like a ziggurat, and the Alchemist crept up to enter

he watched, a great bolt of teal energy pierced its shoulder. It dodged another, but Mozzahr was unrelenting in combatting it. The freed dragons roamed even still, setting fire to the land. All of the other beasts fought desperately to stay alive, or enact