Hyperion Evergrowing

Chapter 25: Fissure

Letlet watched in awe as what he could only assume were gods did battle in and above the ruined streets of the former human city; Pherin. To witness such glorious displays of power was something he had dreamed of ever since he came crawling out of a half destroyed basement.

That was three months ago but to Letlet it felt like a lifetime. Which it was, for him at least. The system had only recently bestowed him with a name of power, Letlet had run around telling everyone he could!

They had hit him and told him to “piss off” but Letlet didn’t mind. He was happy and there was nothing anyone could do about it. He was happy even as a dark blue light built in power over the city.

He was happy as the clouds above began to twist and flow downwards. He was happy as a crackling beam of power ripped the central district apart, the very ground splitting open.

He was happy as he was instantly vaporised, not even ashes remaining.

===

The next chamber had been going so well. Had being the important word in that sentence. The room was cylindrical with significant vertical height. Smooth stone bridges criss-crossed the chamber, well most of them did. Several of the bridges pivotal to completing the chamber had collapsed.

Murals depicting warriors in splendid armour and wielding every kind of weapon under the moons that gleamed a brilliant silver. They wrapped the edges of the chamber in a downward spiral, each displaying meticulous detailing.

Though Leif found the little details difficult to pay attention to, what little he did see of the art display was certainly impressive, he was currently trying not to die.

Arrows and other assorted projectiles rained down from above, he slapped a falling stone out of the air but took an arrow to the shin. Further along the narrow walkway Marcus and Sieg were struggling.

Out of all of them Marcus was the only member of their group with a potent ranged option. Purple bolts of light whizzed up the height of the chamber, the energy illuminating the darkened bridge-ways above.

Goblin eyes glinted intermittently in reflected violet as they continued their barrage. The chamber shook, several goblins tumbled screaming to their demise in the darkness below. For a brief moment the onslaught of missiles ceased.

“Run! Now!” Sieg roared as he led the charge. At the end of each bridge was a small alcove built into the chamber's walls. Each of these had a maintenance door and attached corridor but the narrow passageways were so clumped with debris and goblins that they weren’t a viable option.

Also they only went up, the opposite way Leif’s group wanted to head. The small shelter gave the trio cover as Marcus loosed arc of power after arc of power. Sieg condensed frost onto the walkway behind them, focusing to spread the slippery ice further up the walkway.

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They waited for the next tremor before making their move. Leif, moving in the rear, spotted a javelin headed for Sieg’s back. [Under My Protection] activated at the same time Leif swapped [Grand Action] off [Alacrity] and onto [Willpower]. The shield held initially but the constant use of the skill had weakened its overall efficacy.

Fortunately the barrier had alerted Sieg to the danger. The big man darted out of the javelins path, the missile chipping stone as it impacted the walkway. “Something big above us.” He called. “We need-”

The whole world rocked from side to side, Leif’s heart lurched as he almost went toppling over the edge even with [Gilded Body] and [Grounded Stance] improving balance.

Marcus wasn’t so lucky. It wasn’t that the man was incapable, far from it. What nearly sealed the mage’s fate was a huge slab of stone crashing down into the bridge from above and nearly crushing him. The walkway groaned precariously under their feet as it began to tilt.

“Marcus!” Sieg yelled and dived toward his falling companion. To the spriggan’s relief the northman made it just in time. To the spriggan’s not relief Sieg too began to tip over the edge as the bridge tilted further and further.

Leif dashed forward and skidded the last three metres right up to where Sieg was half dangling. Leif reached out and grabbed the man by the arm. He then pushed everything he had into [Might] and dug into the stone surface of the walkway with his claw tipped right hand.

For a short, horrifying instant he failed to find purchase. Then his momentum slammed to a halt. Leif hissed from a mix of strain and triumph. The walkway jerked to a stop as it got caught in one of the chamber's many alcoves.

“Well.” Marcus gasped. “That was too close!”

Then a beam of dark blue energy ripped through the chamber from above. It sliced cleanly through every bridge it came into contact with. By what could only be called a miracle it just barely missed the bridge they were clinging to.

What was less fortunate was the follow up tremor. Their bridge was shaken free and began to plummet. Over a hundred goblinoids, two humans and a spriggan fell screaming into the void below.

The darkness swallowed them up, each instant of falling stretching on for an eternity. Suddenly their momentum began to taper off, slowing considerably before almost stopping in its entirety. Marcus’s glowing sphere of purple light zipped down to its caster and revealed their situation in a soft purple light.

Every chunk of falling stone hung suspended as if caught in slowed time. Below was the faint outline of the largest runic circle Leif had ever seen. Well, he hadn’t seen many but this one still stood out as remarkably large.

The bottom of the cylindrical chamber was almost double the width of what it had been above. Leif took this all in in stunned shock. He shook his head and heaved Sieg up, who then in turn did the same for Marcus.

Everything felt light, almost weightless. A goblin still mid fall spun helplessly in mid air, its downwards momentum all but vanished. It thrashed and kicked but was unable to move. Sieg sent a disc of ice in the monster's direction, the projectile quickly lost its speed and harmlessly bumped the goblin. The man shrugged.

Silver light flickered around Leif, he looked around confused and saw the same light around his two companions. All throughout the chamber silver light illuminated goblins before with a flash they all vanished, appearing on the chamber's floor unharmed.

For a single peaceful moment nobody moved. Then Sieg bisected the nearest goblin and chaos reigned.