They stood around the pond for a second, looking at each other.

“Okay,” LivingDeadGrrl said. “We don't have a plan. We don't have time to make a plan, yeah?”

“That's about the size of it,” said Midian, sourly.

LivingDeadGrrl glanced away. “This everyone that's coming? Where's Nerguin?”

“He betrayed us,” Rotgoriel said, bile creeping into his tone.

“Right then. Easy fix.”

Nerguin has been kicked from your party.

“That's the simple part,” Midian said, rubbing her eyes.

“Well then take stock of what you've got, and let's get ready to move,” LivingDeadGrrl recommended.

Rotgoriel opened his mouth to protest the waste of time, then shut it. He was smart. He could read fast when he had to.

“Status.”

And his eyes opened wide at what the word revealed.

Name: Rutger Royal

Age: 3

Jobs:

Cleric (Konol) 32 Cultist (Anjuuta) 25, Young Dragon (Stone) 24

Attributes Pools Defenses

Strength: 760 Constitution: 852 Hit Points: 1612 Armor: 540

Intelligence: 136 Wisdom: 595 Sanity: 731 Mental Fortitude: 555

Dexterity: 36 Agility: 77 Stamina: 113 Endurance: 350

Charisma: 117 Willpower: 761 Moxie: 877 Cool: 190

Perception: 306 Luck: 205 Fortune: 511 Fate: 89

General Skills

Brawling – Level 23

Climb – Level 4

Dodge – Level 19

Fly – Level 31

Ride – Level 1

Stealth – Level 6

Swim – Level 16

Throwing – Level 3

Stone Dragon Skills

Burninate – Level 29

Burrower – Level 21

Chomp – Level 21

Draconic Tongue – Level N/A

Dragonseye – Level 20

Earth Resistance – Level N/A

Flameborn – Level N/A

Healing Hoard – Level N/A

Hoarder – Level 2

Limited Equipment – Level N/A

No Thumbs – Level N/A

Sandblast – Level 6

Scaly Wings – Level N/A

Slow to Age – Level N/A

Tail Slap – Level 6

Cleric Skills

Back You Fiend – Level N/A

Blessing – Level N/A

Curative – Level N/A

Dispel Magic – Level 17

Divine Conduit – Level 18

Divine Destiny – Level 11

Divine Healing – Level N/A

Divine Transit – Level N/A

Faith – Level N/A

Godspell:

Greater Healing – Level 25

Holy Bolt – Level 17

Holy Smite – Level 34

Lesser Healing – Level 76

Party Heal – Level 25

Pray to Konol – Level N/A

Remove Condition – Level N/A

Shield of Divinity – Level 38

Cultist Skills

Conceal Status – Level 51

Curses – Level 43

Dark Augury – Level 15

Dark Bolt – Level 19

Dark Chant – Level 45

Darkspell: Fool's Gold – Level 49

Enhance Pain – Level 45

Fevered Zeal – Level 7

First Pact – Level 20

Heart of Darkness – Level N/A

Occult Experimentation – Level 1

Occult Eye – Level N/A

Second Pact – Level 15

Servant of Darkness – Level N/A

Transfer Wounds – Level 49

Unhinged Mind – Level N/A

Unholy Smite – Level 25

Unlocked Jobs

Archer, Berserker, Conjuror, Earth Elementalist, Fire Elementalist, Godbinder, Grifter, Knight

Gear:

(In Hoard) Mirror of Planar Contact, 193,021 GP worth of assorted coinage, 24910 GP worth of assorted gems, and three dragonslaying swords,

“He chose Cleric. Good.” That was what they had agreed on, but Rich might have run into some unexpected trouble that required a different choice. Rotgoriel was relieved.

Though his new Clerical skill seemed confusing. Why was Divine Healing useful? Why would gods be immune to beneficial effects?

“All right. We'll need to kick up flight huh?” LivingDeadGrrl asked.

“No,” Rotgoriel rumbled. “Get on my back. This is... a dragon-friendly space. We will move more swiftly if you are on my back. Even then it will take some time. Also, we will see an elder god. Try not to look at it, it will tear at your sanity.”

“That's gonna make fighting it tough,” LivingDeadGrrl said.

“The goal isn't to fight it. We just have to save Konol,” said Midian.

“We have to free Konol,” Rotgoriel interjected. “He can save himself if he is free to fight.”

“He is chained, you said?” Agnezsharron interjected, speaking for the first time since they'd arrived in the courtyard.

“Yes. They look like metal chains. I do not know if they are,” Rotgoriel said.

“I shall carry LivingDeadGrrl on my back. You take Midian,” Agnezsharron decided. “There are two dragons here.”

“Of course,” Rotgoriel nodded. “End Shape.”

Agnezsharron followed suit. In seconds they were dragons again, and their riders mounted up.

“Been wanting to do this for years. Just so you know, I'm streaming,” said LivingDeadGrrl.

“We ride to world's end, and she's streaming,” said Midian. “Why am I not surpiIIIISSEED!”

Her voice rose as Rotgoriel simply leaped into the void, and the starry space between worlds replaced their reality.

It was cold here, cold and silent.

And far away in the void, a great dark mass hovered like an umbrella, obscuring its prey.

“Fly you fools!” LivingDeadGrrl shouted.

Agnezsharron shot her an unfriendly stare.

“Uh, figure of speech. Please?”

Rotgoriel was already moving. They had lingered long, and time was short.

It was hard to tell how fast they were moving, but the stars slid past them at an increasing clip. Every few minutes, dark masses of stone twisted into odd shapes would loom out of the space between the stars, and they would pass them, unknown and unknowable.

One of them had a face. But it was gone before Rotgoriel could get a good look at it.

They knew they were close when LivingDeadGrrl shrieked. “Whoa! Oh, that's rude.”

Rotgoriel glanced back to see a blue '3' escaping from her skull. Blue was sanity.

He looked back at his destination, studying it closely for the first time.

You have gazed upon the Crawling CASE!

You have resisted his Eyeless Gaze!

Then he looked down upon Konol, and what he saw horrified him.

The bulk of the elder god was a fleshy, dark, cancerous mass, a twisted form with shriveled arms and a shrunken torso, and a great tentacle that had a mouth at its base. But it had numerous smaller tendrils, and they had closed the gap between the Crawling CASE and the dragon god. They were boring into Konol, and the god writhed, constrained by his chains, trying to keep its head out of their reach. But it was only a matter of time, and the elder god was far too close.

“This won't work,” Midian said. “It's too big to approach safely. We need to obscure our vision somehow.”

“I can resist it somewhat,” Rotgoriel said. “But this will get worse as we get closer. If you keep your eyes shut until then, this might work.”

“Or...” drawled LivingDeadGrrl, “I could use a skill for this.”

“You have something for this?”

“Wendigos don't need eyes to hunt,” she said, smugly. “Howling Storm!”

It started small, a shrieking in the distance that could have been wind or damned souls. It built until it was definitely damned souls, pulling curtains of white snow out of nowhere and spreading it across the void.

And though it was hard to believe, it made the place even colder.

“Gggh,” Midian grunted, and he felt her huddle down against his spine.

“Do you need healing? Buffed constitution maybe?” he asked.

“If you could slide me fifty I wouldn't say no,” she replied.

“Bless Midian's Constitution one hundred.”

But the snow did its job. The air was too thin for it to completely block out the sight of what was coming, but it reduced it to a shadowy shape, indistinct and blurry enough to prevent sanity damage.

And as they went, the more the shape grew, and grew, and grew. And what had to be Konol grew with it.

“Shit. This is bigger than... yeah I don't think we're fighting this,” LivingDeadGrrl agreed, reluctance coloring every word.

“You are sad about this?” Agnezsharron spoke, hushed and horrified.

“I've got like a forty thousand spectators telling me they wanna see a fight. Or see me die horribly. Or both.”

“It might not be a bad idea,” Rotgoriel said.

“What?” Midian and Agnezsharron shrieked, simultaneously.

“No. For you. If you die you can log out, in case we fail.”

“Why would I want to log out?” she asked.

“You do not know? You did not tell her?” Rotgoriel asked, incredulous.

“There has been literally no time,” Midian said.

“Listen. The link between worlds may be cut here. If it ends and you are on this side, then you will be trapped here,” Rotgoriel said. “We are trying to stop this. But if we fail, there is no return.”

“So, I'll get transferred to the sequel? Cool. No wait, you can't talk about that.”

Rotgoriel stared at her through the blowing snow. “I can talk about that. There is no sequel. There is literally only the void. Or something very much like hell.”

“Nice try, Rotty,” LivingDeadGrrl grinned. “But I'll humor you. Sure man, if I die, I'll log off... for a while, anyway. It'll be a good way to end the stream.”

“You are one of my oldest friends,” he said, pleading. “I beg you. Do not be trapped here. Take no risk. I do not want to lose you.”

“Ah.... all right. Fine. I promise. If I die, I'll log off.”

They flew the rest of the way in silence.

Until some motion caught Rotgoriel's eye.

He squinted at it, then realized it was coming far too fast, and growing way too large. “Down!” he barked and dove at an angle.

Agnezsharron followed suit, and a tendril as wide around as one of the other world's skyscrapers slashed through the snowstorm, moving far too quickly for a thing that big.

It had mouths on its side, Rotgoriel couldn't help but notice. Countless head-sized chewing mouths, like a close-up of pores in a human's skin...

“NO ESCAPE FOR YOU THIS TIME, LITTLE DRAGON. WILL YOU CHEW YOUR OWN TAIL OFF TO ESCAPE ME AGAIN, I WONDER?”

The words filled his mind, screeched through there like a bat clawing through his brain, carving the lobes into mush until it could squeeze through an eye socket or an ear. Rotgoriel groaned...

...and then LivingDeadGrrl's voice rose above the reverberation.

“You're big buddy, but you're made out of meat! And that's what I eat! Flight! Conspicuous Consumption! CHOMP!”

“What? No!” Agnezsharron yelled, but it was too late. The player's stained furs blurred past Rotgoriel's field of view and disappeared into the snow.

“OH YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING... HEY, GET OUT OF THERE!”

“You can't bite me if I'm in you, motherfucker! Chomp, Chomp, CHOMP!”

“I've read enough Lovecraft to know that she's probably wrong about that. Let's get this done quickly while she's distracting it!” Midian said. “How are we doing this?”

Rotgoriel bit his lip.

He still didn't know. And the god's mocking tones filled his head, reminded him how he'd maimed himself to get away the last time.

Wait a minute, Rotgoriel realized. I bit my tail off because I forgot that I had that one skill, the one that...

His eyes widened. “LivingDeadGrrl! Make me the party leader! Now!”

The seconds slid by.

In his party screen, her hit points slid downward abruptly.

“Greater Healing!” he called out but saw words flash in front of him that made his heart drop.

You cannot heal LivingDeadGrrl. Target is out of range!

“Make me the leader!” he screamed, so loud that his throat gave him pain, raw and sharp in the cold of the void. “Make me the leader, damn it or we're lost!”

The seconds slid by.

Her hit point slid downward. Three hundred. Two hundred. One hundred. Fifty...

You are now the party leader!

LivingDeadGrrl has left the party!

“Invite Konol to party!” he roared.

There was a long pause. Silence in the darkness. The snow started to lift.

“HOLD THE FUCK ON,” said the Crawling CASE. “YOU CAN'T DO THAT—”

Konol has joined your party!

“HUH. GUESS YOU CAN. NOT THAT IT MAKES MUCH DIFFERENCE IN THE END—”

“Divine Transit!” roared Rotgoriel.

And everything stopped.

ERROR – OUT OF BOUNDS – RESOLVING...

ERROR – SPACE NOT FOUND – COLLISION IMMINENT...

ERROR – ENTITY 6b6f6e6f6c HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM MEMORY

ERROR – WORLD FAILURE IN 0.48...

CONNECTION FOUND. RESOLVING COLLISION. TRANSIT...

The air was hot here.

The ground was sand, barren and red.

And from the sand rose a tower, stony and covered in runes.

That was all he had time for before his wings failed him, and he plowed into the sand, feeling it rip at his scales with a force he'd never felt. Behind him, Agnezsharron yelped as she hit the ground with a WHUMP.

It hurt to lift his head, felt as if there was a great hand pressing him down, but he managed.

Rotgoriel stared at the tower.

It was everything and everywhere, but in the distance, just on the horizon, Rotgoriel could see more towers stretching to the sky.

It tugged at his mind like the sight of Nial'https had done, but he saw no message of his sanity escaping.

There was a door, there. And windows, with what could be faces peering out. But he couldn't focus on them, and his vision was not as sharp as he expected it to be.

Something was wrong, something was very wrong. “Status,” he said.

Nothing happened.

“Status? Come on, Status,” he said again.

Nothing.

“HERE,” said Konol. “I CAN HELP YOU FOR... A LITTLE WHILE MORE. GET TO THE TOWER... QUICKLY!”

The pressure eased, and his status screen appeared before him. Nothing seemed wrong, but his energy was draining.

“Look at your hands!” Midian said, horrified.

Rotgoriel stared down, and saw them sinking into the sand. Black smoke rose, and though he felt nothing, it was a numb sort of nothing. And when he drew his hand free, it was shriveled and cracked, the scales turning to black sand as he watched.

With a bellow, Agnezsharron leaped and soared into the air, aiming for the tower's door.

Rotgoriel started to follow...

...then turned and looked back.

And there lay Konol, sprawled over the sand, vast and dark and starry, but free. There were still chains hooked into his hide, but they hung slack, moored to nothing, ends trailing in the sand.

The endless sand...

“GO,” said Konol. “HATCH THE EGG. SING FORTH A NEW DREAM FOR OUR WORLD. AND DO IT QUICKLY. MY TIME... IS DONE.”

And with sickness pooling in his gut, Rotgoriel saw the black smoke oozing up around where Konol's hide met the sand. He was sinking, slowly but surely.

Frantic, ignoring Midian's yell of alarm, he ran over to the nearest chain and hauled on it, trying to pull his god.

He might as well have been trying to shift a mountain. And his lower legs were numb now, the effect spreading up them. He didn't need to look at his status to tell he was dying, didn't need to look at party status to realize his god was dying.

Two more pulls.

Then the chain gave way abruptly, and for a second he dared to hope... up until he looked back and saw a bleeding hole in Konol's side, where the chain had torn free.

Rotgoriel dropped it and flew, trying to contain his tears. It wasn't fair, wasn't fair. They'd come so far, beaten so many odds, and this...

The second he passed over the threshold of the tower, his limbs stopped aching. But that leaden feeling came back again, and the world got heavier.

“Sing forth a new dream,” he said. “You have Geebo's egg?”

“Yes,” Midian pulled it out. It was amazingly intact, and Rotgoriel could see it pulse with a sudden beat. “Now what do we do?”

“Sing forth a new dream. That was what Konol says...” he peered out of the doorway, back to where Konol lay.

“Rich said something about that,” Midian commented. “But he didn't fully explain. Can we get ahold of him?”

“Yes. Use the mirror,” Agnezsharron said.

Rotgoriel stared. “The mirror is in my hoard.”

“We did not come all this way just to fail because we forgot a key item,” Midian said, massaging her temples. “I tried a few skills when we first landed, and they failed. They worked on the flight here, though. Konol's doing something, but I don't know if it'll go away when he dies.”

“Party Status,” Rotgoriel said and boggled at Konol's entry. He was a god, and the numbers showed it. But...

“He won't last for long,” Agnezsharron said, grimly.

“Is there any way you can call Rich back? We need to know what to do, need to know how to sing,” Midian said.

Rotgoriel opened his mouth to tell her no, they would have to wait until he logged in—

—but instead, he screamed, as a spike of pure pain lanced through his chest.

Something is wrong with Rich, he tried to tell them, but instead he slumped to the ground, feeling his strength drain away as Agnezsharron and Midian yelled and ran to him...