All of us gather at the bottom of the Goblin Queen’s lair.

It’s been less than 24 hours since the end of the battle, but a lot has transpired since then. We made good on celebrating the victory with the men, giving the soldiers a month to rest, recuperate and spend time with their families. After teleporting the cyberpunkers back to new London, Gilly then whisked me to the capital where I made several proclamations to honor the fallen, strengthen our ties with our allies and spread the word about the greater battle yet to come.

When we return to the mines, the Goblin Queen made good on her word as well. With the guidance of Blacktop, she helped devise a contraption to get us to the bottom of the old world swiftly but safely.

Or so I hope.

Said contraption looms above me now, giving me some doubts.

It resembles a large wagon wheel ten feet across, suspended at its center by a thick chain connecting to a winch somewhere high above us. Hanging from the wheel are leather harnesses, which we’ve now all strapped into and dangle from like a human chandelier. It was blacktop’s idea originally, after explaining to him the speed in which we needed to descend to avoid the giant demons waiting for us down there. The Queen and her goblins then assisted him with the construction and to his reported surprise, many of the goblins were quite gifted when it came to crafting.

“You sure this thing is safe, right?” Val Helena says staring dubiously up at the wheel which was now supporting her sizable weight. Blacktop had adjusted her to be opposite side from the rest of us, so as to balance us out—which I guess is making her feel a bit more isolated and uncomfortable sitting all by herself.

“Of course, it’s safe,” Blacktop says, as he rests a hand on the lever that will release the winch and drop us into the unknown. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“This from the guy who’s not even coming with us on the darn thing,” Aiko snarks, but softens her comment with a chuckle.

The burly blacksmith smiles back at her. “Hey, someone’s got to take care of the place while you’re all off saving the universe, right?”

We all chuckle at that. Gilly had already passed stewardship of Brookrun over to Blacktop, the same way I had passed the leadership of Stormwall over to Lady Diana before I left. Although we had a destination, the path was through a place we had never ventured before and there was no telling how long it would be before we returned here.

“Besides,” Blacktop continues. “This was the best I could come up with, with the time you all gave me.”

That was fair. With what we’ve just been through we could have all easily used a week’s worth of rest ourselves, but the reality of being so close to returning home stirred a fire in us that couldn’t be quenched. It was a unanimous decision that we resume our journey home and save Citadel as soon as possible.

Queen Zanthea who was waiting patiently while we strapped into the harnesses finally steps towards us. “Vullet iz?”

“She’s asking if we’re ready,” Aiko translates.

I look around to my teammates and friends, the people whom I’ve travelled with for so hard and so long. Aiko and Val, Rembrandt and Becky and of course my big bro Maxis. The last leg of our journey is finally here.

“Let’s do it,” I say. “Let’s go home.”

With a nod, the Goblin Queen raises her staff and the ground beneath us behinds to crack and crumble. Instant vertigo takes hold as it falls away revealing a hundred foot drop to a crystal encrusted cavern below. Before we can even take it in, Blacktop gives us a final salute and pulls the lever.

A collection of involuntary screams trail behind us as we go into free fall, plummeting into the crystal clad depths of the underworld. Gilly screams with her eyes shut tightly as does Becky. Maxis however has his eyes wide open in wonder.

“Holy crap!” he shouts. “This place is huge!”

“Aye,” Rembrandt says, remaining cool as ever, unfazed behind the gleam of his mirror shades. Val Helena meanwhile looks like she’s about to throw up, rocking and swaging violently in her oversized harness.

Aiko and I, perhaps more used to jumping around at great heights, keep focused as we rapidly descend. The forest of luminescent crystal columns sparks recollections of the last time I was here. I begin scanning for the fire throated demons that I expect to appear next. I had assumed they’d be swarming us already, hence the need for the rapid descent. But I don’t see any of them. A message pops onto my HUD.

You take 1 damage.

“What the bloody hell was that?” Rembrandt says, the glow of his HUD behind his shades indicating he’d received the same message.

“I’m not sure,” I say. “But it’s something that just happens down here.”

Suddenly Val Helena lets out a scream. “Behind us!”

I crane my neck next to look over my shoulder to where she’s pointing just in time to glance the fiery jaws of one of the titan-sized Others lumbering from behind a pillar.

A chorus of alarmed responses come from my friends, all save for Gilly and I who have seen these creatures before. But for the others it’s breaking a wall of reality that they never realize existed before. To hear about them was one thing, but to actually them caused a permanent shift in one’s perception. To see what was before unseen.

I can’t tell how far away it is, but my worst fear has been realized.

I stare up at the chain whipping back and forth as it lowers us, but as fast as its going I wish it could move even faster. Until we reach the ground we’re all sitting ducks! A deafening roar blasts my eardrums as a wave of heat washes over me, accompanied by the crackle of fire as the Other bellows at us. A huge thud then echoes through the cavern as it plods towards us. We’re two thirds of the way down, but the beast is moving much faster than that.

“Hang on to your hats, lads,” Rembrandt says as he whips out his dual pistols.

Rembrandt uses Rapid Shot!

Rembrandt does 154 damage!

Rembrandt does 156 damage!

Rembrandt does 152 damage!

Sparks erupt from the center of the wheel, before quickly blowing apart. We go into true free fall now and even Aiko and I scream this time. Restrained by our harnesses there isn’t much we can do. The ground rushes towards us at breakneck speed.

We’re suddenly surrounded by a golden light.

Gilly casts Great Blessing of the Goddess

Gilly casts Protection IV!

The world tumbles as we hit the ground hard, pain erupting in every bone of my body. I land flat footed on my side and instantly lose 30% of my HP due to fall damage, but thankfully Gilly’s last second spell casting mitigated it to only that. It takes me a second to get the wind back into my lungs and then I tug at my harness which is now a twisted mess.

“Dang that hurt!” Maxis wheezes. “We got to move!”

The ground trembles under us as the giant stalks closer, covering nearly thirty feet in a single step. Panic sets in as we all scramble to our feet as best we can. I get a full look at it now and the sight of the Ozoku fills me with dreaded nightmares of that hell planet and beyond. At nearly fifty feet tall, its taller even than the Goblin Queen at her full height. Its body ripples with dark shadow, like smoke billowing from an unseen fire.

“Gilly, come on!” Becky urges. “Summon the buggy.”

“I’m on it! I’m on it!”

Gilly withdraws the small keychain dangling about her neck, the picture of her and Lexi on it sparking memories I don’t have time to relive. She taps it with her thumb and faintly nanodust begins to swirl.

From the ground––which I realize now is made of the same nano dust as on the surface in the wilds––four small rectangles appear. They’re black and growing in size, forming what appears to be tires.

“Why’s it taking so long??” Val Helena says.

“I don’t know.” Gilly shakes her head looking confused. “It’s never taken this long before.”

“It’s the Affinity,” Rembrandt says. “Tech, Magic, Neutral, Remember? We’re underground but we’re still underneath the Safe Zone of Karlis’ domain. Magic based. This buggy might take forever to spawn.”

“We ain’t got forever!” Maxis shouts as another giant footfall brings the monster closer.

I check the bearings on my minimap. We aren’t too far from where we first entered the zone from the wild. Plus the surface is flat here. No trees or hills.

“Just run until we get to the barrier. The Wild is Neutral Affinity. It’ll spawn much faster there. Go! Go!”

I don’t even wait for anyone to respond before I take off, willing them to follow after me with my quick action. It works. My friends are following me no questions asked. It’s what I need them to do, because I know they’d try to stop me from what I’m about to do next.

I slow down purposefully, letting my friends overtake me.

There’s no way we can outrun this thing.

Not without help.

I change direction on a dime, using Charge Stike to launch myself halfway up one of the crystal columns closest to the Other. I burn off my cooldown using Wall Run and Cast Shadow Copy as I dash up the column to the height of the Giant’s head. I launch myself at it with Charge Strike again, brandishing my Zanbato.

You use Charge Strike!

You hit the for 43(437) damage!

resist the Stun!

Holy crap! 90% damage mitigation?

“Reece! What are you doing?” Gilly suddenly yells through the comm.

I half wonder that myself, as I use Retreat in mid-air to distance myself from the giant monster. I land on one of the columns and cling to it by stabbing it with my blade.

“Just keep running! I’ll lead it away for a bit!”

“Stop playing the damn hero, man!” Maxis shouts. “That ain’t no normal monster!”

As if to emphasize his point the Other belches a stream of heat and flame from its throat.

uses !

Your shadow absorbs the attack!

I waste no time getting the heck out of there, using a combination of Charge Strike, Shadow Step and Retreat the volley myself through the air over fifty feet before landing on an adjacent column. The giant does just what I hoped it would do and turns to follow me.

“Just keep going!” I shout through the comm. “I got this!”

I keep its attention with a Shuriken Strike and a healthy War Cry before dashing away to the next column. I keep up the pace, pushing my cooldowns to their limits as I keep barely one step ahead of the monster. I glance intermittently at my minimap and breath a bit easier when I see my friends have made it a good half-mile away already.

I can’t believe how strong this thing is, though. Even an LM wouldn’t be able to stand against it. I think back to my use of Zenkai on the Goblin Queen and wished I hadn’t now. Still, if just the possession of a normal LM could produce monstrosities such as her and the Shadow Lord, it was no wonder the Ozoku, in their purest form like this one, would be so tough.

A new howling wail fills the air as yet another Ozoku emerges from within the crystal forest not more than a hundred feet away.

Oh crap...

I change direction, ping-ponging off the pillars in rapid succession, distancing myself from the both of them. Then all at once as if magically drawn to me, more of them begin to appear. Before I know it there are at least a dozen of them.

“Guys, please tell me you’re there already!” I shout through the comm.

“We’re here,” Gilly says. “The buggy is forming. Where are you now?”

“I’m on my way!”

I rebuff with Shadow Copy and Shadow Haste as I switch from luring the monsters to just plain running away from them. I use Shadow Step every chance I get to propel myself far ahead of them, blinking between the columns and the shadows that line their sides. After about a minute, my stamina is nearly gone, but I see my friends just ahead on the minimap, just beyond where the crystal forest ends and the familiar looking dunes of the Wild begins.

“Bloody hell, why are there so many of them?”

“I kicked the hornet’s nest, I guess. Be ready to take off in that thing, I’m coming.”

I spot Rembrandt standing just outside Lexi’s tubular framed buggy. The mere sight of it brings back memories of her and how she first saved us in the wild from that towering Omega. My brother is already behind the wheel, while Val Helena is in the back, shouldering a massive gun, mounted in the back of the buggy.

The muzzles flashes and a split second later comes a bang!

Val Helena uses Turret Gun!

takes 23(235) damage!

The HP bar doesn’t even appear over its head, to register the damage.

“What the hell are these things even made of?” Val Helena laments.

“Hurry up, Reece!” Gilly cries for me, leaning out the back of the buggy. “Those things are right behind you!”

She’s right. I gauge the pace I’m going and the speed of the Other as they go from simply walking to stumbling forward. If one of them ever got the ability to run it’d be game over. But even with them just walking there wouldn’t be enough time. It was like being in a relay race and trying to pass the baton. No way were we all going to escape these things if they waited for me at a standstill.

“Guys take off!” I order through the comm. “I’ll catch up to you on the fly.”

“Reece, no—!” Gilly starts, but I cut her off.

“Just go now! Or we’re all gonna die!”

Rembrandt sees the logic and instantly hops onto the side of the buggy slapping the top. “Gun it, Max! Go!”

My brother uses Punch It and kicks up twin rooster tails of nanodust as he takes off. “You better get here bro or I’m gonna flipping kill you!”

My brother’s crazy, love-filled threats causes an inward chuckle, but as I near the edge of the forest I wonder if he actually might have to make good on that promise. I’m moving fast but not as fast as the buggy.

And the Others are moving faster than both of us.

I have one last idea.

I use Wall Run to gain height on the columns as I leap between them.

As I near the edge, I materialize a small keychain in my palm and will it to activate. I jump from the very last pillar with a combination of Retreat, Charge Strike and Shadow Step, lunging through the barrier and into the Wild. My heart flies into my throat as I sail through the air with no safety net, the gray dunes of the wild rushing upwards to meet me.

Please work…

I have no idea how fast the Buggy took to materialize in the Neutral Affinity of the wild, but I pray that however long it took, a motorcycle would be even faster. As if to answer my prayers the handle bars of Gilly Gift begin to form between my palms. The bike continues to materialize from thin air and nano dust as I descend and the Others continue to lumber behind me. I glance back and them expecting to see them slam into the invisible barrier of the safe zone at any moment.

But they run right through.

The sight shocks me a moment, but then it makes sense.

Just like us…the Others are not a part of this world.

I turn about to refocus on the fast approaching dunes. I spot the buggy zig zagging ahead of me trying to slow down, but I wave them ahead. I brace myself as the bike fully forms beneath me and I prepare to take the brunt of the fall. Luckily for me, I’ve performed this maneuver once before, and know just how to mitigate the fall damage.

Removing one hand I quickly cast Shadow Copy.

The motorcycle slams into the leeward side of a dune and I lose a shadow.

The suspension strains and the tires sink into the sand, but as I hit the throttles my vertical decent turns horizontal and I blast forward, quickly catching up to the buggy.

Skill Up!

Your Motorcycle increases by 0.8!

“Heck yeah!” I release a holler of victory and relief as I fist pump the air.

I see all my friends in the buggy, waving to me, some of them shaking their heads.

“Please don’t do that again!” Gilly says through the party chat. “Geeze you’re so reckless!”

I laugh as I pull up along side the buggy and blow a kiss at her.

She shakes her head but smiles all the same.

Aiko however blows me a kiss back.

“I think we’re losing them,” Val Helena says, facing backwards as she stays on the turret. “Man, that was close.”

She the looks over at me. “You gonna stop to get in or what?”

I smile at the giantess and can’t help but feel a strong sense of nostalgia.

“It’s almost over, Val,” I say.

“Huh?”

“The journey we started together. We’re nearly at its end.”

She laughs with a goddess laugh. “Stop getting sentimental. Are you going to answer my question or not?”

I gaze out at the strange world of gray sand and crystal sky. The old world where our civilization first began and fell. The world where giant demons of smoke and fire now walk in search of souls. Souls I’ve now vowed to protect.

“No, let’s keep going,” I say. And then I pause as a smile of gladness spreads across my lips as joy fills my heart. “Citadel is just beyond those dunes. We’re almost home.”

* * *

Beneath the shifting sands of the barrier, Xantheus marveled at the tenacity and speed at which the Kono Zemsu fled. Had the thralls not been the lumber oafs that they were, perhaps the outcome could have been different. Or perhaps he should not have tried to delay his passage through the barrier itself by relying on his talents of influencing yet again.

Xantheus warped through space and time, traversing the void to find another thin space in the barrier at which to not just influence…but cross. He connected to the flux and every atom of his being screamed in defiance, resisting the unnatural flow of the celestial retuning to the mortal plane. How Lord Xuba had endured this torment and humiliation he did not know, but he was certain of one thing.

He would make his time here as brief as possible.