Dnoeth gazed with wonder on the Kuoran night sky. Or at least the half of it that wasn’t blocked by the massive cliff face behind him.

What he could see was wonderous. It was so dense with stars he couldn’t find a spot that his littlest finger, held at arm’s length, wouldn’t block a score of them. Even the night sky in the White Mountains back home didn’t look like this.

They were stopped for a rest and to eat some nuts. After respawning and climbing back up to the road, Ramal and Roxy had descended from the forest not long after. Reunited, Ramal had told them about the frozen expanse of land beyond the forest and the black tower that reached impossibly high.

They had no cold weather gear, so trekking across the tundra was out. They’d also agreed that the forest area was just too dangerous for them. Without armor and proper weapons, their ability to kill mobs and survive was dependent upon inherent skill. And Ramal was the only one who had any measure of fighting ability.

Until one of those things changed, the road was their only viable option.

Even so, Dnoeth chaffed at having to walk blindly down this road without any idea of where it went. He wasn’t making any leveling progress, and they were now walking nearly perpendicular to the direction indicated by Roxy’s red dot, the so called third eye, so they weren’t even making any progress toward finding the Darkfyre guy either.

They’d walked well into the night, at least twelve hours by Dnoeth’s best guess. Nobody was tired, but they’d agreed to rest a bit, more to enjoy the view than for need of sleep.

Beside him, Ramal exhaled a deep sigh. “This is something. I’ve seen a lot of things, but I can honestly say, none of it compares to this.” He held out a hand. “They’re so crisp. So clear.” He swept his hand about, fingers stretching. “Seems like I could almost... run my fingers through em.”

Dnoeth totally agreed. He didn’t have Ramal’s breath of life experience, but the sight was awe inspiring. “It’s like, infinite. I’ve never understood that concept. Infinity. Something unlimited and without end.” He breathed deep. “I get it now. It’s like this.”

Rolling his gaze strait back to the cliff face, he added, “Well at least half of infinity. Which still means its infinity.” He chuckled at the absurdity, Ramal did too.

“You’re not kidding. I think I might get lost in it if we could see the whole sky.”

Dnoeth looked along the rock edge far above. In the dark it seemed to bisect the sky–a clear line, wall of black on one side with an explosion of stars just beside it. A small roundish space suddenly went black right above them. “Hey.” He nudged Ramal and pointed. “What’s that?”

The man-mountain followed his finger just in time to see the small black circle disappear. A moment later it reappeared, this time twenty times larger and separate from the cliff edge, almost as if something had jumped off the cliff top.

“UP! Move Back!” Ramal barked as he launched himself to his feet and dragged Dnoeth up with him. “Roxy, go there!” He pointed down the road, behind the two men.

Dnoeth wasn’t sure if she needed protecting any more than he did, but Ramal’s tone wasn’t a request and Roxanna moved.

As a group, they sprinted fifteen yards in the direction from which they’d come. “Good.” Ramal said and they turned back, taking defensive stances. It was a better angle, plus the thing had fallen at least a hundred feet, so Dnoeth could distinguish a few more details.

It was big, really big, and it looked black. Not dark just because it was night, it actually looked pitch black. He could make out the lines of arms and legs that were pulled in tight and the gleam of something curved that he couldn’t make sense of. Whatever the thing was, it was tucked into a cannonball, and it was falling fast without any concern about its impending impact. That, more than anything, scared Dnoeth.

Ramal held out an arm and pushed Dnoeth back as to protect him. The boulder sized creature dropped the last 50 feet in a blink and hit the road exactly where they’d been resting.

WHAMMM!

The thunderous crack shook the entire cliff side, and the companions swayed, arms extended for balance on the dancing stone. Thousands of rocks were loosed from above and began to fall. From tiny pebbles to milk-jug-sized killers, they rained down, and Dnoeth was forced to split his attention to dodge the big ones.

Where the gargantuan creature struck the rock cracked and fractured in a spiderweb that threatened to collapse the road. The three held their breath, one eye on the deadly cascade, the other watching, waiting for the entire section to sheer off and drop the black horror two hundred feet to the forest below.

But it didn’t, the cliff face roadway held. An odd glow flared momentarily rippling out from the black boulder in a wide radius. When it was gone, so were the cracks in the stone. Dnoeth wasn’t sure what he’d seen, but he was sure the roadway wasn’t going to give.

They all began creeping back as the nightmare began to stretch out, unfolding arms and legs like stubby fingers extracting themselves from a bowling ball. The skin had the pebbled look of a reptile.

The extending limbs were bulbus sausage-like things that pinched at the joints, and Dnoeth was struck by the image of a demented balloon animal. His breath caught when the head extended. “What the fuck...” he whispered.

“Fuck me. We’re not fighting that.” Ramal said, backing up rapidly and pushing Dnoeth and Roxy with him as he did. Dnoeth was filled with horrific curiosity. He’d never seen anything like it. Even the Novamen end game raid monsters weren’t this disturbing.

The fiend rotated so it’s feet faced toward them then, in a disturbing display of flexibility, bent its arms strait backward from the shoulder to touch the ground. The move would have dislocated human arms and the sight caused his stomach to lurch. Then it rocked back and pushed off.

Rolling forward it set black, over-stuffed legs out to either side, like a hell spawned sumo-wrestler, and stood.

He heard Roxanna make a weak terrified noise and silently echoed the sentiment. The creature was easily twelve feet tall and eight across at the shoulders and gut. Two massive ribbed horns, that glistened like onyx, protruded from just forward its temples. They swept out a foot before curling up and then curving back, arcing over its head like a battering ram.

Four blood red eyes glistened sickly and seeped viscous black tar in fat rivulets. Below the eyes, spidery pincer mandibles, the size of arms, moved slowly in and out in time with its breathing. And there were hooked spikes, like fangs, bristling along the mandible inner edges. Behind the mandibles its mouth split vertically, bisecting the thing’s chin.

The mouth halves yawned open, hinging well back on the head below tiny bumps that could only be ears. The vertical jaws were webbed in opaque skin and rimmed with pointed teeth. A small lake of saliva spilled out onto its chest and began to steam.

It inhaled, then bellowed, spraying forth a shower of spittle.

It wasn’t a roar, rather the noise was a keening, warbling chitter that reverberated in their chests and felt as if it physically danced in their ears.

An abominable stench of death and rotten flesh washed over them.

Dnoeth vomited. Roxanna gagged, and Ramal spun, grabbed them both by an arm and took off. “Run!” He shouted, dragging them forward for only a pace before both recovered and began running with him.

Dnoeth shot a look at Ramal and yelled, “The crawl space! It’s our only chance!”

“Right! It’s at least…” Ramal was cut off by another sickly, ear-rending cackle that made them all grimace. “…half a mile back!” He finished. The ground began to vibrate with the steady rhythm of footfalls. The demon was coming for them.

Without looking back, Ramal said, “It looks slow. But don’t let up!” Dnoeth wondered, not for the first time, how the man could see that. Sure, the vibrations sounded slow, but his phrasing was so precise, it looks slow, he’d said. Ramal had done something similar in the forest, and Dnoeth wondered how powerful his Absolute Awareness skill really was.

They didn’t let up. With nothing but the stone batons, and the single fight with the horned wolves under their belts, none of them had any delusions of killing this demonic monstrosity.

“Well.” Roxanna huffed, “Bendik did say there were no level zones. I think this is solid evidence of that.”

“Paahh.” Ramal spat, then added. “We need some fuckin’ gear.”

“Gear?” Dnoeth said in disbelief, spitting bile out to the side simultaneously. “We need a damn rail gun! Did you see that thing? It was a raid boss!”

“I didn’t get a level or ID tag off it, did either of you?” Roxy asked.

“Nothing,” Ramal said.

“No.” Dnoeth cut back. “All I got was sick. If nothing else, it has epic level halitosis.”

“Hah. Not exactly,” Ramal barked. “That’s death Dnoeth. Although I’m guessing it also has shit for Dental hygiene.”

Dnoeth smiled, but also thought about that comment as he ran. He was about to ask Ramal about it, but Roxanna beat him to it.

“You’ve been around death a lot?” She asked with a sideways glance.

“More than most. Come on, it’s speeding up!” And he accelerated, out pacing them for a couple strides before they matched his all-out sprint.

Dnoeth felt he was flying over the ground, he was starting to feel winded, but still wasn’t close to being gassed. He absently considered that with this body, he would probably sweep the 400, 800, mile and 5k at states, maybe even nationals.

Then he remembered Bendik’s letter. He had a full ride to Dartmouth’s college of Nano Engineering waiting for him back in the real world. He didn’t have to worry that his achievements in mid and long-distance racing would be good enough to win him financial aid. Without even realizing it, Dnoeth starting grinning. Coach is gonna flip.

Ramal pointed and shouted, “There!” He said, starting to sound winded. “You guys first. I’ll follow. Crawl fast!”

They skidded to a stop and Roxanna ducked in first with only the slightest nod from Dnoeth. The opening was small and the tunnel tight. She had to crawl on her elbows to make headway and they had no idea where it went. A steady flow of air washed out of the opening, so they were at least reasonably certain it wasn’t a dead end. As soon as there was room, Dnoeth moved to follow but had a thought and looked at Ramal. He was almost certain the man was too big.

“Go!!” Ramal shouted

“You’re too big!”

“I’ll manage! Now GO!”

The demon had dropped onto all fours and was barreling down the road now. Whatever gap they’d opened up was being closed, and fast. Dnoeth didn’t need any more prodding, he was in the tunnel on his knees and elbows... scurrying after his Roxanna.

Ramal watched Dnoeth’s dark elven form disappear into the rat hole and knew he only had seconds; it wasn’t enough time. He squared up, facing the thing, pretending like he was going to take the charge. The slathering horror screeched in response and lowered its horned head.

At the last second Ramal activated grounded resolve and dove over the cliff edge. The Demon howled in anger as it careened past behind him.

With the odd sensation of the skin on his back unzipping, his wings emerged. It had been a disturbing feeling initially, but he was rapidly growing to enjoy the anticipation it brought. He dropped until his wings unfolded to their thirty-foot span and caught an updraft. A shiver of joy tickled his chest as Ramal flapped vigorously and rode the rising current of air.