Jarod had time to see a momentary flash of red and orange light, but not enough time to process it, before a shockwave flung him forward onto the ground. Amidst the force of the explosion, searing pain scored into his flesh, as a wave of heat burned deep. There was only the briefest moment that he recognized a horrible, sizzling pain, before his mind gave out from the damage to his body.

  Hit for [14] damage

  Health 0/10

  Grievous injury

  Life in peril

  Even as his consciousness began to fade, the message of his own peril appeared before him. Unlike the rest of his senses though, the message didn’t begin to slip from his grasp as the damage took hold of his body. It remained, strong as ever, as Jarod — now Voyager — felt some other part of his existence begin to pull away from the scene of destruction unfolding in front of him.

  They were fully Voyager now, observing their position in the actual, physical world for the first time. It was a precarious one.

  All four of them in that chamber, Jarod, Basma, Abigail, and the strange vitacean plant creature, were blown back by the fireball that exploded in the center of the room. The blast had been centered on Jarod, and Voyager watched as the flames roiled in a ball of arcane destruction, leaving singed clothes and scorched flesh as its power was snuffed out of existence.

  The other three had mostly only been caught by the explosive force it had unleashed, sending Abigail and Basma flying backwards, while the vitacean seemed to have braced itself via thick branches that ran from its back to the ground. Basma was sent rolling and thudded hard against the wall, but to Voyager’s relief, she did begin to shakily push herself off the ground. Meanwhile, Abigail had caught the blast acrobatically, and used the momentum to roll out and back to her feet, already drawing the warhammer kept strapped to her back.

  From Voyager’s ethereal position, they were the first one to spot the source of the attack. The glaring figure of Ionda standing at the intersection to the side-tunnel they’d dropped down, his arms still outstretched to direct the fireball.

  The magic user shouted out now. His voice sounded hollow and scratchy, as though Voyager were listening to a conversation upstairs by pressing his ear against the ceiling. Despite the effect, his words were plain and easy to understand.

  “You fools cannot comprehend the damage you have done to my research,” Ionda screamed out, spittle flying from his mouth. “I will not rest until you and your co-conspirators have been hunted down and dealt with as punishment for taking what is rightfully mine. None of you are safe until I have recovered my artifact, and you have been punished for your crimes against this higher being!”

  Already, Ionda was reaching into his waist pouch to grab another handful of materials for his next spell. Basma was having trouble finding her feet after the hard knock she’d taken, but Jarod’s other two apparent allies were readying themselves for combat.

  Before anyone was able to act, a pulse of pain rushed through Voyager and a message flashed in front of him.

  Save against death

  [_]

  [4]

  Survive

  The pain receded and Voyager was able to focus on the fight playing out before them again. Another new message. They would have to ask Filgrin about it once they got through this. If they got through this.

  Abigail was the first to act, raising her hammer high as though getting ready to swing, even though she was nearly 100 feet away from the magic user. She swung it down with force into the floor, and a trail of light cracked upwards through the stone, directly towards Ionda. The magic user’s eyes went wide as he realized what was happening to him, and he leapt out of the way to avoid the attack.

  He managed to avoid the worst of the attack, but an explosion of rock and divine white energy still caught him. Divine energy boomed out of the ground in brilliant white light, sending shrapnel flying everywhere. Ionda’s leap carried him further than expected from the shockwave, and he landed poorly on one leg, sending him tumbling face-first into the ground.

  The magic user let out a gasping scream of pain as bits of sharp stone tore through his cloak and peppered his back. He stood up quickly and spun around to glare at his attackers.

  “You fools have done no more than sign your own death warrants,” Ionda shouted again. He swept a hand dramatically across the battlefield, and then back to the pouch on his waist. “Do not think your meager paladin spells scare me. I have powers beyond your comprehension.”

  Abigail looked unconvinced, and began slowly advancing towards Ionda. She had only gotten a couple of steps though, when the vitacean called out from behind.

  “Do not bother with the magic user for now,” the plant creature said. “I will defend us against his attacks. Your friend, the blacksmith, is in more dire need of your assistance.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Abigail looked back and saw Jarod lying on the ground. Voyager remembered how she’d said she didn’t even need an altar to channel her power. They only hoped that healing came as easily as her magic warhammer attack had come.

  As Abigail ran off towards Jarod, the vitacean stepped forward a couple of steps and thrust its arms into the ground. A couple seconds later, a wall of vines and bark burst out of the ground between the group and Ionda.

  It was just in time too, because less than a second after the wall finished rising to the ceiling of the tunnel they were in, another explosion boomed out. The same thunderous shockwave rang out in the enclosed chamber, as flames licked at the edges of the wall the vitacean had summoned. The wall was destroyed by the blast, but it did its job, and contained all of the damage away from the vulnerable members at the back of the tunnel.

  Basma managed to rise to her own feet, and ran over, stumbling, to Jarod.

  Save against death

  [4]

  [3]

  Survive

  Another surge of pain coursed through Voyager. They felt their vision begin to grow hazy around the edges, even in this immaterial form. Just like last time though, as soon as the message appeared and that declaration of Survive appeared at the bottom, the pain began to dissipate.

  With just a couple more long strides, Abigail had made her way across the tunnel and back to Jarod’s body. Without further delay, she dropped her warhammer onto the ground and pressed both palms solidly onto Jarod’s chest. She called out something in a language Voyager didn’t understand, and a surge of white light emanated down the length of her arms and into Jarod’s chest.

  Healing Hands

  10

  Health: 10/10

  Grievous injury cured

  The message appeared, and Jarod’s eyes blinked back open. His out-of-body vision had cleared, and he was back to normal sight. The sudden sight of Abigail, leaned over him, hands on his chest, with a confidence on her face that must have come from doing this healing a hundred other times.

  “You with us now?” she asked.

  Jarod blinked a couple more times and nodded his head. Before he could give a more proper response, Abigail grabbed his forearm and hauled him to his feet, whirling him around to face Ionda, to be ready for whatever was to come.

  Jarod felt strong and healthy, like nothing serious had happened, but he was still mentally reeling from the out of body experience and the near brush with death. Thankfully, it seemed like his sudden reinvigoration was enough to give Ionda second thoughts about his plan of attack.

  “Don’t think you’ve seen the last of me,” the magic user screamed in fury. “I’ll be following and watching you every step of the way. You’ll never be safe from me again.”

  Ionda quickly grabbed something from his pouch and spun it in a circle overhead. Without warning, the magic user vanished from sight, the only evidence of his magic a faint glimmer in the air where he’d been previously, and a muffled sound from across the chamber like rushing wind. The same sound that Jarod had noticed twice earlier today.

  The group wasn’t ready to be off their guard yet. If they had an invisible magic user running around, the only guarantee of their safety now was the hope that Ionda’s cowardice was stronger than his taste for vengeance.

  Jarod looked around the tunnel, his hand instinctively going to his hip for his sword in a motion that had become so familiar over the last few days. Only there was no sword there. Of course there wasn’t, he was wandering around the city, touring the Crafts District.

  Nevertheless, he searched around the tunnel for any sign of movement, straining his ears to hear signs of unseen feet scuffling on stone, or maybe the same rush of wind sound that he’d heard before. All that he saw were distantly fleeing citizens, calling for help from guards. This would be a mess to explain. Hopefully Abigail’s word carried some weight.

  Basma was the first one to offer a reasonable path forward. “Is there somewhere safe we can go?” she asked. “Somewhere with people to protect us where we know Ionda won’t be able to slip in unseen?”

  The vitacean spoke up again. It spoke clearly in common, but with a breathy voice with no hint of nasality. “We can go to our cluster. We will be safe from the unseen there. No one, visible or invisible, is able to gain entry without our knowledge.”

  “Good idea,” said Abigail. “We can lay low there for a little bit, and then come up by the temple to call for some guards. This’ll be a huge pain to explain.”

  Basma looked to Jarod uncertainly. He shared the thoughts that he knew she had. They had never seen this strange creature before (Jarod was fairly certain it was a different one than he had seen the first time), and they had no idea why it was helping them at all. It had apparently been following them for reasons unknown for who knew how long.

  At the same time though, they did need somewhere they could feel safe. If what the vitacean said was true, then they wouldn’t have to fear any attacks from Ionda while in whatever their “cluster” was. Of course, there was the separate question of whether all of the vitaceans there would be as open to hiding them as this one apparently was. On that account, Jarod chose to trust Abigail’s assessment.

  “If Abigail says it’s safe, then we’ll follow you,” Jarod said, really speaking to Basma even if he was addressing the vitacean.

  “Excellent, we will be safe there. Follow me this way.” The vitacean turned around fluidly, plant tendrils seeming to detach and recombine as it walked to give only the impression of bipedal motion.

  Jarod gave one last glance back down the tunnel, double-checking that there was no imminent attack incoming, before following the creature down the tunnel. He took some comfort in having Abigail still following closely behind, although he couldn’t decide if he should be calmed by her confident, carefree stride, or concerned because it seemed so foolhardy.

  The vitacean took a sharp turn before they had walked for long, leading them down a tunnel short enough that Jarod had to bend down slightly to avoid hitting his head. He noticed that the vitacean ahead had smoothly decreased its height without missing a beat, thus remaining unaffected by the shallow ceilings.

  On either side of them, small structures had been carved into the walls that could be called no more than hovels. Tiny little things, with doors and windows made for diminutive creatures. Up ahead, it seemed at first that they were approaching a dead-end, but as they drew closer, Jarod could see it was actually a thick tangle of branches and leaves, leaving a solid wall of plant material.

  As the vitacean drew close those, it waved it’s hand and the material shifted aside, drawing branches and leaves back into recesses in the walls that were previously perfectly hidden. It turned around now, pausing to allow the others entrance before following itself.

  As Jarod heard the vines and plant material close the entrance behind him once more, they stepped out of the narrow tunnel and into a massive chamber. The vitacean spoke once more.

  “Welcome to the cluster.”