Brightborn

PATH OF THE IMMORTAL—2062

The boss floors of the Eternal Tower had some variability, but not as much as the usual floors.

For example, every instance of Floor 5 played into the story of the world of Path of the Immortal, but its appearance and the bosses inside it would change based on the floors which the party had conquered on the way to it, as well as whatever major story events had recently happened in the outside game world.

When Ignatius and Siegmund spawned into Floor 5—Siegmund hadn't spawned until Ignatius arrived, so he didn't realize that it had taken Ignatius a while to get there—they found themselves standing on top of a huge sand dune overlooking a disturbing site.

They beheld a familiar mountain range in the far distance: the location of the Monastery of the Mirror Cage, where Brightlord Temporix had broken free.

The sky above the mountains was dark with surging storm clouds, and a dry, ominous wind rolled across the desert.

But below the sand dune lay the shattered walls of the City of Stomrus.

The grand walls of the city had caved in, and there were broad patches of black-gold glass in the sand around the city where some form of intense energy had melted the sand into an obsidian-like substance.

An enchanted highway had once stretched to the horizon in two directions from the city, but its bricks had been exploded for nearly a kilometer all around the city itself. Some vile and very powerful curse must have overloaded its protection magic.

And hovering above the broken City of Stomrus, where there was not a single human to be seen, was the Eternal Tower.

Yes, even though Ignatius and Siegmund were 'inside' the Eternal Tower, its powers to warp space and time allowed them to see the outer shell of the same tower hanging above the City of Stomrus in front of them. A ring of bright white light circled the Eternal Tower, but it otherwise was exactly as it had appeared in its cavernous prison.

"What is this before us?" Siegmund whispered. "We are within the tower itself, are we not? Then how can this be? Is this some sort of vision?"

"Sort of," said Ignatius. "As a wise man once said, time is convoluted. This is an event that hasn't yet happened. We're here to stop it. Or rather, we conquered enough of the Eternal Tower that we've pushed through a weak point in its magical existence. We've seized the 'opportunity' to stop the destruction of the city before it happens in the future."

Of course, he wasn't just guessing. Ignatius knew very well that this was what all parties would encounter at this early point in the game when they reached Floor 5 of the Eternal Tower.

Players had just recently learned that Brightlord Temporix had returned, and they'd also just learned some of the basic lore of the Eternal Tower itself. Players had received a hint that Brightlord Temporix had stolen some power from the tower, and that he surely would try to do so again.

This encounter was a vision of a future where the crystalline dragon skeleton 'had' gained control of the Eternal Tower and had used it as a weapon to attack the City of Stomrus… a location which the players would have grown attached to by then.

Everyone who reached this point was expected to realize the importance of the event in the lore of Path of the Immortal, as well as to realize their role in preventing Brightlord Temporix from succeeding.

However, the dragon himself was nowhere to be seen.

The Monk and the Onion Knight would need to get closer before the main event would happen.

"Follow carefully behind me," Ignatius told Siegmund. "Don't try to fight anything unless I attack first." He started sliding down the sand dune they'd appeared on. Once he reached the bottom, he walked directly toward the break in the city wall, counting down carefully in his head.

Just at the moment he reached "0," Ignatius felt the sand give way underneath his foot. He leaped backward with all of his strength, relieved that he hadn't misremembered the distance of this very important encounter.

If he'd been just a second slower, everything would have been ruined.

The sand rushed downward in an instant as a huge crater formed in the sand! At the bottom of the crater, its gigantic crystalline mandibles clattering in the wind, was a colossal antlion which looked like it was carved out of diamond. A bright red heart beat inside its abdomen, sending pulses of shining crimson blood throughout its transparent body.

"Run!" Ignatius shouted at Siegmund, then sprinted for the highway.

Siegmund seemed utterly surprised at the antlion's appearance, but he did as Ignatius commanded and followed close behind. "My friend," the Onion Knight gasped as they ran, "that monstrosity appears to be a humble antlion! A huge monster of an antlion, to be sure, but why are we running? They are not exactly known for leaving their burrows!"

"You're right," said Ignatius grimly, "but that's not the only enemy."

Sure enough, a lumpy shadow soon appeared on the ground in front of them as it ran.

Then it split into numerous smaller, lighter shadows.

"Adult antlions look like dragonflies!" Ignatius shouted just as they came up to the point on the highway where it was shattered, severing the City of Stomrus from the highway's magical protective enchantment.

Then he threw himself forward onto the portion of the highway just before the break! The noise of scraping metal filled the air as Siegmund hurled himself down right behind him—

And then came the screams of the eight monsters above.

Ignatius rolled over and sat up, breathing heavily. He stared up at the sparking shapes up above. Text appeared hazily above each of them, labeling them as "Brightborn Antdragons." They seemed tiny from a distance of over a hundred meters in the sky, but Ignatius knew from experience that each of them was over three meters in length.

"We're safe!" Siegmund laughed in relief. "I had been worried that the sacred power which protects this highway would be completely disrupted." He gestured to the fissure which cut the highway in half in front of them. "Yet your instincts have proved to be our salvation once more, my friend. Even if that bastard Brightlord Temporix has doomed Stomrus itself, we seem to be safe here."

"For the moment," Ignatius replied in a cold voice. They'd gotten quite unlucky with the number of Brightborn Antdragons which had spawned. It was a semi-randomized encounter which could spawn anywhere from three to ten of the monsters.

He glanced back at Siegmund. "The Antdragons don't have pincers like their larva in that pit, but they're very strong. They'll try to either club us with their huge antennae or, if two of them can attack at once, will try to carry us to the pit of the Brightborn Antlion we ran away from."

"Ah," said the Onion Knight. "That is something of a problem. If we try to leave this bit of sanctuary, they'll carry us right into the jaws of that beast."

"Yeah," said Ignatius. "But I think I have an idea."