Level One God

The Coil Gromville was growing on me. They had begun keeping guinea pigs as pets and using some kind of crushed up pigment to paint the guinea pig fur bright colors. Each Coil grommet was usually seen with a little bright-colored pig under one arm and sometimes even more burrowing into their thick grommet hair.

The Coil grommets found me when I was on my way back to the outpost after surviving the second challenge area. I was tired, filthy, and itching to sleep in my cursed bedroll so I could cleanse the dark mana and get rid of the Burned Man's ramblings in my mind. But the grommets emerged from the ground when I was halfway back to the outpost.

I'd been in the bug challenge area for so long it was already morning, and the sun was growing hotter on my back by the minute.

"We are… having news," the leader said. They called him Scarbo, and he had a sort of grizzled quality that said he wasn't afraid to bite a knee if things got out of hand. Gray streaks ran through his hair, making him easy to spot from the others, too.

"Okay," I sighed. Grommets were typically slow when it came to getting their point across, so I went ahead and sat down, using a little mana to heal sore muscles and giving half my attention to meditation. Devour Mana could fix soreness and fatigue, but it didn't completely wash away the mental aspect of being worn down. That lingered no matter how much I healed.

"We are… finding something good. Something very good."

"Okay," I said again, straining for patience.

"Big pigs," Scarbo said.

I raised an eyebrow. "Can you elaborate?"

"We dig, and then we are finding… big pigs."

"Right. But what part about this is good?"

"The pigs are bigger than these," he lifted a glassy eyed guinea pig which was dyed a bright red. It was chewing on something, tiny legs dangling over Scarbo's pink hand.

"Okay? But you're still going to finish the tunnel to the castle like I asked, right?"

Scarbo stared at me. The other Coil grommets behind him shifted on their feet, almost as if nervous. "We found big pigs…"

"Yes," I said slowly, as if speaking to a small child. "I understand that. But can you finish the tunnel or not?"

"The tunnel takes us to the big pigs. We are busy now. Thanking… you…" Scarbo inched backwards, made a quick, jerky gesture to the other grommets, and then they all dove back into their tunnels and vanished.

"You have to be fucking kidding me," I whispered. I'd have to talk to Grimbo and see if the Thrask Gromville could finish the work. Maybe they could divert the tunnel around these "big pigs" so the Coil grommets wouldn't be a distraction. Worst case, the tunnel would at least get us closer to the castles.

I practiced my spells as I walked. Yes, I was tired, but I also had a third active ability now thanks to my reward from the second challenge area.

The choice had been a little difficult, but I knew I needed some offensive firepower beyond what my Blood Rage Potion could offer. With the Acidblooms I'd gathered, I decided to pick Elemental Chain even though it had been very tempting to grab Mana Shield, which had quickly become one of my most well-rounded and heavily used abilities. The truth was I had plenty of defensive capabilities as it was. Being able to kill shit faster and from farther away would probably help me more than Mana Shield.

So I practiced as I walked. Elemental Chain was particularly fun to practice because there was an element of finesse I knew I could master to really take the spell to the next level. I had Acidbloom in my Alchemist's Kit, and I held that in my left hand and pointed my right finger at a tree branch.

Lately, I hardly thought about how insane it was that I could perform actual magic, so I took a moment to really feel the spell. I felt the potential power in my core—like the sensation of being extremely full after a huge meal, except that fullness was a good thing instead of a recipe for a lazy afternoon and a long nap.

I drew on that power, releasing it like a stream of liquid I guided through my body. My intention shaped the spell, telling it what purpose it would serve as it flowed to my Alchemist's Kit first, absorbed the element, and then looped to my finger, all in less than a second.

The mana passing through my body felt cold, reminding me of how it had felt back on Earth when I'd been given an IV and felt the first rush of foreign liquid moving beneath my skin.

And then when it burst from my fingertip in a spray of liquid, there was a mildly euphoric feeling of power.

So much power.

It brought my mind back to the Black Wood when I'd stepped through a portal to fight the briarwraith, to when memories of godhood had flooded me in that strange place and I'd temporarily shaped magic as easily as breathing. I could feel that potential now. I could feel the raw destructive potential at my fingertips as I watched acid jet from my finger to the first anchor point I'd selected with a thin, wispy thread of mana. Acid sizzled against wood, snapping the branch in half before it had even reached its second target and then its third.

But I kept thinking of the power. The potential. The…

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I stopped mid-stride just as I realized I was thinking about what I could do if I released more dark mana. I'd been thinking about testing it since I was so close to the outpost, anyway.

"It's not a bad idea, Seraphel," the Burned Man whispered in my mind. "You fear me, but you should fear what will happen if you squander what gifts I could grant you. This path of mine… it's not a path I can walk alone. And wasn't that what you told us? Didn't you say we would need to work together for a change? That maybe starting over would be valuable for more than just the prestige paths?"

As a rule, I tended not to talk to the Burned Man. But he also tended to ramble, speak about nonsense, or make obvious attempts to manipulate me. This, though… this felt like a tantalizing piece of my past.

"And do you think we are working together?" I asked carefully.

He laughed in a low, giggling kind of way that made me think of madness. "Well now… that is a question to ask, is it not? Are we working together, Seraphel? Or are you simply attempting to use me for your benefit? To squeeze what value out of me you can without any regard for my own wishes?"

"I saw what you did to Krete," I said through clenched teeth as I continued through the forest. A few more minutes and I'd be back. A few more minutes and I could sleep and clear this madman from my mind. "I'm not an idiot. You don't want to work with me. You want to take me over. Use me like a fucking puppet."

"Mmm. Yes. I can see why you would think that. Even if you were right, would that not be better for Eros? My prestige path is nothing without a vessel. I've seen the others, Seraphel. You may be the most perfect vessel I could've hoped to find. So much potential… if only you had your memories, you could do so much more. But I could help with that. I could wield you with such terrible effectiveness, even they would tremble in fear for what we could become."

"No," I said. "I don't trust you. At all."

"Or is it that you wish to be in control? That you would rather be the captain of a sinking ship than watch someone else guide it into port? You'd watch Eros be destroyed for your own pride. Is that it, Seraphel?"

"I want you out of my fucking head is what I want. I have no reason to believe you'd use me for good purposes. No reason at all."

"Hmmm. You want me out of your head, do you? But how many times has my power saved you, now? You would've stood no chance against Krete without me. Against Rake… Against the Brood Queen… You need me, Seraphel."

I mentally shut him out, ignoring his continued rambling as I meditated to calm my anger. Some small part of me wondered if maybe there was truth in his accusations—that if I really cared about helping this place, I'd let him take control.

That small part of me wondered how much I really cared about saving a place I barely knew. Was I truly doing all of this in some kind of race toward a horrifyingly powerful enemy, or did I simply crave the power? Had I just become addicted to the feeling of growth?

But it didn't matter why I got stronger. My motivations would be irrelevant if I never ascended past Silver or Gold. For now, I just needed to grow. To survive.

If I ever got close to godhood again I could start worrying about my "why" and start questioning what I was or wasn't willing to sacrifice for Eros.

I was still lost in thought when the outpost came into view. Tamrin was on top of the wall with Erasmus, and they spotted me quickly.

"Hey there, Brynn!" Tamrin shouted, hands cupped over his mouth.

I waved as I walked toward the front gate, which was already being winched open. By the time I got inside, Erasmus and Tamrin had come down to greet me. I saw Lyria and Naia coming out of one of the small buildings to my left. Both had their armor on over padded clothing, but Lyria's hair was flattened across her left cheek and Naia's was standing up in the back like a bird's nest.

They'd probably just woken.

"You're alive," Lyria said with what sounded like relief, and then she seemed to catch herself. "Figures," she added with a touch of annoyance.

"What is this all over you?" Naia asked, running a fingertip up my arm, which was caked in a combination of mucous and blood.

"You probably don't want to know," I said. "Has anybody seen Grimbo?"

Tamrin looked me up and down. "Forget Grimbo, what the hell did you do last night?"

I shook my head. "It's not important. I need to find Grimbo."

"The grommet king is making a statue with his friends," Erasmus said. "In the first outpost. He says it is to commemorate your victory."

I sighed. "A fucking statue? Did someone tell him to do that?"

"Take a wild guess," Lyria said with a half smile. "They finished bringing supplies and decided to give themselves their next task. Apparently commemorative statues were top of the list."

"Damn it, Grimbo," I muttered under my breath. "Okay. I'm going to get a little rest, then I'll head to the first outpost to give them a real job. Let everyone know we don't have much longer. If our enemies don't push in on us, I'd like to take a few more nights to get stronger. But if we get word they're coming, then we all need to be ready to move at a moment's notice. I want to make sure everybody knows."

"Move to where?" Tamrin asked.

"The tunnels. They're all connected, and we've got maps. The tunnels are rigged with false paths that will collapse if you don't know where you're going. So every team will have to have a map. But that should already be taken care of."

Lyria gave me a nod, confirming she'd handled it.

"Good. Once I rest, I'm heading for the first outpost. Everyone else… be ready."

Erasmus and Tamrin went back to take their post at the top of the wall as Lyria jogged to catch up with me.

"You okay?" she asked. "You seem tense."

"I'm fine. But I think the end of this thing is coming faster than we think. I'm hoping we have a few more days. With enough time, I think I could unlock more skills and maybe even hit level 50. But I'm worried I won't have that kind of time."

"Level 50?" Lyria laughed. "Last I heard, you were Level 5. I don't want to dampen your spirits, but it gets slower every time you rank up, Brynn. The chances of hitting 50 as an Iron just while we're in here are probably nonexistent."

"Yeah, well I just hit 30 tonight."

Lyria stopped dead in her tracks, staring with her mouth hanging open. "I would say you're full of shit… but you are you… Gods, Brynn. Really?"

"Yeah. I've been getting to kill a lot of stuff solo. Elites. The outpost with Erasmus. I think if I had three more days I could do it. And I think if I had my full skillset and more of my items, I could take care of a few nobles by myself. I know Kalcus couldn't even beat me when all I used were Mana Shields back in Thrask. But really it's Rake I'm worried about. That man is fucking terrifying, and I don't want to face him without every advantage I can get."

The mention of Rake sobered Lyria up. She nodded. "I think he's nearby. I was going to wait until tomorrow to tell you, but we have lost four scouts since yesterday. Someone is picking them off."

My stomach sank. I knew there was no way to save everybody, but I also knew being part of my team meant even aspirants had no chance of getting saved by the tournament protections. And the slaves were doomed from the start. But if Rake was picking off our scouts, it was because of me. Their deaths were on my shoulders.

But there was no use feeling sorry for them or myself. The only thing I could do was keep pushing. I was doing everything in my power to win this thing and bring as many of the mongrel army along with me for the ride, but I had to accept we weren't all going to make it. Especially not once we took that castle…

When that happened, the shit was going to hit the fan in a very, very dramatic way.