Melanie bit her lip, about to say something, but held it back and just nodded. Roy rode past her, and she fell in line alongside Felix and Tinuriel. He began to tell the history of the world as he remembered it.

 

The center of this Universe, Heficyre, was the Soul Spire. It existed before everything else. All around was the Azure Expanse, and below was Primal Chaos. A sun and moon orbited the structure, always on opposite sides. A rift opened at the top of the Soul Spire, and the Heavenly Realms came into existence. The gods within created the Eternal City atop the Soul Spire, and drew up a single, five-foot diameter pole from the spire that ascended to their realm. This gave them the ability to shape the power within and make souls. Once they had souls, they made people.

The Dark Lord was one of the first people to be created. He along with the rest of the first people used their combined will to draw up the Primal Chaos and form the first Tier, on the same level as the top of the Soul Spire, and given the name Ethdellin. The gods left things well enough alone, and those people reproduced and had children. This continued until there were too many for the Tier to support, and so their strongest-willed collaborated and created another Tier from the Primal Chaos. This continued over hundreds and thousands of years until eventually there were ten Tiers. Some of the Tiers collapsed, and thus their mass was added to the one above or below. That was why some Tiers were much larger than others.

Five hundred years ago, Dirge, the fourth Tier was granted by lineage to the Dark Lord. A skilled mage and warrior from Ethdellin who wanted to found his own kingdom of equality and peace. Over the next century, he garnered many allies and converts. This infuriated the other Tiers who – for the most part – relied upon either class or caste systems to ensure order. They schemed together and banded their forces. They assaulted Dirge and killed the Dark Lord.

 

“But my soul lived on. The Soul Spire sucked it up, and eventually I was reborn. But the memories were locked away. I believe that some deity intervened in that part, and shoved the remainder of my soul into the sword that my father forged before I was born.”

Melanie frowned, “That doesn’t give me any comfort that there won’t be war.”

Roy smiled, “I may have glazed over it, but those allies and converts? At the time that was over eighty percent of the population of the Tiers. Those who willingly cast off the shackles of oppression. The rich and powerful, those like your ancestors, desired my death. In the war where I died, I fought against angels sent by the gods from the Heavenly Realms, possessing strong warriors and magi alike. If not for that, then I would have had a relatively bloodless conversion of the Tiers.”

“That does not make sense,” Tinuriel stated. “The gods don’t interfere with affairs on Heficyre. They simply dwell in the Heavenly Realms and monitor the flow of souls, do they not?”

Roy shook his head, “That is true. I don’t know why they chose to intervene. I’d imagine those on Ethdellin had something to do with it.” He turned to Melanie, “That’s where you come in. If Felix and Tinuriel can get you up there, then you can prevent the gods from getting involved.”

Felix looked over at Melanie, “You can talk to gods?”

She looked flustered but nodded, “I don’t know how Roy knows, but yes. The royal families – Parslia, Ventorus, and Remarda – all can speak to the gods from the throne room.”

“And you have all of those last names,” Felix stated.

“Which means that you are not just some rightful heir, but the queen of all Heficyre,” Lucifer followed up audibly.

Melanie shook her head, “Just Ethdellin. Each Tier manages its affairs.” She glared at Roy, “How did you know that I could speak to the gods by right of blood?”

“I’ve been around since the beginning. Since the three kings established their bloodlines. Over time they intermarried, and now there is one bloodline – yours.”

Felix glanced at Tinuriel, whispering to her, “Did you know we were traveling with that level of royalty?”

She shook her head, returning the whisper, “No. But does that change anything concerning our tasks?”

“Not really,” he muttered. He spoke up so his words could reach his other two allies, “What can we expect on Dirge?”

“A land of those who escaped the tyranny of the other Tiers. There are also plenty of monsters who I had invited to stay. They probably stuck around. I may have to remind them who is in charge. It will take us three days from the lift to arrive at my old citadel.”

---

They reached the Dark Ascent, a heavily secured city that had an elevator that would go up to the next Tier. They were stopped, but a quick flash of Felix’s wings was enough to convince them to let the group through. The security was tight, and they were surrounded by a group of one-hundred men as the elevator ascended.

The sunlight shifted as they arrived at Dirge, becoming an odd, grey light.

Roy explained that the Tier was formed with the intent to not have the harsh rays of light be able to harm any of the inhabitants. Goblins, ogres, ghouls, vampires – any type of creature who sought equality and refuge was allowed, and the Dark Lord forced the Tier to conform to accommodate them. They rode their mounts off the lift and it rapidly descended. Cracked stone traced a path to the next cliff marking the ascent of the next Tier.

“It’s only a thirty-mile ride to the cliff. But I want to take another route.” Roy led their group from the cracked stone ground, and they went through gorgeous fields of dark, green grass that reached up to their feet. Lush, rolling hills cascaded out before them, and winding rivers and creeks crossed the landscape. Felix could only compare it to pictures of Iceland he had seen online. Occasional mountains poked up through the distant haze that muddied long-distance vision. “There is an old armory on the way to my citadel. Only I can unlock the vault. But it contains useful tools that my servants sealed away – or were commanded to seal away, I should say.”

Tinuriel smiled, “Does that mean you plan on giving us more gear of a magical nature?”

“That’s right. But more importantly, we need to protect Melanie. There should be a necklace in there – one that allows her to designate a person to take any injuries on her behalf. I can attune her to it, and then set the designated receptor as myself.”

“That’s very noble,” Felix said. And foolish. Why would you redirect harm to yourself? He could have asked me or Tinuriel instead.

Love makes you do dumb things.

Felix glanced sideways at Tinuriel. Good thing I fell for an Amazonian elf warrior then. I don’t need to protect her. He smiled softly at the thought. But then the realization hit him, he had just admitted to himself that he had grown to love this woman. And that gave him pause. He’d been in love before – a few times – but every time things didn’t work out. This disquieted him, and he traveled in contemplative silence.

The landscape slowly shifted until they entered a sparse forest. The trees were wide-spread, and Tinuriel seemed to relax more being surrounded by the large trunks and the leaves overhead. But Felix felt on edge. There was something off about the forest. He looked around trying to figure out what it could be. “Detect Hostiles.”

The golden light limned every tree around him, and he pulled his knife out, “Roy, are the trees alive?” Tinuriel pulled her weapon at the same time, seeing the limning golden light as well.

“Yes, they are trees-”

“No. I mean able to move. Attack.”

“I don’t think-”

A tree branch swung down and crushed the side of Roy’s horse, sending it hurtling into another tree’s trunk and breaking its back. Roy was pinned by the horse and the tree, somehow able to get a grip on his weapon as the silver-grey light exploded outward. “Enough! I am the lord of this Tier!” The roots of the tree began to rise and crush down, and he screamed out in pain.

The trees did not seem to care for his proclamation, and Melanie, in a panic, took off at a gallop, her horse faster than the trees could swing at them. Tinuriel kicked her mount after her, shouting at Felix, “Get Roy!” She carved through the branches that swung at her and deftly maneuvered her mount around the trunks that sought to close in.

Felix tried his best to turn the horse and push it towards Roy, but he was not nearly as deft of a hand at horsemanship, and a tree branch crashed into him, flinging him off the horse.

The animal took off after Tinuriel and Melanie before it was grabbed by one of the other trees and its neck snapped. The horse's body collapsed, and the roots slowly emerged to feed on it.

Felix ended up tumbling end over end before crashing into another tree, gasping as the wind was knocked out of him like he’d been punched in the solar plexus. He barely rolled out of the way as an enormous root ripped out of the ground and tried to grab him. Dashing over to Roy, he used his high Might Stat to lift the horse off of him, and with the load on his shoulder, he used the knife to cut away at the root, freeing the Dark Lord. He dashed forward, grabbing Felix by the scruff of the neck, and pull him up as the root snapped down on the horse before sucking it underground.

Roy turned to face the encroaching trees that were slowly moving closer, their roots surging up through the ground. “Ideas?”

I can’t fly because then we’ll be going through the branches. Use Affinity Empowerment.

Roger.

“Hellfire Burst!”

Affinity Empowerment.

The world exploded in crimson and black flames. They surged harmlessly around Roy and Felix, but the trees within one hundred feet were burned to a crisp and the ones further beyond were lit aflame. Felix used the opportunity to activate Fallen Flight.

But nothing happened.

“Why can’t I fly?” He asked.

Roy shook his head, “A rule I instilled into the Tier when I made it. No flying. It would make assault too easy.”

Smart for a military-minded person. It’s okay, you’ve got plenty of resources.

Felix glanced over at Roy, “Why can’t you control them? Aren’t they part of your Tier?”

“No. These must be the descendants of some tree folk who joined me on the Tier. They are not under my control. And I doubt they share their ancestors’ intelligence. We must fight our way out.”

Felix looked down at his knife, “This isn’t going to cut it.”

Literally.

Roy nodded, “Allow me.” He put his hand up, “Imbue our weaponry with my might.” His sword exploded into the silvery-grey flames, and Felix’s knife did the same – the length extending as well.

Oh, that’s a Magic/Power you could use. I'm adding it to your set. Netherlight Blade.

Roy took off running after the girls, and Felix followed right behind. As they reached the edge of the scorched forest, the branches resumed their assault, lashing out towards them. The two cut through the offending appendages as they pressed forth. Felix felt his blood pounding in his veins and through his hands, as he cut over and over into the foliage. The roots below them attempted to wind up to trip and grab them, and Felix used his Agility Stat to deftly jump from clear spot to clear spot. Roy used brute force to just push his way through.

After thirty seconds of running, jumping, chopping, and dodging – they exited the tree line and saw – to Felix’s relief – Tinuriel and Melanie waiting for them. Tinuriel was on foot, sword at the ready, and she visibly relaxed as the two ran into view. Felix put his hands on his knees, panting before he glanced back. The trees were slowly – ponderously – moving towards them. “We…lost…horses.”

Tinuriel looked at the remaining two mounts and frowned, “We can double up, but our pace will be slowed.”

Roy sheathed his blade and his Dark Lord form faded. “This Tier is more dangerous to us than I anticipated. We must be on our guard.”

Felix had caught his breath and looked around. They were no longer in the sparse forest, but instead in some type of lowland, with steeper rolling hills.

Tinuriel’s ears twitched and she turned to face the forest again, “Something is coming.”

Felix swapped to his bow and pulled the string back, the ray of hardlight manifesting in his grip. Roy re-equipped his blade, and Melanie moved even further back with the two remaining horses. The trees began to move aside as colossal mount of dirt, moss, branches, and wood emerged from the tree line. It surged towards them.

Out of the frying pan…