Luckily, I had plenty of distractions.
Rolling my eyes at the sound of grumbling, I zoomed down to see what Benin was whining about this time. As ever, the source of his complaining—which was far more good-natured than it used to be—was the pair of scavengers, whom he’d caught yet again going through his things.
However, this time it appeared he had not caught Swift and Cheer in the act of stealing his chemsphere, but in bringing it back to him. He seemed taken aback when he realized this, and after an uncertain pause, he said, “You know what? You can keep it.”
They remained standing there, knees trembling under the weight of the sphere, forced grins fixed on their faces. Cursing, Benin knelt, took it from them, then immediately handed it back, pointing from himself to the chemsphere to indicate it was a gift. Their faces lit up in understanding, and they scurried back down to their lair quickly as though afraid he’d change his mind.
Swift and Cheer had been the first to venture back down to the magma-pit cavern—which I’d dubbed the Gnexus—and during their explorations they’d found a workshop. Among the Gnexus’s extensive series of caverns—the entire place really was a maze—the ones adopted by Swift and Cheer were filled with metal contraptions and shelves of tablets containing diagrams and instructions. The scavengers had already begun tinkering, disassembling, their eyes alight with wonder and curiosity.
Ket, too, had squealed in delight at the workshop. The way she flitted from room to room, touching surfaces and critically examining half-assembled objects, made me certain she was familiar with this place, though I had no idea how that could be possible. I still sensed confusion and conflicting emotions from her, though, and decided to give her some time to come to terms with them. My questions could come later. That would also give me more time to digest my own recent revelations.
A tug at the edge of my consciousness alerted me to an intelligent presence entering my Sphere. I frowned. The presence was unfamiliar. It was followed by two others.
They’d entered my Sphere halfway up the main trail, which meant the warriors on patrol there would soon challenge them if they hadn’t already. If they were no threat, the warriors would send them on up here with an escort. I didn’t have to bother myself personally with it until that point. All I had to do was wait.
But the arrival of strangers so soon after our settlement made me uneasy, and I sped down to where the new arrivals stood on the trail.
When I saw them, the bottom dropped out of me and I felt like I was falling.
It can’t be…
Three figures dressed in ragged attire stood on the trail, their hands raised in the air. All three were a head taller than the gnomish warriors that barred their way, shields raised, spears pointed firmly at the intruders. Their knuckles were white where they clutched their weapons. Every one of them was clearly on edge. And with good reason.
The figure at the head of the trio tilted its crocodilian snout toward where I floated above and behind my warriors. Crimson scales flashed in the sunlight.
The edges of my vision fuzzed with darkness.
“Hello again, little god,” said Grimrock. “We need to talk.”
A Message From Portal Books
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