Part One
"It's time to go to the fifth floor."
I couldn't tell if it was nervousness or excitement shared amongst us. When Agatha recovered, a sudden silence struck all of us. We knew that we would have to leave the fourth and move onto the final floor.
"Tomorrow we'll step on the markings and move to the final floor," Agatha said.
Grande and I nodded our heads.
As we laid down to rest, my mind was racing. I couldn't sleep while thinking about what could possibly be on the next floor.
"If this was the state we were left in after the fourth floor, I can only imagine what'll happen on the next floor."
Grande moved over to me and laid down.
"What do ya think is gonna happen?"
"To be honest, I have no clue. I'm totally terrified…but we'll be fine just like we always are."
"Do ya really believe that?"
"Of course, now can we go to sleep?"
I didn't actually think that. It was just wishful thinking at the time. I can't remember when I fell asleep but I definitely remember waking up.
I woke up greeted with a punch from Agatha.
"Ouch! What was that for?" I shouted.
"You need to be on guard at all times," Agatha said.
"It's time to enter the final floor," Agatha said as we walked towards the markings.
I took a deep breath and we stepped on the markings and were sent to the fifth floor.
As we advanced through the fifth floor, we sensed a huge soulforge energy signature.
Reaching the final chamber, we entered to see…
Snowe opened its mouth to reveal an ice sword which Agatha grabbed.
"A wendigo," we whispered in unison.
"I didn't even know these things were real," said Grande.
I couldn't say anything. My mouth was wide open.
"How could we defeat this thing?"
The wendigo was several feet taller than me and had blades for arms. Ice spikes stood up from its lower back up to its shoulders.
The first to jump in was Agatha. She ran in with her ice sword and clashed with the wendigo. The wendigo swung its bladed arms, meeting the swing of Agatha's sword. Agatha was barely holding her own but was clearly on the defensive.
They continued the battle across the room, moving quick enough that I would lose track of them sometimes.
"This creature is strong," Agatha muttered as she caught her breath.
I pressed my palms together and aimed at the wendigo.
"Rock drill!"
The rock drill clanked off the armored body of the wendigo.
"I can't pierce it?"
Grande pointed at the wendigo and tiny ghosts attached to its plated skin. She snapped her finger as Agatha jumped away and dust filled the room.
When the dust settled, the wendigo was completely fine.
"No way ya didn't feel a thing," Grande said in disbelief.
"Stay back, both of you. You'll only get in the way," Agatha shouted as she motioned us away.
Snowe entered the fight with Agatha and they fought in tandem. Snowe sent ice spikes towards the wendigo which it dodged and split.
The wendigo jumped back and dropped its eyes and head. The area around the wendigo became shrouded in an icy mist. Through the shroud emerged a second wendigo.
"A clone," Agatha mumbled.
"Let us help you," Grande pleaded.
Agatha brushed us off and jumped to fight the two wendigo.
She swung her blade and barely managed to dodge the attacks of the two wendigo. She slipped on the ground after avoiding the first wendigo's attack and the second swung at her. As she braced for the impact, Snowe grabbed her and carried her in his mouth.
Grande looked at me and we both nodded our heads. Before we could jump into the fight, we noticed Snowe began swallowing Agatha. When Agatha entered Snowe's stomach, he began to glow.
"Soul Integration stage two," Grande whispered.
Part Two
An ice block formed around Agatha, then cracked. She shattered the ice and stood still. Her appearance had changed, looking more like Snowe with his ice mane on her shoulders and wolf-like teeth. Her soulforge energy expanded greatly.
I didn't even see her move when she took out the clone. A clean slice to the back of the neck and it was down. By sensing the soulforge energy, I could tell the clone was substantially weaker than the original.
She then went to take on the original. Each swing overpowered the wendigo, sending it back a couple feet. The wendigo jumped away and screeched at us. It lunged towards Grande and I. I shoved Grande out of the way and tried creating a sword to block the attack. I was too slow.
I braced myself for the attack but was met with Agatha standing in front of me.
"Move it, Luther."
"I would've died if it weren't for Agatha,"
Before I could finish my thought, Agatha was ambushed by another wendigo.
"It created another clone? When?" I shouted.
Agatha was launched a couple of feet and was clutching her side. Her side was bleeding.
"You're getting in the way," said Agatha.
I've been a liability this whole fight. Even after all this time, I'm not strong enough.
Grande called one of her ghosts to grab me and carry me away.
"We need to help Agatha. We can't just sit here on the sidelines," I said as I turned towards the fight.
Grande grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
"We can't. They're on a whole different level from us, ya know."
"Fine, I'll reach that next level," I said as I summoned Altaro.
"Kyahh," Altaro screeched.
"I know this is the first time for both of us, but we need to help out. I can't just sit on the side and watch Agatha fight this by herself."
I reached my fist out to Altaro and he hesitated at first then reached out his fist.
Our bodies began to glow. Our bodies became engulfed in a fire as they joined. I felt stronger but also more intune with the environment. I was more perceptive. I emerged from the flame with the same markings that were on Altaro.
"Are you gonna try to stop me now?"
Grande remained silent and I charged into the battle.
I created a sword out of Altaro's fire and swung at the clone. A gust of wind went through the room as the shockwave shook the dungeon.
The clone swung with immense power. I couldn't allow myself to get hit. With each dodge, I created a rock drill and ignited it into a flame. As the fiery rock drills built up, I moved back a little. I extended my left arm forward and the fiery rock drill launched at the clone. The drills pierced the plated body of the clone and it disappeared.
"Come over and fight the wendigo with me. Now that the clone isn't there, the wendigo isn't splitting its soulforge energy. It's at full power now," Agatha shouted.
"Extend your right arm towards the wendigo"
"Altaro? I can hear you in my head? Ok I'm listening," I said while reaching my right arm out.
A ball of fire began to form in my palm. The flame developed more, the longer my arm was extended.
I then ran towards the wendigo. It turned to slash me but I managed to slide under its attack. As I slid under it, I kicked it up into the air.
"I didn't know I was that strong"
I took aim at the wendigo and shouted, "Take this!"
The fire ball was released from my palm and enveloped the wendigo.
Boom…
An explosion occurred and amongst the smoke emerged the wendigo. This time it was without the plates on its skin.
"You did it, you broke its armor," Agatha said.
Before I could reply, the wendigo lunged at us. I blocked its first attack but it swung again with its other arm almost landing an attack. Agatha stopped the attack.
"How'd it do that? It was never that fast before."
I created a boulder above the wendigo's head and dropped it while jumping away. The wendigo sliced through the boulder and jumped towards me.
"How is it moving like this?"
I was stuck in the air and couldn't dodge the attack. It kicked me into the dungeon wall.
"It got stronger after I broke its armor? That has to be it. The armor, although it was protection, weighed it down. It couldn't move how it normally would. It's way faster now because it's gone."
"Get up already?" Agatha shouted.
The wendigo leaped towards me. I jumped out of the wall and began running.
"Grande, your ghosts will be able to hurt him now," I shouted.
Grande nodded her head and sent tiny ghosts after the wendigo. The wendigo's speed allowed it to outrun the ghosts as they chased it. It charged towards Agatha while being chased.
Agatha ran towards the wendigo. They each swung at each other and continued running. The wendigo turned and froze the ghosts. Agatha concentrated water at the blade of her sword. She swung the blade. In the middle of the swing, she froze the sword. The swing destroyed the dungeon wall leaving a large slash mark. She fired ice spikes at the wendigo as it ran towards her.
I grabbed my fire sword and threw it towards the wendigo. It turned and dodged the attack. I created a boulder and broke it into rock drills.
"Release!"
The rock drills shot towards the wendigo. It dodged all of them and jumped away. Then, from beneath the ground came an attack. It was the doll. This whole time it had been digging a tunnel beneath the dungeon floor, waiting for the opportunity to surprise attack.
Boom!
The doll's punch from under launched the wendigo into the air.
"Impact!"
The wendigo was then struck with another blow from the doll's ability. Agatha snapped her fingers and the wendigo exploded.
"Grande must've attached her ghosts to the doll so when it punched the wendigo it transferred."
As the wendigo fell towards the ground, Agatha began to speak.
"Life waters, wash all sin away with the swing of this blade."
Her sword turned into water and she raised it above her head. She swung the blade and shouted, "Torrent blade."
The blade sliced the wendigo in half.
We all fell to the ground in relief.
"We did it!" I shouted.
"We won!" Grande shouted.
Part three
As I laid on the ground, I sensed some soulforge energy in the distance. I stood back up immediately just as did Grande and Agatha.
I walked up to a wall and tapped it. I then created an ice sword and sliced open the wall. There was a large room with an altar in the middle. At the altar was a man with white hair and in an all white cloak. He had his hands together and his head was down with his eyes closed.
"He's…praying?"
As we approached, we could feel the intense energy of the man. The man finished his prayer and looked up at us. He released his soulforge and we felt his overwhelming power.
"His energy… it's so intense," Agatha managed to get out.
"You should not be here unless you are a follower of the Great Spirit." He asked.
"Follower of the Great Spirit? I wouldn't say I'm a follower, but he told me to come here, then he told me to not come but ...."
Before I could finish my sentence he appeared directly in front of me.
"How did he move that fast?"
"You hear the whispers of the Great Spirit?" He said as he extended his hand towards me.
"Get down!" Shouted Agatha.
Grande tackled me out of the way. As we moved to safety, I looked to see a beam of light shooting from the hand of the mysterious man.
"He tried to kill me."
Agatha lunged at the man and swung her sword.
Clank…
The sword was stopped by the man's palm. He grabbed it and crushed it. Agatha threw the handle at the man and it stopped before it reached him. She jumped back and Grande snapped her fingers. The explosion had no effect on the man.
"You…you traitor," the man said while pointing at Agatha.
The doll attempted to punch the man but couldn't touch him.
"What's up with this guy?"
The man appeared in front of Agatha and punch her into the ground. He continued to release punches at Agatha until I jumped in and grabbed her.
"Hey Grande, pull out the maps," I said.
"Why? What do ya wanna see?"
"Just do it."
She pulled out the maps and overlayed the two.
"If you overlay the maps of the dungeon and town…there! This is where the inn is and this is where the outpost is."
While pointing at the fifth floor, I said, "And here is where we are in the dungeon. On the town map that would be… under the cathedral?"
"What does this have to do with the cathedral? Are ya sure ya right?"
"Hundred percent."
As we ran, the man appeared in front of us with Agatha in his hands. He extended his hand and tapped Agatha's forehead.
Poof…
She was gone. Agatha disappeared into nothingness.
"Agatha!" I shouted charging at the man. I slipped. I tried to get back up but I couldn't move. I overused soul integration.
Grande picked me up and ran with me.
"We have to get out. Ya need to get up."
The man appeared in front of us, blocking the exit.
"Get strong for me. The next time we meet I want you to be ready."
He extended his hands and tapped our foreheads.
Poof!
We were gone.