Alyx ran from beam to beam, leaping with all her Strength and Dexterity over the gapping chasm below her.

  They were in a long room.

  Far behind her was the door leading back up the stairs to Cass and Fioreya. Marco waited there with Pellen, his head flicking back and forth between Alyx and the stairs.

  Just as far ahead stood Alacrity’s altar. It was a gazebo on a stone outcropping hanging from the room’s far wall. The wall was rough like a natural section of a larger cave, where the walls to either side were smooth brickwork.

  In the gazebo was an altar set before the statue of Alacrity, resplendent in her Dragon’s crown and lightning robes.

  Around the gazebo, a tree grew. Its roots embraced the gazebo’s base and its branches shrouded the gazebo’s glass roof.

  This tree was no plant, however. Instead of leaves, it had blossoms of shimmering crystal, all soft pink and lilac. Their glow lit the room.

  In between the altar and the door, most of the floor was missing, leaving only a yawning pit of endless and dark stretching down forever. Narrow beams crisscrossed the space in between, most running parallel to the room’s length, but none forming an unbroken path from one end to the other. It was on one of these that Alyx now ran.

  Crossing from one side to the other would have been simple enough if it weren’t for the endless barrage of lightning shot across the room at random intervals. Alyx had to make split-second decisions, leaping from one beam to the next to avoid the bolts.

  Alyx ducked around another lightning bolt.

  “Cass!” Salos hissed from Alyx’s shoulder. “Cass! I swear to the broken gods and the deepest abyss!”

  “Is Cass okay?” Alyx asked.

  “Expect company soon,” Salos said instead of answering her question.

  Ominous and vague as usual. But likely correct.

  Alyx pushed herself faster. She didn’t have a Sprint skill or a Concept to aid her movements like Cass, but she had considerable Strength. In most contexts, she was plenty fast for someone who didn’t specialize in it.

  “She will be here any minute,” Salos growled.

  “Fioreya or Cass?” Alyx asked.

  Salos made a frustrated growling noise that answered that question all too well.

  “And where is Cass?” Alyx asked.

  Salos’s claws scraped against Alyx’s armor. Through grit teeth, he said, “I think we will need to pick her up after this.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “Define ‘okay’.”

  “Ah.”

  Behind them, there was a clash of metal and a slam. Alyx glanced over her shoulder.

  Marco had been thrown against a wall. His shield lay on the floor beside him. Fioreya’s swordswoman stood over him, her sword threatening but unraised.

  Fioreya and her archer burst across the abyss, running along the beams after Alyx. They were catching up quickly.

  “GO!” Salos hissed.

  Alyx didn’t need the encouragement. She put her head down and ran.

  “If you let them catch you, I will kill you myself.” He sat on her shoulder, looking back at their pursuers, his tail swishing violently.

  A lightning bolt split the room. Alyx leapt to the beam to her right, her feet skidding over the smooth stone.

  “She is catching up!” Salos flailed on her shoulder. There was a sound of wood snapping. “And they are shooting at you now. Go faster.”

  “I’m not as fast as Cass,” Alyx said between labored breaths. Her considerable Stamina was dropping fast.

  The altar was only a few meters away. She was almost there. Just a little more.

  She could hear Fioreya behind her. The sound of lightning ripped through the space behind her. Targeting Fioreya?

  Her beam ended just ahead. But she was close enough to the outcropping to jump.

  She leapt. Falling through the air, she had a second to look over her shoulder.

  Fioreya was only a dozen steps behind her. Lightning shot from the ceiling onto her cousin, but Fioreya didn’t slow, duck, or dodge. Instead, she lifted her sword. Lightning coursed down the sword and through her body, but she didn’t slow. Instead, she was even faster, her muscles bulging and her eyes glowing.

  As Alyx scrambled to her feet on her landing, Fioreya followed, leaping from the last beam directly for the altar.

  Alyx sprinted on. She couldn’t fail here.

  Not now.

  Not after everything.

  She didn’t know what Cass had done. She didn’t know how Cass could have held Fioreya as long as she had.

  But Cass had delivered this win to her. It was up to Alyx to follow through.

  She skipped the steps up the gazebo, leaping onto the platform in a single bound. She heard the impact of Fioreya behind her.

  The altar stood before her, just as her mother had described it. An orb glowing soft gold lay atop it. Alyx reached for it.

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  Fioreya’s hand reached around her. Past her.

  NO!

  Salos leapt off Alyx’s shoulder, yowling with the rage of an alley cat.

  Alyx stretched. She pushed. Her fingertip brushed against the orb’s surface.

  The world went white.

  Alyx blinked. She stood in a much larger temple of white marble and glowing gold crystals.

  Before her, the statue of the goddess Alacrity moved.

  “Congratulation, Trial Taker,” the image of the goddess said, her voice soft like the satin cover she used to store her mother’s armor. “You have done well to arrive here. The first in over 20 years. I grant you my Blessing.”

  The image of the goddess reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. Where the stone form touched Alyx’s armor, an indescribable heat shot through Alyx’s body. It burned and cut and burrowed. Like lightning through her chest.

  Alyx grit her teeth, trying to ride out the pain. This was a gift. A gift from the most powerful being in all the realm. Perhaps in all the realms together.

  She could take it.

  The pain was spreading. It clutched her heart and slunk down her arms. Down her legs. There wasn’t a part of her that wasn’t on fire.

  And the pain kept increasing.

  It consumed her skin, burned through muscle, and shattered her bones. And still, it burrowed deeper.

  Someone was screaming. Was that her?

  She was no stranger to pain, but this was something else entirely. Like every fiber of her being was being scoured. Pulled apart and then shoved back together again in no particular order.

  And then it was gone.

  Alyx found herself panting on hands and knees before the image of the goddess, her head bowed, her throat stripped.

  A Window floated before her face.

  Major Blessing of Alacrity granted

  [You have proven yourself worthy of She of Stunning Brilliance and Striking Inspiration’s attention. She has granted you the right to bind with her chosen people: the dragons. Additionally, she has granted you the following boons:

  + 27% Ala

  + 9% Str

  + 9% Dex

  + 9% End ]

  The statue stared down at Alyx. Something about her gaze was more forceful. Like the weight of the sky pressed down on Alyx’s shoulders. She couldn’t move.

  “Your achievement is impressive,” the goddess said, her voice more real than it had been a moment before. “Worthy of my name, perhaps. Tell me, how do you evaluate your chances of claiming a dragon?”

  Alyx inhaled sharply. “I have your Blessing, can I lose?”

  The goddess laughed. “An excellent answer. You have taken my blessing, but I sense you do not hold me as your patron. I am willing to hear your oath should you like to rectify this now. I am prepared to reward you handsomely.”

  Alyx’s hands curled into fists against the floor. She still couldn’t push herself up. Was it the aftereffects of the pain or the goddess’s presence that held her low?

  “Thank you for your offer,” Alyx said, her words slow and measured. This was madness, what she was doing. It wasn’t every day that a god personally offered to become a person’s patron. And it wasn’t like Endurance had ever granted Alyx anything specifically. There was no real reason to remain faithful. And yet…

  “Hold your hand over your heart like this,” Alyx’s mother said to young Alyx. They stood in the city’s temple, just the two of them in the alcove for She of Twisting Paths and Fortuitous Meetings, the goddess’s statue stood in front of them, her wings spread wide, her body breaking free of a nest of vines.

  Young Alyx followed her mother’s example, placing her right hand on her chest, just below her neck.

  “Do you feel your heartbeat?” her mother asked. “The rise and fall of your lungs?”

  Little Alyx wasn’t sure, but she nodded all the same.

  Behind her, she could hear the rustle of movement in other parts of the temple. They were the only ones here for Endurance, yet the temple was full of motion for Alacrity.

  “That’s the movement of life,” her mother said.

  …and yet, Alyx couldn’t bear the thought of abandoning her mother’s goddess. Alyx shook her head. “I cannot accept your gracious offer.”

  The goddess clicked her tongue. “Really?”

  Alyx nodded again. “I appreciate your guidance and care, but I cannot devote myself to your way.”

  “Stubborn child,” the goddess muttered. “Like mother, like daughter, I suppose. To lose two ceremonies in a row, to Endurance both times?” Louder, more directly to Alyx, she said, “You are certain? I have more than simple patronage in mind.”

  “I am.”

  “I am looking for a Champion,” the goddess continued. “Surely you’ve noticed things are stirring in the world? Things are about to change. Become my Champion and stand at the forefront of that change.”

  The quest notification popped up again.

  Limited Quest: Alacrity’s Champion

  [Turbulent times come to the Fractured Skies. She of Stunning Brilliance and Striking Inspiration desires a Champion to face them. You have descended to the ninth floor of Her unhallowed halls before your competitors and earned Her favor.

  You need only accept.]

  Reward: Title (Alacrity’s Champion)

  Champion. It was a title of honor and power. Real and considerable.

  By accepting, she would immediately become one of the most important people in Vaisom. Perhaps second only to the Grand Duchess herself. Her voice would be that of the goddess.

  Refusing was unthinkable.

  And yet. “What would you ask of your Champion?”

  Alacrity smirked. “That they do my will. That they slay my enemies. That they collect renown in my name. Any more is for my Champion alone to know.”

  And yet.

  Nothing was free.

  Could she bind herself to the goddess’s service?

  Could she do that and regain the honor of her mother’s name?

  Could she do that and repay Cass?

  Conventional wisdom said power should make it easier. Power should place her every desire in her reach.

  And yet, “Thank you for this honor, but I cannot accept. I cannot swear myself to any god in that way right now.”

  “Hm, fine,” the goddess muttered. “You will not receive a second chance.”

  “I understand,” Alyx assured her.

  “Then take your blessing and go,” the goddess said. The world twisted around Alyx and she was again standing before the altar to Alacrity at the bottom of her Catacombs.

  Fioreya shoved her aside, pushing her from the orb and touching it herself.

  Her eyes flashed blue, her body tensed, and then it was over. Something was different about her in a way Alyx couldn’t name.

  Fioreya looked down at her hands. They trembled. “Amazing.” Her head swiveled to Alyx, still lying in shock on the floor. Confusion flashed across Fioreya’s face. “You won?”

  Alyx nodded, swallowing a rising tension in her chest.

  “But she offered to make me her Champion?” Fioreya said.

  Ah. Alacrity hadn’t been joking when she’d said she would not offer it again.

  “You refused?” Fioreya asked, putting together the pieces.

  Alyx nodded.

  “Why?”

  Alyx shrugged. “I have other things I need to do.”

  “Like what?” her cousin asked.

  Alyx shrugged. She didn’t know how to explain her decision to herself, she didn’t even try to explain it to Fioreya.

  Alyx pushed herself back up to her feet. She and Fioreya stared at one another for a long moment. “What now?”

  “Let’s just get out of here,” Fioreya said. “You won this challenge. But we’ll have to see who can impress the dragons in the tournament.”

  Alyx nodded, her hand relaxing off her sword’s hilt.

  Fioreya and her archer hopped back the way they’d come.

  Alyx looked around for Salos but didn’t see him anywhere. Knowing him, he’d gone straight back to Cass.

  Alyx groaned. What exactly had Cass done to hold Fioreya back?

  Patreon, so if you would like to binge read the last six chapters, or would like to support me, you can do so now!

  After wrapping up book 2, I will be taking a short 2 week hiatus to finish preparing book 3, The Copper Crescent, for you all. I will be back here on Royal Road on January 4th, with the same Monday, Wednesday, Saturday release schedule!