Time lost all meaning as Henry made his way through the seemingly endless hallways and rooms of the great castle. Orcs and Hobgoblins abounded in such numbers he thought it impossible he had not yet been overwhelmed. Somehow he persisted, slaying more and more with every swing of his blade. By the time he reached his fourth barracks, the rush of essence had entirely healed his shoulder and he was casting his [Chivalrous Lightning] as though it was free. All fell to Caliburn’s edge and the lightning blasts of his abilities. The level of power was shocking, to the point he had gained more abilities.

  Ability Unlocked: [Dragon’s Breath]

  Ability Unlocked: [Dragon’s Claw]

  The blade no longer felt awkward in one hand, his strength was such that it felt natural to swing it in his right, while his left grew inch long, black claws from the tips of each finger that tore through the foe like they were made of paper. It certainly felt odd to have claws, and even more so to breathe a jet of flame from his mouth, but perhaps the tower was dampening his panic and allowing him to simply accept his newfound growth. His skin had begun to itch after perhaps the hundredth orc had died and he knew he likely would hate what he saw when the opportunity came, but for now he simply focused on the killing.

  His storage ring was filled with Tower Stones, enough that he was sure he’d be able to commission new armour when he got through this challenge. Getting through was the problem, it seemed however far he went there was no end to the castle. He had found a half dozen orcs that were larger than their compatriots and had the title of Lieutenant, but none had truly felt like a guardian. In fact the more Essence he absorbed, the more he felt like he could sense the quantities in creatures and the more certain he became that he could feel the location of the Guardian, but always just further ahead.

  He had been moving for nearly eight hours now, and no matter how strong he became, the fatigue was beginning to set in. The constant vigilance and excessive use of his abilities was draining his stamina and he knew he only had maybe an hour more left before he’d have to find somewhere to rest, away from the constant onslaught of enemies. It was just as he was about to collapse that a door appeared, unblemished and made of good iron bound oak, and swung inwards, revealing a throne room.

  Inside was a creature Henry had never seen before. Where the orcs were tall and muscular, this creature was gargantuan. It stood at least nine feet tall, possibly ten, with two heads and broad shoulders that would almost fill a castle gate. Its body was encased in a layer of fat that gave it an almost tear drop shape despite its width, and it held what could only be described as a tree trunk in one meaty hand in lieu of a true mace. It’s four eyes turned on Henry’s form as he entered, cruel smiles appearing on both of its heads.

  “Well, well, well, it’s been a long time since a tasty morsel so willingly walked into our lair.” The beast said. Henry felt a cold chill shudder its way down his spine at the voice, there was an oddly wet quality to it, and the fact that it was mirrored by each head gave it a sort of twisted harmonisation that he did not appreciate.

  “And who are you?” He asked the beast, earning a loud laugh.

  “The food talks as though it has earned our name.” It spat back before swinging its club across its body, the length and speed making it almost impossible for Henry to avoid. He dove to the right, rolling over his shoulder and rising to send a blast of [Chivalrous Lightning] at the creature. It was more effective against groups, but it could still hit hard enough solo. At least that was the thought process for Henry before he saw the blast only lightly tinge the creature’s skin red. Henry swore as he saw how little impact his ability had before rolling again, under another massive swing. He leapt to his feet inside the monster’s guard and struck out with Caliburn, watching in horror as the blade barely cut the giant’s skin, a trickle of blood the only reward for his blow.

  “And first blood to the gnat,” the beast roared with laughter, its whole frame shaking, creating waves of the fat layer that rolled down its torso.

  “That deserves a reward, I am Gorshak the Ogrelord.”

  Henry groaned, a monster with a name, and an ogre at that, he had the worst luck. His hand tightened over Caliburn’s hilt, and his claws lengthened.

  “Well met Gorshak, I am Sir Henry Strathfield, and I will see you dead.”

  Capitalising on the ogre’s distraction Henry unleashed his flaming breath, a cone of crimson flames washing over Gorshak’s hide. While the heat was stronger than his [Chivalrous Lightning], his [Dragon’s Breath] still fell short of truly hurting his foe. Gorshak’s skin blackened and sloughed off in a few places, but not anything truly life threatening on the ogre. Henry could already see where the bone was enlarging to cover the worst of the wounds and making Gorshak even more durable.

  The fight had lasted several minutes already and had been reduced to Henry dodging the massive swings of the ogre and occasionally scratching its hide either by blade or by claw. Finally Henry’s exhaustion made itself known as he landed poorly on a slightly uneven flagstone and slipped. He saw the club coming and activated [Dragon’s Hide], his body growing a second skin of blue scales in an instant, just as his world exploded in agony.

  Bones broke and blood filled Henry’s mouth as he collided with the stone wall of the ogre’s throne room. The copper tang of his own life running over his tongue, Henry cursed his own weakness.

  Conditions Met

  [Caliburn] has activated

  [Dragon’s Hide], [Dragon’s Claws] and [Dragon’s Breath] present.

  [Caliburn] gains [Will of the Lady]

  Ability Unlocked [Evolution]

  Henry’s world changed again as his bones broke again and again as they transformed all over his body. His arms lengthened into strong legs to match his back legs, his body grew in length and width as more scales emerged, thicker and harder than those his ability generated. Horns sprouted from his skull as his maw lengthened and wings emerged from his back in glorious blue and black, with purple lightning crackling across every inch of his new, monstrous form.

  A dozen of the leaves from Caliburn’s hilt rotated around his horns like a fae crown, each glistening like they’d been doused in the morning dew. A ghostly woman with elven features appeared at his shoulder and raised her hand towards Gorshak. The ogre’s legs turned to stone immediately and the curse continued to creep forward, albeit by only a fraction of an inch per second.

  Henry felt his maw open as a colossal blast of lightning crashed through his fangs and detonated on the ogre’s chest.

  You have slain [Gorshak the Ogrelord, Lord of the Infinite Castle]

  Essence Distributed.

  The essence that washed over him was like a soothing ocean, incredibly vast and all consuming. He barely noted the change as his body returned to normal, or at least close to normal. His back and arms were still coated in light blue scales, and his eyes remained slitted and his horns remained over his brow. The crash as he realised his energy levels had entirely bottomed out hit him like a poleaxe and his body trembled naked on the cold stones of the throne room.

  The tremors shook his whole frame and his head cracked off the stones, causing yet another cut to appear on his scalp and blood to drip to the floor. Two large hands held him in place, one on his shoulder and another on his hip.

  “Easy, easy lad, you did brilliantly, breath deeply now.” The voice was deep and rhythmic, and Henry focused on it, anything to stop himself sliding back into unconsciousness. A green light emanated from the hands and sunk into his tired muscles and restored his reserves enough to stop the seizing of his body. Enough so that Henry opened his eyes and looked into the hooded face of an old hermit in a cloak of oak leaves with horns poking above his brow looking down at him.

  “There you are, good boy, now collect your reward and we’ll be on our way.” The old man’s voice was like music and it calmed Henry’s heart, bringing him forth from his stupor to approach the glowing reward distortion that hovered over the body of the ogre. His feet unsteady as he limped over and extended a hand.

  Obtained Item

  [Scale of Thunder] (Material, Epic)

  Infused with lightning and the power of the storm, this scale can be used to craft items with a storm affinity

  “Excellent, that’s a good reward, bring it with us and I will have a friend fashion it into some new armour for you, you’ll need it.” The hermit said as he led the way to the newly appeared exit from the challenge. Henry, still in a daze, limped after the man, scale clenched firmly in his hand.

  “I didn’t realise the second floor was going to be such a massive jump in difficulty from the first floor.” Henry muttered as they passed through the portal and onto a cobblestone road that led through a collection of castle gates on either side.

  “It’s not, it’s actually a very steady increase in difficulty for the first few floors, but this is the fifth floor,” The man’s green eyes met Henry’s with just a hint of sheepishness.

  “I got impatient waiting for you and brought you up further, I had intended to let you simply kill a few of the patrols and see how you did, but then you kept going and you sparked my interest, I’d have intervened if I thought you were going to die.” Henry’s eyes widened in shock.

  “You can skip floors?” He asked in shock.

  “No wonder the essence felt so much stronger.”

  “Every fifth floor is a spike, both in difficulty, size and rewards, for what’s about to happen you needed the push,” The old man said as he led the way through the only gate that was open revealing the floor’s central village, although this one was much larger and more active than the first floor one Henry had seen. It was then that a thought that had been gnawing at his mind subconsciously finally made itself known and Henry froze in the gateway.

  “Wait, you were impatient, does that mean you are?” Henry almost choked on the words.

  “Yes, yes the once and future king, blah, blah, blah, hurry up and follow me inside and keep your mouth shut until then, I’m incognito down here.” Arthur pushed through the crowds with little in the way of gentleness before leading them to a small stone house and opening the door. Once inside he turned and waited for Henry so that he could close the door and remove his cloak of vines. He hung the cloak on a wall peg with a sigh, and Henry watched in wonder as the man’s form changed completely. His hair was a mane that hung past his shoulders in ringlets, and his beard full and lustrous, both the colour of a true crimson. Matching scales decorated his cheek bones and black horns thrust forth from his brow, over yellow eyes with slitted pupils and fangs that jutted past his lower lip. His back straightened and his deep barrel chest broadened into the true form of the great Celtic man himself. On his hip rode a very familiar hilt though unlike Henry’s own Caliburn, this one had a broader blade with a shorter length and was instead designed to be used one handed as the swords of Arthur’s time had been.

  Arthur looked Henry over and his eyes alighted on the seed he had planted now on Henry’s hip.

  “Ah I had wondered what it would look like, once you pass a certain point in the tower you’ll learn how to craft a seed from a growth item to be rewarded to someone, it’s usually done by the gods to see their next selves, but even at Demigod status I can do it, it just takes longer and the energy requirements can be a bit debilitating, Merlin still hasn’t forgiven me for slowing our climb.” The father of Briton said.

  “Oh don’t put that on me Arthur, I was content, we have all the time in the world to climb,” another voice said from across the room. Henry was shocked to discover they weren’t alone, two other men sat by the fireplace. The one who had spoken was obviously Merlin in his deep blue robe with matching scales and draconic features to Arthur, although Merlin’s scales were white. While being confronted by the greatest sorcerer in England’s history was shocking, it was the second man that brought Henry up short. He was the one man in the room who wasn’t English and was in fact considered an enemy of the Britons of the modern era.

  Noticing Sir Henry’s look the man smiled and raised his hands palm out, standing he was almost the same height as Henry but his hair was blonde and his eyes sapphire. He wore a long surcoat of crimson with three small shields of black arranged across his chest, with a golden star pinned to his shoulder as if Henry needed any further identifying marks for the man who was considered the best knight in Christendom and perhaps the best lance in the world; Ser Geoffroi de Charny. The man quite literally wrote the book on chivalry and despite his status as a Frenchman was considered a hero by most English knights as well.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Please forgive me for staring monsieur de Charny.” Henry said with a bow.

  “Ah right, this would seem a little awkward for you both, Geoffroi, this is Henry, he’s going to stop the prince.” Arthur said bluntly. Henry’s head slammed around in shock.

  “You want me to betray England?” He exclaimed. Arthur waved his hand as if at an annoying bug.

  “Oh don’t be foolish, I need you to stop a calamity, it is not the prince’s fault, but he will fall when he reaches this floor, his Aspect will corrupt him as it has done countless times on every earth before this one, and he will become a threat to every living thing outside the Seed.” Arthur yelped in pain as Merlin swatted him on the head with a staff he had conjured to his hand.

  “You are explaining this badly, the boy has no notion of what you’re saying and would of course leap to treason, this is exactly why I made you give up the throne.” Merlin’s words were stern and all at once Henry saw the tutor and student in the pair. Arthur had the grace to raise his hands in surrender and look apologetically at Henry.

  “Forgive me Henry, I have not been the most social man since I abandoned the world to focus on my climb, let me start from the beginning, what do you know of the God Seed?” He asked.

  “It’s a gift from the Sky People, a way for our gods to gain power and shepherd us forward.” Henry answered by rote.

  “That’s the official story we disseminate to the populace, but it’s not entirely true, what are gods?”

  “Immortal, divine beings who create us and lead us and protect us from the demons of hell.”

  “That one is wrong, while immortal and extremely powerful the gods are not creators of the universe or anything so dramatic, they are neither omnipotent or omniscient, they are merely men and women who had the drive and will to ascend to the ninety first floor and earn their godhood, and they are just versions of others who had already done it before, this world is one of an infinite number of earths that exist across what they call the multiverse. An infinite number of Henry’s have existed and will exist as you undoubtedly can surmise from whatever title you got when you killed your first foe in the God Seed.” Arthur’s words sounded strange as they were said so matter of factly and yet they dismantled what was considered Henry’s reality.

  “There’s more I can’t and won’t share with you until you achieve immortality yourself, but that’s a ways off yet, for now you need to understand that everything that is about to happen has happened before and will undoubtedly happen again, we are just living our version of it. This doesn’t make the outcome certain or less unique in its own way, it just gives us an idea of what is likely and what can contribute to the outcome we desire.” Arthur’s eyes grew distant as he sat on his own chair.

  “I’ve had the opportunity to speak to one of my counterparts from another universe, he was almost my twin, but blonde, imagine that?” He shook his head.

  “The point is, the indicators have already happened so that we know what is about to happen, and young Edward has received an Aspect he can not control and it is already eating at his mind.” Arthur placed his face in his hands.

  “And there is nothing I can do to prevent it coming to pass, but we can ensure that the greatest tragedy doesn’t happen, with your help. We higher floor climbers are forbidden from simply ending the threat, the GSEC, sorry the Sky People, have very strict rules around how we are able to deal with certain threats, but I am allowed to help you grow capable of ending the threat here and now, before Edward gains any traction, should you accept this help, Ser Geoffroi will teach you to be a better swordsman, I will teach you to control and hone your new power as a dragon and Merlin shall give you the rudiments of spellcraft, between the three of us and the dwarf who will craft your new armour artifact, you will have a chance at ending the Prince’s reign of terror.” Henry’s eyes had grown wider and wider at the explanation until the end when his eyes snapped to Geoffroi.

  “Well of course the Frenchman would want to see the prince dead.” He all but spat.

  “Henri, please, despite what he may think King Jean no longer can count me as his liegeman, after this I will challenge the twenty-fifth floor and leave behind the mortal world, I am merely a knight intent on protecting that mortal world before I ascend.” Geoffroi’s voice was calm and resolute.

  “You won’t simply return an immortal warlord?” Henry asked in surprise.

  “Henry, how many people do you think reach immortality?” Arthur asked.

  “One every five or six generations, everyone is convinced there’ll never be another god at this point.” Henry answered once more as if by rote.

  “What if I told you there were people completing the twenty-fifth floor every day?” Arthur asked with a smile.

  “Because there are, but once that happens they tend to remain within the Seed, because it is at that level that many truths are revealed, and suddenly the worldly politics of Europe don’t mean much,” Merlin answered.

  “Eventually such things will be revealed to you as well Henry, I have no doubt, but for now we have a bigger problem, in the Prince, and make no mistake his Aspect will make him powerful, even with everything we can teach you here, you’re going to have a fight on your hands, which is why I skipped you ahead to the fifth floor, you are going to conquer this floor and build your foundation with stronger essence than the prince will have, so get some sleep, this house has been made available to you as well, and after you’ve rested, Geoffroi will begin your instruction, I will return in three days from my own climb, once I do we begin your training as a dragon.” Arthur rose and threw his cloak over his shoulders and Merlin rose with him.

  “Good luck gentlemen,” Merlin said by way of goodbye and then they were gone, leaving Henry alone with the French knight.

  “He’s right, you need the rest, a couple more floors and you’ll barely need to sleep, but for now rest and we’ll get started in the morning.” Geoffroi rose in turn and left the house. With an exhausted sigh Henry moved closer to the fireplace and shrugged off his maille. He took the time to unbuckle his leg and arm harness and stack them inside each other like cord wood before finally easing his tortured body down beside the warmth of the fire. Despite the lack of a bed he was asleep before his head touched the floor, it had truly been a long day.

  ******************************

  The newly minted Sir John frowned as he looked around the village of the second floor, the entry challenge had not been strenuous in the least, no more so than any of the later first floor challenges had been. Yet he had to face the fact that Sir Henry had never made it, a shock to the collective system of the entire vanguard. The man had an epic level artifact and was by all accounts a great man-at-arms, to think he hadn’t made it was bordering on the farcical.

  “Should I ask around again Captain?” asked Tom, the veteran archer was likewise stunned and surprisingly mindful of his Captain’s mood.

  “No, as much as it pains me, the lad should have been here by now unless he’s jumped straight into extra challenges, and I can’t see him doing that without first securing a hut, for now let’s let the Prince know we’re here and he’s good to advance.” Sir John answered, his copper and grey brows heavy with concern.

  “Aye captain,” Tom answered, gesturing for one of the others to run for the portal. He watched as Sir John began to pace, his hand dancing on the hilt of his new artifact, the sword was rather plain except for a golden star engraved on the wheel of the pommel. They’d all been lucky in their remaining first floor challenges and secured some low level artifacts. For himself, Tom had received a quiver that generated arrows, all with a random elemental affinity that caused extra damage; it had proven useful against larger foes.

  Sir John’s sword was a mystery though, the captain had just said that it was a good sword, and not hinted at any ability it may have. Tom frowned deeper, he’d known John since he was a boy, when the man had fled his tailoring apprenticeship and taken up with the army as an archer, he’d never known him to be as closed off as this, at least not with his archer comrades. Sir John Hawkwood was changing, and Tom wasn’t sure he liked what he was growing into.

  ******************************

  Henry was unsure how long he had slept for when he finally rose, but it had to have been longer than intended as he felt refreshed like he hadn’t in weeks on the march to Sanctuary. When he rolled to get to his feet expecting to see his stacked armour where he’d left it, he instead saw nothing, his maille and plate were gone. In an instant he was on his feet and sprinting for the door. As he exited he saw Ser Geoffroi sitting just outside with a dwarf, the heavyset man with thick brows and a prodigious beard of grey, burn spotted hairs, looked completely at ease with the French knight. Beside them were a collection of wicker panniers.

  His abrupt entry caused both men to turn and regard him with dark eyes, Geoffroi smiled as he saw him.

  “Ah Henry, good timing, Master Grimnir here just delivered our order for you.” The knight nodded to the dwarf who rose and bowed at the waist, his massive hands flat against his thighs.

  “Pleased to meet you Sir Henry,” the dwarf said in his rough voice, deeper than any man’s Henry had ever heard. Collecting himself he bowed in turn.

  “Thank you for going to such effort for me Master Grimnir,” he turned to Geoffroi.

  “How long was I asleep, surely not long enough for armour to be made?”

  “You were out for maybe ten hours, Grimnir here is a master at Artifact forging, trust me when I say that the higher you climb the more efficient armourers get, although I’ve heard at the upper levels this changes and it can take days to months to craft a single artifact.” Geoffroi shook his head.

  “Also forgive our little theft of your armour, I didn’t wish to disturb you and Grimnir thought he could gauge your measurements from them.”

  “Aye, for mortal work it’s fine armour, but I replaced it all, that scale of yours was wondrous to work with,” the dwarf turned to Geoffroi.

  “Please pass on my thanks to Arthur when you see him, it’s rare to get the chance to work on dragon plate, and the completion was enough that I think I’m ready to push to the tenth floor.” Henry gaped now at the dwarf.

  “You came back to the fifth floor just to work on this for me?” He asked in awe. The dwarf let out a deep belly laugh.

  “Oh lad, no, I came back to work for Arthur, you seem a good lad, but I don’t know you,” the warm smile on the man’s face robbed the words of any true sting they might have had.

  “Dragons who aren’t Tower creatures are rare but they do exist, Arthur leads one of the three flights and working for them is a privilege not afforded to many artisans, especially artisans this low down the tower, so when Arthur said there was a young drake in need of armour suitable for the fifth floor, how could I say no?” Henry nodded in understanding, though the idea that he wasn’t considered human any more still sat oddly on his mind.

  “Artisans work differently to combatants, although we all still have to fight the challenges to advance, Artisans mostly rely on what we create to complete the battles rather than our strength at arms, although I’ve found we dwarves have something of an advantage in this regard as our natural talents tend towards stone work and forging, and our bodies are almost always comparably stronger than the other mortal races, I have a brother who is a mason, he cleared the third floor with a pair of marble blocks attached to chains, absolute monster once he got up to speed.” Henry nodded as he thought of how terrifying a weapon that would be to face.

  “Now Henry, I think you should try on your new armour, then we can get started with your training.” Geoffroi interrupted the conversation.

  “Ah yes, listen to me getting too chatty, please let me see the armour and make sure it fits properly, artifacts that are made by the Seed itself are perfect works of art that adapt to their owner and wielder with ease, crafted artifacts should do this too, but unfortunately the process isn’t perfect yet and we can never guarantee it will fit first time, it’s fixable if not though, not to worry.” The dwarf began to bring the panniers forward and opened them to reveal the sparking blue plates that rested within. Henry moved forward and lifted the first item out of the basket with near reverence.

  Obtained Item

  [Breastplate of the Thunder Drake] (Epic)

  Infused with lightning and the power of the storm by a [Scale of Thunder], this armour is designed to work for a newly awakened Drake. Made by Master Grimnir.

  Henry placed the breastplate against his chest and watched in wonder as it grew over his torso, the shining almost-metal but not quite looking material covered his chest and down to his waist while it formed over his upper back as well. He felt his scales under his arming cote tingle somewhat as they welcomed the armour with its matching affinity. The surprise didn’t stop there though, as the armour began to sprout a shirt of equally blue maille underneath that went to his mid bicep and almost to his mid-thigh. Henry held out his arms and turned looking over the new armour appreciatively as small sparks danced across it.

  “It fits perfectly,” he said reverentially.

  “Good, now for the rest.” Grimnir said as he began handing matching plates to Henry, each with a similar description, just for different areas. The arm harnesses joined to his new breast and back plate and grew down his arms to end in perfect gauntlets with raised spikes over the knuckles that were oddly reminiscent of dragon’s claws. The leg harness was similar in that the sabatons were likewise clawed and looked like a weapon in their own right.

  The helm was a beautiful armet, with locking cheek plates and dragons carved around the sides, even his new horns were accommodated and reinforced by the shining material.

  “I’m calling it Thunder Steel, devilishly tricky to work, but it should transform with you when you change to your dragon shape, so you don’t have to fear ruining it.” Grimnir said with a smile. Geoffroi looked Henry up and down with a grin.

  “It’s very pretty armour, perhaps it’s time we headed out and started your training Sir Henry, let’s see what you can do with it.” Henry nodded, his eagerness very evident as he bowed once more to the dwarf.

  “I have a few hundred Tower Stones Master Grimnir, I doubt it’s enough to cover the cost but I promise to earn more.” Henry said as the thought occurred to him.

  “Arthur already paid me for this and honestly I’d have taken the job for free, this armour in theory should get you to the tenth floor, once you outgrow it though, please ask for me, I’d love another chance to work on dragon plate.” Grimnir waved his words away.

  “You can count on it Master,” Henry turned his head to Geoffroi and his hand curled over Caliburn’s hilt.

  “Let’s begin.”

  “Aye, let’s.” Geoffroi answered.