Prototype's Gate

After raising the platform back up, Alex took a turn to the left and climbed a set of stairs. This portion was a lava lake with some ruins in the middle of it. A big magma elemental was strolling around, taking a glance at Alex, then continuing to walk. Alex jumped to the small ruin island and opened a chest lying on a stone pedestal. Inside the chest, he found an amulet, and as soon as he touched it, a strange voice started to speak in his mind.

"Thou has come. Hee.Hee.Hee-HEE!"

Suddenly, the amulet surged with heat. Alex could feel an overwhelming urge to laugh.

"Ha! Can thou endure?" the voice asked with a playful tone.

Alex was ready to crush the amulet when a spirit appeared beside him.

"No, don't! Heee. Heee. Heeee. Return me, take me home—and thou shalt glow with a blessing," the spirit said.

Alex stared at the ghost for a few moments. The spirit was glowing with a soft purple light. It was a man wearing simple clothes with long hair.

"Interesting. And where do you want me to return you?"

"To my daughter, Shirra Clarwen. She serves Ilmather. She waits in Wyrm's Crossing. Take me there, and thou shalt breathe in her golden gifts. O thou shalt be blessed indeed. He he hee!"

"You have been here for hundreds of years. Are you sure your daughter is still alive?"

For once, the ghost stopped laughing and stared at Alex.

"Heee, heee, heee." The ghost fell to his knees and started to laugh. "No! Heee. She can't be dead. Heee. Take me to her. Heeee, heeee," the ghost said.

"Fine, I will take you there," Alex said, taking pity on the ghost. If it came to the worst, he could always shatter the amulet and release the spirit inside it.

"Heeee. HEeeeee. Great blessings await you," the ghost said.

"What happened to you?" Alex asked.

The ghost looked into Alex's eyes and blinked a few times. "The Sharrans tormented me. And I laughed at the pain 'till ne'er couldst I stop. Is there an affliction more terrible than eternal joy? This is my pleasure. This is my curse," the ghost said, followed by a round of maniacal laughter.

Alex stowed the amulet away and walked back to the skiff.

...

Everyone watched as Alex jumped aboard and gave Glut a dark bluish mace.

"What did you do? We heard some massive explosions," Barcus asked, eyeing Alex and then the mace.

"I had a small fight. Now that everyone is ready, let's go," Alex said as they walked to tiller of the skiff.

...

A few moments later, the skiff was slowly drifting back to the decrepit village. Alex was surveying the water, his eyes shifting trying to detect something.

(Glut, make sure everyone is safe,) Alex said telepathically as he jumped into the waters.

Looking around, he could spot them. Three aboleths hiding behind a dozen of their minions. Drows, duergars, kuo-tao. He could recognize the one he fought before by the ugly scar on its side.

They were waiting for an ambush, Alex deduced.

Not wasting any time, his lower body shifted, becoming two sets of tentacles, his arms shifting into claws. And the rest of his body being covered in armor. The ring that grant him psychic resistance was inside him.

The aboleths' eyes shot wide open, likely from never seeing something like this before. For an aboleth, this was an extremely rare thing to happen as their species transmitted their information via their genetic code. This meant that they remembered everything from the beginning of their race till the present. Alex tried to access it, but as soon as he tried, all the information disappeared.

With a surge of power, Alex launched himself at the group of minions, his tentacles flaring out like deadly whips. His claws sliced through the water with lethal precision. The first drow didn't even have time to react as Alex's claws tore through its armor and flesh. A duergar attempted to mount a defense, their weapons clashing against his armored form, but they were no match for his ferocity. Each movement was fluid, a dance of death under the water. His tentacles wrapped around a kuo-toa, crushing it before flinging its lifeless body away.

The aboleths watched in stunned silence as Alex decimated their minions. He was a blur of motion, a force of nature that could not be contained. . The water around him churned with the remnants of battle .

. While he killed their minions , the aboleths kept bombarding him with mental attacks, but so far, Alex could keep up with them. His vision sometimes became doubled or tripled, and he smelled and heard strange things, the up became down and left right , and vice versa . but it wasn't enough to stop him. After finishing the minions and consuming them, he focused on the aboleths, who kept swimming around him casting illusion spells. Alex's arm shifted into the whip fist. He cut through the water and succeeded in hitting one aboleth in the side, the one closer to him. Alex reeled the whip back, quickly pulling himself to the aboleth. His arm shifted into a blade glowing with a fiery light, the water around it bubbling. He sank the blade as deep as possible inside the creature's side, trying to cook it from the inside. The creature started to swim to the bottom. The other aboleth tried to take a bite out of him using their lamprey-like teeth, but it was useless. They only kept getting burned, and Alex's armor was too strong to be penetrated by bone. After the aboleth he stabbed stopped moving, he looked around and couldn't spot any aboleth even with his true sight. Tendrils of flesh wrapped around the dead aboleth and consumed it. Unfortunately, he got no memory from it.

Alex shifted back to his human form and swam to the surface.

...

He landed on the deck , steam rising from him. He walked back to the tiller, paying no mind to the wide eye gnomes that keep staring at him ,and continue to guide the skiff.

...

At some point, Philomeen walked up to Alex.

“Thank you for saving us,” she said.

Alex looked at her and nodded.

“They told me how you fought all the duergars and Nere to save Meerna. Why did you do it?” she asked.

“Because I have a sister too.”

“There are more things like you?” she shouted.

Alex shook his head. “My sister is a normal human,” Alex calmed her.

“Sorry. They told me how you killed all the duergars and Nere,” she said as she stared at Nere’s body next to Alex.

“A fitting end for them,” she said, spitting on it.

Philomeen left, but not before saying another thanks.

They sailed to the beach of the village and then walked to the myconid colony.

The gnomes followed Alex’s steps until they met with Thulla. Everyone then rushed to hug her.

Alex left them and walked to Spaw, dropping Nere’s body at its feet.

(Peace-bringer. Be at home.)

“I brought Nere’s dead body,” Alex said, looking at the corpse.

(The drow sought to shatter our circle, now his flesh may feed its growth. In dealing death, you have brought this circle life. Thus, we name you Life-Chanter.) Spaw raised his hand and released a cloud of spores. The spores seemed to sharpen Alex’s senses a little bit. The rest of the myconids raised their hands and started to dance like grass in the wind, releasing clouds of pink spores all over the place. The entire colony was covered in them.

(As our circle grows, so shall our song. Whenever you go, you may hear it.)

Spaw brought his hand forward, holding a blue necklace that was actually a worm held by a rope.

“I don’t need this necklace. I wish to keep Nere’s body,” Alex said.

(His flesh would feed the circle; there is no other way,) Spaw said.

Alex grabbed the necklace and walked away.

Thulla walked forward and stopped him. She raised her hand, which was holding a pouch.

“What’s this?” Alex asked.

“The payment for saving my friends.”

Alex shook his head and pushed the money back.

“I don’t need it.”

“Just take it,” she said as she pushed the pouch forward. Alex grabbed the bag and put it away.

“Then goodbye,” Alex said as he walked away.

He went to see Omeluum, who seemed to be waiting for him, holding an elixir that glowed light pink.

(This is the reward I promised you. This elixir will greatly increase your psionic resistance.)

Alex took the elixir, opened it, and downed it in one swing. It felt like his mind was covered by a cold blanket.

“Well?” Omeluum asked.

“Try me,” Alex said.

Omeluum looked at Alex for a second and then started his psionic attack. Attack after attack, Omeluum’s scowl deepened.

(Your mind is incredibly resilient. What did you do to it?) Omeluum asked.

“Your elixir seems to work pretty well .” Alex said with a smirk.

Alex brought the ring it gave him .

"You can keep it ." Omeluum said.

He turned around and left, grabbing Glut and walking to the Selunite outpost.

...

Inside the outpost he jumped on the statue and put his hands over the silvery glowing crystal.

After he absorbed the elemental, he decided to try it on different magic items. He found out that he could absorb the enchantments on them, but it was very limited. He needed to shift his body to resemble the copied object for the enchantment to work. He did try it on Phalar Aluve but stopped as something at the back of his mind told him it was a bad idea.

Again, as he did with the lava elemental, he used the power of the sussur tree to siphon all the energy from the crystal. The process this time wasn’t painful at all as when he consumed the fire elemental .His body felt like he was submerged in cold water. His mind became peaceful and calm. The effect seemed to linger even after the crystal became dull like a rock.

“How do you feel?” Glut asked, eyeing Alex.

“I feel calm, at peace.”

Alex looked around. His vision had definitely improved because now he was seeing everything clearly as in daylight.

Just as he said that, he felt a soft touch on his shoulder. He suddenly turned around but saw nothing.

“What happened?” Glut asked.

“Someone touched me.”

Glut shook his head. “I think the magic messed with your head. I saw nothing.”

Alex shook his head. “Do I look different?” Alex asked as he put down his hood.

“Your skin looks a bit paler and your eyes look brighter. Like blue gems.”

He inspected his body, and it felt just the same. His body reverted back.

“Let’s go,” Alex said as he grabbed Glut and walked to the ladder.

“Are you going to let me down?” Glut asked with his arms crossed while being carried like a kid. Alex suddenly leaped 10 meters and started to run on the cave wall, jumping from time to time. After a few minutes, they reached the ladder and landed on the edge of a platform made of stone bricks. Alex looked around and spotted a stone wall blocking their path. He smashed his feet down.

“Good, the other side is still intact.” Alex’s arm bulged and then punched the wall, making a hole. They walked through it.

By the architecture, they were still inside the temple.

Inside the room, they found a diagram with four circles that could rotate. Each circle had four white and black dots. A few moments later, they solved the puzzle. The wall they broke slid away.

Deciding that it was better to stop wasting their time, they walked through another door up ahead. Opening it and walking through it revealed another room. Up ahead seemed to be a goblin altar made of skulls, a lot of skulls. This room seemed to be a dormitory before, judging by the beds on the left side of the room. To the right were some cells that had nothing inside. They found another door and slowly walked through it. Alex picked up 4 minds, one to his left and the other three up ahead. He looked to the left as the other side was blocked by walls and was further ahead. Alex spotted a goblin being held over a chasm.

“This is strange; this place reeks of goblin, but I found just one” Alex noted.

They sneaked out of the room, spotting one of the other minds. A human wearing a dark robe that revealed scars all over his body. As they walked closer to the goblin, they could hear him praying.

“Praise his ever-bleeding axe, praise his throne of flaming iron. Praise Maglubiyet!”

(Do you think this one knows where the rest of the goblins are?) Glut asked.

(Maybe, but first, let’s check the other two.)

They backed away slowly, letting the goblin pray.

Alex told Glut to walk back to where they came from and hide there.

Alex phased in on the other side of the castle hall and walked inside a small room. Inside was a caged man that he had spotted at the Emerald Grove.

Alex walked next to him and put his finger to his lips.

The man nodded, and Alex linked his mind to him.

(I’m Alex. What happened? Why are you here?)

(I am Volo. I was captured by the goblins, and they caged me. Please release me,) the man pleaded.

(Are there more prisoners around?)

(There is the boy tied next to the room where that priest is.)

(Do you know where the rest of the goblins are?) Alex asked.

The man’s eyes shot wide open, likely remembering something.

(They left to attack the grove. They left a while ago,) the man said.

Alex just finished unlocking the padlock and opened the door.

(Stay here until I make sure everything is safe.)

The man nodded.

Alex walked to the place where the other man was held captive.

He found him tied to a torture rack, his body covered in bruises and cuts. Despite his condition, he looked to be still alive. Alex did the same thing as he did with Volo. He quickly broke the rack locks and grabbed the man.

(I’m Alex. Are there any prisoners left?)

(Halsin... they kept... him... somewhere else...) the man said as he drifted out of consciousness.

Alex could feel his pulse; he just passed out.

Alex put the man on his back and phased out to Volo.

Volo yelped but stopped when he realized who it was. Alex laid the unconscious man on the stone floor.

(He said something about someone called Halsin before he passed out. Do you know who it is?)

(Yes, he is the leader of the druids of the Emerald Grove.)

Alex nodded and sneaked around to where the priest was. He waited until the priest had his back turned and strangled him until he passed out from lack of oxygen. Strangly the priest keep smilling as he strangled him. He walked back to Volo and the man. Alex popped a healing potion and poured its contents into the unconscious man’s mouth. A few moments later, the man started to cough and open his eyes.

“Where am I?” he said weakly.

“At the shattered sanctum,” Volo said as he checked the young man.

His eyes suddenly shot open, and he tried to stand up but was stopped by Alex.

“Your wounds are not completely healed; take it slow.”

The man looked at him and nodded.

“Stay here; I will look for Halsin.”

Alex explored the place but found no sign of Halsin until he stepped into another room. There, he felt three minds.

Sneaking forward, he spotted two goblin kids smiling and laughing, hitting a bear with stones. The bear stood still branding his teeths at them.

Alex linked his mind with the bear .

(Are you Halsin? )

The bear stoped what he was doing and started to look around .

(Yes , release me from here) Halsin said.

Alex sneak next to he kids and put his hand over their necks. They spasmed for a moment before passing out. He walked to the gate , pull the lever on the side and the gate was brought down.