THE THRESHHOLD CLOCK

FLOOR 4

The drop spat them out onto steel.

Thomlin staggered, catching himself against a pillar of spinning brass. Kryxx stood calmly, brushing the dust off his sapphire embroidered robe with the same precision as a man folding parchment.

A colossal clock face stretched beneath their feet, its ivory white numerals glowing faintly, each one large enough to stand on. Smaller clock faces floated through the air, ticking with a deafening rhythm.

“Seems the time isn’t on our side,” Thomlin said grinning.

Kryxx’s golden eyes swept the arena once, cataloguing every moving part. “Get serious. This isn’t a normal dungeon floor.”

“Of all people, why’d I get stuck here with you?” Thomlin muttered.

“Indeed,” Kryxx replied flatly.

The great hour hand swung from below like a scythe. They leapt together, Thomlin rolling to his feet, Kryxx alighting lightly as if gravity bowed to him. A ripple of purple light split the air, and a figure emerged on the gears.

It looked humanoid in outline but its body was nothing more than flowing sand in the shape of limbs. Its chest held an hourglass that spilled sand. For every grain that fell, more sand rebuilt its body endlessly.

Thomlin smirked aiming his staff.

“Ignis lance!”

The flames pierced through the beast’s torso, tearing half the creature apart, for a moment. Until the fire twisted midair, reversed and slammed Thomlin in the chest.

“Okay…that’s cheating,” he coughed on the floor.

The clock beneath ticked and the hour hand swung again, throwing Thomlin off the edge —

—stone disks materialized in the air beneath his feet, stacking upward like stairs. He landed on the top one, coughing soot from his lungs.

Below, Thomlin stared down at an abyss of flowing lava; only the flames were black.

“That was close. Thanks for the assist, Kryxx.”

The disks rose higher, carrying him back to the platform.

“Perhaps now you’ll stop fooling around.”

“I wasn’t fooling around,” Thomlin snapped. “ In case you don’t realize, this is clearly part of Arisu’s plan to split us up and kill us one by one. We have to regroup with the others.”

Kryxx’s expression didn’t change. “I am aware. And yet your spell was sloppy and ill-conceived.”

He gestured toward the creature. “That is a Chronovore. A beast that first appeared in merging dungeons. There is not much information about it yet, but the hourglass at its core can absorb and redirect any attacks; hence, direct attacks are ineffective.”

The hour hand swung again and they jumped.

“Okay, I didn’t know that.”

“I wonder why,” Kryxx smirked. “Seeing as you are an experienced mage who knows forbidden spells.”

“You’re still mad about that?”

“Of course not. I simply dislike people who pretend to be what they are not. It is illogical.”

“Alright,” Thomlin scowled but nodded. “So what’s your plan, genius?”

Kryxx’s lips curved faintly. “As I counted….every fifty-one seconds, the hour hand moves. During that time, the floating clocks pause.”

Thomlin blinked, then smiled. “You’ve been counting seconds since we landed?”

“It was logical,” Kryxx replied. “Haven’t you?”

“No, and how does that help us?”

Kryxx stepped forward, both earth and fire runes glowing on his staff. “Despite how it looks, the chronovore is still a beast; hence, it uses magna. I think the clocks are the anchors of this spell. We cannot strike it with one element but if we use fusion…we may destabilize its flow.”

“Do you think that will work?” Thomlin asked.

“Probably. But the better plan would be an anchor reversal. Unfortunately, it’s a technique I don’t have much experience in.”

Thomlin laughed just as the hand swung again.

“Why are you laughing?” Kryxx asked.

“It just so happens I performed an anchor-reversal last night,” Thomlin smirked, then turned serious. “How good are you at reciting incantations backwards?”

“Of course, you know another forbidden technique.” Kryxx sighed. “Fine. As long as you’re audible, I can match your rhythm perfectly.”

“Cheery.” Thomlin cracked his knuckles.

***

Keiji and I were running.

A couple of things to note.

One: From Keiji’s screens, which are always so informational, the thing right behind out tails was a Frost Wyrm beast.

Two: The man Keiji was with is Siddarth, the shield hero I was looking for all this time. The same one whose shield was in my pack. Reminds me, I still haven’t found the pack yet.

Three: We were doing awful.

The frost Wyrm roared behind us, its icy breath detonating, forcing us to split in opposite directions. Keiji turned, firing flames from his hands, melting the ice just enough before it reached me.

I darted to the side, leaping over Sid’s unconscious body. When the beast turned its attention to Keiji, I jumped, landing on its back. My sword drove into the gaps between its icy scales, hanging.

It shrieked, whipping around trying to shake me off.

“NOW, KEIJI!” I yelled letting go.

Keiji’s eyes burned red as a wave of flames formed on his hand, getting bigger and throwing sparks. His feet propelled him upwards with fire and he struck the gap I’d just made. The flames filled in the beast’s torso like molten lava, blasting it in a shower of shards.

The beast collapsed while I took Sid’s body, hiding as the entire labyrinth shattered into frost-mist. The walls thawed and stopped moving, receding into the ground, revealing a glowing archway of light on the far side.

“Door’s open,” Keiji said, walking over to help with Sid. “Let’s get the hell outta here.”

I stood up, still breathing hard but grinning despite myself. “Yeah. That was…not bad.”

“Please, you’d be dead in the first thirty seconds without me.”

“Yeah, well, next time you can fall through the murder floor and see how you like it.”

“I did fall,” he said, laughing.

As we walked, i couldn't hel but feel that things were starting to feel like olf times.

****

On the other floors, things were wrapping up and after defeating the beasts of each floor, we all came out to the same place. The first to walk in were Velma, Lira and Verra.

“Hey, Velma,” Lira said quietly. “How do you do it?”

Velma glanced back, brow furrowing. “Do what?”

“Control the air like that,” Lira said, rubbing her arms. “You make it look so easy, like it’s an extension of you. I..I keep messing it up. The furthest I got was making a bow and arrow. It just feels like I’m just throwing gusts around.”

Velma’s expression softened, just a fraction.

“Well, you have control down. What you’re missing is power and stamina. You can move the air, but infuse more magna into your attacks.”

“That’s it? But I can’t infuse more magna, that’s the problem. I’m at my limit and I can’t do shit about my stamina now we’re in the middle of a fight…I just. I don’t know, I want to help out but I’m just useless.”

Velma stopped sighing. “Fine. I’m not a teacher or anything like that, but when I struggled with. My master told meone secret. No matter the element of technique, it can all be simplified to imagination. Think of what you want the air to do and envision yourself doing it. That's it."

 Kryxx and Thomlin arrived next — laughing together, which was terrifying in itself. Rhennmar and Ariyanna walked in silence, both of their hair were a mess.

“What happened?” Verra asked when she saw her.

“Oh,” ariyanna smiled. “We had a quick chat but now we’re fine.”

“Hmph,” Rhennmar walked past tying her braids tightly again.

“Guys!” I called out dragging Sid.

Thomlin came rushing after taking one look at us.

“Sid?” he said shaking him. “You’re alive?”

“Barely,” I said. 

Ariyanna crouched, laying two fingers on Sid’s temple. Her eyes glowed faintly.

“His flow is out of balance. I’m surprised he hasn’t burned out yet.”

“Arisu had him hooked up into a weird machine,” Keiji said.

“So you say,” Lira muttered.

“Lira?” Keiji started. “I know I kinda messed up…”

“Kinda?” Verra chimed in. “Oh do you mean ditching us to hang out with your bestie Draken."

“Okay,” Keiji said. “In retrospect I should have seen the signs. Can you ever forgive me?"

Verra and Ariyanna started laughing.

“Relax, we’re just messing with you.” Lira said. “But if you do that again…”

Then Sid coughed and we were all back in serious mode.

Kryxx muttered, adjusting his staff. “The flow’s still unstable.”

“It’s more than that,” Ariyanna said quietly. “His entire body is wrong and his pulse is getting weaker by the second.”

“I’ll try to heal him,” Verra’s shadow rune unfurled from her robe, spinning above her palm.

Before she could, Sid’s body suddenly arched violently, every vein in him glowing a sickly red. The air seemed to vibrate. A rune on his chest spun forward then backward, faster and faster.

“Wait, is that…..!” Thomlin dove toward him but too late.

BOOM

A shockwave ripped through the air throwing all of us back against the dungeon walls.

Then a voice.

“Ahhh… I knew that little contingency would come in handy someday.”