It didn’t take Vin long to rendezvous with his friends, and as he stepped off the ladder onto the fourth floor of the second tower, he couldn't help but stare at the strange sight before him.

  The first thing his eyes landed on was an absolute mountain of a man. Standing at least eight feet tall and wearing a dented chest plate that looked like it had to weigh more than Vin’s entire body was the most muscular man Vin had ever laid eyes on. Vin had no doubt he’d be able to swing the giant axe strapped to his back without issue. It wasn’t until Vin's gaze got to the man’s head that he realized what race he had to be.

  A minotaur?! Vin gasped, immediately recognizing the large bull head sitting atop the man’s shoulders. With two thick horns that put the infernals’ tiny nubs to shame, the man looked like he’d stepped right out of one of Earth’s mythology books.

  The person standing next to him however, was definitely not a race of people Vin had seen before. Thankfully, their body was mostly covered by a dark black robe, because from what little he could see of their exposed hands and face, the stranger’s skin was almost entirely translucent. He could easily make out the muscles and bones moving and shifting as they gestured, pointing at one of the golems while whispering up at the minotaur. Frankly, the sight was more than a bit disturbing.

  Standing atop one of the tables beside the two figures, was Scule. The petian was visibly vibrating, as if he’d fallen into a tank of espresso and had been forced to drink his way out. As soon as Scule spotted Vin, he waved him over, his motions violent and jerky.

  “There you are!” Scule called out, drawing the two strangers’ attention toward him. “VIn, come here and meet my new associates!”

  Vin’s golem headed over to stand next to the three others lining the outer wall of the ring, all four of them staring unerringly at their assigned patrons. Trying to ignore the creepy golems, Vin walked over, offering the two unfamiliar faces a wide smile.

  “Hello! I’m Vin, a human from a few fragments away. Scule said you guys are willing to… help us get home?”

  It was a tad difficult to talk details of their heist when four separate golems were carefully watching them from barely a few dozen feet away.

  The minotaur spoke first, snorting hot air out his nostrils as he shook Vin’s hand. The man’s fingers were nearly twice the size of his own, and Vin admittedly had a slight moment of panic where he wondered if his sole remaining hand would survive the handshake.

  “Good to meet you, Vin the human!” The minotaur grunted, rolling the knuckles of his free hand against the dent in his chest plate. “I am Drintus, son of Tirrut, and I am a minotaur from Harmstead. Your small friend has filled me in on the details, and I am honored to assist you in your efforts to save your other friend's life!”

  “Thank you Drintus, that means a lot,” Vin blinked, surprised at the large man’s candor. Turning to the translucent stranger hiding most of their face under their hood, he held out his hand. “I’m Vin. Thank you for your help.”

  The stranger seemed to stare at his hand for a moment, before letting out a soft laugh, revealing the fact that she was a woman. “My people don’t really… touch,” she said, holding up one of her strange hands. From this distance, Vin could make out not just the bone and muscle, but even the pulsing blood traveling through her veins, and he had to fight to keep a smile on his face.

  “Sorry about that,” he coughed, letting his hand drop.

  “It’s fine,” she said, and Vin could just make out the hint of a small smile under the edge of her hood. Despite his desire to treat other races the same regardless of what they looked like, Vin barely managed to withhold his shudder at the sight of the lower half of her skinless face being pulled taut while she grinned.

  Shia's smile had nothing on whatever race these people were.

  Thankfully, if the woman noticed his reaction, she didn’t say anything.

  “I’m Lumel. A pulmon, also from a few fragments away. My people don’t really come up into the light much, which is why we look like… this.” She said, gesturing toward herself. “Anyway, your friend here filled us in on the situation, and I’m also happy to offer my services. However, unlike Drintus, I want something in return.”

  “Oh,” Vin said, glancing at Scule who nodded vigorously. The poor petian was twitching like he was standing on a live wire, and Vin was beginning to grow concerned. “What do you want?”

  “I’ve been told you have an enchanted gemstone that emits light?” Lumel asked, her focus turning toward his pack. “I’d be happy to offer my services in exchange for the gemstone.”

  “Before I agree to anything… What exactly are your services?” Vin asked, looking curiously at the cloaked woman. He had no doubt Scule wouldn’t have brought these two in on the plan unless he thought they could help, but he still wasn’t sure just how useful they would be.

  Rather than answer him, he caught a glimpse of a grin under the woman’s hood as she took a few steps back.

  And leapt directly over the fourth floor railing.

  Before Vin could even shout or run over to see if she was okay, he heard a strange tearing sound behind him, and he turned to find the woman standing calmly just a few feet away as if she’d never left.

  “I’m a Dimensional Mage,” she said, holding up a hand and summoning a small ball of purple-black energy that seemed to suck in all the air around it for a few seconds before snuffing it out with a fist. “I’ll be able to… help you get home faster.”

  “That’s incredible!” Vin gasped, pulling out his glowing gemstone and handing it to the woman without hesitation. As he watched, she summoned some sort of floating, dark purple cube and placed the gemstone inside, before dismissing the cube entirely. “Can you teach me any of those spells?”

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  “If you were particularly talented and had a few weeks to spare,” she laughed softly, clearly enjoying his excitement. “My people regard dimensional magic as one of the hardest to learn. It is rather easy to end up killing yourself. Or worse.”

  Before Vin could ask what exactly she meant by ‘worse,’ another golem climbed up the ladder, followed quickly by Shia with Reginald sitting atop her shoulder. The elf blinked at the strange new people before them, but managed to take everything in stride. Walking over, she exchanged a quick greeting with the newcomers before pulling Vin over to Scule and casting a spell Vin hadn’t actually seen before.

  “Still Wind,” she muttered, and Vin felt the very air around themselves seem to freeze under her command. “There, that will prevent anyone from hearing what we’re saying,” she explained, covering her mouth with a hand. “But I wouldn’t put it past these golems to be able to read lips, so be sure to cover your mouths.”

  Now that they didn’t need to worry about the golem’s overhearing them, Shia turned and stared at Scule, raising an eyebrow. “...why do you look like you have a full body rash and are trying desperately not to scratch it?”

  “You’re hilarious, you know that?” Scule shot back, still violently twitching, and only now did Vin notice that his eyes kept flicking back over to one of the golems by the shelf of books. “I marked the golem assigned to me with my Eyes on The Prize passive I got at level 20, and I've been planning my attempt to steal it for almost four hours. I think I’ve discovered that the passive does in fact have an upper limit, and I’m pretty sure I hit it around an hour ago.”

  “Wait, your passive works like that?” Vin blinked, remembering Scule’s explanation that so long as he was actively trying to steal his marked object, his attributes would steadily ramp up over time. “You haven’t even done anything yet!”

  “Apparently so long as I keep it in my sight and am working on different ideas, it works,” Scule shrugged, vigorously shaking his head, followed by his whole body. “I feel like I fell into a potion of haste, and honestly I’m not sure how much longer I can keep this up.”

  “Lucky for you, you won’t have to,” Shia grinned, patting her pouch of seeds. “I ran around to all the different towers, climbed to the top of each one, and used the high vantage point to watch all the different golems. It only took me five towers before I spotted a golem moving distinctly slower than the rest, and with some careful plant growth, I managed to snatch two of the gems from the golem who came by to replace the emptied ones."

  “How did you not get spotted?” Vin asked, glancing at the golems that were still staring at all of them.

  “If you ask your golem to fetch you a specific book from the floor you’re on, it will leave you alone for a moment so long as you remain sitting at one of the tables,” Shia explained. “All I had to do was pick a table by the slow moving golem, lay my staff against the floor, and reach out with some especially thin roots when the resupply golem showed up. I’ll admit it was pretty close, but it seems like I managed to do it undetected.”

  “Seeing as they’re not trying to rip our throats out, I think you may have,” Vin muttered.

  “What about you? Read any good books?” Shia teased.

  “I did in fact,” Vin laughed, shaking his head at Shia’s raised eyebrow. “I’ll tell you later. Right now we need to get the golem and get out of here.”

  “Hence me enlisting the help of the mage I found,” Scule said, twitching in the direction of Lumel. “Apparently the two of them met at the bottom of the library, and Lumel decided to help the big guy get up here. If she can teleport all the way from the ground up to the library, she should easily be able to get us out past the guard golems.”

  “Talk about a stroke of luck,” Vin said, glad things were going their way for once. “If everything’s ready, should we just get started then? No sense wasting any time.”

  “Gladly,” Scule nodded, another full body shiver wracking its way through him. Motioning for Shia to dismiss her spell, Scule called their hired help over. “You two remember the plan?”

  “Whenever you’re ready,” Lumel smiled.

  “Nothing shall lay a hand on you so long as I still stand!” Drintus laughed, banging a fist against his chestplate.

  “Okay…” Scule said, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “Lumel, I really hope this works like you think it will. Everyone, call your golems over.”

  Following the Rogue’s directions, the five of them all called out for their golems, and all five of the constructs walked over to them simultaneously. Vin couldn’t help but shiver at the sight of five identical beings walking in perfect sync, before they all stopped beside Scule’s table.

  “Yes?” Five emotionless voices asked at the same time.

  “Now!” Scule shouted, blurring into motion. Vin blinked at the Rogue’s sudden speed, nearly missing what happened next.

  Scule shot forward faster than Vin had ever seen him move before, leaping up and landing on his golem within a fraction of a second. Before the golem could even react, Scule ripped the dimensional bag he used as a cape off his shoulders and opened it as wide as it could go.

  Right before yanking it down over his golem’s head.

  The moment the bag covered its head, the golem collapsed to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut. Which was perfect, because it meant Drintus’ attack missed it and Scule entirely.

  Immediately after Scule’s golem fell to the ground, Drintus grabbed his axe and let loose a powerful slash, hitting all four of the remaining golems and sending them flying over the side of the railing, slowly tumbling to the ground four stories below due to the library's strange weakened gravity.

  “Golems taken care of!” The minotaur laughed, hefting his axe upon his shoulder. At the same time, the lights in the library suddenly shifted, turning a blood red and indicating that the librarian was definitely onto them. Vin thought it a bit strange that there wasn’t any sort of siren blaring, but he didn’t have time to ponder as he saw Lumel pull a delicate pair of black gloves out of her dimensional cube and put them on.

  “Everyone grab on!” She ordered, waiting until they were all connected to start casting. Vin realized he could hear what sounded like hundreds of large spiders crawling toward them, and he glanced over the railing, blanching at the sight below.

  There were dozens upon dozens of golems currently scaling the inner walls of the tower, clearly making a beeline right for them, and plenty more rapidly pouring into the sixth tower on the ground floor. The strange ball-like joints of the humanoid golems allowed them to move in ways that were unnatural, and Vin quickly pulled his head back over the railing as what felt like a hundred sets of glowing blue eyes landed on him.

  “Now would be a good time to go!” He shouted, watching Lumel as she stood there with her eyes closed, concentrating. He had no idea how complicated a runic formation for a spell capable of teleporting five people, a rat, and one kidnapped golem would be, but it probably wasn’t easy to cast on a whim.

  Just as the first golems began pouring over the railing and flooding out of the holes for ladders, Lumel finished casting.

  “Mass Dimensional Shift!” She shouted, raising her free hand and opening it wide over their heads. Vin staggered as a dark purple bubble erupted from her hand, enveloping all of them and seeming to twist the very fabric of reality within their tiny bubble. He could feel the world shifting around them as the spell worked to take them away, and he struggled to stay on his feet and keep his hand on Shia’s as the world moved.

  Then, just as he had the feeling the spell was about to complete, something odd happened.

  Lumel’s bubble popped.

  Collapsing to her knees, the Dimensional Mage cried out as if she’d been physically injured, holding one of her arms tight against her chest.

  “Lumel?!” Vin shouted as the golems landed on their floor and began sprinting at them, only a few seconds away. “What’s wrong?!”

  “It’s the golem!” Lumel cried, pointing at the golem they were trying to smuggle out with a shaking hand as the angry swarm of golems descended on them.

  “I can’t teleport it!”

  very quickly come up with a plan B!

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