Mike looked at Drake, his eyes wide. "What the hell did you do!"

They had just arrived at the mountain's base. The storm had stopped abruptly, the sky clearing, the wind had stopped, all in seconds after they had arrived. Drake had done his weird…whatever he was doing. He did it at Storm town, only facing toward the sky. Here it was toward the ground. They had no idea of what their friend was doing.

Minutes after he had started doing whatever he had done, the worms had turned from bright purple energy to green. The horned worms had paused for a while before disappearing deeper within the ground and out of sight of their magical vision.

Drake shrugged at his friends as if it were no big deal. "We gained more allies."

"What! How did you make the worms allies? I saw it. They went from purple to green when you were doing that weird thing with the palm of your hand on the ground…then you just stood like nothing had happened and walked toward the mountain. So…what the hell did you do?" Mike was baffled and couldn't contain himself. He blurted the words loudly, as if demanding an explanation.

Chad stood to the side watching with interest. He wanted to know, too, but Mike was already asking the questions that he wanted to ask.

Drake shrugged again as he studied the map, unbothered by Mike's outburst, looking for the exact area of the mark. He had looked around the area but didn't see whatever the mark was on the map, so he was studying the map once again to try to figure out what he was supposed to find. He didn't know what the mark represented. It was something he was trying to figure out.

Chad finally cut it. "I want to know too. You did the same thing in Storm Town. You did it again in the clearing. Here…It was only on the ground instead of the sky. So, what did you do?"

Drake sighed. "In Storm Town, I was communicating with 'Protector.' He was the one who was darkening the sky, creating a dome around the city so that if the gargoyles tried to escape, they couldn't. It worked out just fine. Here, I was talking to the horde of horned worms. They became allies and let us pass through the clearing unharmed. By the way, as our allies, we benefit from their kills. You should be thanking me," he said, smiling widely. "Now, let's find whatever that mark on the map is supposed to be so we can complete our quest.

***

Back in Drake's room in the ordinary world. Drake's father stared at the screen in awe. His two friends stood behind him, unable to speak. "He turned the worms into allies? Like he did with the Broken Bridge's protector? You heard that, right?" Drake's father asked his friends in disbelief. As a dimension master, he had seen a lot, but he had never seen anything like what Drake was doing.

Mike's father nodded. "I heard that…How can he do that?" He was baffled by what Drake was capable of. It was their bloodlines for centuries that protected the dimension. The dimension master and his cohort positions were hereditary; they were passed down from generation to generation. None has ever accomplished anything like that. Not even close.

"But how many horned worms were there? There had to have been hundreds…right? That's a lot of allies!" Chad's father added. The entire situation was… legendary.

"Even the prophecy states that the last dimension master will control a legion of beasts. You have to remember, though. He will either destroy or save the dimension. From what I'm seeing, he will save it. I pray that he saves it. I don't know what to do if he turns against the dimension and destroys it." The dimension master said solemnly. "Too much is happening to him. He may decide to hate it so much that he decides to destroy it. We can't let that happen."

Mike's father swallowed hard. "You're talking about what happened during that other storm: The one where he said that we would go in and kill the three of them. I think if and when they complete the quest, they aren't going to trust us. We need to prepare for that. We need to show them support and make sure they don't have any reason to believe that we would turn against them. That alone could make them want to destroy the dimension. I think our support will help prevent it."

Chad's father nodded in agreement, but didn't say anything. He kept his eyes on the boys as they searched for the mark the map was indicating.

***

At the base of the mountain, Drake studied the map while Renn roamed the base in search of whatever the mark on the map was identifying. She sniffed the air, then traveled along the ground as she tried to find what they were looking for.

A low bark-howl left deep in her throat before she looked up at her master, indicating that she had found something.

Drake slowly walked toward her, looking near where she was indicating. There was a rock edged with runes, the same ones as on his robes and armor. The runes were placed in a unique pattern as if they had written a message of some kind on the rock. It reminded him of a road sign; somehow, he knew it wasn't one.

"Good girl, Renn! You found what we've been looking for," he praised. Renn had found what he had been looking for, and by the look of what it was, he knew they were supposed to see it.

Chad and Mike came up behind Drake, their eyes glowing brightly: one white, the other blue. They looked down at the runed rock. "I don't see anything; just a runed rock," Mike shrugged. He was studying it with his magical vision. All he saw was a rock with runes carved inside. The runes weren't even glowing. It was just a rock.

Chad remained silent, staring at the rock intently. After several minutes, he shrugged. "I don't get it. It's just a rock." He was seeing the same thing Mike was. To them, it was an ordinary rock with runes carved into its smooth surface.

Drake pressed his hand on the rock to see if it did anything, but nothing happened. He let his eyes glow brightly as he conversed with the system.

"System, analyze and notify the purpose of this item," he ordered the system. There was silence for several minutes before Drake lifted his hand and stared at the rock. He had figured that the system wasn't going to answer.

Behind him, Mike had started laughing, "It's just a rock! I told you it would turn out to be a decoration!" he laughed so hard that he had to hold his stomach as he hunched over in laughter. "It's just a stupid rock!"

Drake ignored him because seconds after he took his hand from the rock, the system began its work.

{Analyzed Marker, A Marker is a stone left with a message or item inside that can be absorbed by the system.}

{Would you like to absorb the Marker?}

{Yes or No}

Drake smiled. "Yes," he answered the system. He wasn't even thinking that it might be harmful to him. He felt that it was something good because the runes on the rock matched his robes and armor.

The 'Marker' rock began to glow with a faint green glow, then burst into green light particles that entered his body. Drake fell to his knees in pain as the light particles swirled through his skin and into his very soul. His eyes dimmed as it completed its absorption process, then the system's soft voice spoke.

{Marker has been absorbed}

{Ascension Quest map has been absorbed.}

{1 of 7 quests has been unlocked. You can now use the first quest map.}

Drake smiled widely as he picked himself off the ground. He didn't even realize that his cohort surrounded him. There was worry and fear in their eyes. He hadn't realized that he had been screaming in pain for nearly fifteen minutes. He was consumed by agony, making him lose all sense of time.

Chad had his sword out. He had been trying to stop the pain, but nothing was happening.

Mike was on his knees, staring at Drake in horror, not knowing what he could do.

As soon as Drake turned to look at them, relief washed through their features like water. He was fine; there wasn't anything wrong with him anymore. He would be fine.

With his jaw clenched tightly, Mike looked at Drake. "What happened…why were you in pain?" His voice was shaky; it was fear from the thought of losing his friend.

Looking between his friends, he pointed at the place where the rock once was. It was gone, absorbed into the system. "Sorry for scaring you, but it was painful. I absorbed the rock."

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