The sisters were high in the sky, shedding their pale luminescence over the open cobbled roadway leading to the imposing gates. Morgan and Issa had come down the road to wait for the mysterious guardian that was supposed to make its appearance at midnight every ten days. Yan had acted as if the time had never been stuck while the two adventurers had gone through their challenges and insisted that tonight was the tenth day and that the guardian’s appearance was imminent. Morgan stood with his sword naked and resting on his shoulder. Issa, also with her blade drawn, stood a bit to his left. Dark, shadowy mist rose from her as she primed her battle chant. “Any minute now,” Issa said, glancing over her shoulder to the watching swordsfolk.

“They make me nervous. I can’t help but suspect a betrayal or something in the middle of our challenge.” Morgan spoke softly, looking over the various warriors who had forfeited to them over the last couple of “days.”

“I don’t think so, Morgan. If there’s one thing about this strange place that seems consistent, it's the way the strange denizens follow their rules. Yan doesn’t strike me as suspicious, anyway.” Issa stiffened suddenly and looked back toward the gate. “It got colder. See that mist on the ground!” Morgan looked to where she was pointing, seeing a pool of white-blue mist gathering on the cobbles in front of the gate. He activated Azure Sight, and suddenly the world lit up like midday. He could see the mist gathering more and more densely, and a faint outline of a large man was standing in its center. While he watched, the mist climbed the man’s silhouette, filling in his form, making him more and more solid by the second.

“Can you see that figure? Standing in the mist?” He looked at Issa and saw her shaking her head, squinting. “Well, get ready; I think the guardian has arrived.” Morgan gripped his hilt and pulled his blade into a mid guard, lowering his center of gravity and priming a Vortex Lance. He channeled the Energy into his sword blade, holding it and allowing it to gather. He could feel it was ready, but still, he held it, trying to push more Energy into the spell. Issa’s voice began to fill the night air with an eerie, discordant hum, and Morgan felt his sword become lighter as his arms steadied. He watched as the mist finished coursing into the spectral figure, and then, with a pulse of blue light, the mist was gone; a luminescent figure wearing shiny chain armor and holding a massive, smoldering sword stood before them. With his Azure Sight, even at this distance, Morgan could see the sword was narrow but dense, with no sharp edges but a needle-sharp point. A word came to Morgan’s mind: estoc.

“Now I see him!” Issa hissed, lifting her voice louder and driving her battle chant forth. Morgan didn’t respond, but he unleashed his Vortex Lance. The overcharged spell caused his sword to recoil as the bolt of Energy flashed forth, leaving a swirl of smoking air echoing its passage. Morgan caught his sword in a tighter grip before it flew from his hands, almost missing the sight of his Energy Lance ripping through the chest of the ghostly guardian. The bolt of Energy tore a hole as wide as Morgan’s fist as it entered the figure, and a torrent of sizzling blue matter sprayed across the cobbles behind the guardian, causing it to hiss and snarl, staggering backward.

Issa dashed forward and to the side, her Hexing Shriek momentarily interrupting her battle chant. The shriek palpably struck the guardian, and its backward stumble became more frenetic as it wheeled its shimmering arms, finally catching its balance by dragging the tip of its estoc along the hard cobbles, leaving a fiery smoking trail. Meanwhile, Morgan had pressed his attack, using The Crane Advances to glide smoothly across the ground, his heavy, curved blade held in a middle guard, angling for an attack on the guardian’s flank. In the guardian’s pale, nearly translucent face, its eyes began to smolder with orange fire, and, just as Morgan launched into The Crane Flutters its Wings, it winked out of existence, leaving behind a cloud of orange embers and smoke.

Morgan scanned the area before him, only to hear Issa scream, “Morgan! Behind!” He had time to begin turning, but then pain as he’d never experienced before ripped through him as the orange-hot estoc punched a nickel-sized hole through his left rhomboid, his lung, and out through his pectoral. Helpless in pain and driven by the force of the thrust that had slipped neatly between his scaled armor, Morgan stumbled to his knees, coughing a spray of blood. He felt a heavy kick to his back, and the estoc was ripped free, and he fell forward, barely catching himself with his hands, his sword clattering on the cobbles. Morgan’s vision was black at the edges, and red in the center, as he frantically grabbed his sword hilt and started to stand, but then a searing streak of orange flashed in the corner of his eye, and the round, heavy blade of the estoc smashed into his helmet just above his ear, and he fell over.

Dimly, Morgan could hear Issa screaming, and no other blows immediately hit him, so he thought maybe she had gotten the guardian’s attention. With a tremendous effort of will, Morgan fought against the darkness creeping around the periphery of his vision, taking heavy, rasping, painful breaths and scrambling for his sword several inches from his right hand. He grabbed the blade and rolled to his back, trying to get eyes on the guardian. It was there, not ten feet away, punching the tip of the estoc at Issa as she valiantly dodged and tried to parry. As Morgan struggled to his feet, he saw Issa attempt a riposte, only to have her much lighter, shorter weapon batted aside as the guardian lunged and punched the estoc deep into her shoulder. She screamed and flailed backward, moving with a blur as she must have Hasted herself.

Morgan growled, reaching out with his senses, activating Energy Drain and feeling for the guardian’s Energy currents. He felt them, smoldering and cold simultaneously, and he pulled them with all his will. A torrent of swirling, smokey orange and cobalt Energy flooded into him, causing the guardian to stagger and instantly filling Morgan with a surge of strength. He felt his breaths coming more easily, and the pain in his chest subsided, and then he activated Hollow Charge, flashing toward the staggering guardian and activating Azure Burst. The guardian’s shimmering translucent sheen peeled away as Morgan’s blue crackling fire washed over it. He followed the stumbling smoldering figure, hacking like a maniac with his sword, too distressed and undisciplined to use his forms. Still, his blade connected several times, shearing off pieces of the guardian’s armor and sending splashes of blue, misty matter spraying out.

Finally, in control of the fight’s momentum, Morgan started to regain his senses, and while he waited for the cooldown on Energy Drain, he began to press his attack with his sword forms. He slipped past the guardian’s flailing guard with The Crane Takes a Minnow, ripping the guardian’s shredded chainmail further and piercing its stomach. He pulled back his blade, parrying a counter thrust, and was about to start another attack when he felt, in the back of his mind, an attack coming from behind him. He recognized the prescience of his sword, even though it was only the second time it had ever come through for him, and he whirled around, lifting his blade into The Crane Defends the Nest. He felt a whoosh of displaced air where the guardian had been, and then it was there, launching a terrible stab at what would have been at Morgan’s back had he not spun.

Morgan’s defense was perfectly placed, and he knocked aside the estoc and hacked into the side of the guardian’s neck on the upswing. Then, Issa was back in the fight, and she landed several lightning lunges, sinking her blade into the guardian’s back. The cold Energy in her sword did something to the wet matter the guardian was composed of, freezing it and causing it to break apart. In too close now for the estoc to nimbly pierce him, Morgan kept his black blade against the guardian’s neck, driving it down and to the side with all his strength. He felt it bite, deeper and deeper as he pushed the guardian down, shoving his body and weight against the guardian while it fumbled to try to hammer him with the heavy hilt of its sword. Meanwhile, Issa piled stab after stab into it, and its struggles became weaker and weaker. Finally, Morgan wrenched with all his might on his sword’s handle, smashing the guardian into the cobbles.

The estoc clattered against the cobbles, and the guardian seemed to melt into mist. Meanwhile, a torrent of golden-white motes of Energy poured into Morgan and Issa. Morgan instantly felt better, his wound closing the rest of the way, and he saw Issa straighten up and take a deep, cleansing breath.

***Congratulations! You’ve achieved level 24 Vortex Duelist. You have gained 8 Intelligence, 8 Agility, 6 Will, 6 Dexterity. You’ve learned the skill: Hollow Charge - Improved.***

***Hollow Charge - Improved: Prerequisite: Vortex Class Core. You expend some Energy to sheath yourself in the currents of your Vortex Core and move with great alacrity up to 25 feet. Your Core will absorb Energy-based attacks that hit you during this charge and for several seconds after. Energy cost: 150, Cooldown: Medium.***

Issa was panting heavily, leaning forward, her hands on her knees. Morgan stepped up to her and gently took her shoulders, straightening her. “Let me see,” he said, pulling at the leather lacings on the side of her chain shirt. He knew she was still hurting because she didn’t protest. Having undone all the lacing, he lifted the front of her chain shirt and saw that the estoc had left a weeping, blackened puncture just above her right breast. “Goddamnit, I wish you healed as much from Energy as I do.” He pulled one of his last two healing draughts from the Yovashi home out of his ring, popping the cork stopper. He gently dropped some into the bloody, burned wound, liberally smearing the thick liquid around the area, then handed the bottle to Issa and said, “Drink the rest.” She nodded and gulped it down. “Feeling better?” He knew the answer before she spoke - her skin had regained its vibrant glow, and the pained squints around her eyes were gone.

“Yes, thank you.”

While Issa worked on lacing up her chain shirt, Morgan looked around the scene of the battle and saw that the guardian’s estoc was still lying on the cobbles. He also noticed that the enormous gates were slightly ajar. He walked over to the long, straight sword. Was it really a sword if it didn’t have a cutting edge? He supposed so; even fencing foils were considered swords, right? The estoc had a long ivory-colored hilt with a round, silvery pommel. The guard had the shape of an X, and along each metal arm, a silver serpent was engraved. The blade itself was about six inches longer than even his two-handed sword, though it was perfectly straight and round, and, as it lay on the cobbles, it emitted vapors of black smoke. Morgan reached down and put his hand around the hilt, lifting the sword.

The first thing he noticed was the weight. He could move it easily enough, but he didn’t think his old, pre-System self would have been able to swing it or hold it straight while he thrust it. It had to be over a hundred pounds. “What the hell is this thing made of?” While he was marveling at the weight of the thing, Morgan noticed how warm the handle was, and he saw an orange, flickering gleam run up and down the blade.

“You know, if that guardian had hit either of us in the heart, where I’m sure it was aiming, we’d be dead.” Issa had walked up behind him and looked at the long, stabbing sword.

“Yeah, I don’t think it missed my heart by much. Think about that - almost finished with one stab, despite all my Energy or skills.” Morgan shuddered when he looked at Issa and the black hole in her chainmail. “This is a wicked fucking weapon. Do you think I should bond with it? What if it has a spirit within?”

“You’ll know it if you start to bond and have a chance to pull back.” Issa patted her rapier hilt. “At least that’s how it worked for me.”

“Alright,” Morgan said, planting the point of the estoc on the cobbles and holding the hilt in both hands. He ran a trickle of Energy into the sword and felt an instant connection:

***Heartspark: Artificed Weapon. Enchantments: 1. Hardness - This weapon has been strengthened by a master Artificer; resistance to shattering or bending is increased by a factor of one thousand. 2. Scorching - This weapon has been enchanted with elemental fire, allowing it to pierce armor and damage flesh more easily. 3. Heart seeking - This weapon is drawn to the hearts of living creatures. Thrusts aimed in the general vicinity of a creature’s heart are more likely to strike the organ.***

“It’s not intelligent, but it’s got a lot of enchantments. Let’s just say we’re lucky to be alive, or maybe just I am. You were moving so fast the guardian was lucky to hit you at all.” Morgan described the enchantments on the sword and stowed it away in his ring. He wanted to learn to use it because it was a devastating weapon.

“Well, we did it, Morgan!” Issa forced a smile, and Morgan tried to stop dwelling on how close they’d both come to dying. He looked at the gate and smiled.

“Yeah, we sure did. I wonder what’s waiting inside?”