Morgan fought like a man possessed. Perhaps he was, for the spirit in his sword had come calling, and he methodically cut and clawed at the creatures swarming him. He wielded his sword in his right hand, slicing and stabbing, and his left hand, surrounded by the ghostly remnant of whatever kind of creature the Corran Blood Rager had been, slashed, tore, and ripped the monsters apart if they came within a yard of him.

He'd rush forward whenever Void Wave was off cooldown, allowing the gargoyles to pack tight around him and unleash it to devastating effect. The Void Wave obliterated the hulk-type gargoyles nearly as easily as the smaller ones, and whenever one of the giants came in close enough, he’d use it to keep them from bowling him over. Knowing this fight would take a while, Morgan didn’t use Energy on other attacks; his Void Wave was the most devastating and gave him the biggest bang for the buck, Energy-wise.

The creatures seemed to have no regard for their own safety and didn’t learn any lessons from the piled corpses of their brethren. Now and then, a gargoyle would crowd through, overwhelming Morgan’s guard, and land a crunching or slashing blow, and Morgan’s wounds began to accumulate. When he felt his arms growing heavy, his wind coming harshly through his throat, and his vision starting to dim, Morgan reached out and drained the Energy from a handful of the creatures, restoring his flesh and invigorating his muscles.

He came to realize that he would be able to keep this battle going almost indefinitely so long as he didn’t let himself run out of Energy or become overwhelmed. Unlike their flying kin up above, these creatures either never figured out the futility of their actions or didn’t care, and after what seemed an eternity to Morgan, he was standing in a tunnel, upslope from a long trail of slaughtered corpses, heaving for breath, but alone.

He was reaching out for Issa with Guardian’s Senses when a river of Energy poured into him larger than he’d ever experienced. He barely had time to register that she was still in the direction he’d last seen her, maybe half a kilometer distant, when a series of messages filled his vision:

***Congratulations! You’ve achieved level 30 Vortex Duelist. You have gained 8 Intelligence, 8 Agility, 6 Will, 6 Dexterity. Congratulations! You’ve gained the skill: Sword Mastery - Advanced***

***Level 30 Class refinement is available. Class refinement is permanent. Human Energy cultivators will next be offered a Class refinement selection at level 40. To view your options and make your selection, access the menu through your status page.***

***Congratulations! You’ve achieved level 31 - Attribute advancement is being banked until you’ve completed your level 30 refinement selection. Any progress beyond level 30 will be lost if you lose consciousness before making the selection.***

Morgan waved the notifications away and ran down the slope, nearly gagging as he passed by the remnants left by his Void Waves. He held a sleeve to his mouth and ran out into the enormous cavern where his epic battle had begun. It was quiet save for the scrabbling and hissing of a few gargoyles that hadn’t quite figured out they were dead. Morgan scanned the cavern floor for Ardeni survivors, but with his Void Vision, he could see that there wasn’t any Energy pulsing within the bodies that lay strewn about. He wanted to pick them up for delivery to their families, but his need to get to Issa as urgently as possible didn’t allow it.

Morgan charged across the cavern and up the tunnel where he’d last seen her, leaping over gargoyle corpses and the occasional dead Ardeni as he advanced. She’d not been alone, then, Morgan reasoned; hopefully, they’d been able to fight through to someplace they could hole up. Morgan kept feeling with Guardian’s Senses as he charged up the tunnel, a smile spreading on his blood-covered face as he realized he was getting closer. He picked up speed, charging up the tunnel, blazing past side tunnels, trusting his ability to feel Issa to guide him.

Moments later, Morgan felt her less than a hundred yards away, and he began to hear the sounds of battle. He burst out of a tunnel opening into a four-way intersection where a small throng of gargoyles pushed, hissing and clawing against a determined line of Ardeni fighters, including Issa.

Her Battle Chant was going full-tilt, and as soon as Morgan got within ten feet or so, it buoyed his muscles and spirits, and he began to lay into the rear line of gargoyles, cutting them to pieces before they realized they’d been flanked. Looking over the shoulders of the gargoyles he was chopping at, Morgan counted three Ardeni fighting with Issa, and by the time he’d cut down two of the rear gargoyles, they’d managed to subdue or kill two of the remaining five.

As one of the final three gargoyles turned to strike at Morgan, Issa slipped her rapier into its back, stabbing and freezing some vital organ, causing it to shriek in agony and stumble; Morgan finished it. The final two were easy to mop up after that. “Where’s Rorth? The others?” Issa asked, leaning to catch her breath. Morgan surveyed the battered and bloody Ardeni, then shook his head.

“I’m not sure. I think they retreated down the tunnel we came in through. I got caught fighting a big fucking horde of these things.”

“Glad you got away,” Issa said, straightening and stretching her shoulder. Morgan could see dark purple bruises spreading down her arm from the top of her vest.

“Hmm, yeah, that’s one way to put it. Anyway, what do you want to do now?” The three Ardeni with Issa had hollowed eyes and sported many minor cuts, bruises, and torn clothing and armor. “What about you guys?”

“We should go find Rorth and the rest,” one of them said, starting to walk the way Morgan had come.

“Is it safe to go back that way, Morgan?” Issa asked.

“Should be; unless another horde came up from the depths.”

“Let’s go then; come, let’s hurry.” Issa started into a jog down the tunnel, and Morgan fell in behind her, the other three Ardeni bringing up the rear. They didn’t encounter any enemies down the long tunnel, and when they got to the big cavern where the battle had started, they were greeted with only corpses. “Please collect the fallen Ardeni,” Issa said, moving about, checking for survivors, though Morgan was sure there weren’t any. “Can you feel Rorth, Morgan?”

“I hadn’t thought of that!” Morgan slapped himself on the head and concentrated on Rorth with Guardian’s Senses. “He’s not far, maybe a few hundred yards back the way we first came in.” Issa nodded and looked at the three Ardeni.

“You three go back, find Rorth. Tell him Morgan and I are advancing down this big tunnel. Depending on his casualties, we won’t blame him if you all make your way back outside. Ancestors watch you.” She didn’t wait for a reply, starting down the enormous cavern toward where the horde had come rushing in. Morgan caught up to her, waving briefly to the Ardeni soldiers as he jogged past.

“Hey, you sure that’s smart?”

“I’ve figured out that you didn’t exactly get away from the horde. You killed them, right?” Issa said, looking sidelong at Morgan.

“Well, yeah. I had to, so I could get past them to where you were.”

“So, I doubt there’s another army lurking right down here. Let’s see what all those things were guarding.” She gestured down the slight slope to the big tunnel opening at the cavern's end.

“Yeah, alright. Let’s move along the side, though; try to be sneaky.” Morgan moved to the shadowy edge of the cavern, and Issa followed. Soon, they’d gotten to the far end and crept up to the edge of the big tunnel entrance. The stone was smooth and looked formed, not something natural.

Morgan, his Void Vision active, peered around and looked down the steeper slope of the tunnel. He couldn’t see anything significant moving, but there was a pulsing light about a hundred feet down, where the tunnel seemed to level off. He briefly dropped his Void Vision to see that the light had a distinct red hue. He motioned for Issa to follow, and the two of them advanced, slinking in the shadows as much as possible.

When they’d made it about halfway down the tunnel, Morgan began to hear the hissing and growling he’d come to associate with the gargoyles. He paused, and Issa did as well, and she whispered, “I think I hear words in that.” Morgan nodded, straining his ears.

“Hurry! Reinforcements are….” He couldn’t make out the rest of the sentence; the accent or guttural nature of the creature’s voice made it too hard to understand. He nodded to Issa, and they continued to advance. When the slope of the tunnel brought them low enough to see ahead into the next cavern, Morgan froze in his tracks, and Issa hugged tightly against the wall behind him.

Red light filled an enormous cavern with a ceiling lost in a smoky haze hundreds of feet from the ground. The light was pulsing forth from a twenty-foot-tall, shimmering oval of red light that looked, in Morgan’s limited experience, like a portal. It stood in the center of the room with seven long, spindly stone spires surrounding it, little streams of Energy flowing from their tips into the red light, seemingly feeding or creating the strange gateway.

Standing about halfway between the tunnel mouth and the portal were several gargoyles who seemed to be listening to a single, odd-looking creature. Morgan could see an unmistakable resemblance between the creature and the gargoyles, but it was kind of like comparing an orangutan to a human. This creature had the same gray skin, long limbs, and black talons, but it stood straighter, wore a shimmering red robe, and had much softer facial features. This was an evolved species of gargoyle, Morgan figured.

Some movement near the portal drew Morgan’s eye away from what he’d started thinking of as the gargoyle leader. He looked and felt Issa tense behind him as she saw the same thing—several gargoyles were dragging bound, humanoid figures with hoods over their heads toward the portal. Morgan counted eleven gargoyles and five prisoners in the room and decided the odds were good enough to try to stop whatever was happening. He hissed, “C’mon, let’s stop this shit.” Issa’s Battle Chant immediately began to buzz in the bones of his skull, and he stood up, Bloodfang at the ready, and charged toward the clump of gargoyles around their “leader.”

Just as in his battles before, he primed a Void Wave while ripping over the ground with Hollow Charge and managed to catch the gargoyles with their proverbial pants down. His surging wave of void-attuned Energy utterly destroyed the lesser gargoyles, but when it hit the leader, his red robe flared with brilliant light, and Morgan’s spell passed over him without any harm. “Ungh!” the creature hissed, “Insolence!” The exclamation caught Morgan off guard—it was clearly spoken and not the guttural hissing voice he’d overheard from up in the tunnel. He didn’t let his spell's ineffectiveness stop him, launching into an attack with his sword as the creature backpedaled.

Morgan hacked furiously, but the gargoyle leader deflected his strikes with its hands, bright pulses of red Energy accompanying each impact. “Who the hell are you assholes?” Morgan asked through gritted teeth, watching over the creature’s shoulder as Issa charged toward the gargoyles and prisoners near the portal. He could see that one of the prisoners had already been pushed through the portal, and the gargoyle that had been escorting him or her was watching Morgan’s battle and Issa’s approach. It shrieked and ran toward Issa.

Morgan had to turn his attention back to the intelligent gargoyle as it, or he, judging by its voice, began to emanate a dangerous-feeling amount of Energy. Morgan quickly fired off an Azure Burst, hoping to throw the creature’s attack, spell, or whatever it was out of whack. The wave of crackling blue fire rolled out of him, washing into the gargoyle leader, and his robe flared again, blocking out the heat of the spell, but the force of its shockwave carried on, knocking the gargoyle back, sprawling on the stone floor.

Morgan didn’t waste any time, launching forward with his form, The Crane Flutters its Wings, and the fury and force of his blows proved too much for the gargoyle leader. While he struggled to get his feet under him, he lifted one hand to try to deflect Morgan’s cleaves, but he couldn’t keep up with the ferocious strikes, and one of Morgan’s downward cuts got through, chopping into his shoulder, slicing through flesh and bone, and sending a spray of dark blood arcing out over the cavern floor.

“Ahhh! Fool! The Starlight Empire will reap terrible vengeance!” He reached to his chest and touched something as Morgan lifted his sword for another strike. As his sword cut downward, the gargoyle leader burst apart into a cloud of red dust, right before Morgan’s eyes. Morgan’s sword arced through the cloud, scattering some red motes but not harming anything. The red haze, all that was left of the creature, began to flow away and stream toward the portal.

“Morgan! Stop them!” Issa called, her voice ringing through the air in her Battle Chant. Morgan saw that she was fighting off two gargoyles, and the others were pushing their humanoid captives into the red light of the portal. Was the portal pulsing more rapidly? Morgan ran toward the gargoyles, helplessly watching while they shoved one, then another captive through the red light.

When he was halfway there, the portal seemed to strobe and pulse more frenetically, and he ran even harder, staring at one of the gargoyles near the portal and activating Hollow Charge. He streaked over the ground, smashing into the gargoyle, and then the portal pulsed one last time, so brightly that Morgan had to shield his eyes. He felt like he was caught on the edge of a tornado, wind pulling at him and roaring in his ears. He stumbled blindly, and when the wind stopped and he lowered his arm, he was floating in darkness.