“Why am I here? Why now?”

The light in the darkness shone brightly.

The last time I had been here was literally months ago.

But I could see better.

So peculiar… If I didn’t think it impossible, it seemed to me as if there was a shape in the middle of all that light. I couldn’t really tell what it was, but it was there.

“When else? You are going to die; you all will. I thought I’d get to see you at least once before you died.”

“What!?”

What was it saying?

“Why are we about to die? What’s going on? Nova too?”

It wasn’t answering.

The silence left me with was deafening.

And now? What could I do?

The light exploded into laughter a few seconds later.

“I was kidding with you, child. Your reactions are so amusing. You act so big, but you are still a child. And yet, I love getting to see you care so much for your sister, for your family.”

“You son… of a Moon walker…” The damn light was taking me for a fool. What a…

“There will come a day in which you won’t be allowed to do that, though. You should know, you should start preparing for it. One day, you will have to choose. Fortunately for you, today is not that day… or is it?”

It exploded into another burst of echoing laughter.

I did not know how to answer… but really, how could this thing speak with such certainty about this?

“Just who are you?”

“You are finally asking the question? Why did it take you so long?”

“You are still not answering? Why do you keep acting like an ass?”

The light laughed again, “Very well. Since you still can’t see me. I’ll tell you this. You know who I am. You’ve been before me once, you might not remember it, but you were.”

I had been before him?

“Now go. Your wish has been granted.”

“Wait, I-”

I stumbled as I ran. Almost tumbling to the floor. I recovered barely in time.

“Loke? Are you alright?” Nova asked.

I was back, and the whispers appeared in front of me.

Skill points for Trick Shot II Promotion:

- Trick Shot II Major Perk: 0/20000

- Trick Shot II Minor Perk: 0/10000

- Trick Shot II Passive Perk: 0/5000

“Son of a…”

“Loke?” Nova asked, confused.

“Nothing. Thank you, sis. Now let us hurry.”

The light’s words had shaken me.

What did it mean? I had been before it? Of course, I had, more than once. But did it refer to those times, and if not, when? Was it just another joke? Another stupid question of his? Hers... its, whatever it was.

I did not know what shook me so much, but I could certainly not find out now of all times. There were real problems at hand.

I took a quick look behind my back.

The creatures were getting closer. I could see them clearly now.

They were mostly biped droids, but there were Technodogs as well with them, and they were gaining on us even faster. If they reached us, they would halt our escape, and then we would be trampled to death.

I raised my voice. “Ro, how many Stones have you got.”

“A few, surely more than you do,” she answered.

“Give them to me. I’ll get them back for you, alright?”

“Sure, but what are you going to do with them? You are not going to fight all those creatures alone. Don’t you even dare, or I’m not going to give them to you!”

“Loke?” Harlow and Nova asked in a chorus.

“Of course not; I just need to distract them. I’m not crazy, or at least I’m not there yet.”

If there was one thing I had learned about Skill Promotion, well, maybe two. It was that while they were being Promoted, the Skill could offer me all of the Perks in which it could evolve as if it wanted to make me try all its different flavors. And if that wasn’t enough, I already knew two of the three Perks it would offer me.

In this case, what I was looking for was one specific Perk: Shadow Shot.

Shadow Shot was a Major Perk. It would allow me to form a Shade projectile of my choosing.

It was far-fetched, but if I could form a copy of a Crystal Blow arrow, I could lay waste to them all. I would have, metaphorically speaking, infinite projectiles at my disposal, at least at night. What wasn’t clear was the cost and if there were restrictions.

Would I be able to copy the Crystal Blow arrows? And given the amount of Stones summoning a Trick Shot copy required, which seemed to be roughly one gram of Stone per point of Shade Density, how much would conjuring a Blow arrow consume?

One entire regular Stone for creating a Shadow Shot, and one more to add the Trick Shot; it was a lot.

It was my strongest move, but it was going to cost me a fair deal.

I shook those useless worries away. Instead, I started focusing on how to summon a proper Shadow Shot made of Regular arrow.

I had never done it before while the Skill was in its promotion period. Likely because I was too intent on fighting the Avian captain and getting my hide back home.

However, now I had the knowledge of it.

It took me a few seconds to reach for the right feeling, but then it was easy.

I had always indirectly done so for years.

Forming a Trick Shot did not require any particular knowledge; it just needed the will.

The Regular arrow formed between my thumb, index, and middle finger.

I Traced it to be sure.

Shadow Arrow

Shade Capacity: 100%

Shade Density: 53.74

Strengths: Made entirely of Shade

Weaknesses: Weak to Heat, Light, and Flow

This Shadow Arrow has been conjured by Loke Nightfold. Its power is directly related to his knowledge of Regular Arrows.

If Shade Capacity represented its Durability and Shade Density its power, then what did it mean that its power was related to my knowledge?

I knew that the arrows that I used could be ranked by power.

I knew that a Regular arrow’s Strength went from 1 to 5, a Saw arrow from 3 to 8, a Shatter arrow from 5 to 20, a Piercing arrow from 10 to even 50. In contrast, Blow arrows could go from even less than 50 Shade or Flow Density of up to 500.

Of course, it was not only the Strength or its Density that had to be taken into consideration but also a lot of other factors.

But then, why didn’t it give me an arrow with a Shade Density of five instead of almost fifty-five? I had used Regular arrows that gave five points of Strength.

However, I knew only how to make arrows with a power of one, two at best.

I couldn’t make them stronger.

So, what did it mean with power related to my knowledge?

That number was huge; I just couldn’t explain to myself how it got so tall. Could it be related to my Focus?

But then, since I could only create Blow arrows with a Density of sixty-seven, things of which I only had to thank Harlow, would it mean that the conjured product would be much stronger?

I couldn’t say if it was a massive boost or not until I tried to summon one.

So I started conjured another arrow, this time a Crystal Blow arrow.

It formed in my hands while the other arrow disappeared.

Another thing to take into consideration, I couldn't stack them up.

Shadow Crystal Blow Arrow

Shade Capacity: 100%

Shade Density: 120.74

Strengths: Made entirely of Shade

Weaknesses: Weak to Heat, Light, and Flow

This Shadow Crystal Blow Arrow has been conjured by Loke Nightfold. Its power is directly related to his knowledge of Blow Arrows. Handle with care because the product inside is very unstable.

If it really was related to my knowledge, then Focus and bonus Focus effect must have been in play; it was the only possible explanation.

With my own hands and knowledge, I could make Crystal Blow arrows whose power or Shade Density was as high as sixty-seven, yet this one’s power was much higher. Also, I had never seen a power counted in decimals; maybe there was some multiplying factor in place, but what was it?

If my Focus was eighteen, my Bonus Focus 4, and adding to that my ShortBow’s Bonus of 25, while not counting Spectre’s Dignity, which I wasn’t actively using… too confusing. I couldn't waste my time figuring it out.

However, those numbers must have worked somehow around the Shade Density that had come out from the arrow.

Still, it wasn’t bad; it wasn’t bad at all! And it would only grow stronger.

Judging how the damage it dealt would be more than twice that if I used Trick Shot.

Also, I could feel that its consumption had been roughly one gram of Stone for each point of Shade Density. It was a good deal.

Adding Trick Shot to it would mean doubling that expenditure.

It was doable. And I would become a nightmare to fight against at night where my Shade consumption could be theoretically limitless.

Alright, with Roana’s Stones, I could take the enemies following us right-on, or at least slow them down as the other escaped.

I took a deep breath.

“Keep going. I’m going to try a new Trick.”

Nova jumped up from on top of Loki, “I’m going to stay here with you!”

I couldn’t help it, I chuckled.

But then, all the others stopped.

“If you are going to stay here, I’m doing the same,” said Harlow.

“Like I’d allow you to take all those Soul fractions by yourself!” Alistar said. Then he started slapping Faruq. “Come on, handsome, wake up.”

“At least, I’ve still got the Stones into my staff,” Roana replied, walking in front of me. “If we have to do this, we’re going to do it together.”

They all stood there, in front of me, behind me, and by my sides.

Looking at them, my chuckles became a bout of laughter. It brought tears to my eyes.

This was not the village we were talking about; these were true friends. My real family. We were family.

“Alright, stubborn sons of a Moon walker. We do it this way.”

The creatures run at us in the dozens. There could have been more than fifty of them.

Their steps shook the metal platform while the buzzing threatened to be deafening.

When it finally broke, disappearing from my ears and body, I knew that even if we wanted to, we would not be able to escape anymore.

It was fight or die.

“Let’s roll!” Shouted an excited Alistar.

I took that as the sign to start the fire show.

My first Blow arrow took flight.

It took exactly three seconds to reach the herd of Technodogs running at us. The platform was small, so they had to be all clumped up together while in those numbers.

The arrow exploded at the level of their legs.

The following explosions were as strong as my original arrows, if not even more powerful.

I received whispers, only a couple; however, many other creatures were flung away by the detonation.

“We can do this,” I whispered, more to myself than to the others.

“Destroy them all!” Roana shouted.

Then it was chaos.

The broken apart herd of dogs was reached by the horde of bipeds, following closely were the Technorhinos and a few birds in the air.

The last two were the most dangerous, but I could not focus on them; I had to dish out as much damage as I could.

“Nova! Throw your knives but focus on Flow Shields!” I shouted as I summoned another arrow.

A few whispers passed through my sight, but I ignored them; right now, I could only shoot and keep on shooting arrow after arrow.

When it was clear that the Shadow arrows, of which I could not shoot fast enough, were not enough to stop the Technorhinos advancement, I switched to physical Stone Blow arrows; I shot my arrows at their feet or between their legs to stop their advance while at the same time creating a sort of wall of ice spikes to slow them down.

Harlow focused on shooting the birds down with her armor’s Flow-guns.

Alistar and Faruq simply threw themselves in the fray, trying to hit and destabilize as many creatures as they could; Loki did the same, counting on his Fading Dash to not get ripped apart.

Roana focused on destabilizing the feathers and the horns that started flying our ways.

As long as there were so many creatures, the damage we would receive would be heavy. I had to cull as many of them as quickly as possible, or we would inevitably fall.

I alternated physical to shadow arrows since I couldn’t let another shadow arrow fly while the first had yet to hit, or it would be canceled mid-flight.

Before I knew it, I had no more Blow arrows to throw.

Then I saw Faruq fall, and a Flow shield materialized in front of him; I shot an arrow in his direction, hoping it would stave off the bipeds that were trying to swarm him.

I heard Alistar roar with rage, Synaesthesia showing me blood and a perforated thigh.

Nothing bad, we could still go on; we had to.

Another arrow, other whispers, but Roana got hurt and fell, then Loki whimpered.

“Resist! We can do this!” Harlow shouted before she was hit by a charging Technorhino.

I paled seeing that; however, I forced myself to quickly recovered; her armor would keep her safe.

Then I saw Alistar get out from the fray with Faruq in his arms.

A Technorhino’s Horn missile hit him right in the back, and he fell down, Faruq with him.

“Nova, shield!” I shouted.

But Nova was already running to them.

She erected a Flow shield as big as she could manage to make it, and as she reached them, she placed her body on top of theirs, with her Shield covering for all of them.

As the shield collapsed, another took its place, and then another, and another still.

I could see her expression change from that of pain to one of despair. Her nose and eyes started bleeding from the effort.

What was going on?

We were really about to die? My sister was about to die? The light was right?

Why?

Then it occurred to me; I had no more Stones to use. I could summon no more arrows.

I was alone with my useless arrows and bow.

Loki was dealing a lot of damage, which meant that he had been severely hurt, and yet there were still too many enemies, granted they were a fraction of what they had been at the start. Still, they were much more than what our current setup could deal with.

Suddenly, I saw Nova’s shield explode.

As soon as it was generated and shattered, it exploded, the Flow washing over the enemies, making them stagger.

A new Perk, surely, yet her face was dyed in blood.

I dropped my bow to the ground.

I had to act.

I ran toward Loki then, getting close enough to switch the Attribute I had borrowed from Perception to Agility. Then, Spectre’s Dignity in hand, I got into the fray.

I had no idea where Roana was, but Harlow had killed the Rhino that had tumbled over her, and I could see her fight against a small circle of creatures; she was likely protecting the downed Roana.

I would have to do the same.

I started with fighting the most vicious of the enemies at that moment., the few droids that had remained and were harassing Nova.

I fractured my clock-arm by hitting one in the neck, then tore it apart. As a slight buzzing warned me of an incoming threat, I barely evaded another biped’s assault, retaliating with my knife.

Animal Instinct dropped off cooldown, and I received a massive burst of Agility and Strength.

I took advantage of that by killing the last two bipeds. One I ended by slashing its head clean off, another by sticking my broken clock-arm into its solar plexus, likely fracturing its core.

No more bipeds to fight against; only a few Technorhinos, dogs, and birds remained. Birds would have to wait. But before going to help Harlow, I shouted at Nova and the others.

“Get up, or the rhinos will trample you down!”

Yet, Nova did not seem to have any strength left to get up.

I Traced her, just to be sure.

Nova Nightfold, Rogue Level 25 (23589/25000), Healer Level 40 (37.121/400.000)

Health: 44%

Stamina: 23%

Agility: 16

Constitution: 18

Strength: 12

Focus: 20

Perception: 10

Willpower: 23

Strengths: Flow Shield, Willpower, Loke Nightfold

Weaknesses: Loke Nightfold

Class Skills: Escapist (Agility), Hidden Blade (Focus), Lucky Strike (Fortune)

Sub-Class Skills: Solar Breathing (Constitution), Share your Pain (Focus), Flow Shield (Willpower), Healing Spring (Fortune)

Race: Human

Sex: Female

Height: 166 cm

Weight: 49 kg

Age: 13

Origins: Unknown, Murkstall

Family: Eleanor Goldspark-Nightfold, Faris Nightfold, Loke Nightfold

She had obviously leveled up, but she had had the mental alertness to place her points? Very strange. But I couldn’t certainly worry about that, not now.

“Heal, Nova! Heal yourself and the others now!” I shouted, getting close to her and shaking her up.

Her gaze barely registered me.

“Nova! Please… I need you to focus!” I was on the verge of tears, and I was this close, this close to get her and leave.

But… these people were my family… I could not simply take her and leave. I couldn’t. I just…

“I’ve seen the Moon…” Nova told me weekly, her eyes unfocused, “It said that I could dance if I wanted to…”

What was she rambling about? She had probably been hit in the head; maybe she had a concussion.

There wasn’t much I could do to push her to stand. However, I could see Alistar shake awake.

“Go…” he said, “I’m taking them with me.”

Alistar slowly got up, taking Nova and Faruq in his arms, then he started walking away toward the Flow-cart.

“Thank you,” I whispered. I took that chance to go help my Harlow.

When I arrived there, her armor was a mess of bumps and metal feathers sticking out of it.

“I can do it here, but the rhinos!” She shouted as she saw me.

Roana had recovered, although she was bleeding profusely from her head and was holding her abdomen.

“Take this!” she said, launching her Tiara at me.

I caught it and wore it. It had likely three Stones worth of power in it.

I let them bind to me as I ran toward the Technorhinos. There were still two of them, and they had been charging at us, trying to stomp us.

I launched my knife toward one of them, transferring on top of it, barely retaining my stability.

Then I gripped my thigh around it as the creature reared to shake me off, and I started plunging my knife into the back of its head.

Without that knife, I would have died a hundred times over. It had been my salvation.

I managed to sever something inside of the creature while the other Technorhino, uncaring of hitting a companion, threw itself at the one I was riding.

The impact sent me flying about on the frozen lake.

I saw flashes of light because of the nasty fall.

I slowly got up with the rhino charging at me once again.

I knew what to do.

I started smashing my broken clock-arm and dagger on the frozen lake, weakening it. It was damn tough.

But just a second before the creature was about to hit me with his charge, I saw the cracks.

I threw myself to the right as the rhino stomped over the patch of ice I had just left.

It shattered, and the waters engulfed the Technorhino, bringing it down with them.

I staggered back to evade the cracking ice.

As I regained my breathing, I could see a party heading back as well. They looked at me, simply looked. Of course, they didn’t dare to come to help us; why would they? I wouldn’t have.

But then, I recognized them.

It was Noland’s party, that guy whose companion, Jamie, might have had a story with Harlow.

There he was behind Noland. Grinning at me while his commander observed us with his arms folded.

Sons of a Moon walker.

If I came out of this alive, I would show them; I would show them for good.

Thinking useless things, I recovered and turned to Harlow.

The only other enemies that remained were a few birds and dogs.

Harlow had the dogs covered. But she needed help with the birds.

I would deal with them too. I would deal with anything that stood in my path.

I would show them creatures or sentients; I would show them what it meant to stand against the Night Hunter.