Andius’ vision shifted almost instantly, he was back in the concrete building he had been the first time he had the dream, but something felt different this time. The bone chilling sound of the creature’s blades hitting the stone were closer than before, and it sounded like it was moving even faster. He wasted no time in turning around to take the route that had brought him to safety last time, rushing down the halls and taking a left at the intersection in almost complete darkness.

He blew through the doors just as last time, but instead of being met with a cornfield, he was suddenly standing in a darkened manufacturing line. “Oh, this is just way too cliche.” He complained as he looked around for an exit. The sound of the creatures footsteps were getting closer, but they had slowed down to what sounded like a walk.

With adrenaline coursing through his veins, Andius moved to one of the tables where parts were ordinarily put together and slid underneath it. If he was lucky the creature might think he went a different direction and leave the room.

Within a few seconds of him going under the table, the doors to the room opened with a loud creak, old wood and hinges sliding over one another and producing far more noise than he would have liked. The sound of the blades sliding across the concrete was all he heard for a while which helped him locate where the creature was, but he couldn’t help the almost primal fear that was filling his body; he wasn’t sure how he hadn’t screamed yet.

Everything went quiet after a while, and Andius wondered if the thing had already left the room. It was pretty dark in the industrial looking room, so it took Andius a few seconds to adjust. As soon as he was able to see, he wished with every fiber of his being that he couldn’t. The creature that he been stalking him was standing in the corner of the room, looking directly at him.

Neither Andius nor the monster moved for a short while, the occasional twitch of it’s head the only thing proving that it wasn’t some creepy statue. Andius took a step back, causing the creature to spring into life. It ran forward on all fours, joints constricting and bending in ways that didn’t seem nature as it barreled towards it’s prey. Andius turned to run but the thing was just too fast and within a blink of an eye it’s razor sharp fingers plunged deep into Andius’ abdomen.

Pain erupted through his body as blood leaked from his mouth. He wondered for a moment if this was the end, vision going hazy as his body tried desperately to scream, but the sound just wouldn’t come out. Te creature clicked in a way that sounded like a laugh as it’s horrifying maw opened up, an empty dark void that no light seemed to be able to escape.

As he was lifted towards the thing’s mouth, Andius wondered if this was some kind of punishment for using shadow magic. Perhaps it really was evil and this was the worlds way of fighting it? The thoughts escaped him as the monster threw him into it’s mouth and closed down on his legs with a sickening crunch. The last thing Andius could remember before his vision went dark was the feeling of his legs being ground to dust.

Andius woke up screaming seconds later, Amira and Raizus holding him down as he let all of the terror and agony out in a blood curdling scream. It took a few moments for him to calm down after such a truly terrifying experience, he was sure that he had really died for a moment there and needed some time to come back to reality.

Without even needing to be asked, Raizus brought him some water, which he gladly gulped down as if he hadn’t had anything to drink in days. “You alright man? You were out for like two hours after we got up and neither of us could wake you up.” There was genuine concern in his voice, and even Amira had an expression that didn’t include a scowl.

“Y-yeah, I’m fi-” His words were cut off as a notification blinked to life in his face. That was alarming enough since he had set all notification to require him to click on them. His blood ran cold as he read what it had to say.

——————

NOTICE!!! A portion of your soul has been consumed by [Nightmare]. From this point forward you are not considered wholly alive. Your body will naturally produce necromantic energies to replace your missing parts, be warned that this may have side effects outside of being considered undead.

Due to loss of soul energy, some skills have been stolen by [Nightmare]

Skill: Pain resistance reduced to level 15.

——————

His hands shook as he dismissed the notification. “No…. No I’m not okay.” His voice was barely a whisper, and now that he was focusing on it, he could faintly detect the smell of sulfur and rotting flesh, something that he could only assume was necromancy. “We need to get to Arcanis.”

Amira and Raizus looked back and forth at one another, clearly neither knowing what to do at the moment. Amira held a hand down for Andius, who took it and stood up. “What happened?” Amira asked, her tone serious, “Something is definitely wrong with you, you feel… wrong.” She was perceptive, Andius had to give her that. He couldn’t decide if he was happy about that or not.

Andius let out a soft sigh and shook his head, “I’m not a hundred percent sure yet myself, let’s just get moving to Arcanis, maybe they can figure out whats wrong there.” He was going to see the arch mage after all, if anyone knew what was going on it would be him. Andius looked about the small camp they had made and noticed that all of it was packed up save for his furs, so he quickly went about tucking those away in his bag.

While Andius was stuffing the furs in his bag, Raizus walked over and leaned in close, “Hey man, I used to get night terrors a lot back in the real world. Not a whole lot you can do about it, but at least it isn’t real, right?” He was trying to be helpful, but his words somehow filled Andius with even more dread. His nightmare was real.

Despite his nerves, Andius gave him a smile and finished packing, “Yeah man, just a dream after all.” He stood up and stared to heard towards the east once again while they had a bit of daylight to go by. “When we get to the city though, I think we should all just relax a little. Seems like we’ve been fighting non-stop lately.”

“I’ve not really been in any fights.” Amira cut in, giving Andius a cheeky grin that said she knew he wasn’t talking about her. “But yeah, it could be nice to sit down and have a rest. Cages aren’t usually considered the lap of luxury.” The group devolved into conversation and occasional laughs making their journey through the woods a bit more lively.

During the travel, Andius realized he hadn’t toyed with some of his abilities in a while.

——————

Spell Manipulate shadows: Level 3

A starter spell in the dark magic school, this spell is the foundation for mages to develop their own spells, but has limited functionality in combat.

Control X(3)+Y(12) square feet of shadows freely for the duration, where X is the level of this spell and Y is half your charisma rounded up.

Cost: Z mana per second, where Z is the number of square feet you are controlling.

——————

This was the first spell Andius had ever learned and was apparently intended to let him experiment and create new spells, but he never really did that very much, relying on his summons ever since he got them. He figured now was as good a time as any to start, he he held out his hands and lets the shadows around him begin to warp. Amira and Raizus picked up the pace and made some distance between themselves and him, but he wasn’t too surprised by that since they had been unnerved by the battle with the woman from before.

Andius considered his options, he already had minions which were massive help in fights - likely even better than Andius himself - and he had his fear so far. He had never really found a use for his fear since it had such a steep mana-cost, so he would be best off trying to create skills that used as little mana as possible.

An idea came to him as a grin flashed over his face and he held out his dagger. An obsidian dagger must have some connection to darkness, so he hoped his idea would work. Shadows crawled up his arm and wrapped around the blade, completely covering it in inky black shadows, but he didn’t gain any new skills. Instead, he tried to force the shadows to creep along the blades edge.

A notification nearly jump-scared him as it flashed in front of his face, making him jolt and come to a stop to read it.

——————

Spell Dark Edge Level: 1

Whether you’re an assassin, a warrior or an archer, enhancing your weapons with your element is always a good idea. By infusing shadows along the edges of your weapon, you cause darkness to seep into your victims wounds and quickly corrupt them as if it were a poison.

Deals Darkness damage over time that scales off Level of skill and your Charisma. Effect remains on blade for one minute. This effect can stack.

Cost: 25 Mana

——————

For a moment Andius was too blown away to think, he had just created another spell almost effortlessly, just by playing with shadows a bit? Shadows raced along the edge of the blade like smoke on water, drifting off the tip harmlessly like vapor. He was a fool for not taking advantage of this sooner, he could have had dozens of spells by now! He shook his head a few times and focused on his spells. If he could enhance his weapons with just a bit of shadows, surely he could make an offensive spell?

Andius put the dagger away and held one of his arms out to the side of their path, focusing the shadows into the palm of his hand. He knew that he had to visualize the effect he wanted, so what could he use to fight with? Bullets had seemed to work wonders in the real world, so why wouldn’t they here?

As if predicting his intend, a bolt of darkness raced from his fingertips into the side of a nearby tree, impacting it and making a respectable sized crater in it. “Hehe, wonder if anyone else has made any medieval magic guns yet?” The thought of it actually amused him, and he was almost disappointing that the shot didn’t make a sound. Almost, because the fact that it was utterly silent meant he could use it in stealth without blowing his cover. It probably wouldn’t be as effective as backstabbing was, but it was still a ranged alternative.

Andius noticed that he hadn’t gotten a notification for that skill and looked at his hand in confusion, “Do I need to use it more before I get it as a spell?” He asked aloud. He didn’t have much else to do, so he held out his hand and poured a bit more mana into it this time. A lot more actually, as the orb of darkness in his hand was closer to the size of a cannon ball now than a bullet. The projectile shot off with a loud bang and crashed into the same tree with thunderous force, splitting it in half and continuing forward before impacting another tree at an angle and dissipating into vapor.

Raizus and Amira had already been a good ways ahead of Andius, so they got to see a slack jawed mage staring at a felled tree in the settling dust. “Andius, what are you doing man?” He seemed utterly unimpressed by the effect of his shot, but Amira was staring at it with wide eyes, already jotting something into her notebook.

——————

Spell Black Bullet Level: 1

You thought you were being cheeky, weren’t you? The black bullet spell was among the first spells taught to umbramancers during the elemental war for good reason; it was fast and versatile, being exactly as powerful as the caster needed it to be.

The black bullet spell will continue to absorb mana until it is released, allowing for rapid fire small shots, or slow but devastating charged shots. X(1)% increased efficiency of mana transfer and Y(25)% faster charge rate, where X is the level of this skill and Y is your charisma.

Cost: 1 mana minimum

——————

Andius completely ignored his friend as he looked over his new spell, it was his first attack spell! He ran up to the group with a grin on his face, thoughts of the nightmare somehow already forgotten. “Sorry, I was practicing with my magic and finally got an attack spell!” He was definitely excited, and Raizus wasn’t one to ruin the mood so he just clapped his friend on the shoulder like he often does.

Amira frowned, she was more willing to reign them in. “You need to stick to quieter spells Andius. I doubt you’ve forgotten the fact that you have a massive bounty on your head?” He was about to cut her off but she waved her hand, “Raizus told me. Anyways, you two should get into disguises now that I think about it, someone could wander on us and rat us out in an instant.”

Her words shut the pair of men up in an instant. She was right of course, So Andius pulled off his hood and tucked it into his bag, Raizus doing the complete opposite. This caused Amira to stop in her tracks and just stare at the two as if they were complete idiots, “Those are your disguises?…” She pinched the bridge of her nose and let out the most irritated sounding sigh humanly possible and started walking faster. “I swear I’m surrounded by idiots no matter what I do.”

Andius and Raizus stopped and looked at one another, breaking into snickering and chuckling only seconds later. “Found the guild mom.” Raizus said, making Andius burst out completely into laughs.