A drop of liquid hit my cheek and I squirmed a little, refusing to open my eyes until the second drop slowly forced them open. Rain? I thought, yawning and rubbing my eyes. There was a strange and fuzzy shadow looming above me. A sharp pain suddenly pierced my leg and my eyes immediately focused. A prowler grabbed onto my leg and twisted his neck in a fashion that told me he wanted to rip it off. I yelped out in pain and conjured a bunch of ice around my neck to protect my neck from the windpipe-destroying bite that lunged at me. The one trying to tear my leg off kept at it.

Divergence blasted the one clinging onto my ice-protected neck away and Discharge stunned my first attacker. I faced both my palms towards the different hounds and released Phoenix Wave, but the second I did that, yet another prowler – airborne from a mighty leap – snapped his jaw down on my outstretched arm, dislodging me from my position on my bed. Donna came out and began helping me. Only then did I notice the screams invading the air. Other shadow beasts surrounded us as we slept in the very early morning, taking advantage of the darkness.

There were quite a few blackshells, the beetle-reminiscent giants. They rammed their horns into others as they saw fit, periodically defending against particularly strong warriors with their thickened carapace and trying with all their might to protect their squishy underside.

Some deadwings, a bony but extremely versatile flying serpent that used its claws to grab onto its victims were circling above, doing just that when the opportune moment arose. People were being snatched up like no one’s business. Our horrible unpreparedness resulted in many deaths. That is, until, I let the avatar of fire take his full form and soar to the skies. It felt like the sun got closer to earth for a minute, despite the sporadically placed trees providing shade.

August and Melissa found us and we regrouped. Of course, the three knight-paladins stuck to August as much as they could, especially Chelleze. It was quite the strange thing because the trained knight-paladin veterans found it hard to keep formation to protect someone as powerful as they were. August was all over the place, but he particularly targeted the blackshells, since they proved the hardest to kill. And even then, he didn’t stray far enough away from Melissa. If she died, the whole point of us coming to Umbral would be nil. Hyzek’s quintessence warriors would lose a strong piece of their puzzle as well – us.

We fought back, our swords stabbing, axes cleaving, and maces bashing the sickeningly increasing hundreds of prowlers. Their attacks seemed quite random, but when one stepped away a bit and simply looked, it was clear that the prowlers’ objective was to either kill or maim as many of their weaker enemies as they could. The blackshells on the other hand kept the stronger ones like the knights at bay. The deadwings would prove to be a kink in every single person’s ability to focus because we had to pay attention to the skies every so often. At least that was true until Phoenix dealt with them.

Being in a situation with hundreds of steadily increasing enemies like this, I was quite sour I didn’t take the time to learn a wide-area spell like Arctic Rage with the ability to discriminate between friend and foe. It meant I had to stick to single-target spells, Ice Javelin being my go-to, but man was it inefficient. Think, Eric, think. Should I tell Chelleze to make us retreat? No, some of us aren’t faster than the prowlers. My mind began perusing through my archive of spells. There’s gotta be somethin’… I dodged a sweeping claw from a prowler and impaled it in the back with the icy spear. Divergence, Convergence, Incinerate… Chain Lightning maybe? I thought. In definition, the spell would only strike predetermined targets, but even then, you still had to mentally map who those targets were before you did the spell, making it only faster due to its lightning element. But strength wise, it probably wouldn’t be enough to kill these creatures, only injure them.

I cast Voidwalk and chose to cancel out the noise from the corporeal plane. This time, I properly flipped through the pages of my spell-book. There were a hundred spells I never really used because there was either no use-case scenario for them, or there was a better alternative. It’s not every day you participated in a large-scale battle in the woods of Umbral after all.

After some minutes of doing this, I finally came across one that was quite fitting for the situation. Now, in the world of mages, there were two primary reasons for making a spell forbidden. When the spell had a strong backlash, they would make it forbidden. When the spell was much too destructive or gave the mage the ability to commit massacres as if he was merely breathing, they would make it forbidden. Arcane Missiles, a spell with a name so basic ended up going on the list of forbidden magics because of its massacring abilities, but also for one other reason. It made the user a sitting duck. Not only was it a spell that needed to be channelled, it also made the user immobile like Purist. It was exactly as the name suggested, missiles, and they sought out the enemy alone.

Because of what Arcane Missiles did, its strength couldn’t be increased if you bettered it – at least not that I knew of. Instead, what it constituted as growth would be its range and the number of missiles you can summon. All enemies in that particular range would be the caster’s fodder. What it did was simple. When a missile hit something organic, it would send out millions of microscopic needle-like versions of itself into its target to attack the cells, causing almost immediate organ failure. I used it a couple times in Inferno Desert when I was younger and in just two seconds, you’d see blood forming through the target’s skin and it would suddenly fall to its demise. The reason I didn’t use the spell much was its killing ability, which many other spells could fulfil should I even need to go that far, and how defenceless it made me. If the missile hit, let’s say a rock, there would be absolutely no effect, which meant nearly all mages who weren’t reckless enough like me would at least know some defensive spells that would make Arcane Missiles an absolute waste of time. Shadow beasts on the other hand, could not use magic to defend themselves.

Hmm now let’s see here. Range and number, huh? I thought. Won’t know the range until I actually do it. Number on the other hand… If the base spell gave me ten missiles, then my mana power would now make that twenty. Triple casting Purist means eighty. If I remember correctly, the missiles could be ‘commanded’. The chance of an ally being hit by one would be probably non-existent, but I didn’t want to chance it. To a degree, they could be programmed to perform certain tasks, as long as it meant eventually hitting something. So, instead of going directly towards my enemies, I thought an aerial bombing would be better. And should it miss, well then, another missile would do its job.

I came out of the void only to throw Magnet around me, but soon realised the folly. I couldn’t cast Magnet and Arcane Missiles at the same time. The latter required way too much mental acuity, too much focus. “Phoenix, human form! To me! Donna, you too!” I shouted out and Donna glided over quickly. Phoenix made a heroic landing in a ball of fire at the side of me. “Show off… Anyway, don’t move around, just cast spells to protect me, but only if you need to.”

That’s when I triple-cast Purist then began channelling Arcane Missiles. The little white oval projectiles sped upwards then aligned themselves with targets, dropping down on them like flaming arrows and then simply disappearing. The shadow beasts began falling like flies. Another batch of eighty spawned around me and repeated the same rain of death. In about half a minute, the immediate danger was gone.

“Forgot you could do that,” Donna chortled.

“Me too,” I added, with a shrug. The far-off shadow beasts fled, leaving us nearly three hundred lifeless crusaders and knights. The place was filled with the scent of the shadow beasts’ dark blue blood, overpowering the carmine hue of our fallen comrades’. Despite the huge loss, a deafening cheer erupted all around me and I was put on a mental-pedestal for a while.

My clones and I tended to the wounded and August redistributed quintessence again, as some people exhausted theirs. I also turned into the armour repairman for thousands of people with transmutation. Man, no wonder she called it a pillar of creation. The more I used it, the more its convenience was realised.

After Kor’zha helped me bury the corpses, we began moving again. I thought it was pretty harsh of them, but what did I expect? That was the natural course of action. After a little prayer ceremony, we continued onwards. For the coming week, we were attacked much the same – in the guise of darkness while we had to sleep. Although there were watchmen, the bulk of the army waking up confused from slumber was never a good thing. The couple hundred shadow beasts would quickly be eradicated though. It became such a commonplace that many of the army didn’t bother grabbing their swords when the horns for attack were blown, for they knew the “death rain” would see them through.

One night, August and I stayed awake a little longer. “Man, if this is how we’re getting attacked, then what’s going on with the armies from other cities?”

Chelleze suddenly walked over and cuddled up to August, sitting on his lap. I mean, we both knew what she wanted. Every night, she became more and more bold despite August’s clear rejection some nights ago. I felt a bit bad for her because it seemed like she was used to getting whatever she wanted, but she wasn’t a bad person. In a much similar fashion, Selene did the same thing to me after she dragged poor Lana over to our little campfire. She slithered up to my ear, “The clones were nice but, I want the real thing this time,” she whispered. So persistent, I thought. My mind actually flashed on Anjali and Dawn, and exactly the cougar begging me.

With a sigh, I turned to her with a wry smile, “You can’t. I can’t.” There were tons of other guys here, and I knew she wasn’t actually attracted to me. She was kind of a big question mark in my head.

“Are you afraid of cheating?”

Aren’t you?

“Well, no, but… Ahh! I don’t know!”

Hey, so, been thinking, when we go back home, we should really put some closure to your death.

“Yeah. But it doesn’t bother me anymore. I’m happy now.”

Yeah, but you’re anchored to me.

“You think I don’t like that?”

It’s not something you, or anyone would’ve originally wanted. You came to accept it. It’s not the same. To be honest–

“I know. I know it angers you. But Eric, I’m telling you that I’m actually glad it happened. My opinion can change, can’t it?”

She got me there. I turned in for the night, leaving Selene and the others behind to find a quieter place.

~

‘Come,’ a voice in my head whispered, ‘come to me.’ I woke up calmly, my mind as clear as day. No, this voice wasn’t Donna’s, it wasn’t my embedded secondary consciousness either; not like it could talk. August soon woke up afterward, looking right at me. Immediately we could tell we both heard the same thing. No one else woke up. ‘See truth,’ the voice in our heads said and that was the last we heard of it.

I left a clone of mine with the holy warriors and flew off with August. We knew the general direction of the voice. As for why we decided to go, neither of us could properly answer that. Fearing the idea of leaving Melissa alone, we woke her up and brought her along.

Maybe an hour of slow flying brought us to a flowery field and in the middle of it was a huge opening, much like the one that lead to the Grove of the Ancient in the Withering Forest, just way bigger. Entering the underground place, a prowler walked to us, then began walking in another direction. The place was like a labyrinth, a million and one different places to go. It would’ve been stark dark too if not for strange uncut orange crystals buried in the walls, the ground, the ceilings and everything. We followed the prowler through the complicated underground system for quite some time until we came to a spacey clearing. It was gigantic. In the middle of it was a dark water we couldn’t see through. The prowler laid down right at the entrance.

“The voice must’ve come from here,” I reckoned while touring the outer rim. In the walls were strange glowing sacks. The azure glow somewhat offset the constant orange of the crystals.

Suddenly, the water made a soft splashing noise. Melissa squealed for a hot second then stopped, trying to keep her composure. A dark image flashed before my eyes and before I could react, August was in front of me, blocking someone’s attack with his plated forearm. The dark shadow swerved around August to get to me but was blocked once again. Wish I could see in the dark. I sent a dozen or so Candlelight upward and beheld what I saw was nothing more than a man. His eyes though were a strange all-black. You couldn’t really tell where he was looking further than where he was facing.

“Impressive,” the attacker complimented August, “it is as if quintessence has chosen you. The way it flows…” He mumbled and ogled at the violet crystal-armoured blacksmith. The man was dressed in nothing more than rags, his hair wild and unkempt. The dirt below his claws was just a testament to how this man lived. Nay, his odour was a finer embodiment of his lifestyle. Everything about him was repulsive except his attitude, really.

“Who are you?” August wanted to place the void he heard to a face. The man smiled, then signed. He placed his arms behind his back and walked into the onyx water, eventually submerging himself. Some seconds later, he emerged again, totally soaked.

He walked towards the wall and gently passed his hands on one of the sacks, “To Hyzek, I am both devil and deity. To you tourists, I am simply Leo.”

“Leo, you don’t seem to grasp my question. Are you the one who called us?” August iterated what he felt was the obvious meaning behind his previous question. The man turned his face, those eyes of his as ghastly as ever and shook his head.

“I am not. The mother is the one who wished the truth upon you, and I am her mouth to do so.”

“My dude, English…” August grew a little irritated but only managed to earn yet another toothless smile from Leo.

“So be it,” the raggedy man placed his hands behind his back and simply stood still. Without warning, a whip of water, much like Dawn’s Hydrotendrils, swerved out of the water and split into two. They twirled around the ankles of both August and Leo. In the same fashion, it quickly receded back into the main body of water at the centre.

“Listen here you ignorant bastards,” Leo spoke, focusing our surprise and attention to him, “killin’ out mom’s children ain’t gonna work. You upsettin’ the balance, get me?”

Well, guess that’s our kinda English right there, I tried my best to contain that laughter.

“What balance you talkin’ about?” August continued.

“You know nothin’, huh? Geez… Alright, here’s wassup. So long ago, right… Like centuries back and stuff, Umbral was discovered by some fools. Ain’t take long before they sent word of the big find. Next thing ya know, there’s a friggin’ expedition in Umbral. Shadow beasts are territorial, dude, so of course that crew got attacked. Some shadow beasts died; some people died. And that’s what sparked all this shit.”

“That’s a rea–”

“Lemme finish, fool! Shadow beasts’ hearts are made of some special stuff. Stuff you can pass quintessence through, you feel me? Same goes for some ore in certain areas of Umbral. That’s how those fancy engineer guys makin’ payment orbs for Hyzek and stuff. They pillagin’ Umbral for that. But it goes both ways. Just as humans get stuff from shadow beasts, shadow beasts get something even more valuable. Actual quintessence. See, shadow beasts can’t use the stuff themselves, but the corpse of humans with quintessence stored up acts as food for the young. Incubation time gets cut down a lot, man.”

“Stop, stop…” August held his forehead in a bit of a stressful manner. “So, people started this shit? Not the shadow beasts?”

“Damn right, son! That ain’t even the worst part!”

“Hmm?”

Leo pointed at the water, “Shadow beasts don’t die.” We all watched him with suspicion now. “Well, not forever. There’s a finite number of consciousnesses. Ya get me? Let’s say the prowler that led you here got fucked up. His body would rot, but not his mind. They can all reincarnate into a new body. Them ‘holy warriors’ been killin’ the same shadow beasts over and over. But when humans die, they ain’t ever coming back. They the ones losing this fight no matter how ya look at it, bro.”

A long period of silence filtered through. “Then why did you call them here?” Melissa asked.

“Because this fool is killin’ faster than the shadow beast birth rate. If one side goes extinct, then the other side’s gonna suffer. We got a balance, a parasitic relationship. If he,” Leo pointed right at me, “continues doin’ what he’s doin’, well then humans can’t have nice things and shadow beasts gonna die out before they could regroup.”

What do you think? Is he lying?

“Nope.”

Hmm… I wondered about something.

“Wow, well, she never talked about it,” Donna replied to my current thoughts and suggested I simply ask Melissa what was on my mind.

“Hey, Melissa, this is sort of a weird question, but do you have family here?”

Her face grew a little sombre. “They were, all killed in Umbral,” she said, then clenched her fists, realising just how insignificant their deaths were to both Hyzek and Umbral. August picked up on where I was going with that question, but chose to pursue it later.

“Well then, warriors and sorcerer,” Leo’s style of speaking reverted, “can I have your word that you will not interfere in the balance anymore?”

I nodded, and August followed. Melissa was much too distraught to possibly answer.

“Good. But first, let me make clear what my intention is. My intention, as aligning with the mother of Umbral, is to preserve our relationship with Hyzek. Death is something that is necessary to both sides, something that cannot be avoided. Warriors, sorcerer,” he looked us all in our eyes, “this means a decent bulk of your forces will have to be slaughtered in order for them to not push too far. The momentum must be stopped. I suggest you remove those you love from Hyzek’s current hunting parties. My killing is indiscriminate.”