Rhen and Aki passed a few Deathless Guardians on their way to the outer door where hopefully they’d find some weapons. The guardians hardly spared the recruits a glance, but those who did smiled, not all of them friendly, though. The guardians were adorned in different sets of gear, all glowing with syntials of power. Some even carried weapons that were visibly altered by the power of their magic. Simple things like a blade surrounded by a purple glow or a staff with a fat emerald at the top that send lines of green light spiraling down the wood shaft.

They found the door to the anterior buildings, but Rhen had to stop for a moment to absorb what he was seeing on the other side. A sea towers, each a different color, shape, and height stretched out before them. Some towers scraped the sky and beyond, pushing into the dark purple clouds above. Many of them were well-lit with bright colored lights, though some were as dark as the sky above.

They exited onto the terrace to realize they were still a good few hundred feet up. Rhen hurried along the well-manicured stone path to the railing that protected them from going over the edge. He looked down to the highways of transportation below. Speedy vehicles large and small zipped around and between one another in seemingly coordinated chaos.

“Recruits!” A gruff voice addressed them from behind.

Rhen spun around and came to attention. A tall man with three arms—one very obviously missing arm on the right-side shoulder—chuckled at Rhen’s formality. He wore a syntial covered leather apron with a basic white shirt underneath and leather pants.

“This way for weapons.”

Rhen and Aki followed behind the towering three-armed man into a blackened building with tall smokestacks rising from the top. It was narrow on the outside, but once they passed through the door, Rhen realized it used the same enon syntial as the bag to allow for additional space inside.

It was glowing inside with dozens of forges, but blue syntials lined the pits of embers, managing the temperature to be more reasonable—or Rhen assumed that’s what they did. There were work benches around the outsides of the room, occupied by strange, ghostly beings that looked like smaller versions of the three-armed man.

“What do you wield?”

Rhen stammered. “I’m Rhen. You are?”

He harumphed. “Pleasantries, eh? I’m Patrocul—friends call me Pat, but you’re recruits. What do you wield?”

Much like Dua and the other guardians, Rhen realized Patrocul had no time for them, not yet at least. “Crescent moon blades and a short bow are my preferred weapons. I had those on me when I came here, I think. Are they here?”

“Your other-realm weapons won’t be as powerful as what we can craft here.”

Rhen grimaced. It wasn’t so much the power he wanted from the blades. “But sir—”

Patrocul turned away. He moved to the nearby forge and laid two of his hands on the surface. Orange and gold light streamed down his arms and into the forge, lighting the syntials all along the base and stretching out across the floor. As if by huge, unseen hands, materials floated toward the forge and the process of weapon crafting moved all on its own.

“And you?” Patrocul pointed to Aki.

“I’ve never used weapons. My powers are here,” he said, tapping his head again.

Patrocul grunted. “An amplifier then.”

He moved to another forge and started the same process.

Rhen worked up the courage to try again to get his blades. “Excuse me, Patrocul sir, I realize my weapons won’t be much use, but they are sentimental.”

“How’s that?”

“They were from someone important in my home realm. I made a promise, and I need them to fulfil that promise.” Rhen left out some of the more personal details of the situation, but hoped that was enough to get the old weaponsmith to help him.

Patrocul raised a brow but didn’t speak. He turned to the forge that was part of the way through the process of heating and hammering crescent moon blades, and stopped it, reclaiming his anima. He wound through the forges, disappearing between them.

Rhen and Aki waited while the specters hammered and chiseled away at weapons on their work benches. Eventually, one of those ghosts came to get a pair of spheres from the forge started for Aki and returned to its bench.

Patrocul reemerged with Rhen’s blades in his hands. “I was wrong. The steel is quite strong, ready for use. I wonder…” He rubbed his finger over a blade and transferred a bit of white anima into it. The magic spread down the blade like frost, highlighting and revealing symbols Rhen had never seen before.

“Who gave you these?”

Rhen hesitated. “A Deathless Guardian, sir. They almost killed me with them.”

Another pair of recruits appeared at the door to the smith. “We need weapons,” one of them declared loudly, her arms crossed over her chest.

She was quite beautiful, with gold and pink hair cascading down her long, slender arms and torso. It looked as if a strong breeze would snap her in half, though, like a flower grown too long to reach for the sun. Beside her was a short, bulky man who looked to be a hundred years old. He had a long scar on the side of his face that disappeared under a thick, white beard.

“A story for another time, then,” Patrocul said, handing the weapons and holster belt to Rhen. “Get your amplifiers over there.”

Rhen and Aki waited beside the specter, which paid them no heed, and watched the other recruits. She was brazened, and all around unpleasant in the way she worked with Patrocul. Rhen didn’t like her.

“Nor do I. Her thoughts carry intents far worse than her words.”

The recruits were pouring in now, but the rose gold-haired flower was still explaining her weapon design to Patrocul. When she was finally finished, she and the short, older man approached Rhen and Aki.

She wore an amused, perhaps judgmental smirk. “So, you’re the competition.”

“All other recruit pairs are competition,” Rhen replied, flatly.

She groaned. “Ugh, you’re dull.”

“And you’re rude.”

The flower girl laughed. “I’m Ferra, actually.”

“Rhen. Aki.” He didn’t want to be as rude but didn’t want to entertain any additional pleasantries with her.

Ferra sighed, counting the recruits as they came into the building. “So, want to wager on who’s going to die first?”

Rhen scowled. She spoke as if premature death wasn’t a horrible crime against everything the Deathless Guardians stood for, and then had the audacity to make a game out of it. Rhen wasn’t going to entertain that line of conversation, so he looked away, putting his gaze anywhere else than the poisonous girl beside him.

Ferra tsked. “You’re seriously that stuck up? It’s just some fun…”

Rhen knew exactly where this was headed, and so he maintained silence instead of fanning the flame.

“I’m talking to you.” Ferra shoved his shoulder.

“And it’s obvious you don’t understand that I am not talking to you, or what that means.”

She sneered. “Well, you just shit all over your chance of an alliance, Rhen.”

“It’s done,” the three-armed specter declared. It turned to Aki and presented the silvery orbs, each wrapped in thin etchings that formed a cebrum syntial. Aki reached out his watery hands and accepted the orbs into his body.

With that, Rhen and Aki turned for the door.

“Best of luck out there,” Ferra called after them in a mocking tone.

Rhen didn’t spare a backwards glance as they headed back toward the Anima Mirror. She wasn’t worth the time. However, she had raised an interesting point.

“Are alliances allowed?”

Aki’s fins fluttered and his skin turned blue. “I’m not sure. Nothing has been said against it.”

“If the others are going to join up, that’ll give them a significant advantage over those who don’t.”

“We’ll have to listen for a compatible pair, then.”

“But what’s compatible?”

“Like us?”

Rhen chuckled. “Bad jokes.”

“But we keep our promises.”

Rhen looked at Aki, bemused. “Oh?”

Aki was quiet, but Rhen could feel he was thinking through what he wanted to say. They walked through the halls, stopping to get directions once before they made their way to the Anima Mirror.

Zedis was waiting at the center of the wide-open room lined with mirrors of many sizes. The ceiling was so far up, it was almost too dark to see, but Rhen made out the etchings of massive syntials that looked like mandalas. Tendrils of power snaked down the walls from each of these symbols and lit up the frames of the mirrors.

“Not every mirror will see your anima. Find one that will.” Zedis opened his arms wide, inviting Rhen and Aki in to find their mirror.

Rhen approached the first mirror on the wall, a stocky thing that barely came up to the top of his head. He saw his reflection perfectly well, but almost didn’t recognize himself. A month in the blackness had made him forget his mother’s golden highlighted hair and his father’s green eyes. He had scars he’d never seen before, and was decidedly thinner—though more fit as well—than when he first took on the Shin’Bara trial tower.

There was nothing else to observe in the mirror, so he moved on to the next. It was tall and wide, with a frame that thrummed with white power. Still, he saw only his physical attributes, no anima. Rhen wasn’t sure what he was looking for but knew it must’ve been more than just his normal reflection.

“Here,” Aki called.

Rhen looked over his shoulder to see Aki standing in front of a small, round mirror about head height. Aki had floated to the top of the water body, positioning himself so that he looked more like Rhen in shape. His eyes aligned with where Rhen’s were, and his tentacles flowed down his chest like a beard. He looked much more intimidating this way than just a cuttlefish floating in the stomach of a headless water body.

But it wasn’t that shift that caught Rhen’s attention most. It was the reflection in the mirror. It wasn’t Aki’s body, but a glowing net of white anima. Much of it was culminating around the bands on Aki’s body, and two strong strings of power connected to the amplifies Patrocul had crafted for him which he held in two of his tentacles.

Rhen stood behind Aki as he looked at the reflection and text swirled into view. It showed his current anima count, [56], his body’s current anima cap, [112], and his syntial power level, [1/1/0]. Rhen wasn’t sure how they all worked together, but then a small description appeared below each rating.

Anima count was a unit of expendable energy for casting Deathless magic. The anima cap was how much anima he could have in his body before he risked rupturing it. Lastly, the Syntial power level showed his magic ranking: how many castable spells or passive abilities he had, and if they were prima, ancilla, or tertia.

The badge on Zedis’ arm made sense now.

Aki moved past that screen and several options swirled into view. The text offered a new prima syntial, or to add several different types of ancilla syntials to his current prima anima.

Zedis stepped up behind them. “If you create syntial past your current cap, it’ll drain your anima and make you weak.”

“How do we raise our anima cap?” Rhen asked, grateful to have the help.

“Using your syntial. As you use the abilities, they will level up and increase your capacity by strengthening the shield holding in your anima.”

“And if we don’t level them up and go over our cap?”

“You explode.”

Aki hummed. “Exploding before we have our Death Bond would be quite bad, yes?”

Zedis didn’t look amused. “Catastrophic.”

Rhen wanted to ask more about the Death Bond, but knew he could look that up in the library later. Now, he needed to get his magic flowing and start climbing their tower. He moved on, looking for a mirror compatible with him until he spotted it. It was strange to see the shape of his body made out of lines of white energy, but somehow so familiar. He definitely recognized it as him, though a dark spot caught his eye in the web of power.

On his hip was a mark that the white anima avoided. Rhen looked closer to see that the spaces it flowed between outlined a shape that looked very similar to the anima syntial on his pec—but not quite the same. Rhen poked the spot, remembering the sharp pain of a blade that almost killed him, but had saved him instead.

Zedis pointed to the spot. “Looks like an anima blockage. You need to cleanse.”

Rhen straightened and cleared his throat. “Oh yeah? How do I do that?”

“Your prima anima will teach you, just ask it.” Zedis walked away, unwilling to explain any further to Rhen’s relief.

To avoid thoughts of the past, Rhen turned his attention back to the mirror. His anima count was [115], an anima cap of [148], and syntial power level was [2/1/0] . He cocked his head as he read through the information again. Why did his syntial power level already look different from Aki’s? Was it biological, maybe? Maybe it was something else…

His hand fell back to the dark spot on his side.

Rhen shook his head and turned his focused on the ancilla options. Ancilla would attach to the prima and transform his anima into more creative spells. The ancilla options appeared along the right side of the mirror. When he focused on “Kinse” the outline of a flower petal appeared jutting off from the top of his prima tattoo, and more text appeared on the left.

Rhen muttered as he read. “Channel anima into the kinse power for an array of physical abilities. For example, you can enhance your movements to be more powerful, increase you healing speed, or strengthen your skin to resist some slashing damage at first level.”

Beside the flashing ancilla was some smaller text that read, “Increase muscle response for a passive speed boost: Swift Twitch. Adds 32 to your anima count.” Rhen looked back at the petal and noticed there were several grayed out spaces all around the prima anima. He touched the glowing ancilla and it bumped down to the next available spot. The text shifted to read, “Increase blood clotting and speed of cell reproduction; cells reproduce with fewer defects: Sanguine Regen. Adds 36 to your anima count.”

Rhen didn’t want to take too long to decide, but he didn’t want to make any mistakes. He’d have limited power for the first few days if their estimation about enemy spread through the levels was correct. Rhen tapped through the options quickly, getting a good feel for all the kinse available to him.

He swapped over to enon and read some of the options. Ability to transform anima into a fireball, or a gust of wind, change the shape of a room, create a gravity sink that slows enemies down, or allows bodies to become weightless. Interesting, but not in his wheelhouse, yet.

Ancilla anima on anima didn’t offer any options, not at this level at least, so Rhen moved on to cebrum. Abilities there included things like dazing the enemy with a spoken word, increasing the speed at which he could learn new information and skills, or improving perception. Those were interesting too, but Rhen assumed Aki would take those since they would naturally enhance his already present psionic abilities.

Rhen needed to improve what he already had going for him if they were going to get the best start they could at this climb. He went back to kinse. Rhen relied on quick movements for his fighting style, so he selected the passive speed boost. Another line of text appeared, “Are you sure you want to inscribe Ancilla Kinse: Swift Twitch? It will add 32 to your anima count. This cannot be undone.”

He took a few quick “test” punches, observing his movements, then tapped the “Yes” option. Pain seared across his chest and he looked down to see the Syntial glowing under his jerkin. After a moment, the pain subsided, and the petal shaped ancilla kinse was securely in place around the prima anima.

Rhen tried another test punch and slammed his fist into the mirror. He cringed and shook out his knuckles. The improvement was extremely evident. This was the power of Deathless Guardians at just the first level. He swelled with hope at the thought of what he could achieve.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to add another ability and hit his cap, nor did he feel he had the time to investigate everything fully, so he left with just the one change and met up with Aki, who was still deciding.

“I can shape the water around my body, but this enon would allow me to shape other water at greater distances, move them, change their matter state between gas and solid, and more. This is interesting to me, but I’m not sure if it’s useful for us.”

“I only have experience with my one tower, but several of the levels had water. It could be useful for controlling large groups of enemies and finding food.”

“Yes. This is my selection, then.”

Aki’s fins became rigid and Rhen watched in the anima mirror as the new inscription appeared on the prima anima at the center of his head.

“We’ll gain more power after our first level, too, and there’ll be more abilities to get.”

“I’ve already selected a cebrum which will allow me to daze enemies. I thought this would complement your weapon use.”

“I saw that one, good pick.” Rhen patted him on the back, splashing some of the water about. Rhen grimaced and shook the cool moisture from his palm. Aki looked down, then reached out for the drops he’d shaken free. The water lifted from the ground and rejoined Aki’s watery body.

Rhen smiled. “Useful already. Let’s go crush our first tower level, shall we?”

“Indeed. But Rhen, on the matter of a compatible pair… There are thousands of realms out there being invaded by Kavga. Trillions of helpless creatures have already been possessed or killed. I chose to become Deathless to protect them. I think your promise on the blade is that, too.”

Rhen nodded.

“Then that is who we’re looking for among the recruits.”

“I don’t think we have time to question them all,” Rhen said, looking about the several pairs that had made their way into the room.

“No, but I believe they will reveal themselves in time. We still need to return here for sleep, the anima mirror, and the library. I will listen for those like us in our inevitable encounters.”

Rhen’s stomach groaned. “And eating, I hope? No one mentioned anything about food. You’re right, though, we’re not even in need of an alliance yet, so there’s plenty of time to find some recruits we like.”

“Maybe we’ll find food in the tower.” Aki pulled the teleportation sphere from the bag strapped around the stomach of the water body, then held it out to Rhen. “Shall we go?”

“Let’s.” Rhen smiled and reached out, putting his hand on the orb as well.

Nothing happened. He and Aki looked at one another for a moment, waiting for the sphere to activate as it had before, but it didn’t. Aki inspected it more closely, tapping it with a few tentacles.

“Zedis, sir? How do we, uh?” Rhen pointed to the orb.

The guardian shook his head. “Say the tower’s name. Words have power. Remember that.”

Rhen put his hand back on the sphere and looked at Aki. “Three, two, one,”

“Illuth.”

The orb’s black coating exploded outward and enveloped the pair. The tower projected out of the glass sphere and a deep rumbling shook them to their cores. A powerful baritone voice surrounded them in the blackness. “Good luck.”